11 Nov
2008
11 Nov
'08
8:13 p.m.
Hi all,
First, thanks again for the helpful replies.
The machine at WalMart was gone by the time I got there, so I went over
to Best Buy to check what they had in stock. I wound up purchasing a
very similar machine (with a better price), an HP G60-125NR. Since Best
Buy has a 15% restocking fee I thought I'd do some fact searching before
I open the box. What I found was some rather mixed reviews, but only wrt
Windows. I haven't found a Linux review yet.
Here are some of its specs:
AMD Turion 2 GHz Dual-core CPU
250 GB hd
3 GB memory
nVidia 8200M video
15.6" widescreen display
LightScribe 8X DVD drive
built-in webcam et cetera
Hardware-wise it looks right for me. Alas, the reviews gave it a rather
poor rating, compared to other machines at the price point, but the
reviews refer to a ~$800 price tag. My bill came to about $580.
So I'm at a bit of an impasse. I can open the box, try it out, and if it
doesn't work for me I can take it back and pay almost $100 for the
restocking fee (which IMO really sucks), or I can take it back unopened
and start over. Btw, if I open it I'll keep it for 13 days. 14 days is
the limit for returns, so I might as well get something out of it for
the hundred bucks.
What's the tribe think ? Any & all opinions/recommendations are most
welcome.
Best,
dp