Laptop reliabilty survey

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ksl
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Laptop reliabilty survey

Post by ksl » Tue, 17 Nov 2009 8:47 pm

Asus comes out top on reliability, while HP has a 1 in 4 failure rate within the first 3 years.


http://gizmodo.com/5406415/laptop-relia ... t=My+Yahoo

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Post by nakatago » Tue, 17 Nov 2009 8:55 pm

I guess that explains why Asus laptops are expensive...

...but not as expensive as Sony :P

Oh shi--I own an Acer.
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Post by sundaymorningstaple » Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:20 pm

Well, my daughter has one of the 1 of 4 HP pieces of HP SH*T! :(
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

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Post by ksl » Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:49 am

sundaymorningstaple wrote:Well, my daughter has one of the 1 of 4 HP pieces of HP SH*T! :(
And we have 3 of them, one been sitting idle with loose USB ports and also a failing hard disk. This one i am using now, which occassionally the screen goes out, loose connection. and my wifes new one.

Though i can vouch for ASUS a rock solid laptop, when i threw it on the floor in frustration(not the computers fault) the lcd broke, It was a deliberate act of force, at the base of my feet, but it still turned on and booted up. :shock:

A new screen is over 1k and its from 2004 so i didn't bother getting it repaired but Asus also give a better guarantee too. I still have the motherboard and processor looks like a piece of artwork, with the keyboard hanging off...and I should really repair the HP.

If the HP was in the house at the time I freaked, it would be the first to go, though i also know it's my own fault, and i should just reformat and/or get a new life :lol:

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Post by x9200 » Wed, 18 Nov 2009 6:57 am

nakatago wrote:I guess that explains why Asus laptops are expensive...
...but not as expensive as Sony :P
Oh shi--I own an Acer.
We own 2 Sonys. Both high-end, and both had/have multiple critical/non-critical defects developed within the first 3 years. Better don't ask how much Sony ask to fix anything and you can not buy easily the parts to fix it yourself. And even if you can they are more expensive than for the other manufacturers. Stay with Acer.

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Post by nakatago » Wed, 18 Nov 2009 8:22 am

x9200 wrote:
nakatago wrote:I guess that explains why Asus laptops are expensive...
...but not as expensive as Sony :P
Oh shi--I own an Acer.
We own 2 Sonys. Both high-end, and both had/have multiple critical/non-critical defects developed within the first 3 years. Better don't ask how much Sony ask to fix anything and you can not buy easily the parts to fix it yourself. And even if you can they are more expensive than for the other manufacturers. Stay with Acer.
I was actually planning of getting an Asus but the girl during the roadshow gave me a better deal with the Acer. It ain't bad, it's just that it's full of crapware. So, I switched to Linux. Maybe I'd get an Asus when the Acer wears out.

Funny thing; I used to own one of these generic whitebooks before I got my Acer. On its 11th month, the battery wasn't charging properly. I brought it to the store. They gave it back to me with a new battery. After three years, the only fault with it was a noisy fan and worn out hinges. I gave it to my sister and she still ain't complainin'.

And it's a no-name brand laptop!
"A quokka is what would happen if there was an anime about kangaroos."

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Post by x9200 » Wed, 18 Nov 2009 8:55 am

nakatago wrote: Funny thing; I used to own one of these generic whitebooks before I got my Acer. On its 11th month, the battery wasn't charging properly. I brought it to the store. They gave it back to me with a new battery. After three years, the only fault with it was a noisy fan and worn out hinges. I gave it to my sister and she still ain't complainin'.

And it's a no-name brand laptop!
I think this is just about the point. Sometimes it is better to buy a crap than some overpriced well established brand models. There is no ideal brand so I don't think Sony is particularly defective but if you pay SGD 4k for a laptop you rather don't like to see multiple failures already within first year. For this 4k model first battery was down after 4months.

I think Asus would be a good choice, Ibm-Lenovo, perhaps Toshiba... the others are either with bad opinions or are a kind of terra incognita.

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Post by Deetz » Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:28 am

I've bought a dell for myself a few years ago (massive 17" sucker) and one for my lady.

My HD started to fail within about a month or two on my 17" but was quickly replaced by Dell and no problems since *knock on wood*.

Gf's Dell had a bad nvdia graphics card which was written about extensively and with some fuss we got Dell to replace the entire motherboard for free even though the warranty was up.

So while Dell has had problems they're pretty rock solid and usually work great under linux. HP ughh shudder. I had a Compaq P90 mhz computer back in they day but that's about as close as I'll get to a HP.

