Gartner Group issues Armada warning

The Gartner Group has warned users against buying Compaq?s Armada 4100 notebooks, recommending that they buy with caution the manufacturer?s LTE 5000 and forthcoming notebooks.

The research organisation claims it has received numerous complaints that the Armada 4100 and LTE 5000 have appeared dead on arrival, or have failed within the first 30 days. There were also reports of component failures, including power supply, battery, systems board, hard drive and Rom Bios problems.

Gartner has placed the 4100 on ?problem watch for quality?. The LTE 5100 has a ?buy with caution? stamp because Compaq believes it has addressed the root of LTE?s problems.

The research group has also suggested users ?buy with caution? Compaq?s forthcoming notebooks in the second and third quarters, because the PC vendor has yet to prove the results of its recent design and manufacturing improvement drive.

It suggested that initial purchases should be restricted to small quantities for the first 30 to 60 days after release, until a clearer picture emerges about their reliability.

David Matthews, Compaq UK senior product manager for portables, said Gartner has raised old problems that have already been solved. He also said the number of customers that have been affected is fewer than the report suggests.

?There is no quantitative research, which is disappointing for a market research organisation such as Gartner,? said Matthews.