Do business-class laptops still have higher-quality parts compared to consumer models?

I remember hearing a long time ago that the reason why business-class laptops (ThinkPad, Dell Latitude, HP EliteBook, etc.) are so pricey compared to consumer models, but feature lower specs is because their parts tend to be of higher quality, meaning that they would last longer before something breaks down.

Does that still hold true today? I go into Dell's online store, and I see the XPS in their business side, and here I thought the XPS was initially a consumer brand.

 

xps used to be dell's alienware until they actually bought the alienware brand, then nerfed the xps specs

 

Business class laptops are usually built with stronger materials for better durability and often offer more expansion ports and a docking port. Some also offer workstation grade graphics (Nvidia Quadro/AMD Firepro).

 

The underlying hardware components (CPU, HDD/SSD, etc) are generally the same between consumer- and business-class notebooks. The major differences are in the physical design. As the former continually marches toward thin and light, the latter continues to be thicker and heavier so it can better withstand daily use and abuse. Business systems are also easier to work on, with more components that are easy to replace, either by in-house IT staff or factory technicians who provide on-site support. Any downtime means a company is losing revenue. The up-front cost for a Latitude or Elitebook can be higher than an XPS or Envy, but that expense is usually made up on the back end with longer running time.

 

saturnotaku here said it all. And agreed 100% solidly. When many a consumer notebook must be babied to get 3 years of good life, very often the business system's sturdier build and ease of maintenance gets twice the useful lifespan. Parts and accessories are also much easier to find, which helps extend the life of these laptops. In the long run, the business class laptop is the cheapest to own.

 

Also, keyboards are still way better. (=

 

Yeah, buying 'cheap' is for the rich kids. Buy quality when you value your hard earned $$$.

 

This. And better warranties.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Looking at only the same configuration, I found that a Mac is usually more expensive than a PC. Since I only need a laptop for 6 years maximum, a PC is good enough for me.

 

And is a Macbook designed for ease of repair, upgrading or replacing a tired battery?

John

 

That last question is the equaivalent, in parenting terms, or asking:

And is a high-powered, extremely volatile, explosive device, with nails and shards of metal taped to the outside, a good toy for your child to play with?

 

Price alone doesn't equate quality. Otherwise we'd only buy Dre headphones and Monster cables .

 

If you said it in an Apple forum, you can guess the answer. I don't have data to back me up, but it seems like a Mac usually has high quality. It's overpriced to me because I don't need the extra thing like style and brand. This is why I chose a Sager notebook. Is a Mac for business?

 

If you said it in an Apple forum, you can guess the answer. I don't have data to back me up, but it seems like a Mac usually has high quality. It's overpriced to me because I don't need the extra thing like style and brand. This is why I chose a Sager notebook. Is a Mac for business?

 

I'm sorry for duplicated posts. I don't know why there was nothing after hitting "Post Reply" even when I refreshed and re-opened my browser MANY times.
PS: Why can't I delete my own post?

 

Macs are well built compared to other consumer-grade systems, but they fall well short of proper business-class notebooks.

Posts can only be deleted by a moderator. Use the report button in one of your duplicate posts and put a note in that you'd like them to be removed, and one of them will do it ASAP.

 

Thank you for showing me that. I don't know how we define a proper business-class notebook. For me, a Mac is for business class and people who want the style and brand (and don't play games much).

 

It's all about style with Apple and its fanbase. They're basically luxury consumer-class as far as durability goes.

I don't have a well-defined definition for business-class off the top of my head, but good indicators are easily-replaceable parts (not Apple) and MILSPEC ratings (ditto).

 

A mac is 'business class' as much as an iphone is a 'smartphone'. Greasy keyboards, greasier touchpads and O/S functionality like a project a preschooler failing from gui design school would hand in...

$$$$ ≠ productive tools (by itself). And with the fruity company; it is the antithesis of productivity with overheating (by design), throttling and few to none hardware benefits over it's life cycle. Great for a latte at the SB's in your pink scarf and fancy shirt (boy or girl).

For everything and everyone else? There's ThinkPAD's.

 

^ No love for Elitebooks?

