Laptop hardware quality

Feb 9, 2018
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Every two years or so I have to buy a new laptop, because the one I have mysteriously dies. What laptop manufacturers are known to use choice hardware in their laptop builts?
 
Solution
It depends on the model, I wouldn't point at any brand for making only quality laptops or any brand, popular brand anyway, for making nothing but junk.

I would say it more comes down to how you take care of it. If you just use it everyday, never pay any attention to component temperatures or dust buildup then don't expect it to last very long. My grandma has a 10 year old gateway computer, it's motherboard uses nothing but low quality non solid capacitors, a cheap 3 phase VRM for the CPU, thin PCB, etc. It still works fine to this day and I think that is mainly because I keep it clean and make sure temps stay cool.

Dunlop0078

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Feb 13, 2014
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It depends on the model, I wouldn't point at any brand for making only quality laptops or any brand, popular brand anyway, for making nothing but junk.

I would say it more comes down to how you take care of it. If you just use it everyday, never pay any attention to component temperatures or dust buildup then don't expect it to last very long. My grandma has a 10 year old gateway computer, it's motherboard uses nothing but low quality non solid capacitors, a cheap 3 phase VRM for the CPU, thin PCB, etc. It still works fine to this day and I think that is mainly because I keep it clean and make sure temps stay cool.
 
Solution

canadianvice

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Jul 25, 2012
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Additionally, it's often a function of price. Buy a cheap laptop, get a cheap experience. I say this having sold them for 7 years - it's practically a law that cheapo laptops will fail quickly or offer a bad experience.

Countless customers ignored me when I told them to invest, and those same came back in almost the same numbers bitching when it failed just after a year or was slow or the hard drive died and we could do nothing for them.
 

jaslion

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Dec 17, 2012
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It's not really brand related but more price related. Cheap laptop = cheap components = won't last too long.
Higher price does not mean they are higher quality per say. However if you want a laptop to last basically forever you should look into bussiness models. My dell e6420 is still going strong due to it being a high quality machine (the screen is a low end tn panel tho but it doesn't have any issues).
 
Feb 9, 2018
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Thank you. I'm after a high-end business model. I don't know much about laptop hardware, but I do know that some manufacturers use generic components. I'd really like to buy something that grades high on benchmark tests. Thanks for the advice so far, and more is very welcomed.
 

geofelt

Distinguished
My suggestion is to look first at the display.
Look for a sufficiently high resolution display for your needs.
Also, you get better display quality with IPS panels than cheaper tn panels.

Secondly, plan on a ssd. It makes all the difference in the world for snappy laptop performance.
Laptop hard drives are built for battery savings, not performance. Many will be a slow 5400rpm.
I might look for a laptop with a cheap 500gb drive and plan on replacing it with my own ssd.
That is usually cheaper than buying the ssd option from the oem vendor.

Ditto for ram. Buy minimum ram and plan on increasing it yourself for less.

One great thing about the Thinkpad laptops is the quality of the keyboards.
For whatever you are considering, try to find a review from some place like notebookreview.com
 
Feb 9, 2018
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As far as upgrading, that's usually the route I go, making sure maximum hardware limits are where I want to go. Thank you.

One product that has caught my attention is the Librem 13: https://puri.sm/products/librem-13/. Some commentary by Tom's Users would be interesting.

There's also a brief 20 minute interview with the CEO for the curious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tz1ZAk02OVo

They're based out of South San Fran...