[GTO]

Guys,

As mentioned in this thread, my current 2.5 year old Dell Latitude 7490 has turned out to be an unreliable lemon like a used DC Avanti (think 2 motherboards changed, hanging up or freezing multiple times a month, docking port problems, keyboard failure, battery failure, problematic SIM slot and lots more). This is indisputably the worst laptop I have owned. What's more, Dell India's support is pathetic. Do note that I have a 5-year warranty on this Latitude, but have given up on it. On the other hand, if you work for Dell, please ping me . I could really use an escalation here.

Which laptop maker provides the best after-sales support (preferably onsite, but not a must-have), reliability & a SIM card slot? Reason for SIM card slot is it's a boon when travelling or the internet goes down. Just fire up the 4G SIM and you are connected to the internet again. Added advantage = I have a Vodafone phone number, and have inserted an Airtel SIM in my laptop, so no matter where in India I am, one of the networks is always there. Am open to using a SIM dongle if I really like a laptop and it doesn't have a SIM slot, so please include those too.

Would also be nice if the laptop is docking-port compatible, but that's not a must-have. Screen preference is 14" & the longer the possible extended warranty, the better.

No real budget as this is going to be a work tool. Quality, reliability & uptime are top priorities. Imagine how it feels to have this stupid Dell Latitude hang up in the middle of an Official Review!

Thanks much in advance

EDIT = Update from 4th September!

Originally Posted by GTO

Thank you very much to all BHPians for the advice . Based on your advice + from Viddy + from my kid brother (a Mac user), I have decided to move to the Macbook.

- One reason is I'm fed up of Windows laptops. Of the last 4 Windows laptops I have owned over 20 years, just 1 has been absolutely trouble-free (my Latitude E6430 from 2013 - 18). But all the computers before that & after have been a mess to own, including a Dell desktop.

- I'm going to the Apple Store tomorrow. If I like the 13", I'll buy it on the spot. If I'm okay with the 16", I'll wait for the major update that is coming in Nov-Dec.

- Am looking forward to good reliability, aesthetics (am a sucker for vanity) and the OS experience that so many of you claim to be superior.

- One thing that really appeals to me is "Time Machine" whereby I can move all my settings, customisations etc to a new computer, even if its a new iOS version. With every Windows laptop I buy, it takes me 4 - 6 weeks of free time to fully set it up the way I want. I believe I won't have to go through the entire rigmarole with a Mac.

This is quite a life-changing event for me as I spend 10 hours a day on my computer, so in a way, it's going to greatly influence how I work. Am willing to put in the time investment to learn a new OS, for something that is so incredibly important to my work & productivity levels.

If I'm happy with the Macbook after 3 months, I'll consider it a good omen that my lousy Dell Latitude failed. On the other hand, if I don't like iOS even after 3 months, I'll install a Windows 10 on it and enjoy the Macbook's build & reliability instead. But I'm mentally prepared now to be "open" to the new way of working with iOS.

Thank you again for taking the time out to share so much advice. I have read each & every word on this thread .

[androdev]

Better to use a dongle/mobile hotspot, as SIM card will restrict your options.

Maybe you should consider Apple MacBooks. Unlike their mobile devices, MacBooks are VFM and enjoy a really long glitch-free shelf-life.

As a distant second suggestion, consider Dell XPS and Lenovo Thinkpad (higher-end).

[sharktale]

Originally Posted by GTO

Guys,
Thanks much in advance

Thinkpads have been my first suggestion to anyone who wants a reliable laptop (money no bar). I won't go into the specs since they are variable on various parameters of requirements.

However, having used both the T series ones (given from my old office), Dell Latitude (given by Dad's office) and a MacBook (personal), I find the keyboard of the Thinkpad miles ahead. I am that type of person who types hard and types for long hours.

I understand your plight with the Dell Latitude. My dad has the 7300 with i7 and 8gb RAM + SSD. The bootup time and application loading time is hilarious, even compared to my puny 2017 Macbook Air.

If possible, give your Dell to someone with lower requirements and higher patience. Get yourself a Thinkpad, preferably a T series / Carbon series. It is truly a well-deserved beast.

[civic-sense]

This is actually a question rather than an answer. Is it safe to buy a Surface Laptop here in India? This is with respect to warranty and after sales. Because it is built by Microsoft, I am guessing they would have tested Windows extensively on it, hence a guess that it would be much reliable.

And that 3:2 screen is the more practical aspect ratio for content creation. 16:9 is only good for watching movies.

[Amien]

I can see two potential routes to consider. One would be a traditional, stand-alone system like the Thinkpad/XPS etc suggested above. I can make a recommendation for a specific model number if you can provide some info. about the kind of applications you plan to use/the kind of work expected.

