Are you happy with your laptop?

[rach3975]

I have a feeling my laptop is going to need replacing in the very near future. Are there any Windows-based brands you'd recommend? (Much as I'd love a Mac, it's out of my price range so there's no need to try to sell me on one!)

My last 2 laptops have been HPs. I was happy with the first one, but a little less so with this one. When it was working well it was great and it was by no means a lemon, but it hasn't lasted as long as I'd expect. I expect HD failures as a part of normal wear and tear and have had a few of those, but a few other things have broken and now at 2.5 years old the casing is coming apart near the hinges from the stress of the lid opening and closing. It's disappointing since the computer is still running well; normally I'm frustrated with a computer's speed and memory long before it fails physically. (I know it can probably be repaired, but I don't think it's worth putting any more money into fixing this computer.)

So any suggestions for me? I haven't ruled out another HP, but I'm wary.

[lovely1m]

My desktops have all been Gateway and I love them. Never had one issue and they last forever, I didn't buy it for my laptop only because my laptop was an impulse buy. Had I waited and thought about things, I would have bought another Gateway. My laptop is only a few months old and its a Toshiba. It works quite well and cost me hardly anything.

[ricslady]

I have Dells. When I worked in IT they bought Dells. I order direct instead of going to a store. I've also heard good things about Asus but I've never owned one.

[Sherri Tierney]

Ours is a Dell. It is probably 6 years old now. At this point it is pretty much on its last leg. However, it has only been the past few months that it has had so many issues. We had no trouble for the first 5.5 years we owned it.

[Jengerbread88]

Acer. I get between 4-6 years on every Acer I've owned, never seem to have any issues, and they're affordable and reliable. I didn't mind my Toshiba before that, but it didn't last as long or hold up to as much abuse as my Acer computers.

I shy away from HP because the ones I've owned have physically caught on fire-- no thanks.

[Lyd]

Hubby swears by Dells when it comes to PCs. In fact, for his work laptop, he ended up on a MacBook Air because it was either that or an HP, and he doesn't like HP at all. He wanted a Dell.

[lorryfach]

I had a nightmare experience with Dell customer service. I have a Sony Vaio now!

[pewtertm]

My Dell laptop is 7 years old. I'm hoping to replace it next year, but it's done good by me. We also have 2 Dell desktops and have been very pleased with them.

[Kara]

I am happy with mine, but it is a Mac. We have had a Dell and an HP and I would never buy HP again. We had so many problems with it. Our Dell was okay, but so far, we've had much better luck with Mac. They are more expensive, but they seem more durable and last longer.

[MamaBee]

Well... in the last 5 years we have had Toshiba (hubby's work PC), Asus, Acer, and Dell in laptops... and I would totally recommend them EXCEPT the Dells. Maybe I was just in a bad batch of computers... Both my mom and I got Dell laptops 4 years ago (custom built, my mom's was standard and mine was built for power)... and we have had nothing but problems and I agree, having to deal with there customer service is a nightmare!! My mom had to get a new hard drive, motherboard, new screen and ram chip just after the first year (and all my mom does on the laptop is write emails and surf the web!!)... after year two, she finally dumped the laptop when the wireless card stop working and no one - not even a computer guy - knew how to fix it since just replacing the part didn't make the laptop have wireless again. On my laptop... I've had to replace the hard drive (same, after one year), Ram went bad, new keyboard, and a few other things that I don't remember... I'm still using it, but I know the days are numbered before it goes the way of my mom's and I'm on the hunt for a new laptop... these laptops are what convinced my diehard Windows Fan DH that we WILL be going Mac in the future with computer.

My hubby worked the Acer into the ground... it was a nice laptop... and now he has an Asus, which so far - knock on wood - has worked well... he only uses it to surf the web and create apps on it... so it's doesn't get the work out of digi on it... yet - since when mine dies, I probably will take it over until we can save up for a Macbook.

