Is IBM loosing it's quality (in thinkpads?)

I have a T23 from my work, and it's 3 year lease is about to expire in Sept., '05.

Well, I'm noticing that the screen light is out/very dim in the middle, which creates this grayish area right at the center of the taskbar.

Now, if I recall correctly, these ThinkPads (T23's) were about $3,000 about three years ago and if I were to buy one, I'd be upset.

Secondly, My coworker recently had problems with T42 thinkpad, where his motherboard had to be replaced. This guy told me that when he brought his notebook for repair, there were other IBM notebooks with various problems.

Now, why would one purchase a thinkpad for 3K today, when they can get a similarly configured DELL (or other mfg) for about 50% of the cost.

Are there any statistics on faulty hardware based on various manufacturers? I'm sure IBM has fewere hardware failures than others, but are there any statistics?

Lastly, what is the intended use of the notebook? For example, was it designed to be used 10hours+ every day, or did the designers anticipated average user will use their PC for X hours/day, mostly with an external screen, etc...

Thanks, your input is appreciated.

 

ThinkPads are manufactured and designed by the same people as they have been for a decade, their quality standards and design groups are second to none and the build far superior to Dell. As far as statistics for problems with notebooks, view this image (click the url). ThinkPad T series notebooks are work machines and designed to be used however many hours a day you work.

http://www.notebookreview.com/assets/4161.gif

IBM was second, Dell didn't place badly either. Sony was at the bottom. You can get a very good config on an IBM T42 for around $2,000, no need to spend $3,000!

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Thanks for the reply.

But what does "IBM's quality is far superior to DELL's" mean?

IBM is a business class notebook, but I thought DELL latitudes should not be (and were not) too far behind...

I have T23 at work, and an R40 at home, I'm not too happy with the screen quality (looks kind of washed, though not too bad, but I'd think dell would be better for the money). And R40 is not as solid as a Txx series, but I was hoping it would be equivalent to D810?

Right now, I'm having a hard time getting input about the build of D810. I'd think that DELLs are better than IBM's, because they don't have a big number of complaints, yet, they sell far more units than IBM does.

Thanks again,
VK

 

wow....never knew that E machines rules...

 

I think overall IBM is going to be a cut above dell in terms of build quality, support, and service.

Thats not to say that every IBM is going to be better than every Dell.

My girlfriend has had a Dell Inspiron 4000 for 3-4 years with no problems (except that it is horribly slow now).

 

Dell sells more because they're cheaper, and your claim that there are few complaints has no basis in reality. IBM uses superior design from teh hinges all the way down to the hard drive protection. You can't always see the things that are better, much of the IBM design feautres are under the covers.

Brian

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last time we saw IBM they sat us down and showed a presentation that went step by step as to why their notebooks are better built and what they do to make it so. I wish I could post the PPT presentation, but IBM would likely sue me for doing that. It's convicing though, you see several tests and video of the same thing done to a Dell notebook as a ThinkPad (such as water poured onto the keyboard, LCD pulled back and forth to test wobble, drop tests, twisting the notebook LCD) and the poor Dell machine is mangled and beaten at the end. It was an Inspiron they used, so I'd be willing to bet a Latitude would certainly fair better. But just from talking to and first hand experience with IBM, I know those folks are obsessed with design.

As far as the screen being washed out on the IBM, it might be backlighting issues, I do agree that screen brightness has not been a strong point for IBM.

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One big factor in IBM vs Dell is the case. Dell uses cheap plastic ones, while IBM does not. You could drop your IBm and it would be fine. You drop you're dell, you're gonna have to worry. Also, the keyboards on IBMs are way better than the ones on Dells. Not to say Dell keyboards would be impossible to type on, but IBMs just feel good. You can go to http://www.pc.ibm.com/us/thinkpad/tseries/index.html for more info about IBMs t series.