I was researching and waiting to find an ideal laptop computer to replace my Toshiba 5105-S901. I use my laptop for many hours every day and quality is very important. During that time, I mentioned it to my boss, Neil, and because I use it mainly for work he offered to have the company pay for it on the condition that I would have to return it to the company if, for any reason, I was to leave.

After a lot of research, I decided to get a ProStar 4764. AMD64 3700+, 2gig ram, 7200rpm hard drive, 17' monitor. Several people I know own ProStars and like them. I told my boss and he said he would need to create an account with them.

A couple of weeks later, I asked him how things were proceeding. He said that he filled out a credit application and the person he talked to (Steven) said he would call back. But he still hadn't called back. Neil said that if I still want it, I should persue it myself. He said that the last time he talked to 'the twerp' Steven, he had him on hold for 1/2 hour.

So, I emailed Steven to see what the status was and got a congratulatory reply the next day saying our credit has been approved. This was no surprise to me (our sales were $69 million last year).

So, I went online and built the machine to the above specs, but couldn't figure out how to order it using our special company account. I emailed Steven and, the next day he replied that I would have to either call or email the order. So, from the 'build it yourself' screen on their website, I copied the information into the email and sent it off. I made a mistake here. I said 'standard specs plus the following additions,' but didn't include the AMD 3700+ in the specs. The total price was $2505.

The next day Steven replied that he needs a Company Purchase Order. I handed the ball to Neil and he emailed the purchase order to me a couple of days later, and I emailed it to Steven. The following day Steven thanked me for the order.

Two weeks later the machine arrived and I began installing software. Installed Borland Delphi successfully, though I thought it took a long time. Installed VS.NET, which is a big install that normally takes about 2 hours. After 3 hours, the progress bar said it wasn't even 25% done and I canceled. Figuring something was wrong with the CD/DVD drive, I played with settings (turned off DMA, increased the buffer size, etc.) and tried again with the same results. I popped in a Roger Waters DVD that I knew was fine and the audio was 'skipping' and the mouse was jumpy. Also, I noticed that they had installed an AMD 3000+ instead of the 3700+ that I wanted. That was about $200 difference that they didn't deduct from the price I gave them. In my opinion, they should have known that I wanted that processor. Anyone could have built it on their website and seen the difference in price.

After reading the '30 day no questions asked return policy' I saw that I needed a RMA (Return Merchandise Authorization) code to return it and I emailed Steven to get one.

Meanwhile, I found that these laptops are manufactured by Clevo in Taiwan, and about 9 companies are OEMs, who customize them.

One of the places where the ProStars were recommended was a Borland Non-tech newsgroup and I asked if anyone there has had any problems with them. Everyone was happy. I also asked my friend Tom who also hasn't had any problem with his. Someone on the newgroup, Thomas Miller, said that he had recently gotten an equivalent machine from Sager Notebooks (another Clevo OEM) and it arrived fast and in perfect working order. I did a web search on Sager and found no bad comments. They seemed to be a very reputable company that has been in business for a long time.

To make a long story longer, I ordered the machine from Sager and it arrived at my office before Steve from Prostar replied to my email to give the the RMA. The Sager works great and I'm writing this on it right now.