Okay... So what company makes the LEAST crappy laptops?

[Spectrum_Prez]

I seem to be the only person here who has ever had a bad experience with Asus. I got a G1S that failed about 2.5 years after purchase. The whole Nvidia 8600mGT line of video cards had some type of production defect that caused them to overheat after anywhere between 1 year to 3-4 years. Apple, which had included the 8600m GT in some of their units, did a product recall and gave everyone a new machine or new parts. Acer, on the other hand, did nothing and pretended that there was no problem. Because I was 6 months out of warranty when my unit failed, they were trying to charge me massive amounts of money (half the original cost of the machine) to upgrade the motherboard + video card to a 9700 GS... similar performance but reliable.

I said no and got a new Acer instead. It's worked a charm and packs a lot of power for a 13" rig. Only thing is that the keyboard catches dirt like crazy.

So it's not that Asus necessarily has a long history of making bad or unreliable laptops, it's that their attitude towards customer service is really really poor. I just want people to know before they start worshiping them as the epitome of good manufacturing.

 

[smithy_2045]

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Was that a deliberate attempt at irony? Because the picture clearly contradicts your forum pic.

I'm doing a lot of research into laptops myself, and I've heard the best things about Asus and Lenovo, although Acer packs some serious hardware into cheap shells, which make for cheap powerhouses that are a bit fragile.

Nah, i am serious. Im using both PC and Macbook Pro. I think that some of Apple products are great pieces of hardware - solid, good looking, ergonomic and comfortable. As long as i don't need a gaming laptop (and therefore im not retarded, because laptops aren't made for games. Hear me, not exactly clever people who think otherwise?), there is no better choice.
Of course im talking about hardware here, because OSX is not even remotely as good as in Mac vs PC commercials.

Generally, you pay more for an Apple product when compared to a non-Apple product with similar specs. That's not to say they aren't good, but there's better value for money out there.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Asus make some REAL nice laptops.

 

[WolfThomas]

I know you said high end laptops, but I'd just like to point out how much I love my $500 9inch ASUS notebook which has roughly seven hours battery life if being used, is light enough to port around at uni and I'm using right now.

 

[estoria-etnia]

I've had a MacBook for four years now and I only had to replace the screen because some douchebag on a plane decided that kicking my bag would be a good idea. *grumbles* My power cord for it lasted four years as well; I had to replace it just recently. I guess it depends on what you're looking for in a laptop; I mostly use mine for school work and writing and surfing the internet and not gaming, but Macs are pretty good and the interface is fairly easy to use. I went from a crappy PC one to my Mac, and the transition was pretty easy to make.

As for programs, my OS (which is Snow Leopard I believe) works just fine. And I never bothered to buy and Windows or Microsoft software; you can get away without it, there are programs that you can download for free from the internet (I use NeoOffice ? OpenOffice ? which has replaced most other programs I use).

Look into it, research is key to figure out what you'd personally like in a laptop.

 

[MrDarkling]

yeh my Alienware does two beeps every time I start it up and the battery no longer charges :I
Pretty sad to be honest.

 

[Doomdiver]

Toshiba, Lenovo and Asus all make great laptops in my opinion. Also I've never had any experience with Samsung myself but I've heard they are quite reliable as well.

But, as long as you avoid a few brands (Acer, Dell, HP being the main ones) and you aren't too rough with your laptop you should be fine.

whats wrong with hp ?

In my experience after 1 year, 2 if you are lucky you will get a hardware failure with HP. It's much more likely than with one of the better brands anyway.

 

[butteforce]

I really just wish that Apple would put some decent graphics cards in their machines. That's really about all that's holding them back. They're pretty solid, not being made out of garbage plastic. Also: glass trackpad. It's large and actually usable, unlike the PC notebooks that have been using the same piece of ass for the past ten years. Slot-in optical drive so you don't have 15 things that can break off on the rare occasions you actually use it. Good looking display, aside from that glossy bullshit that everyone does these days.

It's a decent choice if you're not concerned with serious gaming performance. Good if you're going to carry it around since it's less likely to explode everywhere if you drop it. Price to performance or a desktop replacement, it's really not a good contender for. Though for the price, you do get a few things you can't get anywhere else.

 

[Maquette]

Snip

I had a £2500 Dell XPS laptop and needless to say I had a similar experience in dealing with it. When the laptop arrived the speakers were broken, it went through four motherboards, two screens, two sets of fans, two batteries and three adapters. The final time the screen broke it was the day after I'd gotten it back from repair and, coincidentally, the day my warranty ran out. The tech support was absolutely dire and they didn't seem to have a firm grasp of the English language or a particular desire to help. Ugh, just thinking about the crap I went through with that laptop has me all worked up.

I spent about £500 trying to fix the XPS before I gave up and bought a MacBook Pro. My MacBook Pro is undoubtedly the best computer I've ever owned. Naturally it was quite expensive, but no more than I spent on my XPS. Of course you can buy a laptop for similar specs from another company for less money, but for reliability Apple is second to none in my experience. Compatibility can be an irritant but there's always Boot Camp if you must run Windows, though OSX is a thoroughly decent operating system. I've had my MacBook for just over a year and haven't had a single software or hardware issue with it. It saw me through my final year of university and intensive use of the Adobe Creative Suite.

I'm by no stretch of the imagination an Apple fangirl - this is the only Apple product I own - but I would recommend a MacBook to anyone who is in the market for a reliable high-end laptop.

