Which Brand Is Reliable?

[lifemystery]

I'm thinking of getting a new laptop. From your experience which reliable brand name should I get?

[teetee]

As far as I been working on laptops, everyone of them has had a problem...just get something that works for your needs and take good care of it!

[the_almighty]

Lenovo T series.
HP Elitebook

[kyrie_eleison]

Macbook. 

[Rockstargenes]

I'm thinking of getting a new laptop. From your experience which reliable brand name should I get?

My personal Experience:  Sony and IBM are the  Least two brands that I have to service for hardware.  Then again i don't see many people purchashing them either.   I see More of HP, Dell prob b cause they a little cheaper on price.

[jbutton]

Don't know..  I have owned Apple, Sony, and IBM thinkpad, and Lenovo Thinkpad.

Sony body build seems plastic and cheap.. the hinges start to get loose after few years.  But it was a 16 inch laptop. Maybe that's why.  My apple ibook had its screen died on me after few years.  The think I own are still new so I haven't had any problem.

But bodywise, thinkpad and Apple has better body.  Thinkpad has very dim screen. 

It's hard to see.  I often have to feel the body of the laptop and see if it well put together or not.  I think this my reflect the quality overall. 

[Rockstargenes]

Here is a link i found : http://www.laptopmag.com/mobile-life/scores-by-brand-best-brands.aspx

They rank
1. Apple
2. IBM Lenovo
3. Sony
And so on.

[six]

Here is a link i found : http://www.laptopmag.com/mobile-life/scores-by-brand-best-brands.aspx

They rank
1. Apple
2. IBM Lenovo
3. Sony
And so on.

Interesting article.  It's funny that they rank apple as best, but there's all these asterisks next to its scores.  For example, the article said apple provided the best tech support of any brand....then there's an asterisk...and you find out that apple only provides tech support for the first 90 days.  That doesn't sound like good support in my book.  Nowadays, equipment rarely breaks down the first 90 days.

[intel]

Apple is the more reliable brand, not only in terms of hardware, but also software.  Perhaps the biggest downfall is that Apple will try to persuade as much money from you as they can.  For instance, you'll find yourself paying for new versions (iMovie, iWork, iDVD, etc) with release dates only 18 months to 2 years apart.  Most users haven't fully utilized their current version to be wanting newer versions.

Sony and Toshiba are great too, hardware-wise, but not exactly software-wise.  Although Windows 7 is out, I still use Windows XP.  It's about the only stable operating system out there for Windows.

But, if you find a laptop you really like, just buy it.

[NytWolf]

Lenovo T series.
HP Elitebook

How can you put those two laptops in the same post?  Lenovo's biggest mistake was when they branched from IBM and was sent to China.  Big thumbs down on Lenovo.

Big thumbs up for HP Elitebook.  I've always liked Compaq's and one of the biggest HP changes when they bought-out/merged with Compaq was trashing their own low-end products (workstations and notebooks) and re-branded Compaq's and HP's. 

Dell's are good.  Very close behind is Toshiba. 

So, for mainstream users:
1) HP
2) Dell
3) Toshiba

For gurus (but if you are, you wouldn't be needing a recommendation, would ya?), I would include systems like ASUS and Acer.  For the diehard, I would go as far as Alienware.

Avoid all others, like Sony's (compatibility isuses), Gateway (now owned by Best Buy, good luck getting parts and service), and Apple (proprietary and their tech support are telemarketers; ask how I know).

[jbutton]

How can you put those two laptops in the same post?  Lenovo's biggest mistake was when they branched from IBM and was sent to China.  Big thumbs down on Lenovo.

The Thinkpad business part of IBM was sold to Lenovo.  The engineers are the same. 

The most disappointing thing about the Thinkpad is they put really really dim LCD on the thinkpad.  I like everything else about the thinkpad, but hate the screen.  That may change my next buying decision.  I was thinking of going for the Thinkpad T410s with switchable graphics.  But with the dim screen, I don't know..

[obscurity]

according to this toshiba and asus are tops

http://gizmodo.com/5406415/laptop-reliability-study-asus-and-toshiba-come-out-on-top

[NytWolf]

The Thinkpad business part of IBM was sold to Lenovo.  The engineers are the same. 

Same difference ... people don't call it the "stinkpad" for nuttin.

[kyrie_eleison]

Interesting article.  It's funny that they rank apple as best, but there's all these asterisks next to its scores.  For example, the article said apple provided the best tech support of any brand....then there's an asterisk...and you find out that apple only provides tech support for the first 90 days.  That doesn't sound like good support in my book.  Nowadays, equipment rarely breaks down the first 90 days.

Try taking it into an Apple store.  Don't call those idiots.  Those telephone techs won't do squat except give you grief.  They don't get paid enough to care. 

[NytWolf]

Try taking it into an Apple store.  Don't call those idiots.  Those telephone techs won't do squat except give you grief.  They don't get paid enough to care. 

See my comment above about Apple techs being telemarketers.