Dont buy Fujitsu Siemens laptop

Maskhadov

I bought a fujitsu Siemens laptop last year and Im having nothing but problems with it. My advice to anyone thinking of getting a laptop is DONT BUY A FUJITSU SIEMENS laptop because you will spend most of your time on to techincal support trying to fix it.

Its not just me who is having this problem, some friends of friends are having it and I recently got contacted with someone from Sweden who was having the same problem with the hardware components.

Save yourself the hassle and go for another brand. Their entire service is a joke. Expect to wait up to 4-6 weeks for a repair on your machine and when you get it back it may well have return it for more repairs.

PM me if you want the full list of problems and service reports.

commited

What model do you have?
I have an FS laptop, and apart from a slightly noisey DVD-RW with certain discs and having to buy a new Power Supply, this laptop has served me well.
It's on 12hours a day and has been for a year and a half now and its excellent.

Maskhadov

1840 D. There are a few people I know had some problems with Fujitsu and 2 people I met who are having serious problems.

The worst of it is,
problems with the motherboard,
problems with the screen,
problems with the Hard disk.

All these components needed to be replaced and it means several trips to Fujitsu.

Fenster

Not that I'm a regular on the laptops forums, but in general if you're going to rant about something, you need to be detailed and provide times, dates, faults, etc. Saying "well there's stuff up with my laptop and I was waiting a few weeks for repair" isn't the way to get a sympathetic audience.

Bard

I sell laptops in work and we generally have no problems with the Fujitsu Siemens brand. Recommending that nobody should ever buy that brand because you've had a few problems with your own one is a bit silly, if you don't mind me saying so. You may have just been unlucky.

That said, from my own experience I'd never again touch an Advent or Packard Bell...

Fenster

Bard wrote:

That said, from my own experience I'd never again touch an Advent or Packard Bell...

QFT

Maskhadov

Well, i dont mean to be vague lads. It may well be a freak incident but as I say a few people I know had problems with Fujitsu Siemens. I had mine a year before it started to act up. It worked almost perfectly until after 12 months and I treated it like it was made of glass.

Im not looking for sympathey. I just started this thread to let people know that I did have problems with Fujitsu and they arent all what they are made out to be.

eth0_

I used to have a Fujitsu Siemens Amilo D about 2 years ago and it was absolutely fine. Two of my friends got Amilo's in the last few months and they're grand..I think you've just been unlucky.

Laguna

eth0_ wrote:

I used to have a Fujitsu Siemens Amilo D about 2 years ago and it was absolutely fine. Two of my friends got Amilo's in the last few months and they're grand..I think you've just been unlucky.

Yeah, I'm thinking the same, I have (well had, gave it to my Dad) an Amilo model Fujitsu-Siemens and it has been perfect for 18 months now. The only brand of computers that I've had any reoccuring and serious problems with are Compaq's.

Maskhadov

well im glad most people are not having the same nightmare I am. I would recommed getting at least a 3 year comprehensive warrenty when purchasing a Fujitsu Siemens. Either that or buy yourself a seperate motherboard, hard disk and screen

p~b

i have an amilo l series 1, and i had to get a new mother board and power supply within the last year.

other than that its great other than the noisy fan

dazberry

A friend of mine had his IBM laptop die before it was 3 months old recently - turns out it was a known fault. I know it was a known issue because he works for *cough*.

Like anything I guess, laptops are being built by fewer OEMs than ever before, so I suspect it would be more common to have bad runs of laptops based on model/OEM rather than end-"manufacturer".

D.

mukki

Maskhadov wrote:

1840 D. There are a few people I know had some problems with Fujitsu and 2 people I met who are having serious problems.

The worst of it is,
problems with the motherboard,
problems with the screen,
problems with the Hard disk.

All these components needed to be replaced and it means several trips to Fujitsu.

sometimes you can be unlucky,
hope you got it all fixed for free

Laguna

To be honest mate, when it comes to laptops, I look no further than an iBook or PowerBook. Of course I have the desktop PC running XP as well, butI have three main 'issues' with x86 laptops in comparison with iBook/PowerBooks

• **** battery life
• Heavy and cumbersome (well most x86 laptops are)
• XP based (usually, unless you're chic and run linux on your laptop)

thecivvie

I have had an Amilo L series for the last year and it is in daily use and have never had a problem with it. In fact I am considering replacing it with a newer FS laptop. Like the rest of the replies, seems you were just unlucky

Maskhadov

In fairness to FS, they are replacing the parts for free (even after my 12 months warrenty) so i cant fault them there.

What is a real sickener is the fact that my laptop has been 10 odd weeks in repair. Phoning every other day is a pain in the ass. I bought the machine in August 2004 and didnt start having the problems until June/July 2005. Since June/July I have had the continued problems .

Thats a long time to be with a machine thats having intermittent faults. The FS laptop is great apart from that.

wet-paint

Twelve months? One of the lads had one and the battery died after abous six weeks, he had to plug it in to use it. I kept at him and at him to get on to them before the warranty ran out. He finally did 11 months into it. They said "Oh I'm sorry, the warrenty is only six months."

