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Notebook Build Quality

W

whimsical

Junior Member
Hello all,

I'm hoping that someone could perhaps give me the benefit of their experience with laptops. I was contemplating puchasing a Dell (Inspiron 1720). It seems to perform OK from what I've read. However, I read somewhere on this forum that the build quality of Dells is'nt that great. I obviously don't want to be spending £1000 on something only to have it fall to bits as soon as my 2yr old so much as looks at it.

In terms of build quality which manufacturer(s) would I be advised to consider.

Many thanks

P.S. Not an ASUS, have had bad experience with parts in the past
 
bad experience with ASUS parts? wow.

Dell laptops do tend to be slightly more fragile than other brands. However, I have had a Dell laptop for several years now, and it has performed better than I expected, and is still in near perfect physical condition despite being lugged around a lot and even dropped twice. (The wireless card didn't survive the second drop though.)

I plan to get a Thinkpad for my next laptop, I suggest you take a look at those.
Thinkpads are more durable than pretty much everything else (excluding Toughbooks).
Thinkpads also have a pointing stick, which I personally prefer over touchpads for several reasons.

So go to lenovo.com and configure a few Thinkpads, see if they have what you want.
 
Build quality - Apple, Asus (particular U, W, and V series notebooks), Dell Latitudes, Lenovo Thinkpads, HP Compaq Business Line, just to name a few.
 
Today - August 2007, Dell notebooks rank near the bottom of those listed. Dell has been sliding downward in quality for several months losing market share to HP.
 
I really love the build quality and ruggedness of my MacBook. Thing has been tossed, dropped, flipped, and generally handled poorly for the past year, and it has no severe marks to show for it. General use scratches, and some cracks on the bottom where the case meets the vent.
 
Originally posted by: TheStu
I really love the build quality and ruggedness of my MacBook...
Click to expand...
I got a friend with a Apple Macbook Pro - you know the type - carries two cell phones 'cause he's so important - made $113,000 last year, or so he says, et cetera. He dropped his Macbook ONCE - cost him $400 to have it fixed! Then, the display went out - $700 - ching, ching! And, he still loves Macs! Go figure...

@ whimsical: IMHO, laptops/notebooks are junk - all of them. They're fragile (brittle if you will), the connectors are crap, they're prone to suffering thermal problems (just bought a Toshiba and it came with a warning about burning your fingers on the touch pad - no kidding), the optical drives are a joke, yada, yada, yada.

Personally, I consider them a consumable, like toilet tissue and hair spray.

Get the cheapest one that will do the job, replace it when it's gone, and leave it at that...

Handle them like nitroglycerin and you got a fighting chance, otherwise you're in for a world of hurt! 🙂
 
Originally posted by: harobikes333
nice rant/ advice vindsl^ ^🙂
Click to expand...
Thanks!

I scanned the 'Toshiba shipping bag' if you think I'm BSing ya... 😀

See my post above.

Sorry, but ppl are fooling themselves if they *think* lappies are tough!
 
Originally posted by: harobikes333
^ ^🙂 agreed. Hey vindsl if you have any knowledge of laptops would you give me any tips/ examples as to what laptop to get for my sister?
Click to expand...
Done!

Unfortunately, you aren't gonna like this one too much... :roll:

 
Originally posted by: VinDSL
Originally posted by: TheStu
I really love the build quality and ruggedness of my MacBook...
Click to expand...
I got a friend with a Apple Macbook Pro - you know the type - carries two cell phones 'cause he's so important - made $113,000 last year, or so he says, et cetera. He dropped his Macbook ONCE - cost him $400 to have it fixed! Then, the display went out - $700 - ching, ching! And, he still loves Macs! Go figure...

@ whimsical: IMHO, laptops/notebooks are junk - all of them. They're fragile (brittle if you will), the connectors are crap, they're prone to suffering thermal problems (just bought a Toshiba and it came with a warning about burning your fingers on the touch pad - no kidding), the optical drives are a joke, yada, yada, yada.

Personally, I consider them a consumable, like toilet tissue and hair spray.

Get the cheapest one that will do the job, replace it when it's gone, and leave it at that...

Handle them like nitroglycerin and you got a fighting chance, otherwise you're in for a world of hurt! 🙂
Click to expand...

I have actually fond from observation that in a surprise move, Apple seemed to have made the MacBook tougher or whatever you want to call it than the MacBook Pro. My buddy's MBP has a shot optical drive (firmware update, irreversable) dead display inverter, and a fried RAM slot. Mine has had 1 problem the entire time that i have had it, and that is this weird backlight flicker that comes and goes, usually associated with what the power cord is plugged into. I have found that when I run it off my power conditioner it never flickers.
 
