Best & Worst Laptop Brands 2015

[altrenda]

OK, if you have a customer that wants a laptop for under $400, what model would you recommend?

 

[Markverhyden]

OK, if you have a customer that wants a laptop for under $400, what model would you recommend?

Buy a used business level machine.

 

[gunslinger]

OK, if you have a customer that wants a laptop for under $400, what model would you recommend?

I personally would not buy a $400 laptop. I might get a refurb iPad for that.

 

[altrenda]

I'm just trying to see what people recommend for residential users. I keep reading here that residential clients don't want to pay much for repairs because they can get a nice new computer instead.
I decided to draw the line at $400. Can they get a decent new laptop for $400, and if so, which one? If not, then that complaint is just more BS customers say.

 

[gunslinger]

For $388 you can get a Dell 15.6" Inspiron 15 Laptop PC with Intel Core i3-4030U Processor, 4GB Memory, 1TB Hard Drive and Windows 8.1 Thats on walmart.com They have several in that price range with some as low as $298. Awesome machines I'm sure. You couldn't pay me to use a machine like that for a daily driver.

 

[HFultzjr]

I'm just trying to see what people recommend for residential users. I keep reading here that residential clients don't want to pay much for repairs because they can get a nice new computer instead.
I decided to draw the line at $400. Can they get a decent new laptop for $400, and if so, which one? If not, then that complaint is just more BS customers say.

Tell them to buy whatever "special of the day" (with decent specs), and let them know what they are getting.
Sell them on set-up, anti-virus, backup, recovery disks, etc.
I quit selling cheap laptops and never looked back.
I got tired of hearing "But you said....."

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

I'm just trying to see what people recommend for residential users.

I stay away from recommending residential grade....under 500 dollar laptops. Typically slower, cheaper hard drives that are likely to crash much sooner than later, bloatware, Win8, inadequate amount of RAM, cheaper AC adapters and flimsy DC jack what will break easily,

...if pushed into a corner and I have to spit up something...I'll tell them to check out a Lenovo Yoga. Yeah they start to cross into biz grade budget...(around 800+ bucks)....but they're fairly decent.

 

[jkurgeek]

Even for residential folks, I recommend business grade. There's no such thing as a high-quality sub-$400 laptop brand new. If they go for it, great. If not, they can go out and buy a Walmart special on their own, and I'll be happy to write an invoice every time they need it fixed.

For $388 you can get a Dell 15.6" Inspiron 15 Laptop PC with Intel Core i3-4030U Processor, 4GB Memory, 1TB Hard Drive and Windows 8.1 Thats on walmart.com They have several in that price range with some as low as $298. Awesome machines I'm sure. You couldn't pay me to use a machine like that for a daily driver.

And the build quality shows. Very cheap plastic, flimsy hinges. I had a client shatter her screen and bezel because she pinched it to adjust the angle it was sitting at. She understood what I mean by build quality after that.

...if pushed into a corner and I have to spit up something...I'll tell them to check out a Lenovo Yoga. Yeah they start to cross into biz grade budget...(around 800+ bucks)....but they're fairly decent.

I have a first gen Yoga, Core i5, 4 gigs of memory. It's been banging around in my bag since release and it's still very good to me. Second gen had some... quirks. The latest seems to have traded the aluminum chassis for heavy-duty plastic, but it's still a nice unit.

 

[SpaceSquad]

Nearly every manufacturer on that list makes a laptop in the $300 range. All of those PCs are CRAP.

Nearly every manufacturer on that list makes business class/high end laptops that cost a lot more. If you pay more than $800, it is hard to choose a really crappy computer.

I see a lot of HP/Dell hate. I don't get it. Have people tried the Latitude and Elitebooks? VERY solid computers. As for what I recommend? I tell them to buy the best they can afford and quote them a full set up

edit/ for these reasons I have elected to omit voting. Maybe if it was "who makes the best business-class or perhaps cheapo laptops..." That would be way more interesting.

 

[JustInspired]

We typically supply ex-lease ThinkPads to residential clients. Never had a complaint and they now appreciate the difference between business-class and the shiny, plasticy, rubbish at the shops.
I just got an i5 x201 in immaculate condition for £129
For onsite work it's light, solid and the perfect size for me. No regrets there.

N.B. The above only refers to clients wanting PCs. If they are in the market for a Mac or Ipad, I recommend John Lewis here in the UK as they usually give an extra one or two year warranty free.

 

[AndyM]

N.B. The above only refers to clients wanting PCs. If they are in the market for a Mac or Ipad, I recommend John Lewis here in the UK as they usually give an extra one or two year warranty free.

Agree. Unless you have some sort of Apple Authorisation (repair centre, reseller etc), then the margin on brand new Apple devices is so slim, that it doesn't make it worth the hassle here in the UK.

