<p>I've done the research and found the following PCs are recommended the most, proven to be the most reliable, and get great reviews, all from experts ranging from Consumer Reports to CNET to large swaths of users.
These are general PCs for general college students, not PCs for gamers or specific programs such as engineering.</p>
<p>Dell Inspiron
HP Pavillion
Lenovo ThinkPad Edge
Lenovo IdeaPad Z Series</p>
<p>The ones that you mentioned I’ve had the most issues with.</p>
<p>I would recommend the following:</p>
<p>Dell: Vostro , Latitude , Precision , maybe XPS
Lenovo : T series , X Series (including tablets) , L series , W series
HP : Elitebooks , Probooks</p>
<p>Wow, del_psi, how have you worked with all four of the lines of computers I listed? Are you a computer tech?</p>
<p>I do repair computers but mainly the first two lines that you listed since I don’t do it as a real job. Sometimes I buy cheap computers that need some sort of repair and fix them and then sell them back on Ebay or so. </p>
<p>Don’t be fooled by the Thinkpad name since the Edge isn’t a real Thinkpad in terms of quality. The Z-series is actually better than the HP and Dell lines you’ve listed though.</p>
<p>Normally business class laptops are a much better bang for the buck even if you buy the lower end ones like the Dell Vostro since they use higher quality parts and are designed to last longer. Also the standard next business day warranty on the business line of laptops with HP / Dell is much better than the consumer line.</p>
<p>I’ve had way too many problems with Hp and Dell consumer line of notebooks in general to buy the low end ones again.</p>
<p>On a side note:
Sometimes I see people say that their $1500 MacBook Pro is so much better than their $400 HP Pavilion but in reality they should be comparing an HP Elitebook to their MacBook Pro since they are in a similar category with the Elitebook offering more professional choices.</p>
<p>The Z-series from Lenovo might be the only consumer machine that I would buy from Lenovo since I found it only to have minor problems but the Thinkpads that I listed would probably be more durable.</p>
<p>Remember that the tech support for Thinkpads and the rest of Lenovo’s lines are separate though.</p>
<p>
I randomly messed around with a Dell Vostro in-store for a while last week and it felt niiiiice. Didn’t feel cheap at all. To me it seemed better than the HP Elitebook I use at work (maybe because it’s newer).</p>
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<p>I would have to disagree with the HP Pavillion and Dell Inspiron based on repairing and helping out friends who had many issues with those budget/consumer models. Pavilions tend to overheat bigtime and both models have had issues with poor build quality…ranging from easily damaged hinges to fried motherboards/video chips. </p>
<p>Also, while the Vostro is billed as for small business, it is really a modified Inspiron targeted to the small business market. </p>
<p>If you must get Dell…go for the Latitudes or Precisions as they are Dell’s mid-high end lines. Even then, I’d be wary as my friend’s company has had issues with both of those corporate-line machines as well. </p>
<p>It was a factor in why I got 2 of their Latitudes practically free. Good thing I was proficient enough to be able to take them apart to do basic maintenance and replace a dead $5 fan in one.</p>