Don't buy this piece of....
Written: Aug 07 '02
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Pros: Low Cost and nice features
Cons: Not well made and does not last long
The Bottom Line: This laptop's price looks good, the features look good, but you will wind up spending much more than a name brand laptop would cost.
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| chasty's Full Review: KDS Valiant 6380iPTD-01 PC Notebook |
Last May, I bought this laptop at Sam's Club. I had been looking at laptops for a few weeks, and this had all of the features for which I had been looking, and the pricetag was much lower than similarly featured models from other manufacturers.
The laptop came with Windows ME, MS Works, and DVD software. With this notebook, I bought a network card. When I got home, I installed the network card and put it on my home network. It did not get an ip address, so I reinstalled it with no luck. Thinking the problem was with the network card, I exchanged it for another. The second card did the same thing. I exchanged that card for another brand, and this one was not even seen by the laptop. I called the card manufacturer's tech support (I am A+ Certified, along with being an MCSE, so you would think I could install a network card), they talked me through a few things, then said that the card must not be compatible. After exchanging that card and trying a third (again with no luck), I figured that the problem must be with the laptop. I called KDS technical support, which has very lousy hours if you work during the day and are unable to deal with them during normal business hours. They said that they did not know what the problem was, but I could buy an internal card for $130 that would make the built in RJ45 port work. Assuming that this was my only option, I ordered it and installed it when it arrived a few days later. My laptop was finally on my network.
About 5 months later, I began having battery problems. I called KDS tech support because the battery would be fully charged, I would use the laptop for about 15 minutes, then would turn it off. When I would turn it on, it would have 30% battery life left. If I used it for about 15 minutes then turned it off again, when I turned it on, it would have 5% battery life left. They agreed that there was a problem with the battery and said they would send a second one and I could return the original after I received the replacement.
The second battery had normal life, but it would take approximately a week to fully charge it (if the laptop was left turned off). Because more than a certain amount of time had passed since my first call, KDS would charge me for calling them again. I opted just to keep the second battery and live with the outrageous charging times.
It was at this point that I also noticed several cracks in the case, specifically, from the bottom edge of the keyboard to the sides of the case, and one on the cover. This laptop had been kept in a padded case when traveling, and I could not think of any reason for the cracks. I blamed this on a cheap case (you get what you pay for).
My next problem with this laptop came about 5 months later after the warranty expired. When the power supply began having problems. I would have to squeeze the case of the power supply tightly for the light to come on indicating that it was receiving power. After about a month of this
The power supply finally died. I picked up a Targus replacement at Best Buy which worked, but cost me an additional $120.
As another month passed, I began having network problems because the cracking worsened. Most of my computer cables would only work if I pushed down on them so that they could get better contacts. I finally found a cable with a slightly larger RJ45 jack that worked well, but it was obvious that the cracking had caused the size of the NIC port to increase.
About three weeks after this problem, the power supply quit charging the battery. I bought a third power supply from Best Buy and tried it, but that did not fix the problem. The problem is with the jack on the motherboard which does not receive power. I called KDS to find out the price of a replacement motherboard, which is $375.
At this point, I ordered a new laptop, because this one has already cost me about $1500, if I had ordered the motherboard, this laptop would have cost me significantly more than a similarly featured one from another manufacturer.
This laptop's price looks good, the features look good, but you will wind up spending much more than a name brand laptop would cost.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 1500
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium III
Processor speed: 701-800
Screen Size: 13
RAM: 128
Internal Storage: DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 13-20
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Epinions.com ID:
chasty
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Reviews written: 2
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