3 Laptops Returned For HW Issues: Help me pick a new one

[sauce-c]

So the universe is not working in my favor right now in terms of laptops. I had the Lenovo Y730 which I exchanged the first one due to speaker issues and the second one due to display disconnect issues. I just got my HP Envy X360 13" Ryzen 5 in the mail today and the bottom cover is like bent/misaligned pretty good and the right click on the touchpad seems busted (it works, but you can push much farther down on the right side than the left and it almost make "two clicks" plus it sticks a little). So I am VERY frustrated at this point, and a little lost on what to do. I am going to return the HP tomorrow and then I have to find a new laptop for school.

 

Those were both 2-in-1's which I used the tablet mode a lot for marking up articles and stuff but at this point I could care less about it if it means I have a reliable laptop. My Budget was around $750 but might be willing to go up to $1000 now. I am open to new, certified refurbished, or open box items. Preferably able to order online or pick up at best buy. I was considering maybe a certified refurbished Surface Laptop for $930. I thought about the Surface Go but I think it is underpowered for what I do and the screen is a bit small. 

 

Any help is greatly appreciated. Also I am eligible for student discounts if that makes a difference. 

 

EDIT: I take very good care of my things. I don't throw them around, drop them, etc. 

[sauce-c]

Here is a pic of the HP I was talking about 

[DarkEnergy]

I'd recommend a thinkpad (carbon, yoga, maybe t460 from the outlet) but seeing as you've gone through two of them (lower end models though) you probably wouldn't be inclined to go down that road. Check out a Dell xps 13, I'm sure there's a 2 in 1 option available, however I don't think it has a stylus. 

[Emberstone]

That's really sad. I bought an Envy X360 13 (2700U model) from Best Buy and it's been mostly fine. I've got a weird wifi issue where I won't have wifi on a cold boot, but just turning it off and turning it back on fixes the issue (so I just press the power button three times when I want to turn it on. Once to turn it on, second time to turn it off, and third time to turn it back on).

 

But other than that weird quirk that necessitates I press the power button three times when turning it on, it functions really well and performs great.

 

I have also gone through an insane number of hardware defects in laptops, all display-related. The Envy X360 I have now is my ninth laptop since 2016, but the rest were all returned due to the aforementioned defects. The only one I kept was an MSI GS63VR, and that's been my daily driver since, but I grew to hate it since it only had one functioning speaker and a dead pixel in the display. I just settled on it since I was tired of my laptop fiasco.

 

Makes me feel pretty good knowing that it's not just me receiving defective laptops. They really aren't made like they used to be.

 

Anyway, take a look at any cheaper Dells available at Best Buy. If you're worried about defects like I was, never buy online as you'll have to deal with weeks-long processes in order to get your issue resolved, while in-store you can resolve it the same day. But yeah, I'd recommend either an exchange of the X360 since I find it to be an extremely great machine, or to take a look at the XPS/Inspiron lineup. Dell typically tends to be acceptable.

[Cereal5]

My mother recently purchased a 2-in-1, a Samsung Notebook 7 Spin (part number: NP740U5M). only had it for a month or two, but it seems to be a nice laptop. Hers was well over $750 but I think they started around $800. There were multiple other similar samsung models we looked at that also looked promising.

[sauce-c]

4 minutes ago, DarkEnergy said:

I'd recommend a thinkpad (carbon, yoga, maybe t460 from the outlet) but seeing as you've gone through two of them (lower end models though) you probably wouldn't be inclined to go down that road. Check out a Dell xps 13, I'm sure there's a 2 in 1 option available, however I don't think it has a stylus. 

I'd be inclined to possibly go with a Thinkpad but idk if I could go for any more Yogas. I have a Bamboo Ink Stylus already. But again, at this point I don't even care if it's a 2 in 1. I'd like to give an XPS 13 a shot but they seem so expensive for what they are. I could be missing something there though. Do you have any experience with any particular Thinkpads? Or lenovo refurbished? 

 

3 minutes ago, Emberstone said:

That's really sad. I bought an Envy X360 13 (2700U model) from Best Buy and it's been mostly fine. I've got a weird wifi issue where I won't have wifi on a cold boot, but just turning it off and turning it back on fixes the issue (so I just press the power button three times when I want to turn it on. Once to turn it on, second time to turn it off, and third time to turn it back on).

 

But other than that weird quirk that necessitates I press the power button three times instead of one, it functions really well.

 

I have also gone through an insane number of hardware defects in laptops, all display-related. The Envy X360 I have now is my ninth laptop since 2016, but the rest were all returned due to the aforementioned defects. I kept one, an MSI GS63VR, and that's been my daily driver since, but I grew to hate it since it only had one functioning speaker and a dead pixel in the display.

 

Take a look at any cheaper Dells available at Best Buy. If you're worried about defects like I was, never buy online as you'll have to deal with weeks-long processes in order to get your issue resolved, while in-store you can resolve it the same day. But yeah, I'd recommend either an exchange of the X360 since I find it to be an extremely great machine, or to take a look at the XPS/Inspiron lineup. Dell typically tends to be pretty good.

It was my plan B laptop and event that let me down at this point. I honestly do not want to exchange the Envy x360 given that it was bad right out of the box. At least the Yoga's made it a few weeks before showing signs of issues. The inspiron just feels so... eh. Ya know? And I definitely won't buy online usually, but the BestBuy I went to didn't have any in stock and had to ship it to me. I'll be going to the store to return it tomorrow. 

[sauce-c]

1 minute ago, Cereal5 said:

My mother recently purchased a 2-in-1, a Samsung Notebook 7 Spin (part number: NP740U5M). only had it for a month or two, but it seems to be a nice laptop. Hers was well over $750 but I think they started around $800. There were multiple other similar samsung models we looked at that also looked promising.