To be fair, one decent-ish thing about Apple's hardware is that it's making UNIX somewhat popular with the general public, even if the customers don't realize it. Same with Android.

 

I must say that the latest ZBooks have more positives than negatives, unlike the Precisions and the P-series, which are adding a few more negatives. It's not like I'm going to buy any of them, I'll stay 16:10 as long as I can, I'm just pointing it out from my observation. Still waiting to see how the 4K DreamColor would perform against its older brothers

As for the topic, I had (consumer laptops) and I was lusting after others (gaming/consumer), but after switching to a business model, I think that I'll never go back. The track-point alone would be impossible to leave behind. Every time I sit behind another machine I reach for it, and it's not there Another huge plus is (or at least was) display options. You are looking at the damn thing the whole day, you want it to be good at the very least (I want it to be GREAT).

 

Amen!

 

^This.

 

Second. My first (and only) consumer-class laptop died after 2 years, out of the blue. I haven't had any trouble with my business laptops as of yet, years and years after buying them.

 

Same here. I have been using business laptops since 2010 and never looked back. The last consumer laptop was an HP back in 2008.

 

Same here, got my first business class ( Elitebook 8740W w/DC2 ) a few months after release, and even looking at a day of working with my Mac's makes me cringe.

 

I have been a thinkpad guy since I was 10 years old with a 600E, T30, T40, T60, T510, X220, T420...they are wonderfully built computers, all of which are still running. We had HP/Compaq consumer trash laptops that were of the absolute most garbage quality and never gone back to HP since...for anything. That being said, there are high end consumer laptops that used to be of tremndous build quality. Alienware's older models (think M15x, M17x R2) used to be made of entirely thick, metal bodys. The M18x carried this on for a few more years, but now the entire line is of mediocre plastic. Toshiba's qosmio line was also very nice, but those have gone off to the chopping block and are no longer made.

That being said, Thinkpads are your bet, as well as Dell precisions. I used a HP elitebook at work and threw it out the window, demanded a thinkpad instead. I couldn't tolerate the miserable keyboard.

 

Eh, the Elitebook's keyboard, while not comparable to a Thinkpad keyboard (don't know anything of Latitudes), isn't all that bad. It's at least comparable to a half-decent consumer-class laptop. My only personal gripe with it is the lack of a middle scroll button.

 

For me the key travel was way, way too shallow, and in a job that required fast typing, I was constantly missing strokes on that keyboard. I brought in my own X220 and boy, I was back to 100wpm in no time. I could barely muster 50 on the Elitebook keyboard

 

Yeah, key travel is shallow, though IMO it's in line with your typical consumer-class machine. Thinkpads are in their own league as far as I see it.

 

They Keyboard on the M18x/M17x is wonderful, among my favorites. Only downside is it doesn't have a trackpoint/trackpoint keys. The keys are firm with real nice deep travel, almost like a desktop keyboard. Of course, the price you pay with that is...heft. Thinkpads had no such issue, but I don't like their move to chiclet style keyboards.

 

Back when I was doing freelance laptop reviews, I was given a W530 (first generation to have the island keys) and IMO they are comparable to my W520's keys. In fact, they had roughly the same spacing between them. Not sure if that's the same with the current Thinkpads though.

That said, the --30 generation removed the back/forward buttons near the arrow keys. Ticked me off much more than the island keyboard.

 

I actually find 6-row x30 layout much more comfortable than 7-row x20, and the particular implementation of chiclet design in x30 keyboards is simply fantastic, in my opinion. x20 keyboard is very good too, but somewhat disappointing after x30; sadly, x30 keyboard won't work properly on my machine without BIOS mod, and since I heavily rely on TPM that is not an option.

 

I operate a full time ebay business. When I started, I started on a elitebook 2510p. I loved that little thing, then I switched over to a elitebook 8460p for the much better (not really) AMD 6470m graphics card. Then I switched to a smaller 2560p elitebook. I only bought this model for the 3 years warranty, and also I was able to pick them up for cheap on ebay with 2.5 years left on the warranty. I have used the warranty a few times for the years. I sent the laptop in on Monday and it would be back to me on Thursday, they use overnight UPS shipping. The warranty is almost unmatched with any consumer laptop.

