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Ask HN: Quality of recent gens of Dell/Lenovo laptops worse than 10 years ago?

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Re: Ask HN: Quality of recent gens of Dell/Lenovo laptops worse than 10 years ago?

#31

Post by AbbeFaria »

I just bought a Thinkpad T14s a couple of months ago. It’s lightweight, has great build quality. I installed Ubuntu and it almost ran out of the box but I ended up having to tinker with it to get My Dell docking station and i3 window manager to work. But that is something I was willing to live with. So far, I have had no complaints. If you’re using Linux, the sleep and standby performance aren’t good. But much better than my previous laptop.

Coming to my previous laptop which I still have with me, I bought a Thinkpad L480 in 2018. It was then a dirt cheap version of a Thinkpad. But it did the job with no complaints. I had to replace the battery after 4 years but that wasn’t an issue. It did everything a daily driver is supposed to do, reliable and never threw a fit. I only had to change it as I felt I needed a better screen and performance. The Intel processor was showing its age.

I have only minor complaints running Thinkpad with Ubuntu. But if you start moving away from popular distros, then you have to accept you will occasionally have to tinker to get things work.

Re: Ask HN: Quality of recent gens of Dell/Lenovo laptops worse than 10 years ago?

#32

Post by mwpmaybe »

juancn wrote: post #22

Using Macbooks spoils you. They're so well made that almost everything else feels shoddy. There's also the software/hardware integration side. Power management on Macbooks is unbeatable in my experience, both Windows and Linux have really serious issues dealing with sleep and low power modes. On the Lenovo side, the only one I'm still reasonably happy with is my Thinkpad, but it pales compared to a Macbook (Air, Pro…

> Power management on Macbooks is unbeatable in my experience, both Windows and Linux have really serious issues dealing with sleep and low power modes.

I've been dealing with this recently. Linux won't hibernate if you have Secure Boot enabled, even if your swap is encrypted. So I either have to leave my laptop plugged in all the time or remember to shut it down before unplugging it so it doesn't completely drain its battery while sleeping.

Re: Ask HN: Quality of recent gens of Dell/Lenovo laptops worse than 10 years ago?

#33

Post by ferguess_k »

Zaskoda wrote: post #17

I am resisting the urge to detail my insane story with my most recent Dell XPS purchase. Long story short, I will never again buy a Dell laptop. I went months without my machine during a critical time. I kept getting it back in worse shape than it was before I sent it for repair. After months of pure insanity, I just accepted that I'll never have a properly function touchpad again. At least they finally got a working…

That's really sad. Where are you located if I may ask? Some other commenters mentioned that Dell care is not great outside of the US (I'm in Canada so concerned).

Re: Ask HN: Quality of recent gens of Dell/Lenovo laptops worse than 10 years ago?

#34

Post by ferguess_k »

AbbeFaria wrote: post #31

I just bought a Thinkpad T14s a couple of months ago. It’s lightweight, has great build quality. I installed Ubuntu and it almost ran out of the box but I ended up having to tinker with it to get My Dell docking station and i3 window manager to work. But that is something I was willing to live with. So far, I have had no complaints. If you’re using Linux, the sleep and standby performance aren’t good. But much better…

Thanks. Yeah my 470S is still holding strong and I only upgrade the RAM to some 24GB and replaced the two batteries. Now the battery lasts around 4 hours and I'm happy. I do agree that it's showing its age, e.g. having too many tabs in Chrome while playing HD videos in Youtube may stress it a bit, but so far no complaint.

I'll check out the T14s. One of my concerns is: it seems to be more difficult to replace batteries for modern laptops. I tried to remove the battery of the Dell 5550 last night and found it more difficult than the older models. How about the T14s?

Re: Ask HN: Quality of recent gens of Dell/Lenovo laptops worse than 10 years ago?

