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Ask HN: Quality of recent gens of Dell/Lenovo laptops worse than 10 years ago?

112 points ferguess_k | 1 comments | 01 Dec 25 14:47 UTC | HN request time: 0.394s | source

I have been purchasing used/new Lenovo/Dell laptops for the last 7 years, and I have noticed that the build quality of recent models is concerning.

Lenovo: Ex-company gave me a NEW Carbon X1 around 2019, and the battery only lasted for less than a year (!). On the other side, I bought a used 2017 470S from the same company, added more RAM, didn't touch anything including the SSD, and I'm still using it in daily coding. I did buy a new battery last month so technically the old batteries lasted for about 7-8 years.

Dell: I bought 3 laptops + 1 desktop from Dell Refurbished (So the quality should be consistent). 2 laptops + 1 desktop are older models, and 1 is Precision 5550 (2021) that I bought last December. Everything works fine, except for the 5550, which has issues with battery (dropped from 31% to 4% in a few seconds) and (more deadly) charging port (doesn't charge from time to time). Even if I bought it new in 2021, I would be surprised that it only lasted for a bit over 4 years.

The other issue is that 5550 uses USB-C ports. I blame on myself not checking it closely before the purchase. I really hate those ports. Why is everyone copying from Mac?

What's my option? I can't really justify the 2,000+ CAD price point for a new laptop, especially if it lasts less than 5 years. I'd prefer a "low-end" workstation with 32GB memory, but because of the price point I can only afford a 16GB non-workstation one. I don't do gaming any more but I still prefer a good integrated video card. I can't afford Framework and other Linux laptops because they are expensive and usually don't operate in Canada so delivery is expensive too.

I did buy a used Macbook Pro M1 16GB (2021) from my current company last month. I haven't used it but I'm confident that the hardware is good. The problem is I don't really like the software, so I figured I still need a Linux box.

Did you find any sweet spot?

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Telaneo ◴[02 Dec 25 04:53 UTC] No.46117706[source]▶
I'd still be on my 2012 Macbook Pro if it weren't for the fact that I seemingly can't get a battery that lasts for it.

I got a 2021 Macbook M1 Pro to replace it, and I can't imagine needing to replace it for at least another 5 years given what I usually need my laptop to do (any really heavy compute gets off-loaded to a desktop). My only worry would be the same as my previous machine: the battery.

I'll give Framework a try when the time comes. It's probably the only one outside of Apple that I have any confidence in not being horrible in some way. There are some other options with decent Linux support, which I would need if I am to migrate away from Apple, but they are few and far between, especially if you rule out Lenovo.

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littlecranky67 ◴[02 Dec 25 09:52 UTC] No.46119509[source]▶
What OS do you use on it? I have a 2014 Macbook Pro and macOS with CoreLegacyPatcher on Ventura was almost unusably slow. Older versions had issues with Safari, no modern Browser support (I found some chromium fork patched for older macOS versions but slow and no full feature support) etc. I installed Linux on it recently and it works better, use it as a secondary machine with some home-network services but would never consider it usable as a working machine.
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1. Telaneo ◴[02 Dec 25 13:50 UTC] No.46121161[source]▶
I was on the latest officially supported OS, which I think was Catelina. No unofficial patches or anything. Had no problems with Firefox (other than battery life, which I didn't need other than it nominally being there).

To be fair, I did replace the SSD early in its lifespan, and I don't use my laptops for anything heavy. It could still play Youtube when I decommissioned it, and that was probably the heaviest thing I regularly did on it.