Choosing A Laptop: Build Quality

[Mint Tea]

Hey Peeps,

I scoped it out and made a tidy list of laptops I'm interested in. However, I'm getting conflicting advice across multiple forums.

Category A: Clarification

Do you see certain computers as "consumer laptops" and "business laptops"?

If so, what are examples of computers you would consider "consumer laptops,"? Are these laptops with good specs but poor quality or a poor build which doesn't last up to 3 years?

Category B: Assessment

Out of these choices, would you consider any to be of poor quality? (with battery life issues, overheating concerns, and/or almost guaranteed parts replacement 2 years after you purchase it.)

In what ways?:

Dell Latitude E6150

HP EliteBook 8540p

HP Pavilion - dv7-4080us

Lenovo ThinkPad T510

Asus G73JH-RBBX05

HP Envy 15

Dell Studio 17

Please help. Thank you.

An offshoot of the original post found at: https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/918188-choosing-a-laptop-most-bang-for-my-buck/

[TEX4S]

Its not a house - dont sweat the details

1.) ThinkPad T510

2.) ASUS

3.) Elitebook

dont bother with the others

See how simple that was ?

If you want references, search for Thinkpad legends on youtube

[c3ntury]

Acer's have been known to have a bad build quality overall. I would avoid them.

[Hot]

ThinkPad. If you dropped it, it would probably dent whatever surface it lands on and not the machine.

[ViperAFK]

I've found dell laptops the most flimsy/breakable. Thinkpad is probably the best choice out of those for durability. Never had an acer but don't hear the best things about them. HP and asus are alright.

My cheap gateway laptop is surprisingly tough, I have dropped it many times while it was on and its fine, did manage to break the Ethernet port though, by knocking it off a chair when a cable was plugged in (I am a real clumsy ****) :pinch:

[TokyoKiller]

I am not sure if you are an anti-Apple user but, MacBook's are A LOT better in terms of quality and longevity compared to other laptops I've used. You pay a premium but the hardware is not cheap and the batteries are made from the latest battery technology that maintain charge over a longer period of time.

[amon91]

I am not sure if you are an anti-Apple user but, MacBook's are A LOT better in terms of quality and longevity compared to other laptops I've used. You pay a premium but the hardware is not cheap and the batteries are made from the latest battery technology that maintain charge over a longer period of time.

Completely agree. If your goal is build quality then pay the premium and get a MacBook Pro. Its unibody construction beats anything out there right now in my opinion.

[danisflying527]

From my experience with past Dells and my current Dell XPS 16 which is kind of a similiar form factor

It does overheat and it is not the firmest machine ever, If it dropped from a metre I would be scared it would explode into 1000 pieces

However they are super machines though and the internal parts haven't failed me one bit!

[the_guy]

I had an Acer for about 2 years and the only problem I had was the battery, but that's because I didn't take care of it properly. I dropped it and the only thing that got damaged were the clips that hold down the screen when i would go to close it. It did overheat, but only because the fan was clogged with cat and dog hair. Once that was cleaned out, it worked perfectly.

My sister had a Dell, and the hinges broke on it within a year and a half. It would also overheat after about 10 minutes for no apparent reason.

My gateway is also working perfectly, dropped a couple times and it's still working beautifully.

[Hot]

I am not sure if you are an anti-Apple user but, MacBook's are A LOT better in terms of quality and longevity compared to other laptops I've used. You pay a premium but the hardware is not cheap and the batteries are made from the latest battery technology that maintain charge over a longer period of time.

MacBooks retain a lot more value than other laptops and I love Mac OS to death, but they are not built better than ThinkPads. Not even close. Their aluminum is mallable, their hinges are wobbly, some older models were prone to discoloration and in short, I would not dream of handling my 17" unibody MacBook Pro (which is no doubt Apple's best notebook effort) as fearlessly I did all my ThinkPads before it. Try this with a MacBook.

[BigHoss]

my asus g1 was a great machine, not very durable tho

stay away from HP customer support blows

[Axel]

I have a Dell Studio 17 and am VERY happy with the build quality amongst other things. You tend to get the best bang for buck with dell too in my experience.

[Shock Doc]

My vote goes to the Dell Latitude E6510, the E6510 is the slightly updated version of the E6500 and it is the very best laptop I have ever owned...

* Not too large, and not a wuss laptop either

* Great battery life

* Support for a 9 cell battery (although it sticks out a bit)

* Very high screen resolution with LED backlight

* Modular Bay, you can take out the DVD or BD writer and place in a second hard drive. The laptop even has RAID support!

* Full size backlit keyboard

* Very easy to upgrade, the back comes off with just 1 screw.

* Support for 3G modems, GPS, Wireless N

* Integrated smartcard reader, as well as RFID support

* 2 PCMCIA slots

* USB powershare, you can charge stuff though USB without the laptop being even on.

* Nipple mouse as well as a touchpad

* Displayport

* Overall superb build quality, although it's not a Lenovo

Really, I wouldn't even pick a lenovo X301 over this great piece of engineering!

[Mint Tea]

Thanks for the replies. I put my assessments below. I'm going to check out the Lenovo and Hp-Pavilion in a store tomorrow to better assess their build.

