<p>We have 4 Dell laptops, one is a Latitude from 2005 that was my work computer before they retired it-we added memory, no issues otherwise. My laptop is another latitude D630, 2008, no issues, we have an Inspirion that we bought in 2008 for $425. The power cord was defective, sent a new one free of charge, no issues since and that thing has been beat to heck by the kids. We also have an Inspirion that we got in 2010, no issues. We have a Dell Desktop that we got in 2004 that is also going strong.</p>
<p>^ ^</p>
<p>As I’ve mentioned before, Dells are fine for those of us who are comfortable serving as our own tech support…including replacing burnt-out motherboards or other internal components as needed. </p>
<p>For someone who doesn’t have those skills or inclination…they’d be better off looking at less troublesome notebooks with better warranty support. </p>
<p>Speaking of Inspirons…have a 2007 era Inspiron 6400 here with maxed out RAM I picked up for $20 as parts from a previous owner who thought the machine was dead. Turned out the only issue was buggy BIOS and a flaky power brick which was the same model as those used on the 2 Latitudes I got practically free from my friend’s company. </p>
<p>Runs much better after using one of the Latitude’s power bricks, upgrading the BIOS to the latest type, and replacing Vista with Windows 7. However, the build quality is a bit dubious as the plastic parts don’t line up on one side near the right hinge and the plastic in the palm rest areas flexes more than I care for. </p>
<p>A friend with a strong background in electronics and more advanced soldering skills is going to attempt to repair that flaky power brick for his own amusement. Judging by his previous track record…that flaky powerbrick will be back in commission with better capacitors than what Dell used.</p>
<p>I think you could use a cheaper laptop with most of the same capabilities. Unless you are gaming or video editing you really don’t need that much horsepower.</p>
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<p>Portege tablet</p>
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<p>No, but I can fault them for the four times in three years it had to go into the shop for non-user-caused problems. Failed fan (which led to motherboard problems). Intermittent screen blanking. Hard drive errors. I don’t remember what it was the fourth time.</p>
<p>My message was not intended to be against Toshibas, but rather about the claims made for industrial-strength (and pricy) machines compared to consumer grade (and cheap) models. The program in the year she participated also included HPs, Fujitsus, and Lenovos. There have been major issues with the HPs and Lenovos as well - so much with the Lenovos that they dropped them from the programs the next year. The Fujitsus are the only ones that have been largely trouble-free.</p>
<p>It’s very difficult to generalize anything about laptops according to brand names, because they aren’t manufactured by the brand name. Big companies like Dell farm out laptop manufacturing to a number of different ODM/OEMs, so you get very different types and qualities of manufacturing under the same brand name.</p>
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<p>Portege tablets being industrial strength??? <em>Snicker</em> ROTFLOL!!! :D</p>
<p>They aren’t “industrial strength” in any sense of the word. Pretty sad the same could be said about the current consumer-oriented Satellite line or even some of the Business-line Tecras considering back in the late '90s…both lines were built like tanks. </p>
<p>Nowadays…if you want “industrial strength” in any notebook…the Panasonic Toughbook would be the first thing which comes to my mind. Even then, they’re really expensive and I’m not sure if the lower-end models are as durable as advertised.* </p>
<p>Fujitsu??? Their notebooks were considered quite flaky in the reliability department in several corporate IT departments friends worked at…and their adoption almost caused one of those department heads to lose his job after the flakiness caused serious productivity problems in that firm. </p>
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<li>Lower-end Toughbooks tend to be just as/more expensive than your average Macbook Pro.<br></li>
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<p>They are all symptoms of notebook/computer manufacturers’ increasing trend of cutting corners in the QC/reliability department. However, in the case of hard drives…it could also be that a particular hard drive manufacturer had a bad batch in that period. </p>
<p>Many major hard drive manufacturers had this issue at various points whether it was Western Digital in the late '90s, Seagate in the '00s, etc. </p>
<p>That’s of course assuming the hard drive errors aren’t user caused…which is a possibility. This could range from downloading a virus/program which corrupts the formatting of the hard drive to dropping the notebook too many times from a height of half-inch or more while the machine is on. </p>
<p>Incidentally, the latter WAS the reason why a client’s USB backup hard drive ended up being completely totaled with loss of all data. Even with notebook hard drives being designed for greater shocks expected as a result of being placed in notebooks/portable USB hard drives…there’s still a limit to how much shock they can take…especially when on with the hard drive platters spinning. </p>
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<p>While it is true that Dell farms out manufacturing…they are still the ones defining the parameters and specs those manufacturers work under…which tends to be cut corners as much as possible to preserve profit margins…especially on the budget/consumer line models commonly seen in bigbox stores or the lower end of OEM offerings.</p>
<p>Am curious-- DS had his Dell that he just purchased a few mos ago (our grad present to him) custom built. How do we know who built it? I can see if I can tell where it was shipped from (doubt I still have the tracking, but I can check) but aside from that, is there way to tell?</p>
<p>** addendum: Looks like it was shipped from Nashville</p>
<p>And this thread has gone quite off topic. The OP has long since left the building.</p>
<p>I think the point here is that, like cars, some laptops are simply lemons from day one and some will amaze us for long periods. I’m on a probably 2006 Compaq laptop. Sure, the battery’s shot, so it stays plugged in at all times. I’m probably going to spring for new soon-ish, so am soaking up all your happy stories.</p>
