recomendations for a bullitproof laptop

citykid5

any recomendations for a realy robust well built laptop?
my acer aspire has lasted about 18 months,everythings still working but it's falling to bits.
no budget.or do you think i'd be better off going for a ipad?
only realy used to browse the web and printing

thanks all

Figment

Virtually all laptops are built to a price point, not to a quality level, so it really is a case of you get what you pay for. If you want a really good quality laptop, expect to pay in excess of £800 which brings you into the realms of MacBooks.

robmar0se

Panasonic do the I5 toughbook range at £1000+, but I don't think you mean that, you just want a lappie that is more rugged than the Acers, which are not known for their robustness.

There will be lots of suggestions but on the PC side, ignoring the above suggestion for Macbooks for a moment, both Samsung and Sony Vaio's are better built. They both do ranges starting at the sub £400 mark, but as the previous poster said, you would need to pay more for the better quality. (most lappies apart from the Panasonics will break though if you drop them, etc). For example look at the Samsung Series 6 600B5B...

Notmyrealname

citykid5 wrote: »

any recomendations for a realy robust well built laptop?
my acer aspire has lasted about 18 months,everythings still working but it's falling to bits.
no budget.or do you think i'd be better off going for a ipad?
only realy used to browse the web and printing

thanks all

Macbook Pro.

Lenovo Thinkpad T or X series.

Dell Latitude

Toshiba Portege

In short, business class laptops or Macbook Pro. They'll have lower RAM and smaller hard drives than the crap you find in PC World and they'll be more than two times the price, typically starting from around £800.

There's a reason the shiny crap in PC World is stuffed full of RAM with big hard drives and that is because RAM, larger hard drives and shiny plastic is far cheaper than alloy chassis, putting metal plates behind the screen, good quality hinges and batteries that'll last 3+ years with no problem.

citykid5

wow.thanks all.will be looking to buy some kind of pro laptop,may try searching for secound hand?

GunJack

Look on ebay for IBM (Lenovo) Thinkpad T41, T42, T43 series... these are about as physically as bulletproof as you can get without looking at Toughbooks. Slightly older, and lower spec, but for your stated useage, a good Thinkpad will outlast almost anything else....and there's always every spare under the sun available for them.

Skeenfleent

GunJack wrote: »

Look on ebay for IBM (Lenovo) Thinkpad T41, T42, T43 series... these are about as physically as bulletproof as you can get without looking at Toughbooks. Slightly older, and lower spec, but for your stated useage, a good Thinkpad will outlast almost anything else....and there's always every spare under the sun available for them.

So they aren't as thin and pliable as the T40 then? You know, the one with the flexible motherboard and severe chip-creep on the onboard video card as a result of how thin the construction is? I think they are, just not quite as bad as the T40. Google it for yourself, but "as bulletproof as you can get"? Interesting... you're right about the spares and most stuff though, and IBM / Lenovo are generally worth a shout when after quality. Toshiba was my next guess.

GunJack

Skeenfleent wrote: »

So they aren't as thin and pliable as the T40 then? You know, the one with the flexible motherboard and severe chip-creep on the onboard video card as a result of how thin the construction is? I think they are, just not quite as bad as the T40. Google it for yourself, but "as bulletproof as you can get"? Interesting... you're right about the spares and most stuff though, and IBM / Lenovo are generally worth a shout when after quality. Toshiba was my next guess.

Hmmm...the T40 somehow didn't seem to be as well constructed as the 41+, and that's after having looked after many T-series lappys. Hence I didn't list it, or the R-series for that matter.

I still stand by my statement of being PHYSICALLY as good as it gets without getting a Toughbook....which is overkill for domestic use

david29dpo

Apple powerBook bought early 2004, still going strong.

smos585

May I express surprise that some regulars are proposing Toshiba ahead of Vaio and Samsung Laptops which IMO are the better made laptops along with macbooks? I am referring to new rather than 2ndhand (although Sony/Samsung 2nd hand laptops are also better built than most laptops sold by PCW etc)

paddyrg

Secondhand from £200 http://compare.ebay.co.uk/like/160784548480?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar&cbt=y

Not the most powerful, but you can be sure it'll survive a weekend paintballing. Or new, most proper manufacturers have a ruggedised/military line -

http://www.panasonic.com/business/toughbook/laptop-computers.asp

http://www.rugged-systems.com/c/portables.htm

http://www.mildef.co.uk/web/Products/Notebook-0134.aspx