HP

by Frankftw - 4/27/12 8:19 PM

In Reply to: Various models by Willy

I bought 2 HP laptops (Compaq V5000 models) in 2008 and have been cannibalizing them for parts to keep ONE usable. Screen, hinge, keyboard, microphone jack module, or one or the other failed, and the hard drives on BOTH failed. But when I bought a new Toshiba last year, the build quality is even WORSE...the lid is all plastic with no metal bezel to add strength and seems to be snapped together from two shells. I suspect none of the mass marketed units -- desktop or laptop -- have good build quality as lost cost is the most important thing these days. By the way, a desktop I built from scratch with separate better quality parts from Fry's in 2003 is still going strong with all the original parts... Maxtor hard drive, TDK CDRW drive, ECS main board, etc. although limited to Windows XP and 1 GB memory.

If you want a laptop with build quality like 20 years ago, check the Panasonic Toughbook and other "ruggedized" computers that meet Military Standard specs...but expect to pay $1500 to $3000..