Best and/or Worst Laptop you've ever owned

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I got my first laptop as a college graduation gift from my parents way back in 1997. It cost $2400 and had a 333MHz Pentium 2 processor and a whopping 64MB of RAM (or 1/16th of 1GB)! It only has a 13.3” display, but weighs almost 8lbs. I still have it tucked away in the top shelf of my closet. I’ve never been able to bring myself to do away with it because of the sentimental value. Amazingly, it still boots up! I say that it boots because it’s so slow that it’s useless once it boots into Windows and the display is so dim I can’t see anything. But it’s still pretty incredible that it still works after 16 years!

In 2005, I decided to get rid of my desktop and use a laptop as my primary computer. I had a new Toshiba Tecra A4 with a 1.73GHz Pentium M, 80GB hard drive and 512MB of RAM. Those specs look pathetic now, but back then they performed well enough to serve as my sole system.

Between personal and work-issued laptops, I’ve had more than 10 different ones over the years. One (other than the very first one I mentioned above) stands out as my favorite of them all. There is also one that was a nightmare from hell and almost turned me against a brand altogether. Interestingly, both the best and the worst ones I’ve ever had are from the same company.

The BEST one was a DELL Latitude E6400 that I purchased in late 2008. It survived a nasty car accident despite my laptop bag being in the front seat and flying toward the dash only to be slammed by the airbag in 2009. In 2010, I stupidly sat it on top of a candy machine at a hotel while I used a nearby soda vending machine. When I reached up to get it, somehow I caused it fall off the back of the machine and land on its front edge on the concrete floor eight feet below! It caused a crack in the base and the right palm rest was warped above the crack, but I was amazed that the display wasn’t shattered. Still, I was sick as I headed back to my room to see if it would boot or if the hard drive was damaged in the fall. I hit the power button and it booted perfectly. When I got back home, I took it apart and managed to fix the palm rest and seal the crack with a resin so it was almost as good as new.

I also spilled diet soda and beer into the keyboard more times than I care to admit and the ‘spill-resistant’ keyboard prevented any permanent damage. I used it at least 10-12 hours every single day and it went to the office with me daily and on dozens of business trips. I had to replace the display a few months after the 3-year warranty expired, but that was the only component failure. It held up to my use and abuse for 4.5 years before I decided to retire it. It started running hotter than usual and the fan was on constantly. I replaced the fan and heat sink using high performance thermal paste; I cleaned out all the vents and several other potential fixes that didn’t work. I’m almost certain that it needs a new motherboard and I couldn’t justify the expense on a laptop that was almost five years old.

I replaced it a few months ago with a current version of itself- the Dell Latitude 6430u. It’s lighter, thinner and faster, but I still miss my old faithful E6400……

I’ll save the story about the worst laptop I’ve ever had for later….I’m getting sleepy and if I start talking about it, I’ll get pissed off and stay up all night! :smiley:
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I’m curious to hear from any of other Dopers about your best and/or worst laptop experience- please feel free to share! ;)**

2

Worst - a work issued laptop, I want to say it was also a tecra, but I am blocking the damned thing out of my mind … it was small, 14 or so screen, metal body which is where the second part of the suck comes in.

Working with spreadsheets and needing at least something like my regular HP 17 inch screens, the miniscule screen meant that I couldn’t do my job - I couldn’t manage to actually work with the spreadsheets effectively. The things metal body meant that there was an issue with something vibrating and setting up the most godawful irritating sound, and if it got jostled wrong it would short out. Apparently the whole metal body and irritating sound was a known issue, but the shorting out was my own special purgatory because my overboss figured I was lying so I could avoid working.:rolleyes: I finally got permission to use one of my own widescreen HPs and then my desktop [with 2 monitors, a 26 and a 28] and that solved the problem with the damned issue laptop.

I have had a series of HPs over the past 15 years, changing for newer ones as money and interesting new tech appears. Honestly, I have never had any problems with HP, I also have an HP desktop and it manages to run any game I have loaded in just fine [and I can run 4 sessions of EVE Online fine unless it is going to be a major battle, then I need to pay more attention to what I am doing than when I am just ratting or mining.] The laptops do tend to run a little hot, but keep the fans clean and use a cooling pad or raise it up for circulation and it is fine.

And like many others, I have every computer laptop or desktop I have ever owned except for my first laptop - a thinkpad running windows 95 - a friend needed one for her kid and was broke so I gave it to her, it was still chugging along as of 2005.