Quality[gathered across multiple forums]:

Lenovo ThinkPad T510 i7620M

Dell Latitude E6150 i7620M

Dell XPS 16 i7720QM

Asus G73JH-RBBX05

Dell Studio 17 i7720QM

HP EliteBook 8540p

HP Pavilion - dv7-4080us

HP Envy 15

Personal, Layman Assesment of Quality

Lenovo ThinkPad T510 i7620M

Dell XPS 16 i7720QM

HP Pavilion - dv7-4080us

Dell Latitude E6150 i7620M

Dell Studio 17 i7720QM

Asus G73JH-RBBX05

HP EliteBook 8540p

HP Envy 15

Price (note: i put in the specs I would want)

Dell Studio 17 $1200

Asus G73JH-RBBX05 $1250

HP EliteBook 8540p $1250

HP Pavilion - dv7-4080us $1300

HP Envy 15 $1350

Dell XPS 16 $1370

Lenovo ThinkPad T510 4313 $1420

Dell Latitude E6150 $1440

Cheers,

[AltecXP]

That T60 test is BS I see them break all the time soon as a spill or drop happens. They must have some MAGIC T60.

[Shock Doc]

I don't think a Dell latitude E6150 even exists, it is Latitude E6510 ;)

[acnpt]

Acer's have been known to have a bad build quality overall. I would avoid them.

Only thing worse than Acer's build quality, is their support.

Had to send in a laptop three times, for them to finally replace a faulty motherboard......however they botched the installation, which would cause it to ground/short if moved.

So I just gave up :laugh:

The fact Dell provide a 'in-home' repair plan, is now a big plus for me.

[xispe]

Only thing worse than Acer's build quality, is their support.

That belongs to the past. It's not like that anymore, at least here in Portugal.

I would stay away from ASUS, their support here is even worse than that acnpt wrote.

[Mint Tea]

I promised I would let you know which one I got, here it is:

Dell Studio 17

Intel i7 740 QM (1.73 GHz) processor

6 GB DDR3 SDRam

500GB SATA 7200rpm drive

1GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650

17.3'' 9-cell lithium battery

Webcam, Bluetooth, Bloatware

Price: $1200, 1300 with tax

I haven't had heat issues but haven't done something like heavy video editing yet.

2 Cons which I anticipated before buying: Case build and battery. Case build (regular black) is sturdy enough but almost seems soft: it smudges easily and will get scratched with time. Battery is good for 300 uses (charge and discharge) but I anticipate that it will be out with less use in a year or so.

Please feel free to shoot me any suggestions as to what I should do to prep my laptop. I created backup disks, updated drivers & virus protection, got rid of some unneeded programs, and downloaded an alternate browser.

[Argote]

Those are pretty nice specs. Get rid of the Bloatware.

[Astra.Xtreme]

Dell uses cheap junk parts, so you'll be dealing with that in near future. And yeah, you're absolutely right that the battery will be dead in a year (if not less).

Nice specs, but you should have went with a better rep'ed company (IBM, HP).

[Kralik]

My Dell Vostro was fine for abt 6 months before it got dead pixels.. got the screen replaced in warranty.. then the hinges broke 1 month after that.. again replaced in warranty.. then the new hinges were so jerky that they broke the palm rest and base plastics got the base and palm rest replaced.. in warranty.. then got clouding in the new LCD after 1 year use and that was just 15 days before my 2 years warranty was running out.. so I hurried and got the new LCD.. now the new one has a dead pixel and the screw holes where the right hinge is fixed has become stripped.. im out of warranty now so thinking what to do with this?

Ive owned Dell.. always.. and never had such horrible build quality as their Vostros have.. plus all my older Dells had built-in microphones and the new ones don't? WTF?!! I'm planning on getting this one fixed and putting it on my lil sis's desktop and sell very 10 years old P4.. and I'll buy a new one.. after watching the Lenovo crash videos I'm ready for a Lenovo :p or should I give Dell another another? They reason I wanna stick with them is it never takes them more than 3-5 days to get anything broken under warranty fixed..

[chconline Veteran]

ThinkPad. If you dropped it, it would probably dent whatever surface it lands on and not the machine.

Funny that's actually true... I accidentally dropped my T400 from over a meter while it was turned on (Lid closed though) on cold hard concrete. Some very minor scruff marks -- honestly it's so minor it looks like normal wear and tear -- and it scared the crap out of this guy standing next to me. I opened the laptop, and it was still running... Windows didn't even freeze :laugh:

[Roger H. Veteran]

Never dropped my Thinkpad but my gf pushed my T61 off the bed (granted the bed is probably what, 3ft off the ground?) cuz she was mad. It didn't just go plop on the hardwood floor, she pushed it so it flew into the wall first then plopped on the ground. It was running with lid open. She pushed it and the back right corner hit the wall and closed the lcd and then it hit the floor front left corner then tipped over and landed upside (LCD side first!) Picked it up, left the room and prayed. LOL It was just fine. She came to me trying to give me puppy eyes later but then she was so excited it was fine and all that. Needless to say, she bought her parents a Thinkpad now and they love it. LOL

[+Jester124 Subscriber²]

Got to say my wife had a T61 and our son was always knocking it off her desk or jumping on it if she left it on the couch and up to the point she got her new sl410 it never needed anything more then a new hdd.