Linux kills notebook

That is stupidest thing I have read in a while. The hinge is failing but were going to blame the OS installed for it? They had to know at PCWorld there was going to be some kind of backlash over this just out of plain old stupidity on there part.

Darq, you're going to be at 50,000 post in a year at your post rate

yah, thats really stupid

.....thats.....just.....wrong.....

Twilight, I believe the word you are looking for ranges between stupid, idiotic, and "Holy Crap that qualifies as human intelligence?"

Wrong just doesn't cut it.

Seablade

doesn't best buy extended warranty and Dell (unless you get the ubuntu dell) have similar warranties where they are like "wtf is this?. b/c you are not running xp/vista bill gates came to your house and smashed your computer w/ a hammer"

Who is this PCWorld anyways I have never heard of them unless the mag is now selling Laptops. But yeah other then that I really have no idea who this company is. I for sure will never be purchasing anything from them though. Total BS what they are pulling and even if it does get resolved the fact that he had to wait and go threw all this crap just shows me that this companies and most companies it would seem have there heads so far up their collective asses they cant see threw their own BS.

PCWorld is a chain in Europe I believe.

Yea at first I thought it was the mag as well Completely seperate.

Seablade

which hinge driver did his distro install by default? srsly, this is bullsh!t with a capital B. I'd sick Cacinok on em, if a reseller pulled this crap on me.

Wow.......

pardon for my language but these people at PCWorld are seriously retarded.

Language??? You need to go to OT if you want to see some language. And yes retarded is putting it nicely.

30k more then likely.

it installed the hinge driver from the Arima W730-K8 by mistake

the hinge driver on my sager has badly malfunctioned! I had to use automotive epoxy to fix it. Do you think it was Ubuntu's fault?

Hate to be the one to burst the comedy bubble, but from what I've read, if you put in a different operating system than the one that is OEM provided, then the OEM has no obligation to even so much as TOUCH the computer. For instance, I have windows XP Professional on my Computer. If I were to say put Windows Vista Ultimate on my laptop, and say for instance the Memory FLEW out through my keyboard, would I be mad? Absolutely. However, I would be well-aware going into the operation that non-OEM spec OS's exempt the company of OEM from any liability towards the fate of the computer.

Because this person chose under his / her free will to put in a variation of Linux as opposed to the OEM Windows provided, the company has every right to deny a warranty claim, exploitative, border-line unconscionable, or whatnot on a faulty hinge, and say that it was due to the installation of Linux. As dumb and as OBVIOUSLY incorrect it would be to assume that Linux would cause physical damage to a hinge, such an excuse legally exempts the OEM from warranty support, and as per most contracts, said OEM can legally say that "as per such and such in the contract, your modifying the OS voids all warranties to the computer pertaining to hardware and software malfunction", and 99.9% of the time that argument in court would float.

Do I have sympathy for the owner of the laptop? Absolutely, a person should be allowed to put in whatever OS he or she desires. However, I do stand with the company's decision to deny service; it's in the contract, a person has EVERY right to read a contract before signing, and if someone's dumb enough to sign away a good chunk of savings before reading over the fine print, then by all means the "lack of warranty" support is justified.

No company really has the consumer's best interest's in mind, all that's important is that the profit is greater by enough to satisfy shareholders and executive coffers to offset losses by computer replacement, and warranty services. Remember that the next time you go shopping and decide to put in Linux. What does the contract say about changing to a Non-OEM OS?

According to their warranty you MIGHT be right, depends on the warranty. However whether that will hold up in court is another matter, and most likely will not. No, it does not legally exempt them, though they would like you to think that. This is why many people make an image of their HD when they get it, and restore that image when shipping it off for repair, just to get around this. They will not support the OS, however legally they can still be held accountable for other aspects unrelated to the OS in any way. They may try to get you to think like you have stated, but I got 10 bucks says it won't hold up in a court. It is just sad that is the only way to get a company to actually maintain some sense of sanity in many cases. Seablade

And since we are being serious here for a bit, the actual course of action for many people in this case...

1. Take it back to the store. A store's return policy is different than the warranty, and if it is within the return policy that is a different fight.

2. Call the manufacturer of the computer. This is after the return policy has ended, but is still within warranty(As is the case here). If the manufacturer will not honor a decent warranty

3. Learn about your consumer rights in your country. I am fairly certain in Europe there are specific laws to prevent EXACTLY this sort of thing, and in America there are implied meanings of laws that have been help up in court in favor of the consumer in this sort of situation.

4. Sue the company to hell. It really is sad that this even has to be a step.

Though adding in 3.5 and publicly denouncing the company does not hurt, seems more are willing to do more to maintain a decent public image than risk losing customers. Not the case here from what I have heard about this chain and the corporation they are a part of, but in other cases it might be.

Seablade

That will uphold a warranty. To clarify things (i wrote this at 3:30am EDT), it's when they discover a Non-OEM OS that they can do it. If you dump back in the original OS, then they're none-the wiser. Depends on where you are and what courts you use. There are some computer companies that put in their warranties disclaimers about changing the OS, and in the event they discover the non-OEM OS, then they are entitled to deny you service. It's a magnusson-moss act of 1975 law. A customer can change his / her user accessible parts and have the warranty for the computer stand. However, should the modified part cause some sort of damage to the computer, the manufacturer is allowed to fault that part for making something else fail, even if it's blatantly obvious that the two are completely unrelated to one another. Addenda: Seablade and others: I'm talking from a USA point of view, in Europe your mileage will vary. (Writes this so that no bad blood develops)