[RndTbl] Advice on finally buying my first laptop

[Alberto Abrao]

It'll be hard to convince you that your HPs were bad, because they were 
probably not. The high-end models are good overall no matter the brand. 
(Well, except for Acer, because their high-end gear is... well... 
average, and priced accordingly. Acer is a budget brand, and, as long as 
you know what you are getting, this is not a bad thing).

However, there are some things that I expect no matter the price. For 
example, I do not expect a great, clean Windows install from any brand 
on the low-tier models. It is what it is. But I do expect to find 
drivers without too much hassle so I can clean it up and start fresh. Or 
that a BIOS update will go through without further concerns. I also want 
to easily find downloads for older products. I am not talking about 
updated everything, of course. Instead, I expect to have access to an 
archive of everything that was released for a particular model, even if 
it is 5+ years old. And, of course, I want it to last at least 3+ years 
being reasonably taken care of without glaring issues like overheating 
or something blowing up/failing.

And, in my experience, HP fails miserably on all of these points. Some 
are personal experience, some are from my current and past professional 
activities. A few ones that I can think of:

1) At one point, I had a HP Microserver N54L to which drivers and 
firmware updates were not available, unless you had an active support 
contract. HP is the only one I've seen doing this. You would have no 
issues getting that for any Acer/Lenovo/Dell/Asus product, no matter how 
cheap/expensive, consumer/enterprise, desktop/workstation/server, whatever.
2) When I worked at repair centres at one point or another, HPs were a 
huge staple. Their support is awful, they tend to have thermal issues, 
and they love to brick themselves during BIOS updates. This last one 
happened so often it was a running joke at one point. Myself, I can deal 
with these issues most of the time. But if someone asks me which brand 
to buy, I am not going to tell them to get something that they - or 
someone they will pay to do so - will have to deal with. I assume they 
want something they can use, and if possible, enjoy.
3) Most of the time, whatever it is that you're paying for an HP model, 
you can get something better from another brand for the same price. 
That's not always true of course, but it is often the case. Personally, 
if I am willing to deal with an occasional headache, I would rather have 
an Acer. They're cheap, and, if you are not too hard on your stuff, they 
last long enough. Or an Asus if I want something fancier.


Now, Dell and Lenovo:

1) Generally more expensive, even the consumer-grade stuff, but better 
quality.
2) I've never dealt with Lenovo support for consumer-grade products, but 
Dell is really good, like hassle-free good, enterprise-level for 
consumer-grade gear. Enterprise is usually decent no matter what for any 
of them, because enterprise.
3) Both seem to be cutting corners on quality recently. That goes for 
the whole industry, it seems. They are still ahead of the others on quality.
4) Nice resell value. I don't know if you care, but if you do, they will 
hold their value better than the other brands.
5) They will have better Linux support.
6) I am not very familiar with Dell customization options, but be 
careful with Lenovo. If you think you're getting a steal of a deal, pay 
more attention before going ahead, because they will happily ship you a 
brand-new ThinkPad laptop with a 1366x768 TN panel. In 2020. Yes, I've 
unboxed these. And *there's* your deal!

Asus and Acer:

1) Asus is, in general, higher quality than Acer. However, there's 
always *something* that goes pooch on a particular model, like 
clockwork. Most of the time, it is the display ribbon cable and/or the 
power supply. The former can be a PITA to replace, but the replacement 
part is cheap most of the time. The latter is just a matter of buying 
another one, but not always cheap. If you're doing your own repairs, or 
don't mind paying if necessary, you may be willing to go ahead with Asus 
and do it if/when the time comes, because they do offer a quality+value 
combination that is often unbeatable, especially when things such as 
dedicated graphics are a must.
2) Acer tends to have a more fragile enclosure, so if you're the 
hooligan type, it will show. But other than that, they don't seem to 
have any ticking time bomb hardware-wise most of the time. That said, it 
never hurts to search for a particular model number to research before 
purchasing.


Asus and Acer are also the ones to buy if you're concerned about vendor 
lock-in practices such as BIOS whitelisting. It may be a moot point by 
now, as most manufactures are soldering the hell out of everything, but 
worth mentioning.


Still, as much as I've seen (and fixed) a bunch of stuff, that's just, 
like, my opinion, man. You do you. Still, if I can be of any assistance, 
feel free to ask.


Kind regards,
Alberto Abrao
204-202-1778
204-558-6886
www.abrao.net

On 2020-09-27 11:30 a.m., Glen Ditchfield wrote:
> On Saturday, September 26, 2020 8:27:06 P.M. CDT Alberto Abrao wrote:
>> Whatever you do, do not buy HP.
> Got any war stories to share?
>
> My 2.5-year old HP Spectre hasn't given me any trouble, other than an initial
> problem with Linux's thermal management.  Before that, my HP Elitebook lasted
> 8 years, with RAM and disk upgrades and a trivially-easy keyboard replacement.
>
> Two data points in a decade isn't much of a sample size, though.
>
>
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