Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

driver100

Michaell said:

Up to two weeks ago, my work laptop was using the monitor, and my "personal" laptop sat to the right.

Years ago, I used my laptop as the center monitor, and had large monitors to the left and right - effectively 3 monitors total. This was on a much larger desk, however.

Could be a problem if you mix up your personal computer and work computer.

mlevine

My thoughts on windows based laptop. I like HP and Dell. Would go with I7 chip, 1TB SSD, and at least 16 GB of memory. Would get separate graphics card not intergrated. Now price is not too cheap but should last a long time. I think one could get a design like this for $750 to $950 just look for sales out there.

snakeweasel

henryn said:

Michaell said:

stickguy said:

Thanks Henry. I was looking earlier and the selection is overwhelming.

I like the HP but think I will stick with a 15.6" screen since that is what I have now. though 14 could be fine too, and less bulky... but I am afraid I would miss the big screen.

The laptop I am using has a 17" screen, but I've got an external 24" monitor plugged into it, and a BT mouse and keyboard. I'm finding my productivity for moderating these boards and my job search is much higher with these accessories attached.

Chevron went to equipping every knowledge worker with two 24 inch monitors about 15 years ago. Productivity increases will cover the cost of the monitors in a very short period of time. The last I heard, Exxon, Shell, and BP have all done the same.

If you make a living sitting in front of a computer, you need multiple large monitors, end of story.

At work they have everyone with two monitors, some have more depending on their job.

snakeweasel

stickguy said:

oh yeah, I forgot about the keyboard. I like my number pad!

separate monitor is not going to work well, since I take laptop literally, and I sit it my recliner with the computer on my lap!

I also take "Laptop" literally and you will see my laptop all over the house. My wife keeps and uses hers at one set location and doesn't use it anywhere else, should have bought her a desktop.

snakeweasel

driver100 said:

Michaell said:

Up to two weeks ago, my work laptop was using the monitor, and my "personal" laptop sat to the right.

Years ago, I used my laptop as the center monitor, and had large monitors to the left and right - effectively 3 monitors total. This was on a much larger desk, however.

Could be a problem if you mix up your personal computer and work computer.

Not if you access your work computer remotely using your personal computer (which I will be doing in about 15 minutes).

kyfdx

tjc78 said:

@kyfdx said:
@tjc78 You have to be flexible on flight days. Also, tickets should come down to the $2500-$3000 range, sometime in the week before.

We've found flights for about $500/ea into PHX, and $300/ea non-stop into Vegas (4 hr drive). In on Saturday, and out on Wednesday.

$250 rental car

$400/night in a Holiday Inn Express about 13 miles from the stadium

$6K for tickets

$1K for plane

$1.6K for lodging

0.25K for car

= $9K or so, total

Of course, if your team wins this weekend, the airfare goes through the roof, within about an hour. I know, because we were in the SuperBowl, last year ( I didn't go)., though I scoped it out. If you want to fly back on Monday or Tuesday, very pricey.

Good insight. I didn’t realize tickets would go down. So I’d assume everyone is just shooting for the moon right now?

Honestly my son (turns 9 in March) is still a little young for this. He would get much more out of it in a few years.

The reason I know, is the Bengals went to the Super Bowl, last year, and I was tracking it (didn't go, though).

No way I'd blow this amount of dough on a 9 yr old. It will be my wife and I. The hard part is breaking it to my 29 yr old that I'm not taking him.

We went ahead and bought plane tickets on AA. If we don't win Sunday, I can use the travel credit on other plane trips we have planned for this year. Non-stop, Saturday to Wednesday. $463/pp.

kyfdx

28firefighter said:

I would love to know what business I could successfully bootstrap with $9000 that will actually sustain.

I agree with helping understand the value of money. However, there are a number of folks that would happily spend this kind of money for an experience that creates a core memory vs say, cars. Because it isn't just about the game if you choose to go - you're paying for the memory of the experience. To each their own, right?