The second route would be to get something that is super-light/compact (Like something from the Surface line). Going this route would assume that any real work would be done while docked and reasonable limits on performance (but not speed, thanks to SSDs) accepted as a trade-off.

[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by GTO

Which laptop maker provides the best after-sales support (preferably onsite, but not a must-have), reliability & a SIM card slot

I am a happy Compaq/HP customer(since 1999). During warranty period they have never given me any cause of complain. Any issue, was always resolved on site within 3 working days. In fact despite being a customer for more than 10 years, I don't know where their laptop service centre is. JFYI, they have different service providers for desktops and laptops in my city.

During my college days(2011 to 2015), a lot of friends bought Dell. I'm not going to make this a Dell vs HP rant, but back in those days Dell's service was outsourced to Wipro and some other third party firms. They were good only with complete replacement of units. My roommate got his 11 month old XPS replaced with a brand new unit(with higher specs) as it had too many issues. For regular service, they were bad. I remember my friend waited 2 months for a display back in 2013. It was a simple mass market Inspiron model.

I'd recommend you to approach Dell and if you have a history of frequent parts replacement, push them for a new unit. The customer support guys have a manager above them; talk to them directly. Things move that way.

Omen 15 is my third HP laptop in this decade. The 2011 DV6 saw maximum warranty claims, specially because that was the laptop on which I learnt many "forbidden" things like overclocking, undervolting, hardware upgrades etc. It also had an inherent design flaw and was notorious for overheating. The 2015 Envy saw no claims. It's display failed a month after the warranty expired because of my mistake (again). Cleaning fluid dripped and entered the bezel before I could react. The 2018 Envy has seen one warranty claim as its power adapter died during a power surge.

I always take maximum possible warranty since parts are expensive and not easily available in market, like say for a desktop. And given my experience with HP, I'm not planning to switch brands anytime soon.

Second closest in my experience is Asus, in terms of aftersales.

Regards,
Shashi

PS: Just read that your motherboard has been replaced twice. In my experience, the replacement motherboards are mostly refurbished/repaired units. They are not brand new. So better push for a replacement laptop as you will again face motherboard failure soon. I am yet to see a replacement motherboard lasting long.

[blackwasp]

After shifting to the Apple system since 2011, I have not looked back. Got an iMac 21.5 inch in 2011 and its still going strong (got a 256 SSD and 20 Gb ram installed myself over time). It will not get any OS updates, but its still snappy, gets video and photo editing done and currently connected to a 2nd 21.5 inch Acer monitor as a dual display.

Funfact - its always running 24x7x365 days. I would say since 2011, it would have been off for maximum of 10-12 months (restarts, power outages, installing SSD, ram, moving etc.).

Thanks to this confidence, picked up a used 2015 MacBook Pro retina in 2017 Dec (i5, 8 Gb ram, 512 Gb ssd). It's been good so far except I had to purchase a power brick as the previous owner was not kind of the factory adapter - it still works, just that it has started fraying on one end.

Earlier this year, also got mom a MacBook Air, again pre worshipped, but this piece had single digit battery cycles. She's also very happy with the machine.

My dad is happy with his XPS 13 as his main need was portability. The XPS is higher than both MacBooks in the house.

If you prefer the Windows OS, just get a MacBook and dual boot into Windows. For a while I had a dual boot Windows on my machine for certain programs, but never had any issue what so ever.

[sahil1010]

Macbooks and Thinkpads would be surely be top contenders when it comes to quality, reliability & uptime.

The thinkpad i used was running Windows OS and required a restart every couple of weeks but with the Macbook pro i am using for last four years, its hard to recall when it hung or i had to restart it.

Macbooks are the toyota trucks of Laptop Market

[neo_narender]

Hello,

I would like to suggest the new Apple MacBook Air with the updated magic keyboard as your work laptop, if there is no heavy usage of applications like Lightroom or Photoshop. If the usage of processor based applications are high, then MacBook Pro 13.
If there is no budget restriction at all, why not go all in with a MBP 16?

Reasons:

1. THE BEST BUILD QUALITY OUT THERE.
2. BEST AFTER SALE SERVICE. (I would suggest getting that extended warranty from Apple for the peace of mind, same as all the cars)
3. Almost 10-12 hr battery life. This is a boon in some tricky situations.
4. Weight: 1.29 kg (Air), 1.4 kg (MBP 13), 2.0 kg (MBP 16). I know a kilogram won’t make that big a difference, but I just can’t ignore this fact.
5. Better sorted than any windows based laptop, as the hardware & software are created by the same company, it just works better.

