Disappointed...

Probably not the best place to post this, so feel free to move it. I have been a long time Ubuntu user and mostly a lurker in the forums. When I heard about System76, I was really excited that there was a company that saw the value in this community to focus their hardware on it. My next computer purchase was a Star5. The computer saw very limited usage; A paper here, some coding there... I was never close to the advertised battery life, running only a text editor and a web browser, but I sucked it up. When are you ever really close to those times anyway... It's like the MPG on a car...

About 13 months into the life of the computer, something strange started to happen. The computer wouldn't work without a power cord at all. No low battery warning, no nothing. Instant, hard shut-down. And the battery wouldn't charge at all. Surely this can't be a usual occurence. Contacted support, only to find out that it is normal, and past 12 months, no battery would be covered under warranty. I was quoted a price higher than the online price for the battery, but I decided to suck it up again, spend the money and buy a new one (not through technical support, but through the online store).

While the battery was being shipped, another issue started. Vertical lines on the right side of the screen based on the position of the monitor. I contacted the support again, being out of warranty, was quoted a non-refundable review price. I am not willing to put any more money into this computer only to have something else go wrong with it, so, I decided not to suck this one up, chalked it up to a learning experience, cut my losses and now I have a $700 paper weight...

I guess my point is that it is kind of sad such a cool idea can be executed so poorly. Was I just unlucky? Is no-one else having such issues? Was there a reason the Star series were discontinued (other than the 'unable to play HD video' excuse, which I find kind of ridiculous)?

Anyway, thank you for letting me vent a bit. Flame away.

-T

I always get at least a 2 year warranty on any laptop.

My lemu4 has been great so far, no hardware issues, its been very quick and reliable.

Your situation is unfortunate, but it does happen from time to time. I would say about 80% of the hardware failures I see occur within the first year, 15% within the second year, and 5% beyond that.

IMO, it's good to get the system repaired. It may be additional money, but then you wouldn't have a $700 paper weight. Repeat failures are exceedingly rare.