Hi, Guest
Just throwing out there, Asus has the best standard warranty of any manufacturer.
all laptops come with a 2 year warranty. the first year's warranty is like a premium package type of warranty too, check into it. 2nd year is just a regular warranty, nothing special other than being a full additional year of coverage vs. anyone else...
on that note;
I will never buy HP, Dell or Acer or even Gateway. Ever.
HP i've had a bias against since I was a kid... all I can remember about them is how much they suck lol
Dell; I've had 2 leases on Dell laptops. I'll start by saying my warranty included accidental and at-fault damage. I'll then continue to say that the D600 I had was a design failure. We had hundreds of them in high school and although yes, they did go through quite a bit of abuse, they sucked in general. I'll explain; the screen hinges were mounted to the motherboard and chassis with no reinforcement. A teacher flipped a student's screen back and it snapped entirely off.
Keyboards, you'd open them and the keys would fall off. I once leaned onto my laptop while it was on my lap but with nothing in the 2ndary bay (either battery or cd burner, they were swappable it was awesome). I pressed the laptop down on my knee to the point where the insides of my laptop were bent and the keyboard was pushed up/bent into the screen. Absolutely NO reinforcement.
The palm rest had no reinforcement underneath it, you could pinch the hard drive with a minimal amount if you pressed down just a bit on it.
USB ports were frequently breaking off, chassis' were losing their paint, screens were snapping off, keyboards breaking, buttons under the touchpad would stop working, harddrives were constantly getting damaged (no shock absorption capabilities, at all), the batteries all went to hell after a year too but that from what I gather is average. the motherboards also were awful to the point where dell dispatched a workforce to come by the school and every laptop underwent a motherboard replacement with a new updated model.
Next laptop, 2 years after I got that one was a D610. Admittingly, much much better. Dell learned from their mistakes but they still weren't all the way there yet. Chassis were a bit more reinforced but still weak. As before, the hinges for the screen were garbage and constantly kept coming loose, hard drive failures, etc. I wouldn't buy one expecting it to last more than maybe a year and a half without it finally becoming too broken to use. D600 and D610 were same chassis, btw.
Dell's warranty was great though, it was through my school but essentially overnight shipping on all parts, they'd dispatch a repairman if the case necessitated one. Our school had employed a 'help desk' for IT services that took care of it for students.
Funny enough, my step dad has a D600 after all this time and his is somewhat decent. Still feels like a cheap laptop though and it's got a loose screen.
Next laptop I had was a Lenovo Thinkpad. By far the most solid laptop I've owned. Titanium reinforced screens from what I remember. Hard plastic chassis, reinforced I'm sure (if not, it was stronger than the Dells were, after the recall and the subsequent redesign).
Also, Alienware was bought out by Dell.. if you buy alienware, it's a Dell!
My step dad also had an acer, that laptop lasted a year before it shattered. Mobo started crapping out (stopped registering the wireless card, which ironically made it into my step dad's D600), wasn't registering ram properly... mouse button under touchpad only worked if u pressed on a certain corner, in a certain spot otherwise it didn't click and register. kinda cheap chassis too tbh.
i was not impressed at all with the build quality. the buttons on the front seemed really cheap too. neat cause of the lights in them, but cheap and flimsy. dunno bout the hinges on this comp.
Gateway: my brother was bought a 1000$+ gateway laptop for christmas from our uncle because he didn't have a laptop (hell of a gift!). couple years later, if not a year later and he dealt with it ever since, the screen would fuzz out. you'd hafta hold the screen in a certain position for it to work. Otherwise, wires would cross or something and it'd throw everything off. you'd have to get the screen sitting juuuuuust right else, no dice.
the three companies Ive mentioned are all 2nd tier brands for a reason. I must admit, I'm not sure how my Asus will hold up in the long run but it'll either hold up to my use or it'll fall apart.
Dell's couldn't hang. Lenovo Thinkpad's did. I had one for 2 years and another for a half a year. The only repair I ever needed was to replace a worn out battery 1 1/2 years into the lease. Oh, and I'd carry it by the screen etc.
I wouldn't hesitate to grab a Lenovo by the screen but with Dell i'd be afraid I'm twisting some part of the chassis or component. Again, I don't know about my asus but a month old and it's holding up alright.
and for 700$, I doubt anything you'll find won't be outdated within 6 months.
all laptops come with a 2 year warranty. the first year's warranty is like a premium package type of warranty too, check into it. 2nd year is just a regular warranty, nothing special other than being a full additional year of coverage vs. anyone else...
on that note;
I will never buy HP, Dell or Acer or even Gateway. Ever.
