After Warranty Support - What Laptop Brand Can You Recommend and Why?

[MeMing]

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To help us choose what laptop brand to purchase for keeps, let us share our experiences regarding the support (if any) we got from the manufacturer's of our laptops.

[VonTech]

based on experience, after warranty support for portables is technically expensive, but my lappy (MSI S420) is over 2 yrs na. ok pa siya. most lappy carry 1 yr warranty. some of my friends who got issues with their lappy like KB, LCD issues...the best resolution is to find local shops that offer 2nd hand parts. bringing them to Service center of your lappy is very expensive. better get a new lappy instead..


Hope its helps!

[MeMing]

Acer - Do not bother contacting their support, you will end up talking or emailing a wall. I spent thousands already just by calling their paid tech support help desk that does not even give me the information I need since my unit has been shipped to them through MDR - meaning they will only update MDR and MDR in return will have to relay the update to me. How extremely excruciating.

I bought an Acer Aspire 4520G almost 2 years ago. Why? Because it is the most logical choice I had back then. There were other brands yes. However, they had units that are around a year old (even older) with prices that are equally as outdated (its just so funny how our local retailers are playing dumb about the information that their potential buyers can gather through the internet... oh well, there are always people who know less and are more than happy to buy their outdated and overpriced products...).

My criteria for choosing an Acer were as follows:

1. The Gemstone series has just been released worldwide and their prices locally are the same anywhere else in the globe or maybe even a little cheaper since we are closer to Acer's base, Taiwan.

2. I wanted a brand that can be repaired locally if the time comes - this eliminated Dell for me.


Now that the time has come for my unit to be supported, my second reason for settling with an Acer bit me back. The so-called "AUTHORIZED" Acer service centers in Cebu are nothing more than a drop-in center for my unit to be shipped to the "main" service center in Manila. They are just there to keep the bureaucracy alive and well.

The saddest part is, being an IT person, people I know come to me for consultation on what to and not to buy. And guess what? I have 3 persons/companies who have the very same defective unit I have (thanks Nvidea! never again will I own anything that starts with a letter N!) and I am pretty sure it will only be a matter of time when they will come hunting me about theirs.

To make this already long post shorter, Acer is going to be the last brand name in my mind from this point forward.

Let us not underestimate the power of community sites so share your experiences to help others make a better buying decision.

[MeMing]

"the best resolution is to find local shops that offer 2nd hand parts. bringing them to Service center of your lappy is very expensive. better get a new lappy instead.."

Exactly where I am standing right now. I have already spent PHP 1,500 for the shipment to manila and I am on the edge of spending another 6-7k for the unit to be shipped to Taiwan for repair. A repair that would only be warranted 3 months by the so-called "manufacturer" of my notebook. How laughable they are knowing that a great 3rd party repair service like Green Valley is even giving 6 months warranty for their repairs at a price that is like 10% of what they are asking.