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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?

#111

Post by Nursie »

_ea1k wrote: post #69
ferguess_k wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing is, everything I bought don't use those ports. I have to buy a new keyboard and a new mouse (wireless mouses also need a driver dongle) for the ports. And what is worse? New laptops have less ports than the older ones. That 5550 only has 3 ports and 1 is for charging. If I want to mount an external hard drive, I need to bring a hub. What again, looks like everyone is doing that, so yeah, better embrace it.

The port count is a real problem on modern laptops. I like USB-C, but why are there so few of them? Having to have a hub for basic things is really annoying.

I have a macbook pro. It has 3x USB-C, HDMI, a magsafe charger port, SD slot and audio jack.

I love having a dock, it means I get to hide all the wires behind the desk, and plug the laptop into power, two screens and all the other peripherals with a single cable.

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

#112

Post by KetoManx64 »

linsomniac wrote: post #76

I got my first Dell laptop, the XPS15, 5 years ago. Prior to that I had a good 25 years as a Thinkpad die-hard. The XPS has been ... ok. I've had some issues with it resetting for no apparent reason over its life. Frequency varies, but sometimes it'll just blank the screens and then the BIOS comes up on the display, a few times a week, then it'll be good for a month or more. I had one issue where I needed to ship it…

I have the exact same issue with my XPS 9500. But for me it turned into a daily issue and there's a bunch of forum posts of people having this issue. I think it's a manufacturing defect and Dell just never admitted to it and just gave board replacements to people that had warranty (with plenty of posts of people complaining that the same issue came back after the replacement as well)

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

#113

Post by knifie_spoonie »

sgc wrote: post #81
hatmatrix wrote: post #55

The move to USB-C is actually great for compatibility across machines. Europe has a directive for companies to implement USB-C to reduce e-waste from chargers.

At the cost of soldering new usb ports every couple of years (a couple hundred from a local tech) because they are extremely fragile. Fine for phones, I hate it on my laptop. On top of that, the gan chargers are made as small as possible and overheat all the time. Modern, sleek, enshitified - just like our software!

I'm curious which devices did you need to replace the port on?

I've had to replace a few cables, but have never had issues with USB-C sockets.

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

#114

Post by ahartmetz »

ryandrake wrote: post #9

As someone also trying to get out of (or at least less dependent on) the Apple ecosystem, the laptop market sucks ! Everyone but Apple is making the same garbage-tier, shoddy, plastic laptops with bottom of the barrel components that I'm sure are engineered to just barely work enough to avoid immediate product returns. I'm starting to accept that if I want a development workstation class machine, I need to build a to…

Thinkpad T models (and other "professional" lines) are fine IME, Framework laptops supposedly too. These Thinkpads use a combination of fiber reinforced plastics and magnesium for their cases. Aluminum is actually not the ideal material for laptop cases.

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

#115

Post by rozap »

brooke2k wrote: post #89

I got a Dell XPS for work a couple years ago on someone's recommendation... one of my worst-ever decisions. The touchpad sucks and routinely breaks requiring restarts, constantly having driver issues (and you have to deal with the capital-N Nightmare that is SupportAssist for drivers), graphics card is busted and makes the display driver crash once a month. Power states are completely broken. Laptop will randomly tur…

The recent-ish Dell XPS I had for work was the worst hardware I've ever had in my entire life, full stop. The touchpad was an abomination. Like, nobody bothered to use it before it shipped. Just completely broken. I also experienced everything else you experienced with regard to power management. That fact that a team of human beings could create something so awful actually made me depressed.

Very happy with my framework when I switched jobs. And my asus zenbook was also great.

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

#116

Post by sgc »

Telaneo wrote: post #99
sgc wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the cost of soldering new usb ports every couple of years (a couple hundred from a local tech) because they are extremely fragile. Fine for phones, I hate it on my laptop. On top of that, the gan chargers are made as small as possible and overheat all the time. Modern, sleek, enshitified - just like our software!

Never had either of these problems across phones or laptops. What kind of GaN charger are you using that has problems with overheating? And even in that case, USB-C chargers and cables are available everywhere, unlike proprietary laptop chargers, If the ports are dying on you though, I don't know what to tell you. They seem fine on phones, so I can't see what the problem would be on laptops, unless there are specific…

Dell, they are not wonderful. I have one on a book because it can't sit on the carpet. The other one overheats no matter what, and I have to unplug it for a couple minutes every few hours or it angrily flashes at me and stops charging.

usb chargers and devices have many different voltages and power, and they don't always work very well together. It helps to have one format, but it doesn't mean no charger bloat. Cables are even worse, with wildly different specs, all looking exactly the same. They should require colored shapes or something on the cables to indicate their properties.

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

#117

Post by javaunsafe2019 »

It’s a mess! Owner of a Lenovo t14s gen3 here. Standby works for a day then the battery is drained. My MacBook will be on standby for weeks without any issue. Lenovo and Microsoft pointing on each other on this one is a shame as it’s not going to be fixed.

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

#118

Post by imp0cat »

davsti4 wrote: post #109
mwpmaybe wrote: post #27

Yes, it's a race to the bottom for most. Lots of plastic and soldered, non-upgradeable components, and a lack of ports. The used market is tricky to navigate thanks to the proliferation of model names and numbers, so little to no salvation there either. Spend a bit more for something that will last a bit longer (MacBook) and/or be upgradeable (frame.work), or accept a cheaper model (e.g. Dell Pro) that will likely ne…

HP Probook or Elitebook models have upgradable ram, SSD, and are generally serviceable. You can usually find the previous generation on ebay for an inexpensive price.

This. The Elitebooks are quite nice, except for the cheap screen options (prone to ghosting).

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

#120

Post by microtonal »

brooke2k wrote: post #89

I got a Dell XPS for work a couple years ago on someone's recommendation... one of my worst-ever decisions. The touchpad sucks and routinely breaks requiring restarts, constantly having driver issues (and you have to deal with the capital-N Nightmare that is SupportAssist for drivers), graphics card is busted and makes the display driver crash once a month. Power states are completely broken. Laptop will randomly tur…

Power states are completely broken. Laptop will randomly turn on when it's in my bag and rev up to ten thousand degrees.

If it was in sleep - Dell themselves recommend completely switching off a laptop before putting it inside a backpack:

https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/xps/faq-mode...

For somebody who has used MacBooks the last 18 years, this is insane.

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