Rob really, really liked his ASUS laptop. He kept it clean, treated it kindly, and loved it very much. Yet the display mysteriously broke…sort of… and it began crying rainbow LCD tears when it was only six months old. He sent it in for repair, and the company first told him that the repair would take three business days…then fourteen. Rob would really, really like his computer back. [More]
laptops
Sony's Repair Service Has Left My Coworker Computerless Since August
By 11.9.10
Back in August, Michael tried to do his co-worker a favor by guiding him through Sony’s warranty repair, but did him no favors because the the repair attempt ended up breaking the computer in a different way. The computer has since fallen out of the warranty window but apparently is still in the long, winding path toward redemption. [More]
Study: If You Like Your Sperm, Don't Put Your Laptop On Your Lap
By 11.8.10
Just because they call it a laptop computer doesn’t mean you should put it on your lap — especially if you’re a male who is hoping to reproduce, says a new study. [More]
Best Buy: 'Sorry, We Sold You A Laptop, Not An Operating System'
By 10.25.10
Sharon’s husband had Best Buy repair a laptop, and when he got it back the Windows 7 operating system was missing. They complained to Best Buy, which refused to reinstall the system, saying it had held up its end of the bargain because it had originally sold them a laptop, not Windows 7. [More]
HP Can't Fix My Laptop, Wants It Back For Another Try
By 10.13.10
Law Student writes in with an objection to HP’s repair service, which twice sent back his laptop even more broken than it was when he sent it in. Now HP wants another crack at the machine but he’s leery of giving the company another shot. [More]
Never Click On "Free Public Wifi"
By 10.12.10
When you’re cruising for a hotspot at a coffee shop, never click on the “Free Public Wifi” wireless network. “Free Public Wifi” is a Windows XP quirk; when a computer can’t find any of its favorite networks it creates a network on-the-fly, but it doesn’t go anywhere. At best, you’ll never connect to the internet. At worst, you could be exposing your computer to hackers. [More]
Boy Develops "Toasted Skin Syndrome" From Laptop
By 10.6.10
A 12 year-old-boy who played computer games a few hours a day for several months with his laptop on his legs developed permanent sponge-patterned discoloration on his left thigh. Though he knew it got hot, he didn’t adjust the laptop. [More]
Track And Recover A Stolen Laptop With Prey
By 9.24.10
Lifehacker has a great tutorial on how to use the free software called “Prey” to track and recover your stolen laptop or Android. What’s cool is that the program can silently locate the laptop via triangulation and take pictures and screenshots, or you can more aggressively lock the computer down and send whoever is using it various warning messages. [More]
Best Buy Repairs Laptop With Fried Motherboard By Replacing Hard Drive, Removing Operating System
By 9.20.10
The Geek Squad service timeline for Stephen’s $1300 Asus laptop went something like this: ship it off for repairs, get it back in an even more broken state and missing all data, be forced to buy a $35 disk from Asus to prove to Best Buy that the problem is their responsibility, then finally find that something went missing during the first repair. Stephen eventually just asked for his money back on his ruined laptop, but the best he could get was store credit. [More]
HP Happy To Fix My Computer For Free After I Took Them To Small Claims Court
By 8.6.10
Do you have a defective computer that the manufacturer refuses to repair? Emmanuel has some advice for you: take ’em to court. Facing a constantly rebooting laptop, he tells Consumerist that HP was only willing to fix it if he paid a $225 fee. Unsatisfied with this solution, he filed in small claims court, and the company offered to fix it for free. As long as he drops the case. [More]
Security Patching For XP Service Pack 2 Ends Today
By 7.13.10
If you’re still using Windows XP SP2, you’re about to be on your own. Today Microsoft releases its final security update for Service Pack 2 (the 32-bit version, at least). [More]
7 Things Ex-Geek Squad Employee Wishes Every Computer Novice Knew
By 7.2.10
Not all Geek Squad technicians are ex-Domino’s delivery guys trying to siphon porn from your computer, some of them actually have a heart. This guy gal does, and it keeps breaking over and over again as he she sees clueless consumers queuing up to pay for service for mundane computer issues they could have prevented with just a teensy bit of know-how. Perhaps that is why she no longer works there. In any event, he she sent us a list of 7 different money-saving tips he she wished every computer owner knew. Most Consumerist readers probably know them, and most Best Buy customers don’t, so send this on to your Aunt Gretchen and lose Geek Squad some business: [More]
54,000 More HP Batteries Recalled
By 5.24.10
Hewlett-Packard doesn’t just make props for cringeworthy feature length commercials; the company also sells batteries that sometimes catch fire. A year ago HP recalled about 70,000 bad batteries, and now it’s added another 54,000 to the list. [More]
HP Laughed Off My Friend's Laptop Warranty Repair Request
By 5.17.10
Andrew’s friend has an HP laptop that suddenly couldn’t detect wireless networks. Although the original warranty period had passed, the internet-less customer discovered HP had discovered problems like this were rampant enough that the company decided to extend the warranty. But when the friend called and tried to set up a repair ticket, the rep laughed at him and told him it would cost $249. [More]
Acer Netbook Fails After 3 Weeks; Repair Facility Helpfully Breaks It More
By 4.30.10
The Acer netbook that Danielle bought for law school is light and portable, but not so great in the “actually working as a netbook” sense. She tells Consumerist that problems with the wireless card began in the first few weeks she owned the machine. When she was finally able to send the netbook in for service, Acer somehow managed to send it back to her in worse condition than it was originally. On the first repair attempt, they sent the computer back with the display non-functional. On the second, they somehow broke the M key. [More]
A MacBook Burned My Boss's Skin
By 4.28.10
Miriam says her boss had her skin blistered by a MacBook. Apparently the computer ran hot, but not uncomfortably so. The next thing the MacBook attack victim knew her skin, pictured, was blistered. [More]
Reach Toshiba Executive Customer Service
By 4.16.10
Your laptop is a craptop, the hold music won’t stop and the call center won’t talk, so you’re looking for a guy at the Toshiba top to get you back on top. Guy Lugo is that guy: [More]
Macbook Pro Shocks Owner, Leaves Marks
By 3.31.10
Karen says Apple is shocking her. Not with their innovative product design, but literally, her 2004ish 17″ Macbook Pro is shooting electricity into her arms. “We’re not talking, little static shocks,” Karen writes, presumably, using the selfsame laptop, “these are fully legitly painful shocks.” [More]
