[NirmalK]

I have been using HP Laptops since the past decade. My first HP laptop bought in 2011 still works n boots up under a minute. All the rubber parts have started disintegrating with age but still works like a charm.
I bought a second laptop, a DELL for wifey and started regretting the purchase shortly. Keyboard n motherboard failed in under two months. And the laptop performance was never the same after repairs carried out under warrenty.
I just passed on the Dell to a relative and went for an HP this time.its been holding up fine since the past 5 years. I just ensure both are updated regularly.

[chiefpk]

Originally Posted by GTO

Would also be nice if the laptop is docking-port compatible, but that's not a must-have. Screen preference is 14" & the longer the possible extended warranty, the better.

No real budget as this is going to be a work tool. Quality, reliability & uptime are top priorities. Imagine how it feels to have this stupid Dell Latitude hang up in the middle of an Official Review!

Having been myself in a situation like this of which brand to go for I feel like it's better that you take a look on my 2 cents.

With all your requirements and stuff I have shortlisted three brands (Not Specific Options, and leave it up to you according to your budget and preference)

1. HP :- IMO, they have the best laptops out there right now, with good build and features and are VFM for what they offer. My cousin has been using it for the past 4 years and till date no issues.

2. Microsoft:- Ever heard of a Google Pixel? They are known for their best in class software experience and update schedules and good for long term usage. Put Microsoft in place of Google and Surface in place of Pixel. Great Laptops plus software and features. Priced slightly on the higher side.

3.Apple:- They are most premium offerings of the three. I would not pick an Apple MacBook until and unless I am a part of their ecosystem. If you have an iPhone and an apple watch(optional), go for the macbook since it will be a hell lot easier to sync stuff between your phone and the laptop.

These would have been my preference in terms of brand. If you could give a budget estimate of what you are willing to pay I will shortlist some of those good options out there.

Thanx And Cheers!

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by GTO

its between Lenovo & Macbook going by the posts.

-

- Lenovo - Which model? If X1 Carbon, which generation? Am seeing 6, 7 & 8 on their website. If ThinkPad, which model or series in particular?

- Macbook - Okay to run Windows?

- Macbook - 13" or 16"? Is 13 too small & 16 too big?

Am using 16 inch Pro for last few months and am absolutely satisfied but this thing is heavy and not suitable for travel unless you are always taking it in your own car. 16 is a very nice size, and the screen is the best. Not flashy like X1 or even Microsoft, but very soothing for the eyes. 13 can be avoided unless portability is important. Buy Parallels Yearly subscription and you will experience windows far better than another window specific laptops. For Emails, nothing beats search fictionality of the default mail client on Mac. Even though I have installed office 365 on the windows in mac, whenever I have to search quickly, my preference is the mac client. Buy with 3 Year extended warranty. It's must.

X1 - used to be great in past but I will not buy one today. If you must buy, order online at USA and get it here. If that's not an option, get in touch with someone who handles corporate sales. There's a massive difference in the prices and you can order to your spec. If you need any help, drop me a message. Will get this done

[AmitRavi07]

I have used mainly Dell, HP and Lenovo as personal laptops. One of my first laptops was HP and it worked flawlessly till I exchanged it 4 years down the line.
Dell and Lenovo - I have a Vostro and Yoga series (around 7 years old)- these are working fine, however had to replace the adaptor as it stopped working.
Recently, I have been using dell latitude as my primary work machine, which is working well.
I had used Thinkpad for some time, but, the battery backup was disappointing - within 2 years the battery backup dropped to less than 1 hour, otherwise, it was good enough.

Depending on the requirements here are my suggestions -
Ultrabooks - (Sleek, light and portable, reduced no of ports, no separate number pad)
HP Envy series (10th gen i5,i7 or 3rd gen ryzen 5)
Microsoft surface laptop 3
Asus Zenbook 13 (10th gen i5, i7)
Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon series

Gaming Laptops (most powerful laptops, lots of ports, heavier)
Asus ROG series
HP Pavilion gaming series
ASUS TUF
MSI

Business Laptops -
Lenovo Thinkpad
HP Pavilion series
Asus Vivobook, Zenbook

I havent tried Acer laptops, so cant comment on it.
Leaving Apple out of this list as Windows OS seems to be a concern, plus accessories required

[MS_Auto]

Coming from an exMacbook Air user. Had to migrate to Dell since MacOS update broke the firmware (BIOS for Windows users) and bricked my perfectly working MacBook Air and Apple simply did not own up responsibility.

Some of the points I am going to mention are going to earn me some brickbats for sure.

We have multiple devices in our Home and Office from Apple, Acer, Lenovo and Dell.
Yes, Apple devices are better and more stable to use. But, have their limitations and except for 1 MacBook Pro, 3 other Macbooks (Air & Pro included) have required motherboard replacements (at times more than once)

The old Macbooks have been reliable till such time that you face any issues related to the motherboard etc.

