Laptop Brands

hdmi · May 20, 2024

hsehestedt said:
Did you know that touchscreens don't sell very well in Germany? That is supposedly because the Germans can't stand fingerprints and smudges on the screen. I don't know how true that is, just repeating what I have heard reported several times.

I guess that's what you get when the name of your country has the word Germ in it, ja?

hdmi · May 20, 2024

ASUS TUF Gaming F16 (2024) laptop in Jaeger Gray. It's got good hinges, the 130W TGP really is making it fly, and the cooling system is rather fabulous IMO. Stay cool. Be TUF.

hsehestedt · May 20, 2024

glasskuter said:
I'm not a laptop person myself but I've seen enough Lenovo Yogas with broken hinges to stay away from them. Lenovo has known about the hinge design for years but hasn't done anything about it as far as I know. In some instances the hinges strip the tiny screws that hold them in making it necessary to replace the case and those cases cost an arm and a leg .Sweet little laptops otherwise. I had 3 I've stripped for parts. The owners didn't want to invest what it was going to cost to fix them. Neither did I.

Funny you mention this. I was just served a YouTube Short on that very topic. The entire topic of this short video was the assertion by this computer repair person that Lenovo Yogas were absolute trash. His claim was that every Leovo Yoga that comes into his shop has a problem with the hinge.

Hopefully I have a good hinge in my Lenovo ThinkBook.

antspants · May 20, 2024

hsehestedt said:
Funny you mention this. I was just served a YouTube Short on that very topic. The entire topic of this short video was the assertion by this computer repair person that Lenovo Yogas were absolute trash. His claim was that every Leovo Yoga that comes into his shop has a problem with the hinge.

Hopefully I have a good hinge in my Lenovo ThinkBook.

Hinge is solid on our Lenovo Yoga. People need to be gentle with such things, regardless of the brand and how the laptop is made in my opinion. In fact it was one of the things I asked about at the store and the guy wrenched the floor model back and forth as fiercely as you could a hinged door.

Edwin · May 20, 2024

antspants said:
I find it incredibly intimidating. I’m not that confident. I think I’d resort to paying someone.

My sisters HP EliteBook wouldn't boot so, I tried to get into it to salvage the drive and absolutely destroyed it!
Problem was, it had been dropped several times, so, as I got panels loose, they fell to pieces!
Drive was pooched so nothing there, maybe a couple of cheap sticks of RAM to salvage!

NormanF · May 20, 2024

HP ZBook. They're HP's top of the line mobile workstations, upgradeable and repairable.

They're on the level with the Lenovo Thinkpad, Dell Precision and Apple MacBook Pro.

If you want the best money can buy, they're the ultimate laptop.

Fabler2 · May 20, 2024

This arrived the other day. I've already got the bottom cover off (relatively easy) and ordered 32 gigs ram and a Samsung 990 PRO 2TB.

TechnoMage2021 · May 20, 2024

If a person absolutely HAS to travel with a Computer, a lightweight laptop is the answer, but today, a smartphone serves that purpose for millions of people.

As a working computer tech, people were always giving me their old and sometimes defunct Laptops (and some desktops too) so I wound up with quite a collection. Just recently, I sent two Dell laptops off to Reclamation (the dump). They were old and had just quit working, but.... the hinges were still like new.

Many years ago now, a schoolteacher customer of mine bought a new HP Laptop and had me install it for her. She used it for several years and every year she'd have me clean it up for her and do any needed updates. Finally she decided she wanted a newer and bigger laptop, so she bought one, and I did the install/setup for her. Then she gave me the old HP Laptop.
I did a refurb on it, with new RAM, new CMOS and main batteries, and a new SSD. That little OLD laptop is now running just great and is my Backup PC, in case a hurricane runs me out of here.

But for everyday use, here at home, a nice husky, healthy, (and, FAST) Desktop PC is my preferred way to go.
My desktop is now sporting three OS's, each one on its own SSD, and a backup drive, an older 1TB spinner.
Can't do that on a laptop! And, OH YES, a 24" monitor, and a Mechanical (gaming) Lighted, Keyboard.

And, on the newest SSD, a Crucial 500GB, I've installed Windows 11, 24H2, V2. BOY! Is that FAST! (from, X-Lite).

Cheers Mates,
TM

pparks1 · May 20, 2024

I've mostly used the Dell Latitude lines, and they have been work provided laptops. They have help up pretty well over the years. My biggest issues usually end up being battery that swell up, and key caps that pop off and cannot be fixed without a battery replacement.

The consumer inspiron line is not built nearly as well. If I were to purchase a new laptop for myself from Dell, it would be a Latitude or an XPS.

My current work laptop is a dell precision. Honestly I don't care for it. It has a Core i9, but with that comes abysmal battery life. Had work given me a choice, I would have taken something with a Core i5. As it stands, I only get about 2-3 hours of battery life before I have to plug it back in.

My 13" MacBook pro I bought in 2014 has been the best build quality of any laptop i have used. Battery life has been excellent, still somehow holds a decent charge. Goes to sleep and wakes up from sleep incredibly well., Super quiet and lightweight. But a Mac is a totally different environment, so that involves a totally different mindset.

andrew129260 · May 20, 2024

pparks1 said:
My current work laptop is a dell precision. Honestly I don't care for it. It has a Core i9, but with that comes abysmal battery life. Had work given me a choice, I would have taken something with a Core i5. As it stands, I only get about 2-3 hours of battery life before I have to plug it back in.

