Notebook Brand With Best Build Quality

I voted IBM because among all the 'best-built' laptops I have spent the most time with a Thinkpad. I agree with many posters that ASUS should also have been included. As far as build quality and brand choice are concerned, I would always consider a Thinkpad first, but ASUS a close second choice if no Thinkpad was available that suited my needs.

 

Here are some of them:

1. There are 3 dead pixels in TFT display. The LCD's quality is very poor. If I slightly press on the outside, there is a strong distortion on the LCD.

2. Overheating. There is a number of laptops which do not run very cool, but Gateway M305CRV is the first laptop which can be used instead of a frying pan. I can fry eggs on it! Can you explain me what is that? The keyboard is broken down due to the overheating, the most of keys are out of work. There are plenty of problems. Sometimes the computer gets so hot that it starts smelling. I often lost my data because the overheating provoked the system shutdown.

3. What a noisy computer! The noise is terrible. I can not work normally. It is absolutely impossible to watch films or listen to music due to an extremely loud noise.

4. The adapter is broken down! It was repaired 2 times in a computer service and now it is broken down again.

5. The battery is dead! After 1 year of use, the battery life is only 10 minutes. Can you imagine that?

All the above mentioned facts lead me to the conclusion that the quality of Gateway laptops is extremely poor.
Now I have Sony Vaio VGN-FE28H and I am happy with it. The only disadvantage of Vaio is a relatively low battery life (2 hours or so).

 

I voted Toshiba, not sure why! I've had 3 Toshibas and a Higrade.

The first Toshiba was a Satellite 3000. It had a common fault for all Toshiba laptops based on this chassis which was a power supply fault that meant the backlight and dvd drive werent powered properly on startup. Intermittent.

Second was a Portege 4010. It worked perfectly for 4 years until it got pulled onto the floor and now the backlight has gone. Otherwise a bit limited by it's spec but no actual faults.

Third was the Higrade. A stupidly powerful laptop for it's time with a 3.06GHz P4 and a mobility Radeon 9700. The (Toshiba made actually) hard drive gave out due to overheating, not sure if that was the drive or the laptop running hot. Also there was a fault with the graphics card that meant you couldn't play any codec based video files like avi mpeg etc. on newer drivers than catalyst version 4 without the laptop completely freezing. It was a great laptop but i sold it because frankly it pissed me off!

The last and current is a Toshiba Satellite Pro L100 (see my sig for specs). It's about 5 days old so I can't give any real indications of reliability, all i know is the Toshiba sticker on the lid isnt stuck down very well, but that's nothing a bit of superglue cant fix!

On the subject of IBM, my dad's X60 just had a fault in sector 0 of the hard drive and had to be replaced.

 

Judging from your descriptions, I'm not sure why either...

 

No kidding, I've got a Thinkpad R51, and I want to move to an AMD+NVIDIA setup, but absolutely every laptop I've looked at is horrible in terms of build quality, and I keep finding myself looking back at the new thinkpads, even though I swore I'd never buy Intel and ATI again

 

You want to hear about Gateway???

Well i have a story for you about Gateway.

I bought a NX860XL. Within 12 days this happened...
Slow boot times, bad installation on windows (no biggie since i planned on removing it and putting on my own OS that was bloat-ware free)
Failed DVD drive
Faulty Keyboard
Faulty Wireless Card
Warped panel near the screen

And when on the phone with tech support to see what the problem was w/ the keyboard, we found missing screws to mount the keyboard and a lose connector where the keyboard plugs into the laptop.

I told the guy i wasnt putting it back together and that i was putting it back in the box.. Also told him to send me a full replacement system or i would send the thing back.

They sent me a replacement system and i got it in about a week.

Whats wrong with this one you ask?

Well immediately after opening the box i see a little white thing under the ESC key. The **** thing had a broken ESC key, they shipped me a 9 cell battery instead of a 12 cell which was what i originally ordered.
The bluetooth card wouldnt install or work properly when installing the drivers, it made the system freeze whenever i turned it on.

There is also a large discrepancy in the way the touchpad is fitted. One one computer the buttons are raised real high, on the other one the touchpad sits real low and the buttons are almost flush with the casing. Basically there is no consistency which isnt right.

Im in the process of returning both systems right now. They will be dropped off tomorrow morning @ fedex.

This was the first Gateway i bought in about 3 years. Before that i have purchased about 8 of them.
Back then they were a GREAT company with GREAT products..
Now the service sucks and the products are even worse. If they inspected the products before shipping both of my laptops would have never been mailed out IMO. There is just no way.