Or, you already made your money, and now you're spending it?

kyfdx

qbrozen said:

tjc78 said:

At any rate need to get past the niners next week.

As I told my son, if the Eagles and Niners who showed up this past week show up for their match against each other, the Eagles will win. The few times the Cowboys ran the ball (because they are a passing team), they made big gains, and the Eagles run game is far superior. And the Cowboys defense kept the scoring down, while the Eagles defense is also superior. But... any given Sunday. You just don't know. Fingers crossed.

I like how when it comes down to brass tacks, Jalen Hurts can just take over, and run the ball. I watched the Eagles a lot this year, because Hurts was my fantasy team QB. He takes his talent and turns it into production.

snakeweasel

kyfdx said:

28firefighter said:

I would love to know what business I could successfully bootstrap with $9000 that will actually sustain.

I agree with helping understand the value of money. However, there are a number of folks that would happily spend this kind of money for an experience that creates a core memory vs say, cars. Because it isn't just about the game if you choose to go - you're paying for the memory of the experience. To each their own, right?

Or, you already made your money, and now you're spending it?

Or you're one of those people who are so rich that $9K is just a rounding error in your investment accounts.

kyfdx

snakeweasel said:

kyfdx said:

28firefighter said:

I would love to know what business I could successfully bootstrap with $9000 that will actually sustain.

I agree with helping understand the value of money. However, there are a number of folks that would happily spend this kind of money for an experience that creates a core memory vs say, cars. Because it isn't just about the game if you choose to go - you're paying for the memory of the experience. To each their own, right?

Or, you already made your money, and now you're spending it?

Or you're one of those people who are so rich that $9K is just a rounding error in your investment accounts.

qbrozen

Although I'm an editor and benefit from a large screen, I'd rather be comfortable. I mostly split my work time on the laptop sitting on the couch or in bed. I use my desk for meeting where I need to be on screen.

stickguy

mlevine said:

My thoughts on windows based laptop. I like HP and Dell. Would go with I7 chip, 1TB SSD, and at least 16 GB of memory. Would get separate graphics card not intergrated. Now price is not too cheap but should last a long time. I think one could get a design like this for $750 to $950 just look for sales out there.

sounds like overkill for something to hang out on Edmunds, check Email, and watch car repair videos on Youtube!

Michaell

Regarding my computer set up - I have to also keep the wife happy with the aesthetics. She bought me the desk when we moved into the house, and I try to keep things relatively tidy.

stickguy

I actually stopped at WallyWorld today to look at laptops in person. As I suspected none of the ones I was interested in from online were in the store, but I could at least try out comparable keyboards. I do like the HP one that I have now (and when I got this unit, that was the primary reason).

in the store they mostly had 14" screens, and 4gig/128gig SSD configurations.

kyfdx

SSD is a must, IMO. And, a number pad on the keyboard.

But, my Edmunds laptop has neither of those. But, the price was right, and I only use it about an hour per month, when I'm home. It's great for the road, though, because it has a VPN.

stickguy

I am not sure if any of the models in the store have old fashioned hard drives. Seems like everything now is SSD. I do really like the number pad too.

fintail

Costco can have fair computer deals now and then. I picked up a HP Envy like this: https://www.costco.com/hp-envy-x360-15.6"-touchscreen-2-in-1-laptop----amd-ryzen-7-5825u---1080p---windows-11.product.100975185.html just before the new year, it was $699 at the time, and has decent specs. So far, I am more than pleased.

My prior computer, a 2015 HP Spectre, had been virtually flawless, but in December finally started showing its age - battery issues. I bought a new battery, switched it out, and it seemed worse - the new one had insanely slow charging, both had inconsistent battery life (sometimes 3-4 hours, sometimes 30 minutes) - I suspected another fault, and at the computer's age and general wear and tear, not worth replacing more parts hunting for the fault. I kept it as an emergency backup. I would have bought another Spectre, but the equivalent was quite expensive, and I was hoping to keep it under a grand.

driver100

Coming out of the coffee shop after tennis this was parked on the lot outside;

oldfarmer50

qbrozen said:

Although I'm an editor and benefit from a large screen, I'd rather be comfortable. I mostly split my work time on the laptop sitting on the couch or in bed. I use my desk for meeting where I need to be on screen.

