Should I buy a Lenovo or HP laptop?

Lenovo support is a nightmare if you ever have to deal with them. If you ever buy a Lenovo product, pray to the gods that you ever won’t have to deal with Lenovo support.

Just the few and many problems I’ve had with my old Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga 3rd gen:

• constant BSODs upon waking up from sleep. A firmware update ended up fixing this issue
• Lenovo shipping me a replacement, only for them to completely forget the customs form causing my parcel to be turned away at the border. It got returned to the North Carolina warehouse, then got reshipped again. It must’ve took 2 or 3 weeks to actually finally get the replacement.
• A Lenovo Vantage firmware update (Auto-installed by default) breaking the ability to use an external monitor. Tier 1 support trying all sorts of BIOS settings did not help, and the hold to tier 2 software support took way too long. I just ended up reinstalling stock Windows and never installing Lenovo Vantage again. Several months later, there was news that Lenovo acknowledged releasing firmware updates that broke the Thunderbolt controller. Since mine started after having the thunderbolt controller firmware updated, I can only suspect that’s what’s happened here.

My experience with Lenovo has been so nightmareish and hellish, absolutely the worst I’ve had with a Windows OEM. I’ve tried Asus, Acer, Dell, HP, and Microsoft over the years and none of them were bad as this. Definitely won’t be buying a Lenovo laptop ever again

That being said, the HP Spectre X360 back in 2017 has been the absolute worst Windows premium flagship laptop I’ve used. The build quality was just not up to par and thermals were terrible. The fan was so loud. The Synoptics trackpad was junk to say the least. I hear the HP Spectre X360 is much better these days, but I’m not sure. If you look at just what the product offers and not the support, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon 7 is definitely a little bit better

I would recommend Dell or Microsoft Surface. Dell is problematic with its long shipping times (more than a month) so it may not be a good option. Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 is good when it’s on sale for nearly $400 off, but looks like the deals have ended lately.

I would probably lean towards the X1 if the touch wasn't critical. Only because it is a business-class machine so a little more durable and I like their keyboards. I've used some HP laptops in the past which were also business grade and they were nice as well. But I went with a Thinkpad when I was spending my own money because they are relatively better built. . Spent the money for a better screen and haven't had any issues.

I've purchased millions of $$ in HP and Lenovo laptops for a large company. Without a doubt, go with Lenovo even though they do cost a little more. They are both good laptops but Lenovo is better in my experienced humble opinion.

I have been using multiple Lenovo refurbished laptops and a desktop. None have problem and still going strong.
Considering these products are in use between 5 to 10 years - as mine are refurbished off-lease products and under my ownership for at least 3 years, I have no hesitation to purchase a new Lenovo product anytime if I have such a need and my budget allows it.

Is there 2 support lines for Lenovo, home and business? I would hope under business accounts they would expedite the process. I've yet to make any claims, but then again I never spent this much before on a laptop.

I would use a little bit of everything, small business, home and school, maybe the kids might use sometimes.

Lenovo does sound more rigid, would take on more punishment. It seems they only have one laptop that can be future proofed is their X1 Extreme Gen 2.
Was playing with configurations and seems to come out cheaper than most X1 Carbon Gen 7

Total came to $2650 with UHD 4K screen

grab the new xps 15

I have been buying exclusively HPs business line products for the last 6 years, Elitebook and Probook units. They are excellent well built products, that have lasted at least 5 years each.

Lenovo's consumer (e.g. IdeaPad, Legion...etc) support line sucks... Go with the business line (ThinkPad).

sexyj wrote: ↑ grab the new xps 15

Dell XPS has not so well build.
My son has one with a cracked USB port after less than 12 month of use from brand new.

that can be said for any brand...

drdtyc wrote: ↑ Dell XPS has not so well build.
My son has one with a cracked USB port after less than 12 month of use from brand new.

sexyj wrote: ↑ that can be said for any brand...

Not on my refurbised Lenovo devices after 5 to 10 years in daily use.
YMMV.

csb !

drdtyc wrote: ↑ Not on my refurbised Lenovo devices after 5 to 10 years in daily use.
YMMV.

drdtyc wrote: ↑ Not on my refurbised Lenovo devices after 5 to 10 years in daily use.
YMMV.

Used by your son throughout the 5-10 years period? Hum..hard benchmark to measure really (if it was even used by your son...as his usage pattern / behaviour changes a lot throughout the years).

Everybody's different...yes, even when it comes to how we plug, unplug and carry devices with USB ports in use. For example, ever since USB 1.0 was released, I have not gotten a single broken USB port whether it's desktop, laptop, phones, tablets, monitors...etc. Also regardless of brands...Acer, Asus, BenQ, Compaq...etc. Am I saying that no USB port should fail then base on my personal experience, and that all brands are equally good? Hell no.

