Laptops at Powerbuy! Check first!

[roly]

If anyone is considering a new laptop be careful shopping at power buy. Recently I had to go to Japan on very short (12 hour) notice and needed a new laptop ASAP. With hardly any time, I ended up at power buy in soi 88. So here's a few points to note:

1. They stock only what is on display and don't have models in the back hence everything you buy is a display model and therefore technically second hand.

2. Many models were mis labelled. For example I wanted the acer model xyz with a core i5 and windows 8 for 16,900 baht. The display card said that was what the machine was but the laptop sticker said core i3. When I quizzed them they then admitted the card was wrong

3. Check the OS. Again, they said it definitely had windows on but when I got home it was actually the free OS known as Ubuntu, which is unix based. While maybe ok for home use it doesn't have all the windows software and professional tools needed in my case.

Basically, it seems Power Buy haven't got a clue about the machines on display and just want to get your cash. They even refused a discount because "discounted already". Which I find hard to believe.

In my case, it was only when I got home and realised it was Ubuntu not windows, but I had about an hour before my taxi arrived to take me to the airport so no time to go back. Since I have an MSDN subscription I have all the Microsoft licenses for every OS so got out my windows 8 disk to install. By this time the taxi was close. After windows 8 installed I had no drivers as you don't get an installation cd in the box either, so I had to use my other PC to get all the windows drivers on a USB stick so I could actually use it properly. Once windows finished, bad luck the display drivers didn't work and it was like looking at bad stereo - basically completely unusable. I then tried windows 7. This time the display was ok. But the acer drivers on their website to download were win 8 only. Anyway so I was then on the way to the airport messing with installation disks. What a bloody nightmare and pain in the ass!

When I got to the office in Japan I decided to retry windows 8. I couldn't use the USB driver stick as the USB drivers weren't installed so it wouldn't even recognise it. I bought a cd and burnt the acer drivers on another machine, then installed them one by one whilst not really being able to see what I was looking at. Eventually by the end of my first working day the laptop was all sorted and fixed.

What a palava!!!!!!

It could have all been avoided if

A: I wasn't in such a rush and had check everything first

B: power buy hadn't mis labeled and mis sold a product

C: I'd bought from another shop. It was Sunday and the market village computer shops literally had about 1 or 2 crappy or super expensive machines in, or completely empty of stock

Anyway the whole point of this post was to say that it's probably best checking very thoroughly what you are buying from power buy as there's a strong chance that what the display card says isn't what you are buying and you need to check before leaving the shop! :-)

Personally, I tend to use invadeIT whenever possible, as the chap there (Thomas) runs a great service. Oh and before anyone says I should use a Mac - I do already! And yes, I should have taken that one and just dual booted to windows and saved myself loads of hassle!!!