A lot of people are using software to design boards whether its for shaping machines or cnc hotwire or printing templates. So if you’re looking for a good laptop DON’T buy a Toshiba Satellite.
I got one because of the great screen, but my Toshiba Satellite gave me a lot of grief. Firstly I started getting tiny shocks of the the left speaker and it would shut down inexplicably - I discovered this was a known problem and after some badgering theToshiba people agreed to fix it under warranty. The problem is a design flaw, but Toshiba haven’t done a general recall becuase the shutdowns ocurr when static discharges into the notebook through the speaker, knocking out the CPU. Static discharge depends on a lot of factors so it won’t happen with everyone, everywhere, all the time. The repair was done just over a year ago, now a couple of months out of warranty the backlight has died, I did a bit of searching online and sure enough, a lot of people have had the same problem. Anyway my advice is don’t get a Toshiba Satellite and becuase of Toshiba’s inaction on a design flaw with their product I’d say don’t get any Toshiba.
I relate to your frustration which must be made worse with that design flaw. Finding electronics that hold up, especially for shapers has been a challenge. We run up to 3 computers (two laptops, one desktop sealed in a filtered box) in one of our rooms and it is filled with foam dust…
i had an IBM thinkpad that was GREAT. unfortunately, it got ripped off last week. the day before the new semester started – TOTALLY screwed. all my law school stuff is history…and i needed that. not to mention about 20 templates i had designed and not yet printed up in hard copy. if i ever find who ganked my laptop…i’ma kill him.
I lost a bunch of imprortant stuff myself when my hard drive crashed. IT SUCKS LOOSING DATA! I was able to get some of it back using some recovery tools, but I did loose some good stuff. I guess I was lucky because I still had the drive to work with.
IF YOU’RE READING THIS AND HAVEN’T BACKED-UP YOU DATA, BACK IT UP!
If you don’t have an external back-up, go buy one and back-up your stuff.
eh…shit happens. not much i can do about it now. i bought a new laptop with money i don’t have. and i’ll draw up some new designs…it’ll give me something to do when i’m in class. i’ll rebuild my libraries of music, movies, and…porn. i’ll upload and recategorize my photo albums. and as soon as it’s all done, i’m gonna back it up…in several places. then i’m gonna get a small mobile transmitter and weld it to the motherboard. laptop lo-jack. oh yeah.