laptop reliability?

[ShiftLock]

Hey people, i'm in the market for a new laptop, I have a good idea of what I want, but I was wondering if any of you can tell me how reliable your notebook manufacturer is? Reliability is a main concern for me, so maybe you guys/gals can point me in the right direction. thanks

[crioten]

these days, laptops are pretty reliable...as reliable as any desktop

basically if you do everything youre supposed to do (like dont run them for days, heat is a concern...)

-glen

[Salty_X]

My Compaq laptop has been running for over a year and a half, and has been off for maybe 24 hours total during that period, just restarting it every week or so as needed. No problems thus far, knock on wood.

[The ROMAN]

I have an IBM thinkpad. It's not working anymore and wasn't very reliable at all, but then again when it ran slow I'd pound on it like a mutant neanderthal so...

[Ghst 01]

Ive hadd to IBM thinkpads and in my opnion they are the best but kinda on the pricey side. They are geared more for business than regular consumers.

[cali240sxdrifter]

I think I can help you with this. The laptop that I got is a Sager, its one of the fast laptops out there. Just think Alienware but without the cool alien head with the glowing eyes and a few useless features. But what sets Sager from Alienware is that awesome customer service they have and a great community on their forums. The laptops they offer range from anything of what you want, school work, gaming, business, or a all around laptop. Power comes sacficare in speaking with battery life, the fast laptop they offer which is the one I bought barely goes one hour on its battery. But if you don't mind it then its a awesome laptop and the most powerfull laptop just got release a day ago, but the top model with the prescot CPU won't be out in a few weeks which is the most powerfull laptop out there when it comes out.

Anyways, the laptops this company pumps out is very reliable, but there have been post about memory sticks going bad, but Sager quickly sends you one overnight to you and any other problems u may have. If you have any more questions let me know, or check out http://notebookforums.com/ and you'll find a few sections on different laptop companies so you can ask any questions you may have. Hope this helps you out. Peace

[s14xman]

my dell inspiron 1100 is great, had it for about half a year and no complaints at all!!!

[West]

Laptops IMO suck for reliability mainly in part to Intel and there stupid processors. They run so hot that you can cook a burger on your laptop. I have a Toshiba and it get so hot the if I move it to much it shuts down. I have known people with IBM's that last a long time but I just dont like IBM laptops. IMO Apple laptops are the best hands down, second would be Sony, then Dell. Stay away from Compaq and Toshiba. Id look into the laptops cali240sxdrifter mentioned if your rich

[NinjaGaiden]

Intel processors do not run that hot. there is a video on tom's hardware where they take off the heatsink on a pentium 3 processor and the computer was still running quake3, a lot slower, but still running.

Laptops have a lot of different processors to choose from. If manufacturers stick a desktop chip on a laptop, then it will burn ur legs when u put it on ur lap. Make sure they are mobile chips, and are meant to be put on a laptop.

As for my experience, I have had a bottom end toshiba (has celeron chip, got it for $700) for 2 years now, and it runs just fine; never had hardware problems. I also got a thinkpad T30 from work 9months ago and it is a great laptop. Never have had any hardware problems with it. However, 5 out of 6 of my coworkers have had RAM problems (only registered 256mb of ram, when there was physically 512mb). I have heard good and bad reliability review from many laptops. Guess you have to be lucky....or just don't bang on it when it gives u a BSOD

[Zoom8112]

laptops dont suck for reliablility, although i do admit that some models have a notorious reputation for unreliability, but thats hardly intel's fault. intel manufactures and designs the processors, not how they are put into laptops.

anyhow to get back to the main question - what are you looking for to use the laptop for? currently, you SHOULD get a laptop with centrino mobile technology.

it features the intel pentium-M, i855 chipset, and intel's built in 2100 802.11b wireless network card. this technology has been designed from the ground up to be mobile. the processor runs at a lower frequency which that means conserved power and longer run time from the battery. This does NOT mean it isnt a good performer, a pentium-M 1.4ghz is roughly equivelent to a pentium 4 2.2ghz or so, due to its shorter pipeline and its 400mhz bus. [NOTE: there is a difference here between a pentium-M and pentium 4/M] The integrated wireless also is also really handy when it comes to connecting to areas that have wireless connections.

