Best PC Notebook brands (based on quality and reliability)

[floyde]

Hi guys, a friend of mine asked me to help her find a good PC laptop. I'm very tech savy, so I'm pretty good at comparing PC specs, but since I only use Macs I've no idea which brands are reliable and stuff. I don't want to recommend a laptop that will break down in two weeks , so I was hoping you guys could help me find a good brand that is known to be reliable.

Please select your favorite PC brand for laptops: (If you can share any experiences that'd be great too)

-Sony
-HP
-Acer
-Toshiba
-Gateway
-Dell
-IBM
-Other

 

[SkyBell]

My dad has had very good luck with Toshiba laptops, he's been using them for over 10 years and has had very little problems.

 

[letsgorangers]

I had a Dell for 4 years and never had a problem with it. It's nearly 6 years old and my dad uses it daily.

I had a friend break 2 HPs (the exact same model -- she broke her own and her sister's). My sister has an HP and the hard drive failed.

I have a good friend with an IBM and he's never had a problem with it.


Edit-I've had more problems in a year in a half with my Mac than I did in 4 years with my Dell. It's popular in these parts to hate Dells, but mine held up well.

 

[zioxide]

Dell sucks

many people have them here at college and they're always going in for service.

 

[Aperture]

The new Dells don't look bad but I've always heard IBM Lenovos are very reliable.

 

[David G.]

You do realize you have Dell listed twice, right?

 

[shecky]

lenovo/IBM. not the sexiest, but definitely the best.

 

[yudilks]

Lenovo gets my vote.. I have been using mine since forever, my friend's is as tough as rock, and even my other "computer illiterate" friend's Lenovo is still going strong after 4 years of rough "abuse" by her...

 

[edesignuk]

Toshiba need to be in there (I'll add them to the poll, hope you don't mind).

They're so confident in the quality of their laptops that if yours should have a problem, not only will they repair it or replace it within warranty, but they'll also give you your money back (have heard this ad on the radio a number of times now).

Apple would be in a lot of trouble if they did the same

You do realize you have Dell listed twice, right?

Fixed this too

 

[sonictruth]

A side responsibility of my job (relatively small envir. consulting firm) is to manage our PCs/network/etc. [This is why I switched to Mac at home 4 yrs ago.] My experience with laptops here is ok, but any Mac laptop I'm familiar with has done better.

Not to rain on the Toshiba parade, but we've had two over the years, one of which was a 17-in used by our draftsperson (desktop-type P4 processor). In short, total nightmare - I'm not sure how the design made it past engineering QA/QC. Perpetual overheating despite two motherboard replacements, one of which they would not cover under warranty. Power supply problems too - neither the Toshiba OEM part nor two others we've purchased have consistently worked. It will shut down constantly, with no option to save your work. Cooling pads have been the only means to keep the thing running semi-ok. Amazing to me.

Most of our laptops have been Dells (at least 10 at this point, usually Latitudes). Every single one, except two 2-yr old machines, have had non-recoverable hard drive problems. My former machine had two HD failures in less than 2.5 yrs. Backups are imperative! Anyway, we're waiting for these two HDs to fail any day now.

Are we that unlucky? It's not for lack of trying to buy good machines. My 4-yr old G4 PB at home has had not a single issue except for a brief latch problem which solved itself. I try to be objective about these things - but Wow.

 

[floyde]

Toshiba need to be in there (I'll add them to the poll, hope you don't mind).

Thanks, it was supposed to be Toshiba anyway hehe

 

[gkarris]

IBM - no problems whatsoever - still going strong. Cost more but worth it (but seems like Lenovo has lowered price). Thinkpad brand still gets you IBM Customer Service in Atlanta, GA.

HP - no problems. I know some people have had minimum problems. My newest cheapo Compaq is 2 years old, purchased on Black Friday for $479 after taxes, shipping and rebates - no problems so far. We got our Senior Pastor one 1.5 years ago, it's abused, but still no problems.

Toshiba - I had a couple of them. No problems. But my friend who repairs them told me that if they do break, they are a nightmare to fix, and if you don't put it back correctly, it won't work. That was several years back, so it may be different now.

