Help with Laptop issues 1

[Albion]

We have a salesman who uses a laptop. It's less then a year old but it's been into service twice now. It's not a bad machine it's just that I think it's being beaten up. the president of our company is diligent that we get some sort of loaner from someone or anyone while this machine is out for repair this time. I have told her that the vendor refuses to do anything because it's past their 30 day DOA policy that I understand. And, the manufacturer obviously won't hand over a loaner machine.

So what do I do? How can I explain to them that laptops are not built very well, take a lot of punishment, and break down. How long do most of you keep a laptop before upgrading? Is 2 or 3 years a safe amount of time for a laptop? I know I don't think so, but management here seems to.

To be honest I believe that this salesman is being pretty brutal with the laptop, but I have no way to prove it. And, when a salesman brings in 75% of the company profit it wouldn't matter anyhow, I just get, "fix it without any downtime."

So could someone give me some standard numbers their company uses for life of laptops, loaner plans (Do you keep spare laptops on site, ready to go), etc...

I appreciate it.

Craig

 

[kjonnnnn]

We have about 20 laptops (Gateways), 3 of which I use as floaters for emergencies or just when someone with a desktop needs to take one home or sometihng. We've had ours a little less than 2 years, and they are just now starting to need things replaced and repaired.

 

[AnonGod]

At our site, we have about 10 laptop users, with about 50-60 laptop users company wide. With the high degree of traveling users in our company, there are anywhere from 10-25 laptops on site any given day.
I see a laptop for repair/maintenance once or twice a week. Usually it is a problem with video or mouse drivers/software. Laptop's just arn't built like desktops are. Look at the size of a desktop, you have to fit all that technology into the space that is 1/5th the size. Things are bound to happen. Just for comparason, I see a desktop (around 50 at my site) maybe 2x a month, if that.
Due to the frequency of repair work needing to be done with laptops, I keep 3-5 laptops around for loaners, all loaded with any software any of the portable users may need.

As many other companies, we use a major provider (Dell). I have not had much experience with Gateway's, but I believe the support is similar. Dell has a 3 year (in our plan) performance plan that covers just about every problem we have ever had with either our laptops or desktops. The only drawback I've come across is the batteries are only covered for a year, and of course, they are the first to go.

As far as turnaround for new laptops, I'm guessing here, but I'd say we rotate our users hardware about every 2 years. Now this does not count memory upgrades. We are in the process of upgrading our major population of users from 64 to 128 megs of RAM getting ready for the Windows 2000 Upgrade. I would say 90% of our upgrades of either laptops or desktops are done because of software requirements, not from user requests. Users are upgraded when either they can talk the boss into it, or the spare parts are available.

Sales, however, is another matter. At least where I work, sales is one of the most, if not the most important departments we have. In such a small company, every sale is vital to our survival. If our sales force does not fast, powerful machines, when they go to potential clients and give demo's, we cannot have them say: "Your program will be faster than this when you sign up with us." We keep the sales staff's computers just about up to par with what the president of the company wants. Unfortunately, management does not always see this as important, and then we do what we can.

And, yes, laptop users are VERY brutal with their equipment. I lost count of how many users have come back with broken cases, cracked display's, and bent network dongles. My opinion here is to be harsh with the offenders.
I can think of one example:
A programmer came to me with a cracked laptop case and the monitor lid would not lock down. Now, our contract with Dell gives us next day service, but as this user has brought his laptop in many more times than necessary (from what I think is necessary), I gave him a loaner that was not as powerful as his own. Not such a bad machine that would make me look mean, but one that, I believed, would really make him appreciate having such an expensive piece of equipment. On top of that, I told him it would be 3-4 days before we could get his repaired.
Now I know we are probably lingering on the lines of good ethical behavior, but since then, the user has kept his laptop in it's case when not in use, and I have not seen him with any other hardware problems, save for ones that could not be avoided.
haha, he's a good little laptop user now

The way I look at it is, I was hired to fill a specific position in my company. This position includes making sure all the hardware that users have stays in good working condition. If I see someone, for the lack of a better word, abusing that equipment, it is my job to report them to the powers that be, and give them my best recomendation of what can be done. True, most of the time, I am just told either not to worry about it and just fix it, or I am given the authority to help change the users misuse of equipment, but this makes sure I'm covered if anything backfires. If this salesman is making enough money where he can afford to bang around his machine (decided by his superior, or whoever will have to sign off on the money needed for the repairs), then so be it. I do not see myself in a position where I need to say "You need to take more care of your laptop". This decision needs to come down through the appropriate channels of authority. I, as a member of support, just need to give my best judgement of what should be done to minimize the costs of parts, labor, and effort needed to fix whatever is broken.

I guess I have a lot to say on this issue and what other points it brings out, but that is enough for now.
Wow, I haven't typed that much since my senior thesis....

>:O> [TAG]
anongod@hotmail.com
"Drawing on my fine command of language, I said nothing."

 

[ElijahBaley]

We have about 12 laptops on the go and have only just replaced our old HP Omnibookp 166's which were dying a tragic death, I think they were at least 4 years old.

I think you will be lucky to expect 3 years from a laptop - but, if you tell your boss that becouse he and all the other revenue generating important sales people, are so important hey deserve only best - get him to buy a nice new range of Dell's with 3 year next business day cover plus one "shelfer" (which you can use) and life is just bliss

Graham

 

[MasterRacker]

We have about 25 notebooks. We purchase them loosely classified as "high-end" or "low-end" machines depending on the oozer's needs. We try to get 3 years out of them. We try to keep a floater of each type available that can be handed out with a little personalization for any given oozer.

<rant>
General comment. All notebooks suck. They're way too expensive and even then still underpowered (much slower slower video, RAM, HDD) than otherwise comparable desktop machines. The keyboards suck. All mobile pointing devices (touchpads, pointers. trackballs, whatever) suck. The cases are lightweight, flimsy and suck. The displays are too small, don't offer enough resolution but otherwise give a good picture so they don't completely suck. PCMCIA cards with their cheesey, flimsy dongles suck. Battery life sucks.

The reason they all suck is that the market is driven by whiney magazine columnists, salespeople and executives who all complain that they're too heavy....wah....... 15-20lbs is a good weight a portable computer. What's out there today are lightweight toys that are good for e-mail and showing slide shows and not much else. They all have their own special area of maximum suckiness but they all inhale violently!

P.S. Instead of cutting selling price, the manufacturers today are putting DVD drives into notebooks so you can watch movies. Now there's a good use of my limited budget. >:-<
</rant> Jeff

I haven't lost my mind - I know it's backed up on tape somewhere ....