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Does anyone make *quality* laptops anymore?

nev6
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nev6
nev6
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It seems most laptops I get these days start having problems before or at the 1 year mark...

 

my old thinkpad has just started having issues in the last year, and that was after having a glass of water dumped on it (gotta love cats, eh?) besides that, it's a sturdy machine, solid construction/parts/etc

 

my ibook g3 never had issues (granted a lot did with the logic board, but if you didn't have those issues they were quality)

 

....

 

 

 

So, does anyone still make quality laptops?

I was thinking of getting an older (around the 1-2 ghz mark) ruggedized laptop or thinkpad off ebay... but if I could get something newer, that would be nice too..

Preferrably not hugely, terribly expensive...

 

But something that was a little older would be ok too, maybe in the x2/core-duo lineage?

 

Any help is appreciated, thanks!

CLiDE FTW!!1
CLiDE FTW!!1
Posted
Posted

Yeah, the MacBook line is the best in the industry.

 

I rented a Toshiba laptop (IMO, used to be the best manufactures for lappies), and it's total {censored}. The keyboard is garbage, refresh rate on the screen is mediocre at best, and the amount of {censored} they add-on to Vista is unprofessional.

Urbz
Urbz
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Posted

Yeah, I find the Macbooks very reliable. As reliable as Apple made their iBooks and Powerbooks before them. So I would recommend a Macbook (Pro). I've spent time with others too. Among the many manufacturers, HP wasn't that bad. But nothing like the Apple notebooks.

Azurael
Azurael
Posted
Posted

My Lenovo feels every bit as solid as the Thinkpad T series machines I've used in the past, despite the tacky looking plastic exterior... And the keyboard... Well, nobody makes keyboards like the 'ThinkPad' keyboard :rolleyes:

 

That said, I'm every bit as impressed with the apparent ruggedness of my girlfriend's MacBook as I was with the Dual USB iBooks on (and I dropped a heavy rucksack on one of those, along with dropping it down a staircase without so much as a scratch!)

nev6
nev6
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Hmm, I wouldn't really say that the ibook g4 or the powerbooks were quality machines in comparison to ibook g3/thinkpad 600e era machines.

 

I mean the power books had a host of problems, hinges, speckling, logic board, etc... Ibook g4 was a significant drop in quality from the ibook g3 (white, not clamshell)

 

So you guys are saying the new macbooks are pretty on spot?

The numerous issues I've seen from folks around here would lead me to think otherwise.. Plus no-one has really had one long enough to know much about their future quality.

 

Still, I am tempted by them... I don't know if I'd enjoy the one-button mouse when booting into windoze though, that's almost reason enough to go hackintosh right there... I'm not a fan of external mice.

 

We'll see... Thanks for the opinions people!

(btw I will be using windoze in addition to os-x, sorry folks, but I just need some of those windoze audio tools...)

Azurael
Azurael
Posted
Posted

I know the iBook G4 had it's fair share of hardware faults, but I'm talking about build quality, not so much design defects. The casing of the G4 dual USBs was no less substantial than the earlier iceBooks...

 

As for the 'pro' machines, I can't think of any known faults other than the lower memory slot failures on AlBooks; they were very solid machines. My 15" 1.25GHz only got decomissioned last year as a result of being thrown off a table and landed on by a somewhat heavy Acer machine. Only thing which failed was the screen backlight, but as the CCFLs are non-replaceable in modern LCDs (who thought of that one?!), I passed it on to somebody with a rapidly disintegrating late-model TiBook who had the screen from that machine to swap in. AFAIK, it's still going strong. Not bad for a 4 year old machine...

 

By the way... Doesn't the two-finger right click thing work on Apple notebooks under windows then?

 

I never notice the lack of two mouse buttons on Apple notebooks under OS X because of that, and I'm a pretty heavy context menu user :)

nev6
nev6
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I know the iBook G4 had it's fair share of hardware faults, but I'm talking about build quality, not so much design defects. The casing of the G4 dual USBs was no less substantial than the earlier iceBooks...

 

As for the 'pro' machines, I can't think of any known faults other than the lower memory slot failures on AlBooks; they were very solid machines. My 15" 1.25GHz only got decomissioned last year as a result of being thrown off a table and landed on by a somewhat heavy Acer machine. Only thing which failed was the screen backlight, but as the CCFLs are non-replaceable in modern LCDs (who thought of that one?!), I passed it on to somebody with a rapidly disintegrating late-model TiBook who had the screen from that machine to swap in. AFAIK, it's still going strong. Not bad for a 4 year old machine...

 

By the way... Doesn't the two-finger right click thing work on Apple notebooks under windows then?

