The Latitude C640 I'm using right now is on its 3rd keyboard/trackpad. If I leave it sitting on the desktop it does fine, but if I really use it like a laptop was intended, the crappy plastic case flexes and eventually breaks the trackpads. Very poor design.
Unfortunately, the company I work for switched from IBM Thinkpads to the Dells several years ago based purely on initial cost. The fact that they had to buy twice as many to cover for all the broken units apparently didn't make it into the cost calculations. I carried a Thinkpad T21 for over a year, traveling constantly, and never had a problem. Now I'm afraid I can't even leave my desk without a laptop meltdown! I did manage to break a Thinkpad once. Dropped it from the top of a car onto a concrete parking lot. Broke the flat panel and popped one key off the keyboard, but it still booted up and ran fine. Bought a replacement panel off Ebay for $50, and my daughter is still carrying that computer around school with her. Gary Thompson Georgetown, TX 1995 E320 On 1/11/06, David Brodbeck <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On Wed, 11 Jan 2006 21:23:32 -0600, Loren Faeth wrote > > even have a 6-7 year old Dell laptop that is still running, and that > > is really something. > > Maybe more than you know. My experience with Dell laptops hasn't been > good. > They're kind of flimsy and eventually develop problems due to too much > internal flexing. I saw this with two in a previous job, and a third in > my > current job. Some models in their Latitude series also go through > batteries > and processor fans. (Two fans under warranty, on one Latitude C600.) > > These days I'll only buy IBM or Toshiba, when it comes to laptops. >
