News - Dell thinks its Ultrabooks are more durable than Lenovo's

[HEXUS]

Also the ruggedized Dell Latitude 13 laptops for schools are launched, starting at £349.

Read more.

[edzieba]

That's fine if you sometimes mistake your laptop for a yoga-style convertible, but says little about resistance to more normal damage, mainly drops, twists and crushes.

[loftie]

*Cough* ruggedised *cough*

[lumireleon]

offcoz the only toughest thing is a real sledge hummer

[mark_a_scott]

If you are going to link to a YouTube video, don't make it private

[mtyson]

If you are going to link to a YouTube video, don't make it private

Well, it looks like it's been taken down by Dell...

[jim]

Well, it looks like it's been taken down by Dell...

Now that's confidence for you!

[this_is_gav]

That's fine if you sometimes mistake your laptop for a yoga-style convertible, but says little about resistance to more normal damage, mainly drops, twists and crushes.

They could make them out of papier mache and they would be stronger than the 3 different Lenovo ultrabook series we've got (S205, U350 and U450). The build on them really is shockingly bad.

[jim]

They could make them out of papier mache and they would be stronger than the 3 different Lenovo ultrabook series we've got (S205, U350 and U450). The build on them really is shockingly bad.

I've got an X1 Carbon which seems pretty decent.

[kompukare]

My rough guide to Lenovo quality: it it's not listed in the ThinkWikis then it's just an ordinary laptop. Even if some of those ordinary laptops are called 'Thinkpads' like the Thinkpad Edge.

Or in other words: Lenovo Thinkpads are good but other Lenovo are just a bit above average quality-wise (mostly: at least Lenovo don't seem to have joined Acer and HP in the race to the very bottom).

Don't think there is any manufacturer who only makes quality stuff unless they have a very limited range (like Apple, don't like a MBP or MB Air: tough). Case in point: while HP consumer laptops are possible some of the worst junk out there, the enterprise-grade HP Elitebooks are very well made.

[edzieba]

I have a Thinkpad Yoga. It's certainly nowhere near as solid as the T, W or X series, but I've never felt like I'm going to damage it by grabbing any part of it and lifting it up. It probably won't hold up to being dropped on a charging port with the plug in (which I've seen a T-series survive with only a cracked chassis) or the like though.

[this_is_gav]

My rough guide to Lenovo quality: it it's not listed in the ThinkWikis then it's just an ordinary laptop. Even if some of those ordinary laptops are called 'Thinkpads' like the Thinkpad Edge.

Or in other words: Lenovo Thinkpads are good but other Lenovo are just a bit above average quality-wise (mostly: at least Lenovo don't seem to have joined Acer and HP in the race to the very bottom).

Oh I wasn't expecting Thinkpad quality. I've never had one myself, but I've heard plenty of very satisfied users. I wish we could afford to buy Thinkpads throughout the school!

In our own use, and this won't be expected, the refurbished 13" Acers we bought 3 or 4 years ago have been by far and away the most reliable and solid laptops we've ever had. We've had one smashed screen and a hard drive failed the other day, but apart from that I can't recall any issues with any of them. The Acer Ferrari Ones (technically somewhere between netbook and ultrabook) we bought a year later are similarly reliable and solid (horribly garish, but the kids prefer them...)

The HPs we have (Compaq nx6310s), while not ultrabooks, are all very solidly built. My main complaint with HP is that the batteries never seem to last much beyond a year before failing to keep charge (that really is inexcusable these days).

I have to admit, recently the only manufacturer I'd jump on without hesitation would be ASUS. Not had an ultrabook, but their laptops seem very reliable.

[kellyharding]

most often damage i have found to laptops is tripping over the leads or spillages. Thankfully MagSafe helps alleviate the first in my case (older MacBook Pro) and same laptop seems to have survived spillages (tho the illuminated keys haven't so well).

[this_is_gav]

I think if you're tripping over the cables, that's your fault, and quite a big fault at that... how well the laptop survives is a secondary concern, though I can't say I've ever seen a laptop rendered useless due to idiotic-club-foot syndrome.

[Goobley]

I think if you're tripping over the cables, that's your fault, and quite a big fault at that... how well the laptop survives is a secondary concern, though I can't say I've ever seen a laptop rendered useless due to idiotic-club-foot syndrome.

I most certainly have, where I've lived in rural France, I was a popular computer repair person in the area for a lot of the Brits in the area. One computer came in with a cracked mobo from SOMEHOW falling onto the floor (they wouldn't admit that someone had tripped over it, but the power jack had been ripped out) amazingly the board still had enough integrity that I was able to epoxy the PCB back into a flat shape (only one chip SO-8 chip needed resoldering). Another computer also came in from falling onto the floor and in this case the internals were saved by cat hair! This thing had sucked up soo much dust and fur that the inside was well padded The hard drive had just been dislodged.

WRT the article, I really don't get the whole 'laptops for education' thing. I remember in college we had trolleys of laptops that could be taken into different classrooms and setup. It was a terrible idea and wasted so much time setting them up, as opposed to just going to a computer room. Surely a classroom can be equipped as a computer room with standard desktops that are rugged enough to survive sitting there all day, for a lot less than laptops with gorilla glass or touchscreens that actually have to be moved around.

[crossy]

Or in other words: Lenovo Thinkpads are good but other Lenovo are just a bit above average quality-wise (mostly: at least Lenovo don't seem to have joined Acer and HP in the race to the very bottom).

I'm going to disagree with some of that. The old IBM Thinkpads were really "engineered", the Lenovo ones are okay, but not nearly as "special". Then again, if you're careful - try before buy - then you can get a pretty solid Lenovo. I bought a "budget" one for a relative from Staples and it's pretty good, not the fastest, but very well built. Certainly better built than the price-equivalent Acer.

HP's "race to the bottom" should have been "old news". There's been some column inches on how the current management realised that Mark Hurd's attitude of "never mind the quality, look at the price tag" was wholly wrong. I'm certainly aware of prices moving upwards, and some management "noises" about wanting to know where HP quality has failed to reach reasonable expectations.

Don't think there is any manufacturer who only makes quality stuff unless they have a very limited range (like Apple, don't like a MBP or MB Air: tough). Case in point: while HP consumer laptops are possible some of the worst junk out there, the enterprise-grade HP Elitebooks are very well made.

ProBook 6470b here and I'm really not impressed. Yes it feels more "solid" than my eBay special Dell D620, but I've had USB and DisplayPort issues (hardware ones - ports are very tight), and a recent software update now means that the headphone socket is at mono on boot up, the fix being to unplug and replug the cable.

Daughter got an Envy dv7 laptop (staff sales) and that's not only a decent looking machine, but also seems to be pretty well screwed together - must be to put up with a slovenly teenager. Caught her using the top bezel as a handle the other day!