Lenovo Durability best?

would you guys consider lenovo to be the best company as far as durability for pc manufacturers? I am thinking about buying the y560.. thanks.

 

There is really no "best" that covers ALL of a companies products (for most OEMs). The lenovo Thinkpads differ greatly in durability compared to Ideapads.

You should probably let us know what other laptops you're considering so we can do more direct comparisons.

 

why do they differ so greatly? I was thinking about the envy 14 as well, but from the reviews of the envy 17 so far.. not so much. I was mainly looking for an aesthetically well built PC with a ton of power. The Dell xps 16 was on my list, but because of its looks, I crossed it off.

 

you mean well designed machine? Lenovo machines doesn't look as good as some of the competitor's laptops. In terms of design and aesthetics i think Apple MBP is the best, but durability and feature wise it is not the best.

 

what do you consider better that utilizes microsoft as its priority?

 

In my experience whether things "work out" or not boils down to plain dumb luck more than anything else, which sort of takes out any rationality from the process. I've had six or seven ThinkPads in a row. Only the only problem I've had with one is a hard drive failed on my T42, which was quickly replaced.

 

I disagree! A Thinkpad looks like a perfect example how a notebook should look like. Black, plain with some highlights (track point, logo, metal hinges). I can not figure out why so many people like the Apple design. Thinkpad design is a clear archetype of design school:

"form follows function" one of the single most important decisions every (hardware, software, etc.) architect should follow.

@sinafl: You should know that a y560 is not a Thinkpad and there are certain downsides because of that. So be carefull just because a T61p or a W510 have great build quality does not mean a Ideapad falls into the same category.

 

This argument has been proceeding for many years, and there is probably no end to it. I am not talking about the Thinkpad as such, but the general Lenovo laptop line up. And it is clear from the post, the OP is not really after the thinkpads but more inclined to the ideapad machines.

In the consumer laptop market Apple MBP does look the best, there is simply no argument about it. But Thinkpad is not a consumer laptop, it is more of a business laptop.

I do love Thinkpads, which is why i have so many. But if i was going to buy a consumer grade laptop, then Apple MBP gets my pick over anything else, provided that my budget is not limited. I could also go for the alienware M17x for the sake of owning a machine that cram all the latest technology into in portable package (relatively speaking).

This is exactly what i meant, which i should of explained a little better in the my previous post.

 

looks is too subjective to be measure accurately. "there is simply no argument about it" comment does not stand.

 

So which consumer laptop do you think looks better than the MBP? HP Envy? or any of those off the shelf ODM/JDM consumer laptops designed mostly by Foxconn, Compal, Wistron, etc...

 

Yes, among non-fully-ruggedized laptops, assuming you are looking at the Thinkpad T, X, and W series. Everything else, all bets are off.

 

See, to me, the traditional Thinkpads like the T and X looks better than the MBP. The Thinkpad Edge is also pretty sexy. But then, I always liked Bauhaus. Also, I love pretty much everything Richard Sapper ever made (and lest you think it's the cart leading the horse, I liked the things before I knew who designed them).

 

panansonic toughbook

 

Having both a Thinkpad and Ideapad I can tell you this... Whenever I have the Ideapad out and about I feel like I'm handling a bomb. I hate even having books in my backpack with it because the lid is so thin. If I were to drop it, she would most likely not survive, same goes with water. The Thinkpad, I never give it any thought as to it's safety. I know it will be able to dropped, kicked, punched, and soak up water spills. If the lifespan of my Ideapad is a couple of years, I'll be greatly happy. I wouldn't be surprised if my T61 lasts 5 or 10 years.

 

But this is only true for the "fully-rugged" models.

 

why would you need a laptop that lasts more than 5 years anyway?

after 3 years a second hand laptop would lose 70 - 90% of their value.

I would never pay for a 5 year old laptop no matter how tough they are. A super tough laptop after 5 years is literally a brick

 

Some people loathe replacing computers. You don't want to image that old drive onto your new computer, so you're starting fresh. Also, it's cheaper to buy a good laptop every 6 years than a cheap laptop every 2 years. The technologhy has gotten to where even if the new computers are much faster, the old computer is still plenty fast. My T60 is over 3.5 years old, and I don't find it lacking in any way, I bought an X201 to have a more mobile option, but the T sits on my desk and the X sits in my bag (i.e. both get used).

