TB, we got the contract at Best Buy (the "Geek Squad"). When we were hopelessly vriused a few months back, we had to take it in. They fixed it. They couldn't save what we had on the drive, but we hadn't been able to access at all. They were also a little slower than we would have liked, but not ridiculously so.

If you're talking about a home computer for personal use, the Geek Squad are fine. If it's a computer for business use or some other use where you can't afford to be without it for more than 24 hours, it isn't what you're looking for.

By on-site do you mean the customer site? Dell did offer to do that, but not with hours that I could use.

If you mean taking it in and getting it fixed, I used to work for a Compaq and IBM certified place, and Compaq had a way speedy turnaround time, especially if you called in first--they could get us a part in a business day.

Unrelatedly: Anyone able to translate Corel Draw files? Not sure what version--maybe 8. The files are from 1998, so pretty old. My version of Jasc says it has a CDR filter, and I've managed to open simple files. But it's choking on the large (10+MB) ones, with the progress bar almost at complete. And when it comes to CPT I'm plain out of luck. I got nothing.

Thanks, talking about a computer for home use by a person who knows little about computers; but she is retired and can stay home to wait for service without too much problem. Circuit City has an equivalent of the Geek Squad.

Any other companies out there with decent machine and decent on-site service (desktop not laptop)? Or is Dell still the best choice? How about the big box stores with on-site service.

I bought my Sony laptop in 2001 at Best Buy. It was a big deal for me -- my cost out-the-door was more than the combined purchase price of my first three cars, and more than twice what my desktop system had cost me.

Six weeks later, the laptop wouldn't power-up. I took the machine in to the store, where they reported that it wasn't a failed power supply, it was a problem with the motherboard, and they'd have to send it to Dallas. I started to quiz them about that, they conferred a bit, then said they'd just give me a replacement -- the next model up, since that was the closest they had on hand. Made me really glad I spent the extra $300 on the maintenance contract.

The replacement has lasted me five years now.

Gah. Corel freaking owns Paint Shop Pro now. Yet the filters that come with 8.1 are the same filters (Access Softek (c) 2000) that come with my version of Word. Which crap out on this image.

This is paining me.

Does anyone have any thoughts/opinions/experiences on the relative reliability and quality of Toshiba notebooks versus Compaq notebooks?

My next post will be regarding the imminent demise of my Toshiba (also from the Satellite line) but that aside, it's served me very well for almost more than five years of very tough usage and little care. When I bought it, I spent a lot of time in a lot of forums (fora?) gathering opinions on various makes and the Toshibas came out on top by a mile.

On that note, I'm thinking maybe I'll go Mac this time around. MacBook - the Pro is way more than I need. But can anyone throw out some pros/cons that I ought to consider when choosing between the three available MacBook models? Or should I be going that direction at all?

I use my computer, sadly, almost entirely for internets and for downloading/watching video/tv/movies. It would be great to be able to play around with some vidding too. The games I run tend more toward webboggle than anything requiring serious power. But I am kind of impatient by nature so speed is still a v. good thing.

Recommendations? Advice?

I'd only recommend the MacBook Pros if you need Firewire 800, an ExpressCard slot or fast 3D graphic performance. Or if really glossy screens drive you nuts.

For example, my wife wanted to play World of Warcraft on her Mac, which eliminated the MacBook line.

Within the MacBooks I'd say get the middle model unless you are certain you never want to burn a DVD. It seems like a waste to spend $200 more for the color black and 20GB more disk space.

Either way, I'd upgrade the memory to 1GB. Doing so will cost you $40 extra if you let Apple do it.

That said, both the MacBooks and the MacBook Pros are very much version 1.0 products. If you can arrange to wait six months you might end up missing some early adopter pain.

Thanks very much Rob. You confirmed much of my thinking. I am now completely without internets at home though, so I think six months is, ahem, unlikely.

Hey, has anyone had pictures disappear from Flickr? I just realized that everything I posted there before December 2004 is not showing up. (Probably about 4 months worth of photos.) Actually they're still there, because I clicked on one form October 2004 that I posted in my blog, and it takes me to the picture in Flickr, but when I look at "My photos" or in the archives, it doesn't show me anyhting previous to Dec/04.