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i was tempted to switch back to windows but i am worried i won't find the same build quality/durability from non-apple machines. anyone can recommend good/durab

i was tempted to switch back to windows but i am worried i won't find the same build quality/durability from non-apple machines. anyone can recommend good/durable windows machines?

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
rodelrod 6y ago
I have almost 2 decades of Thinkpad X series stockpiled around the house and none ever broke. (Granted, I don't run Windows on them).
drewzero1 6y ago
I've had some good Thinkpads and HP business-class desktop computers. Apple build quality is amazing if you compare it to consumer-class hardware, but once you step up to business machines it's pretty standard imo. I find Apple's designs tend to be more elegant than a lot of them though.
WorldMaker 6y ago
Microsoft's own Surface line is meant to be of comparable quality (though reviews/individual experiences may differ in some cases) and certainly of comparable aesthetics at least to Apple machines. Obviously Surface hardware comes at a bit of a premium to most other OEMs. I'd second the recommendation to look at business hardware over consumer hardware (again, at a cost premium), but beware that isn't universally true. Some of the business lines are "churn-centric". For instance, a lot of companies have big HP or Dell contracts (as two examples) that they lease so many machines per year with quick turnaround "no or few questions asked" replacement strategies. Those companies treat the devices as "disposable", they ship old ones back every year or three and get newer models back. Those "disposable" business lines don't have a huge incentive to build quality/durability if the laptops are going to be replaced in 3-year or less cycles anyway. You might also explore some of the "prosumer" segments. Some of the OEMs have a "Media Creation" line of one sort or another that often ups build quality. Most OEMs have a "Gaming" segment. Even if you aren't a "gamer" or play many games, sometimes you find good premium options among those lines that go toward build quality/durability. The trouble there is determining model to model whether with that model you are paying a premium for 1) useless bells and whistles like RGB lighting all the things, 2) build quality/durability, or 3) bleeding edge hardware that is the opposite of quality/durable. Manufacturers vary in which of those 3 is their priority for "Gaming" and even within some of those Manufacturers they might have sub-sections that vary the position on that triangular space defined by those three extremes. A heuristic I've used in the past is pulling out the business line pages and "Gaming" pages of an OEM and trying to spot the most similar models that might imply one is just a rebadging of the other, that intersection may indicate the quality/durable sub-line, and then decide between the two based on price difference (surprisingly sometimes it is the "Gaming" line that is still cheaper), and whether or not the other bells and whistles of the "Gaming" line seem amusing enough.

i was tempted to switch back to windows but i am worried i won't find the same build quality/durability from non-apple machines. anyone can recommend good/durable windows machines?

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

rodelrod 6y ago

I have almost 2 decades of Thinkpad X series stockpiled around the house and none ever broke. (Granted, I don't run Windows on them).

drewzero1 6y ago

I've had some good Thinkpads and HP business-class desktop computers. Apple build quality is amazing if you compare it to consumer-class hardware, but once you step up to business machines it's pretty standard imo. I find Apple's designs tend to be more elegant than a lot of them though.

WorldMaker 6y ago

Microsoft's own Surface line is meant to be of comparable quality (though reviews/individual experiences may differ in some cases) and certainly of comparable aesthetics at least to Apple machines. Obviously Surface hardware comes at a bit of a premium to most other OEMs. I'd second the recommendation to look at business hardware over consumer hardware (again, at a cost premium), but beware that isn't universally true. Some of the business lines are "churn-centric". For instance, a lot of companies have big HP or Dell contracts (as two examples) that they lease so many machines per year with quick turnaround "no or few questions asked" replacement strategies. Those companies treat the devices as "disposable", they ship old ones back every year or three and get newer models back. Those "disposable" business lines don't have a huge incentive to build quality/durability if the laptops are going to be replaced in 3-year or less cycles anyway. You might also explore some of the "prosumer" segments. Some of the OEMs have a "Media Creation" line of one sort or another that often ups build quality. Most OEMs have a "Gaming" segment. Even if you aren't a "gamer" or play many games, sometimes you find good premium options among those lines that go toward build quality/durability. The trouble there is determining model to model whether with that model you are paying a premium for 1) useless bells and whistles like RGB lighting all the things, 2) build quality/durability, or 3) bleeding edge hardware that is the opposite of quality/durable. Manufacturers vary in which of those 3 is their priority for "Gaming" and even within some of those Manufacturers they might have sub-sections that vary the position on that triangular space defined by those three extremes. A heuristic I've used in the past is pulling out the business line pages and "Gaming" pages of an OEM and trying to spot the most similar models that might imply one is just a rebadging of the other, that intersection may indicate the quality/durable sub-line, and then decide between the two based on price difference (surprisingly sometimes it is the "Gaming" line that is still cheaper), and whether or not the other bells and whistles of the "Gaming" line seem amusing enough.