[sharan_si]

My first choice would be ThinkPad, it won't be stylish or fancy. Simple and reliable.
Second is Macbook, a good screen, and design.

[rdst_1]

Looking at all these posts, it seems that it is a mixed bag both in terms of reliability and after sales for nearly every manufacturer. My experience is of only 2 laptops in the last 15 years. First one was a Dell XPS bought in college which lasted 7 years and it was still working fine but I sold it off. Then bought the MBA 256GB in Nov 2013 but ended up selling it in a few months because couldn't work with such low storage. FYI, after a few days with MacOS, I ended up switching to Windows completely on the MBA i.e. I completely formatted the SSD and installed Windows (single boot) on it. After selling it I bought a simple Lenovo G510 with Core i5-4200m and installed a 1TB SSD in it. This rig has been working great till now and has been very seldom switched off in the last 6 years.

OTOH, have heard horror stories for nearly every manufacturer from friends and family and people on other forums. One friend's headphone jack conked off on his MBP and Apple wanted 35k for repair. Have personally seen level of service and reliability(compared to Apple's earlier standards, not with other manufacturers) deteriorate for Apple as well over the years.
Even I have been wanting to upgrade to a thin and light current gen offering but very hesitant to plonk down anything more than 60-70k because of uncertainty when it comes to reliability of today's machines.

[abhi9044]

My current workhorse is a Dell Inspiron 5000 series laptop with Core-i3(Skylake). It has been 4 years since I've bought it. The only point that I'll give to dell is for their build quality. The laptop fell from a height of about 26 inches the very next day i bought it, and besides a scuff mark on the body, there was no issue.

For a year it worked absolutely fine. But then the issues started cropping up. The AUX port went kaput. Only one side of the earphone would work,though hitting the laptop multiple times used to resolved the issue temporarily. Then the issue of the device randomly going to sleep cropped up. Also the hard disk (WD Blue) was very slow, even by hard disk standards. The system would take upwards of 2 minutes just to load the lock screen. Showed this to few neighbourhood shops and they quoted 1000 for aux and 3000 for the screen issue. Decided to live with it for now.

So last year upgraded it myself with a SSD and a 8gb stick of ram and the performance improved drastically. But techinacal issues of aux and sleep were still present. Also a new issue of overheating during gaming cropped up(temp upwards of 90C with GTA V with medium graphics and frames limited to 30fps). Decided to change the thermal paste, and after I did that and assembled the laptop back, the aux problem was resolved(although it took me 2-3 attempts to properly apply the paste and costed me a stripped screw on the heatsink). So essentially it was just a ribbon cable that was loose and not anything on the motherboard.

But now the laptop randomly going to sleep issue was getting out of hand. I thought it was a bad ram module, but both of the ram modules passed my test with flying colours. A quick diagnosis using windows event manager showed the OS was getting signals that either the power button was being pressed or the lid was closed. Removed the keyboard and reinserted the power button cable and voila. It solved the problem.

So seems like the dell surely has some problems with ribbon cables. I know several other people who have fixed their problems by just removing and re-inserting the ribbon cables in their Dell laptops(mostly Inspiron series).

Now I had only once talked to dell service care, that too for some clarification about the warranty and they are pathetic. They didn't had any idea about the warranty and I had to wait for a week for the answers.

So my advice would be to stay clear of any products from Dell.

On the other hand we also have a Lenovo ThinkCentre which was bought in 2008 and to this day, it works without any problem. Only once the ram went kaput, since we never cleaned the pins and thus the circuits got overheated. Also the support from the Lenovo India is miles ahead when compared to dell. The lenovo desktop also had some issue(at least that's what i thought) and was not turning on the very next day it was bought. Called up the service centre and they told me that they'll be sending an engineer by the next day. After i disconnected the call, i tried again to start the pc again and it turned on. What I realised that day, was that i've to press the power button to turn on the CPU after the POST was performed(well I was 10 years old back then and knew nothing about computers ). Anyway, the engineer came home within an hour of my complaint. Such was the support from Lenovo back in 2008.