I still had a gaming laptop around, usually a 17-inch Clevo or 18-inch alienware for a few years. Today I sold every elitebook and switched to a Clevo w230ss for the Nividia 860m. I am able to play some games on it and do my business work. The major downside is that its very flimsy. The paint job on the left arm rest is fading, the keyboard is not bad, the elitebook is much better. And trying to get a new battery for it is like trying to finding a 18 year old virgin woman.

But there is no business grade laptop that sports a 860m in the wild. So I guess I will have to do with that trade off because I am not carrying around a 12 pound Clevo P370sm3.

 

But W230S* batteries are not hard to buy?

 

Corrected on parts availability. Do check with your reseller. Major point on gaming machines, the reseller is your human interface, tech support, and warranty support for those machines. Choose him carefully.

 

They are not hard to buy, just click the buy button. The problem is trying to actually trying to find a battery.

 

@yotano21
@Kent T

Why didn't you actually check availability before posting?

 

Thanks! Post corrected.

 

@yotano21 I'll just leave this here. Contacting resellers might yield even better results.

 

I checked on ebay but I searched for w230ss, not the w230st model. I just founded out that the w230st will fit the w230ss. Sometimes companies changes battery types after 1 model.

but thank you sir

 

I did check, I checked ebay and amazon for w230ss battery. Found 1 result. I came back a few months later and it was gone.

 

My question to you all if, do you have this model laptop, have you searched yourself for a spare battery. My guess would be that none of you, or maybe 1 have this model.

Finding a spare battery for a niche market laptop is beyond hopeless sometimes. The seller either wants over $$150 for a new battery or they only sell 3rd party batteries. But I knew that and will continue on with my niche market laptop that I love.

Will I buy another one in the future, HELL YEA I WOULD.

 

Don't search by the laptop model. Search by the part number, which in this case is "W230BAT-6".

There are 3 vendors on Amazon, 3 on eBay, 6 on AliExpress, and multiple listed on various battery trading sites. Most Clevo resellers who sell replacement parts independently will offer it as well.

 

I love my T420, I beat on this thing, was bought in 2011 by a friend, I bought it in 2013, I use it around the clock. I always grew up building PC's, then go into laptops a while back, went through 3 consumer laptops in under 4 years, then I got this.
It's 5 years old, still has the stock battery, and sttill get around 3.5-4 hours of internet usage! I upgraded to a core i7, 16gB memory, 256gB solid state, and 1tB drive in the ultra bay. I literally beat on this thing, I've dropped it many times, I spilled liquor across the keyboard a god 5-6+ times, finally dropping an entire bowl of cereal on the keyboard full of milk took it out, $35 for a new one on ebay, back in business.

I still even have my factory 320gB WD drive in use, my girls brand new Toshiba laptop with a Toshiba drive (that isn't abused) her drive took a **** after like 6-8 months, so just popped my 2011 drive in, her computer never ran better! Although that is more a testimate to WD and not lenovo.... That's the 3rd Toshiba disk drive I've had fail in the last 5 years...

A bit expensive for the specs, but I got my T420 cheap as could be. My friend thought it was junk since he filled it with viruses. My only gripe is I go through chargers every 9-12 months, but that's due to my own mistakes, I sit with it on my lap most the time on the couch, and the tip of the cable breaks, the insides separate and it only works when held in certain directions. Never had a charger fry, just the tip wears out, but that's fine, I abuse it, and for $14 I get another year or use out of it! lol

 

T734 I use with the same battery it came with, it is Fujitsu supporting fast charging, so very hard to find aftermarket or cheap original, and extremely expensive when sold by Fujitsu - as well as all other accessories, external battery chargers included. Also, battery lock is very stiff. Still, if I need a second battery - it's more a matter of waiting out a good deal, and I believe battery lock will become easier to operate with continuous use.

