Best brand for laptops

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TheCommander

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Is there a brand above the rest when it comes to laptops for quality? I'm looking into laptops but don't want one that will break down within a year or two. I know that risk is always there but I'm wondering if it happens more often than not for specific brands.

I was looking into hp first and was wondering what others thought of hp.
 
ibm lenovo thinkpads are butt ugly but are also rock solid - can't go wrong with a new T510 with an i5 or i7. At work people go through Dell's, Sony, and HP notebooks regularly for replacement or service. We rarely see IBM's come through, unless some tard has an malware or app issue. Refurbished Dell's are bang for the buck. When I worked at dell the return call rate after after receiving or buying a refurb notebook went down like 60% due to the fact that anything that was reported faulty was then subsequently fixed after its service. Buying a new laptop doesn't make since at least from dell. They're more expensive, have the same parts, and the refurbs have the same 1 year warranty as the new ones. You can usually pick up the same notebook $300 cheaper from the dell outlet.
 
My experience:
I've had an acer, an HP, 2 Compaqs, 3 IBMs and a few hand me down dells (super old pentium 2 vintage). The only "major" issue I've run into was with the very first compaq (also a p2). The AC jack crapped out. The spacebar on the other compaq works when it wants to. All of my laptops, with exception to the acer, were considered business class. I think that's the important part.

...they were all used - either free or purchased from ebay. I'm really impressed with the thinkpads. Even the oldest one (t22) is running strong - bright monitor - keyboard still kicks ass - hinges are tight, etc. It was given to me by a guy I used to work with, so I'm familiar with the environment it came from (more importantly: the users of said environment); I'm REALLY impressed with the build quality. Not sure if lenovo is up the the IBM standards though...

I'm also really impressed with the business class HP's I've dealt with. I bought one off of ebay recently (NC6400), and it feels new. I can't really comment much on it as I've only had it for a month or so; but I support a few guys that are quite hard on their machines. One has an HP tablet and its solid. The other has a NC6400. I liked his enough to buy myself one off of ebay (...and the price was right).

My sis had a toshiba. Hinges failed after a few years. Not complete failure; but very weak. The screen (or the cable going from the screen > motherboard) is failing now. My mom had one of the laptops from frys. She had screen issues after a few years to (pink screen).

The company I work for (a HUGE company) is moving away from the Dell Lattitudes they've been using for years and replacing them with HP's and Lenovos. Not sure of the reasoning - but I've seen relatively few hardware issues with the Dell's (range from D4/600 - D4/630, and a few e4300's). We just have a bunch of stupid users...

business line ftw.

edit: I love my acer - but it's not even 1 year old yet. Not fair to comment...
 
the ibm thinkpads are great. Most solid build and i like a nipple....

I have had a dell for 3 years, hard drive just failed but easy to replace and start again. Would buy a dell again.
 
doctah said:
All of my laptops, with exception to the acer, were considered business class. I think that's the important part.
Click to expand...

That really is the most important thing in my experience as well, Dell and HP both have great business notebooks, and complete crap for their consumer line up. I've had a toughbook, macbook pro, and Sony Z, plenty of latitudes, and currently an HP compaq nc6910p all great computers, again - they're either the business line or premium line from all different manufacturers. Not all of them have been without problems of course, but you'll find support on the business models to be significantly better.
 
ThinkPads, Dell Latitudes, HP EliteBooks/ProBooks, etc... while I really despise using the word "best" in most anything (because it's almost always a personal opinion, there really can't be a "best" of anything for every single person, as what you may think is the "best" whatever I could think is a piece of shit, and vice versa), I would have to say that the "best" class of laptops out there are the business class models from those manufacturers, at least in my decades of experience using laptops draws upon.

Consumer level machines, the kind you can just walk into a Best Buy or Fry's and walk out with... I don't care how much they cost, they're just not going to cut it or offer the same level of solid production and ease of use; again, these are my own personal opinions.

