I recently bought a new laptop computer for travel. Got it from Costco on June 13 and it worked fine until the first time I traveled, which was to the Comic-Con in San Diego. The morning of July 22 when I tried to open it, the right hinge broke — or something — and parts seemed to suddenly be welded to other parts. I had to force it open, whereupon the entire housing around the screen came loose. Only later did I read the customer reviews on the Costco website and found among them comments like these three…
Computer worked fine and then one day i tried to open it and the inside of the screen started to break. It seemed like it was stuck to the keyboard and may have overheated.
The electronics work fine, but the cheap plastic bezel broke several days ago. Never dropped it or mistreated it in any way. Opened up the top and left rear hinge cracked. Tried to fix it and the bezel started coming off of the screen. Not good.
Bought this laptop in December, by March- just past 90 days developed the same hinge issue as others described, like it was melting.
That's kinda what happened to mine. I only had it for 40 days and I'd be surprised if I used it more than 12 hours, mostly to load my software and the files I'd need on the road. Fortunately, just before I went to San Diego, I backed the whole thing up to an external drive. A new laptop of a different brand arrived yesterday but it may be a while before I have the time to set it up and restore from the busted computer's backup.
Morals of the story: Always backup. Read the reviews. And buy from Costco. I bought the faulty laptop via mail order but took it back to my nearest Costco warehouse. There was a bit of delay while the man waiting on me waited for a manager who could come by and authorize the refund but there was no hesitation about taking it back. They didn't care that I didn't have the box or a few pieces of paper that came with it.
And before someone asks: Yes, I did irrevocably delete all my data from the computer before I took it back. Wiped it clean. And while I was at Costco, I blew part of the refund on english muffins, bacon, a huge bag of croutons and Rao's Marinara Sauce.