In that same year(2008) my cousin also bought a Lenovo laptop and to this day he is using that same laptop with the stock battery, which still provides him with backup of ~2 hours. My 4-year-old dell battery isn't capable of providing 2 hours of backup. Enough said.

[N33raj]

May i make a slightly different suggestion? ThinkPad Mobile Workstation!

I have been using one for 3 years now and it is a beast! All i did was max out the RAM and processor. There are many options to choose from today. I have not had any issues with this so far. After sales service has not been a problem seeing that this is their top of the line product; they call me to ask if it is working properly! However, i have not had any issues so never had to call them.

I would also like to point out that my previous laptops were the Sony Vaio FW G/B series with the 17" screen (2009 to 2016) and 12 cell battery (so 8 hours easy) and prior to it was IBM ThinkPad T43p (2005 and still running; the last of the 7 row dinosaurs and yet the first of its kind to be able to run WIN 8 or WIN 10). With both of them, reliability was never an issue, neither was performance.

On the issue of a SIM card slot, i would rather have a dongle as it frees up the laptop from being restricted to network types (3G only, 4G only, etc etc). I was once in favour of SIM slots since it meant one less thing to carry around but not anymore.

[vikramvicky1984]

Would reccommend a Macbook (any model you like to touch and feel).
I have a 5 year old air (lowest configuration cheapest one)model but its still way better than a new thinkpad X280 which is way more expensive and latest.
Support & battery is awesome as well.
Security & privacy concerns, enough has been said elsewhere too.
Try Apple OS for few days, you might not need to install Windows at all
Buy MS office and you are all set.
The keyboard/ tocuh configuration won't take more than 2 days to adjust, and you'll never like to go back.

Macbook has the reliability & VFM of toyota with finesse of an aston martin.

Unlike phones, the difference between apple and rest is really stark in laptops.
Only reason to not buy would be if employeer (NA in your case) doesnt have support for it.

[riokiar]

If you need a laptop with good battery life, I'd recommend going with the 13 inch Macbook Pro that was released this year. With your usage pattern, the base spec of the Macbook Pro would be more than adequate. An upgrade to 16GB of RAM doesn't cost much and can future proof the laptop a bit more.

[Tgo]

I began mobile computing on a 2007 HP Compaq provided by my college. It had a heating issue but the on campus support team was really good. Bulk purchases help you get an on-site service center and we never faced any issues with the warranty/ out of warranty replacements. It was working fine till 2014 when it had some water spilled on it. Anyway, this is too old an anecdote to base a current purchase on.

The next one was a Thinkpad L420 i3, which I bought from the college again. Cost me 27K in 2011. That laptop is still running and is in the hands of my brother. A ram and SSD upgrade has made it tolerable again.

I moved down (L series to E series) to a Thinkpad E440 i3, in 2015 which is still working fine. Never needed to send it to a service center except for once when there was an issue with the OS crashing and getting corrupted after upgrading to Win10. It was re-formatted and handed back in 2 days. had bought the 3 year warranty for this laptop. I loved the keyboard which I believe still has the best traditional feel. It still gives 3 hrs of battery back-up. It is easy to work on and upgrade since service manuals and parts catalogs for Thinkpads are available on their support page.

I recently bought a Thinkpad E14 i5 two months ago, and gave it to my dad and got his Mid 2015 Macbook Air in exchange. He had bought it in 2017 and couldn't familiarize himself with the Mac OS. The change from Windows to iOS was not very difficult. It used to be difficult earlier since people couldn't do an easy "how do I do _________ on mac OS" search on the internet. It is pretty easy now. With cloud storage and cross platform syncing apps and browsers, it would not be difficult to work on 2 OSes simultaneously. Upgrading the Macbook is doable but a bit difficult in the future since they either have soldered on RAMs or have software support disabled on the easily available aftermarket hardware. But that is a trend other manufacturers are also catching-up on due to the small form factor benefit it allows for.