[Stacey42]

I loved my ASUS! Loved it loved loved! But I got the gamer version for the high end graphics and my model was under powered for cooling so after two years it overheated & wouldn't start again. The hard drive was fine but they thought the motherboard was fried. Not sure what was actually the problem but after a year we rebooted for the heck of it and it works fine now. Weird. It has to sit on one of those cooling fan pads but it's fine. I recommend the ASUS but check the reviews. They've apparently fixed this issue with newer models.

I have an HP now, got it as a refurb when the ASUS melted down & it's been great.

DH's job uses Dells. He worked his last one into the ground - 8 years!. They just this year replaced it and gave him the old one. One of our sons uses it now. My other son has my mom's old Dell, it's 5 years old. We upgraded it to Win 7 so he could play Minecraft. It needs a new batter but it's running just fine. The one Dell I had was a piece of crap but that seems to have been an aberration for Dells.

[tanyiadeskins]

my last one was a Dell...NEVER ever again

now have a Dell and LOVE it!

[lorryfach]

Originally Posted by tanyiadeskins

my last one was a Dell...NEVER ever again

now have a Dell and LOVE it!

Errr... what?

[lauren grier]

supposedly with dell you really need to get their top of the line ones and not the every day laptops. so says mr computer guru bf anyway. he's looking to get a dell -- i'll have to check with him later (he's at work atm). his other laptop was a mac, but the motherboard has fried-- so they're not immune to issues either.

in contrast, I have had a dell for 2 years, i have the xps 15- from the factory (ie right when i got it) it had some mega problems, all of which i've rectified.. but they are DEF using crappy sub par parts- which is sad, the machine had a ton of potential and aside from you know.. a non functional hard drive and fan it's got a lot of bang for the buck. LOL.. swapped all that crappy crap out and it's great. but i shouldn't have had to buy a new hard drive straight off the bat.
when i talk to bf i'll ask him what he was wanting to buy-- but i'm still skeptical of his opinions on the matter based on my own experience.

[lorryfach]

Originally Posted by Stacey42

The one Dell I had was a piece of crap but that seems to have been an aberration for Dells.

I'm not so sure about that. You said your husband got his through work, right? Dell's business department is completely different from the Dell people who work with us normal types.

[MamaBee]

Originally Posted by lauren grier

supposedly with dell you really need to get their top of the line ones and not the every day laptops. so says mr computer guru bf anyway.

Hmm... top of the line... is that directly from Dell vs what you get at say, Best Buy? Mine was custom built from Dell with the most powerful of everything.. processor, highest RAM, hard drive... blah, blah, blah... and I had lots of problems, as listed above...

Oh, man - forgot about the fan... had that replaced twice! I really think it was the design of my computer at the time it was made, I sure hope they fixed it by now... where the fan is located, it's does nothing to cool off the hard drive. The hard drive is under the mouse touch pad and it gets sooo hot that it has melted the plastic of my lap pad... hubby brought home a heat sensor from work and recorded it at 94 degree... haha...

[DawnMarch]

We have an HP and I despise it. It is incredibly slow but the real problem is that it gets crazy hot and shuts itself down. I had to take the battery out because I was honestly afraid it was going to start a fire it got so hot. I know they recalled a bunch for battery fires, but (of course) mine was not one that was recalled. So, we have to keep it plugged in all the time and even then it gets so hot that it shuts itself down if you ask it to do anything at all strenuous.

It takes about 15 minutes to boot up even though I've tried to remove all non-essential stuff from it but they come with such a huge amount of bloatware that you can only do so much.

Hate. It.

[lauren grier]

Originally Posted by MamaBee

Hmm... top of the line... is that directly from Dell vs what you get at say, Best Buy? Mine was custom built from Dell with the most powerful of everything.. processor, highest RAM, hard drive... blah, blah, blah... and I had lots of problems, as listed above...