 

This is my thinking on notebooks. I don't buy them with resale value in mind and I use them until they become obsolete. I'd much rather spend more money now on something that has the latest technology and use it for several years than have to upgrade repeatedly. Heck I'm even struggling right now with the idea of replacing my 2004 Compaq Evo N620c...other than the graphics chipset being completely obsolete there's not much that it can't do. My prime candidate to replace it though is a T410 i7.

 

But Panasonic Toughbooks and Thinkpads classic that some of you people mentioned are not consumer laptops, they are business/professional laptops.

Some people look at Laptop resell value, because they tend to sell their laptops after using it for while, like what some people do with their cars. But not everyone sells their laptop or purchase laptops with resell value in mind.

Lot of people will use their laptops till it no longer works, or too slow to function as their personal computers.

Given that lot of people still uses Pentium 4 T30 thinkpads.

 

Heh, this got off the topic of the sort of laptops OP was looking at.

 

LOL yeah, but I have been reading alot of insight from you guys

 

The ONE thing I hate about the y460 is the low specs associated with it.. if it had 6mb of cache and more RAM this laptop would be perfect for me.. but then if I want those specs I need to go to the y560.. which has a washed out screen. Any Suggestions?

 

Upgrade the ram?

 

how fast is your laptop/ how is the screen resolution? Would you pick it over the envy 14? Also if the y560 was just as cheap as the y460 which one would you consider?

 

Well it can play just about any game I want on high settings and it is wonderful at Photoshop and video editing. The screen looks great, but the resolution does let it down slightly. 1600x900 would be perfect. Hmm, I don't know about the Envy. She is looking good If you can, wait to see the reviews of the Envy, if you're interested in it. It should be built better than the y460, with almost the same specs, and more battery life. But HP is known for spotty quality and heat issues with the last Envy's.(They said they've "addressed" these issues)

I'm not interested in the y560; too heavy and screen is too big for a 1366x768.

 

the Asus UL30/50/80 series are pretty good looking laptops.

 

so your saying the build quality on the envy is better than the y460? what makes me really like the y460 is that I can get the top of the line model for 899... add a solid drive in there and I am looking at spending 1200 for a good computer. What is the windows index rating of your laptop? I am just torn on what to do as this will be mainly used for programming, movies, and music. I am coming from a mac and it was extremely slow dual booting windows which is why I want a stylish yet very speedy computer.

 

Coming from a Mac, the quality is going to feel lackluster, no doubt about it. The Envy is made just like the Macbook Pro's(Copy cat if you will) Windows Index:5.9(ram is the lowest score, everything else is 6.7 and above) Not the greatest way to measure performance, but gives you a ballpark estimate on how fast it should be. Boot up times for me are about 25secs from pushing the power button to desktop. Well over a minute with the crap Seagate HDD it came with. I feel the best thing you can do is wait to see what the Envy is like when it officially gets reviewed. Envy does seem like it will fit your exceptions better.

 

very true.. but what i love about the lenovo is the education discount!! It will be around 1200 for everything while the envy will be around 1900 most likely.

 

I'm much the same way. I used my T40 for five years and plan on keeping my tablet for at least another two years. For these reasons I buy on durability, input device quality, battery life, and overall fit/finish (all areas that are slow to become obsolete and where ThinkPads excel). If I need performance I focus on my desktop which is easy, and cheap, to upgrade.

 

this is so true, a 500 dollars DIY desktop (excluding the LCD) can give a 2000 dollars workstation grade laptop a run for their money in terms of CPU and GPU performance.

You can often see some professional video and photographers taking their luggagerised desktop machines to their onsite work. I have seen couple of professional photographers taking the iMac 24 inch and 27 inch desktops with them for onsite photo editting work. I asked them why don't they use a workstation grade laptop, they told me that the LCD quality is not good enough and screen is too small to do any serious work in a productive manner.

 

why don't they just buy an external monitor for their workplace?

 

They're just being ridiculous people. Sports photographers have been making laptops work for a long time.

 

they have the desktop with separate LCD in their office, but when they work off site they take the iMac with them, they also have the MBP ready too.

I am not saying what they do is correct or not, but i am merely commenting on the actual behaviour of some professional photographers that i have seen.