Can I mention that I adored my Amigas? Only reason I ended up with PCs was the lack of ability to get onto the internet with them. When I got my first Amiga, we had a 2400 baud modem, and it was local BBS or pay for long distance minutes to dial into AOL, Genie or a few others where you also had to pay to log in. So I just played games, and used a WYSIWG desktop publishing program to put together a newsletter. Then AOL came up with a local number that was not toll to connect. AOL had gone to a monthly subscription fee, so it was no longer an hourly fee, but I couldn’t get the program to connect unless I downloaded it from the internet. Catch 22. So I got a PC, and have been with PCs ever since. But I really miss my Amiga - I love a 2 floppy operating system. [or the A500 hard drive :p]

3

My favorite is the one I’ve had for the last 3 or so years (and still use, though am considering replacing): a Dell Latitude E4200, which is basically the 12" version of yours. Super lightweight at 2lbs, lighter than most netbooks, and it was fast when it was released. Amazingly comfortable keyboard, well-built (survived multiple scratches and dents), and works great with the e-series dock. Never really had a problem with it, none of the keys have fallen off or broken, and it still Just Works. The touchpad kinda sucked, but I used a mouse for most real work anyway.

To date it’s still the lightest notebook I’ve ever seen, lighter than a Macbook Air or any Ultrabook (important when you’re carrying it around university every day in a backpack). Not sure why Dell stopped making upgraded versions of this model; all their new ones are thicker, uglier, and heavier.

They recently announced a 12" Latitude 7000 model, and we’ll see how that stacks up…

4

Best would have to be an old IBM notebook, looked ugly but was very durable that was until my dad decided to throw it at the wall. Worst would be the one I’m using now a cherry red Dell Inspiron 1545, had it for couple of years but after only a few months the screws that keep the monitor in place started falling out and shit just hit the fan.

5

The worst was a Compaq that I had in about 1997. The specs sucked, of course, but it also had problems that required taking it to a shop. Hated that thing. The one I have now (bought this year) seems to be running strong: it’s an HP with a 17" screen and an i5 processor. I’m not using it right now, so have no idea what the model is.

6

Best?
Probably my current core i7 MacBook Pro 13" - super fast, portable, relatively light, great battery life, awesome screen, never crashes. It’s tricked out with a 750GB hybrid drive and 16GB of RAM.

Worst?
Dunno - maybe my Dell Mini 9 that I hacked to run OS X. Too small, cheap construction, terrible trackpad, not enough RAM or SSD, way too underpowered Atom processor, but I only got it as an experiment, and it was really inexpensive. I use it as a data logger, which is about all it’s good for.

7

My current, and my favorite of the laptops I’ve had, is my HP Elitebook 8560P.

First off, this sucker is rugged. The case is made out of aluminum and the screen hinges are rock-solid. It’s supposedly built to MIL-SPEC 810G guidelines.

I don’t plan to drop it to test the ruggesdness, but I’ve taken it apart a few times, all the way down to the motherboard, and it’s easy to take apart and repair. Most of the screws are captive, and all of them had Locktite to keep them from vibrating out.

Teenagers are an astonishingly destructive force, and I have had to rebuild any number of broken screens, broken power connectors, broken hinges, broken keyboards, etc for family and friends. So I appreciate a laptop that is accessible and repairable.

The #1 thing that causes laptops to be discarded is overheating. All of them have fans, sucking in air, dust, rug fuzz, cat hair, etc. And the fans blow onto a radiator that is connected to a heat pipe from the main processor and the graphics chip. And, inevitably, a thick mat forms between the fan and the radiator, preventing the CPU and graphics chip from cooling. Eventually it gets to the point where it can no longer boot.

On my Elitebook, I can slide off the bottom with a latch,exposing the entire guts. The fan comes out with three captive screws and I can clean it right out.

At 6.4 lbs, it weighs more than all these thin, sleek laptops, but as tanks go, it’s very light.

8

Don’t know that it’s the best, but my favorite for casual web surfing and light document editing is an 11.6 inch Acer Chromebook I recently bought cheap. It starts very quickly, isn’t always performing some fussy update, and doesn’t require a separate antivirus. (Chrome OS is what Windows ought to be.) The computer streams videos nicely, and has a HDMI out port. I wish I’d bought two of these when they were on sale.