We need to do our homework before buying a PC or notebook

By Zatni Arbi

JAKARTA (JP): A reader recently dropped me an e-mail to share his frustrations. The e-mail was addressed to the right person because his disappointment was the result of following a recommendation from me. He bought an expensive Micron Transport XPE notebook computer, which I reviewed in this column in October 1997. Not only did the US$4,500 machine lack features such as a USB port and a large 13.1 inch screen, its LCD screen became very unstable after one year. Worse, no support was available locally. He felt so betrayed that he offered me the notebook for $1,000.

The more I thought about it, however, the more I found that some of the points he made were a little unfair, although I must admit that I did overlook some critical aspects. But rather than trying to defend myself, I thought, why not share with you my own mistakes in buying computer products and how I have managed to make many right decisions as well.

Just a brief encounter

One thing to keep in mind when reading reviews is that reviewers normally do not have months to test a product. In my case, for example, I rarely test drive a demo unit for more than two weeks. The product may be very costly and the thought of having it stolen while in my possession may prevent me from sleeping well at night. Other times the vendors need to let other testers (usually my friends at InfoKomputer) or their customers play around with the same test unit. People at PC Magazine's or PC/Computing's test labs have new products coming in all the time. With only a brief getting-to-know-you session, it's unlikely that reviewers will be able to predict what will happen to the LCD screen or the touch pad one year down the line.

Out of the many publications that I subscribe to, only PC Magazine features a Second Looks column, where they provide us with updated information on a product after they have used it for a couple of months. And it's interesting to see how, at times, they drew inaccurate conclusions about a particular product. In the April 20 issue, for example, they confessed that Winfax Pro 9.0, about which they raved six months earlier, had prompted some readers "to call for our heads on a platter", as they put it. They also changed their opinion about ImageDeck, a stand-alone scanner, because their test unit turned out to be an incomplete preshipped product.

Despite the amount of the information that I read, I myself have made expensive errors when making purchases. As I once mentioned in this article, I recommended an already discontinued DeskJet to my boss and he bought four of them for our office.

Within three months, all four of them had broken rubber rollers. HP quickly fixed the problem and all four of them have been giving us good service ever since.

My first notebook was the Toshiba Satellite 100CS, and I liked it very much except for the DSTN screen. I got another notebook with a TFT screen, which was better for my eyes, and decided to sell the 100CS. I incidentally read in a magazine that the 100CS was ranked as one of the best used notebooks on the market. I told this to one of my seniors, and she bought it from me for a very reasonable price. After two months, its CMOS battery died. It was barely two years old at the time.

So remember that even reviewers make mistakes, myself not excluded. In my room I have modems, large monitors, keyboards, mice, etc. that have had untimely deaths. When you buy a mass- produced product there is always a chance that you will get a lemon despite the rigorous quality testing that the vendor claims to have done on it. Particularly today, because computer and notebook vendors have to rush their products to market because of the shorter and shorter life cycles of products, the probability is higher that you have less than perfect products. New software products have been notoriously buggy lately.

Reviews are still useful

But reviews are not 100 percent untrustworthy, either. The best thing to do is to combine the opinion of several independent reviewers. Thanks to the Internet, doing our homework is no longer an expensive exercise. You can access the sites of most computer magazines and see what their recommendations are.

Back in 1988 and 1989, when I was still a student in the U.S., I recommended the Taiwanese Leading Edge Model D to a couple of Indonesian friends. Who would believe me when I said that a Taiwanese machine was a better choice than the American-made IBM PCs, which were available to students at discounted prices at the time? They did. As it turns out, at least one of those Leading Edge 8088 PCs is still being used today in a friend's study in Pasar Minggu. How was I able to make such a choice at the time, when my knowledge of computers was far less than it is now?

I had learned about the Model D in Consumer Reports, a publication from the U.S. Consumer Union. The people working in their labs do perhaps the most objective product testing in the world.

The magazine carries no advertisements. Funding comes from members, contributions with no strings attached, as well as from selling their information. The tested products -- cars, refrigerators, PCs, bicycles, etc. -- are purchased. None of the products are provided by vendors.

It was in this magazine that I found the positive review of the Model D, and I'm still positive that all those friends of mine were happy with my advice.

Unfortunately, even Consumer Reports has limitations. Just two days before I wrote this article, I received the May issue of this magazine, and the cover story happened to be on laptop computers. To my disappointment, they reviewed only 11 Window laptops and one Mac notebook, so the choice is very limited. Still, the article is worth reading.

Incidentally, please note that Consumer Reports is not about PCs and notebooks only. They conduct tests on a wide range of consumer products, including condoms, laundry detergents, home stereos and home-office equipment, including photocopiers, phones and fax machines. The issues are also chock-full with useful information on things such as health and personal financial matters. Even if you don't live in the U.S., the magazine can be very useful (international subscriptions cost $32 per year). Their URL is www.consumerreports.org.

As I always remind you from time to time in this column, you should choose a PC or notebook based on your needs -- unless you belong to that group of people Time has just placed under the spotlight again. Put in a different way, you should be able to justify your purchase by making sure that you can recoup most of the money you invested in a new PC or notebook within two to three years. The more you invest, the more quickly you have to be able to get increased productivity from the machine. Because at the rate new technologies are introduced in the computer world today, that's about how long you can keep a PC or notebook. Beyond that, it will barely have any market value.

By the way, there is a piece of good advice that this reader gave me at the end of his e-mail. He wrote: "Zatni, please do more research when making (expensive) recommendations as readers may just follow your advice." I thank him for the advice and I will certainly heed it.