I always go with AMD for laptops. The battery life I get from them is always miles better than anything I have ever been able to squeeze out of intel.

archfoto · May 20, 2024

We had an old Win 7 i5 Lenovo Thinkpad for many years. Had it hooked up to an external monitor and keypad, and used it as a desktop, essentially. We opened and closed that laptop to start it every day for all those years. Never gave a thought about the hinges. Lenovo hinges do hold up.

jeffbeish · May 20, 2024

TechnoMage2021 said:
The only OLD CPU that won't run Windows 11 is one that is SO OLD that it does not have the SSE4.2 Instruction set IN the CPU.
And even that, is only in reference to Win-11, 24H2. All previous versions will load and run just fine.
I actually have a couple of those, but for everything else that MS has hobbled us with, Rufus takes care of it, when burning the Windows ISO to a Flash Drive.

It's easy to find out if your CPU has that SSE4.2 Instruction Set, just get and run CPU-Z.
We've actually talked about that a lot on this forum.

As for what laptop is best. ??? That's up to the person with the Money to buy one. Every brand has its plusses and minuses.
And, most of them are made in China!

I temporarily overrode the CPU and BIOS I had in my Dell 3565 and Windows 11 worked okay, but not like my 3510 that is supper fast and works like a charm. The charm went south with the hinge problem. I wrote Dell about it and they actually published my remarks but did not stop with the Chinese underground slave computer case makers from ruining a fine system and design. Hopefully they will see their evil ways and let Tawain build their cases.

The old Dell laptops wore build like Sherman tanks but were as slow as Joab's Turkeys at Thanksgiving time.

Correct and I am a true tight wad so maybe upgrading the Latitude models for more bucks is the answer. Thanks, for the wisdom, I lost some of mine during my last birthday.

Wisewiz · May 20, 2024

jeffbeish said:
Thanks for the wisdom. I lost some of mine during my last birthday.

Well, they say that age brings wisdom. I've got plenty of that. Age, I mean, not wisdom.

jeffbeish · May 20, 2024

Wisewiz said:
Well, you two should think seriously about getting off your arses and getting computers that can be repaired and upgraded when necessary. So there.

Hey, I resemble those remarks.

Actually my last birthday was my 83rd and with stomach cancer my wallet has come under attack. Also, we live out in the boon docks were all the snowbirds have left the area for cooler climate, north, so no one to take with until November. Besides, my youth has been spent......

jeffbeish · May 20, 2024

hdmi said:
I guess that's what you get when the name of your country has the word Germ in it, ja?

begreifen. I hope that is correct; I lived Im Weingarten, Staufen, Germany in 1971 and 1972, but have forgotten much of my conversational German by now.

jeffbeish · May 20, 2024

antspants said:
Hinge is solid on our Lenovo Yoga. People need to be gentle with such things, regardless of the brand and how the laptop is made in my opinion. In fact it was one of the things I asked about at the store and the guy wrenched the floor model back and forth as fiercely as you could a hinged door.

The 3510 screen lid is easily caught in the battery charger coord or anything it sits on and snapes quite easily. I have dropped laptops, pitched them in the trash, just to recover one that still worked. But the 3510 has a definite design flaw in their case. Also, the hinges look like Roob Goldberg designed it. I think the lubrication is the actual flaw since it just gets hard.

hdmi · May 21, 2024

NormanF said:
HP ZBook. They're HP's top of the line mobile workstations, upgradeable and repairable.

They're on the level with the Lenovo Thinkpad, Dell Precision and Apple MacBook Pro.

If you want the best money can buy, they're the ultimate laptop.

TBH, I hope someone will shoot me before I buy from Dell or Apple. ThinkPads are of course solid, but yeah... they're way above my budget for the specs I want.

hdmi · May 21, 2024

Back in 2010, I had bought a Medion netbook (Windows 7 Starter, Intel Atom N270 CPU, 4GB RAM, 160GB Toshiba HDD) at 249 Euros from the local Aldi grocery store. I also had a 50cm SilverCrest ventilator from the local Lidl grocery store. This big ventilator was all metal so, it was very heavy, and the netbook was standing directly below it with the lid open. So one day the ventilator fell on top of the lid. Broke the left hinge in half. I fixed it with a few drops of super glue and used a clamp to let the glue dry over the next 24 hours. The hinges were perfect again after that, like nothing had happened. The netbook continued to work flawlessly for another 2 years or so until finally, the Toshiba HDD died.

A week from now, my Medion Akoya S15450 laptop will be 3 years and a half old. It's from the local Aldi grocery store, it was 599 Euros (before the RAM and SSD upgrades). I still use it every day, and use it for much longer than just a few hours per day, mainly for browsing the web. I remember searching for a similar laptop... the cheapest alternative choice I could find was almost 50% more expensive, and, unless I was willing to pay close to 1,000 Euros, they all had RAM soldered in (I have 2× SODIMM slots), and they had only 3× USB ports (I have 4 of them). Who actually even cares if it probably won't last 4 years. I have 5 retired old laptops sitting on my shelf, I never use them anymore. Just letting them collect dust is my 2nd hobby.

Senecio · May 21, 2024

When I bought my Dell Inspiron 7373, the hinge was the main reason I opted for the 2 in 1 laptop rather than an ordinary laptop. I have rarely used it in tablet form, and to this day, the hinge is as solid as when it was bought. My main issues with it have been a gradually failing charger connector (it has a very thin wire in the body of the machine which seems to be wearing away. Repair seems difficult or impossible), occasional software issues (I have reinstalled once as a repair install, and once as a clean install), and the need to replace the battery. Overall, it has been very satisfactory for the price. I will probably be in the market for a new laptop/2-in-1 in the coming year.