Thinkpad support in these times has become whatsapp chat-bot based. I have not received any reply for the tickets I raised at their website and e-mail ids even though they sent acknowledgement mails. Might be a temporary issue due to COVID, but it is not done at all. I am also not able to extend the std. 1 year warranty the laptop comes with due to an issue on their portal. Too many issues in one go for me to recommend a Thinkpad again unless you buy it from a store and have all your doubts about bundled software and extended warranty clarified before purchase.

A MacBook with a suitable dock is what you can consider, only if you can handle the inflated repair and replacement prices Apple charges.

NOTE: Never buy hardware which has a software manufacturer branding - eg. Windows Phone, Surface, Pixel etc... They are usually trial products just to cash in on a market where they see good margins.

[dileepcm]

Originally Posted by GTO

- MacBook - 13" or 16"? Is 13 too small & 16 too big?

GTO, I had 4 Dells in my last 5 years of work, all ended up going back because of various issues (2 dead motherboards, 1 keyboard issue, 1 had constant 'blue screen of death').

Last year onwards, my organisation started with MacBooks and finally I ended up in a Mac (Pro, 15", i7) to see if that works. Glad to state that I am very happy about it. However 16" was not available then. I would recommend 16" - thats perfect size to me.

Side note: my wife has a 2013 MacBook pro that still runs with no issues. At the same time, she had 2-3 Dell/Hp/Compaq dead laptops already thrown away in last 8 years of us being together.

(Let me also make it very clear: I am not an Apple fan. I am not into apple eco system either. I am more of an Android / Google person. But build quality of MacBooks is clearly very superior)

Originally Posted by GTO

- Macbook - Okay to run Windows?

Absolutely yes. My work involves lots of Windows use (Lots of MS Office, certain other tools which only run on windows etc.).
I have 'Parallels' installed in Mac and I am running windows using it.
Absolutely no issues so far.
Even more, I have a dual screen and I keep my Mac UI on one and have Parallels window running Windows on the other one.
Perfect setup for me.

[NPV]

I think every manufacturer/brand has it share of issues when it comes to after sales/warranty service and support. Hence, if you look around the net you will find mixed reviews based on first hand experiences of customers who have bought the products.

Extended warranty gives you some peace of mind but again it's usually 1 year out of the box warranty + about 2-3 years of extended warranty support that one can buy (5 years is way too much and needless in my experience).

My best experience with a laptop has been with the 13" Macbook Pro 128GB that I have since 2015 and the only issue so far is the the noise from the built in speakers, otherwise it works like a charm. This was bought by a friend from the US and didn't even register/buy extended warranty here in India.

I'm today's situation, I would say go with a laptop that has an SSD and options to upgrade storage/RAM later if needed. The AMD Ryzen processor is a good option as I realized recently after buying an Asus laptop based on the recommendation from member @Amien on the Laptop configuration thread. I also bought an extended 3 year warranty additionally.

[Tuisha110HP]

I dont think you work too much on MS office suites. If that is the case, Macbooks handsdown. Reliable and blazing fast. Nothing beats a macbook if you are into blogs, photo editing, video editing and so forth.

If you use a lot of MS tools and features, like visio or projects and the likes of them, then I would suggest you to go for Lenovo Thinkpad T series with highest configuration. They are built like tanks, the best keyboard in the entire laptop genre and are pretty dang fast.

[kadanaJ]

Since good after-sales is a requirement for you, I may as well let you know that I've had bad experiences with almost every brand out there.

Lenovo IdeaPad (not ThinkPad) - Laptop had a WiFi issue. Wasted 6 months and close to ₹7-8k with Lenovo ASS at Lamington road. They even sent my laptop to their head-office in Bangalore, but they were never able to fix it. Sold that laptop off on OLX ultimately.

Dell Latitude E7240 - Screen went dead. Dell told me they do not have a new part, and refurbished screen will cost me ₹20k and won't have touch (which the laptop came with). Got it replaced from a local guy for ₹12k for a touchscreen.

HP Desktop - motherboard failure, HDD failure, graphics card failure. Fortunately, as it's a desktop, all the components were easily replaceable from a local repair guy.

Asus - not my story, but a friend had the motherboard fail on her. Asus ASS at Lamington told her the motherboard will cost ₹20k for a laptop that was 1.5 years old and cost her ₹35k when it was new.

