What Laptop Should I Buy?

[jackcorbett]

First off, the system board of a one year plus 10 day old H.P. Pavilion dv2626 went el crapo and it took 10 days after sending the machine to the Bangkok repair center to find out that it would take nearly $400 U.S. to repair the machine, so I can add this to the original cost of ownership of 42,000 baht. Both myself and others including at least one tech here in Pattaya thinks H.P. created a lemon with this series of models so needless to say I'm royally pissed at H.P. and will not buy another laptop from this company.

My number one consideration in its replacement will be reliability with service being another prime factor. Here at the Pattaya IT center I've found a Lenovo R-61 T Thinkpad with a 120 gig hard drive at a very good price and it has a 3 year international warranty. But it's a bit of an oddball because it only has the red IBM joystick and no touchpad whatsoever. Its processor is only 1.66 ghz. (Newer models run at much greater speeds) but once again I'm looking at reliability. I'm wondering why this particular machine (has a 15 inch display) has only the joystick as nearly all Thinkpads and other Lenovo machines have both the joystick and touchpad. I am also concerned about what kind of service I'd get from Lenovo in Bangkok if I'd have to send the machine in for any reason.

I can go to Panthip in Bangkok and pick out practically any model from whatever company I want as I will soon have to make a short trip to Bangkok anyway. Or I can just buy a new laptop at the IT Center here in Pattaya. The place is loaded with Acers' Nearly every shop has them and even a shop I once bought a small Toshiba Laptop from is advising me to get an Acer because of serviceability and easy access to parts. There are a few Toshibas available in the IT center here so a Toshiba is under consideration. Hewlett Packard and Compaq are out of the question. The number one tech in the shop I do the most business with is very high on Asus but I'd have to go to Pantip to get one or have to order one. This tech claims the motherboards are quite strong.

Still, the idea of the very ugy Lenovo Thinkpad is most appealing with its 3 year warranty (the 1 year warranty of the 43,000 baht H.P. Pavilion together with the notebooks overheating sure let me down) as in some quarters at least Leonovo's have a great reputation for reliability and their keyboards are the best. I just wonder if the 3 year warranty is so much hype and when you have to send the machine in it will take weeks to get it back.

[monty]

The Acers come standard with a 1 year warranty, but for (I think) 3,500 Baht you can get the extended warranty/insurance. This brings the warranty up to 3 years, and you have damage/theft insurance as well. Drop it on the floor and they'll repair/replace.

This obviously adds to the price but probably still cheaper then the Lenovo at similar specs.

Acers are not really the best laptop's around, but as the people in the shops say, the level of customer service and availability of parts makes it an outstanding choice. And you have a huge offering of models so you can get the exact model fitting your needs/budget.

Even after the warranty, because there are so many of them around, all the techs can work on them, and they have heaps of new/second hand spare parts available to inject some new life at reasonable prices!

[Pomthai]

Hi, my personal recommendation would be Toshiba, I bought one of those massive 17inch ones when they first came out about 4 years ago, excellent sound 3.4 gig desktop processor and added an extra gig of ram so it gave me 2 gigs.

I did kill it but it was entirely my fault, I was messing with overclocking the Nvidia FX5700 G-Card on it and fried it playing Need For Speed Carbon. It played very well BTW for about 40 mins but then froze and the graphics card is now dead, smoke was pouring out of the vents and a very bad smell. It still boots up and runs the display in VGA mode which is Microsoft software graphics driver. The unfortunate thing is, it will only do 1024x768 res unlike the original native resolution of 1440X900.

But since it still runs and the problem was no-ones fault except my own I remain very impressed with Toshiba.

Remember also that this is a 4 year old machine still running Vista very very well even without a graphics card.

Cheers.

Edited December 17, 2008 by Pomthai

[jackcorbett]

Hi, my personal recommendation would be Toshiba, I bought one of those massive 17inch ones when they first came out about 4 years ago, excellent sound 3.4 gig desktop processor and added an extra gig of ram so it gave me 2 gigs.

