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

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.