are laptops reliable? questions

[TruePaige]

Or you're just unlucky.

No, I'm with HACP.

13" Laptop, T8600, Geforce 8400...without the cooling pad it would downclock everytime I did anything intensive for >45 minutes. Now I can play Starcraft 2 without any downclocking as long as I want.

Maybe you don't notice the downclocking / laptop has better cooling than most / or don't do enough intensive tasks on your laptop.

 

[cbn]

No, I'm with HACP.

13" Laptop, T8600, Geforce 8400...without the cooling pad it would downclock everytime I did anything intensive for >45 minutes. Now I can play Starcraft 2 without any downclocking as long as I want.

Maybe you don't notice the downclocking / laptop has better cooling than most / or don't do enough intensive tasks on your laptop.

What kind of laptop cooler do you use?

 

[HaukSwe]

I lug my macbook pro everywhere and have been for 3.5 years now, dropped it once with a dent in chassis..

Compared to my past experiences with Acer and HP I feel build quality is really really important for a laptop. Absolutely avoid crappy plastic chassis that flexes..

 

[sxr7171]

NEVER had one die. But then again I expect no less from Thinkpads. They've been thrown around in a bag with no padding. One of them stepped on. And yet another was left powered on and plugged in and wrapped in a blanket several times. It got hot enough to fry an egg on, but it works just like that day it was new. The CCFL is less bright on the really old one (7 years). The LED ones are bright as new. If you want reliability then Thinkpad X or T series or Panasonic Toughbook come to mind. Even the business Dells are good like E4200/E4300. But not as good as Thinkpads IMHO.

 

[cbn]

NEVER had one die. But then again I expect no less from Thinkpads. They've been thrown around in a bag with no padding. One of them stepped on. And yet another was left powered on and plugged in and wrapped in a blanket several times. It got hot enough to fry an egg on, but it works just like that day it was new. The CCFL is less bright on the really old one (7 years). The LED ones are bright as new. If you want reliability then Thinkpad X or T series or Panasonic Toughbook come to mind. Even the business Dells are good like E4200/E4300. But not as good as Thinkpads IMHO.

Well you got me to look up "Thinkpad" with that post. Here is what I found on Wikipedia:

In 2005, the Chinese manufacturer Lenovo purchased the ThinkPad brand from IBM in a five-year deal, whereby IBM still helps in the marketing and support of these products.

The following are some of the changes that have been made to the ThinkPad line:

* Added Magnesium-alloy chassis roll cage to reduce motherboard flex caused by holding the laptop one handed on a corner.
* Added Magnesium-alloy lid roll cage for a sturdier lid while replacing the lid material from magnesium-alloy to plastic for better wireless signal reception[13].
* Added Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic to 15 in (380 mm) ThinkPad Models.
* Reintroduced a line of Tablet PCs based on the X-series.
* Moved the physical location of GPU to the edge of motherboard near hinge to reduce the chance of damage caused by motherboard flex.
* Introduced Widescreen displays with the Z-series and added Widescreen to the T-series.
* Introduced a lower-priced laptop under the Z-series.
* Added rubber cushion to the hard drive tray to reduce vibration and to absorb shock.
* Added the Windows key to all 60-series and newer laptops making all the Windows shortcuts possible (although possible before with the keyboard remapping utility).
* Official support for Linux on select models[14].
* Added second drainage hole starting with the Z60-series.
* Ported the ThinkPad keyboard into stand-alone keyboards for desktop PCs in PS/2 or USB[15].
* Expanded usage of the ThinkPad brand name to cover the SL-series, based on designs and chassis from the consumer IdeaPad line.
* Expanded usage of the Thinkpad brand name to cover the Thinkpad Edge-series, more modern design with island style keyboard.
* Added an intercooling mechanism that allows the computer's inner workings to remain cool while in use
* Placed vents and a draining mechanism that allows any spilled material to drain through the computer without damaging the keyboard

 

[sxr7171]

^^^ When they added the magnesium alloy roll cage the plastic they used is actually carbon fiber reinforced plastic on the X200/X201. Before the entire top cover was magnesium alloy as on the X30/31/32, X40/X41, X60/X61. They are solid machines. But I wouldn't buy the SL or Edge personally. I stick with X or T.

 

[fuzzymath10]

All of the laptops that I have seen fail failed as a result of the video card; the display becomes corrupt and starts working intermittently, and then doesn't work at all.

My Dell Inspiron 8500 (2003, GeForce4 4200 Go) lasted almost 7 years and several drops and spilling water on the keyboard while powered until the video card died recently. I left it on for hours working with MiniDV video and encoding to DVD for media projects, playing games (BF1942, CSS, other 2000-2005 games), and watching movies so I'd say 7 years is an impressive achievement.

My Acer tablet (2003) was fine for about 4 years and then I lived with a garbled display until I sold it in 2009.

My friends' Acer with a Radeon x#00 lasted only about 2-3 years before the card died; I sold the parts. Another's Inspiron 6000 lasted about 4-5 years before his Radeon x#00 did the same thing.

I think dedicated video cards are a big factor in failing laptops. I'm hoping my two Dell Latitude D630s will last longer with integrated graphics; they're both about 2-3 years old now.

 

[TruePaige]

What kind of laptop cooler do you use?

It is actually fairly basic, and was a gift. A little Targus Cooler with two fans on it and a pathway to funnel hot air out the back.

Amazingly better though. 0.0

 

[Emulex]

no problem with quadro fx3700m - maybe its the video cards that are built on the motherboard not the modular video card laptops that have issues

 

[corkyg]

Echo praise for the Lenovo T series. They are tough. My T60 took a 3 foot fall from airport security counter to a concrete floor. Not a scratch or a hiccup.

By and large, I find laptops probably more reliable than many laptop users.

 

[cbn]

All of the laptops that I have seen fail failed as a result of the video card; the display becomes corrupt and starts working intermittently, and then doesn't work at all.

My Dell Inspiron 8500 (2003, GeForce4 4200 Go) lasted almost 7 years and several drops and spilling water on the keyboard while powered until the video card died recently. I left it on for hours working with MiniDV video and encoding to DVD for media projects, playing games (BF1942, CSS, other 2000-2005 games), and watching movies so I'd say 7 years is an impressive achievement.

My Acer tablet (2003) was fine for about 4 years and then I lived with a garbled display until I sold it in 2009.

My friends' Acer with a Radeon x#00 lasted only about 2-3 years before the card died; I sold the parts. Another's Inspiron 6000 lasted about 4-5 years before his Radeon x#00 did the same thing.

I think dedicated video cards are a big factor in failing laptops. I'm hoping my two Dell Latitude D630s will last longer with integrated graphics; they're both about 2-3 years old now.

Wow, that is surprising.

I wonder what part of the discrete video card is failing? VRAM?