IBM Thinkpads...or any IBM laptops...does anyone have an

[JanMichael]

opinion on these? I am mostly interested in durability--

I keep reading ugly things about Dell laptops on DU---

What about Toshibas?

[lateo]

1. IBM makes great laptops...

I recommend them highly.

[Misunderestimator]

2. IMO the only ugly thing about Dell laptops is that it's a Republican Co.

I've had both, and Dell is far superior to IBM. I use one for work that has thus far survived 3 years and a few things spilled on the keyboard, with no adverse effects. OTH, my old thinkpad completely lost touch with its battery, some of the keys failed, and the LCD screen has permanent lines down the right margin. I had it for only a couple of years before things went wrong.

Right now, I have two Dell laptops, I bought a new one for myself recently, a Latitude D600 with all sorts of extras. I love it.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

3. IBM makes great laptops

they are extremely durable. I have a dell now (which works just fine, BTW) but IBMS have always been very dependable. One caveat is that they're pretty heavy, so if you travel a lot they can be a pain to schlep through airports.

[blue sky at night]

4. Had an IBM for three years,

it was slower than shit. Have a brand new Dell.......it is nice and I wouldn't go back in a heartbeat.

[autorank]

5. Oh boy, you asked the fright person. I have three!

Two X31's (the 2.75 lb version) and one R series (5.75 lbs). These suckers are like steel lunch pails. They go anywhere, knock around without any problems, and are highly durable. My wife and I user ours for work and home and move them five days a week. They're in use, well way too much thanks to DU (haha). In addition, there are no problems with the machines themselves. XP Professional is OK unless you use Service Pac2, which is pure trouble. The R series is even better. It's a large screen and just beautiful. It's faster than the X31s.

The X series, about $1400, is a tremendous value. To achieve the low weight, there is no built in CD but that doesn't bother me much.

The design is also cool - black, purely functional, very Bauhaus.

This is my first IBM computer after being a MAC person since 1985. Couldn't be happier.

[dhinojosa]

6. I hate IBM laptops....they always broke on me...

1) I used to work with an IBM laptop, and it always bugged me with the design and the weight. Then I had the hard drive go out many a times. That was around 1993
2) Toshiba? I had around 1995, a satellite, and it was awesome to me always. Not a damn problem. I used to work at a cellular tower company at a time, and the company used Satellite laptops too. Well some dude decided to take his laptop up a 200ft+ tower, and dropped it. Only the monitor cracked and the thing still turned on. Weird.
3) Then I got a Dell laptop in 2000, and I had everything go wrong with it. Harddrive twice, Memory problems 3 times, I actually have more memory modules at my house that I care to deal with. Keyboard went out 5 times.
4) Gateway? My desktop (since 1998) never gave out. As far as laptops, I am using one now. The only thing is battery gives out and the cord tangles after too much use. The design is awkward since speakers are under your palms, but it is a very sturdy machine.
5) My girlfriend has a Dell Inspiron with Centrino, and hers pretty much kicks ass. We'll see for the long haul how far this machine can go. There is hardly any heat generated from it.

So those are my laptops of the past. I think desktops are tired, and everyone in this world needs their own laptop. For school, work, art, poetry, hiking whatever. Laptops are the way to go, you just need to buy a new one every two years. :)

Remember ALWAYS pay for the extra service. Laptops are different beast and your local nerd boy will probably break it if he tries to fix it. Dell has the best service, Gateway second best.

[Mend]

7. Mac computers...no others will do....

I love my laptop and it is a liberal Democratic company.

[Dookus]

8. I hate IBM laptops

they never properly hibernated and woke up properly.

I've gone with Toshibas for a few years now and love 'em.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. I'm currently doing 99% of my work on a 12" Apple iBook

and I hardly ever turn my antiquated desktop computer on anymore.

Ironically, I bought the laptop to use only for travel, but it's so handy (especially because both I and the coffee shop down the block have wireless Internet) that my desktop replacement is going to be a 15" PowerBook.

[DS1]

10. The Thinkpads at school are bulletproof

plus IBM is obviously in bed with Microsoft because reformatting and installing XP will detect everything and XP has the drivers built in.

Can't say that for dell.