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Actually, I stand corrected. Apparently Lotus doesn't want our business. They won't e-mail back a quote despite being informed that time is of the essence. And, they won't answer my calls.

I checked my inbox before posting this, and... nothing...

If Lotus PC is representative of American companies then American companies DESERVE to fail.

I just talked with our hardware guys. You owe me a beer sometime. He went into a tirade about design issues and how much crap there is out there.

You are correct, Sony is the only large brand with a nonsoldered connector. Buying Sony has very few advantages for expensive hardware. Their video/screen are usually much better than most laptops. They are not easy to work on and expensive if you have to buy parts. They used to be more proprietary and, I would imagine, have difficulty getting Linux drivers. Since we aren't buying them, I haven't paid any attention to this issue.

Asus' connector design is particularly weak. My hardware guy then went on a tirade about Asus and their only good products are their motherboards. I can't remember off the top of my head which brands but some of the brands are horribly designed power connectors, as well. I don't think you could give me a HP/Compaq. Not a big fan of Dells either.

I may have been wrong on which generation for laptop processors. Intel may only be on Two and not the Third like on the desktops. Anyways, their is huge increase in performance between generations.

Uhhhhhhh...the dilemma of buying American. I held out until about 2002ish.