a reason to spend a little more money on laptops..

neil_g

neil_g

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Neil
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so, the gf toshiba a200 laptop has had an issue with opening the screen for a few weeks where basically opening the screen beyond vertical would strain the plastics around the top of the keyboard. plus it was rattling so i suspected something had come unseated and or broken..

so today i finally got my bum in gear and stripped the thing down.. first thing i noticed was the amount of screws that just spun and spun..

once i got inside this is what was causing the screen issue..

the plastic mount/screw hole for the hinge had snapped


even more surprisingly the metal hinge itself had sheered in two


how it should look (although even this side has some of the plastic screw mount snapped off)


how many bits of plastic came out of the laptop. note that most of these bits are bits of plastic that contain the metal inserts for the chassis screws, hence most just spun and spun when i was taking it apart


screws that no longer have a home..


so there we go kids, if you can afford a metal chassis laptop go for it.. lol
 
Shocking that they are still so badly designed. I had a Compaq 486 (all of 25MHz and 12MB RAM) which did the same. The hinges were still OK, so I taped in a card surround and "potted" the hinge into a block of epoxy adhesive.
 
Same happened my my mothers Targa laptop, it was over 3 years old and they replaced it free of charge no fuss.
 
Its a bugger, they save a fiver off the computer and then it breaks sooner that you would expect. It does not cost much to make a quality replaceable hinge mechanism that keeps a constant tension! Broken hinges are right up there with the most popular laptop faults after power sockets breaking, optical drive draws snapping and knackered HDs (although this is becoming less of a problem).
 
I've had a similar issue with my Mum's Dell laptop, only discovered when I opened it to replace the power connector. (She's now using my 2001 iBook, which other than a new battery hasn't had any problems).
 
If you wanted to repair the laptop then I can put you in touch with my mate who repairs laptops. You seem pretty comfortable with stripping down the laptop so they could probably just sell you the parts you needed if you wanted?

Also he has got a fair few laptops in stock that are at decent prices so if you wanted a replacement they could help you out there too.
I wont post his details in the thread as I am not trying to get some free advertising for him and in no way connected to his company other than he is my mate but if you are interested send me a message and I will reply with the contact details you need.

Cheers
 
Paddysnapper said:
Get an IBM/Lenovo..They are as tough as old boot!
Click to expand...

Funnily enough a Thinkpad I had a few years ago had the same problem, the metal hinge just sheared off.....not typical though, every other one I've had was top notch.

Saying that though, I got a 13" macbook pro a couple of weeks ago.....and to be honest no other manufacturer even comes close for build quality and finish!
 
Paddysnapper said:
Get an IBM/Lenovo..They are as tough as old boot!
Click to expand...

Absolutely, I work as a trainer and travel around, fly etc. and put laptops to professional use. I've seen Acers fall apart and even Sonys, but Lenovo IBM and HP (Professionals) would be my choice every time. The hinges are often the weak point. My favourite ever laptop was the Lenovo Z60T, magnesium chassis and titanium lid and parts. You get what you pay for. Laptops used to be the domain of business people but now they are simply built to a price for the masses and business machines still cost the earth (small, lightweight, strong and reliable).

Agree re the mac above too.
 
Macbook pro, solid (single) lump of aliminium.
 
I'd love to agree, but from the two Acer laptops I bought recently the one that cost twice as much as the other is the one that's given all the trouble :annoyed:
 
We were buying Toshiba Tecras in the mid to late 90's and they were superb quality (at a price of course). Back then they had a huge share of the laptop market and the quality of them really was top notch. But I think they got a bit complacent. It became difficult to justify the price of Toshiba when you compared it against the competition. I suppose over time they've cut back to the point that they're just another laptop make and possibly not a very good one at that.

We use exclusively Dell now, but nothing is set in stone. I have about as much loyalty to any manufacturer as they have to me... none whatsoever :)

cheers
 
*Exactly* the same thing happened to my tosh laptop that I paid 1199 for 2 years ago - absolutely top of the range. Looks like no matter how much you spend with toshiba it has this inherent design fault.

neil_g said:
so, the gf toshiba a200 laptop has had an issue with opening the screen for a few weeks where basically opening the screen beyond vertical would strain the plastics around the top of the keyboard. plus it was rattling so i suspected something had come unseated and or broken..

so today i finally got my bum in gear and stripped the thing down.. first thing i noticed was the amount of screws that just spun and spun..

once i got inside this is what was causing the screen issue..

the plastic mount/screw hole for the hinge had snapped


so there we go kids, if you can afford a metal chassis laptop go for it.. lol
Click to expand...
 
I once spent a small fortune on a Pico laptop because all the magazines raved about them, what swung me was a free 3 year warranty which the others wanted £500 for.

I'd had it about 3 months when I got a letter saying pico had gone bust and the warranty was void but Pico systems ( or some such crap)had taken over and they'd honor the warranty for a payment of £199, I told them to stick it in a place the sun doesn't shine.
 
I use a Toshiba Tecra laptop daily and have done for years. It gets thoroughly abused, has been dropped, kids "used" it etc and I have never had one single issue with it. I think with laptops, everyone has an opinion with them based on their experience and uses. I have used IBM thinkpads and I quite like them. I think Dell are quite over rated and people just tend to buy into the Dell name even though the products are fairly average. Acer are doing quite well and make some nice laptops as do HP, but for me personally I find Toshiba products generally very high quality compared to the rest. Obviously depends what models you buy as there are £199 models to £1500 models.
 
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