Laptop Buying Assistance Needed - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Stoney · #16 07-11-2011, 11:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by raymr

My kid's Dell inspiron 14 somehow dropped on something hard (no ones fessing up). It needed a new display, but aside from a palm rest that needed a spot of glue, the chassis survived intact. Ebay had a new display panel for $70. I had it apart, disassembled the whole computer, and repaired good as new in 2 evenings. I can attest they are easier to work on than a Macbook. The only really flimsy piece is the bezel surrounding the display (the little tabs on the back snap off when you look at them). But its been away to college for 2 years and still looks good.

My firm was a Dell junkie. All the desktops and all the laptops until we had the Dell server meltdown and then the desktop Optima series began to die at an amazing rate. Next the Inspiron's they talked us into began to have screen issues (6000 series) and pretty soon there were a stack of 'em in the closet awaiting replacement by Dell...except Dell renieged on the Business Warranty we bought citing the Inspiron was not sold to us as a Business machine (they refuse dto admit that they stopped making the displays that were bad and 86'ed the 6000 line), then they wriggled out of all the bad desktop terminals but we nailed 'em on the server.

Now we have all Lenovo desktops and about 60% of the laptops are Lenovo as well. Decent support but we don't seem to need it, the machines just keep rockin' on.

I am swapping to a new X120 mini lap tomorrow. Dual core AMD Fusion, 4 gb, 320 hdd with a typical IBM style layout. Looks like a smaller version of the X600 I used to schlep around but at 3lbs and a 6 hr battery I'll take it over a Dell anyday.

Personally, I am writing this on a Dell XPS 600, the last Dell I will ever own. I had 2 XPS400's in a row delivered that were DOA and then they sent the first XPS600 as a replacement and it lasted 2 1/2 weeks before the power supply smoked so they sent me a new XPS 600 and a spare power supply...which I had to swap in at 1 1/2 years whan the original died. That one lasted a year so I bought a rebuilt XPS power supply from a Dell Rebuilder and so far so good.

I was a loyal Dell customer for over 15 years, bought my first 386 from them but the days of yore are long gone. They are a low baller that will screw the customer to make their bottom line. They knowingly sold bad servers and terminals with known MB capacitor and resistor issues and then had loads of power supply problems in the non business sector. Made tons of junk laptops sold to grab the "laptop in the classroom" market and their finance arm has ****ed the credit of many a parent with deliberate fraud and double billing.

Got one that works? Enjoy it while it lasts.

lutzTD · #17 07-12-2011, 08:14 AM

we bought a few lenova laptops here at work. they seemed to be throw backs from units made years ago and peiced together. they had a lot of video issues and they would not work in the docks. other than that they were heavy and boxey. We were trying to get top end performance for CAD and large 17" screens were mandatory but the HPs we replaced were better and were 3 years old. I dont know about their low end offerings, but their 17" units were horrible

Maki · #18 07-12-2011, 10:51 AM

Check out ASUS. My IT buddy recommended them to me. I've had one of their p501J laptops for a couple years with no problems. The speakers are a little weak, but it's intended as a business laptop.

This looks like the hot ASUS deal at newegg -- 6 gig memory, 640 gig hard drive, 17-inch screen, $649. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230070

MTI · #19 07-12-2011, 11:23 AM

According to Square Trade (warranty insurance) ASUS and Toshiba have lower rates of repair claims.

http://www.squaretrade.com/pages/laptop-reliability-1109

spdrun · #20 07-12-2011, 11:38 AM

ASUS also makes the hardware for a lot of other laptop manufacturers, so you may be buying an ASUS, like it or not. The other idea is to buy a MacBook Air (can be had for under $1000 these days) and throw a copy of VirtualBox and XP on it for when you need to run Windows programs.

MTI · #21 07-13-2011, 08:24 PM

The MBA is a niche machine, so unlikely to justify the expense for the simple needs he has, especially since he'd have to buy an external DVD drive to watch movies. To run XP, just use the included Bootcamp, the SSD in the MBA makes rebooting fairly quick.

leathermang · #22 07-13-2011, 08:31 PM

Check out this site...

http://slickdeals.net/

These guys are cheapskates who know laptops .... after reading hundreds of opinions I am going to get a Lenovo next... they suggest two or three brands have the best long term build quality...

pawoSD · #23 07-13-2011, 09:15 PM

HP Pro-Book series are excellent, as well as many of the Lenovo units. I configure/deploy HP Pro and Elite books all the time, failures are pretty rare, and they feel high quality. You can get a very nice one for under $500.

raymr · #24 07-13-2011, 11:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stoney

My firm was a Dell junkie. All the desktops and all the laptops until we had the Dell server meltdown and then the desktop Optima series began to die at an amazing rate. Next the Inspiron's they talked us into began to have screen issues (6000 series) and pretty soon there were a stack of 'em in the closet awaiting replacement by Dell...except Dell renieged on the Business Warranty we bought citing the Inspiron was not sold to us as a Business machine (they refuse dto admit that they stopped making the displays that were bad and 86'ed the 6000 line), then they wriggled out of all the bad desktop terminals but we nailed 'em on the server.

Now we have all Lenovo desktops and about 60% of the laptops are Lenovo as well. Decent support but we don't seem to need it, the machines just keep rockin' on.

I am swapping to a new X120 mini lap tomorrow. Dual core AMD Fusion, 4 gb, 320 hdd with a typical IBM style layout. Looks like a smaller version of the X600 I used to schlep around but at 3lbs and a 6 hr battery I'll take it over a Dell anyday.

Personally, I am writing this on a Dell XPS 600, the last Dell I will ever own. I had 2 XPS400's in a row delivered that were DOA and then they sent the first XPS600 as a replacement and it lasted 2 1/2 weeks before the power supply smoked so they sent me a new XPS 600 and a spare power supply...which I had to swap in at 1 1/2 years whan the original died. That one lasted a year so I bought a rebuilt XPS power supply from a Dell Rebuilder and so far so good.

I was a loyal Dell customer for over 15 years, bought my first 386 from them but the days of yore are long gone. They are a low baller that will screw the customer to make their bottom line. They knowingly sold bad servers and terminals with known MB capacitor and resistor issues and then had loads of power supply problems in the non business sector. Made tons of junk laptops sold to grab the "laptop in the classroom" market and their finance arm has ****ed the credit of many a parent with deliberate fraud and double billing.

Got one that works? Enjoy it while it lasts.

It's always a price vs reliability issue with computers of any size. I'm not sure I would put all my eggs in any 1 basket in a business environment. Your experience shows why. Low end is low end, you get what you pay for. You won't get personalized service from a mass marketer, and I can believe they engage in a lot of CYA. But I got a good price, around $500 each (I had to buy 2 for twins) and they work as advertized.

In our case its an improvement over the twice-the-price Macbook that got trashed by a liquid spill and wasn't covered by Apple's extended warranty.

al76slc · #25 07-14-2011, 12:18 PM

Thank you everyone for the help.

I went the path of least resistance and bought a refurbished Dell Vostro 15.6 with Windows 7 Pro for $400 on the Dell Outlet site. Hardware configuration is similar to my desktop, which more than suits my needs.

Windows Pro should allow me to run XP programs (thanks for the suggestion), and if I really don't like it, I don't have a lot invested (and I'm sure my 16yo will take it.)

I'm sort of under the gun in terms of needing to make a fast decision, and they can ship from stock and I'll have it next week.