One friend just mentioned a few screws just fell out of the bottom of her Lenovo’s case. Seems like the screws were defective to begin with. Unfortunately, beyond the warranty period so she is using some tape to keep the screws from falling out again. 
Unfortunately, this is further proof computer manufacturers are cutting corners to increase their profit margins and to cater to a consuming public which is interested in cheap prices without much regard to build quality or long-term value. They sure don’t make notebooks/desktop PCs like they did 12+ years ago.
The old Toshiba and Dell notebooks…even the consumer grade models from the late '90s/beginning of the '00s used to be built like tanks. The ones I used for the last undergrad years/early post-college years are still functioning fine in the hands of new owners using them for basic office/internet tasks using Linux.
With the increasing presence of GPUs and programs to take advantage of them, having higher end graphics can contribute to augmenting one’s computing power for heavy computing requirements.
In some cases, a powerful GPU can increase performance even for non-graphic intensive tasks much more than getting a faster processor.
Speaking of boat anchors…one tradeoff for much more sturdily built notebooks in the late '90s/beginning of '00s was that they were heavier than what would be considered acceptable today.
Back in undergrad/early post-college years, 9 pounds including the adapter was considered slightly chunkier than average…but still reasonable for undergrads/young post-college professionals to heave everywhere one went.
My post-college roommate who is several years older used to jokingly refer to colleagues/grad classmates complaining about “heavy laptops” weighing 7-8 pounds as “weenies” as he used a 1992 era desktop from undergrad till a couple of years after grad school(2003ish) which weighed 25-30 pounds(solid steel). And he wouldn’t hesitate to carry it from place to place if needed.