<p>D2 is on a Toshiba ($550)- perfectly fine, once I realized the random blank screen/shutoff was caused by overheating from using it on top of her comforter. Simply googled. (I was grateful the machine was trained to shut down, not melt down.) In contrast D1’s Macbook Pro got the cracked screen and the graphics card went, both by December break. She had the card fixed by the Apple store fellows, 48 hours, and is still on it.</p>
<p>Right, viruses can do deep damage. One of the reviewers on CNET once reported testing a bunch of new laptops for his company- said he got the first online fast, before loading the protection sw- and within 15 minutes, it picked up a virus of some sort. I am a fan of several anti-virus and fix programs, but since loading Kaspersky, no issues. My mom is about to launch her first laptop, so if any of you can rec easy, free, solid, downloadable anti-v software, I am all ears.</p>
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<p>I’d look to see where the Dell was manufactured. It should be clearly labeled at the bottom of the notebook. </p>
<p>If in China, one of the major subcontractors is Foxconn…though it is a separate line/factory from the ones which produce Apple machines. </p>
<p>Incidentally, this illustrates how the same subcontractor could tailor build quality, QC, etc according to the dictates of whichever OEM contract they are working to complete.</p>
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<p>AVAST. Free and relatively light resource footprint compared to many other antivirus software. </p>
<p>However, if you have kids in university, they may be able to get her highly discounted/free commercial antivirus software. A friend’s son got his father Symantec from the time he was in UNI. Still updates despite his being out of school for 2 years.</p>
<p>Only negative is that it can be a bit of a resource hog…especially on 32-bit CPU based machines. If you’re running a machine made in 2008 or later and run the 64-bit version of Windows…it’s not really an issue.</p>
<p>DS says his is made in China. My Dell (an inspiron, several yrs old) says the same. Have not had any problems so far, thank heavens</p>
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<p>You may be right. I’m not an expert on laptops. They were promoted to us as the industrial strength versions of the similar consumer models. Since the people doing the promotion had no skin in the game, other than being responsible for repairing them under the warranty when they broke, and had facts about these specific models that you do not, forgive me if I grant them more credibility than I do you.</p>
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<p>Actually, if they were promoting them on behalf of the school/program…they do have some skin in the game. The school/program probably had a sweetheart deal to promote them for some cut of the sales…and the promoters doing the warranty repairs not only benefit indirectly from that arrangement as the go-to repair guys…but also probably some cut of the sales as they’re effectively serving as sales staff. </p>
<p>They’d be the last folks I’d ask for advice on such things because of such partnerships…they’re effectively acting as sales staff for the OEM in question. It’s not very different from asking a salesperson for technical expertise and expecting an objective opinion when they have an interest in selling you something.</p>
<p>Do you have any facts to back that up?</p>
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<p>Why would a given school/academic program be promoting one brand/type of machine as “industrial strength” when it’s common knowledge in the IT community that it wasn’t known for or designed with that in mind? </p>
<p>Especially when your own D’s experience from your own description proved their promotional-speak to be almost the complete opposite…using the account from your previous posts to describe non-user caused problems with that very brand/type of machine in question.</p>
<p>If I encountered such school-based techs and had the same experience you did after following their advice…I’d think D’s spate of non-user initiated problems proved their words/expertise has as much worth as a bottle of snake oil. Unless, of course, their definition of “industrial strength” is at odds with standard commonplace usage.</p>
<p>As I thought - no facts, just opinions.</p>
<p>Yes, schools can get deals for promoting a line. It can be discounts on the school’s computers and/or maintenance contracts or other incentives. Some contracts insist on exclusivity, some schools insist on multiple brands being allowed. And, you still have to find the right computer for you, your needs, the feel of the keyboard, etc.</p>
<p>Bottom line, whoever our friendly “source” is, their experience is merely their experience, with whatever motivation behind it. (Sometimes benefit to the institution, sometimes just the chance to act as the big expert.) The exception is that, when you research the online professional review sites, you should be able to expect a dispassionate review. I look for a statement to that effect.</p>
<p>Adding: of course, a tech can honestly tell you he’s had more issues with X brand or fewer problems with Y. But, that’s his experience, with his user group. You can see from this thread that we all have our own stories.</p>
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<p>I know this will upset you greatly – the broader opinions of the “IT community” really aren’t of much interest to most people who just want a decent, good machine and aren’t interested in all the geeky minutia and detail that the IT community obsesses over.</p>
<p>$1500 is way too expensive if one has choices. There is no reason to spend that much for laptop for UG.</p>
<p>I note the OP is studiously ignoring this thread while posting on his others.</p>
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<p>Won’t really upset me. The ones I know with your mindset above who tended to ignore the advice of friends/close acquaintances who are familiar with/in the IT community tended to later be the same folks who later complain/rant to us about all the problems they/spouse/kids had with the very computer bought as a result. </p>
<p>I’ve also found it interesting and disturbing how trusting so many folks are of promoters/sales personnel considering their primary interest is to MAKE A SALE. Helping a customer tends to be a secondary consideration…especially in institutions where there is some sort of a partnership with an OEM common in many boarding schools/colleges. I’d think that was basic logic. </p>
<p>Only time it would really upset us if they did all of that and then felt entitled to EXPECT free repair work from us in lieu of poor warranty service or because the 1 year warranty expired.</p>