I just bought a Dell Latitude E4300 from a pawn shop about 12 days ago, for $200 - this particular configuration of this laptop sold for about $2300 when it was brand new and shipped from Dell in February of 2009, about 1.5 years ago. This particular one had damage to the bezel on the lower right hinge area, and the battery wouldn't charge. Also, the pointing stick cover (the rubber "nipple") was so dried out that when I attempted to remove it to replace it I actually ended up pulling the entire pointing stick off the keyboard - it broke off completely.

Knowing how old the laptop was (1.5 years) and knowing Dell offers a 3 year on-site warranty on such models (the Latitudes), I went and checked on the warranty by the Service Tag - it had close to 595 days left on it. :)

I then went and transferred the ownership of the laptop to myself, on record, and waited a day for the information to take hold/propagate in Dell's systems. I chatted with a support agent the next day, said the battery was toast, the display bezel (both front and back, but not the LCD itself) and the pointing stick were all problems that needed to be resolved.

No hassles, no bullshit, the girl took the info, set up a service call (took 4 days because I contacted them on Thursday evening last week, so the tech came out on Tuesday), they shipped the replacement parts to FedEx, the tech picked them up, came by on Tuesday as scheduled, and was done with the entire process in about 27 minutes, start to finish.

Now I have what is effectively a "brand new" Dell Latitude E4300 that kicks ass all the way around and I love it. And I've got 561 days left on the warranty - if anything goes wrong with it I know Dell will handle it without issues. Hell, Dell still sells this particular model (the E4300) for over $1000 base model, and the cheapest I've seen at the Dell Outlet is $899 and that's one with half the RAM (I have 4GB, that one has 2GB), and a hard drive 3x smaller (an 80GB 5400 rpm where mine has a 250GB 7200 rpm). Big difference...

You don't get that kind of support with a consumer level piece of hardware, not unless you pay extra for it. Dell and HP and Lenovo cover their hardware with that kind of service and support, and it makes their laptops worth every cent (if you buy them brand new, that is).

While Apple computers are nice, they won't come to your house to fix one if it chokes and dies. :) You gotta send it back in by mail/shipping or take it to a store... if you happen to be traveling someplace that doesn't have a) a shipping store anywhere nearby or b) a retail outlet of the company you bought it from, you're screwed.

But if I was out on safari in the middle of South Africa and my ThinkPad up and died, one phone call (satellite phone, probably, who knows) to Lenovo and they'd deliver a replacement even out in the middle of nowhere... they do it all the time, so does Dell and HP for that matter. I'm not harping on Apple for that, I'm just pointing it out because for someone that is a "road warrior" that is a very important thing: knowing the company you bought the laptop from provides that level of on-site support anywhere you happen to be.

It matters to many of us and is a primary focus of our purchasing decisions.

I'm rambling now, something I do with increasing regularity as I get older. :p

If you want the "best," you won't find it at Best Buy, nor Fry's. You'll have to order it direct... that's the easiest way to find "best" in terms of laptops. Can't get it locally... stick with the business class hardware from Dell, HP, Lenovo, maybe Toshiba as well (they do have some decent ones) and you can't really go wrong.

(unless you find a monster freakin' superhellamega cool deal like I did on this Dell Latitude E4300, that is... $200 + tax and I'm rolling along right now... had one person offer me $600 for it already knowing I was getting it fixed, but I'm keeping it...) :D
 
To be honest, it really depends what you use it for. Cost vs performance. Always a middle ground somewhere.

My brother has a Asus G series and its been treating him pretty well. I have a Dell Inspiron 6400 from years ago, and it still runs, although not a good idea to run high-intensive games on it anymore. :p One thing rediculous is the battery costs. I know when I was looking to replace my 6-cell with a 9-cell Dell wanted ~200 dollars for a brand new one, on its site, but EBay had one for like 10$ after shipping, which sadly is still working, way longer than the Dell one that I had.
 
