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

[DanDeFool]

Laptop manufacturers are like airlines. Apparently, they all suck.

Everyone has a horror story about how their laptop failed right after the warranty came up, or how the customer service kept them on the phone for a bazillion hours and still didn't solve their problem, or how they had to bounce their laptop back and forth to the repair shop six times before they finally fixed all the problems, and on, and on, and on...

Spoiler: Skip all this if you're not interested in MY Dell laptop horror story.

Unfortunately, I'm having a really bullshit problem with a $2500 Dell XPS laptop, and yes, the warranty expired last September. In order to keep people from damaging their laptops if you plug in the wrong type of AC adapter there are a pair of chips, one in the AC adapter and on on the laptop system board, that talk to each other when you connect the laptop to power to make sure you're using the correct adapter.

Why you would ever plug in the wrong kind of AC adapter to your laptop is beyond me, but I digress.

Problem is, apparently these chips fail. A lot. And so did mine, after only two years of use, which is way less than I'd expect out of a $2500 computer. Now this doesn't stop the laptop from running, it just won't charge the battery AND it runs about 1/4 as fast as it should due to the decreased power draw.

Now that I'm out of warranty, I'm stuck replacing the AC adapter ($50) and/or the motherboard ($200) out of my own pocket. I won't pay repair bills, since I'm going to dissect this ************ myself if I have to. I've built my own computers in the past, and am fully confident in my ability to perform open-CPU surgery on my laptop.

That said, the next time I buy a laptop, it probably won't be from Dell OR Alienware (since they're just jazzed-up Dell laptops, and the version of my XPS laptop that's now being sold under the Alienware name is susceptible to the same problems, according to the forums). If I do, I'm springing for the 4-year warranty, without a doubt.

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).

 

[Patrick Dare]

Yeah, Dell is horrible, I'd stay away from them, Alienware (were always overpriced imo and especially now that Dell owns them), Gateway, HP.

MSI and Asus are two you could check out. I've heard good things about Toshiba and some decent things about Sony. That said there are always the lemons that end up with defective parts, etc.

Also, don't buy from Best Buy. I've heard so many horror stories about them over charging for things, charging for things that should be free and not honoring warranties or charging for warranties that the customer said they didn't want.

 

[Ambi]

I did a lot of research before buying my current laptop, and Asus seems to have the best reputation as far as reliability goes. There was a chart somewhere of tested failure rates and they were the best, and reviews were pretty good elsewhere.

However, I settled on a Lenovo (IBM) G550 because it was cheap and my nerd brother said they were good. The only problems I've had with it was the cursor jumping around. It's a little annoying when I'm in the middle of typing something and then notice that the cursor jumped into the middle of a word I typed earlier. Could be that I was putting too much pressure on the computer with my palms. Once the cursor or touch pad (not sure where the problem originated) stopped working properly and I couldn't move the cursor, but then it went back to normal. It runs pretty smoothly, generally. I've had it for almost a year. Someone sat on it once and it was fine, although I'm not sure how much weight he put on it.

Also, I hear HP isn't good.

 

[Dys]

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).

 

[EngineOrderTelegraph]

Laptop manufacturers are like airlines. Apparently, they all suck.

Everyone has a horror story about how their laptop failed right after the warranty came up, or how the customer service kept them on the phone for a bazillion hours and still didn't solve their problem, or how they had to bounce their laptop back and forth to the repair shop six times before they finally fixed all the problems, and on, and on, and on...

Spoiler: Skip all this if you're not interested in MY Dell laptop horror story.

Unfortunately, I'm having a really bullshit problem with a $2500 Dell XPS laptop, and yes, the warranty expired last September. In order to keep people from damaging their laptops if you plug in the wrong type of AC adapter there are a pair of chips, one in the AC adapter and on on the laptop system board, that talk to each other when you connect the laptop to power to make sure you're using the correct adapter.

Why you would ever plug in the wrong kind of AC adapter to your laptop is beyond me, but I digress.

Problem is, apparently these chips fail. A lot. And so did mine, after only two years of use, which is way less than I'd expect out of a $2500 computer. Now this doesn't stop the laptop from running, it just won't charge the battery AND it runs about 1/4 as fast as it should due to the decreased power draw.

Now that I'm out of warranty, I'm stuck replacing the AC adapter ($50) and/or the motherboard ($200) out of my own pocket. I won't pay repair bills, since I'm going to dissect this ************ myself if I have to. I've built my own computers in the past, and am fully confident in my ability to perform open-CPU surgery on my laptop.

That said, the next time I buy a laptop, it probably won't be from Dell OR Alienware (since they're just jazzed-up Dell laptops, and the version of my XPS laptop that's now being sold under the Alienware name is susceptible to the same problems, according to the forums). If I do, I'm springing for the 4-year warranty, without a doubt.

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).

http://www.sagernotebook.com/

Problem solved.

 

[DanDeFool]

Yeah, Dell is horrible, I'd stay away from them, Alienware (were always overpriced imo and especially now that Dell owns them), Gateway, HP.

MSI and Asus are two you could check out. I've heard good things about Toshiba and some decent things about Sony. That said there are always the lemons that end up with defective parts, etc.

Also, don't buy from Best Buy. I've heard so many horror stories about them over charging for things, charging for things that should be free and not honoring warranties or charging for warranties that the customer said they didn't want.