I can just imagine that scene:

driver100

I am surprised Costco HP 15.6 inch screen are so expensive;
https://www.costco.com/CatalogSearch?dept=All&keyword=hp+laptop+15.6

laurasdada

Post Xmas, bought an HP 14" at Costco on sale for $400 (currently $550). Like the doubled warranty and customer service that Costco offers:

6-Core 12th Gen Intel Core i3 Processor
8 GB DDR4-3200 RAM
512 GB PCIe NMVe M.2 Solid-state Drive
And, a backlit keyboard! But, silver...

Outside of work, I'm a simple user; surf, taxes, music, basic Office functionality. Mostly car shop!

jmonroe1

kyfdx said:

28firefighter said:

I would love to know what business I could successfully bootstrap with $9000 that will actually sustain.

I agree with helping understand the value of money. However, there are a number of folks that would happily spend this kind of money for an experience that creates a core memory vs say, cars. Because it isn't just about the game if you choose to go - you're paying for the memory of the experience. To each their own, right?

Or, you already made your money, and now you're spending it?

————————————————
You talkin to me?

jmonroe

snakeweasel

stickguy said:

I am not sure if any of the models in the store have old fashioned hard drives. Seems like everything now is SSD. I do really like the number pad too.

In my work a number pad is a lifesaver as I am inputting numbers far more than letters.

snakeweasel

oldfarmer50 said:

qbrozen said:

Although I'm an editor and benefit from a large screen, I'd rather be comfortable. I mostly split my work time on the laptop sitting on the couch or in bed. I use my desk for meeting where I need to be on screen.

I can just imagine that scene:

Well we have this.

https://youtu.be/8n8ZY9le82A

qbrozen

oldfarmer50 said:

qbrozen said:

Although I'm an editor and benefit from a large screen, I'd rather be comfortable. I mostly split my work time on the laptop sitting on the couch or in bed. I use my desk for meeting where I need to be on screen.

I can just imagine that scene:

I did not approve this use of my likeness

qbrozen

I love how, when some people lowball an item you have for sale, they'll add "cash" as if it means something. Like ... "here's a set of used tires for $400" to which the message is "$250 cash." Well, what the heck else do you think I'd be accepting? $250 in food stamps perhaps?

jmonroe1

kyfdx said:

snakeweasel said:

kyfdx said:

28firefighter said:

I would love to know what business I could successfully bootstrap with $9000 that will actually sustain.

I agree with helping understand the value of money. However, there are a number of folks that would happily spend this kind of money for an experience that creates a core memory vs say, cars. Because it isn't just about the game if you choose to go - you're paying for the memory of the experience. To each their own, right?

Or, you already made your money, and now you're spending it?

Or you're one of those people who are so rich that $9K is just a rounding error in your investment accounts.

————————————————
Yep, it’s nice to have problems like that.

jmonroe

henryn

qbrozen said:

I love how, when some people lowball an item you have for sale, they'll add "cash" as if it means something. Like ... "here's a set of used tires for $400" to which the message is "$250 cash." Well, what the heck else do you think I'd be accepting? $250 in food stamps perhaps?

I have been guilty of that in the past, but not so much anymore. Another trick I learned going back nearly 50 years ago -- when negotiating, in person, pull out the wad of money from your pocket and show the seller you actually have the funds, right here, right now. These days, they are more likely to go to the ATM machine, as very few carry cash.

When I bought my present used truck, we did the transaction at the bank. I told him he could come with me to the bank, and watch the teller make out the cashier's check. There are numerous stories out there about fake cashier's checks.

henryn

oldfarmer50 said:

qbrozen said:

Although I'm an editor and benefit from a large screen, I'd rather be comfortable. I mostly split my work time on the laptop sitting on the couch or in bed. I use my desk for meeting where I need to be on screen.