 

I hate those freakin' Gateway cows. No really, cows don't have anything to do with computers, I wish they'd stop trying to mis-educate our youth into thinking they do.

 

Where is the Asus option??
The fourth largest notebook manufacturer in the world.... and they've been missed off?

 

i also vote Asus

 

I can't vote because there's no ASUS option.

 

Brilliant thread. I set one up recently called "Rate Your Brand" hoping everyone would pile in and give an opinion on the brands they've owned, and the build quality and customer service they experienced. Didn't really take off, but this one has, so it's all good.

Given my resources and my limited knowledge, I was looking to buy a laptop at retail. The brands that I'm almost exclusively considering are Dell's Inspiron range, Toshiba's Satellite and HP's Pavilion. From what I can gather from this thread, Dell and HP are built okay. Nothing spectacular, just sturdy.

What of Toshiba? My sister has one, a Satellite, and I love its build quality. Thing feels like it's made out of titanium or something, and the screen hinges feel smooth and well connected. What's wrong with Toshiba?

Also, I have a Dell. It's a Latitude, not that high spec. Runs Windows 2000. This thing is plasticky and falling apart after I (admittedly) dropped it once or twice. I don't like the screen hinges. One of them has completely broken off, so the screen is hanging by one at the minute. Are Inspirons any better? Are they built out of the same cheap plastic casing that feels snappable? I hope not. What are their hinges like? Solid?

As for HP Pavilions, I have no experience with them, other than what I've seen in the store. They look nice though. Definitely under consideration.

So, your thoughts gents?

 

I voted for IBM
I have only owned a fujitsu, IBM, and toshiba satellite.

Fujitsu: great, lcd magnesium alloy, notebook N series I got built like a tank. But it can't beat the IBM because the base and the palm rest isn't as tough as IBM's built quality. When I try hold the ibm using one hand I could just tell it's made like metal-like block. palm rest is still plastic but no laptops are perfect when comparing whole bunch other stuff.

talking about dell I am never gonna buy dell no matter what (unless its soooocheap). my friend's new dell after using less than a month, the touchpad just wouldn't work, nor usb mouse, while trying to fix it one of the key in keyboard just fell off and no clue how to put it back in. How can a keyboard be made that bad? lcd lid is made of plastic while many other few other brands are made of magnesium alloy.

toshiba's are ok built, can't beat the fujitsu and IBM, but will beat dell. the lcd lid doesnt fully cover everything of the lcd but at least it does have and can protect when notebook is closed.

I just have to avoid acer,gateway,dell, averatec...ect..ect...when buying future laptops and I think I'm gonna start buying ibm for my next laptop.

I also do wonder how great this asus that everybody been talking about this great laptop.

never seen asus nor panasonic so can't compare them.

 

ASUS. Duh.

 

LOL, i love how everyone keeps mentioning how Asus isnt up there. and yes, id vote for Asus + Apple.

 

I vote IBM, lol...

 

I vote ASUS...

 

I voted and then realised the question was best build quality. I have to take it back, macs are great but there is no competition to IBM when it comes to build quality.

 

this post makes me feel great that I bought an IBM

 

I have only used a few of the big name notebooks. The best of those I've used for any period of time was a Toshiba Satellite. The girl who owned it burned the edge of the touchpad with a cigarette, and it still works, just has a partly melted case and a blackened part. It is also still fully functional after three or four years of heavy use by the kind of person who smokes over it. I've played with an Acer also. The keyboard was a bit clackety(word?) and the lid had some flex to it, but it seemed acceptable for a budget model.

By far the worst laptop I've used was a Dell. A friend of mine and I have the exact same model, an Inspiron 6000. The hinges creak, the keys can be knocked out, and it gets quite warm with only a 1.5 GHz Pentium processor. My computer seemed fine for just over a year (goodbye, limited warranty...)
then my built-in speakers began to sound horrible (even for a laptop) and within a few days simply stopped working. A few months later the backlight of my screen went dead. It spontaneously returned to life after three months, which is just weird. Meanwhile, my optical drive stopped opening on it's own.
My friend has had similar problems with components, and it developed a split in the corner of the lid.

I am not pleased at all with Dell, though I think it depends on the model, as with most brands, I imagine. My parents have a buget Dell notebook, and while the materials feel cheap, the construction seems solid.