 

I never notice the lack of two mouse buttons on Apple notebooks under OS X because of that, and I'm a pretty heavy context menu user :)

 

I use that one prog...scroll something or another under os-x and just assign my top left corner of the touchpad to function as a rightclick on my ibook g4, that's nice.

 

The casing of the g4 dual usbs was nice, that's true, however lcd screen, touchpad, mouse, and keyboard were not nearly as nice, IMO.

 

Maybe the AlBooks are better than people make them out to be... Yeah, 4 years isn't too shoddy (not next to my 11 year old thinkpad though :P) (pretty sure it was 96? i could be talking out of my ass... )

However, they can't quite run windoze anyway...

 

But a new macbook... hmm.

 

I'm not sure on that one.

MBP is most likely def out of my range.

 

is it worth picking up a core-duo macbook?

off ebay or something of that sort... hopefully, maybe still under apple care.

I really can't afford a new/refurb... well I could, but that would be selfish.

 

Thanks! (again)

Special-K
Special-K
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My HP is pretty sturdy. The keyboard is one of the nicer ones I've used, and the design of the laptop itself looks great. My only beef when I first got it, was the mousepad. It's smooth, and I was used to textured ones. After a little while though, you get used to it.

nev6
nev6
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My HP is better sturdy. The keyboard is one of the nicer ones I've used, and the design of the laptop it self looks great. My only beef when I first got it, was the mousepad. It's smooth, and I was used to textured ones. After a little while though, you get used to it.

 

I don't know if I could bring myself to buy another hp, throughout the years I've had several HORRID laptops/desktops from them...

Could just be luck of the draw but... mer. Y'kno.

 

Hardware defects, mobo problems, general "cheap" feel...etc.

 

Which model do you have specifically?

Synaesthesia
Synaesthesia
Posted
Posted
So you guys are saying the new macbooks are pretty on spot?

The numerous issues I've seen from folks around here would lead me to think otherwise.. Plus no-one has really had one long enough to know much about their future quality.

 

Still, I am tempted by them... I don't know if I'd enjoy the one-button mouse when booting into windoze though, that's almost reason enough to go hackintosh right there... I'm not a fan of external mice.

 

We'll see... Thanks for the opinions people!

(btw I will be using windoze in addition to os-x, sorry folks, but I just need some of those windoze audio tools...)

is it worth picking up a core-duo macbook?

off ebay or something of that sort... hopefully, maybe still under apple care.

I really can't afford a new/refurb... well I could, but that would be selfish.

The Macbook Core 2 Duo has a better record with the "issues" like heat and noise than the Core Duo, but if you find a good Core Duo book that's fine, just maybe inspect it fully first, to be sure...

 

You can run windows and OS X perfectly, right click with two fingers works, as far as I know. A refurb model would be perfect, bcoz it's still covered by Apple.

 

Yes, they're not cheap, but you can't demand quality like this, and not expect to pay a little...they're worth it!

sarahbau
sarahbau
Posted
Posted
So you guys are saying the new macbooks are pretty on spot?

The numerous issues I've seen from folks around here would lead me to think otherwise.. Plus no-one has really had one long enough to know much about their future quality.

 

Well, forums are the worst place to gauge the quality of something. People post on forums to complain about the products they own, not to say they are working fine. Any forum you go to will have posts about problems, no matter how good or reliable the product is. I'm sure even Maytag forums (if they exist) have posts about Maytag washers and dryers failing. I keep seeing posts about these major known problems with other machines as well - problems I never even saw when I was a Mac Genius. Granted it has been almost 3 years since I left Apple.

nev6
nev6
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The Macbook Core 2 Duo has a better record with the "issues" like heat and noise than the Core Duo, but if you find a good Core Duo book that's fine, just maybe inspect it fully first, to be sure...You can run windows and OS X perfectly, right click with two fingers works, as far as I know. A refurb model would be perfect, bcoz it's still covered by Apple. Yes, they're not cheap, but you can't demand quality like this, and not expect to pay a little...they're worth it!
Right-click with two fingers could save it for me :PYeah, I'd be scared to pick up a (non-refurb) used one without seeing it first, but I figure if it were under apple-care it wouldn't make a great deal of difference, plus it would give me an idea of how it was holding up thusfar...I'm aware they're not cheap, that's why I was thinking maybe something a little older, as I previously said...Quality laptop, slower laptop, would be ok... My 1.6ghz core-duo (ugh, dell) is more than sufficient for me, and my 1.02 ghz ibook g4 still fares me pretty well too (not so much in the newer audio program deparment though, but I'm sure the heavier os x has a lot to do with this as well, as opposed to a barren copy of xp)
Well, forums are the worst place to gauge the quality of something. People post on forums to complain about the products they own, not to say they are working fine. Any forum you go to will have posts about problems, no matter how good or reliable the product is. I'm sure even Maytag forums (if they exist) have posts about Maytag washers and dryers failing. I keep seeing posts about these major known problems with other machines as well - problems I never even saw when I was a Mac Genius. Granted it has been almost 3 years since I left Apple.
This is true, I just find it's a good idea to get the full gamut of opinions on something before you purchase it. And you certainly do get that around here :wacko: Thanks for the opinions and insight
Special-K
Special-K
Posted
Posted
I don't know if I could bring myself to buy another hp, throughout the years I've had several HORRID laptops/desktops from them...