Service support from Apple knows only one fix - Replace the part. There is no question of repair with them.

Off late, Apple is known to push users for upgrade to newer devices and not repair.

Support and part availability for older hardware is highly limited in India. Sure, you may be able to get something fixed in the US, but not always the case in India.

I guess, they phase out support for older hardware anywhere between 4-6 years.

Now, coming to which Laptop.

Something to keep in mind is that most brands are soldering on processors, RAM and at times even the SSD on the motherboard. Hence, not only will any replacement in the future be expensive, but you will also come across serious limitations in regards to hardware upgrades like additional RAM or Storage.

Apple has a single lineup irrespective of home or business use. SSD upgrade in Apple comes with its own set of compatibility issues. With the current generation of devices, you cant simply have any DIY upgrades. Hence, in case you decide to go with a Mac, get the configuration that you need. Don't expect to be able to upgrade anything later.

Other brands have multiple lineups and the quality of hardware from devices for Home use vs the ones for Business use varies.

Migrating to MacOS will need you to relearn some bits. In case you do decide to go for it, MacBook Air is a perfect fit for your use except for the move to a 13" screen.

Alternatively, in case you want to continue using Windows, get yourself another Latitude or Thinkpad or Elitebook or the likes which come with NBD onsite support.

As for your existing Latitude, looks like a case of a bad lemon. Would suggest you to push Dell for replacing the device and hand it down or keep it as a backup device.

[Artyom]

I ordered a Vostro 15 3590 for my dad yesterday after our 10 years old Inspiron N 5010 started facing heating issues due to all the dust getting accumulated. It could be fixed but again I insisted on buying a new one.

I started my career with Dell Tech support and based upon my understanding and observations Dell offers the best service in the Indian market. There are exceptions as always.

I would suggest asking for the escalation matrix from the support staff and send emails asking for either a replacement or an equivalent model which works without issues as it's affecting your work. Latitude systems are Business laptops and are far superior to the Inspiron ones and its sad to see them going kaput every now and then. Since you have an active warranty I think you have a good chance of getting a replacement though a refurbished one.

I still work with Dell but not with the consumer division. Will try to get hold of email addresses who can get things right.

[voldemort]

Originally Posted by GTO

Guys,

As mentioned in this thread, my current 2.5 year old Dell Latitude 7490 has turned out to be an unreliable lemon

Sorry to hear about your poor experience with Dell. I've actually had good experience with them (including the one time I needed their service). There's 4 of them belonging to different series. They have been reliable, and one of them is 6+ years old.

But I guess you don't want to live with Dell anymore. And that's totally understandable.

Note that I have very strong opinions about the OS. I use Linux for 95% of the time (and the other 5% I use Mac). I haven't used Windows in like a decade. It was horrible the last time I used it, and because I have gotten used to the well-thought-out underlying design of Linux and Mac (BSD) and the mental models around it, I don't ever want to go back to Windows again. I agree the UI might be nice, but it's horrible underneath the hood.

The reason I said that is because I only know about laptops that work well with Linux (and they work well with Windows also, so don't worry ).

Originally Posted by GTO

Thanks a ton, guys! Guess its between Lenovo & Macbook going by the posts.

- Usage is basically business & Team-BHP content creation. Nothing too heavy like picture or video processing, but I have a lot of programs running simultaneously (right now, it's Chrome with 25 tabs + iTunes + Excel + Word + Firefox + GDrive + Dropbox + etc.).

You need a laptop with lots of RAM (memory). I recommend at least 16 GB, which may sound like a lot right now, but it future-proofs your laptop for years to come. 8 GB can get the job done, but please get 16 GB. There's no replacement for displacement!

Memory is like a desk, and the SSD (or hard disk drive, henceforth HDD) is like a shelf. The operating system has to move things from the shelf to the desk to work with things. The bigger the desk, the more things that can be done simultaneously. Else it has to move things back and forth from the desk to the shelf and back frequently, and that slows things down.

SSD is highly recommended. It dramatically speeds up your boot times and the time it takes to open an application, save something to disk etc. The reason SSD is faster than a traditional HDD is that unlike HDD, SSD does not have moving parts. It's all electrical signals. You don't have to wait for stuff to physically move around to the correct location.

Don't bother too much with the processor. As long as it's at least an i5 you're good. AMD processors tend to have better performance, but your workload definitely does not require an extremely high processor performance, because that's not where the bottleneck is in your case. Also, hunting for AMD processors limits your options.

No real budget as this is going to be a work tool. Quality, reliability & uptime are top priorities.

