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I loved IBM Thinkpads. It's as if they sat me down, interviewed me for two hours, and then built a laptop based on their findings.
The little eraserhead pointer that everyone hates I wish I had on all my keyboards. I can use the mouse without taking my hands of the home row and my wrist isn't clicking an annoying trackpad all the time.
But it's more than that. They had the build quality, top tier LCD tech at the time, great bleeding edge hardware (first laptop with a mobile Pentium III for example), and stellar support. I had video hardware on one go tits up and IBM sent a tech to my workplace the next day who replaced my lappy's mainboard. I lost maybe 5 hours of productivity to my primary dev machine going out. That's not bad, actually.
The only real achilles heel they had were the HDDs - the "IBM DeskDeathStar" drives. Most were good, but they had a run of them that were just junk - but it was a misstep from a company that was usually pretty reliable about quality. The situation stood out for being the exception to the rule.
Then they sold everything to Lenovo. I haven't touched Lenovo machines. How's the build quality?
Are there laptops that have supplanted the thinkpad's former niche at the high end**?
Especially with those little pointing nubs. Love them.
** non-gaming
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
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I'm completely fan of hp elitebook.
Unfortunately for you, no little pointing nubs 
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I won't buy HP. Too many bad experiences.
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
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They're OK, but I'll stick with Dell and Microsoft Surface laptops.
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Hmmm. I've had dell laptops before. I wasn't super impressed. It felt like driving a toyota. Standard trackpad, standard screen, standard keyboard. Stock upper mid shelf CPU.
Nothing to really hate about them (except the trackpad), but nothing I loved either.
I'm looking for something... sportier? I want to fall in love with it.
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
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honey the codewitch wrote: I'm looking for something... sportier? I want to fall in love with it.
Well, take a look at Alienware then.
Just like Lexus is made by Toyota, Alienware is made by Dell.
On a different note, while some manufacturers indeed only make junk, most have different lines aiming for different customers.
Dell and Lenovo both makes junk less good computers, while both also make good stuff.
I've personally have had VERY good experience with Dell Latitude, but they also produce junk I'm afraid.
The lineup from Dell goes like:
AlienWare -> Gaming, Performance, big and heavy
Precision -> Workstations, Performance, almost as big and heavy
XPS -> small and Light
Latitude -> Business, long lasting, compromise on everything except price
Inspiron -> Cheap
Vostro -> Garbage
G Series -> Dunno, have to check them out
I have no clue what the current lineup from Lenovo is I'm afraid
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Just supplementing this post, Dell has a Precision that is a business class XPS. I believe it is the 5000 series Precision.
The G Series was an evolution of their Inspiron gaming series, and both were pretty solid (I've had my Inspiron gaming laptop for 7 years now). However, last years G series were plagued with all sorts of issues and would not recommend purchasing.
@Honey the codewitch if you want a good Dell laptop go with the XPS or the Precision equivalent if you need the extra business features.
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Dell is better than Lenovo, my experience...
diligent hands rule....
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I just got done telling someone else my experience with Dell laptops was totally middle of the road.
I compared it to driving a toyota. Reliable, but reliably boring. I don't know exactly what I'm looking for in a laptop, but I'll know it when i see it. I'm being difficult, I know.
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
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please share with us what you finally get ...
diligent hands rule....
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I will. It might be awhile. I like to start looking and doing research well ahead of when I buy so I'm all caught up on the latest stuff when I'm ready. I'm also not in a huge hurry, since I don't have a pressing need for it. It would just be nice.
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
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I've been an Asus Zenbook fan for years. The oldest one I still have went on countless boats, cranes and excavators, accompanied an 11 years old to school for 6 months (that was rough!) and is still kicking. Now it's enjoying its retirement talking only occasionally to a 3D printer and doing light duties around the house.
The latest one is still a respectable 3 years old but still very snappy and stylish. Love it to bits (and bytes).
