I am currently looking for a new laptop to primarily run a home design program on. I need certain specs to make sure it runs at top performance but I'm not sure as to which brand will be a good quality since i have been out of the PC side of things for a while. I have been running a Mac for the last few years and my pockets are not deep enough to buy a Macbook to be used for what i need. I am looking at buying at Office Depot if i can because i have some rewards to cash in and can save me the taxes basically. So the brands i need advice on is, HP, Lenova, Asus, Samsung and Toshiba. Anyone have any bad experiences with any of these? I have always had good luck with HP and wouldnt mind going back to one, but if there is a newer brand or other brand period that may be just as good or better for less money, then i will look at it too. Thanks for any help.

 

I wouldn't get an HP, I've had horrible luck with them in the past couple years, as has two of my roomates and my sister. The one I own started to wear out right around a year and a half after purchase, I still have it but it no longer has a working trackpad on it, it's on its third battery and second charger (all ordered from HP), and some of the keys don't work, and it's only about 3 and half years old now. My sister's had the same problem with the battery's and the track pad going out. My roomates screen went out after about half a year, he had it replaced under warranty, and then it went out again about a year after that.

Me and my roomate both have Asus ones now and we haven't had a single problem with them yet in the year and a half or so we've owned them. My sister has a samsung one now and she hasn't had a problem with hers either. I can't speak on any of the other brands though.

 

Unlike pizzaman I have loved my HP, but it needs reflowing the video card, common problem on the older ones, other than that it was bulletproof and a dream to use, if a bit big to lug around, 17" widescreen.

Before that it was always Macs, 4 through some dozen years, never a complaint, they all still work great, but they just got left behind tecnologically, and they do that much slower than windoze machines at that.

I had an asus notebook briefly for lite trips, found it too small, passed it along, it still works great 3 years in.

Stay away from lenova imo, piece of crap, have hated it since day one but it has to do until I get the HP back together, or breakdown and buy a new laptop. Would go back to Mac in a heartbeat but it is hard to the money the way the truck is running up repairs.

 

The only laptop brands I'll even look at are Asus, Lenovo, and Dell - and I've been in the business for over 15 years.

 

I have an HP and love it. Would buy another. Had a Dell before this one and it was great as well. The company I work for has a contract with Lenovo and we have had a few die very quickly.

 

For many years I was a die hard Dell guy but for the past four or five we have had an HP PC and three HP laptops (wife's home business / daughter high school stuff / son in college) the only problem we had was the battery on my wife's which is the oldest went bad. Replaced it with a factory new one and no problems for the past two years.

Will probably have to be looking for a new one for my daughter next spring to take to college, she is starting to complain that her's is too slow to run some of her engineering programs. I would probably buy another HP depending on prices and what all you can get for the money.

 

We have seen a considerable number of HP laptops that die about a month after the warranty runs out. These are not really isolated instances, they have some design issues.

 

Recently got a Lenovo desktop from Office Depot for a very attractive price. Happy with it so far.

The price I paid for my desktop was roughly 20% to 25% below comparable machines at other locations, and also about 25% below what the same Lenovo machine costs at Amazon.

No experience with their laptops yet, but I do know one guy who highly recommends them.

Not sure why, but it seems like Office Depot and Lenovo are undercutting the competition lately.

 

Lenovo is the best of that bunch.

 

Been beatin the snot out of a Toshiba Satellite all around the world now for two years.

Adrianspeeder

 

I second the Toshiba.

 

I like HP products.

 

I've used HP for several years now. Have got four actively being used currently. The only problem I've ever had with any of these HPs is that the technology is old about ten minutes after you take it out of the box. I believe that this would apply to any computer in the price range I buy in (450-650).

The two HP laptops currently being used work well for what they are being used for. My wife has one that she's working on writing a book with.
I use one at work, mostly for internet, pic storage and Word doc's. Not sure if HP makes a machine that would work well for what you need it to do.

Good luck.

 

Thanks for the input guys. Now i just need to find one with enough specs for a good price range and im good to go.

 

By certain specs, - what do you mean? Sounds like all you have to do is run a cad program. Any of them with just an integrated card will do that now a days. . Comes down to how well the PCB's are built and you never can tell unless you go for an apple, at least you know what to expect EVERY time.

Dell, Hp, Lenovo, Mac, - all have had the problems in the past, but it seems to me that the engineering and components are getting much more reliable. I've had the same Dell Laptop since 08 and it's been fine. I'm in the middle of building/refining a different mother board for a Mac Mini - upgrading and adding cores to the PCB for versatility, - among other things lol.