My first recommendation to you is the Thinkpad. These are robust, abuse-friendly, high-quality, durable workhorses that can take a beating. Think Toyota Land Cruiser. It's also one of the few laptops out these that has useful ports on it. As an additional plus point, Thinkpad keyboards are the best among laptops.

- Lenovo - Which model? If X1 Carbon, which generation? Am seeing 6, 7 & 8 on their website. If ThinkPad, which model or series in particular?

Go for Thinkpad T, X, X1, or P series (only). Other Thinkpad series may not have as much quality and durability.

Spec it up high, and it should be good for years.

Of the letter-series I mentioned above, I think (not 100% sure) it's only the T that has additional RAM slots (in addition to the soldered RAM). That means 5 years down the line you have the possibility of expanding the RAM to 24 or 32 GB and keep things fresh. Some of the other series do not have an additional RAM slot, and therefore you cannot expand memory later.

My second recommendation would have been the Dell XPS, but I suppose you don't want to try Dell again.

My third recommendation is the Macbook.

- Macbook - Okay to run Windows?

It's technically possible, but I wouldn't recommend it. And besides, why would you want to run windows on a Mac anyway?

- Macbook - 13" or 16"? Is 13 too small & 16 too big?

13" felt too tiny to me. Go for it only if you have a nice external monitor that you're going to plug into. Also keep in mind that once you get used to that nice retina display, looking at the same UI from a standard HD 1080p monitor would look horrible; you need a 5k or 6k resolution monitor to keep things looking beautiful.

Long story short: just get the 16". No it's not too big.

Keep in mind that Macbooks only have USB-C ports.

As an aside, I don't know about the reliability of the newer Macbooks. They're probably reliable, but it's something I personally don't know about.

[AirWind]

Lenovo Thinkpads are perhaps the best ones in the market from a support perspective... however if you are just a content consumer (mid to high level manager) you could look at a Microsoft Surface device as it doubles up as a tablet and works great in my last 6 yrs of usage and refresh every 3 yrs

But the config also plays a role in how long you can use the laptop, consider things like:
1. Choose processors based on latest gen (say Intel 10th Gen or equivalent AMD - they might be on the latest process technology of say 10 nM silicon), speed (in GHz) and their cache size (in MB) based on your usage - like Intel i9 for gaming/rendering, i7 for dev, i5 for consumption, i3 for casual browsing likewise AMD must have some nomenclature
3. Memory preferably DDR4 based on usage - 32~64 GB for dev/gaming/rendering, 16 GB for biz users, 8 GB for consumption, wouldn't recommend anything lesser or you will EOL sooner than later
4. Storage: Since many of our apps are in the cloud, we could go lesser on storage, buy an SSD with 512 GB - 1 TB not very expensive now but will make it lighter over a HDD which can be cheap, heavy and unreliable
5. Screen - Size depending on your usage, larger one for dev/gaming and smaller one for traveller/consumption; also u do get an option of touch and/or detachables and/or flipovers (like HP Slate or Lenovo Yoga or Microsoft Surface Pro) so you can make it a tablet
6. Battery size also depending on your use - traveller pick the longer mAH
7. Graphics Card - if you are a gamer or renderer, get a discrete graphics card from say nVidia but if you are a biz or brower, then a integrated graphics card should be ok

Remember, the PC lifespan is just 3 yrs, any day more is a bonus!

[AirWind]

Originally Posted by GTO

Thanks a ton, guys ! Guess its between Lenovo & Macbook going by the posts.

- Usage is basically business & Team-BHP content creation. Nothing too heavy like picture or video processing, but I have a lot of programs running simultaneously (right now, it's Chrome with 25 tabs + iTunes + Excel + Word + Firefox + GDrive + Dropbox + etc.).

- Lenovo - Which model? If X1 Carbon, which generation? Am seeing 6, 7 & 8 on their website. If ThinkPad, which model or series in particular?

- Macbook - Okay to run Windows?

- Macbook - 13" or 16"? Is 13 too small & 16 too big?

While Mac runs all MS Office apps, it doesn't run on Windows OS... but, knowing your taste (City v-tech, Civic and 530D M Sport), I'd recommend you take a look at the Microsoft Surface family of devices, especially the Surface Pro! https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/surface

If you are looking at traditional laptops running Windows some choices are - ThinkPad T490s (i7 16GB 512SSD); ThinkPad T495s (R7 16GB 256SSD); X1 Yoga 4Gen(i7 16G 256SSD WQHD) Grey; X1 Yoga 4Gen(i7 16G 512SSD 4K)Grey; ThinkPad X395 (R7 16GB 256SSD)

Large screens are best for dev and even consumption

[pseudo_coder]

To everyone suggesting MacBooks: Isn't Apple known to charge a fortune for repairs? I have read plenty of horror stories, where the service center suggested motherboard replacement, but use self-fixed the issue for free by opening the laptop.

