<p>Many people are looking towards buying a reliable laptop for college. I'd like to suggest that people post their experience about whether their brand and model of laptop proved to be reliable or unreliable. I suggest limiting it to laptops purchased within the last 2 years. </p>
<p>You might also post whether your problem was addressed adequately by the manufacturer, or not.</p>
<p>I’ve looked at all my friends and <em>none</em> of their laptops have any real reliability issues. If it gets slow, reformat and reinstall.</p>
<p>^thats very true. Most people tend to just scrap a notebook once it gets slow, but reinstalling the OS from scratch is a great way to get that new computer speed back on your laptop. Also look at a ram upgrade if possible.
As for reliability, I don’t think you can get anymore reliable than a macbook. I’ve had mine going on 2 years without 1 major issue that I couldn’t fix. Very nice machine. Apple products in general seem to be that way. I’ve also used an older Dell Inspiron notebook which is pretty slow (celeron processor), but has been pretty reliable. No issues out of it either.</p>
<p>I second the macbook. A year old and no problems at all. My old macbook (one of the original batch from 2006) had a lot, but I put that down to being a 1st gen product. They’ve pretty much worked the kinks out of the macbooks, it seems.</p>
<p>Also worth noting: thanks to Apple Care, every major issue with the old one was fixed for free.</p>
<p>Macbook Pro for two years and 0 problems.</p>
<p>They all use the same components. They are all just PCs really. Even the Macbook, same hardware, just a different OS.</p>
<p>Most people’s computer problems really are just that they install all kinds of performance-robbing software and don’t run good antivirus/antimalware and don’t practice good maintenance. I can see the Mac people standing up and saying they don’t need to worry about stuff like this but they do. Macs have long been unpopular and thus not as target-rich and environment for malware producers and hackers. That is not true today, and Mac users need to be as vigilant as Windows users. There is nothing inherently “safer” about Macs versus Windows, just that they were far less popular. Not as true today as 5 years ago.</p>
<p>Most people’s problems are software related. Don’t install crap. Don’t make things “load at start-up”. Keep your machine clean and it will service you well.</p>
<p>That said, hardware breaks. Think about who is going to support you and how. If you pay for onsite support, that would be best. Mail-in support is not good for college students.</p>
<p>Among Dells, Dell says their Latitude brand is designed to withstand much more accidential damage and spilled drinks than their Inspiron brand. Their website lists all the things that are more durable with the Latitude.</p>
<p>Is it better to buy a laptop for the freshman as a present *before *they get to college or to wait and take advantage of student deals offered by the college?</p>
<p>Sometimes the college deals aren’t the best deals so it pays to shop around. It also pays to wait and make sure your child has decided for sure on a school prior to making a purchase. My son went with Dell because they had Dell student techs providing service under warranty right on campus. It proved to be a wise decision. He’s had to have his laptop worked out and they really get it back to him as quickly as possible. His school also allowed for a one time laptop purchase as part of his FA package.</p>
<p>Yes. It’s the example of metal case vs plastic case. Huge difference.</p>
<p>I purchased a MacBook Pro (unibody, black keys, 13in) in 2009. Haven’t had a single problem. Got $100 edu discount.</p>
<p>Extras I’d recommend:
1- external hard drive (keep your system clean; export all documents to HD after each semester). Minimize applications to necessary ones (i.e. MS office, Adobe, etc)
2- max out the ram
3- get a snap-on cover or protector (incase works nicely)
4- find a computer geek friend that will do a periodic health check on it
5- get a good/safe cleaner like (iKlear) b/c hand oils build up
6- wireless mouse (easier and quicker to navigate)</p>
<p>One person said that if the college has authorized on-campus laptop repair staff, it is better to pick a brand that they handle. In my case, that is Dell and Lenovo. That also means they have spare parts in stock for common problems.</p>
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Among Dells, Dell says their Latitude brand is designed to withstand much more accidential damage and spilled drinks than their Inspiron brand. Their website lists all the things that are more durable with the Latitude.
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<p>Completely agree, I’ve had a Dell Latitude D610 for about 5 years now, and it’s perfectly fine, although the hinges and CD drive is slightly worn out, naturally. I thought Dell was one of those laptop brands people tend to avoid, but it’s been working great for me, although it’s almost obsolete now spec-wise.</p>
<p>Asus, about 4500 hours total uptime, no issues.</p>
<p>if you want a durable computer, buy a thinkpad.
heres a little bit of evidence
[YouTube</a> - Lenovo ThinkPad Torture Test: The Water Spill](<a href=“Lenovo ThinkPad Torture Test: The Water Spill - YouTube”>Lenovo ThinkPad Torture Test: The Water Spill - YouTube)
if your talking about software, well that can easily be fixed.</p>
<p>In terms of durability, my top three choices (in no particular order) are: Dell Latitude, Lenovo Thinkpad, Macbook Pro</p>
<p>Those tend to have rock solid build quality, and because they’re business laptops, they tend to contain slightly higher quality hardware. The difference is only slight, though.</p>
<p>If you have to ask the question, I recommend you go with the Macbook Pro because it’s really hard to mess it up software-wise. The $500 extra will easily pay for itself in time saved within the first year.</p>
<p>I have a December 2008 first-gen Rev.A MacBook Pro and it’s been essentially bulletproof since I got it two weeks after release.</p>
<p>The only problem it’s ever had was that 6 months after purchase, one of the fans started making a “death rattle” noise. Took it to my campus computer store (an Apple service center), which replaced both fans under warranty, at no cost to me.</p>
<p>Since then, even with heavy use and abuse - not to mention tens of thousands of miles of travel across the continent - it’s worked like a champ.</p>
<p>@excelblue, listen to yourself. You even say the difference is slight; and then you go on to say the $FIVE HUNDRED EXTRA DOLLARS$ for the macbook pro will pay for itself in time saved within the first year. I disagree with that.</p>
<p>Thinkpad is definately the way to go (unless your parents are paying). I use one that I bought in may 2009 and it still runs perfectly. My lab partner uses a dell and mine runs our matlab files in about half the time. My suggestions to people buying new Lenovo’s is wait until they have a big deal and buy it then. For instance, they’re running a 10 percent off thinkpads deal right now.</p>
<p>I have an Alienware M15x…and its been very reliable…but I also sank $4500 into it lol so it better be reliable. In my opinion you get what you pay for so if you get a $400 laptop don’t be surprised if it craps out on you. Like stated above just reformat and reinstall and if that doesn’t work then start saving. Also as a side note the only reason my laptop was so expensive is I had it custom made and got a high speed router with it.</p>
<p>I bought my kids 3 Mac laptops, and each one has exceeded the previous in reliability under abuse. The first, a used iBook G4 was bought for my daughter, who was going on a high school exchange semester in Israel. We reasoned that the smartest thing to do was get her a cheap computer that would last her until college, when we would get her a new one. She beat on this computer for 3 years, including hiking and biking through the Negev and Poland. She then insisted on taking it to college, instead of going with a new machine. It lasted another year before the drive gave out. We gave it to a neighbor kid, who put in a new drive, and as far as I know, it is still running. We bought our daughter a MacBook Pro 13", and it is still going strong (but its only been a couple of years).</p>
<p>We bought our son a MacBook when he started college, and he was particularly negligent with it, dropping it several times and cracking the case corners. He dragged it through Western Africa, where the white case achieved a dull tan color, and you could feel the grit inside the keyboard every time you hit a key. After 4 years, the hard drive failed, and he brought it into the local Apple store, where they replaced it, cleaned the case, and replaced the keyboard. Total charge: $50! I still don’t understand that, but it made me a lifetime customer.</p>