You have to carry a multi port dongle though, for those times when you have to give a presentation in a meeting, both a pro & a con. Otherwise you can’t go wrong with a MacBook.

I would have suggested my laptop, an Alienware 15 (I know I know, it’s not a work laptop). But at 3.5 kg for the laptop & a 1.5 kg charging brick, it’s too cumbersome. Also you have to pay a little extra every time you travel by flight because of the 7 kg restriction for laptop bag. I use that as a desktop now. Sigh.

P.S. If you are getting a MacBook, get the latest generation at all cost, because they have the “Magic Keyboard”, not the “Butterfly Keyboard” which have so many known issues that were never resolved.

Neo

[BANDHAV]

I would like to share my recent personal experience with Lenovo A.S.S. My daughter's sparingly used, 2+ years old, out of warranty, Coolpad 320 was having frequent shutdown trouble. Despite the fact that it was out of warranty, I took it to Lenovo service centre in Noida. I was charged a princely sum of 885 (tax inclusive) just to inform me that that the Motherboard and keyboard are gone and I need to shell out 15,000 INR to get this 35000 INR Laptop back in top notch condition. I thanked them and walked out of there with the Laptop. The very next sunday I took it to local computer market, where the actual issue, some window repairing, was diagnosed and sorted within 30 mins for 200 INR.

Oh, the Joy of friendly neighbourhood shops.

[NaXal]

Sorry to be negative but all are more or less same here in India.

Specially when you are in need, even the best would let you down & you really need everything to go right, luck would let you down.

I don't think you are approaching your work from the right angle. Rather than keeping things local & relying on single system, start using cloud as much as possible.

Adobe / Microsoft Office both offers their files to be saved in respective cloud. I don't know what other software you use but in these era, all of them will have similar cloud option.

Now coming to your system, a good display, NVMe (SSD) & 8GB of RAM should be good enough for photo editing (mainly cropping & color correction I suppose) & office tools. I guess rather wasting 1.5L on a Apple MAC Book or ThinkPAD or Alienware, it's better to invest on a mainstream setup & keeping another backup system altogether.

Thanks.

P.S. Just for new system suggestion, as you are looking for 4G SIM capabilities, why don't you check out Microsoft Surface Lineup? Although it is exactly opposite of what I suggested but keeping it as main working setup & keeping another cheaper solution as just backup !! Once you do run into something similar as now, cloud should easily help you seamlessly migrate to your backup setup.

[landcruiser123]

I can't help you with the SIM requirement except suggest that you buy a USB SIM dongle/secondary phone to use as a hotspot.

As blackwasp suggests, get a MAC book and load windows into it. If you don't want to go the apple route, my recommendation would be Lenovo. I've consistently had a good experience with Lenovo service with my previous Lenovo laptop (a cheap one), but the fact that I needed use service multiple times itself was not comforting.

I've not had a problem (touchwood) with my current Lenovo Yoga (3+ years as a personal laptop) and a Thinkpad Carbon X1 (work). Would highly recommend them - but please buy the high end ones and IN store. Try feeling the chassis for flex as you open and close them as the low end ones are generally have weaker chassis.

[Joxster]

Apple MacBook Pro if you want the most stable and long-lasting snappy and fresh experience. Not sure about their after-sales service in India though - no personal experience. If going for Apple though, I would even wait for their ARM powered laptops, they sound very promising.

If wanting to stick with Windows, then Lenovo would be my pick. Well built laptops, and good after-sales support.

Cheers

[greenhorn]

I used dell inspirons with completecover for the past 10 years or so. Service was very good, but things kept going wrong every few months, so it was a mixed bag.


Right now I am using an HP elitebook 840G1 . Though i have no clue about their service ( I bought a refurb unit and service the thing myself - right now only the shell remains - I have upgraded everything else) - but the build quality, ergonomics, and reliability are impressive - in india you can get them for 25K refurbed - units that cost 1L+ few years ago.

I would have bought a lenovo, but they are unsexy as heck, and their Hardware is a bit more locked down compared to HP which limits my tinkering options.

Also: Avoid getting something with discrete graphics. My experience, every one of them overheats and dies a premature death. My guess is they have not been designed to withstand typical indian conditions (dust, heat etc)

[Amien]

Sorry, didn't realize this was a separate thread somehow.

Reliability tends to be series/chassis, and sometimes model-specific rather than brand specific.

As for service, while most brands offer a competitive warranty these days, the actual service providers/contractors (Acro, Regenersis etc) are the ones that set/change policies that impact the end-user experience. The contractors and policies change from time to time, leaving no definitive answer to which brand is best.