How long do you expect your laptop to last?

I don't really use my old G73 anymore, but I think it would still hold up for general use for years yet. The Toshiba that I got in 2008 died last year, just started locking up for no explainable reason... I tried replacing a bunch of consumables on it, like the hard drive and memory, but nothing I could do fixed it. In the end I just put it down to the motherboard having a fault, since there was no overheating.

If the MBP lasts another 5 years or so physically, then I'll most likely have it for that long. I don't really feel the upgrade bug biting these days anymore, especially since I have the desktop for anything remotely intensive. And sometimes it's the old stuff which has a bit of charm which makes you want to keep it rather than get something new and flashy.

 

To be honest with you, if I could come up with a decent setup for my desktop in an area of my home where I could see what's going on, I'd much rather go that route, and not have a high powered gaming laptop. I realize even a mediocre GPU can push the frames at 720p even with the most demanding games released today, so in those times where I want/can game, I still have that option. Otherwise 90% of the time, my laptop is used for regular productivity stuff, browsing, word, light photo/video editing.

 

Someone hasn't been playing Star Citizen

But yes, I just find it bizarre why so many people buy giant gaming laptops when it's painfully obvious that they never take it anywhere. The never-to-come (except when e.g. moving homes) anticipation of portability is just holding these people back.

 

I'm one of those people that rarely takes them anywhere, but when I do, I'm glad I have desktop power in a small form factor.

 

Stellar build quality doesn't make up the fact that HP doesn't really manufacturer any internal parts....they contract everything out to ODMs like every other massive OEM.

 

So, shouldn't that also reflect badly on Thinkpads, Latitudes, and Precisions as well?

 

In that case, Samsung would be one of the best brands.

 

Producing alot of OEM parts doesn't mean you won't have bad designs (Samsung 9 series thin tip chargers as an example). Also Samsung has almost nil market penetration here in the States...

Not necessarily, some OEMS have more oversight on the ODMs than others. Personally I've never had a Latitude, or ThinkPad go kaput on me during the warranty period, my last T61 motherboard went kaput...but parts are so cheap it doesn't really matter for me and I'm not even the first owner.

 

Eh, oversight doesn't mean all that much unless you actually own a majority stake in the ODM. Even with so-so oversight, you can still earn a horrible reputation with your customers (Apple and Foxconn are a great example of this).

 

well fit and finish of those machines is still poor. specially when you spend so much and you still send a sample with a clear lack of QA in that area to a reviewer. Dell is worse though, much worse