Durable <$800 laptop suggestions

[Prawn1908]

I am looking for a new laptop to use primarily for school.  My first and foremost concern is durability as my last four laptops died much too young due to poor construction.  I can't keep replacing my laptops every 1.5 years.  Even though I don't really need a GPU I have started looking at gaming laptops in hopes they will be built a little more solid than the lower end consumer ones which seem to be mostly focused on being as light and cheap as possible.

 

Spec wise here is what I am looking for:

• FHD 1080p display
• No worse CPU than my previous i7-6600U
• Numpad
• At least 256GB SSD
• I'd really like to not spend more than $800, the less the better as long as it fits my specifications.
• GPU is optional, if I want to play intense games I have a beast of a desktop.
• Not a Lenovo, I have had two Lenovos and both died due to the exact same construction issue in the hinge.

 

I generally am very careful with my electronics, but I do have to cart it around school all day so it needs to be able to stand being lugged around in the decently well padded laptop compartment of my backpack.  That said I don't give a crap about size or weight, my backpack is huge and no laptop holds a finger to some of the textbooks I have to carry around, I just want it to survive.  In fact I've been steering away from the thin/light ones due to durability concerns.

 

Currently at the top of my list is the HP Pavilion 15t configured with a 256GB SSD which brings the price to $760, which is kinda high for me but I'm willing to go there it it will last.  I noticed in a laptop quality post linked from the top sticky on this forum that the Omens don't seem to be that great quality, but I've heated from others that Pavilions are good.  Anybody have any comments on the build quality of this laptop, or other suggestions that meet my needs?

 

 

[DrMacintosh]

49 minutes ago, Prawn1908 said:

Numpad

Y tho? 

 

I would suggest looking at an older MacBook Pro post 2012 but none of those will check off all of your boxes. 

[genexis_x]

1 hour ago, Prawn1908 said:

I have had two Lenovos and both died due to the exact same construction issue in the hinge.

Which models? If you cheap out on laptops then QC issues are very common to happen.

 

Also, laptop brand only matters when comes to customer support, every brand has good and bad products, in fact most laptops are not made by brands themselves, this is done by ODMs like Compal, Quanta, Clevo etc

 

Wait for new Thinkpads with Kaby Lake Refresh to come out. HP Pavilion laptops are usually mediocre.

[Prawn1908]

48 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Y tho? 

 

I would suggest looking at an older MacBook Pro post 2012 but none of those will check off all of your boxes. 

I am an engineering student, I do a lot of stuff with numbers, a Numpad is absolutely invaluable to me.  Additionally a lot of cad and computer graphics software I use utilizes Numpad specific hotkeys.

 

Also I wouldn't touch a mac with a 10 foot pole, I hate those things with all my guts.  Frankly I didn't think anybody here would recommend a mac.

[Prawn1908]

41 minutes ago, ZM Fong said:

Which models? If you cheap out on laptops then QC issues are very common to happen.

 

Also, laptop brand only matters when comes to customer support, every brand has good and bad products, in fact most laptops are not made by brands themselves, this is done by ODMs like Compal, Quanta, Clevo etc

 

Wait for new Thinkpads with Kaby Lake Refresh to come out. HP Pavilion laptops are usually mediocre.

They were both Y-somethingorother models, one about 6 years ago and my most recent one from a little over a year ago.  They both had the exact same flaw where the hinge was very poorly secured to the crappy quality thin plastic of the laptop base.  On the last one it completely broke off the base and chewed up everything it could touch as I opened and closed the lid, including the display cable.

 

How long til these new ThinkPad come out?  I kinda need a new laptop asap, my ZenPad tablet can only do so much for me.

[genexis_x]

22 minutes ago, Prawn1908 said:

Y-somethingorother models

Yeah Y series Ideapads have mediocre quality. No idea when the new Thinkpads at CES 2018 will come out but probably soon.

[DrMacintosh]

27 minutes ago, Prawn1908 said:

Frankly I didn't think anybody here would recommend a mac.

This is a tech forum, not a Windows PC/ Android only forum. 

 

Regardless your best bet is probably a Lenovo Thinkpad.