Hardware question from "fly-over country"

[Cybe R. Wizard]

On Mon, 28 Nov 2011 21:22:28 -0600
Richard Owlett <rowlett at pcnetinc.com> wrote:

> I'm in RURAL SW Missouri. A local used/surplus computer 
> store is offering a Dell Latitude D620 (4GB memory, 80GB 
> hard drive, Intel Core Duo @ 2.4 GHz) for ~$500. It 
> reportedly has the majority of manufacturer's warranty.
> 
> Any comments on how suitable a Linux platform this would be?
> 
> TIA
> 
Hiya, Richard, I'm in Jeff. County just south of St Louie.

I don't know about that particular box but...
I bought Elder Daughter a top-of-the-line Dell laptop with all the
goodies to take off to Rollins College in 2001.  Because she'd be a
half-a-continent away I bought the on-site next-day service pack for
the full four years.
The box died before her second year completed.  A call got a service
tech within a /week/.  He changed the hard drive.  No joy.  Numerous
calls got a service tech (not the same one) within a week each
time.  /NEVER/ was a tech there the next day.  He changed the hard
drive and the screen (for some reason, the screen worked fine).  No
joy.  She came home for summer break.  We called and called, got tech
after tech, they all wanted to install a new hard drive.
/After the whole summer break/ Dell finally admitted they should just
give us a new box.  It came bare-bones without the extra DVD drive we
originally ordered (that one would no longer fit the new box), the
floppy drive (same problem of fit), the Zip drive (wouldn't fit the
case), the extra battery (same fitting problem), the extra RAM and the
large hard drive we had originally ordered.  

Their reason?  We were getting a CPU upgrade.

We didn't want a CPU upgrade; we wanted the functionality for which
we had paid.  We wanted same-day, on-site service for which we'd paid.

We bought her a new Hewlett-Packard laptop in 2003 with which to finish
college.

I'd never again sully my hands with a Dell.

The 2003 HP still works fine.

Of course, YMMV.  HTH.

Cybe R. Wizard
-- 
Strength through Unity.
Unity through faith.
	Adam Sutler