X220 tablet - I got a new 9-cell aftermarket battery right after purchase, selling used 6-cell original the machine came with locally, for almost the same price; got battery slice, too - in very good condition and dirty cheap, but shipping was very expensive. Replacing battery is very fast and easy; battery slice is very easy to detach and can be charged with notebook's psu, which is very convenient. Anyway, recently I ordered another new 9-cell to replace battery slice since I no longer need the convertible to run for 10+ hours non-stop, and will tolerate switching batteries. Since it's a second machine, mostly for outdoors, I can live without external charger for second battery.

My battery life requirements are somewhat exaggerated since I always run VPN over Wi-Fi or mobile broadband, which really takes a toll on battery life.

 

I've had 4 notebook computers.
1.) Sony Vaio circa 2000/2001 - Thin, light, had DVD player (big deal back then) but video was too weak to play DVDs without serious stuttering, battery died completely within 2 years and cost a fortune to replace, screen broke when I lifted it by the lid, extremely difficult to fix. Effective life span: 2 years

2.) Asus Z71V built to order - Good screen, decent video & processor, nice touchpad, decent battery life for the time. Withstood a few drops and use in sub-zero temps. Upgraded processor & hard drive. Massive battery problems involving 2 recalls due to new and near new batteries not charging past 40%. Problems with video card overheating led to private development of improved heatsink, which I bought. Video card abruptly killed motherboard with no warning after 3.5 years use. Replaced both out of pocket (happened after warranty expired), but hapened again after a year. Baking video card appeared to fix issue, but video card temps still very high and fan got loud. Donated it. Effective life span: 3-4 years

3.) Asus netbook - decent battery life, really horrible performance. Tried to improve by putting in an SSD, but still performed slow due to processor. Gave it away. Effective life span: 2 years

4.) Lenovo Thinkpad W530 - great screen, keyboard, battery life, processor. Decent video, good connectivity & upgradeability. Surprisingly useful trackpoint. Withstood multiple drops, resulting in a small chip and crack on one corner. Integrated video initially did not work, sent to depot to fix, stayed there a month until Lenovo sent me a new unit under warranty. Replacement unit still in daily use 4 years later. Original battery down below 40%. Battery replacements commonly available for $80. Fan noise, performance, & temperatures comparable from 1 year old to current. Effective life span: 4 years and counting

Lenovo's repair turnaround time was horrible, but aside from that, the Thinkpad has been the best and most reliable computer I've owned thus far by a long shot. It's the only one that doesn't have flaws that would make me want to upgrade, and I've had it as long or longer than any of my previous systems.

So from my limited experience, YES. Business systems definitely are built and designed better than consumer systems.

 

Another aspect of 'business class' laptops is that the support tends to be better. With my business class Dell Latitudes, when something's gone wrong (and I've lost a few HDDs), I was always directed to US-based call centers where they treated me as an IT professional. No convoluted/complicated checklists ("is the power turned on"). Just take down my address and send me the new part sort of thing.

I've had friends who have owned 'consumer' laptops from the same company. They get shunted off to India where the quality of treatment is night and day poorer.

 

Indeed. I like tech support which does not waste my time, speaks English, and gets to the heart of my issue. And who treat me like a professional IT guy. Who get me back in business in the least amount of time, with the least stress when the machine is in warranty. I don't have 4-5 hours to waste playing phone tag. And Indian accented script readers. Dell Business support is fast and friendly, and gets it done. As does Lenovo's ThinkPad support from good old IBM in Atlanta. Both are super nice, and major reasons why I love this class of PC. Not to mention common sense build quality for real life use and ease of repair and maintenance not to mention upgrades. I prefer tools, not toys. And support with the same mindset.

 

Just thought of another thing. The docking connector *is* a big deal. You wouldn't believe how many people I come across, students, who have a dead USB port, or something dead on their laptop because they're always inserting something. The docking port, while not perfect, takes a lot of pressure off of that and relegates it to a relatively disposable docking station.

The new consumer laptops (ie: XPS) are even omitting hard-wired Ethernet now. Sure, I guess you could wire something up to Thunderbolt or USB 3 for equivalent performance, but again, that's another burden on those ports. Which are only rated for a thousand or two insertions before they start to become a bit on the flakey side.