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Post by nakatago » Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:31 am

Deetz wrote:So while Dell has had problems they're pretty rock solid and usually work great under linux.
They should. Dell sells ubuntu-powered laptops in the US. Makes me wonder why they don't anywhere else (rhetorical question--don't answer that).
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Post by sundaymorningstaple » Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:15 pm

Deetz wrote:I've bought a dell for myself a few years ago (massive 17" sucker) and one for my lady.

My HD started to fail within about a month or two on my 17" but was quickly replaced by Dell and no problems since *knock on wood*.

Gf's Dell had a bad nvdia graphics card which was written about extensively and with some fuss we got Dell to replace the entire motherboard for free even though the warranty was up.

So while Dell has had problems they're pretty rock solid and usually work great under linux. HP ughh shudder. I had a Compaq P90 mhz computer back in they day but that's about as close as I'll get to a HP.
Interesting. I also own a older 17" Dell (9300). The on/off switch needed replacing about 2 years ago (3rd year of extended warranty) and they popped over to the house and replace the entire motherboard & tested in all of 30 minutes. Been running like a champ since. My daughter's HP notebook has the same nvidia graphics chip/card (it's part of the motherboard) and has also been written up about. Unfortunately HP won't do nothing except change the motherboard (which they did once already $200). The problem is that the replacement motherboard has the same nvidia card/chipset and it's noted that it will eventually go bad. It did. :( There are also some Macs that used the same as well - all having the same problems.

I also used Compaq until they were bought over by HP. That's when I switched to dell. Also have an old Inspiron 4000 that still chugging along (although upgraded to XP from ME that was originally loaded).
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

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Post by econoMIC » Wed, 18 Nov 2009 4:59 pm

x9200 wrote:
nakatago wrote:I guess that explains why Asus laptops are expensive...
...but not as expensive as Sony :P
Oh shi--I own an Acer.
We own 2 Sonys. Both high-end, and both had/have multiple critical/non-critical defects developed within the first 3 years. Better don't ask how much Sony ask to fix anything and you can not buy easily the parts to fix it yourself. And even if you can they are more expensive than for the other manufacturers. Stay with Acer.
The wife owned a Sony. The hard disk died twice within the first two years. We got a new one for free each time (warranty) but still it was annoying to lose everything and start over.

My macbook just keeps going and going. Never had a problem.
a.k.a. littlegreenman

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Post by ScoobyDoes » Wed, 18 Nov 2009 5:03 pm

I'm on my second Toshiba in eight years.

I still have the first one but it just does minor operations around the office now, looking after our biometric door entry system.

The HD failed on that about 4yrs after i bought it and now is running the second. So far only one of the arrow keys has fallen off.

The second Toshiba i've now ran for 2.5yrs on Vista. Apart from a USB/software issue whereby it doesn't find my printer to print (though can to scan :? ) until i unplug and replug my USB hub i've not had a problem with the computer itself. Initially i had some WiFi problems but Microsoft fixed that with the SP1 of Vista.

Both laptops have probably travelled enough to have been around the world each year so overall I have to say I am really pleased.

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Post by x9200 » Wed, 18 Nov 2009 5:56 pm

econoMIC wrote:The wife owned a Sony. The hard disk died twice within the first two years. We got a new one for free each time (warranty) but still it was annoying to lose everything and start over.
Hmmm, very interesting. One of the mentioned Sonies belongs to my wife. This is a pretty cute model with 11.7" screen. The harddrive was solid dead for the first time shortly after warranty expired and later again within a year or so. It was the Toshiba 1.8" used currently I believe in the ipods but at that time less popular. Sony wanted over $600 to get it replaced and toshiba did not distribute the drive to retail customers and had temporarily no stock :) Got one eventually for 1/4 of this price from HK (later another one) but now you made me thinking whether this is this particular laptop thing or perhaps the sony-wife interaction thing :)

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Post by curiousgeorge » Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:32 am

I've never had an Ausus lappy, but use their motherboards when I build big PCs all the time. They know their stuff, but their support website is atrocious. God forbid anything ever does go wrong...

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Post by Plavt » Thu, 26 Nov 2009 8:05 pm

Best laptops I have had so far: Toshiba and Fujitsu, very I have ever needed to talk to technical support (only twice in over a year with Toshiba). While Fujitsu are expensive the Toshiba was a mere £400, they are cheaper and even better now.

Will point out, not for the first time, it does seem to depend where in the world you live. The assembly and quality control for both is Germany and the support centres in Britain. :)

HP was the worst I had; incompetent technical support, imcompetent workshop staff (machine came back damaged amongst other things). The local computer repair centre sees plenty coming into his shop.

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