Are IBM laptops the best?

Hi, I know many people that says IBM are the best notebooks, most of them doesn't own one due to its high price, and I'd like to know why they are the best, if they are.

I've visited IBM homepage and don't find any reason to be the best ones. Maybe its screens are wonderful or they have the best warranty? Could you give me some arguments to say IBM laptops are the best? Do you think, IBM owners, there is some better brand?

Thanks in advance.

 

according to consumer reports, IBM has fewer laptop repairs and better consumer satisfaction than most of the other big brand manufacturers.

FYI, the "best" on the list is Apple.

 

for me it's the build quality, solid feel and the fact that ergonomically speaking I can work an IBM ThinkPad like it's a part of me...meaning the keyboard and the touchstick/touchpad/scroll buttons are placed just absolutely perfectly.

it's almost like a "je ne sais quoi" quality, meaning it's hard to put in words why I love using a ThinkPad so much...I just do!

 

I would not say their screens are any better,maybe?
I do know their build quality & reliability are tops, as well as thier support. The feel of the keyboard and the notebook on a whole as are if they spent some time on the design and really cared about durability. When you just visit the website of a notebook, all manufacturers look pretty good thats just advertising. Like looking at adds for cars a honda or toyota will look as good as any other car, but if you climb into a rolls royce you will notice much nicer feel and ride (not that I've been in a rolls), but you get where I'm coming from. Find a place that sells IBM or someone who has one and test drive it. Keyboard feel is supurb! as well as general ergonomics. An IBM has a chance of survival if you drop it, a dell does not. An IBM you can pickup by the display, a dell will probably break. I'm not bashing dell, just tell it like it is. The dell notebooks from pre 2002 are built vey nice, but in the last two years they have cut too many corners to keep profits high...and it shows.

Jack

 

Thanks for the answers.

I've heard that Quanta makes IBM and Sony Vaio laptops. If the most important component for me in a laptop is the screen, should I buy a Sony Vaio with a 16,1" Xbrite screen made by Quanta? Also GRT models have a very nice keyboard, with bigger keys than common notebooks.

 

I must say, the first time I handled an IBM laptop I was extremely impressed! it just feels so amazing...the laptop actually improves productivity...while i was at the store, i began using it, and it felt sooo perfect, like i have owned it for years.

Its also the little touches that make the ibm supreme...for example, the finger grooves on the keyboard, the silent touch pad buttons, the keyboard light, the open/close latch...its simply a superior machine.

 

I just bought a Thinkpad R51 today. I went with the R51 because it had the things I value in a computer: build quality, longevity of design, and durability. Apple gets this right with their line of G4 PowerBooks. My wife has a 12" G4 PowerBook that she loves. It just feels right when I've had the rare chance to use it.

I did look at a number of other brands: Acer, Averatech (802.11g/40gb/512mb/combo drive/$800!), Compaq, Dell, Gateway, Toshiba, etc. I kept coming back to the IBM because of something the head IT guy from work said to me: "You won't remember the cost in three years. You will remember if you had to replace a laptop in a year due to cheap parts."

One thing I noticed is that all of the deals have XP Home instead of XP Pro. This seems like a cheap way for retailers to add a few buck to their pockets by suggesting an upgrade right out of the box. Some of the "deals" didn't have a combo drive. worse than that, many didn't offer internal wireless networking. That sounds odd when a notebook is meant to be used on the road.

Some of the shortcomings of the R51 are too little RAM (256mb) and a smallish hard drive (40gb). If I need more drive space, I'll swap out the drive later on. I did add 512mb RAM from newegg.com. This should be OK for my needs. If I need more, I'll swap out the 256bm stick for another 512mb stick. I can hardly wait for the R51 to arrive.

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