PCBs and ports don't "just break"...you have to use them to break them. Consider the user. Your son probably had a few too many forceful USB insertion episodes when the cable / device wasn't in the correct orientation. Does he care that it's broken? No...because it'll be replaced for him free of charge.

chatbox wrote: ↑ Used by your son throughout the 5-10 years period? Hum..hard benchmark to measure really (if it was even used by your son...as his usage pattern / behaviour changes a lot throughout the years).

Everybody's different...yes, even when it comes to how we plug, unplug and carry devices with USB ports in use. For example, ever since USB 1.0 was released, I have not gotten a single broken USB port whether it's desktop, laptop, phones, tablets, monitors...etc. Also regardless of brands...Acer, Asus, BenQ, Compaq...etc. Am I saying that no USB port should fail then base on my personal experience, and that all brands are equally good? Hell no.

PCBs and ports don't "just break"...you have to use them to break them. Consider the user. Your son probably had a few too many forceful USB insertion episodes when the cable / device wasn't in the correct orientation. Does he care that it's broken? No...because it'll be replaced for him free of charge.

My son was using a Dell XPS. He now uses a refurblished Lenovo X1 Gen 2 which should account for about 6 years of usage. 3 years as a leased machine and 3 years under his ownership after refurbishment. That is all. I am not saying all machines of so and so brand are reliable. I am just saying in my experience my Lenovos are more long lasting than a Dell I bought new for my son. This proves nothing, I know. Thus I previously said YMMV and now say YMMV again.

tablo13 wrote: ↑ Lenovo support is a nightmare if you ever have to deal with them. If you ever buy a Lenovo product, pray to the gods that you ever won’t have to deal with Lenovo support.

I dealt with them and had no problems.

I used to work on the escalation desk for a large company that repaired computers for other large companies. Three of my main clients were Bell, BMO, and TD, so I am talking about companies of that size, and I coordinated service between them and our on-site technicians.

HPs computers were the worst ones for needing service. Everyone I worked with hated them. My experience there taught me never to buy an HP. Things were so screwed up at HP that their head office, just a few blocks away from ours, was one of our clients. Think about that, HP hired another company to station someone on-site to repair their computers rather than having their own people do it. Anyway, my girlfriend at the time also worked there and HP's head office was her client. She was kept so busy coordinating repairs for them that they were her only client.

SkynyrdsInyrds wrote: ↑ I dealt with them and had no problems.

I used to work on the escalation desk for a large company that repaired computers for other large companies. Three of my main clients were Bell, BMO, and TD, so I am talking about companies of that size, and I coordinated service between them and our on-site technicians.

HPs computers were the worst ones for needing service. Everyone I worked with hated them. My experience there taught me never to buy an HP. Things were so screwed up at HP that their head office, just a few blocks away from ours, was one of our clients. Think about that, HP hired another company to station someone on-site to repair their computers rather than having their own people do it. Anyway, my girlfriend at the time also worked there and HP's head office was her client. She was kept so busy coordinating repairs for them that they were her only client.

Lenovo’s support quality wasn’t the problem. It’s the fact that so many problems arose needing multiple interactions with Lenovo support. A reliable laptop usually does not require interactions with customer or tech support.

I would agree that HP indeed puts out one of the worst products as a PC OEM, based on my experiences with a Spectre X360.

I have no idea why so many businesses seem to love HP. My dad worked for quite a few companies and most of them literally all used HP for work laptops. Is their business support somehow better than Dell or Lenovo?

In short, Lenovo has a huge competitive advantage for having business class laptops (ThinkPads) at not-so-insane prices compared to Dell or HP’s business class laptops. However their support is hit or miss and their pricing scheme is simply a scam. They overprice the MSRP to $3000 or $4000 levels and make you think it is a good deal by slashing the price in half.

Im not sure about HP, but Lenovo has a distinct line for gaming. If you buy a business line then your gaming will be severely nerfed by the bios - either cpu throttle or gpu throttle. Intel gave the manufacturers this feature and lenovo choose to implement it for their X1 line.

thanks everyone for your input, in the end I was leaning towards new dell xps but with lack of ports went with lenovo x1 yoga, Lenovo is also military grade tested so good when the kids use it

Cool hope you have a good experience

I only have experience with the business level and for me it is lenovo or go home. I've had numerous dells and hps over the years and they are junk imo in comparison. I currently rock a lenovo p52. This thing also serves as a shield and weapon in a pinch.. i do get the odd snicker from the mgmnt types sporting their thin tiny 'toys' as i like to call them. the p52 is massive in comparison and built to survive a nuclear winter LOL but has all the compute i currently need. including some gaming (shh).