New Laptop Reliability/Failure Data
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Originally Posted By: youdontwannaknow
http://www.squaretrade.com/htm/pdf/SquareTrade_laptop_reliability_1109.pdf
Here's a concise form - http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/154921
Nice link......OVERK1LL was 100% right as usual.
http://www.squaretrade.com/htm/pdf/SquareTrade_laptop_reliability_1109.pdf
Here's a concise form - http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/154921
Nice link......OVERK1LL was 100% right as usual.
although I was a bit surprised to find Lenovo down there with Acer and Gateway. Maybe their low end models (ideapads and "college" laptops) are not doing justice to their more serious notebook lines - espcecially the real "ThinkPad" series.
Here's another one from PCMag - PCMag Notebook Reliability Ratings .
Here's another one from PCMag - PCMag Notebook Reliability Ratings .
I would only get Tosh or Lenovo - just for the trackpoint mouse, but cool that they're (to me) among the best I've used.
Our 2 ThinkPad laptops (R50 and R60) have been rock solid without a songle glitch for about 7 yrs now.
Our 2 ThinkPad laptops (R50 and R60) have been rock solid without a songle glitch for about 7 yrs now.
Originally Posted By: 97tbird
Our 2 ThinkPad laptops (R50 and R60) have been rock solid without a songle glitch for about 7 yrs now.
Have you noticed any keyboard problems?
Our 2 ThinkPad laptops (R50 and R60) have been rock solid without a songle glitch for about 7 yrs now.
Have you noticed any keyboard problems?
Nope - not a single one, afaik.
one time my R60 emitted a faint noise (HD?) for about 2 days but nothing happened, and it never came back. That's the only thing I can remember.
LOL - ok i got it -- yeah i meant sIngle - not sOnlge
one time my R60 emitted a faint noise (HD?) for about 2 days but nothing happened, and it never came back. That's the only thing I can remember.
LOL - ok i got it -- yeah i meant sIngle - not sOnlge
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I'm a heavy laptop user. (And the bag feels heavy with all the cables and such I have to carry!)
I tote mine everyday into customer sites, connect to their computers to install and service the gear. My laptop doesn't have an easy life, and my Toshiba Tecra M5 has been rock solid.
I've had Toshiba laptops before that, and they've been good as well.
I've also had Fujitsu laptops and other than a hard drive failure, no real issues with those either.
But I'd have to say I'm sold on Toshiba when it comes to laptops.
I did have a SPARCbook for a while on a project. At the time it was a $20K laptop with a SPARC processor installed.
I tote mine everyday into customer sites, connect to their computers to install and service the gear. My laptop doesn't have an easy life, and my Toshiba Tecra M5 has been rock solid.
I've had Toshiba laptops before that, and they've been good as well.
I've also had Fujitsu laptops and other than a hard drive failure, no real issues with those either.
But I'd have to say I'm sold on Toshiba when it comes to laptops.
I did have a SPARCbook for a while on a project. At the time it was a $20K laptop with a SPARC processor installed.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Not surprised to see ASUS where they are. My experience mirrors those results.
I have had 3 HP notebooks mainly because my bedroom is small and I don't have room for a desktop. I get about 4 years of service before I retire them. My 2nd one required hinge and cooling fan replacements after 2.5 years (that was ironically on the only one I bought a 3yr warranty for).
My latest one is almost 2 yrs old now. Dual core AMD Turion dv6451.
I've been pretty happy with my HP notebooks....well happy enough to not search elsewhere.
FTR, they were usually the budget lines from HP ~$800. I don't think spending more money automatically means higher reliability. Most notebooks are only made by a few manufacturers these days anyway for the big names (Dell, HP, Lenovo, Toshiba etc)
I think my main success with notebooks has been because they stay put. They sit on my desk and I don't really move them. Some people throw their notebooks around and slam it down. IMHO, the less it moves the less likely of damaging components inside.
edit: Forgot to mention. My current HP notebook dv6451 does have battery problems. It refuses to charge above 46% ever since a year in but since I keep it plugged into the mains this isn't too big an issue for me.