I did kill it but it was entirely my fault, I was messing with overclocking the Nvidia FX5700 G-Card on it and fried it playing Need For Speed Carbon. It played very well BTW for about 40 mins but then froze and the graphics card is now dead, smoke was pouring out of the vents and a very bad smell. It still boots up and runs the display in VGA mode which is Microsoft software graphics driver. The unfortunate thing is, it will only do 1024x768 res unlike the original native resolution of 1440X900.

But since it still runs and the problem was no-ones fault except my own I remain very impressed with Toshiba.

Remember also that this is a 4 year old machine still running Vista very very well even without a graphics card.

Cheers.

For what it is worth, I had bought a very modestly priced and equipped Toshiba Satelite from the same Pattaya shop at the Tuk com it center over a year ago but that was an interim solution and I wound up buying the Hewlett Packard dv tx 2626 at Pantip in Bangkok for its replacement. Which I paid around 43,000 baht for. However, it was the best equipped laptop in the entire place sporting then a standard 250 gig hard drive, a fast processor, and 2 gig of memory. The fact that it came already running Vista did not appeal to me because I felt Vista would wipe out much of the advantage of the extra 1 gig of ram.

But as soon as I took my H.P. notebook to the large shop on the top floor of the Tuk Com IT center I had figured out it had suffered major hardware damage. The leading tech at first thought the problem was software related but he quickly agreed with me. He suggested system board failure to me as his first guess what the problem was and off the cuff this tech thought I might wind up paying around 10,000 baht. I went two floors down to the shop that had sold me the little Toshiba and asked about Toshibas from the man I had bought the little Satelite from. This tech who I also have a lot of confidence in, suggested that i'd be much better with Acer and that his shop was now selling primarily Acers' It was at a third shop I had not done any business at all with whose owner suggested to me that he sends fewer Toshibas back for repair than the Acers he handles. Once I got the final word that my system board had taken a big dump I went down to this 3rd shop to once again check out the owner's Toshibas when I spied the Lenovo Thinkpad R61 T off in a corner of his shop with a price tag of just 20,000 baht.

So I'm listeing to you guys loud and clear when you tell me about the service and parts availability of the Acers here in Thailand. But both Toshiba and Lenovo are in the running. I would think after I get the H.P. Pavilion back that the 250 gig hard drive can be taken out and put in a Toshiba or Acer and possibly the memory chips as well. But for the most part I'm thinking of sending the rest of the Pavilion up to Chiang Mai where it can better be used to help heating a family's home during the winter there.

[jackcorbett]

Here's an update re the Hewlett Packard dv 2626 notebook I sent off to the Bangkok repair center. So, while I am extremely upset with Hewlett Packard for apparently buying el cheapo parts for at least this model of laptop and for faulty standards of workmanship (see my link to the blog at the end with accompanying videos, having full knowledge that its put a real lemon in the hands of its customers, then trying to rip them off for expensive repairs and want as large an audience as possible to know about it, my experience with the two shops at Tuk Com in Pattaya has been quite good and I've felt the two techs I've dealt with at both shops have high integrity and are most capable.

Here's an update on my problems with the Pavilion dv 2626 after my last post.

in a Hewlett Packard Support Forum I found someone who had the exact same problem I've had with the exact same model. Here's my reply to him.

"You have the same problem I've had.

But first off, I now reside permanently in Pattaya, Thailand. I bought my Pavilion dv 2626 in Bangkok a little more than one year ago at a huge computer mall, Pantip. Normally I buy all computers and computer related items here in Pattaya at a smaller computer mall called Tuk.com which is roughly 2 hours from Bangkok. When I bought my 2626 in Bangkok it was the most beautiful, latest and greatest thing going, at that time the only laptop model offering a standard 250 gig hard drive with 2 gig of memory. Wanting the power, I paid substantially more than I would have from other companies---around 44000 baht which is aabout $1300 U.S.

One thing I had always noticed about this laptop is it seemed to run very hot. And then about three weeks ago when I rebooted my machine it exhibited the little mini screens on the display. There were horizontal lines in the display that had never been there before. In short order the machine would refuse to boot up as it would turn black and suddenly freeze. I tried everything. I even had a recent backup on an external drive on which I had backed up the entire system and data. That didn't work either.

