Buying a new laptop

Richy

So, those who saw my computer H/A thread about a week ago know that I've had some sudden computer problems. Well, as it turns out, my computer's dead. Completely. Well, almost completely, and what's left apparently working isn't worth salvaging. Well, after running it 24/7 for 6 years with no maintenance, I guess it had a good run.

So I'm looking to buy a new computer. I'm going with a laptop, because even though it will be setup in my apartment 90% of the time, it would be nice to have a computer with me for the other 10%. Also, I don't play videogames, I'll need it mostly for work-related stuff and watching movies on the plane, and I want it to last another 6 years.

So, I've heard good things about the Lenovo brand. Seems to be the standard in the business world. From what I've seen, it seems a little more expensive than another laptop with the same specs, but the guy said it's because it's better components and higher quality. Is he telling the truth or is he bullshitting me? And more generally, is Lenovo a good laptop manufacturer with reliable products, or should I be looking at something else? Anyone got experience with them?

Thanks!

Richy

On a related topic, a lot of the laptops I've been looking at come with Windows 7 64-bits. How's backward compatibility on that OS? Is there going to be an issue running 32-bit apps designed for Windows XP? I don't mean "it could run faster" kind of issues, I'm concerned about "it won't run at all" kind of issues.

Wezoin

Getting a laptop to last 6 years is going to be difficult. Heat issues + damage in transport reduce the life span of a laptop over a desktop.

That said, if it's sitting on a desk most of the time then the damage during transport will be less than if you were throwing it in a backpack everyday.

Sarksus

When durability and longevity is a concern I'd recommend a Lenovo ThinkPad or Dell Latitude. They're both business machines and their reputations are well deserved. I wouldn't go with a consumer machine at all. You get what you pay for and what you get for the ThinkPad and Latitude premium is worth the price in my opinion. Their keyboards are better, there's less flex so when you apply pressure to the various surfaces of the machine it won't give as easily, the battery life is usually much better than a consumer machine, you can abuse a business machine much harder and longer than a consumer machine, they sometimes weigh less and the engineering in general is just a higher quality. They put a great deal of thought into it and it'll last you longer than a consumer machine.

Lenovo is fine. For every person who tells you ThinkPad quality has gone down since they've acquired it from IBM there's another person who will say it's stayed the same or gone up. One thing Lenovo seems to be consistently bad about is hardware launches. When new models are released it's really difficult to get a hold of one because of supply issues and the fact that their website is really quite poor.

The Lenovo ThinkPad T410/T510 and the Dell Latitude E6410/6510 are good choices. I think the Latitudes were just refreshed with new hardware so reviews are sparse but you can look at the E6400 and E6500 models too.

I like this website a lot for notebook reviews: http://www.notebookreview.com/

As for Windows 7 64-bit, definitely get 64 bit. Pretty much every 32-bit program that ran on XP will run on Windows 7 64-bit. If there's a specific program you're worried about their website would probably be announcing any compatibility problems quite loudly to prevent confusion.

Nostregar

Sarksus wrote: »

When durability and longevity is a concern I'd recommend a Lenovo ThinkPad or Dell Latitude. They're both business machines and their reputations are well deserved. I wouldn't go with a consumer machine at all. You get what you pay for and what you get for the ThinkPad and Latitude premium is worth the price in my opinion. Their keyboards are better, there's less flex so when you apply pressure to the various surfaces of the machine it won't give as easily, the battery life is usually much better than a consumer machine, you can abuse a business machine much harder and longer than a consumer machine, they sometimes weigh less and the engineering in general is just a higher quality. They put a great deal of thought into it and it'll last you longer than a consumer machine.

Lenovo is fine. For every person who tells you ThinkPad quality has gone down since they've acquired it from IBM there's another person who will say it's stayed the same or gone up. One thing Lenovo seems to be consistently bad about is hardware launches. When new models are released it's really difficult to get a hold of one because of supply issues and the fact that their website is really quite poor.

The Lenovo ThinkPad T410/T510 and the Dell Latitude E6410/6510 are good choices. I think the Latitudes were just refreshed with new hardware so reviews are sparse but you can look at the E6400 and E6500 models too.

I like this website a lot for notebook reviews: http://www.notebookreview.com/

As for Windows 7 64-bit, definitely get 64 bit. Pretty much every 32-bit program that ran on XP will run on Windows 7 64-bit. If there's a specific program you're worried about their website would probably be announcing any compatibility problems quite loudly to prevent confusion.

I agree with the Lenovo recommendation, but cannot disagree enough with the Dell Latitude suggestion. I worked for several years in tech support for a company that used Dell Latitudes exclusively and they are not very durable pieces of hardware. I was a licensed Dell repair technician and did a lot of hardware work on those laptops - avoid them.