New Laptop - Any recommendations that meet my priorities?

Johnny Vinyl

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
May 16, 2010
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Well here is an update...hard drive failed within 8 days. Sent a replacement...that failed too. i have just received a written letter confirming full refund. So assuming the whole return shipment process works, then should have a full refund within about 2 weeks...fortunately, Amex is already on the case to ensure we get it.

Decided to order a Toshiba Z30...similar specs: i5, 8GB RAM, 256GB Solid-State hard drive, 16 hours battery life, 13" screen...stay tuned!
So sorry to hear of this Lloyd! Sadly and unfortunately it does happen and I'm sure we've all been on the receiving end of it. Here's hoping the Toshiba comes to you headache-free for years to come.
 

LL21

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Dec 26, 2010
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So sorry to hear of this Lloyd! Sadly and unfortunately it does happen and I'm sure we've all been on the receiving end of it. Here's hoping the Toshiba comes to you headache-free for years to come.

Thank you! my 4-yr old Acer has been repaired 3 times in 4 years, is slow as heck and the leftside of the keyboard does not work too well...but at least it turns on!
 

Barry2013

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Oct 12, 2013
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Sorry to hear of your problems and I hope Toshiba meets expectations but I can't help paraphrasing a TV advert "you should have gone to Dell"
 

sbo6

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May 18, 2014
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Well here is an update...hard drive failed within 8 days. Sent a replacement...that failed too. i have just received a written letter confirming full refund. So assuming the whole return shipment process works, then should have a full refund within about 2 weeks...fortunately, Amex is already on the case to ensure we get it.

Decided to order a Toshiba Z30...similar specs: i5, 8GB RAM, 256GB Solid-State hard drive, 16 hours battery life, 13" screen...stay tuned!

Sorry to hear about the failed NB. I "build" these things for a living, so here's my take, a bit too late to matter ;-)


The comments from several WRT business class is the way to go, much more robust validation and robust design is incorporated. In order of brand: Dell, HP, Lenovo. In my opinion: Dell has very good service support and maintains quality, HP has slipped in recent years, Lenovo was never on par with either (but original IBM Thinkpads were excellent).

I would never go with an Apple then image with Windows. A) So much for support B) No way to ensure SW updates will function as expected if there are any particulars in the HW for Apple.

Guess I should add my disclaimer: I work for Dell, but have worked at AMD managing HP notebooks and desktops for years.
 

LL21

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Dec 26, 2010
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Thanks for the good wishes. i had dell laptop many years ago...ended up replacing motherboard, hard drive, screen and keyboard over a 2.5 year period...but that was over 12 years ago. i never went back...our IT guy thinks they're great. i went with toshiba on the basis of its old reputation and the fact that my wife has owned 2 and 2 of our partners in the firm have owned them...all lasted for upwards of 9 years.

at the end of the day, all of them have problems as a percentage of total production...just hope my roll of the dice turns out better this time.
 

Mosin

[Industry Expert]
Mar 11, 2012
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After reading about Lloyd's SSD woes, I thought I would pass along a heads up regarding Intel brand SSDs. Intel's solid state drives have a bug that has been around since the beginning that they cannot seem to get worked out. The company's performance is something you might expect from a no name, but for a company of such stature to not be able to find a glitch that bricks their SSDs is crazy. Still, far to many Intel solid state drives crash with no recovery possible. They show as 8 meg drives after this happens, regardless of their original size, and no one to date has been able to repair one of them. This is reason enough to avoid any machine that is shipped with an Intel drive.

*I don't believe Lloyd's returned laptop used an Intel drive, but I feel the information is worth knowing.
 

NorthStar

Member
Feb 8, 2011
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Sorry to read about that Lloyd; wish you better luck with the Toshiba (I just had a look to couple reviews; magnesium case). ...Excellent battery time ... up to 19 hours!
 