So, I took the machine in to the shop I do the most business with at Tuk Com here in Pattaya and had this shop's number one technician look at it. He soon agreed with me that the problem was not software. It was hardware and although he was not sure he felt the system board had gone out. So we sent the notebook to the Hewlett Packard repair center in Bangkok. The deal was I would have to pay 1000 baht for an estimate and then it would be up to me to decide whether or not to have it repaired. Two weeks later, with no word from HP's repair center Manop (the top tech I deal with at this first Tuk Com shop called the Bangkok Repair Center. To get the machine repairs I'd have to pay 12437 baht which is about $375.00 U.S. And Manop was right. It was the system board.

In the meantime, having lost confidence in HP's laptops I started looking for a replacement laptop. So I went into a shop (Pattaya4U) I had bought a Toshiba notebook from two floors down from the large shop Manop worked for because there's a technician there who I have a lot of confidence in as well. This technican told me that a number of Pavilion 2626's and similar laptops had come into his shop for repair and they had exhibited the same display problems--failure to boot that mine had shown. This technician told me that H.P. had sold a lot of very problem prone laptops and that my model was a lemon. I bought an Acer from this shop for around half what I had paid for my Pavilion 2626 and it has similar specs. The technician at this shop told me that when I got my H.P. back from the Bangkok repair center that he'd like to take a look at it--that there was a good chance he could repair the system board.

Three weeks after sending my dv 2626 into the Bangkok repair center it came back to Manop's shop and I paid this shop 1000 baht after which I promptly went to the 2nd shop and gave it to the techician I was dealing with there. He told me he could repair my machine. I then went back to my condo and just two hours later the technician called me. My laptop was ready to be picked up. When I got back to this shop I asked the tech to show me exactly what had gone wrong with my dv 2626 and what he had done to it to repair it. Well, this must be the only full notebook repair shop in that entire Tukcom building. We went into the back area where the tech pointed out a repairman. The two men showed me a system board this repairman was working on. He was soldering a chip into that board and then they showed me the chip they had taken out of my system board. This was a graphics chip, part of the chipset that had been put on my system board.

I then asked this tech about my laptop running hot. He pointed to a small shop right across from his, so I just left my laptop with him and checked out a little plastic device that one puts a laptop on. It has a small fan that runs off the USB of a laptop. I yelled across to the tech I had been dealing with and he said to me that this device would help a little. Meaning not much. The woman at this little shop also had the large H.P. replacement battery that is known to give the 2626 more than half the battery life for around $150 U.S. This battery also props up the rear part of the notebook thus allowing more air to circulate underneath. I nearly bought the battery, but when I went back to ask the tech about it, he told me that his shop's replacement of the graphics chip that had gone bad would probably be good for several months and then he shrugged his shoulders and said to me, "Who knows after that. If you have the Bangkok repair center replace your motherboard, there's a very good chance it would go bad after a few months. He advised me not to invest $150 in a larger battery for a notebook that has a proven History of being very unreliable.

The last 24 hours I've been restoring my programs and data on the H.P. Pavilion 2626. It seems to be working just fine now. It is a beautiful machine and seems much more substantial than the Acer I have recently bought. But there you have it. Two, not just one. But two technicians at two different computer shops have told me they have little confidence in the reliability of this particular series of H.P. notebooks. I have a high regard for the ability and integrity of both of these technicians. I love the look, the feel and the attention to detail to the exterior appearance of my H.P. Pavilion 2626. Unfortunately I have little confidence in its reliability or in H.P's support of its customers. Mine lasted just 1 year and 10 days, just in time for the warranty to expire. I believe H.P. knew it had created an entire series of lemons (with pretty faces) and apparently feels that a pretty face and a rotten heart is good enough for HP."

But there was a link I uncovered as soon as I replied to the customer's post. When you go to this link Big problems with H.P. graphics chip sets you will probably determine just as I have that what the two Tuk Com technicians told me about weak motherboards in many of the H.P. Pavilion model laptops is more than justified. It's nearly unbelievable that such magazines as P.C. Magazine, P.C. World, ZDnet, and Computer Shopper will rate these computers so highly just because they offer a lot of power for their size, are pretty to look at and so on. Apparently when it comes to their innards, they are junk. The second video by the way shows exactly what my display started to act like so my dismal experience with the H.P. Pavilion is apparently normal.

