Originally posted by: NurseRN
Best laptop IMO is a Thinkpad. They aren't cheap but they're sturday and well built. They have excellent support as well.
They USED to be! Note the distinctive use of the Past Tense here. That was until a CHINESE company by the name of LENOVO took over the entire mobile division of IBM. I understand that everything is made in China but I very much liked to see IBM in charge of this not LENOVO.
What?s interestingly funny is how LENOVO took over this operation but unscrupulously still maintained IBM?s name as the trademark. If you go to their webpage and look up the history of this company, it portrays LENOVO as an intricate part of IBM?s long and productive technological history. Fact that makes me laugh because during the 80?s while IBM was pioneering technology making it available for general public, the Chinese were barely picking up their heads out of the rice fields. Yet, if you read through their historical corporate babble you?ll notice that somehow Lenovo became ?intimately? involved with IBM?s quest in technological innovation.
I?ve religiously used ThinkPads for the past 10 years and they?ve been great, great travel companions. No other product could match the warranty, reliability and quality of these laptops. I will never again buy a Lenovo designed/supported ThinkPad!
For the first time in my life I bought something which seemed a good deal and skimmed on quality. I purchased an Acer. Unless you don?t take them for a ride they?re pretty decent. The quality of the plastic shells is below what I call ?par?. I had to replace the hinge cover twice. Everything else is as bad. I had one of the little back sitting rubber pads come off; as per ACER I would have had to buy THE ENTIRE BACK casing in order to have the little pad replaced. God bless ?em!
HP?s ?. A little better. My wife has one and looks and feels ten thousand times better than my ACER. Their tech support is somewhere in India but this seems to be the norm nowadays. You can?t understand a freaking thing they say (and vice versa) but if you?re pushy enough they will fix and return your laptop via FedEx free of charge and relatively quick.
Toshibas? I like. Never had one but I have friends who seem to think they?re good.
Sony?s? I think they?re cashing in using their known and resounding name (SONY). They look spiffy and the screens are really nice. Everything else is just about same as everything else out there. They?re ALL made in freaking CHINA!
One piece of advice: go to a local computer store (Best Buy, Staples, Circuit City, etc) and closely look at the floor models. A good way to find out if they take a beating well is look at their overall appearance. These floor models get a nice and fairly constant beating. A nice start to see which model holds its own.
But there?s nothing like the old IBM ThinkPads.