Older Posts
· Blogger: stack overflow at line 54
· Women in technology
· Crapware?
· More general Microsoft Hell notes...
· Various Microsoft Hell issues
· It gets better...
· How to open an online Excel spreadsheet at a parti...
· Internal Server Error 500 running an ASP script
· Sonic DigitalMedia LE v7
· Damascus-based site better than the Open Directory...
Archives
April 2005
May 2005
June 2005
July 2005
August 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
October 2006
March 2007
May 2007
June 2007
September 2007
November 2007
January 2008
June 2008
August 2008
Links
· Startup Applications List
· Welcome to the Hex Hub (Named Hexadecimal Color Codes for HTML)
More blogs on this site:
|
|
Computer Blog - thebroadroom.net: Tech over the long run
Disclaimer: all of the following is purely from personal experience. TheBroadroom.Net urges you to use your own instincts,
common sense, and willingness to take risks when applying any of the information below.
Tech over the long run
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
Monday, January 30, 2006
at 3:29 PM (Pacific)
Well, I'm set to buy a new device. I'm researching it on the Net.
A few things occur to me as I do so. #1 is that buying a big name brand item, on the assumption that that means anything, is not a good idea.
I found that out from the Kodak DC4800 camera. How could you go wrong buying a Kodak camera? Isn't that like buying Kleenex tissue or Scotch tape?
That model was not cheap when it came out. It retailed between $500 to $600.
Now...with the "love 'em and leave 'em" mentality of what we call "tech," it is a rather decorative paperweight--supposedly.
There's nothing wrong with the camera. It works. Produces nice pictures too.
As long as I was using a Windows 98 computer, and staying in the U.S., the sole gripe I would ever have had with this camera would simply be that other cameras have more megapixels and take better close-ups, and are, in a word, smaller.
Discovering that Windows XP does not support that Kodak model, was a shock. Discovering that you can't charge the battery (which is no longer being made--use a compatible) overseas was another shock. Discovering that Kodak no longer supports this model (which is four years old) was a third shock.
The most I got out of Kodak was that they used to sell a separate charger. The charger worked overseas. Finding this charger would be possible (given the Internet) but not easy (in terms of finding it in a b & m store).
To be fair, computers used to cost $2000. Something that you paid $2000 for, should not have to be thrown away after three years.
So, I have changed how I see all this "tech." It is relatively easy to buy a big brand name product. It is easy to find a good product at a good price. But what about next year?
Now, I tend to look carefully at the warranty offered on the product. It's hardware; it is highly unlikely to break down. I have a Windows 95 computer, circa 1996, that needed repair only once (to change the sound card). It works fine. It starts up fine, everything in it works; however it's unusable. So, for hardware products, the warranty tends to imply more that the manufacturer will (?) support their product--when said product is more than two, three, or four years old.
I go to the manufacturer's website and poke around. I'm looking for drivers and updates...and mentions, for gad's sake...of their "older products."
0 Comment(s)
 
|