Oh, man - forgot about the fan... had that replaced twice! I really think it was the design of my computer at the time it was made, I sure hope they fixed it by now... where the fan is located, it's does nothing to cool off the hard drive. The hard drive is under the mouse touch pad and it gets sooo hot that it has melted the plastic of my lap pad... hubby brought home a heat sensor from work and recorded it at 94 degree... haha...

i picked the better xyz for the xps 15 too and they were still crap-- he means a line or two better than the level that i got, which is just silly. I replaced the HD and fan with non dell parts and it works great now. might as well just buy the shell and build your own -.- lol

[rachaelsscraps]

I have an Asus laptop right now and I HATE it! lol.. well, it was great at first but now it has to run the system checks almost every time I start it back up again. I prefer a large screened laptop, so I have a 17 inch, and it is soooo heavy. It hurts my knees to use it on my lap for even 10 minutes. Asus laptops are seriously the hugest laptops ever. It is about 3" high which is HUGE for a laptop.
I've had this one for just a little over a year, and it's quitting on me... but I kill a laptop ever year or two so it's lasting as long as every other brand I've had... Dell, HP, etc.

[Jennilyn]

I got my Asus 1.5 years ago and I need a bigger processor. I didn't think it would matter much because I got more RAM in it than my last one, but it really does. I've pretty much stopped scrapping because it takes forever for it to do something.

[DawnMarch]

LOL. This thread is kind of funny since everybody seems to hate their laptop, no matter what brand it is. It's no wonder tablets have been such a huge success.

[rach3975]

Originally Posted by DawnMarch

LOL. This thread is kind of funny since everybody seems to hate their laptop, no matter what brand it is. It's no wonder tablets have been such a huge success.

Thanks for the suggestions and warnings, everyone! But yeah, it seems like it's a crap shoot no matter what brand you buy. Too bad! But I suppose that even if there's no universally loved brand (Quiet, all you Mac people! ), at least there aren't too many universally hated brands either. HP seems to come closest, and even though I haven't loved this one I definitely haven't hated it.

DH has had his Dell laptop about 4-5 years, which is longer than I've ever gotten from a laptop. But all he does on it is surf the internet and play some old games that don't tax it much, so I know the same laptop might have died a much earlier death in my hands. Not to mention that I use mine many more hours a day than he does. Looks like I've got some research to do. I like the look of the Dell Inspiron 17R Special Edition so far, but that's after a grand total of 15 minutes of looking, so we'll see.

[littlekiwi]

I have a toshiba - first toshiba was useless, second toshiba was ok (still works - gave it to my mum as her computer died and that laptop was still working but just not really well for PSCS4) and now im on to my third toshiba which works fantastically

[jk703]

Originally Posted by DawnMarch

LOL. This thread is kind of funny since everybody seems to hate their laptop, no matter what brand it is. It's no wonder tablets have been such a huge success.

This was exactly what went through my head. LOL! I've had Dell's (desktop/Laptop), Gateway's (desktop), and Macs(current for us - laptop and desktop). Mac has worked the best, then Dell, then Gateway....


Good Luck in your decision of what and who to buy!

[LJSDesigns]

I just got a my very first laptop last week and went with the Dell. Honestly all I have ever had have been dells and I don't have any big complaints but I hate dealing with the Tech support. It is a nitemare and I always end up losing my temper with their crap. Best not say anything more, cause I can get mad just thinking about tech support.

[Jengerbread88]

Originally Posted by DawnMarch

We have an HP and I despise it. It is incredibly slow but the real problem is that it gets crazy hot and shuts itself down. I had to take the battery out because I was honestly afraid it was going to start a fire it got so hot. I know they recalled a bunch for battery fires, but (of course) mine was not one that was recalled.

Mine wasn't recalled. In fact, I think mine was before the recalls. It caught fire. I bought a new one, also from HP (it was what was on sale, and I needed a laptop) even though I was a little gunshy after the fire. Within 3-4 months, it had caught fire, too.

I'm sticking with my Acer computers after that. I've never had any issues, other than the fact that I use them literally until they just die. I run them into the ground, though, and use my computers HARD, so it's no surprise that they eventually crash. That's not an Acer issue-- it's a TOTALLY me issue.

[AmaG]

Have you looked into a refurbed mac? They come with the same guarantee at a lower price point. I work on Dell at work and Mac at home and once you go Mac, you never go back.