I can just imagine that scene:

I'm sure we all remember the Jeffrey Toobin incident ....

qbrozen

I agree on the method if standing in front of the person. Has zero impact through texting, though, and really meaningless when we're talking a few hundred bucks.

henryn

mlevine said:

My thoughts on windows based laptop. I like HP and Dell. Would go with I7 chip, 1TB SSD, and at least 16 GB of memory. Would get separate graphics card not intergrated. Now price is not too cheap but should last a long time. I think one could get a design like this for $750 to $950 just look for sales out there.

I just checked this on Newegg. Looking at laptops, with Intel I7 cpu, 17 inch screen, a minimum of 16 gigs of RAM, 1 TB SSD and Nvidia graphics, then sorted by price – the lowest cost model is $1,569. The second lowest is $1,669.

I think you have grossly underestimated the cost. If you’re not a gamer, you really don’t need separate Nvidia graphics. And if you eliminate the Nvidia graphics, the price range starts at around $800.

oldfarmer50

qbrozen said:

I love how, when some people lowball an item you have for sale, they'll add "cash" as if it means something. Like ... "here's a set of used tires for $400" to which the message is "$250 cash." Well, what the heck else do you think I'd be accepting? $250 in food stamps perhaps?

Maybe they think you offer financing.

oldfarmer50

henryn said:

qbrozen said:

I love how, when some people lowball an item you have for sale, they'll add "cash" as if it means something. Like ... "here's a set of used tires for $400" to which the message is "$250 cash." Well, what the heck else do you think I'd be accepting? $250 in food stamps perhaps?

I have been guilty of that in the past, but not so much anymore. Another trick I learned going back nearly 50 years ago -- when negotiating, in person, pull out the wad of money from your pocket and show the seller you actually have the funds, right here, right now. These days, they are more likely to go to the ATM machine, as very few carry cash.

When I bought my present used truck, we did the transaction at the bank. I told him he could come with me to the bank, and watch the teller make out the cashier's check. There are numerous stories out there about fake cashier's checks.

The bank is the only place I’d do a large transaction. These days if you pull out a wad of cash you’re likely to get hit over the head and robbed.

In the early days of Craigslist there were numerous stories of someone going to the country at midnight to get a great deal on a car only to lose the cash and their own car.

stickguy

got ambitious today and finally looked up local radio stations, and put in stations for all the available presets in my Maverick. So now I have about 15 stations to pick from instead of 1! only been 6 months since I moved up here so was probably about time.

venture

driver100 said:

Coming out of the coffee shop after tennis this was parked on the lot outside;

'56 Chevy Nomad. Nice.

imidazol97

@stickguy
My two cent's worth: Have you considered keeping you current laptop and upgrading the RAM size if it will hold more? Have you tried removing malware and junk that might be slowing it down?

Our friends have a casual use desktop. It has 4 GB of ram. It can hold 16. Everytime it's running slow when I'm working on it, I check ctrl-alt-delete and look at task manager and find its memory is overloaded and it's using the hard drive as additional RAM. Writing to and reading from a mechanical hard drive is slow.

So I'm going to replace their memory with 16 GB (2x8GB, $25) and replace their 500 GB mechanical drive with a 500 SSD ($25).

Also, I note that the "knowledge kings" who write reports on various stocks were commenting on Intel's disappointing financials yesterday. One stated that computer sales have been really slow, because people bought lots of computers at the beginning of the pandemic, and they are hanging onto those units now.

So I'd expect some sales at various places, Office Depot, Staples, online stores, Microcenter in this area, to move stock. If you pick configurations and units that were trendy 6 months ago, typically the trends have moved on and you're still getting 95% of the latest and greatest performance. Son was sort of shopping for a gaming laptop to take with him when he travels on business. Currently he's using one of my Intel I3 laptops HP unit that's 6 to 8 years old.

driver100

From Dennis O'Sullivan's column this week;
QUESTION

Last week I purchased a used car from a well-known car lot in town. I had the car for one week and the battery died. I was assured when buying the car that everything was checked out and that I would have years of maintenance free driving. I purchased a new battery and the used car lot will not assist in helping me pay for the battery. Does the battery fall under the mechanical safety and why is the dealer being such a jerk in not helping me out? They knew that I was a student and money was tight. My dad says that you can help me out with this battery cost.

