9 ms·

Just had the (dis)pleasure of working on a Toshiba laptop. And now i get to tell the customer to check their battery. I'll no longer recommend that brand!

voltagex_ 11y ago
There are very few brands I can recommend anymore. For me? Filter by "does this laptop have the service manual available officially from the manufacturers site?". That instantly gets me down to Dell and Lenovo (AFAICT). Everyone else? Unless they need to run Windows I tell them to get a Macbook, with the AppleCare warranty if they're in a country without consumer protection.
- woodman 11y ago
  For laptops I stick to Lenovo T-series and Panasonic Toughbooks, I've found both to be very amenable to end user hardware modification. I don't run Windows, so unless the manufacturer does something crazy with IME or UEFI - I'm not worried about spyware.
  - newjersey 11y ago
    Does the BIOS have a whitelist of approved parts such as WiFi modules on the think side? I have a consumer grade lenovo and I'd not recommend it to anyone.
    - fpoling 11y ago
      I second that. Once I had a ThinkPad where under Linux WiFi performed terribly and I could not replace WiFi card to one known to work reliably due to that BIOS whitelist. So I used USB WiFi dongle. So much or user-serviceable hardware.
    - vinay427 11y ago
      Supposedly this is no longer the case as of the previous generation (T450*, X250, etc.). http://blog.lenovo.com/en/blog/introducing-our-new-product-ownership-assessment/#comment-1951072093 http://blog.lenovo.com/en/blog/introducing-our-new-product-o...
    - woodman 11y ago
      I forgot about that because I usually go the opposite direction, removing as much as possible in the interest of power savings. For example, disconnecting the 56k modem daughter board will save you 1W. Upon further reflection, it is obvious that I don't fit the typical use case - ignore me :)
- bitJericho 11y ago
  I recommend business grade HP and Asus, and of course apple anything is still a good call.
zurn 11y ago
Other vendors that have had laptop battery recalls: Apple, Lenovo, HP, Dell, Sony... If your vendor hasn't done any recalls, there's a strong possibility they're just negligent about safety (or they haven't shipped a lot of laptops).

voltagex_ 11y ago

There are very few brands I can recommend anymore. For me? Filter by "does this laptop have the service manual available officially from the manufacturers site?". That instantly gets me down to Dell and Lenovo (AFAICT). Everyone else? Unless they need to run Windows I tell them to get a Macbook, with the AppleCare warranty if they're in a country without consumer protection.

woodman 11y ago
For laptops I stick to Lenovo T-series and Panasonic Toughbooks, I've found both to be very amenable to end user hardware modification. I don't run Windows, so unless the manufacturer does something crazy with IME or UEFI - I'm not worried about spyware.
- newjersey 11y ago
  Does the BIOS have a whitelist of approved parts such as WiFi modules on the think side? I have a consumer grade lenovo and I'd not recommend it to anyone.
  - fpoling 11y ago
    I second that. Once I had a ThinkPad where under Linux WiFi performed terribly and I could not replace WiFi card to one known to work reliably due to that BIOS whitelist. So I used USB WiFi dongle. So much or user-serviceable hardware.
  - vinay427 11y ago
    Supposedly this is no longer the case as of the previous generation (T450*, X250, etc.). http://blog.lenovo.com/en/blog/introducing-our-new-product-ownership-assessment/#comment-1951072093 http://blog.lenovo.com/en/blog/introducing-our-new-product-o...
  - woodman 11y ago
    I forgot about that because I usually go the opposite direction, removing as much as possible in the interest of power savings. For example, disconnecting the 56k modem daughter board will save you 1W. Upon further reflection, it is obvious that I don't fit the typical use case - ignore me :)
bitJericho 11y ago
I recommend business grade HP and Asus, and of course apple anything is still a good call.

zurn 11y ago

Other vendors that have had laptop battery recalls: Apple, Lenovo, HP, Dell, Sony... If your vendor hasn't done any recalls, there's a strong possibility they're just negligent about safety (or they haven't shipped a lot of laptops).