[rach3975]

Originally Posted by AmaG

Have you looked into a refurbed mac? They come with the same guarantee at a lower price point. I work on Dell at work and Mac at home and once you go Mac, you never go back.

Thanks for the suggestion. I just took a look, but they're still out of my price range. I'm using a 17.3 inch laptop now. I'd go down to a 15 inch screen in order to switch to a Mac, but once you figure in the cost of rebuying PS I'd probably have to go all the way down to an 11" screen. Switching will definitely have to wait until I'm working again, maybe for the computer after this one!

[adrianka]

I've been very happy with both of my HP laptops. Both were business models though. I think they do those well. The first one was still in good shape when I got the second so I could gift it, and I am replacing the second after 6 years now with another HP. I think it's also a question of luck. My first one was Acer, back in 2004, but I wasn't very impressed. But it was a cheap model.

As for tablets, I'd kill someone if I had to use one on permanent basis. For browsing and reading they are great, but for writing and such... NOT.

[staciahall]

I had an HP that I used until it died, had SUCH good luck with that one. I replaced with a 17" Gateway and had wonderful luck with that one until it just became too slow with CS on it (and ACDSee, etc) so I switched to a desktop for me. My daughter had the nightmare experience with Dell, bad hard drives, no wireless etc so no more Dells for us. My son has a Toshiba and loves it. She just replaced the Dell with a NICE Lenovo as her college graduation present. I replaced the dinosaur laptop with a new Asus but haven't used it a lot just yet.

[JuliaM]

I swore by Dell right up until I had a nightmare experience with them about 4 years ago. The laptop I ordered from them ran hot and by that I mean that if you'd put an egg on the touch pad, you probably could have fried it...and the heat would creep out to make the keyboard uncomfortable hot. I always use a chillpad under my laptops but, even with the chillpad, this laptop would be too hot to use within 5 minutes of turning it on. Within a week, I was getting the blue screen of death on it (I'm guessing it was because of the heat). After many and numerous calls to Dell, they finally agreed to replace it. I will say the replacement laptop I got didn't have the blue screen of death problem...it just got a lot hotter. So, enter another round of phonecalls except this time I actually managed to find a number to speak to someone in the corporate offices in Texas. They sent yet another laptop out to me. This one had the same exact heat problem and, to top it off, was a refurbished one instead of new like I'd paid for. So another round of phonecalls. I was told that they thought I'd disregard the heat problem and the fact that it was refurbished since they updated Windows 7 from Home Premium to Pro and they upgraded the battery as well. I didn't need Windows 7 Pro and since I don't use the laptop on battery, I didn't need a bigger one that added a lot more weight to the laptop.

Around this point, I started doing research off of Dells site looking to see if anyone else was having this kind of problem with it getting so heat. I had an expected lack of surpirse when I saw how many negative reviews Dell laptops were getting for the same problem. I ended up sending that hunk of junk back and getting my money back. For considerably less than the Dell laptop was costing me, I got a HP laptop...I think the model was G2 but could be wrong. I absolutely love it and haven't had any of the problems I used to have with Dell laptops - even before the nightmare one. I'd started to think it was normal for laptops to constantly freeze up and have to have a hard reboot. Imagine my surprise when I found that just wasn't so. I went from doing that once a day on my Dell laptops to doing maybe 2-3 times in the 4 years I've owned my HP laptop.

My sister also just bought an HP back in November and she's very happy with the puchase as well.

[lorryfach]

Originally Posted by rach3975

Thanks for the suggestion. I just took a look, but they're still out of my price range. I'm using a 17.3 inch laptop now. I'd go down to a 15 inch screen in order to switch to a Mac, but once you figure in the cost of rebuying PS I'd probably have to go all the way down to an 11" screen. Switching will definitely have to wait until I'm working again, maybe for the computer after this one!

Would you consider switching software? Pixelmator is only 15 dollars. The next version is supposed to have layer styles which is the One Big Thing that it's missing. Otherwise it's shockingly capable for the price.