Thanks, Tina

ANSWER

The car you purchased was on the lot for over two months and the battery never at that time failed. A battery can be tested today and fail tomorrow so I do not think that the dealer intentionally sold you a car with a bad battery. They do have a thirty-day warranty on some parts and the battery was one of the warranted parts. You did not call them but went ahead and purchased a battery from Canadian Tire and then expected them to pay for that battery and the cost to install, which they have refused to do. This may have been a different outcome if you were somewhere far away but you were right here in town and you could have called the car lot. The car lot is going to offer you seventy-five dollars towards the cost of the battery, which they would have paid in their own shop.

PS: Do not expect years of maintenance free driving with a car that has over 125000 miles.

stickguy

imidazol97 said:

@stickguy
My two cent's worth: Have you considered keeping you current laptop and upgrading the RAM size if it will hold more? Have you tried removing malware and junk that might be slowing it down?

Our friends have a casual use desktop. It has 4 GB of ram. It can hold 16. Everytime it's running slow when I'm working on it, I check ctrl-alt-delete and look at task manager and find its memory is overloaded and it's using the hard drive as additional RAM. Writing to and reading from a mechanical hard drive is slow.

So I'm going to replace their memory with 16 GB (2x8GB, $25) and replace their 500 GB mechanical drive with a 500 SSD ($25).

Also, I note that the "knowledge kings" who write reports on various stocks were commenting on Intel's disappointing financials yesterday. One stated that computer sales have been really slow, because people bought lots of computers at the beginning of the pandemic, and they are hanging onto those units now.

So I'd expect some sales at various places, Office Depot, Staples, online stores, Microcenter in this area, to move stock. If you pick configurations and units that were trendy 6 months ago, typically the trends have moved on and you're still getting 95% of the latest and greatest performance. Son was sort of shopping for a gaming laptop to take with him when he travels on business. Currently he's using one of my Intel I3 laptops HP unit that's 6 to 8 years old.

it probably could use a deep clean again. But it does have 8 gigs of RAM already, and I think a 512 gig HD. The power supply cable is also broken again (electrical tape holding it to the plug). I already had to buy a replacement one of those once.

pretty much just getting fiddly enough to just be nicer to get a fresh unit. I have no desire to start opening it up and messing around.

henryn

driver100 said:

From Dennis O'Sullivan's column this week;
QUESTION

Last week I purchased a used car from a well-known car lot in town. I had the car for one week and the battery died. I was assured when buying the car that everything was checked out and that I would have years of maintenance free driving. I purchased a new battery and the used car lot will not assist in helping me pay for the battery. Does the battery fall under the mechanical safety and why is the dealer being such a jerk in not helping me out? They knew that I was a student and money was tight. My dad says that you can help me out with this battery cost.

Thanks, Tina

ANSWER

The car you purchased was on the lot for over two months and the battery never at that time failed. A battery can be tested today and fail tomorrow so I do not think that the dealer intentionally sold you a car with a bad battery. They do have a thirty-day warranty on some parts and the battery was one of the warranted parts. You did not call them but went ahead and purchased a battery from Canadian Tire and then expected them to pay for that battery and the cost to install, which they have refused to do. This may have been a different outcome if you were somewhere far away but you were right here in town and you could have called the car lot. The car lot is going to offer you seventy-five dollars towards the cost of the battery, which they would have paid in their own shop.

PS: Do not expect years of maintenance free driving with a car that has over 125000 miles.

??? Since when could anyone get a car battery for $75?

