Nondisposable laptop

My wife and I have been through several cheaper consumer netbooks and laptops in the six years since college. Last one is now on its way out. My new job next year will help me buy a nice computer so I will likely get a desktop with a large screen. In the meantime, this laptop is a heap and we need to type things occasionally so the answer is not tablet.

Suggestions? A midsize Lenovo Thinkpad (13 to 15") seems like a good option. Don't need anything fancy. I don't game, do video editing, or have a huge amount of data to store. Eventually this would likely end up a garage or backup computer. I'm willing to pay like $500 or so.

I was just gonna say, Lenovo makes the least disposable of laptops.

My Lenovo put up with 3.5 years of college abuse and probably 7 hours of use a day. It still works too, but the battery is dead and Windows Vista blows.

My Asus still works very well, but after only 2 years (less, actually) it is literally (physically) falling apart, and I would not consider myself hard on it at all.

YMMV.

I've had an Asus laptop since 2009. A RAM module failed about 2 years in and the battery finally gave out this year. No other problems. I'm very gentle on it but that's pretty good for a bargain-basement-priced laptop.

I still use my older Dell D630 laptop. I have had to replace the battery once and it's about 6 years old at this point. It's holding up nicely.

I love my Asus. Granted I paid a E36 M3load more than 500 bucks for it (Think gaming laptop money) but four+ years later and multiple multiple drops- it's still a champ.

I love my MacBook. Although they're stupid amounts of money brand-new, you can pick them up used fairly reasonably. Mine's been dropped and shipped all over the freaking globe, was used when I bought it for $600, and is an absolute workhorse.

I like the older Macbook Pro's before Apple started using a lot of proprietary fasteners and glue. So something from before 2009 or so I think.

Apple's hardware quality is good, but if something fails on them, they're often glued together and otherwise stupidly assembled so that it's impossible to fix. Also if you damage the aluminum unibody that's a serious problem.

Vs. Lenovo's laptops which also have good hardware quality and, for the cost of a few millimeters of thickness, are totally repairable and built like a brick E36 M3house.

Yah, mine's hard white plastic.

In reply to GameboyRMH:

Yeah, I'm talking about the pre-unibody ones, so I guess that's 2007. Most people wouldn't spend money to get one; I did, because I don't like the changes that came along with the unibody like gloss-only screens. Or the glue.

I'm happy with my Toshibas. They last me 5 or more years. I spent 450 on my last one, but the current ran me about 750.

I've had nothing but bad experiences with Toshibas, but all the ones I owned were from the mid-2000s.

I have had a Fujitsu for ~4 years now. It was a turd when I got it, with Vista on it, but I wiped that and put Ubuntu on there. Its been problem-free ever since. Maybe I'm just not that hard on my laptops.

If you are willing to spend $500, why not just get a desktop now instead?

my old Toshiba finally died.. it was a Pentium 2 machine that had literally been around the world. It probably just needs a new HD as it stopped booting.. but damn is it slow

I am currently running an HP Pavilion Chromebook and have no complaints. For the $300 price tag, it does everything I want on a big screen with good battery life. It's not something I would be comfortable abusing, but I expect it to last a long time.

Lesley wrote: I love my MacBook. Although they're stupid amounts of money brand-new, you can pick them up used fairly reasonably. Mine's been dropped and shipped all over the freaking globe, was used when I bought it for $600, and is an absolute workhorse.

Macbook air, 100,000+ air miles on my first one and still working like a champ.

I have no real input on good ones, only on all the bad ones I have owned. Two acers, first lasted 5 years (with one fan replacement) before the screen separated from the body. The second was a netbook for my wife. That pile didn't make it a year and a half before some main board failure killed it. Current HP is still running but the case started breaking days after purchase. I would consider anything business grade as a possibility. Friends Lenovo is ancient and still chugging along. Buddy has an aluminum case HP that seemed like it might last a while.

My HP running Vista is ~5 years old and all the hardware is still going strong, even though Vista blows goats. My mom hasn't touched her ~3 year old Dell running Win 7 in at least a year and a half (she does everything she wants on an iPad) so she gave it to me. Took me a full afternoon to get all the ad malware off of it ( she will click on ANYTHING ) but now it works fine.

My kid murdered her Compaq in 4 years by using it on soft surfaces, thus blocking the cooling vents. I know of at least 5 times it shut down because of that, of course that's only the times I know about.

My wife threw our Dell Lowlineeron down the stairs and I went to fix the screen and some other stuff. Can you believe that they not only sold replacement parts at reasonable prices, but also had step-by-step color instructions? The batteries don't last long on it, but otherwise it's been fine.

I've done the laptop thing, and IMO the right answer is tablet + desktop. Price is a wash, and each is better at what it does well than a laptop is at either.

^That's how I feel about tablets, instead I use a smartphone + laptop. I have a desktop but it's just for gaming.

This is starting to sound familiar...

DILYSI Dave wrote: I've done the all season tire thing, and IMO the right answer is summer + snows. Price is a wash, and each is better at what it does well than all seasons are at either.

My Thinkpad is 7 years old and I'm finally considering upgrading. Guess what I'm replacing it with? If you said another Thinkpad, you're a winner!

No desktop for now, I'll probably move twice in the next year and a half and would prefer to wait and get something nice with a giant display when my job subsidizes it.

I just want a decent laptop that will last a long time without the plastic parts all breaking and the screen and keyboard getting wonky.

There seem to be a lot of gripes about the current think pads like the T430. Any input from owners?