Ross Henderson said:
I have been buying laptops for our company since 1999. I think we have been through most of the major ones. I question your personal experience. Not suggesting you may not have actually experienced issues, but you may just be a victim of laptop technology. Personally I am happy when we get three years of heavy use from them. Here is what I have experienced:
Apple: Only have constituted 20-25% of our total at any given time. We have only purchased 1 Pro since the move to Intel. The others are all Powerbooks. We replaced 1 hard drive, 1 screen and scrapped 1 for physical damage. We did not have any Apple before that.
IBM Thinkpad: Reliability was pretty good actually. Ergonomics were not popular and for some reason performance was always sluggish. Deviations from the 'standard package' left one vulnerable to predatory pricing. Users did not like them.
Toshiba: These were the first machine we purchased and they seemed fine until the honeymoon was over. They had a myriad of issues after 18-24 months. Others have told me they have since had good luck. ??
Compaq: Yuk
HP: I thought I found a great machine with the HP's. Indeed, they were snappy, seemed well constructed, displays were crisp and bright, and we have no issues with them....for about 2 years. We bought them in 2003 and EVERY one of them is sitting on a shelf, partially (or fully) cannibalized for parts as we tried to keep some of them alive. A couple months back, two of the 'top of the line' 17" models were purchased in a sneaky way, and by someone outside of our department. They are beautiful machines. They definitely are not laptops. I would class them as portable workstations. They had many other users drooling. Today one just blew a screen. It is still under warrantee.
Dell: We have been purchasing Dells (for Window users) for the past 3 years. I hate to say it, but they have not been too bad. Performance is good and the reliability has been too. That allows for some keys following off, mid-poor battery performance, etc (some of the things the Macs are getting dinged for here). The early ones were butt ugly, but even that has improved. Unfortunately, Dell fails in just about every other respect of what make doing business with a Company enjoyable. They have also started loading some BS beta software without our knowledge or approval.
Sony: We have tried these on 3 separate occasions. I do not know what to say except the users did not like them. I did not really investigate why.
In summary, I am not really a huge fan of laptops as a group. They are however an important tool for some, and a convenience for many. I would not bust on Apple though. They are as good as any others I have purchased.