Interesting, I never really considered a Samsung laptop. I'll take a peek.

[DarkEnergy]

10 minutes ago, sauce-c said:

I'd be inclined to possibly go with a Thinkpad but idk if I could go for any more Yogas. I have a Bamboo Ink Stylus already. But again, at this point I don't even care if it's a 2 in 1. I'd like to give an XPS 13 a shot but they seem so expensive for what they are. I could be missing something there though. Do you have any experience with any particular Thinkpads? Or lenovo refurbished? 

I have a yoga 1st gen refurbished that I got for an amazing price. The only real issue currently is the mediocre battery life of about 5 hours. It did take some time though for everything to become, so to say, "stable." I had Lenovo replace the battery (was getting even worse battery life before) as well as the stylus (odd issue). In the end though, it's a solid machine. I'd get 8th gen intel cpus though as the quad core performance is much better. Dell should also have an outlet store as well, I recommend buying refurbished/open box. 

[Emberstone]

14 minutes ago, sauce-c said:

It was my plan B laptop and event that let me down at this point. I honestly do not want to exchange the Envy x360 given that it was bad right out of the box.

Totally understandable. For those reasons I'll never buy another MSI or Asus machine, even though many others swear by them.

 

14 minutes ago, sauce-c said:

The inspiron just feels so... eh. Ya know?

See if any XPS machines are in your budget. Those are a a step above for sure.

[sauce-c]

2 minutes ago, DarkEnergy said:

I have a yoga 1st gen refurbished that I got for an amazing price. The only real issue currently is the mediocre battery life of about 5 hours. It did take some time though for everything to become, so to say, "stable." I had Lenovo replace the battery (was getting even worse battery life before) as well as the stylus (odd issue). In the end though, it's a solid machine. I'd get 8th gen intel cpus though as the quad core performance is much better. Dell should also have an outlet store as well, I recommend buying refurbished/open box. 

Yeah definitely going 8th Gen, its impossible not to at this point its significantly better than 7th gen. 

 

2 minutes ago, Emberstone said:

Totally understandable. For those reasons I'll never buy another MSI or Asus machine, even though many others swear by them.

 

See if any XPS machines are in your budget. Those are a a step above for sure.

I will check out XPS machines. Right now I'm looking into thinkpads. 

 

 

 

NOTE: Thank you both for the help an opinions it really helps in this situation. 

[genexis_x]

6 hours ago, sauce-c said:

Lenovo Y730

I think you mean Yoga 730, 13 or 15 inch?

 

Unfortunately, QC laptops nowadays is a hit or miss. Guess you're just unlucky

6 hours ago, sauce-c said:

My Budget was around $750 but might be willing to go up to $1000 now

Where are you from? Must it be convertible/tablet? Preferred max weight, display size and minimum battery life?

[sauce-c]

3 hours ago, GeneXiS_X said:

I think you mean Yoga 730, 13 or 15 inch?

 

Unfortunately, QC laptops nowadays is a hit or miss. Guess you're just unlucky

Where are you from? Must it be convertible/tablet? Preferred max weight, display size and minimum battery life?

Yoga 730 13" was the original model. From the US. I don't care if it is a convertible anymore. I'd like something light, around 13", and the longer battery life the better. 

 

I know Lenovo does 15% off thinkpads for students. Microsoft does 10% for students. I don't know about any others. 

[genexis_x]

If you want something cheap but decent, Ideapad 720s 13 (Intel) or UX330UA (from Amazon)

[sauce-c]

1 hour ago, GeneXiS_X said:

If you want something cheap but decent, Ideapad 720s 13 (Intel) or UX330UA (from Amazon)

I was looking at maybe an L380 for $750ish after discount or I think the other was an E480. Opinions on either of those?

[genexis_x]

25 minutes ago, sauce-c said:

I was looking at maybe an L380 for $750ish after discount or I think the other was an E480. Opinions on either of those?

Good options too, but definitely not 'excellent'. Also limited to low sRGB IPS panel

[sauce-c]

2 hours ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Good options too, but definitely not 'excellent'. Also limited to low sRGB IPS panel

Okay thank you 

[YellowJersey]

16 hours ago, DarkEnergy said:

I'd recommend a thinkpad (carbon, yoga, maybe t460 from the outlet) but seeing as you've gone through two of them (lower end models though) you probably wouldn't be inclined to go down that road. Check out a Dell xps 13, I'm sure there's a 2 in 1 option available, however I don't think it has a stylus. 

Seconded. I've been a big fan of the T series. I can't speak to the latest models, but my T-500 and T-530 are built like tanks and are still going strong after 9 and 6 years respectively. They're also pretty user upgradeable.

[sauce-c]

4 hours ago, YellowJersey said:

Seconded. I've been a big fan of the T series. I can't speak to the latest models, but my T-500 and T-530 are built like tanks and are still going strong after 9 and 6 years respectively. They're also pretty user upgradeable.

 

7 hours ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Good options too, but definitely not 'excellent'. Also limited to low sRGB IPS panel

 

I think I am going to spec out the L380 with the i5-8250u, 8gb memory (one stick), FHD Multi Touch display, 256gb SSD (non-nvme), fingerprint scanner, backlit keyboard, etc. which comes out to $737 before tax. I think that should be solid right? 

 

I would prefer the T series, specifically the T480s but it seems like I'd be paying a LOT more for a better screen, a little bit better battery life, and a little less weight which wouldn't change my experience all that much and I could use the extra savings. 

 

Any last opinions before I pull the trigger?

 

EDIT: The $737 is with my student discount. Incase that confused anyone. 

[genexis_x]

3 hours ago, sauce-c said:

I think that should be solid right? 

If you need upgradable RAM and don't mind low sRGB display then it's good