My latest one is almost 2 yrs old now. Dual core AMD Turion dv6451.
I've been pretty happy with my HP notebooks....well happy enough to not search elsewhere.
FTR, they were usually the budget lines from HP ~$800. I don't think spending more money automatically means higher reliability. Most notebooks are only made by a few manufacturers these days anyway for the big names (Dell, HP, Lenovo, Toshiba etc)
I think my main success with notebooks has been because they stay put. They sit on my desk and I don't really move them. Some people throw their notebooks around and slam it down. IMHO, the less it moves the less likely of damaging components inside.
edit: Forgot to mention. My current HP notebook dv6451 does have battery problems. It refuses to charge above 46% ever since a year in but since I keep it plugged into the mains this isn't too big an issue for me.
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I have an HP notebook. I installed HDD health on it a long time ago. (I bought it in Feb '07). I noticed that HDD health kept showing that the predicted time of hard drive failure was getting sooner and sooner, so I looked at the SMART attribute and what do you know, the load/unload cycle count was down to 15 from where it started at 100.
As far as I could determine this is due to some attempt to make the drive use less power at the expense of drive life. So I found a Windows port of the original Linux program "hdparm" and created a batch file to run hdparm with the -B 255 parameter to make the drive go into "performance" mode instead of "power saving" mode--I put that batch file into the startup folder. After I did that, the load/unload cycle count hasn't dropped.
I have no idea if this default aggressive power saving configuration on the hard drive is causing it to fail after 2-3 years but it seems very possible, especially if there's a smart attribute to monitor it!
Quote:
-B Set Advanced Power Management feature, if the drive supports it.
A low value means aggressive power management and a high value
means better performance. Possible settings range from values 1
through 127 (which permit spin-down), and values 128 through 254
(which do not permit spin-down). The highest degree of power
management is attained with a setting of 1, and the highest I/O
performance with a setting of 254. A value of 255 tells hdparm
to disable Advanced Power Management altogether on the drive
(not all drives support disabling it, but most do).
As far as I could determine this is due to some attempt to make the drive use less power at the expense of drive life. So I found a Windows port of the original Linux program "hdparm" and created a batch file to run hdparm with the -B 255 parameter to make the drive go into "performance" mode instead of "power saving" mode--I put that batch file into the startup folder. After I did that, the load/unload cycle count hasn't dropped.
I have no idea if this default aggressive power saving configuration on the hard drive is causing it to fail after 2-3 years but it seems very possible, especially if there's a smart attribute to monitor it!
Quote:
-B Set Advanced Power Management feature, if the drive supports it.
A low value means aggressive power management and a high value
means better performance. Possible settings range from values 1
through 127 (which permit spin-down), and values 128 through 254
(which do not permit spin-down). The highest degree of power
management is attained with a setting of 1, and the highest I/O
performance with a setting of 254. A value of 255 tells hdparm
to disable Advanced Power Management altogether on the drive
(not all drives support disabling it, but most do).
Originally Posted By: GMFan
since I keep it plugged into the mains this isn't too big an issue for me.
Sometimes that is the issue. Let the battery cycle completely. Drain it down to as close to 0% it can go and then give a good charge. Repeat few times.
There is also an option in the power management area that allows you to "reset battery information". I believe it clears out all the cycle information it has collected to tell you how much time or % battery is left and such. That might help too.
Originally Posted By: brianl703
I have no idea if this default aggressive power saving configuration on the hard drive is causing it to fail after 2-3 years but it seems very possible, especially if there's a smart attribute to monitor it!
quite interesting. didn't know this setting can affect life. I have seen this setting in bios also so if your bios has it you may be able to do away with the batch file.
since I keep it plugged into the mains this isn't too big an issue for me.
Sometimes that is the issue. Let the battery cycle completely. Drain it down to as close to 0% it can go and then give a good charge. Repeat few times.
There is also an option in the power management area that allows you to "reset battery information". I believe it clears out all the cycle information it has collected to tell you how much time or % battery is left and such. That might help too.