Dell - hates with a passion. 2 laptops I had tons of problems - sold one on eBay and had to just give the other one away. Dells here at work - nothing but problems, keeping our old IBM Thinkpads as backups (all over 3 years old and still going strong). The Dell laptop I use is 2 years old and had to rebuild the system twice, and replace the screen (became sort of a funky yellow). The techs that come to fix the machines have to return at least 1 more time to fix it right.

Acer - Friend's got one. His only problem is that he has to constantly reinstall the system. I think it more has to do with Vista.

 

[takao]

IBM/Lenovo for pure durability

apart of that Asus laptops aren't that bad either

 

[squeeks]

Toshiba laptops are crap

my girlfriends roommate has one thats about 2 years old, its never run right

and my brothers girlfriend just got one before school started this year, it lasted two months before the motherboard had to be replaced, i dont know what this thing is about getting your money back but i know they didnt

 

[AmbitiousLemon]

I find it a bit disturbing that so many people will condemn a brand due to such little information (anecdotal).

Here is a summary from several studies on first year failure rates.

"RESCUECOM compared the number of calls to the percentage of US market share and ranked Lenovo a 243, Apple a 201, Dell a 4, and no-name brands a negative 16."
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/laptops/...m-some-company-weve-never-heard-of-208314.php


Notebooks
Acer 20 percent
Gateway 18 percent
Toshiba 16 percent
Lenovo/IBM 15 percent
Dell 14 percent
HP/Compaq 14 percent
Apple 13 percent
Averatec 11 percent
Sony 9 percent

Excerpt:

“The percent of notebooks needing repairs during the first year was
Apple at 13 percent, Acer at 20 percent, Averatec at 11 percent, Dell
at 14 percent, Gateway at 18 percent, HP/Compaq at 14 percent,
Lenovo/IBM at 15 percent, Sony at 9 percent and Toshiba at 16
percent.”


Source:
San Diego Source : October 31, 2005
http://www.sddt.com/Commentary/article.cfm?Commentary_ID=140&SourceCode=20051031tbc



ABS
Nearly half of ABS desktops have required repair in the past year.

Acer
20% of Acer Notebooks needed repair in the first year

Alienware
For desktops only 19 percent of systems required repair, which is average.

Apple
11 percent of Apple Desktops needed repairs
17 percent of Apple notebooks needed repairs


Averatec
14 percent of its notebooks required repairs

Dell
17 percent of Dell desktops required repair
23 percent of Dell notebooks required repair within the past year

Fujitsu
Notebooks: 14 percent required repair in the past year.

Gateway/ eMachines
At 8 percent, eMachines desktops less than a year old have the lowest
figure for percent needing repair

Hewlett-Packard/ Compaq
Desktops: 19 percent rate of repairs in the past year

Shuttle
17 percent of desktops needed repair

Sony
Desktops: 16 percent of systems needed repair
VAIO notebook 21 percent repair rate.


Desktops & Notebooks
PC Magazine, August, 2005
18th Annual Reader Satisfaction Survey
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_zdpcm/is_200508/ai_n14908251


According to Consumer Reports' survey results,

“Toshiba and Apple rated at the top of the chart, with a little more
than 15 percent needing repairs but when it came to Gateway and
Compaq, more than 20 percent of these machines needed fixing.

As for desktop repairs, the differences were even bigger. Apple, Sony
and Dell came out on top. HP, Compaq and Gateway did significantly
worse, with repair rates of more than 20 percent.”

Wowt News:
http://www.wowt.com/news/features/1/1618052.html


According to Acer the monthly failure rates are as follows:

Notebooks: 1.20%
Desktops: 0.70%

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache...re+rate"+by+dell+ibm+sony+&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1

 

[Abstract]

Toshiba laptops are crap

my girlfriends roommate has one thats about 2 years old, its never run right

You can't base an entire opinion on one persons experience!


I'd play the odds and put my money on Toshiba or Lenovo. Even if Apple and Lenovo ranked #1 and #2, I'd still give credit to Toshiba. They really do know how to make a laptop. Also, you don't know what sort of repairs some laptops have had to undergo. Major repairs and minor repairs rank the same in many of these surveys.