 

[k-ossuburb]

My Macbook Pro hasn't failed me yet and if it does go wrong they will still fix it for free even after the warranty is up.

But, then again, I work there so obviously I get special treatment.

 

[Hashime]

I am a huge fan of Asus, MSI, Sony, and to a lesser extent HP and compac.
My current laptop is an MSI, which is great (except my sister dropped it damaging the hinges of the screen, fortunately the construction is simple so I can fix it) and I got it cheap at $614 cad with shipping and taxes. MSI is also coming out with some cool combination tablet style (tablet not slate) laptops.

Asus is rock solid, I try to buy my components from them (or MSI), Sony though expensive has excellent quality and style. The only issue with Sony is their products are not typically user serviceable. My sister just got a compac and loves it. Though basic looking, the build quality seems good.

 

[Hashime]

Snip

I had a £2500 Dell XPS laptop and needless to say I had a similar experience in dealing with it. When the laptop arrived the speakers were broken, it went through four motherboards, two screens, two sets of fans, two batteries and three adapters. The final time the screen broke it was the day after I'd gotten it back from repair and, coincidentally, the day my warranty ran out. The tech support was absolutely dire and they didn't seem to have a firm grasp of the English language or a particular desire to help. Ugh, just thinking about the crap I went through with that laptop has me all worked up.

I spent about £500 trying to fix the XPS before I gave up and bought a MacBook Pro. My MacBook Pro is undoubtedly the best computer I've ever owned. Naturally it was quite expensive, but no more than I spent on my XPS. Of course you can buy a laptop for similar specs from another company for less money, but for reliability Apple is second to none in my experience. Compatibility can be an irritant but there's always Boot Camp if you must run Windows, though OSX is a thoroughly decent operating system. I've had my MacBook for just over a year and haven't had a single software or hardware issue with it. It saw me through my final year of university and intensive use of the Adobe Creative Suite.

I'm by no stretch of the imagination an Apple fangirl - this is the only Apple product I own - but I would recommend a MacBook to anyone who is in the market for a reliable high-end laptop.

Well high end in price, not hight end in specs.

 

[MercurySteam]

Yes, after letting my parents spend $2000 on a shitty Dell desktop and and then all the shit I went through with how crappy it was built I completely boycotted any support I had for them.

OP: Acer, Asus and Compaq are all pretty decent brands. You can't judge all laptops with Dell as the standard.

 

[Shycte]

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Was that a deliberate attempt at irony? Because the picture clearly contradicts your forum pic.

I'm doing a lot of research into laptops myself, and I've heard the best things about Asus and Lenovo, although Acer packs some serious hardware into cheap shells, which make for cheap powerhouses that are a bit fragile.

Nah, i am serious. Im using both PC and Macbook Pro. I think that some of Apple products are great pieces of hardware - solid, good looking, ergonomic and comfortable. As long as i don't need a gaming laptop (and therefore im not retarded, because laptops aren't made for games. Hear me, not exactly clever people who think otherwise?), there is no better choice.
Of course im talking about hardware here, because OSX is not even remotely as good as in Mac vs PC commercials.

I'd like to point out that it is the same company in Taiwan that makes Apple, HP, etc. etc. so I'm not so certain about the hardware itself being very diffrent. Just sayin'

My HP ProBook is yet to fail me.

 

[Vault101]

My toshiba satellite is a freaking tank, it gets tossed in my backpack for 2 years lugged around campus, 100s of hours in wow and 6 hours a day work/play on it. Only thing it runs hot, stomach burningly hot.

I got one too! its not a bad gaming laptop, I mean I don't know what people are talking about when they say you have to build your own god damn huge desktop...It gets away with reasonably good graphics...except I wouldnt dare try and play crysis on it, it ran far cry 2 pretty well though

 

[Baby Tea]

So my question is, which company makes the most reliable high-end laptops? I probably won't be spending quite so much on my next laptop, since I hardly ever do anything on it that requires the big video card (which is what added the most to the cost of the unit).

Asus, hands down.

Don't buy from big box stores, they have store-specific models that are made with cheaper parts, and the warranties are stripped bare so that you have to buy the store's warranty if you want a decent one. Find a mom and pop computer store that orders from the manufacturer (Or do it online) and get an Asus. Yeah, you won't pay under $1000 for your laptop, but that thing will be freaking badass, the warranty will be decent, and the parts will be premium.

Asus, and only Asus. I won't buy any other laptop.

 

[DTWolfwood]

A little under a year ago I bought an Asus G73JH, at the time they were supposedly the most reliable. I know it's still early days, but other an update breaking killing floor (in that it will no longer run stably) I've not had any issues (and it was fine before the last patch, so I'm guessing it's a software fault).

I bought this...its been in the "shop" for the last 6 months...still in the shop .<

Id go with msi. No idea if they are reliable or not but they look good is taiwanese and hopefully isnt big enough so that you can never get anything fixed in a timely matter.

 

[Wintermoot]

I havent had any problems with my acer laptop (only the power plug breaking but judging by you skills that would be a easy repair)

 

[TheMann]

Apple. Just Apple. Their laptops are great. I dropped mine from chest height onto a concrete floor and the thing still worked. The new ones can run windows if that's what you want. The MacBook Pros are, of course, way better than the iBooks.

[super flame shield activate!]