LL21

Well-Known Member
Dec 26, 2010
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After reading about Lloyd's SSD woes, I thought I would pass along a heads up regarding Intel brand SSDs. Intel's solid state drives have a bug that has been around since the beginning that they cannot seem to get worked out. The company's performance is something you might expect from a no name, but for a company of such stature to not be able to find a glitch that bricks their SSDs is crazy. Still, far to many Intel solid state drives crash with no recovery possible. They show as 8 meg drives after this happens, regardless of their original size, and no one to date has been able to repair one of them. This is reason enough to avoid any machine that is shipped with an Intel drive.

*I don't believe Lloyd's returned laptop used an Intel drive, but I feel the information is worth knowing.

Good to know! yes, you are correct...it was a Samsung SSD inside the Thinkpad X250.
 

LL21

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Dec 26, 2010
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Sorry to read about that Lloyd; wish you better luck with the Toshiba (I just had a look to couple reviews; magnesium case). ...Excellent battery time ... up to 19 hours!

Thanks!
 

LL21

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Dec 26, 2010
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Well, to update...the Lenovo was picked up by postage-paid courier...should receive a full refund within about 10 days. And Amex is on the case as well to ensure we get our money back no matter what.

...meanwhile, still need a laptop, so the toshiba arrived within 3 days as promised...fully set up that day including all original files from the old harddrive. So far so good...
 

audioguy

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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I would get an Apple and instal Windows on it. One of the most reliable AND holds the resale value, which cannot be said about any of the PC laptops, which are worth nothing after 3 years.

+1. I just did that and it's the best "PC" I've ever owned. More expensive than the typical PC and much more reliable. I run most things as a Mac but I have a few apps (all audio/video related) that don't exist for Macs. And I can instantly switch back and forth between the two modes (Parallels).
 

Barry2013

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Oct 12, 2013
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Well, to update...the Lenovo was picked up by postage-paid courier...should receive a full refund within about 10 days. And Amex is on the case as well to ensure we get our money back no matter what.

...meanwhile, still need a laptop, so the toshiba arrived within 3 days as promised...fully set up that day including all original files from the old harddrive. So far so good...

Great news. Looking good.
Keep us posted.
 

LL21

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Dec 26, 2010
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andromedaaudio

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Jan 23, 2011
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I just bought a mac book pro 2015 model, with 2 thunderbolt 2 connections , beautifull stuff , very elegant lightweight , i m not a gadget guy , but what the hell :D
With retina screen , absolutely razor sharp.
and windows 10 on usb , to install via bootcamp.


Ps and a thunderbolt - FW 800 adapter and FW 800 - FW 400 cable , all this to measure with the Clio FW 01 box, it better works :p
 
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andromedaaudio

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Ps if i didnt need the thunderbolt connections i might have gone Asus OR Acer , have the Acer flat desktop now for 2 years no problems so far
 

BruceD

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Dec 13, 2013
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I just bought a mac book pro 2015 model, with 2 thunderbolt 2 connections , beautifull stuff , very elegant lightweight , i m not a gadget guy , but what the hell :D
With retina screen , absolutely razor sharp.
and windows 10 on usb , to install via bootcamp.

I'd use Virtual box for the Windows install---better I found rather than straight Bootcamp--on my MacBook Pro

Worth a thought anyway :)

BD

https://www.virtualbox.org
 

SCAudiophile

Well-Known Member
Sep 11, 2010
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VMware FUSION is IMHO the best Virtual Machine enabling software for MacOSX with Parallels in next position,...FUSION supports Win7, Win10 (running that now on an older MacBook Pro and it is very fast) and many other Linux/Unix OS versions.
 

patwick

New Member
Feb 16, 2016
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I think it's more likely that you will choose the Dell XPS 13 13.3-Inch Touchscreen Laptop. I have this one newly bought few weeks ago and here are the specs:

Intel Core i5-5200U 2.20 GHz with Intel Turbo Boost Technology up to 2.70 GHz
8 GB DDR3
256 GB Solid-State Drive
13.3 in UltraSharp QHD+ (3200 x 1800) infinity touch display, 10-finger multi-touch support

This is a very good laptop and by far, this is the best among laptops I've owned before.
 

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