I completely ABSOLUTELY agree on the battery cost thing: a 3 cell "stock" battery for this E4300 is $129.99 from Dell direct, the 6 cell is $149.99 and the 6 cell battery 'slice' (I really want one, honestly) is $229.99!!! Insane stuff... eBay, here I come! :D

3 AA rechargeables in a plastic casing... $130... my word, where do they come up with that insanely bloated pricing.
 
Bahamut said:
I completely ABSOLUTELY agree on the battery cost thing: a 3 cell "stock" battery for this E4300 is $129.99 from Dell direct, the 6 cell is $149.99 and the 6 cell battery 'slice' (I really want one, honestly) is $229.99!!! Insane stuff... eBay, here I come! :D

3 AA rechargeables in a plastic casing... $130... my word, where do they come up with that insanely bloated pricing.
Click to expand...

Simple, batteries are not standard. Proprietary parts ALWAYS exhibit this type of high pricing. And not all battries are created equal. I've bought more than one third party battry that was cheap, and I found out why when using them.
 
Yah, I know. I found a real Dell 3 cell on eBay for $40, a real Dell 6 cell for $50, and a real Dell battery slice brand new in the box for $60... now if I just had some freakin' MONEY I'd be doing ok. :) With a brand new 6 cell and the battery slice I'd be looking at 13-15 hours of usage with the Dell EBL power profile... w00t!!! :D

I only deal with reputable buyers (nothing less than a few thousand feedbacks in the >95% range and only if they're in the US and ship direct from US addresses, none of that funky "Oh I'm in the US but it ships from Hong Kong" bullshit.

Never had a problem given my requirements...

Anyway... </off_topic>
 
Back to the matter at hand, in the PC world I just don't see a dominate maker that head and shoulders above the rest. It really depends on the model of machine, heck even your pick of the draw on a paritcular model. Like the HP tm2. People like me, which seems to be 2/3rds of the customers, got machines that were solid and well built and think they are the greated thing since sliced bread. Then there's that third that just seem to have nothing but problems, multiple returns, all kinds of weirdness, etc. I mean I buy one machine and its perfect and a few return the thing THREE times and still have problems.

Don't look at the maker some much, at least with the big guys, like HP, Dell, Lenovo, Toshiba. EVERYONE of these companies makes some killer shit and don't let people tell you otherwise. But everyone of them has made some crappy shit as well.

You really have to look at the individual device being offered.
 
Apple.

Aluminum. Solid screen. Firm, but good keyboard. Solid hardware with few issues.
I know Apple has had some issues with harddrives in the past, but they're recently fixed that issue(s).
 
And above, you'll see the best reason not to buy an Apple, they do have nice computers - but you'll have to be associated with this guy.
 
doctah said:
My sis had a toshiba. Hinges failed after a few years. Not complete failure; but very weak. The screen (or the cable going from the screen > motherboard) is failing now. My mom had one of the laptops from frys. She had screen issues after a few years to (pink screen).
Click to expand...

It wasn't an M65, was it? The hinges on those break like toothpicks.
 
illuminate said:
Apple.

Aluminum. Solid screen. Firm, but good keyboard. Solid hardware with few issues.
I know Apple has had some issues with harddrives in the past, but they're recently fixed that issue(s).
Click to expand...

I'm typing on a MacBook Pro right now, but I think the Thinkpad T series is more rugged.

I like Dell latitude too, and their warranty turnaround time is great.
 
Dell Latitudes are poorly build. A friend of mine dropped a $1400 for the E6400 a few years ago and already had to replace the screen because it broke from opening/closing. The replaced screen is getting lose, and might need soon another service. Leaves fingerprints everywhere, the lid doesn't really close very nicely, and overall bad build quality for the money. The good thing about it is a 3 years Dell warranty.
 