HP i've had a bias against since I was a kid... all I can remember about them is how much they suck lol
Dell; I've had 2 leases on Dell laptops. I'll start by saying my warranty included accidental and at-fault damage. I'll then continue to say that the D600 I had was a design failure. We had hundreds of them in high school and although yes, they did go through quite a bit of abuse, they sucked in general. I'll explain; the screen hinges were mounted to the motherboard and chassis with no reinforcement. A teacher flipped a student's screen back and it snapped entirely off.
Keyboards, you'd open them and the keys would fall off. I once leaned onto my laptop while it was on my lap but with nothing in the 2ndary bay (either battery or cd burner, they were swappable it was awesome). I pressed the laptop down on my knee to the point where the insides of my laptop were bent and the keyboard was pushed up/bent into the screen. Absolutely NO reinforcement.
The palm rest had no reinforcement underneath it, you could pinch the hard drive with a minimal amount if you pressed down just a bit on it.
USB ports were frequently breaking off, chassis' were losing their paint, screens were snapping off, keyboards breaking, buttons under the touchpad would stop working, harddrives were constantly getting damaged (no shock absorption capabilities, at all), the batteries all went to hell after a year too but that from what I gather is average. the motherboards also were awful to the point where dell dispatched a workforce to come by the school and every laptop underwent a motherboard replacement with a new updated model.
Next laptop, 2 years after I got that one was a D610. Admittingly, much much better. Dell learned from their mistakes but they still weren't all the way there yet. Chassis were a bit more reinforced but still weak. As before, the hinges for the screen were garbage and constantly kept coming loose, hard drive failures, etc. I wouldn't buy one expecting it to last more than maybe a year and a half without it finally becoming too broken to use. D600 and D610 were same chassis, btw.
Dell's warranty was great though, it was through my school but essentially overnight shipping on all parts, they'd dispatch a repairman if the case necessitated one. Our school had employed a 'help desk' for IT services that took care of it for students.
Funny enough, my step dad has a D600 after all this time and his is somewhat decent. Still feels like a cheap laptop though and it's got a loose screen.
Next laptop I had was a Lenovo Thinkpad. By far the most solid laptop I've owned. Titanium reinforced screens from what I remember. Hard plastic chassis, reinforced I'm sure (if not, it was stronger than the Dells were, after the recall and the subsequent redesign).
Also, Alienware was bought out by Dell.. if you buy alienware, it's a Dell!
My step dad also had an acer, that laptop lasted a year before it shattered. Mobo started crapping out (stopped registering the wireless card, which ironically made it into my step dad's D600), wasn't registering ram properly... mouse button under touchpad only worked if u pressed on a certain corner, in a certain spot otherwise it didn't click and register. kinda cheap chassis too tbh.
i was not impressed at all with the build quality. the buttons on the front seemed really cheap too. neat cause of the lights in them, but cheap and flimsy. dunno bout the hinges on this comp.
Gateway: my brother was bought a 1000$+ gateway laptop for christmas from our uncle because he didn't have a laptop (hell of a gift!). couple years later, if not a year later and he dealt with it ever since, the screen would fuzz out. you'd hafta hold the screen in a certain position for it to work. Otherwise, wires would cross or something and it'd throw everything off. you'd have to get the screen sitting juuuuuust right else, no dice.
the three companies Ive mentioned are all 2nd tier brands for a reason. I must admit, I'm not sure how my Asus will hold up in the long run but it'll either hold up to my use or it'll fall apart.
Dell's couldn't hang. Lenovo Thinkpad's did. I had one for 2 years and another for a half a year. The only repair I ever needed was to replace a worn out battery 1 1/2 years into the lease. Oh, and I'd carry it by the screen etc.
I wouldn't hesitate to grab a Lenovo by the screen but with Dell i'd be afraid I'm twisting some part of the chassis or component. Again, I don't know about my asus but a month old and it's holding up alright.
and for 700$, I doubt anything you'll find won't be outdated within 6 months.
2003 Focus ZX5 Racecar/Perma broke/Storage
2011 Volkswagen Jetta Daily Driver
2011 Volkswagen Jetta Daily Driver