I appear to have the worst luck with electronic goods; or as my friend puts it, I just work them too hard. But they were made to be used, so I use them!

My first laptop’s video card gets fried three months in. My second laptop has a hinge problem that is their fault. Both problems are (or will be) replaced for free. But why can’t I have a laptop that only has problems caused by me?

I just put in my work order for my Alienware M11x R2 to get the broken hinge problem dealt with. The M11x R1 and M11x R2 both have a problem with “faulty” hinges. At one point, I read it was because Dell tightened the fasteners too much *shrugs*. Whatever it is, your hinge will crack over time. Dell will replace it for free, even if your warranty ran out. My box arrives on Monday. Walk to Purolator, latest by Tuesday. Wait for Dell to receive it in 2 weeks (“approximately 10 business days”). They’ll take “5 business days” to replace the display. And an unknown amount of time to ship it back to me.

Last September, Dell finally published an official article outlining the procedures for getting it replaced. Call 1-800-ALIENWARE for support when you start to see it happen to yours. They won’t replace it if it hasn’t started to crack yet.

Edit (2012-01-18): Since the post just 5 days ago, they have changed the official article. It used to say that they will replace it out of warranty and gives you the support knowledge ID to reference to when speaking with a representative. My prediction is that they will fix my laptop and charge me and tell me they never said they would do it out of warranty. I’ll tell you in 4+ weeks. 

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I just found out about The Utlimate Steal about half an hour ago from Ping. You can purchase a perpetual license for Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007 at the cost of $64 CAD or a one-year license for $22 CAD. Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007 includes:

• Access 2007
• Communicator 2007
• Excel 2007
• InfoPath 2007
• Groove 2007
• OneNote 2007
• Outlook 2007 (without Business Contact Manager)
• PowerPoint 2007
• Publisher 2007
• Word 2007

The suite retails for $700 – 900, just check it out at FutureShop and you know you are saving a lot of money. To be eligible for the discount, you must be a student at an educational institution that is supported by the promotion. The product key is sent to your school email address. The download of the suite will be available to you for 30 days, so do not forget to burn a copy for when you need to reformat your system.

You can also download Business Contact Manager, which comes with the original retail version of Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007. It is a separate download from the Office Suite, the link is provided on the receipt page. The paragraph misleads you and makes you believe you have to fill out the survey to download it, but you do not need to fill it out to download the BCM package. Surveys are fun, fill it out anyways. The promotion was brought to you by the Microsoft Office Corp. in Mississauga and complete offer details can be found on The Ultimate Steal. Offer is valid until April 30, 2008.