"John" <fred@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:12j9ur5i9eujn16@news.supernews.com
> Good, rational advice, from both you guys ... thanks for not just
> flaming away.

And thank you for being very intelligent about this.  ;)

> Several points ...
>
> I never thought of the refurbished thing, my daughter (subject
> grandbabies mother) assures me there was no mention of this when they
> bought the unit. This is a Office Depot question and we will pursue
> it.  In fact, this could be purely an Office Depot issue.

Well it isn't clear whether they are refurbished. Although if they only 
come with 90 day warrantee, they usually are. They usually leave a clue 
with the serial number. And sometimes there is a new serial number 
sticker on top of the old serial number. And they should say refurbished 
too.

> As far as being a Windows problem, never said that.  Most blue screen
> errors are bad video drivers I have found, and this does give that
> sort of message. The evaluation at Entre found a bad systems board
> ... not sure if they meant bad mother board or what.  Hardware
> failure apparantly.

Yes I know, I mentioned this for others to benefit from mostly.

> Concerning whining about warrentee after its over ... I agree.  The
> problem is they didn't ask, their mistake, but who would think a new
> unit (if it indeed is new) would come with a 90 day warrenty.  By the
> time the grandbaby got tired up putting up with this, the warrenty
> was one month dead.  Her fault, no argument.

Yes 90 day warrantees are rare for brand new computers. Many times you 
can purchase extended warrantee for a year or more (even for 
refurbished). Sometimes you can get them at the company that owns the 
store. Sometimes you can directly from the manufacture. Which I heard is 
far better. Since the store one usually doesn't cover many things that 
the manufacture does.

> Bottom line, if you bought a new (???) laptop from a reputable mfg,
> and found out about 4 months later you had to spend $350 to repair
> it, would you be a happy camper ... nope.

Yes that is a very good point. Although most refurbished stuff can be 
hundred of dollars cheaper than new stuff. So sometimes in the end they 
can turn out to be the same price if they have to be repaired.

> On not taking buying advice from a one disgruntled comsumer ... also
> right on.  Objectively speaking, this has nothing to do with this
> laptop, but speaks of the policy of Toshiba toward supporting their
> products.

Well I don't think it is just Toshiba, but all of them seems to have a 
don't care about you after the sale. I think it is a sign of our times 
and I don't care for it.

> Two crappy laptops out of two (for us), is a small statistical sample
> granted, but enough for us.  Can't see the grandaughter buying any
> more Toshiba products.  She has a new HP widescreen and loves it.  If
> she is happy, I am happy.

I'm sure someone also has had bad luck with HP laptops and swears 
against buying them and are now buying Toshiba laptops. So for them, it 
all evens out.

Another thing too, many manufactures has some models that are junk and 
some that are exceptional. So you can't go by the manufacture anymore 
when you buy one. Worse, virtually all of them isn't made by the 
manufacture anymore. And some of them use several different 
manufactures.

> No comment on mine, I will live with it, no biggie.

I believe your model is very unusual. If I remember correctly, that one 
had 4 different manufactures making that model. And no easy way to tell 
who made that one. Worse they had 4 different Recovery CDs for it. And 
sometimes the wrong one was included I heard tell.

> Thanks for your comments and information ...

Your welcome.  :)

-- 
Bill