#35

Post by ahofmann »

Just my 2 cents: I run a tuxedo laptop, that is just a branded clevo device. It isn't as greatly build as a Mac, because nothing is. But my tuxedo works well, nothing broke, or needed any repair. Can recommend. Branded clevo pcs in Germany are used by Schenker, Nexoc, Wortmann, One Computer, MIFCON and more. Internationally, brands like System76, BTO and XNB are using clevo. I've never heard of BTO and XNB, so this might be false information. But I've heard good things from System76.

Re: Ask HN: Quality of recent gens of Dell/Lenovo laptops worse than 10 years ago?

#36

Post by ferguess_k »

1970-01-01 wrote: post #6

Are you really complaining about old battery packs and USB C ports as bad engineering? I think you should try the framework laptop because then you have no excuses about the trivial things.

I can live with the ports as many laptops are moving to it anyway. The battery and the charging port are the major concerns, especially the charging ports as I found out many Dell owners had to get a replacement motherboard, which is way too expensive for me. I'd expect the battery to live for at least 5 years and the whole motherboard should live at least 8 years.

I might mixed up System76 with Framework, I need to double check the subreddit

Re: Ask HN: Quality of recent gens of Dell/Lenovo laptops worse than 10 years ago?

#38

Post by lousken »

If you already have a macbook why not just buy a PC at this point? You can change parts that break, you won't have to deal with battery issues and if you are on a budget you can only buy what you need today and upgrade later.

edit: to lenovo/dell question I'd say the quality varies by model - lower end thinkpads are better while expensive one got worse. But there are still a lot of differences between a small business series and enterprise. USB-C perfect as a connector, but if it is not replaceble it is a nightmare.

Re: Ask HN: Quality of recent gens of Dell/Lenovo laptops worse than 10 years ago?

#39

Post by a-dub »

ferguess_k wrote: post #8
a-dub wrote: post #5

could try asahi? i think it's pretty good on the m1. lenovos remain good if you get a high spec thinkpad. maybe get a few year old high spec thinkpad new/refurb off ebay with a three year service contract (search "p1 gen 6" on ebay)? i think you can always re-up the service contract on new ones as well.

Yeah I heard a lot of good things about that. I'm a bit reluctant but I think eventually I'm going to give it a try. I'll check with Dell and Thinkpad if I can buy extended service contracts. AFAIK Dell tops out at 4 years but maybe I can extend that later. I wouldn't mind if I have to pay half of the laptop price to get a 8-10 year contract because new laptops break up way too soon - and every time it is something s…

idk. i don't think there's a good story if you're primarily interested in full-cycle e-waste minimization and avoidance. the mac hardware is good and is designed to live on timescales like that (probably because they are primarily aimed at building a good consumer brand) but it's also impossible to upgrade so there is some built-in planned obsolescence in that regard. (although it can be sold and replaced with other higher spec used gear).

the thinkpad and dell stuff is more upgradable, but is largely aimed at business markets where they plan on refreshing every 3-4 years.

i think maybe you get the most longevity (and possible warranty) out of thinkpad, but sadly none of this stuff is really designed to last that long.

e-waste sucks. unfortunately, our current dominant system of production doesn't really reward design for longevity. refreshing technology on the regular makes for a pleasant consumer experience, i wish it were less environmentally damaging.

framework has an angle on this, but i think in practice they're somewhat equivalent to thinkpads in terms of extendability. i also wonder how much you actually save when you start replacing everything over the long run.

Re: Ask HN: Quality of recent gens of Dell/Lenovo laptops worse than 10 years ago?

#40

Post by elseleigh »

I have a 2017 Dell XPS13 that's been hammered as a developer laptop and is still going great guns. It's on its third battery, and I've just replaced the screen. I bought a newer one in 2022 and sold it again a couple of months later because, although it had a faster processor and more RAM, it felt flimsier.

I'm also currently upgrading a refurbed Lenovo X270 for my granddaughter who's starting high school, and I am thoroughly impressed. Newer Lenovos are slimmer and slicker, but this thing will still be trucking after the cockroach apocalypse.

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