Prediction: How my new Dell Inspiron will die
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From: Al Dykes on 30 Jun 2010 14:17 I've bought a Dell 1464 and it is at least as good as I expected it to be. Build quality appears to be very high. With care, I would expect a long life out of it except for one decision made by Dell that probably saved them $0.05 per machine and that would only be discovered by using the machine. The VGA jack lacks the nuts that allow the plug to be ssecured. Were I buying this machine to give professional presentations, it would instantly be returned as being unsuitable due to it being impossible to connect robustly to a projector. This laptop is my "desktop replacement". I tried to buy a machine that has a dock option but for reasons I understand, this option doesn't exist on machines as inexpensive as this machine is. Lacking a dock, I have to use the VGA jack and it is being ussed essentially all the time. Due to the lack of screws, the inevitable motion of the VGA jack in it's socket will make the socket fail and I'm sure it will be unfixable. I am trying very hard to keep this motion to a minimum. When the VGA socket dies, the machine will be unusable for the purpose I bought it. I know there are USB "docking" devices. All the user comments say they are really crappy as VGA connections. -- Al Dykes News is something someone wants to suppress, everything else is advertising. - Lord Northcliffe, publisher of the Daily Mail
From: BillW50 on 30 Jun 2010 14:42 Al Dykes wrote on 30 Jun 2010 14:17:47 -0400: > I've bought a Dell 1464 and it is at least as good as I expected it to > be. Build quality appears to be very high. With care, I would expect a > long life out of it except for one decision made by Dell that probably > saved them $0.05 per machine and that would only be discovered by > using the machine. > > The VGA jack lacks the nuts that allow the plug to be ssecured. > > Were I buying this machine to give professional presentations, it > would instantly be returned as being unsuitable due to it being > impossible to connect robustly to a projector. > > This laptop is my "desktop replacement". I tried to buy a machine that > has a dock option but for reasons I understand, this option doesn't > exist on machines as inexpensive as this machine is. > > Lacking a dock, I have to use the VGA jack and it is being ussed > essentially all the time. > > Due to the lack of screws, the inevitable motion of the VGA jack in > it's socket will make the socket fail and I'm sure it will be > unfixable. I am trying very hard to keep this motion to a minimum. > > When the VGA socket dies, the machine will be unusable for the purpose > I bought it. > > I know there are USB "docking" devices. All the user comments say they > are really crappy as VGA connections. Hi Al! I dunno if this would be a problem. If the cable doesn't accidentally get pulled a lot, I don't think I would worry too much about it for now anyway. I have lots of laptops and some with docking stations and all of mine accept the securing screws from the plug. I just noticed that these netbooks I have does not. But I still use external monitors with them too. Those VGA connections should to be able to handle thousands of connecting and reconnecting. Although at some point in the far future it may get so worn out that it may not stay put without those securing screws. To be honest with you, I have been switching my VGA cable a lot between laptops and netbooks all of the time for many years. And I often don't even use the securing screws since I change them so often. And I never had a problem as of yet. I used to use a KVM switch. But I don't use one to switch the video anymore. I just switch the video cable instead. I hope all of this helps. -- Bill 2 Asus EEE PC 7014G ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC 2 Asus EEE PC 7028G ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC Windows XP SP2/SP3 ~ Xandros Linux
From: Christopher Muto on 30 Jun 2010 14:50 Al Dykes wrote: > I've bought a Dell 1464 and it is at least as good as I expected it to > be. Build quality appears to be very high. With care, I would expect a > long life out of it except for one decision made by Dell that probably > saved them $0.05 per machine and that would only be discovered by > using the machine. > > The VGA jack lacks the nuts that allow the plug to be ssecured. > > Were I buying this machine to give professional presentations, it > would instantly be returned as being unsuitable due to it being > impossible to connect robustly to a projector. > > This laptop is my "desktop replacement". I tried to buy a machine that > has a dock option but for reasons I understand, this option doesn't > exist on machines as inexpensive as this machine is. > > Lacking a dock, I have to use the VGA jack and it is being ussed > essentially all the time. > > Due to the lack of screws, the inevitable motion of the VGA jack in > it's socket will make the socket fail and I'm sure it will be > unfixable. I am trying very hard to keep this motion to a minimum. > > When the VGA socket dies, the machine will be unusable for the purpose > I bought it. > > I know there are USB "docking" devices. All the user comments say they > are really crappy as VGA connections. > the machine has a hdmi port for a much better connection to modern displays and projectors. this port carries both the video and the audio. and if you really are determined to use vga and your vga actually fails are you predict you can always get a hdmi to vga cable. so i don't think this will be the reason your laptop will likely die. it is more likely that you will drop it or spill something on it to cause its demise... or the hard disk will fail and the effort involved in rebuilding will outweigh the cost of new... and so on.