Could just be luck of the draw but... mer. Y'kno.

 

Hardware defects, mobo problems, general "cheap" feel...etc.

 

Which model do you have specifically?

 

Pavilion dv2550

 

So far no defects or problems, and I'm running it like a desktop so I could seed the stuffing out of my Green Demon torrents. I remember my Alienware burnt out on me when I did the same. As did my Dell. So I'm pretty happy with this one.

 

Although when the new Macbooks are out, I'm all over those =].

notdrphang
notdrphang
Posted
Posted

I had the chance to spend the day with a new Core 2 Macbook Pro that I set up for a friend. I loved it but had to major complaints about it.

 

1. The heat! After a few hours of use I could not keep it on my lap without becoming very very uncomfortable. If I were to keep my hand on the bottom of the Macbook pro for long enough I am sure the heat would blister my fingers. I wished I had an I.R. temp gun to get a surface reading on that thing. I took my girlfriends hand and placed it on the bottom of the notebook with a bit of pressure and she screamed as she jerked her hand out from under the Macbook pro and the proceeded to smack me in the back of the head for being a jerk. She could not believe how hot it was. Her HP DV6448se with a AMD TL-56 stays cool to the touch all day long.

 

2. I hated how the screen did not tilt back far enough. You almost need to be sitting right in front of it. If you have it on your lap the instinct is to try and open it further. That was a little annoying.

 

Other than that it was a pretty nice notebook. Very solid.

U.C.
U.C.
Posted
Posted

I have had a lot of issues with HP's and Compaq's. Very shoddy quality. Nearly all HP laptop owners i know have had problems, LCDs, Hinges, CD-Roms, Speakers, etc etc.

 

The new Lenevo my Mom got seems awesome and better than my Dads Trusty old ThinkPad. The Lenevo actually seems more sturdy than the IBM!!! Probably coz its new, but still.

 

 

Of course nothing beats the MB's and MBP's. The attention to detail and Quality is just astounding, but they do get very HOT. As always, there are gonna be issues, so stay away from 1st Gen Products.

benwinship
benwinship
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The Aliminium Powerbooks are great, my 1ghz model only recently met its ill-fated death thanks to a cup of coffee spilt over it by my girlfriend, ive been considering buying another one, because i dont really see the need to get a MacBook Pro.

1337Rolla
1337Rolla
Posted
Posted

I've owned a few laptops.

 

older toshiba (the gray kind) was solid as a brick until the mobo died after 5 years of use.

Satellite Pro 405CS

 

older compaq .. flimsy but amazingly the battery still holds a charge (over 7 years old)

 

hp laptop purchased in 03.. nothing but problems. flimsy, broken plastic, power control board shorted out due to a design flaw in the case, etc etc.

 

the newer toshibas seem extremly flimsy to me but I don't have enough experience with them to know if they'll last.

 

panasonic toughbook seems to be the pinnacle of well built laptops at the moment.

nev6
nev6
Posted
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Posted
I've owned a few laptops.

 

older toshiba (the gray kind) was solid as a brick until the mobo died after 5 years of use.

Satellite Pro 405CS

 

older compaq .. flimsy but amazingly the battery still holds a charge (over 7 years old)

 

hp laptop purchased in 03.. nothing but problems. flimsy, broken plastic, power control board shorted out due to a design flaw in the case, etc etc.

 

the newer toshibas seem extremly flimsy to me but I don't have enough experience with them to know if they'll last.

 

panasonic toughbook seems to be the pinnacle of well built laptops at the moment.

 

yeah, the new toshibas (even back a few years) aren't that great...

 

I was considering picking up an older toughbook, or an itronix gobook... something in that vein... Not sure though.

djet
djet
Posted
Posted

The Macbook is just a quality machine. You can't contradict that, the keyboard has the perfect spacing, large mousepad, and nice display. The only 2 complaints I have is the heat it produced (google "Macbook cooks breakfast") and the one button mouse.

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