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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?

#191

Post by raw_anon_1111 »

adrian_b wrote: post #145
microtonal wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I have never understood why some people want to avoid switching off their computers. I have stopped using Apple laptops more than 15 years ago and since then I have used only Linux laptops. I have no idea whether hibernate worked on my laptops, because this is a feature for which I have never felt any need. I always take care to optimize the boot time on my computers with custom built kernels and carefully selected d…

So what you’re saying is that you don’t understand why everyone doesn’t run Linux, use custom built kernels, and choose their daemons carefully?

Or I can just use my M2 MacBook Air where hibernate works properly, wakes instantly, last 12-18 hours on one charge, runs quiet and I can actually use it on my lap without worrying about becoming sterile from the heat…

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

#192

Post by raw_anon_1111 »

adrian_b wrote: post #148
Hacker_Yogi wrote: post #12

The quality you get for the money from Mac's is truly unmatched by any other laptop out there - why not use a VM on it for other OS & software?

I have not purchased any laptop recently so I do not know about what is true right now. However, whenever in the past 20 years I bought a laptop, for a given amount of money there were always laptops with better quality than any Apple model. Moreover, while the Apple computers are fine for the general population, there are also users like myself, for whom the Apple products lack adequate computational performance. My…

So the question then becomes, do you really need a laptop instead of an x86 desktop?

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

#193

Post by raw_anon_1111 »

ferguess_k wrote: post #13
ThePowerOfFuet wrote: post #7

>The other issue is that 5550 uses USB-C ports. I blame on myself not checking it closely before the purchase. I really hate those ports. Why is everyone copying from Mac? It's not copying Apple. It's that every port does everything, including charging. It is standards-compliant. As just one example, you no longer need to lug a laptop charger with you; there are no longer "computer chargers" and "phone chargers", but…

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.

Are you buying laptops without Bluetooth?

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

#194

Post by gmassman »

rozap wrote: post #115
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 frame…

I’ve been using a zenbook for about 8 years now. Hardware and battery are still surprisingly solid, although one of the hinges is starting to fail…

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

#195

Post by ensocode »

alexitosrv wrote: post #189
ensocode wrote: post #185

Thinkpad X1 Carbon gen 13 here. Super happy with it. I do not see any flaws, decent battery lifetime. Perfect linux support. I am calculating 7+ years for that machine. I think its worth it. But there are many other less expensive Lenovo configurations. Not sure about the quality

On battery life: what is decent for you? I wonder, because the T14S that many are vouching for here gives me around 1.5h which is not the best, but I probably will be in the market for an X1 next year, so I wonder what to expect.

I get about 7 hours of coding

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

#196

Post by djinnrutger »

I have been using Dell Latitude and Precision for about 15 years and I have have great luck with them. Our guys that work out in the field with the Latitude laptops beat the crap out of them and we have very few issues. Not sure about Lenovo. I think they are called Pro and Pro Plus now.

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

#197

Post by nrhrjrjrjtntbt »

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…

Got a dell xps with the 3 year onsite and accidental damage. Laptop was shit, but after a few repairs, motherboard replacement then complete unit replaced, it is working really well!

Although id probably not get xps again.

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

#198

Post by nrhrjrjrjtntbt »

eckelhesten wrote: post #150
adrian_b wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have never understood why some people want to avoid switching off their computers. I have stopped using Apple laptops more than 15 years ago and since then I have used only Linux laptops. I have no idea whether hibernate worked on my laptops, because this is a feature for which I have never felt any need. I always take care to optimize the boot time on my computers with custom built kernels and carefully selected d…

Pop open the lid, be right back to where you were. No amount of boot time optimizations will trump that.

The desk to meeting room use case. Dont know how we survived pre laptop but somehow we did. Meeting room had its own PC I think back then.

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

#199

Post by Snuupy »

My sweet spot is the Wooking X16 - 7840HS/8845HS from taobao in China for ~500usd

bad trackpad, bad touchpad (bring your own for both), great thermals/performance, good screen, bad speakers, unbeatable value

no usb4 (but has 1x usbc)

I refused to get another thinkpad ever since the T14 AMD gen1 firmware debacle where plugging in a Dell usbc dock would cause the entire device to hard reboot

their firmware garbage is off-putting

I considered framework but the $2k+ price point to me was unreasonable

it's literally cheaper for me to carry around the X16 + kb + mouse/trackpad than to buy a framework 16 (I know that's not the point, but still)

https://4pda.to/forum/index.php?showtopic=1076401

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

#200

Post by Snuupy »

GuestFAUniverse wrote: post #174

ThinkPad T14 G1: mainboard replaced during first 6 months (cursor moving alone, with jitter, random crashes). Now 4.5 years in: cursor moving randomly, with jitter (the same symptom as before), when TouchPad is activated. Plus: barely used trackpoint is defect. That device was mainly used with an external keyboard and mouse -- no excessive usage of the built-ins.

I had this issue too, try grounding the charging cable so the static discharge has somewhere to flow
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