[MJP]

I've got an HP Pavilion DV9000 with T7300 chip. Useless <deleted>' thing. Sparks out after about 5 mins of being on. Fan goes mental then 'ping' - dead.

Something to do with the NVIDIA board . . . blah blah blah.

I also run a DV2799ea. 14" screen, T9300 with 4GB RAM. Genius bit of kit. No problems, fast and light and easy to carry about.

Since you're no fan of HP . . . can you get a Dell?

[britmaveric]

Had bad luck with both Compaq and Toshiba.

No issues with primary Asus G1, Everex Mini or Acer Aspire netbook.

[zzdocxx]

Strangely the page about the HP problems is suddenly missing today, it was there yesterday.

? ? ? ? ?

[Familyonthemove]

I've used Dell computers at work for year .... as does the rest of the company .... and they seem to be bulletproof. Buying direct from Dell Thailand is a hassle and they are over-priced, but Dell laptops in Panthip look good value. An XPS 1330 R for around 35,000 THB. The same model is also available in Powerbuys, but for 38,000 THB.

I've heard mixed views on Acer .... we have one Acer laptop but the only problems have all been due to Vista, which is unstable.

[torrenova]

I went through this at he end of last year. I wanted a low to mid price machine but the price I was prepared to pay was solely dependent upon what I considered value for money. I wasn't going to pay 100k though but was prepared in the wide range of 20-40k as such.

Then you get the quality of product as well as the specification issues. Some have real bad times whilst others cannot praise the same or similar models and makes too highly. Acer seems to be very popular and some people say Dell is good, others say they are rubbish. I have HP / Compaq desktops with no issues except a bit long in the tooth but I could not reach an acceptable quality / spec / price with HP. I liked the Toshiba and really should have just bought the one I saw in London when there in August but they changed specs, as did Acer on the one I wanted so I was thrown back to square one.

What frightens me more than anything is getting a dud and having no customer back up. In the west and even in Japan, you can have a go at the shop if you get a dud. Here, you are at the behest of the manufacturer as most shops are little Somchai efforts. Now if BigC or Carrefour sold proper computers, I would have just bought one there.

[Samuian]

My number one consideration in its replacement will be reliability with service being another prime factor. Here at the Pattaya IT center I've found a Lenovo R-61 T Thinkpad with a 120 gig hard drive at a very good price and it has a 3 year international warranty. But it's a bit of an oddball because it only has the red IBM joystick and no touchpad whatsoever. Its processor is only 1.66 ghz. (Newer models run at much greater speeds) but once again I'm looking at reliability. I'm wondering why this particular machine (has a 15 inch display) has only the joystick as nearly all Thinkpads and other Lenovo machines have both the joystick and touchpad. I am also concerned about what kind of service I'd get from Lenovo in Bangkok if I'd have to send the machine in for any reason.

Still, the idea of the very ugy Lenovo Thinkpad is most appealing with its 3 year warranty (the 1 year warranty of the 43,000 baht H.P. Pavilion together with the notebooks overheating sure let me down) as in some quarters at least Leonovo's have a great reputation for reliability and their keyboards are the best. I just wonder if the 3 year warranty is so much hype and when you have to send the machine in it will take weeks to get it back.

Hi I have the earlier IBM Thinkpad model R52 use it daily for at least 4-7 hrs. the battery is getting weak now after nearly 3 years of use and no hickup, none... it's strong, sturdy and for my purpose fast enoug.

My Friend uses an ASUS, the letters on the keyboard are nearly all gone!

Acer... the keys, the mousepad, the cranky screen (top lid)sreeches on moving it into position...i Pantip plaza you have the posibility to check them out, I recommend do it, but the same time I suggest the Levono build one... and 3 years warranty give a long, long breath too!

The keyboard of the R52 still looks like on it's 1st. day! So is the overall "usage look"!

If for the looks, you want to have a reliable laptop, not something you want to marry later?!

Levono hasbuild in more safety features.... I will get another one if this one ever gives up or is simply outdated...

