WORST manufacturer - in general and for using Linux

[greenwom]

I have had a lot of laptops and desktops in the last 5 years. I am sure a number of folks have as well.

As the "computer guy" people ask me for opinions and I try really hard to be objective, factual, and consider value.

This post is more about whats good and what to avoid, Although I'm not thrilled with my pick I'm not going to bash them. Just be factual.

All in all I've just received my HP laptop back for the fourth repair (3 or which are out of pocket repairs.) This model laptop has 2 or 3 recalls that no longer apply due to time... The customer support line was a pain to deal with and it just wasn't a pleasant experience. So they are on my no-go list for friends and family. my only HP have been the worst with Ubuntu... Lots of work-a-rounds to get a functional machine when it's not broke.

I have been a huge fan of dell, apple, asus, and acer products recently.

All three of my Dell's (2 latitudes, and a mini 9) have been tanks, sturdy. Customer service has been great! Great with Ubuntu

On a value purchase I just picked up a Gateway laptop and have yet to form a opinion, time will tell. For a brand I would never buy in the past I have been excited by it.

So vote for the worst & tell a story about it.
Then tell everyone your favorite and why

[matchett808]

My last acer was utter trash, its still running but has fallen to peices....

my current acer is golden, I think its less the manufacturer and more the model/luck, my dads hp has been going for about 8 years now, whereas my mom's (but it used to be my sisters') got a wifi card replacement as it got ubuntu (custom firmware problem with an 'obscure' chipset - easier to replace the card!) bot other than that and a dead battery its fine (she keeps it plugged in all the time anyway!! lol)

oh yeah, and my old EEE 701 has now been my server for about 4 months lol.

[Objekt]

The only portable computers I've bought in the last several years have been three Acer Aspire One netbooks.

They have been utter trash as far as hardware reliability. Two have been in for repairs once, one still has a small-but-not-quite-annoying-enough-to-pay-for-shipping malfunction. One of those two is gone, because I got a refund for it under an extended warranty, after it broke the second time. The third has a slight oddity in the touchpad buttons, but again, nothing bad enough that I can be bothered to send it in for repair or refund.

Almost miraculously, nearly all of the Aspire One hardware works under Ubuntu Netbook Remix. The sole exception is the wireless on/off slider. Some jerk at Acer decided this should be a soft switch, beholden to a component of Windows to do its job. It does absolutely nothing unless you are running Windows XP or 7 (and probably Vista, since 7 is just Vista all grown up). There is just no excuse for a supposed hardware switch to be dependent on the OS.

[greenwom]

As far as netbook specific models;
I have had the Asus Eee701, fun but not practical with the 7" screen.
I had the Dell mini 9, worked great and was a sturdy tank of a laptop but the 9" screen still gave me a few issues with designing websites or minor photo editing.

I know have the Acer Aspire 10" it has the 160 gig drive so I can have both XP and Ubuntu running (great for my Adobe products when I need them and Ubuntu the rest of the time.

Netbook remix is great on the Acer and the Dell.

[seenthelite]

I have had 3 Laptops since 2000 and have had no issues with any of these.
1. Toshiba Satellite purchased in 2000 currently running XP and Puppy.
2. Dell Inspiron 6400/E1505 purchased in 2007 currently dual boot with Vista and Mandriva 2010.
3. Toshiba Satellite P500 2 months old currently running Win 7 dual booting with Ubuntu 9.10.

I have done memory upgrades on the older boxes and the Dell has now got N wireless.

[keep you kimi]

I vote for Asus. I only have experience with asus, dell, fujitsu and toshiba.

Lesson learned for me:
Whatever you buy, extend the warranty to maximum, and make it a next biz day if possible.

In case of Asus their service sucks, not the laptops themselves. They wear too easily for me maybe.

[AlexZaim]

Acer can make a faulty laptop model (meaning that they were many!) that will shutdown in any moment and will claim no guilt for it. I'm currently using Toshiba and am satisfied with it!

[cascade9]

Are we just talking laptops here or whole systems?

Acer. I've seen some awful Acer laptops- unreliable, shoddy build quality, nasty in general. Acer desktops seem a bit better, but still not good.

As for the best of them- IBM/Lonovo make some tough laptops. The desktops arent that great. Asus makes nice shiny laptops, but the few 'bare bones' desktops I've seen have been pretty 'meh'. Toshiba just make quality laptops. In general anyway, I'm sure there are exeptions.

I try to avoid corporate boxxen. 'White box' custom builds are all I ever buy for myself, and all I reccomend for other people. Its a lot harder to even find a 'white box laptop' though it can be done, so as far as laptops go I normally say 'asus, lonovo or toshiba' depending on what the person is after, and the price range.

[Son of William]

My company used to have IBM thinkpad laptops before the line was transferred/sold to Lenovo. Three words described those laptops: heavy, slow, and crippled.

Ultimately I got a new one when the chip cooling fan failed one night when I left it on (per company rules) and the CPU heat melted the keyboard above it.

I never understood why anyone was a fan (pardon the pun) of IBM hardware.