I am using a rare brand for two years: LG Gram. It's a fantastic ultralight laptop.

Weight: 1 Kg (lighter than MacBook air and Dell XPS)
Battery life: 10 hours of proper use
RAM: Upgradable (not soldered). I myself opened it up and added a 16GB module.

I think it is the only laptop which has managed this incredible combo of weight, battery life and Upgradablility.

I never faced any failure though, so don't know about after sales service.

[gnome]

Originally Posted by GTO

Thanks a ton, guys !
- Macbook - Okay to run Windows?

In my experience, Macbook runs windows better than most windows laptops, especially after few years with newer versions of Windows/updates. I have wasted several hours on most non-Apple laptops after Windows upgrades/ updates. Brightness buttons don't work, fan makes too much noise, sound quality deteriorated, issues with multiple monitors, slower wifi, etc. You have to hunt to get the correct newer driver software, because there is no active support for older models.

With Apple, they do quality checks to ensure new drivers correctly work for newer versions/updates of Windows. Upgrading to Windows 10 on an older macbook was a pleasant experience

[AkhilR]

I would suggest zenbook or a zenbook duo from Asus. Been using one for the past 1.5 years. All of my earlier laptops were either Acer or Asus. I've never been to the Acer service centre. For Asus I don't think there's on site repair though they have service centres in almost all the cities.I've been there once after 2.5 years when my battery started bulging and they replaced it under extended warranty. The whole process took 3 days.

In the case of both Acer and Asus, you have extended warranties up to 3 years.

The issues I have faced with other laptop brands are:

• The display of my cousin's Dell stopped working after 2 years.

• My uncle's HP heated after 1.5 years and the speaker and microphone stopped working as a result.

• My friend's Lenovo's screen fell off one time during regular usage when he lifted the lid for powering on the laptop.

Regarding dongles, you can go for either an 89 Airtel or a jio Wi-Fi dongle according to your preference of SIM. If you prefer generic dongle I have only used Huawei and how haven't found any issues with that.

[arup10]

I would highly reccomend the MacBook Pro. If you have to buy one now, go for the 13in with 16GB Ram and 512/1TB SSD.

However, if you can wait for a month (or 2), apple is expected to release laptops with Apple Silicon (ARM based instead of Intel) that would be cheaper than intel models and possibly faster too.

If you want to go the Windows route, get the Dell XPS series (13in or 15in) -possibly the closest to Apple in terms of fit and finish. Just make sure you're getting the latest 10th gen intel chip.

[vipul_singh]

Originally Posted by GTO

Which laptop maker provides the best after-sales support (preferably onsite, but not a must-have), reliability & a SIM card slot?

Would also be nice if the laptop is docking-port e

Get a 5-series dell Latitude (new 5400 or 5410). Midrange Dell Latitude laptops are the mainstay for corporates all over the world. I am on my 3rd one (Dell 6400 5 years, Dell 5450 for 4 years and now Dell 5400 (2020 model) - all issued by the Companies I work(ed) for.

Yes, I know that the advice sounds entirely counter-intuitive, and could even be seen as supporting a brand which has caused you pain.

PS: my 2015 model Dell 5450 managed to provide stable performance even after being in continuous use for 55 days (with some sleep periods in between, but no restarts) even with a plethora of Corporate tools installed on it (SCCM, Crowdstrike, DLP etc.)

[gautamkhadse]

Originally Posted by AkhilR

I would suggest zenbook or a zenbook duo from Asus. Been using one for the past 1.5 years. All of my earlier laptops were either Acer or Asus. I've never been to the Acer service centre. For Asus I don't think there's on site repair though they have service centres in almost all the cities.I've been there once after 2.5 years when my battery started bulging and they replaced it under extended warranty. The whole process took 3 days.

In the case of both Acer and Asus, you have extended warranties up to 3 years.

The issues I have faced with other laptop brands are:

• The display of my cousin's Dell stopped working after 2 years.

• My uncle's HP heated after 1.5 years and the speaker and microphone stopped working as a result.

• My friend's Lenovo's screen fell off one time during regular usage when he lifted the lid for powering on the laptop.

Regarding dongles, you can go for either an 89 Airtel or a jio Wi-Fi dongle according to your preference of SIM. If you prefer generic dongle I have only used Huawei and how haven't found any issues with that.

I would 2nd this thought . I love the ASUS brand . After sales service , when I had to use it once was fantastic . YOu can buy extended warranty and be at peace . Pricing is much more affordable that any other brand .

I have a ASUS ROG for Gaming , ASUS Vivobook for rough use and ASUS Zenbook for when i need portability and long battery life .

The new Zephyrus G14 with Ryzen 7 or Ryzen 9 is worth the investment is you need that kind of processing power with a decent 4-6 hour battery life .

The best would be to go with one of the latest zenbooks if you're looking for battery .