Don't worry, I know better than to buy from Best Buy. I could probably be on the Geek Squad; I don't need a stranger messing with my hardware. Unless soldering is involved... I'm not very good at soldering yet.

 

[Patrick Dare]

I did a lot of research before buying my current laptop, and Asus seems to have the best reputation as far as reliability goes. There was a chart somewhere of tested failure rates and they were the best, and reviews were pretty good elsewhere.

However, I settled on a Lenovo (IBM) G550 because it was cheap and my nerd brother said they were good. The only problems I've had with it was the cursor jumping around. It's a little annoying when I'm in the middle of typing something and then notice that the cursor jumped into the middle of a word I typed earlier. Could be that I was putting too much pressure on the computer with my palms. Once the cursor or touch pad (not sure where the problem originated) stopped working properly and I couldn't move the cursor, but then it went back to normal. It runs pretty smoothly, generally. I've had it for almost a year. Someone sat on it once and it was fine, although I'm not sure how much weight he put on it.

I had the same problem when I first got a laptop and came to the conclusion that it was not the laptop but me accidentally hitting the trackpad and mouse buttons while typing. Not saying that's definitely what's up with yours but it could be. You could also check the drivers for the trackpad to see if they're up to date.

 

[DanDeFool]

Laptop manufacturers are like airlines. Apparently, they all suck.

Everyone has a horror story about how their laptop failed right after the warranty came up, or how the customer service kept them on the phone for a bazillion hours and still didn't solve their problem, or how they had to bounce their laptop back and forth to the repair shop six times before they finally fixed all the problems, and on, and on, and on...

Spoiler: Skip all this if you're not interested in MY Dell laptop horror story.

Unfortunately, I'm having a really bullshit problem with a $2500 Dell XPS laptop, and yes, the warranty expired last September. In order to keep people from damaging their laptops if you plug in the wrong type of AC adapter there are a pair of chips, one in the AC adapter and on on the laptop system board, that talk to each other when you connect the laptop to power to make sure you're using the correct adapter.

Why you would ever plug in the wrong kind of AC adapter to your laptop is beyond me, but I digress.

Problem is, apparently these chips fail. A lot. And so did mine, after only two years of use, which is way less than I'd expect out of a $2500 computer. Now this doesn't stop the laptop from running, it just won't charge the battery AND it runs about 1/4 as fast as it should due to the decreased power draw.

Now that I'm out of warranty, I'm stuck replacing the AC adapter ($50) and/or the motherboard ($200) out of my own pocket. I won't pay repair bills, since I'm going to dissect this ************ myself if I have to. I've built my own computers in the past, and am fully confident in my ability to perform open-CPU surgery on my laptop.

That said, the next time I buy a laptop, it probably won't be from Dell OR Alienware (since they're just jazzed-up Dell laptops, and the version of my XPS laptop that's now being sold under the Alienware name is susceptible to the same problems, according to the forums). If I do, I'm springing for the 4-year warranty, without a doubt.

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).

http://www.sagernotebook.com/

Problem solved.

Never heard of these guys. I'll check them out when and if my laptop breaks for good (which probably won't be long after I've fixed it, according to most of the forum stories of people who have had this problem).

 

[Atticus89]

I have an Acer running on Vista. And I must have the devil's luck because anything that can go wrong has not.

 

[EngineOrderTelegraph]

Never heard of these guys. I'll check them out when and if my laptop breaks for good (which probably won't be long after I've fixed it, according to most of the forum stories of people who have had this problem).

Ever heard of Falcon Northwest, who make $10,000 desktops?

Yeah, them and Sager use the same parts and Sager's on average are a few thousand cheaper.

Like I said, problem solved.

 

[smithy_2045]

My Toshiba Tecra M2 is still functioning after 6 years of abuse. Admittedly, I've had to replace numerous power cables, but that was through poor treatment more than anything.

 

[sneakypenguin]

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.

 

[CaptainKoala]

Toshiba makes great laptops. And Acer's laptops have gotten to amazing quality since Gateway bought them out a year or two ago.

Thats just what I observe from working at my local computer repair store.

 

[TheAmazingHobo]

Personally, I can recommend Samsung.
Used the shit out of one for 4 years. Opened it up recently, cleared the dirt out and now it runs again like on day one.

 

[Hairetos]

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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.

 

[Hairetos]

Toshiba makes great laptops. And Acer's laptops have gotten to amazing quality since Gateway bought them out a year or two ago.

Thats just what I observe from working at my local computer repair store.

Sorry for the double post, but Acer bought out Gateway, not the other way around.

http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2007/08/battle-of-the-asian-oems-acer-buys-gateway-thwarts-lenovo.ars

 

[SimuLord]

I have a Toshiba that's never done me wrong. Although lately it's gone idle due to me no longer needing to kill time with it on campus---I have a compact schedule so I can just come home and use my desktop.

 

[CouchCommando]

From what little I know about them NEC and Toshiba are pretty damn sweet, well the ones I use are anyway and I'm in Australia if that means anything.

 

[Finnboghi]

Basically, don't buy from any 'Name brand'; they try to sell to the average consumer, which means they cut corners everywhere they can.

These guys [http://www.xoticpc.com/] sell some pretty fuckin' smexy laptops, especially the gaming ones.

I plan to upgrade to one of them soon, when this thing gives up the ghost.