Durable laptop (hinges specifically).

Dad needs a new laptop, as he has killed the hinges on yet another. He travels for business quite often, and is past the point of being taught that one does not raise the screen from one corner. So, after a while, one or both hinges break. Of course, he doesn't want to spend a bunch of money, and he doesn't need anything that he can game with, but he would like something that lasts longer than the general off the shelf models. Also, since I can likely get his old laptop, anyone know about repairing the hinges on a laptop (I don't know the make or model, as it is in WI, and I in VA).

I think my lenovo is better built structurally than my dads Dell.
Doesn't panasonic make one that can be dropped from a billion feet and then run over by stampeding rhinos? I assume that one is expensive though.

Toughbook FTW!

Funny that you mention this...

About an hour ago, I discovered a small crack at the hinge of my six year old Toshiba. It travels a lot, so it wasn't a huge surprise. It goes with me every day and it's so small that it may have been there for a while. I'd still buy another Toshiba.

My daughter's Dell didn't last six month's before the hinges destroyed themselves, with her assistance I'm sure.

Just my $0.02

The lenovo thinkpads are pretty durable, magnesium case instead of plastic, but they're a bit pricey, I think the one my company gave me cost around 2k new.

I've had 2 IBM's a 600X and a T23 [that I am using today] and have found that as a rule they are of better construction than most. I did not purchase either new, so I can not speak to cost.

You may now return to your normally scheduled program....

FWIW I've broken the hinges on every PC laptop I've ever had, but none of my Macs. You might look at how the Mac is put together and see if you can find the same mechanism on whatever brand you are looking for.

Of course you could just get a Mac since you can run both Windoze and Mac OS and therefore you'd have the best of both worlds.

I'll 2nd the Panasonic Toughbook. it's pretty much standard equipment for public service (police, fire, emt) due to it's durability.

9mm tested.

Not to mention they look freakin cool!

Toughbook is cool, but perhaps a bit much. The IBM/Lenovo is really tough, I banged mine up lots without fail. There is a spec for toughness and certain models are rated tougher than others.

My Toshiba has the latch for the lid in the middle. So you very quickly start opening the screen from the middle instead of a corner, because you have your thumb there anyway from opening the latch.

I don't know if that was the design intent, but it works really well. If it was intentional, nice work Toshiba designers. That's clever.

carguy123 wrote: FWIW I've broken the hinges on every PC laptop I've ever had, but none of my Macs. You might look at how the Mac is put together and see if you can find the same mechanism on whatever brand you are looking for. Of course you could just get a Mac since you can run both Windoze and Mac OS and therefore you'd have the best of both worlds.

I was looking a mac air but was scared off by all the reports that had users complaining of the hinges breaking. Worse was that mac blamed the users instead of admitting a design flaw and then the amount of $$$$ wanted to fix the broken hinges.

Bought a VAIO instead.

My dell linspiron has the worst damn hinge mounting points. They are all loose or broken out on my computer and the screen wobbles. Good thing It is not a traveling computer.

My dell laptop also suffered a crack on one of the hinges. I did travel with it a lot for school though. The only reason it still works is I kept it in a neoprene case which absorbs the bad blows.

carguy123 wrote: FWIW I've broken the hinges on every PC laptop I've ever had, but none of my Macs. You might look at how the Mac is put together and see if you can find the same mechanism on whatever brand you are looking for. Of course you could just get a Mac since you can run both Windoze and Mac OS and therefore you'd have the best of both worlds.

macs are simply built more robust. They are engineered to be better mechanically (and uh, computerly as well). They have a balance spring as well as more beefy frame built in.
Ever notice how you can open a mac screen by one corner and get little to no deflection? That's intentional. I'm on a Sony vaio right now. I have to hold the base down and lift the screen. Not on a mac.
Yet another reason everyone should have a mac.

Agreed. I've taken my MacBook with me nearly everyday (school! ), and it is still perfect. No cracks or creaks or floppiness. I've even dropped it a few times, never doing any damage. It isn't a fancy shmancy aluminum one, either. Plain jane plastic FTW. My old compaq died after 6 months, for comparison.

As usual, ThereIfixedit has the answer.

Also on the Lenovo's, my brother treats everything like crap. Like it should be able to withstand anything that he puts his Toyota truck up to, and then some. Fragile, careful, not in his dictionary. He always picks up the computer by the screen, and it hasn't broken yet in 4 years.

When I was shopping for my last laptop I went to Best Buy and twisted every chassis and screen. Beat on all the keyboards. Bought a Sony Vaio. They had the stiffest chassis and keyboard, and the best looking hinges. Haven't been disappointed yet.

I have a newer model dell studio that has some fairly sturdy hinges, it does not have a lock to keep it shut though.

I pick up my Acer by the screen regularly, and the hinges are still holding tough. The lock broke, the feet pads fell off, the DVD-RW stopped working, and the southbridge chipset fried, so I'm not sure about recommending one. Though it still works, with all of those problems, it's almost like a GM pickup.

How about a tablet PC? No hinges, lol.

ive run thinkpads since win 3.1 was the big new thing in puters... ive only broken the hinges on one, the first one i had (and still have,a 700c and it still works too...sorta...) and i was able to run machine screws through the casing and "fix" the hinge issues... Ive got a closet full of them, and they all still work, and were only replaced because i needed more power to run new programs, not due to failure. Ive been running my r-31 since 2002?? almost everyday since i got it, no hinge issues, and besides that spilled mug of coffee incident, no other issues (mechanical) either... everything still works as intended, though it is time to upgrade the hard drive again...

3 years going strong on my acer aspire... it gets A LOT of use and hinges are still strong... battery is on the short side these days now but oh well

I think I am the only person that hasn't destroyed the hinges on a Dell Inspiron, but I have an older modle that is better built than the current line up. IF I was to go back to dell for a new laptop, I would step up to a studio. But I'm out of school and work in retail, A laptop isn't as usefull as it was then.