Toshiba raises the reliability bar what about the warranty

Stan Beer
Tuesday, 05 September 2006 19:56

Opinion and Analysis

Those of you who know my writings of the past, may remember that one of my pet topics - or gripes if you like - is the reliability or lack thereof of notebook computers.

From my experience, anyone that relies on these flimsy devices as their main computing resource or even thinks of replacing a desktop with a notebook is simply asking for trouble.

That said, there are plenty of users who do exactly that and because of this it has long been my wish that the big name brand notebook manufacturers do two things. Firstly, they need to build more robust notebooks as standard issue that have a decent life-span of say 3 to 5 years. Secondly, they should back their products with a 3-year warranty.

After all, if a name brand manufacturer, such as Toshiba or HP, is not prepared to guarantee the workmanship of its product beyond one-year what message does it send to users?

It is with these thoughts that I read with amusement the latest media release from Toshiba about how it has "raised the bar in notebook reliability" in three new business notebooks. These notebooks, according to the release, are supposed to be rugged and tough and suitable to the heavy demands of the business user. Thick cases and shock absorbent capabilities are the order of the day.

The cheapest of the three new models, the Tecra A8 is described as a ruggedized 15.4 inch desktop replacement and was, according to Toshiba, subject to an intensive testing process, codenamed HALT (highly accelerated life testing), to simulate heavy notebook usage.

At a price range of A$1870 to A$2145, depending on the processor and confifuration, I wouldn't exactly call the Tecra A8 an el cheapo supermarket discard. Yet, despite all of Toshiba's rhetoric about ruggedness and reliability, the Tecra A8 comes with just a one-year warranty.

The question that needs to be answered by Toshiba is what does a Tecra A8 user if after 13 months the LCD screen dies or the motherboard burns out? Should they bother to call your service department? I tried that about five years ago after my Satellite Pro laptop died when I accidentally plugged in the  12 volt transformer from my HP scanner, which looked identical, had the same input jack but had reverse polarity to Toshiba's transformer.

After putting in three calls to the Toshiba service department without return calls, I gave up and realised my two-year old Satellite Pro was finished.

More recently, my HP Compaq nx series simply died on me after 13 months. The screen went after 6 months so I got that fixed. There was a battery recall, so that was fine. However, 13 months out and I was on my own.

The point of all my rambling is that if a name brand computer, whether it be a notebook or a laptop, that costs close to A$2000, cannot be guaranteed to have a life of at least three years, then it is not fit for its purpose. In fact, there should be laws protecting consumers in such cases. A three warranty should be mandatory on all brand name laptops from the low-end upward.

Consumers have been far too lenient with notebook manufacturers. They should complain regularly to consumer protection organizations and demand that all notebook manufacturers really raise the bar to the point where they have enough confidence in their own products to back their words about reliability with meaningful warranties.