Mircea
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Yeah, I'd consider ASUS if build quality was all I was looking for. My biggest stumbling block is trackpads. I can't bear them and would much prefer a laptop that didn't have one that I'd just disable anyway.
Anyway, I'll take a look at them.
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
modified yesterday.
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I can’t stand trackpads either. My wife likes them but she seldom uses her laptop. Myself I prefer to use a trackball. I use the Logitech MX Ergo.
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Thanks for making me look at ASUS again.
Asus ProArt Studio Book[^]
OLED 16" - Nice!
12th gen core i7 mobile
Onboard graphics that don't totally suck.
Shame about the trackpad, but that's the only thing I don't like so far, and expect I'm probably going to wind up having to settle for disabling it on whatever i end up getting.
Thanks again!
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
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honey the codewitch wrote: Shame about the trackpad,
Sometimes one has to go with the times. Many moons ago I had laptops that had a trackball instead of a trackpad. I used to love them: accurate, small no accidental movement. I might have been the only one or they were not economical to build because they disappeared and I had to learn to live with the trackpads. Well, times, they are 'achanging.
honey the codewitch wrote: Thanks for making me look at ASUS again
One is glad to be of service 
Mircea
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Back before Microsoft made it easy to disable the trackpad via settings, I would tape a piece of thin cardboard over the trackpad.
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https://psrefstuff.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/i_pdf/ThinkPad.pdf
u can download the spec sheet , if you are looking for a high end workstation you can go for P series , on the move x series or t series...... they are still the goat or beef... then there is the dell precision
hp you need to really compare with the rest....
Caveat Emptor.
"Progress doesn't come from early risers – progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things." Lazarus Long
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I had a precision. Didn't love it. My only issue with spending this kind of money on a Lenovo is I don't know what I'm getting. For example, I've bought ASUS products for years. I've had one bad product - a poorly designed netbook from them, but their build quality (even on that device) has always been at least respectable.
Lenovo is kind of an unknown quantity for me, and the spec sheet won't tell me if they use good (japanese maybe) capacitors in their boards for example. Not that I'm looking for that kind of detail. More I'm looking for people's organic experiences with them. Did they hold up? Did the hinges wear out? Was their anything about them you hated? That sort of thing. Spec sheets are kind of short on that information.
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
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well they don't charge money simply ... u get what you pay for ...also they have a three year warranty etc for dell i think you may have to check ..in case of issues there is solutions... you can check youtube they have reviews and teardowns and how to upgrade etc....... asus you can go for the gaming rouge series or so which may match the menioned.................. hinges etc dont wear out if you dont close and open etc..too much... mobileworkstation are u just put it on the desk connect to monitors and forget it......
Caveat Emptor.
"Progress doesn't come from early risers – progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things." Lazarus Long
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I currently have 2 Lenovo Legion Laptops. I love them. I am slowly replacing everything HP I had with Lenovo. Granted I don't get the low end machines though. Both of my laptops are the Legions. They seem to hold up as good as any dell. The only gripe I had is that I had to get a new power cord (my fault) for one of them, and it was difficult to get it ordered correctly without talking to a salesperson from Lenovo website.
You can always ask at MicroCenter. They have a customer service chat and they are generally pretty honest.
( https://www.microcenter.com )
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Hmmm. everywhere I need to go with something like a laptop there's a TV to plug into, and this is primarily for taking to my sister's place. Being able to game a little wouldn't hurt.
I'll definitely consider it. Thanks. Very outside the box solution to my overarching problem. I like it. 
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
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Honestly Hun, They're all Chinese junk. Take your pick.
Except HP they suck even more.
We prefer Asus or Acer. They seem to care at least a little.
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Yeah ASUS has done pretty well by me. I'd consider their laptops if all I was looking at was build quality, but their lineup didn't impress me when I looked before, although someone here just had me look again and they've got some "Pro Art" laptops for creators - like graphic designers and CAD users, with a big OLED screen and nasty processor, plus a half respectable video card for a laptop.
Kinda pricey for the specs, but that's probably because of the screen. It's on my short list though.
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
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