From: Bob Villa on 1 Jul 2010 07:51 On Jun 30, 1:17 pm, ady...(a)panix.com (Al Dykes) wrote: > I've bought a Dell 1464 and it is at least as good as I expected it to > be. Build quality appears to be very high. With care, I would expect a > long life out of it except for one decision made by Dell that probably > saved them $0.05 per machine and that would only be discovered by > using the machine. > > The VGA jack lacks the nuts that allow the plug to be ssecured. > > Were I buying this machine to give professional presentations, it > would instantly be returned as being unsuitable due to it being > impossible to connect robustly to a projector. > > This laptop is my "desktop replacement". I tried to buy a machine that > has a dock option but for reasons I understand, this option doesn't > exist on machines as inexpensive as this machine is. > > Lacking a dock, I have to use the VGA jack and it is being ussed > essentially all the time. > > Due to the lack of screws, the inevitable motion of the VGA jack in > it's socket will make the socket fail and I'm sure it will be > unfixable. I am trying very hard to keep this motion to a minimum. > > When the VGA socket dies, the machine will be unusable for the purpose > I bought it. > > I know there are USB "docking" devices. All the user comments say they > are really crappy as VGA connections. > > -- > Al Dykes > News is something someone wants to suppress, everything else is advertising. > - Lord Northcliffe, publisher of the Daily Mail I imagine their idea was to protect the M/B from breakage. Can you add the extended hex screws? Are there threaded holes for them? bob
From: Al Dykes on 18 Jul 2010 14:02
In article <WKqdnSOb8ex_DLbRnZ2dnUVZ_oCdnZ2d(a)speakeasy.net>, Christopher Muto <muto(a)worldnet.att.net> wrote: >Al Dykes wrote: >> I've bought a Dell 1464 and it is at least as good as I expected it to >> be. Build quality appears to be very high. With care, I would expect a >> long life out of it except for one decision made by Dell that probably >> saved them $0.05 per machine and that would only be discovered by >> using the machine. >> >> The VGA jack lacks the nuts that allow the plug to be ssecured. >> >> Were I buying this machine to give professional presentations, it >> would instantly be returned as being unsuitable due to it being >> impossible to connect robustly to a projector. >> >> This laptop is my "desktop replacement". I tried to buy a machine that >> has a dock option but for reasons I understand, this option doesn't >> exist on machines as inexpensive as this machine is. >> >> Lacking a dock, I have to use the VGA jack and it is being ussed >> essentially all the time. >> >> Due to the lack of screws, the inevitable motion of the VGA jack in >> it's socket will make the socket fail and I'm sure it will be >> unfixable. I am trying very hard to keep this motion to a minimum. >> >> When the VGA socket dies, the machine will be unusable for the purpose >> I bought it. >> >> I know there are USB "docking" devices. All the user comments say they >> are really crappy as VGA connections. >> > >the machine has a hdmi port for a much better connection to modern >displays and projectors. this port carries both the video and the Live and learn. So an HDMI-connected monitor is functionally equal to (or better than) a VGA-connected monitor? Thanks. -- Al Dykes News is something someone wants to suppress, everything else is advertising. - Lord Northcliffe, publisher of the Daily Mail |