with that in mind, if you arent really into gaming or heavy graphics or video work, i recommend the dell inspirion x300 or latitude d300

they are the lightest notebooks offered by dell, and if i were in the market for one, i would not hesitate to choose on of these. although not as powerful as other models mentioned, they make up for it in weight and protability.

if you are into heavy gaming and graphics work, the dell inspirion XPS is the notebook to get, it features the ati 129mB 9700pro graphics card, which is the best mobile graphics card out on the market. it also has a insanely fast 3.2ghz pentium 4 desktop processor with an 800mhz bus and Hyperthreading technology.

hope this post was helpful - and if you have any other questions LMK.

[oojpeeoo]

Originally Posted by Zoom8112

if you are into heavy gaming and graphics work, the dell inspirion XPS is the notebook to get, it features the ati 129mB 9700pro graphics card, which is the best mobile graphics card out on the market. it also has a insanely fast 3.2ghz pentium 4 desktop processor with an 800mhz bus and Hyperthreading technology.

hope this post was helpful - and if you have any other questions LMK.

9700 ownz0rs ..but pricey

[cali240sxdrifter]

ha, i wish i was rich hehe. the price for these laptops are nothing like what alienware sells them for which go for like 3 to almost 4 grand. I got mine for 2300 with P4 3.2, 60gig 7200RPM, ATI 9600 Pro (better than gforce-go), 1gig ram, dvd and CD-RW combo, 16inch wideangle screen, WinXp CD, and a free carying bag =D. 2300 is a great price for this laptop. www.pctorque.com go config a laptop and check out the pics.

[cali240sxdrifter]

yeah, that new 9700 Pro came out a few days ago i forgot, but i heard its not a big FPS leap from the 9600 Pro. But the new sager comes with the new 3.4Ghz Extreme Edition 800FSB which i heard is really awesome. The Dell lappys have been getting a bad rep. lately from their screens that are crapin out lately. But am not sure on the new XPS lappy. I'll look more into this.

[dvdevo]

uhh the dell 1xxx 4xxxx . 5xxxx ones suck. they have a over heating problem But then the 8800? series seem to not have that problem(the centrino ones). I have a "old" ibm t22 thinkpad and it runs great. Hrmm i had 2 powerbooks and a ibook in my life and most of them were good. I loved my tibook but had to sell it. Apples are nice, I'm not sure about the current 15" powerbook because I heard there was screen problems.

[mrmephistopheles]

we're happy with our Sony laptop. I'm a clumsy guy and have dropped it once or twice, and it's no worse for wear. It had an issue with the display when we bought it, and we returned it for service (about 10 months after purchase... yeah we're procrastinators) and had it back within a week with a brand new screen. No charge.

[thx247]

Using a old Apple G3 500mhz laptop for the past 3 years daily at work, take it to clients, work in server rooms etc etc. Never crashes, no problems with hardware what so ever. It will probably outlive its usefullness at this rate.

[dvdevo]

THX247 u had the 500mhz pismo huh? i had a 400mhz pismo..it was great...*tears* i miss it

[kandyflip445]

I have a Sony VAIO. I love it to death. I don't have a problem with heat cause I keep it away from stuff that would restrict airflow. The only problem I've ever had with it was when I tried to DL a Windows XP update and it messed up. I did a system restore and it runs like new!!

[driftz240sx]

My Dell Inspiron 8200 is very good. Had it over a year now. Very reliable, hardly ever crashes.

[aznpoopy]

i'd go with dell... they aren't the best in terms of service support or technology, but if u wait for their massive blow out rebate whatnot deals you can get your stuff super cheap. i got a laptop p4 2.56Ghz 512 DVD/CDRW /w 3d card a couple months back for like 700 dollars shipped free after multiple coupons and rebates.

www.techbargains.com