I will agree the customer should have contacted the dealer, but $75 is not even in the ball park.

henryn

imidazol97 said:

@stickguy
My two cent's worth: Have you considered keeping you current laptop and upgrading the RAM size if it will hold more? Have you tried removing malware and junk that might be slowing it down?

Our friends have a casual use desktop. It has 4 GB of ram. It can hold 16. Everytime it's running slow when I'm working on it, I check ctrl-alt-delete and look at task manager and find its memory is overloaded and it's using the hard drive as additional RAM. Writing to and reading from a mechanical hard drive is slow.

So I'm going to replace their memory with 16 GB (2x8GB, $25) and replace their 500 GB mechanical drive with a 500 SSD ($25).

Also, I note that the "knowledge kings" who write reports on various stocks were commenting on Intel's disappointing financials yesterday. One stated that computer sales have been really slow, because people bought lots of computers at the beginning of the pandemic, and they are hanging onto those units now.

So I'd expect some sales at various places, Office Depot, Staples, online stores, Microcenter in this area, to move stock. If you pick configurations and units that were trendy 6 months ago, typically the trends have moved on and you're still getting 95% of the latest and greatest performance. Son was sort of shopping for a gaming laptop to take with him when he travels on business. Currently he's using one of my Intel I3 laptops HP unit that's 6 to 8 years old.

I agree enthusiastically with your intended upgrades, very much worthwhile. If this is a recent model laptop, have lots of fun prying open the back with "guitar pics" and hope you don't have to unlatch any of the flat ribbon connectors that are so easily broken.

And by the way, Task Manager is "Ctrl-Shift-Esc", not "ctrl-alt-delete".

ab348

I get a Task Manager window using Ctrl-Alt-Del. Never used the combo you posted.

mlevine

I need a laptop with higher end components as I have multiple programs from different clients that are dependent on processor, memory, and graphics card. I think certain times of the year one can get a great deal at best buy and costco that will be about $750 to $950. On a desktop it is easier to add more memory, update hard drive, and even graphics card in the future. Laptop is more difficult.

Michaell

I'm using a hand me down laptop from my wife and daughter that they bought for the business 3 years ago. Dell branded, don't know much about the specs, but I replaced the hard disk with an SSD a year or so ago. Guy at the computer repair shop I used complemented me on the model they had picked.

Girls now use MacBooks for all their needs - one at the studio, two at home.

imidazol97

ab348 said:

I get a Task Manager window using Ctrl-Alt-Del. Never used the combo you posted.

Me too. Is there a difference between brands? ctrl-shift-del gives me the settings page in Brave Browser.

imidazol97

Replacing the hard drive on my lapstops is a matter of removing two screws on a rectangular cover. IIRC there is a metal cover on the drive that is held down by two more screws or something. You just have to look at it and don't do anything quickly without being sure it's the right thing. The mechanical drive just
unhooked from the two connectors, power and SATA, and it was in there. HOWEVER, I did use a fake external drive connector through the USB to copy the old drive to the new SSD using a program DiskGeniius to adjust the sizes of the partitions as I needed them to fit the new drive's smaller size.

The memory strips are in another rectangular opening and they snap in and out. I watched a few videos on doing the memory changes for HP/Compaq laptops. The memory strips are smaller and more expensive for laptops.

venture

imidazol97 said:

ab348 said:

I get a Task Manager window using Ctrl-Alt-Del. Never used the combo you posted.

Me too. Is there a difference between brands? ctrl-shift-del gives me the settings page in Brave Browser.

It's Ctrl-Shift-Esc

oldfarmer50

henryn said:

driver100 said:

From Dennis O'Sullivan's column this week;
QUESTION

Last week I purchased a used car from a well-known car lot in town. I had the car for one week and the battery died. I was assured when buying the car that everything was checked out and that I would have years of maintenance free driving. I purchased a new battery and the used car lot will not assist in helping me pay for the battery. Does the battery fall under the mechanical safety and why is the dealer being such a jerk in not helping me out? They knew that I was a student and money was tight. My dad says that you can help me out with this battery cost.

