Work gives me a Dell Latitude D620 with 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo and 2GB of RAM (I think IT is now rigging ‘em w/ 4GB these days). They upgrade/update me every 12–18 months.
I hate this piece of crap.
The hard drives fail. The batteries are pitiful (after only 6 months, a full charge will only net you about 40 minutes… and that’s not DVD). So I’m always, it seems, on the cusp of losing work. IT will overnite me whatever I need, but sheesh, it’s terrible.
Compared to other corporate types, I feel lucky. It’s a huge relief to have such a competent IT organization supporting this craptacular hardware. If it was my money, and I just had to have a Dell (or similar), I’d have to resign myself to a mediocre existence relying on Dell Tech Support and squirrel away some money for that inevitable rainy day when a crucial component flakes out (within months, not years).
Apple’s ain’t perfect. I’ll never say they are. But the longevity of their hardware is definitely appreciated by folks like me who live dual computing lives.