RzaX: yup. it's significantly cheaper. The listed price for the Joybook 7000 on 256MB ram was RM5999. We got it at RM6100 inclusive of the upgrade to 1GB along with a free 128MB Pendrive (and now the free Benq Digicam too supposedly worth RM300 but i think less a bit as it's an old model) gogo2: Yup. when I checked the machines, the box was sealed. Looks like you have quite a share of bad experience. Lucky thing I didn't get the Acer then... although, Benq is also pretty much the same I guess. The notebook is made in Taiwan (still better than China I think, but nowadays, it's the same anywhere) DYKT: most notebook manufacturers now OEM their low-end notebook manufacturing to taiwan based companies? This includes IBM as well? But anyways... I think this is a very lame excuse. Where in the world would a manufacturer release a model with known problems? Sheesh. Hmm... can we have all those email addresses? LOL then anyone here got problems on Acer notebooks can terus fire them all. LOL
so far i've only used compaq and i really trust them in their goods. my sis and her bf uses Dell primarily and another Acer i think. no complaints so far. i think it's all about luck, buying a PC also can face such problems IMO. and hyper_raider, don't be afraid of buying stuff in KL. 1 rotten egg in the basket doesn't mean the rest are rotten. you just need to choose the right egg.
Anyway, my fiasco is few months ago. Last week, I ordered Dell 700m 12.1" WXGA notebook for RM4236. That's RM800 discount on top of RM500 discount. 3 years warranty + WinXP Pro. A very good deal that I cannot pass up. After 1 week, the Dell call me up and said that she'll send the notebook this evening. I wonder whether I'll go through the whole fiasco again.
It's definitely a much wiser choice to buy from US, where customers are always right, unlike here... Have you heard of money back guarantee here? That said enough.
SEE!!! that's being responsible. they contacted you to inform you of the progress - it's a good sign of customer support. it's still better than peaz/adrian's case where not a single call from the dealer was heard.........within 1 month!! (please don't bring up marauderz's cousin's case here k.....)
Here's a response via email I'm glad things went well for you. As for the happy ending, well, things are so far so good at last, but let's hope it's stays good
Coincidentally, I recently came to a debate over whether to buy a Sony VGN-S28GP or a Benq Joybook 7000 for my wife...and I almost bought the Sony until I learnt that you will void the 3 years warranty if you choose to alter the configuration yourself. Then also there's the fact that an additional 512mb MicroDIMM module (default came with 512MB) costs HK$1800 (US$231) if I purchase from Sony...that's HK$1000 more if I buy it myself. Being a stubborn person I am, I decided that I cannot stand being ripped off...so I bought the Benq JB7000 instead for HK$3000 less but slightly heavier in weight. The best thing is that I can change the configuration anytime without having to worry about voiding the warranty. Anyways, the JB7000 was a real bargain...P-M 1.6, 1GB DDR333 SoDIMM, 60GB 5400RPM HDD, ATI Radeon 9700, DVD+/-RW/RAM etc., etc.....all for less than HK$15,000 or US$1930. However, two things I am quite disappointed at the JB7000: 1) Almost ZERO accessories....not even a floppy drive. Very disappointing. I wanted to buy a replicator and a second battery.... 2) Locks up at the detecting hardware devices screen 7 out of 10 times when attempting to install Windows XP Professional with SP2. The strange thing is that installing Windows XP Home which it came with, works fine. I suspect its a defect. Anyone has come across this problem with the JB7000?
It depends on your bargaining skills... as well as the willingness of the dealer to reduce the price to close the deal. But in our case, we essentially managed to get a discount of about RM500-600 (USD 132-158) off the regular price.
Actually, the BenQ dealer was the most affable salesman we saw that day. A far cry from the Acer representatives. That's what sold us to the BenQ Joybook 7000. That and the fact that we managed to get it upgraded to 1GB of memory at minimal cost and without voiding any warranty. That's why his attitude in not even giving us a call throughout the ENTIRE ordeal was most surprising. It's like he was a totally different person altogether. But to be fair to him, he was always friendly and apologetic. And it was true that the fault lay entirely with BenQ. I was just not happy with the fact that he didn't bother to give us even a SINGLE call throughout the affair.
Well, they ran out of the Joybook 7000 before we bargained with Mr. Y. So, even if we paid cash, we would be in the same situation. But yeah, generally, best to just pay cash for the goods on the spot. Sigh.. What to do.. I don't have the cash..
Nope. I don't think it's a problem if the box isn't sealed. That's because they need to open it up to check the serial number anyway. What's more important is the condition of the notebook. If you check properly, you can tell a demo notebook from a new one. Especially important is checking for dead pixels before you hand over the money. Yeah, I know. Many companies insist that a few dead pixels is okay. What's a couple of white/black dots anyway? Nah.. When I pay so much money for a high-end notebook, I expect nothing but the best. Especially when I particularly select the notebook for its display. Yeah, and please check the warranty details. Some companies consider anything less than 8 pixels as acceptable. Some consider 4 pixels as reason enough to approve a RMA. IMHO, when it comes to high-end notebooks, even one pixel is unacceptable. But since practically all notebook companies have such policies, it's best to CHECK the display BEFORE you pay. Well, even IBM outsources their notebook production. I just read about it in the news about Lenovo buying over IBM's computer business. But I think it's not so much about where it was manufactured.. Rather, it's about how good their QC is. I guess companies like Acer and Dell close one eye when it comes to QC. That's probably how they can afford to keep their notebooks cheap. Yeah, Fujitsu has a weird affinity for integrated graphics. That's why I skipped Fujitsu. With that said, their notebooks are VERY reliable. I have an old Fujitsu notebook here that is still running very well today.
that's where credit card and carry. waiting a month for the goods to arrive, the prices might have dropped already - and yet you still have to pay the original amount even though others who got the goods same time are paying lesser. hehe even with credit card, can't exactly get a notebook with it unless you earn quite a sum of cash. usually the limit is 200% +/- of your salary, that also not including the fact that the card could've been spent on other things already. but i'm thinking.........say a laptop is RM 6k. does your CC need to be having RM 6k limit to buy? cos if you go by installments, they basically charge you the appropriate for each month right?
ROTFL! Agreed. Well, it's one thing to have bad after-sales service. But it's really ridiculous to have such bad PRE-sales service! Imagine - we have to chase HIM to deliver the notebooks and conclude the deal. It's as if we are the dealers and he's the reluctant customer!
hehe. amazing this kind of attitude. normally businessman would be the one.... 1. begging the customer to hold on 2. bugging the customer for payment this one........LOL i see customers that are 1. bugging the dealer for goods 2. can't wait to pay for the goods. ironic.
That's Sony for you! They always try to force you to buy their overpriced upgrades. In fact, they try to force their customers to buy their Memory Sticks by equipping their notebooks with only a Memory Stick reader. They simply refuse to support any other media. Wow.. At least you get the option of a larger and faster hard disk! Well, most notebooks don't come with a floppy drive. Not even my Toshiba M30. But I think you can get a USB floppy drive for RM about 100-150 (USD 26-39). As for the lock-up.. No, I did not experience this problem. You might want to check the memory modules using Memtest86.
heh . i'm pretty much avoiding floppy disks already. even my new casing still has it's floppy disk bay in tact - my father came to use my machine and i think he was disappointed cos i don't have a floppy drive. i think to get him a thumbdrive.