 

Actually, i have no idea coz i only have Acer and never really try other brands..
I'm satisfied with my Acer,

but from what i heard in forums, the best is between:
Asus, Apple, IBM, Fujitsu, and Sony.

 

Why dog the business lines? I've found them to be very sturdy in construction, and many can hold their own when compared to gaming systems. My HP nw9440 is great, but I wouldn't own a Pavilion.

 

Alienware is an option but Asus isn't? Come on.

 

Apple: 9/10
Acer: 3/10
HP: 5-6/10
Gateway: 4/10

 

wouldn't the best built award sorta have to go to Panasonic for their ToughBook line? I mean those bad-boys are built like tanks and can take a genuine beating.

darkbluerabbit:

My recent experiences with Dell are exactly the same as yours. constantly failing components, really bad cases that flex, creak & squeek...in fact it was my last Dell inspiron 8500 that made me decide to leave Dell behind. That system went though several MB's, a video card, cpu, 3 displays and two cases. It finally died for good about 2 weeks ago now. It ws a lemon from day one but I was stuck with it for 4 years because I bought the "good warranty"...anyone who buys a Dell simply is forced to buy a warranty because of the rapid decline in build quality over the past 3-4 years.

 

Hahahaha, when I read the bold portion of that text I literally laughed out loud uncontrollably.

With that being said, you don't get a vote pollster!

For the record I would say Clevo/Sager..best of the best

 

I vote for HP Business, Dell Latitude, Lenovo Thinkpad laptops. All three are the best. The Thinkpad laptops are the best of the three, but the Latitudes are the cheapest of the three. All three are acceptable.

 

looks like ibm is leading at this time...
ibm is mostly a buisness comp with long company history, good to trust..
i vote for hp/compaq, my dad is using compaq comp for 5 years now and still not really crank up .. also my laptop is good too... i just hope they have better or higher options... (by the way i am using almost comp/ equips from hp, rofl)

 

useless poll with so many brands missing

 

Useless Poll.

Missing ASUS, Compal, MSI, Clevo

Alienware does not make the notebooks, they just re-brand from Uniwill, Clevo and Arima

 

If Asus had been in one of the options it would be top one. But in those choices I'd choose IBM.

 

I believe that this Poll is worthless, because people will only vote for brands they know. I.E.: Well known brands like dell will get much more votes than a little known brand like Sharp, even though the little known brands may well be far superior.

Satellite A65, XP Home, 2.66Ghz Celeron D

 

Also, how can I say (for example) that Sony is better then ALL the rest? I haven't owned that many notebooks in my life.

Most people have owned under 5 notebooks, and there is now way they can really say for certain that theirs was better then the rest.

Besides, I'll bet a good 50% of the people voted for a notebook brand they like, regardless of whether they have it or not.

 

Panasonic, Duh.

 

I agree with the poll.

 

ibm's build quality is top notch for an executive, for personal use i would have to say asus. i voted for ibm anyways

 

i hate compaq desktops and notebooks but hps are really nice but IBMs are the best with dell (with the roadready designs)behind them

 

I've had vaio, thinkpad, and toshiba.

I know thinkpad should be most durable, but the vaio turned out that way. Sheeba was a turd.

I'm rerunning this poll in a lenovo vs asus build quality face-off.

 

AMREL are hundreds of times better than Thinkpads.

http://www.amrel.com/federal_military_computer/rocky_patriot_rugged_notebook.html

 

Those are a different class of laptops. Those fall under the category of "rugged" notebooks. Lenovo does not make a rugged class notebook.

 

I'm surprised Sony isn't up there, more than Dell, unless most of the users have Latitudes, which would be understandable. I think Sony makes all their laptops durable. Maybe not the best, but each one of their models is around the same, which makes them a more balanced line.

 

I agree that vaio's build quality is underrated, especially their high end made in japan series (used to be s, t & a, not sure what now... sx?)

Anyways I had s that I thought was real solid. Now some people will say this illustrates poor quality- but I disagree: I dropped it from SIX FEET on concrete. Landed on a corner, crushed just that corner... and it still worked! Kept going strong for about six months, at which point it started having graphics crashes. I was convinced that after all that time of working it was not from the fall (because sometimes updates would fix it for a little while), but after sending it in, they said it needed a new motherboard.

I was shocked it worked after a fall like that, for as long as it did. I'm sold. My thinkpads screen is out w.in two years after NO falls. Then again, I bought another tp not vaio, mainly for their keybaord.

 

I prefer toshiba