Thanks, Tina

ANSWER

The car you purchased was on the lot for over two months and the battery never at that time failed. A battery can be tested today and fail tomorrow so I do not think that the dealer intentionally sold you a car with a bad battery. They do have a thirty-day warranty on some parts and the battery was one of the warranted parts. You did not call them but went ahead and purchased a battery from Canadian Tire and then expected them to pay for that battery and the cost to install, which they have refused to do. This may have been a different outcome if you were somewhere far away but you were right here in town and you could have called the car lot. The car lot is going to offer you seventy-five dollars towards the cost of the battery, which they would have paid in their own shop.

PS: Do not expect years of maintenance free driving with a car that has over 125000 miles.

??? Since when could anyone get a car battery for $75?

I will agree the customer should have contacted the dealer, but $75 is not even in the ball park.

Maybe they would swap it from one of their other cars.

henryn

In the days of DOS, pre-Windows, ctrl-alt-del was used to do an instant reboot of the computer. Even now, if you’re in the BIOS settings, it will do an instant reboot. If Windows is running, then ctrl-alt-del will present you with a short menu:

Lock
Switch User
Task Manager
Change a password

On the other hand, ctrl-shift-esc will directly launch Task Manager, no menu. That is, if Windows is running. If Windows isn’t running, it will do nothing.

And none of the above is different for different brands. It is the same for all computers (desktops or notebooks) running Windows. And any version of Windows, going back quite a ways.

henryn

imidazol97 said:

Replacing the hard drive on my lapstops is a matter of removing two screws on a rectangular cover. IIRC there is a metal cover on the drive that is held down by two more screws or something. You just have to look at it and don't do anything quickly without being sure it's the right thing. The mechanical drive just
unhooked from the two connectors, power and SATA, and it was in there. HOWEVER, I did use a fake external drive connector through the USB to copy the old drive to the new SSD using a program DiskGeniius to adjust the sizes of the partitions as I needed them to fit the new drive's smaller size.

The memory strips are in another rectangular opening and they snap in and out. I watched a few videos on doing the memory changes for HP/Compaq laptops. The memory strips are smaller and more expensive for laptops.

This used to be normal for laptops / notebooks. These days, very rare, almost unheard of. Now you have to remove the entire back panel. Take out about 10 or 12 tiny screws, then pry off the plastic back panel using small tools that look very much like plastic guitar pics.

And on some laptops, there are one or two screws that have to be removed from the front. You can only access those screws after removing the keyboard. Major PITA. I really miss the days when there were separate small panels on the back to expose the memory and the hard drive.

driver100

henryn said:

driver100 said:

From Dennis O'Sullivan's column this week;
QUESTION

Last week I purchased a used car from a well-known car lot in town. I had the car for one week and the battery died. I was assured when buying the car that everything was checked out and that I would have years of maintenance free driving. I purchased a new battery and the used car lot will not assist in helping me pay for the battery. Does the battery fall under the mechanical safety and why is the dealer being such a jerk in not helping me out? They knew that I was a student and money was tight. My dad says that you can help me out with this battery cost.

Thanks, Tina

ANSWER

The car you purchased was on the lot for over two months and the battery never at that time failed. A battery can be tested today and fail tomorrow so I do not think that the dealer intentionally sold you a car with a bad battery. They do have a thirty-day warranty on some parts and the battery was one of the warranted parts. You did not call them but went ahead and purchased a battery from Canadian Tire and then expected them to pay for that battery and the cost to install, which they have refused to do. This may have been a different outcome if you were somewhere far away but you were right here in town and you could have called the car lot. The car lot is going to offer you seventy-five dollars towards the cost of the battery, which they would have paid in their own shop.

PS: Do not expect years of maintenance free driving with a car that has over 125000 miles.

??? Since when could anyone get a car battery for $75?

I will agree the customer should have contacted the dealer, but $75 is not even in the ball park.

I think they are offering her their cost for the battery....dealer cost price, not the full retail price she paid at another garage.