 

[ryannel2003]

I've had 2 HP/Compaq laptops and I have to say after all the abuse they get put through, have been very decent laptops. My very first HP (and my first computer) was a Pavilion ze4427wm. I got it for Christmas 2003, and at the time was a very good laptop. Had AMD 2200+ processor, 256MB RAM, 30GB HD, Combo Drive, 15" XGA screen, and XP Home. However, i did have a couple of issues with that laptop:
* The hard drive died 6 months after the warranty had expired. That was a good thing in my opinion, because the original drive was small and slow. On top of that, HP decided to use a caddy for that drive and I accidentally threw it away. Had to order new HD and caddy, but once installed worked great.
*After 2 1/2 years, the screen started to blackout every once in awhile. Depending on the angle of the screen, it would flash on and off. It was very annoying, especially during a Powerpoint presentation I was making at school.
*The backspace key broke off and was never replaced. I ended up having to mash down on the area where you press down the key, and that made it very hard to type on.
*Similar to the iBook's, my HP developed 2 or 3 large hairline cracks. This was the most annoying part about the notebook, especially when traveling places and having to look at the ugly cracks. These started to develop way out of warranty.

I finally retired that notebook in April when I got a good deal on a pre-owned iBook G4. I eventually sold it to a good friend of mine for $50. Afterwards, I sold the iBook and purchased a new Compaq Presario C563NR. Best Buy had a really good sale on them, and it was only $380. It includes a 1.5GHz Intel Celeron M 520 processor, 512MB RAM, 80GB HD, DVD +/-RW drive, 15.4" Brightview widescreen display, and Vista Home Basic. So far I have been extremely satisfied. It's much better built than my previous HP, and even for a Celeron seems decently fast (I upgraded the RAM to 1.5GB; Vista is a dog). Vista has been pleasant, and I have no outstanding problems. So far the only issue with this laptop is a big wear spot on the touchpad. The laptop body color is silver and the middle of the touchpad is white. Annoying? Yes. Annoying enough to be put through HP Technical Support, No. Normal wear and tear like that doesn't bother me.

Overall, I've had good luck with my HP laptops. But i'm really starting to miss OS X, and cannot wait to receive my iMac as a Christmas present!

 

[floyde]

I find it a bit disturbing that so many people will condemn a brand due to such little information (anecdotal)...

Very helpful post, thanks

 

[dejo]

I find it a bit disturbing that so many people will condemn a brand due to such little information (anecdotal).

Agreed. Consumer Reports and PC Magazine's Reliability reports are also good sources of information. And remember, second-hand personal experiences are normally (although seemingly illogically) given more weight in a buyer's decision than a reliability report or recommendation.

 

[Eraserhead]

Major repairs and minor repairs rank the same in many of these surveys.

Yeah but Major repairs mean I am without my computer for the same amount of time as minor repairs so I'm not too bothered either way.

I wish Apple would do the Toshiba deal though, I'd be £1400 (as of tomorrow) up at this point. Alternatively they'd improve the quality so it didn't have to be repaired as often, either way is fine with me.

 

[squeeks]

You can't base an entire opinion on one persons experience!

i'm not, im baseing it on two peoples but yes i understand your point

and i have nothing aginst toshiba, i love my toshiba HD-DVD player, its just that the only two people i know who has toshiba laptops hate them...so thats a 100% failure rate for me, thats all..

 

[Love]

Every single HP i have owned ended up dying one way or another, one laptop i had melted the video card, one desktop fried the whole damn logicboard and processor. (to fix, $700 for the processor because it's older, 920 for the logic board and 400 for labor...eep)... Dad had an nc6000, fried the processor.


IBM and sony has always been solid

 

[Sesshi]

It's worth bearing in mind that unlike Apple, where the build quality on their entire notebook range is the same (mediocre), many manufacturers have different lineups which feature different levels of build quality.

I wouldn't buy a Dell Inspiron or HP Pavilion for example, but I find the Dell Precision/Latitide and the HP n/w-series business notebooks usually dependable. These machines are very different, inside and out.

Sony makes an even greater distinction in it's lineup: It's 'affordable' ranges are built in China, and the flagship models such as the TZ, SZ, UX are built in Japan (and the made-in-Japan models are the only ones that I buy).