PFO.

Bard

There's only one brand of laptop I've been proven right to have almost unshakeable faith in so far, and that's Toshiba.

That said, I could probably be convinced to maky my next laptop purchase a Sony Vaio.

Maskhadov

i think i will get one of those Sony Vaio's as well. They have a serious good rep !!

Bard

Well one of the main reasons I'd consider the Vaio is the wealth of bloody useful software that comes bundled with it - from Adobe Photoshop Elements through a professional DVD movie authoring package to a full 90-day (I think) trial of MS Office 2003. Great stuff...

Maskhadov

The mother board had to be replaced as well and I have to wait yet another week.

The only thing that didnt need to be replaced is the CD ROM Drive and memory (which I bought new after the machine).

Struth, I might as well get a new machine !!

thelad

wet-paint wrote:

Twelve months? One of the lads had one and the battery died after abous six weeks, he had to plug it in to use it. I kept at him and at him to get on to them before the warranty ran out. He finally did 11 months into it. They said "Oh I'm sorry, the warrenty is only six months."

PFO.

I sell these and minimum warranty is 12 months...read the documentation..

Splinter

on nearly all laptops the warranty on the battery is only half the units warranty if even that. i have a fujistu m7405 and have had it near 14 months now and only had one issue (self induced, i blew the motherboard usb with an unpowered hub,few of u may remember me posting it here) but FS collected it and had it back to me in about 8days all brand spankers. had an issue where i lost my recovery disk and i got a new one in the post in bout 5 days(64 bit too but thats another story) and i sell em just like Bard does and i have to say the rep they have is pretty localised. they have a great range of laptops and i would always have faith in them

Karoma

thelad wrote:

I sell these and minimum warranty is 12 months...read the documentation..

Batteries, as consumable items, are usually exempt from the complete manufacturer's warranty.

OP: The fact that there's so much wrong & they're dragging their heals would suggest that we're not getting the full story.. either there's a history or suspicion, or else there may be a known issue with that model? From my limited experience with FS, I'd have to say you were unlucky.


Re: VAIO's - The bundled software is one of the biggest annoyances for most people - you get some "full" packages ..but these are the lite versions i.e. Photoshop and Premiere "Elements". You get a lot of bundled trialware like NIS which causes an unbelievable amount of headaches for everyone & the MS Office trial was available from microsoft.com .. Not to mention the pile of VAIO Media & related software that is installed and insists on being on your startup list (Thus hogging memory and HDD space).
But... all in all... they do look nice...

Flukey

Those annoying freebies come with most computers, unfortunately. You get the odd gem amongst them, but most of it you'd not have much use for. I am tempted to get a VAIO myself, probably the VGN-FS315E.

Like their technology, their shops are all really small. Even the larger one on the corner of St. Stephen's Green, doesn't have much to see. There is not much of any particular type of product on show and browsing is a bit more awkward. You have more comfort looking at them in somwhere like Peats or Dixons etc.

Karoma

Sony Centres are a franchise.. not directly Sony...
You should always check sony-europe.com for a better deal if you're considering it.. FS aren't so bad - an approach on a mixture of style, and affordability. The FS4 will be out at the end of this month AFAIK -little or no difference.. just a few Fixes (Don't touch anying pre FS3)

Maskhadov

They replaced the motherboard. I couldnt belive it. Either i got a dodgy laptop or that whole range is faulty. The only orginal part left is the outer case and the CD drive. (the ram i bought myself later).


Im not complaining too much because Fujitsu Siemens are replacing the parts free of cost:). The only real cost is my time without a machine to work with.

Wolverine_1999

Heh, I've had similar problems with a Targa XP10. The only original part left in the computer is the graphics card! They have replaced:

- Motherboard
- Memory
- Hard Drive
- CPU
- Casing!
- Keyboard
- TFT

I've practically gotten a new laptop 4 times already!

blondie83

My mum got a FS laptop there for Christmas - and the touchpad seems to have gone for some reason, the mouse won't move at all whatever we do. Has anyone heard of that happenning? Hope it's not going to be the first in a line of problems...

Tony H

blondie83 wrote:

My mum got a FS laptop there for Christmas - and the touchpad seems to have gone for some reason, the mouse won't move at all whatever we do. Has anyone heard of that happenning? Hope it's not going to be the first in a line of problems...

reinstall the mouse driver from the driver disc that came with the laptop

as for fujitsu laptops , my amilo k is a year and a half old , the dvd drive is broken the battery is dead and i have a problem with the screen that i sent to fujitsu to be repaired and after "intensive testing" (they told me they left a dvd in the drive for two days playing over and over )i was told there was nothing wrong with it , the problem with the screen still persists and the lappy is out of warrenty

Maskhadov

Hey Fitz... they told me the same.. i think they take the laptop in and just glance at it. You have to get them on the phone and make sure they record everythign that goes wrong with the machine and then send it back in.

Those tests they do arent that intensive. They run SOAP or something but it never picks up the problem.