1. Lenovo ThinkPads. Though not as sturdy as they used to be under IBM, the ThinkPad line is one of the best built business PC brands, though they are expensive and often have low-powered components. IdeaPads are consumer focused and tend to be more expensive than Dell/HP consumer models for the same sort of hardware - though there are a few bright points, I'd stay away from them on average.
2. Sony's "Made in Japan" models. Sony's build quality is top notch in their Japan models, like the Sony Z. You'll get impressive feats of engineering, like a 13" 1920x1080 display, but pay for it. They also tend to like proprietary hardware like their video card interface for switching (Stock Nvidia drivers will not install on Z10. Not sure about Z11/Z12), and the SSDs they use (Proprietary connector, so you HAVE to use their models). Their cheaper mass market made in china models are nothing to write home about, but a step about average Dell/HP/Toshiba/IdeaPads.
3. Asus - As a brand, Asus has a ton of well built, affordable notebooks. I'd choose them over any standard "big name" easily. Their G series and U series are especially well built and feature filled. The G53 and U33 were big competitors for my next notebook along with the Sony Z.
4. HP's Envy series - Though I'd advise against the rest of the HP line, the Envy series seems to be one of the few notebooks that combines power and style/build. I have an Envy14 on the way. Depending on your options, they can be surprisingly affordable, but you can also get a quad core processor in a 14" notebook, and one of the best displays available in notebooks!
5. Clevo (Sager, and other rebrands) - Clevo makes cheap, well built notebooks with a ton of power and features...but they tend to be heavy and ugly. However, if you want maximum power without care of aesthetics, Clevo options are fantastic.


I would stay AWAY from Dell, HPs general stock, Acer in all its forms, and Toshiba. Apple also gets my negative vote for being overpriced and prone to tons of hardware problems, as slick as they may look.
 
I was just in the hunt for such a laptop.
My current laptop is a Toshiba M105 14" core solo, 3-4 years old, and its gfx card or screen is starting to go. Still quite physically solid, but when I adjust the screen, its beginning to artifact with the pressure.

I looked at a lot of older thinkpads with IPS screens for $3-400, but the HW was just too old.
As the thinkpads got younger, the build quality went down, so I opted against them.

On eBay, the older Dell D830s were 1/2 the price of the Thinkpad t60, and a 1/3 the price of the t61p (3 generations old T series).

Where I used to work, the solid feel of the Dell D630 impressed me, but it did have a power brick that got uncomfortably hot. I was willing to consider Dells, but only on my terms.

My friends used the current dell E-Series at work, and had good reviews, but nothing earth shattering.
I'll have more to say when it arrives in a week.

For the kind of money the thinkpads were commanding, I started looking at the current Dell E series again, and found a good deal on an E6410 w/ i5-540m, LED Screen, and 128gb SSD for $800.
Great deal, but only came w/ 2gb of ddr3.

I've had good experience with the ancient compaq professional series, but that was more than 10 years ago. Never seen a pro series Toshiba or HP in person, so I can't comment on them.

Good luck,
-Steven
 
I've had two Thinkpads, one IBM and one Lenovo, and the quality went up for me. The IBM is still solid as a rock - it was strapped to a race car's firewall (running on a flash drive), fell off the frame and into the car where it was beaten by the pedals, and still works perfectly.
 
Apple, high-end Lenovo ThinkPads (T series, for example), Panasonic ToughBooks, maybe some higher-end Sony notebooks like the VAIO Z.

To me, a lot of the reliability is baked into the way the notebook is designed. Apple and Lenovo don't sprinkle fairy dust -- they're still using similar processors and hard drives -- but they do know how to design out certain problems. Large barrel hinges are better than those tiny hinges that invariably break or come loose. A unibody aluminum shell or a titanium honeycomb shell is better than thin plastic or cheap steel. A lithium-polymer battery that lasts for 5 years at 10 hours a charge is better than one that dies in 2 years at 3 hours.

Also: I'd argue that Apple's support situation is a lot better than for some companies. That you actually have the option of going to a store where they may repair it on the spot, as part of your existing warranty, is pretty spiffy. Many third-party Mac resellers will do warranty repair as well, so you don't have to look for an official Apple store. Dell's on-site support option is awesome, but you have to pay extra for it unless you're buying a sufficiently high-end notebook (where the cost is already factored in).
 
Lenovo... Rock Solid... Doesn't become a hot plate like my HP.

HP does make some smooth looking lappy's though
 
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