Edited January 2, 2009 by Samuian

[Crushdepth]

Based on our staff experience at work:

* Acer are cheap and they suck. Easy to get them serviced, but you'll be needing that warranty.

* Compaq: Unanimously voted as crap. 2 staff reported *rust* coming out of the exaust opening. They never want to see one again.

* Thinkpads: Staff are pretty happy with these, but we have had to send a couple in to get fixed. But then they cop a lot of abuse, too.

* Fujitsu: More expensive but have worked flawlessly. We haven't had to send one in for repair yet. Our preferred brand (but we prefer reliability to rock bottom price).

[Blinq]

Here's an update re the Hewlett Packard dv 2626 notebook I sent off to the Bangkok repair center.

Check out HP's support site for that model @ hxxp://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/product?product=3571675&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en〈=en&cc=us

You might be able to isolate the cause using their troubleshooting section.

As regards parts, HP has been using generic parts in all their systems since 2001. That doesn't mean to say that they're inferior to branded names since they buy in huge quantities and consequently no manufacturer is going to risk losing business by supplying defective parts.

During my stint of around 5 years on HP's tech support desk, I was very aware of the role customer feedback plays and I know they'll usually go out of their way to make sure you're satisfied at the end of the day. So if you don't get any joy with the route you're taking at the moment, don't be afraid to write a letter to the US head office. I've known customers do just that and have had their machine replaced. Make sure you send a copy of all correspondence together with repair notes when you write to them. Address on hxxp://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/contact/office_locs.html

[JetsetBkk]

...Acer are cheap and they suck. Easy to get them serviced, but you'll be needing that warranty....

I guess I'd better chuck out my 3 1/2 year old Acer then. Dammit, I never did make use of that warranty.

[britmaveric]

Own an Acer Desktop and the netbook - no issues and be honest both are quite reliable.

[Gary A]

It always amuses me when someone says a laptop is ugly. How can a computer be ugly? Are you going to use the computer or hang it on the wall to look at? Actually it's usually Apple fans telling how beautiful their computer is.

[nonthaburial]

Have used an acer here for over 4 years and had to replace hard drive 3 times inthat period, other thanthsat it worked well but i recently replaced it witrh a Dell which cost me 13K in panthip, works well and am told any warranty calls will be "house calls"

I thought Lenovo was a Chinese made computer

[JetsetBkk]

It always amuses me when someone says a laptop is ugly. How can a computer be ugly? Are you going to use the computer or hang it on the wall to look at? Actually it's usually Apple fans telling how beautiful their computer is.

The phrase "carved out of a single block of aluminium" springs to mind...

[Khun Jack]

I have seen a lot of around a two year or more old laptops with problems.

Repair costs are high if it's a not an Acer (in Thailand).

I will not comment on another brands because every series of a random manufacturer comes with design or part flaws.

When studying a schematic of a laptop, the designer notes showed that from an original design it was three times (at least) redesigned to replace higher cost parts with the cheapest parts.

[Gary A]

No way would I ever buy another laptop while living in Thailand. If I had to have one for traveling, I'd buy a cheap netbook. Most computer shop Somchais know their way around a desktop PC but they roll their eyes when they see a laptop or Apple computer. (Mai dai). I have a T43p Lenovo Thinkpad with all the bells and whistles. The mainboard died at two and a half years old. The nearest authorized repair shop was 150 kilometers away. The service was good and the repair free but it was still a hassle. A good friend of mine bought a Toshiba when I bought the Thinkpad. It had a one year warranty and died at thirteen months old.

[dekka007]

The Acer Aspire 5930g is a good choice no problems in using one for 4 months since they were first released. Great performance for gaming and blu ray etc. but a tad pricey at over 60k including vat!!

I would recommend it tho does everything fast that i throw at it including the latest games etc.

but there is one for sale in the thaivisa classifieds at a good price:

Thaivisa Classifieds - Acer Aspire 5930g

Also the Sony Vaio Z27 is very nice and ultra lightweight but at 100k dam_n expensive but great if you travel a lot and need the combination of high performance battery life and lightweight (1.5kg). The screen is probably the best I have seen on any laptop with led backlit 1600x900. Watching a Blu-ray movie on this is simply fantastic.

