From: Patrick A. Forte (paforte_at_usdbank.com)
Date: Mon Apr 03 2000 - 10:47:03 EDT
EZServe attempted to charge me $700+ to replace a broken modem on my
in-warrenty 600E. Nice. BIG problem resolving the charge.
Patrick
-----Original Message-----
From: Randal Whittle [mailto:rwhittle_at_iceka1.com]
Sent: Sunday, April 02, 2000 3:16 PM
To: TP List
Subject: Re: i Series horror stories?
At 02:31 PM 04/02/2000 -0500, you wrote:
>In the discussion of EZServe lately, I've seen at least two comments about
the
>i Series machines being of bad quality, etc. I'd like to know a little
>more about
>where these comments are coming from.
>
>Back last year when I had some money to spend on a laptop, I chose a
>1451i as it fit in my price range, but only after looking at other models
out
>there, and talking to others who had them. I also listened in on
newsgroups,
>and while hearing some complaints about them, I heard fewer complaints
>about i Series machines than most other brands.
>
>Given my experience with two of them, I don't think they are substandard in
>any way, and this is coming from someone with as much of a hardware
background
>So where are people getting their opinions that the i series are so
>bad? I maintain
>about 75+ computers now, with Dell, IBM, Toshiba and Sony laptops. I
>internally
>chuckled as I was honestly able to favorably compare my 1451i against
several
>new laptops costing $1000+ more. Things like the construction of the
>phone jack,
>the hinge assembly and quality of keyboard come to mind.
Someone earlier described the i-series as being like a Toyota,
with the higher-end laptops being like a Lexxus. If that analogy is to
hold, I'm guessing that perhaps the i-series, compared to other relatively
"regular" laptops, compares pretty favorably. Like a Toyota compares to a
Yugo.
I've seen and played with the i-series, and have been tremendously
underwhelmed by them. Are they functional? Sure--but so are a lot of
no-name brand laptops (and branded ones, but which are somewhat
lesser...like AST's). But there's no question that they just don't look as
nice, feel as nice, or much of anything else as nice as the better
ThinkPads. For one thing, the i's feel "cheap"--the cheesy thin plastic
casing is really disturbing. And its friggin' *huge*, for apparently no
reason (at least when the 770 was huge, it was because it packed lots of
functionality in there).
I think what people object to is that IBM is watering-down their
ThinkPad brand name with the i-series--that is, the "i's" aren't really
"worthy" of being called a ThinkPad. Its like Mercedes coming out with a
$10,000 economy car. They just wouldn't do it--at least if they did, they
wouldn't give it the Mercedes brand name. "ThinkPad" was a premium line
name--and it was well-deserved. Somewhere along the road, IBM seems to
have forgotten that.
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