Originally posted by: TheStu
Originally posted by: VinDSL
Originally posted by: TheStu
I really love the build quality and ruggedness of my MacBook...
Click to expand...
I got a friend with a Apple Macbook Pro - you know the type - carries two cell phones 'cause he's so important - made $113,000 last year, or so he says, et cetera. He dropped his Macbook ONCE - cost him $400 to have it fixed! Then, the display went out - $700 - ching, ching! And, he still loves Macs! Go figure...

@ whimsical: IMHO, laptops/notebooks are junk - all of them. They're fragile (brittle if you will), the connectors are crap, they're prone to suffering thermal problems (just bought a Toshiba and it came with a warning about burning your fingers on the touch pad - no kidding), the optical drives are a joke, yada, yada, yada.

Personally, I consider them a consumable, like toilet tissue and hair spray.

Get the cheapest one that will do the job, replace it when it's gone, and leave it at that...

Handle them like nitroglycerin and you got a fighting chance, otherwise you're in for a world of hurt! 🙂
Click to expand...

I have actually fond from observation that in a surprise move, Apple seemed to have made the MacBook tougher or whatever you want to call it than the MacBook Pro. My buddy's MBP has a shot optical drive (firmware update, irreversable) dead display inverter, and a fried RAM slot. Mine has had 1 problem the entire time that i have had it, and that is this weird backlight flicker that comes and goes, usually associated with what the power cord is plugged into. I have found that when I run it off my power conditioner it never flickers.
Click to expand...

I'm gonna agree with the macbook being pretty decent as far as mobile computing goes. It's been my main for over a year now, and also my first mac, and I've really come to enjoy it. It's clean, well built, and OS X is just refreshing to use.

In any case, go with the good manufactures, ie Apple, Asus, and Lenovo/Ibm. Or if you choose other companies, go with whatever "premium"/business line they offer. I don't think of laptops as "consumables" at all. They are like all other fine electronics - only as good as you treat them. Don't expect any to survive a drop to the ground - that's just common sense. Don't expect great gaming out of them either.
 
Dell business (Vostro, latitude) is good, Dell consumer is terrible (I can attest to this, mine is crappy after only a year; key with a broken clip repeatedly falling off, display sometimes won't turn on when I flip the lid back up, palm rest areas are visibly worn, loose seam along the back of the lid, one of the screws holding in my HDD fell out)
 
WOW! Thanks for all the advice everybody. Sincerely appreciate it!

I'll have a look at the Lenovo/IBM, business Dell (maybe).

Thanks once again
 
Originally posted by: VinDSL
Originally posted by: TheStu
I really love the build quality and ruggedness of my MacBook...
Click to expand...
I got a friend with a Apple Macbook Pro - you know the type - carries two cell phones 'cause he's so important - made $113,000 last year, or so he says, et cetera. He dropped his Macbook ONCE - cost him $400 to have it fixed! Then, the display went out - $700 - ching, ching! And, he still loves Macs! Go figure...

@ whimsical: IMHO, laptops/notebooks are junk - all of them. They're fragile (brittle if you will), the connectors are crap, they're prone to suffering thermal problems (just bought a Toshiba and it came with a warning about burning your fingers on the touch pad - no kidding), the optical drives are a joke, yada, yada, yada.

Personally, I consider them a consumable, like toilet tissue and hair spray.

Get the cheapest one that will do the job, replace it when it's gone, and leave it at that...

Handle them like nitroglycerin and you got a fighting chance, otherwise you're in for a world of hurt! 🙂
Click to expand...

The same exact thing can be said about a desktop, except that the desktop doesn't move so therefore is less prone to damage. Don't belive me? Drop your desktop from just waist high and lets see how well it works afterwords. Drop your LCD or TFT from wasit high and see how well it works... get my drift? Personally I see no reason to own a desktop. I currently have a Macbook, two iBooks, and two HP lappys. Never a problem with my Macbook, and I never shut it off. I killed an HP NC6200 in the last year, and a ZE4230 some time ago (both warrantied out). The 6200 is my business lappy so it goes everywhere and gets banged around a bit. Not surprised to see it go, just like if I were stupid enough to try and take a desktop from home to work every day it wouldn't last either.

Here's my advice as someone who does not own a desktop.

1. Always back up your data, this is important no matter if it's a desktop or laptop.
2. Stay within your warranty on any laptop you get. If it is about to go out of warranty, buy an extended warranty or get a different machine.
3. Have a backup machine available, in case of hardware failure; self induced or otherwise.
4. If I had to rank them I'd go Apple, Lenovo, HP then Dell.

 
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