Edited January 5, 2009 by dekka007

[Wolfie]

I have an Asus G50V with 4GB Ram - really nice machine - had it for 4mths so far and it works like a charm, no problems, keyboard still looks great (Battery life sucks when in the performance modes, but thats to be expected considering this beast) a bit slow to boot up but once shes ready for action shes lightning fast

Mind you, the price tag will put a few people off :s

[thecottonmill]

I've used several different brands of laptop over the years but my last three have been Sony Vaios. All excellent, reliable. All pretty hot though in Thailand. Not sure why but it hasn't caused any problems as yet.

[learnthaipodcast]

I had my best experiences with Acer. I currently have a HP notebook (got it cheap) but rarely use it because my EEE 901 gets most things done and for more demanding work I use a Desktop.

The HP is decent but has lots of flashy things I just don't need and somehow the quality feels inferior to Acer. I had a Acer notebook for three years some time ago and never had a problem with it even though it was usually running 10 - 12 hours every day.

[Crushdepth]

People don't seem to talk about HP laptops much here...but there are tons on sale. Anyone got feedback on their reliability?

Maybe I spoke too soon about the Thinkpads...we killed our first one last week, but it had been a bit of a 'problem machine' since day one.

[Pib]

I've got two Toshiba laptops (A100 series) which are about 3 years old; have had zero problems with them. Bought one direct from Toshiba and it came with a 3 years warranty (they had a special warranty program going at the time and I got an extra 2 years on top of the standard 1 year warranty). Bought one from a retail store and it came with the standard 1 year warranty. The Toshiba web site does a good job in producing updates to their software, BIOS, etc. I have friends who also have Toshiba laptops and they are all pleased with them. I be a Toshiba laptop happy camper.

[jackcorbett]

People don't seem to talk about HP laptops much here...but there are tons on sale. Anyone got feedback on their reliability?

Maybe I spoke too soon about the Thinkpads...we killed our first one last week, but it had been a bit of a 'problem machine' since day one.

I will never buy another Hewlett Packard Computer. The company's Notebooks are unreliable to the extreme. And the company has screwed its customers out of hundreds of millions of dollars recently because it along with Dell and other companies put an 8400 series Nvidia graphics card in many of its notebook models. This series of chips causes the Hewlett Packard notebook to run hot and after a time the system board has to be replaced. This happened to me and I sure let Hewlett Packard's customer support know about it. The one year warranty was just over five days past its expiration date when the graphics card went schizo. I sent the notebook into H.P. in Bangkok and after not hearing from H.P. for two weeks I got a computer shop here in Pattaya call them up. The offer from H.P. customer service was it would replace my system board for 13,600 baht. The tech at the shop told me even if I replaced the system board it was likely to fail again so I paid 24,000 baht for an Acer having the same basic specs as the Hewlett Packard which I had paid about 44,000 baht for.

I then emailed H.P. Customer service and got two phone calls from them. I told the rep on the phone that I knew H.P. knew it had been putting defective graphics cards in many of their laptop models and that I knew this was a multi hundred million dollar mistake of H.P.s. I told the rep that I knew that H.P. was extending its warranties from one to two years for their Canadian customers. The rep told me H.P. would give me a 10 % discount on the repair that would have originally been 13,600 baht and I just told the rep that I wouldn't pay one cent for the repair, that I had already bought an Acer to replace it and that my shiny 44,000 baht H.P. notebook was now a useless piece of junk in my safe H.P. was quite satisfied with the level of customer service it had given me.

I just got an email from a good friend containing this article H.P.'s several hundred million dollar Nvidia graphics card mistake I have not heard again from H.P'.s worthless customer support but I will be contacting it again. I will explain that I can understand why H.P. wrote off its good will to thousands of its loyal customers as this was strictly business and that H.P. felt it was more prudent to cheat its customers out of several hundred million dollars than to make good on thousands of defective notebooks it had knowingly sold them, and that now I've made my business decision that having been cheated by H.P. to the tune of a 44,000 baht defective notebook my goal was to cost the company at least 100 times this amount in the bad publicity i could personally generate for the company. The continued existence of a company that is this disdainful of its customers can no longer be justified.