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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?

#41

Post by PaulKeeble »

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…

Its such a contrast to the Dell I used to know. Back in 2012 I had the hard drive in my Dell laptop sale and had the Dell small business service contract and they sent out a guy to replace it that afternoon, right there in front of me in the office. I was without my machine for 4 hours. That is what Dell used to be like.

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

#42

Post by ferguess_k »

PaulKeeble wrote: post #41
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…

Its such a contrast to the Dell I used to know. Back in 2012 I had the hard drive in my Dell laptop sale and had the Dell small business service contract and they sent out a guy to replace it that afternoon, right there in front of me in the office. I was without my machine for 4 hours. That is what Dell used to be like.

I guess they don't find enough profit in this? TBH I'm OK to pay say 4,000 CAD + for a top tier, 64GB mobile workstation (don't care about video card, Arc is good enough), and +500 CAD for a 10-year care. And I don't even need someone to come over to my home. As long as I can mail or drop to some place I'm fine.

The problem today is -- even with a similar price point (like top tier Dell mobile workstation does cost 3,000+ CAD), I'm not sure how long it lasts. It could be 5 years, it could be 5 months, I have no confidence in it.

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

#43

Post by bchasknga »

I was given a 2023 Dell XPS 13 for work. I was pretty stoked to go back to an XPS after using one in 2019 for work.

For some reason, the MOBO was dying slowly after a year. My other coworkers also reported similar problems.

Lenovo-wise:

    My personal Thinkpad X1 Extreme was a champ for 7+ years, and a few P series I've used over the years since 2021 were also great.
At the end, I just built a desktop and use a Macbook Air. So far so good.

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

#45

Post by PaulKeeble »

ferguess_k wrote: post #42
PaulKeeble wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its such a contrast to the Dell I used to know. Back in 2012 I had the hard drive in my Dell laptop sale and had the Dell small business service contract and they sent out a guy to replace it that afternoon, right there in front of me in the office. I was without my machine for 4 hours. That is what Dell used to be like.

I guess they don't find enough profit in this? TBH I'm OK to pay say 4,000 CAD + for a top tier, 64GB mobile workstation (don't care about video card, Arc is good enough), and +500 CAD for a 10-year care. And I don't even need someone to come over to my home. As long as I can mail or drop to some place I'm fine. The problem today is -- even with a similar price point (like top tier Dell mobile workstation does cost 3…

It was a £1500 laptop and a £100 for 2 year small business warranty support.

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

#46

Post by ferguess_k »

bchasknga wrote: post #43

I was given a 2023 Dell XPS 13 for work. I was pretty stoked to go back to an XPS after using one in 2019 for work. For some reason, the MOBO was dying slowly after a year. My other coworkers also reported similar problems. Lenovo-wise: My personal Thinkpad X1 Extreme was a champ for 7+ years, and a few P series I've used over the years since 2021 were also great. At the end, I just built a desktop and use a Macbook…

Thanks. Another commenter also mentions about a desktop. Maybe I'll go down that route too. The problem is: Linux doesn't support USB wifi driver very well, so I might as well install Windows LTSC and VM into Linux. Oh well.

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

#47

Post by ferguess_k »

PaulKeeble wrote: post #45
ferguess_k wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess they don't find enough profit in this? TBH I'm OK to pay say 4,000 CAD + for a top tier, 64GB mobile workstation (don't care about video card, Arc is good enough), and +500 CAD for a 10-year care. And I don't even need someone to come over to my home. As long as I can mail or drop to some place I'm fine. The problem today is -- even with a similar price point (like top tier Dell mobile workstation does cost 3…

It was a £1500 laptop and a £100 for 2 year small business warranty support.

That's indeed a bit on the premium side. Back then GBPCAD is about 1.6, so 2,400 CAD and 160 for 2-year support. That's like roughly my monthly net income back in 2018 (just got into IT).

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

#48

Post by wildylion »

Fuck yes. Our 2022 Latitude 5420s have the worst lithium ever -- and Dell is actually offering to get you good batteries for twice the price, as an 'extended service life battery'.

This, and literally all of them have paint chipping off the chassis at the slightest provocation. I have like 50 at work.

edit: we have now a mix of MacBook Airs/Pros (most of workforce), Frameworks (specialized tech roles running Linux and resource-intensive software) and HP ProBooks (run-of-the-mill Windows machines, or just where you don't need anything special at all).

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

#49

Post by mickael-kerjean »

bchasknga wrote: post #43

I was given a 2023 Dell XPS 13 for work. I was pretty stoked to go back to an XPS after using one in 2019 for work. For some reason, the MOBO was dying slowly after a year. My other coworkers also reported similar problems. Lenovo-wise: My personal Thinkpad X1 Extreme was a champ for 7+ years, and a few P series I've used over the years since 2021 were also great. At the end, I just built a desktop and use a Macbook…

I had a X250 who died less than a month after the warranty, now got a E14 since ~2 years and it got keyboard issues

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

#50

Post by harvey9 »

ferguess_k wrote: post #46
bchasknga wrote: post #43

I was given a 2023 Dell XPS 13 for work. I was pretty stoked to go back to an XPS after using one in 2019 for work. For some reason, the MOBO was dying slowly after a year. My other coworkers also reported similar problems. Lenovo-wise: My personal Thinkpad X1 Extreme was a champ for 7+ years, and a few P series I've used over the years since 2021 were also great. At the end, I just built a desktop and use a Macbook…

Thanks. Another commenter also mentions about a desktop. Maybe I'll go down that route too. The problem is: Linux doesn't support USB wifi driver very well, so I might as well install Windows LTSC and VM into Linux. Oh well.

If you go desktop then running network cable or using PLN becomes a good option.
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