To sum it up, I've had bad experiences with almost all brands. The best is to get a laptop that is easily repairable, ditch the official ASS once warranty is over, and find a friendly local engineer for any repair work (much like how we do with our cars).

[Arjan]

Macbook Pro 13''

If you haven't ever used one before, believe you me, you are missing out.
You'll never ever have to worry about uptime, speed or battery with this wonderful machine.
You'll get 4 USB-C ports and sure you'll have to carry a hub/dongle for legacy cables/devices, but the pros fat outweigh the cons - faster charging times, better read/write speeds with usb-c devices.

To be honest, I dipped my feet into the Apple ecosystem with an Apple iPad, and a couple of years down the line I bought an iPhone and eventually a Macbook Pro 13''. I would say it outright, please do not be bothered by the apple ecosystem; it's a really thought out and well built platform and nowhere as ominous as you may be led to believe. I pay 75 bucks every month for the 50GB icloud storage and it has paid itself multiple times for the convenience it brings into my life - I have my webpages, notes, messages, photos all ready to view/edit on any device I am currently working on!

As for the usability, I'll start with the trackpad: macbook trackpad is much superior to anything else available on the market, period; IMHO, no windows machine can match its responsiveness and system integration - you will seldom have to use an external mouse for anything other than games (again, in my humble opinion).
The latest generation keyboard will pacify any worries about the previous gen butterfly keyboard - although I have no complaints with my 2019 MBP w/ touchbar & butterfly keys.
The MacOS will have you spending your time on productivity, rather than worrying about any gremlins that usually accompany windows machines (the usual crashes, hangups, malwares, registry issues, etc.).
Reg MS Office, I shell out ~INR 700 for annual subscription of MS Office 365 and that gives me complete access to the Office suite and 1 TB OneDrive storage, so need not worry about running office on a Macbook.
I am yet to come across any mainstream software that does not run on MacOS, or maybe my requirements are too basic

I still use my company Windows laptop on a daily basis: an HP Probook with 8 GB RAM running Windows 10, that is configured to be free of any software that the company does not deem fit, and trust me when I say that not a day passes by when I ain't rebooting it at least once or twice a day due to app freezes!

Please go ahead with a Macbook Pro 13", eyes closed. The build & screen quality, MacOS, User interface are better than any windows machine. It's extremely portable & lightweight, yet so power & speed efficient.

[greenhorn]

I see a lot of people recommending MacBooks. The only caveat is that if something goes wrong, they are blindingly expensive to repair. Officially apple offers only two spare parts for each MacBook - the top and bottom half, and you'll be billed full retail cost + service charges. One of my friends had to find out the hard way when his daughter spilled something on his.

If you're adamant, at least get their comprehensive warranty that covers damage (forgot the name)

[Sebring]

Do Check out the Dell XPS. That's really solid. Scores aesthetically, Carbon fiber features etc. MacbookPro 13 isn't too small, its about just the right size. Great to lug around for meetings. Very reliable. Been using it since 2011, and recently got the latest one as well

Originally Posted by GTO

If we were to go by pure functionality, then I wouldn't need anything more than a Dzire either . But I want a laptop with a top-class build, premium finishing, a high quality screen etc. Would prefer to have more power than less .

[sumeethaldankar]

Originally Posted by GTO

Thanks a ton, guys ! Guess its between Lenovo & Macbook going by the posts.

Lenovo is the Tata of Laptops. Build tough but unreliable. My company's is providing new joiners with HP's instead of Lenovos which was the standard fare so far. My 2 year old company laptop blew it's screen and the same replaced under warranty. Their service is good though and the gentleman came home (made him sit in car and change the display instead of letting him inside home) during the lockdown as well. Post the screen issue too the Laptop has crashed twice already and is in the last 6 months or so of it's warranty. There was a time when I used to tell people that Dell was the Toyota of laptops. I guess times have changed. Whichever brand you decide needless to say make sure it has SSD instead of the traditional hard disk as SSD boots much much faster.