Question About System 76 Hardware

[Mark Phillips]

Thanks to everyone who replied - I agree with the consensus that if one
treats a laptop with a little care, it will last a long time and the
extended warranty is not needed.

I was really interested in people's experiences with System 76 hardware. Do
they make high quality long lasting hardware...in particular the Gazelle or
Kudo Professional models?

Thanks,

Mark


On Sun, Aug 31, 2014 at 12:34 PM, Brian Cluff <brian at snaptek.com> wrote:

> I was going to write a long reply to this message, but Joseph wrote almost
> exactly what I was going to say.
>
> If you treat your laptop well and carry it in a padded bag and don't run
> it in harsh environments, you'll almost certainly not need it.
>
> I tend to get the insurance for my cellphones because they are essentially
> little laptops (without the clamshell design that protects the screen) that
> are run in harsh environments and aren't kept in little padded bags.  I've
> had to cash in on my cell insurance 4 times, but I've only once had a
> laptop get broken and that was because it got put into the back of a truck
> with a bunch of other stuff put on top of it and it crushed it.  Now I just
> make sure my laptop is put in a good place when transporting it and all is
> well, and the money I've saved from not paying for the extended warranty
> would more than pay for a couple of laptops.
>
> Brian Cluff
>
>
> On 08/31/2014 11:27 AM, Joseph Sinclair wrote:
>
>> I've never purchased an extended warranty for a computer.
>> It's a form of insurance, so you can guarantee that, statistically, the
>> cost is greater than the predictive (actuarial) cost of repair or
>> replacement.
>> given that gross margins on extended warranties for electronics
>> (particularly computers) run in the 80%-90% range (which is why sales
>> pushes them so hard), you can bet that your chances of needing that
>> coverage are slim indeed.
>>
>> I currently have 4 desktop-like systems and 2 laptop-like systems.  The
>> youngest is from 2012 (Chromebook with an ARM CPU), the oldest is from 2009
>> (Desktop Atom CPU).
>> My nephew took my previous oldest machine, an AMD Athlon single-core from
>> 2004, and uses it to play minecraft.
>> Over the past 20 years I've only had one machine (out of 20 or so) fail,
>> and that was a cheap (Dell) chipset fan that failed after running 24X365
>> for 8 years.
>>
>> In my experience, the vast majority of laptop failures are because the
>> machine was dropped or mistreated in some way.
>> If you tend to toss machines around or drop them then I'd recommend
>> purchasing a less expensive system or a desktop (or a ruggedized laptop if
>> you must, but those are pricey).
>> If you buy a laptop and just take good care of it, the chances of a
>> failure due to parts or labor (for any tier-1 manufacturer) is essentially
>> 0 for the first 3 years.
>>
>> BTW, one of the older machines I currently run is a System76 machine, one
>> of the first Atom(330) based "Meerkat" boxes from early 2009. The CD failed
>> (plastic spindle broke) about a year ago, but the box still runs just fine
>> (I rarely had use for the CD drive anyway).
>>
>> I've run Windows in a VM on the Meerkat, but it's kind of painful to run
>> Windows in a VM when the real chip is a tiny Atom 330...  I've run Windows
>> in a VM at work (but only when absolutely required to do so) on a Core i5
>> chip, and it's a lot more tolerable there (about as tolerable as Windows
>> ever gets).
>>
>>
>> On 08/30/2014 04:47 PM, Mark Phillips wrote:
>>
>>> For all of you System 76 users, do you recommend the extended warranty
>>> for
>>> 3 years? In other words, do you find you need this warranty, or is the
>>> standard 1 year warranty enough?
>>>
>>> I have never purchased a System 76 machine, and I am in the market for a
>>> new laptop. The 17.3" Kudu Professional looks like a good fit.
>>>
>>> Also, any issues running Windows in a virtual machine on these beasts?
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>> Mark
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
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