Originally Posted By: brianl703
I have no idea if this default aggressive power saving configuration on the hard drive is causing it to fail after 2-3 years but it seems very possible, especially if there's a smart attribute to monitor it!
quite interesting. didn't know this setting can affect life. I have seen this setting in bios also so if your bios has it you may be able to do away with the batch file.
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I had a gateway for the last 3 years, its the only laptop I've ever had that didnt have a power connector break off the motherboard.
Also manufacturers have different lines. Something like a thinkpad T400 will hold up better than an Ideapad.
Interior frame/cage etc.
I too like the trackpoint thats why I just ordered a lenovo on the cybermonday sale at 50% off retail.
Also manufacturers have different lines. Something like a thinkpad T400 will hold up better than an Ideapad.
Interior frame/cage etc.
I too like the trackpoint thats why I just ordered a lenovo on the cybermonday sale at 50% off retail.
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I use a MacBook as my laptop, except for 3 trips back to Apple for a plastics issue, a bad trackpad/keyboard assembly and a mysterious black smudge on the LCD it's been a solid machine. My friends have good luck with Dell or Lenovo machines, but the ones with HP usually seek my advice for repairs.
As brianl703 said, I too notice HPs have a high hard drive failure rate but my hypothesis is because HP/Quanta use "drop-in" hard drive mounting - which Apple and Dell definitely does on the unibody MacBook family as well as the MacBook Air and the Studio/Vostro series respectively. However, the HPs were more prone to hard drive damage from a fall.
As brianl703 said, I too notice HPs have a high hard drive failure rate but my hypothesis is because HP/Quanta use "drop-in" hard drive mounting - which Apple and Dell definitely does on the unibody MacBook family as well as the MacBook Air and the Studio/Vostro series respectively. However, the HPs were more prone to hard drive damage from a fall.
Actually, my HP notebook is really a Compaq (and has the Torx screws holding everything together, which Compaq is known for).
I notice that Compaq isn't ranked. Are they lumped in with the HP rankings?
Ooops...nevermind..my old Compaq laptop was like that. The new one with the failure-inducing hard drive settings is "Designed by Hewlett Packard".
I notice that Compaq isn't ranked. Are they lumped in with the HP rankings?
Ooops...nevermind..my old Compaq laptop was like that. The new one with the failure-inducing hard drive settings is "Designed by Hewlett Packard".
HP and Compaq are the same before 2002 rolled along...
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Originally Posted By: nthach
HP and Compaq are the same before 2002 rolled along...
They are both made by 3rd party companies anyways.
HP and Compaq are the same before 2002 rolled along...
They are both made by 3rd party companies anyways.
I'm a Mac guy but I still seem to go through them about one every two years or so. I've had over 30 maybe 40 macs, and love them when they work, but they can be a (probable sensor comment) *&*^ when they don't function right.
Toughbook I think is the brand that an exboss works for now and they are starting around 4 grand for a tough durable pc... I might opt for one of those if MAC OS X or some better OS GUI could be installed.
I utterly love laptops, I just don't like their durability and surely there can be some improvements, but then again the general public probably don't take them wherever they go all day long and are on them 6-18 hours a day straight every day, and tax the limits of the processor on a consistent basis like I do.
Toughbook I think is the brand that an exboss works for now and they are starting around 4 grand for a tough durable pc... I might opt for one of those if MAC OS X or some better OS GUI could be installed.
I utterly love laptops, I just don't like their durability and surely there can be some improvements, but then again the general public probably don't take them wherever they go all day long and are on them 6-18 hours a day straight every day, and tax the limits of the processor on a consistent basis like I do.
JHZR2
Staff member
Interesting, Ive had a bunch of macs and a bunch of PCs, and the macs outlast the PCs about 10 to 1.
My macbook pro that Im typing on now is the same age as my dell laptop at work. My dell just had a failed DIMM that caused me to have to reinstall the NT kernel. Wasted me a LOT of time.
My macbook pro that Im typing on now is the same age as my dell laptop at work. My dell just had a failed DIMM that caused me to have to reinstall the NT kernel. Wasted me a LOT of time.
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