Bet I know where you got the X200 from

Andy

 

[gunslinger]

I agree with spacesquad about the low end. IMO the quality starts at the $800-1,000 range. I think all of the brands listed have their super duper flagship model. Thats would be the one I'd choose. If you want to go disposable I guess thats where the sub $800 laptops come in. Be ready to get one ever year to year and a half.

 

[altrenda]

I don't' really do residential, just as a courtesy for some of my business customers, so I never really see these cheapies. And I would never recommend them.
So the mythical laptop that is better and cheaper than fixing a decent one doesn't exist? Especially if you add in the cost of migrating data and legally re installing programs.

 

[gunslinger]

Anyone check out the poll? Looks like I called it....lol Very predictable.

 

[gunslinger]

Also, just because you see more HP, Acer or Dell repairs may simply point to the fact that most people own those machines, hence, that's what you see most for repair.

I can't disagree with this. When you sell your machines for the price of a large coffee you are going to sell a lot of them regardless of quality. This is called the race to the bottom and its a hole that companies like Acer, Dell, and HP have fallen into. They are now expected to turn out a system with specs that look reasonably good on paper for less than half what the same machine would have cost just a few years ago. There is no chance they can turn out anything of even reasonable quality.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

I see a lot of HP/Dell hate. I don't get it. Have people tried the Latitude and Elitebooks? VERY solid computers. .

No Dell hate here...we're a reseller and do many servers/workstations/laptops...and tons and tons of Latitudes.....I'd say they're our number 2 recommended laptop (after Lenovo...the Thinkpads have a huge lead for first place).

 

[brandonkick]

First place for me is Lenovo. Just plain lovely machines, especially the laptops.

Second is Dell.

They do have some stuff that isn't "top notch" but their customer support has been great
to me, if anything a little annoying but great and they ship fast. My XPS M1530 was a real
trooper of a machine. Got 5+ years of great use out of it and on the original battery and charger
as well. It was over a year old when I got it to boot.

Honorable mention to Apple. I wouldn't ever pay for one, as I feel the price is really really high. However,
in saying that I can still say that they seem to put out a high quality product... even if it costs an arm and
a leg.

Everything else is towards the "junk" side of quality IMO. HP gets the award for biggest pieces of
garbage out there. They use junk material, and even worse engineering.

 

[brandonkick]

OK, if you have a customer that wants a laptop for under $400, what model would you recommend?

I would recommend that they spend slightly more scratch and get a good thinkpad.

If $400 is hard and fast, I'd push a used thinkpad very hard. T400 / T 500 series laptops used hover from $250 - $350 and you can add in your own
service of checking the machine out, and preparing it to keep them right around $400. I think they would be much happier with that then something they're going to get at walmart or best buy for $300.

 

[altrenda]

So when a customer says that instead of paying me $350 or so to fix their computer, they can buy a new one for about the same money, everyone's response seems to be to sell them a used computer.

The first job is to convince the client that they can't get a new computer for the same money, then convince them to buy used, then hit them with the data migration charge, plus the cost to replace the programs they don't have the install media for.

Once again, I am glad I don't do residential. Too much work for what they pay you.

 

[brandonkick]

I'm just trying to see what people recommend for residential users. I keep reading here that residential clients don't want to pay much for repairs because they can get a nice new computer instead.
I decided to draw the line at $400. Can they get a decent new laptop for $400, and if so, which one? If not, then that complaint is just more BS customers say.

Your right, a lot of consumers these days are willing to dump what they have and go get a nice shiny new piece of garbage because they feel the repair bill on what they already own is too high.

Where should you draw the line? I'd say at the customers who think this way. They cheap, and misinformed.... do you want to deal with that?

I've started using the following line:

"Lets say you have a very expensive car, like a lamborghini and it needs a few thousand dollars worth of work, say $7 K worth of work because of the fact that it's exotic, not many places work on them, and the parts aren't cheap. Are you going to go out and by a brand new ford focus, because you can get one for $13,000.00 and just ditch the lambo? Sure your not, because the car your ditching is ten times the machine the car your going to buy is. But your willing to ditch a laptop that is three or four times better than the crappo your going to get at walmart, because it's "new" and "cheap".

Makes perfect sense.

To that end, I usually just let customers know when they're getting past the point of reason when investing in fixing their computer. If a machine needs $200 worth of work, and is barely worth $200... then I'm not going to recommend it. I'll do it if they want, but again I wouldn't recommend it.

If a customer squawks about my charges and comes back with "I could just get a new one for that", I offer to let them kindly do so and offer any data migration / setup services they feel they might need.

That's just me though, I don't do it for a living. If I did it for a living, I'd be offering used Lenovo thinkpads or any similar laptop that I felt was a great bang for the buck.