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Shopping for Midrange Ultrabooks - Are HP and Lenovo reliable?

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Piano

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Now that my laptop is over 4 years old, I'm in the market for a new one.

Since I've got a decent desktop for all of my gaming / video-editing needs, I'm in the market for a small, portable laptop for travel / school that can easily handle web & productivity and maybe some indie / older games. Basically, mid-range ($600-800) ultrabooks.

I've narrowed it down to these four possibilities:

ASUS Zenbook UX330 - My last two laptops have been ASUS and they've held up super well, so my impression is that ASUS is a dependable brand. This one's got some rough user reviews, though.
HP Envy 13 - Similar specs but cheaper. Is HP reliable these days? When I was in college tons of people had HPs, and almost all of them broke down within a year. They were total garbage. That was 9 years ago, though, so who knows.
Lenovo Ideapad 710s - The most expensive, but with an i7 rather than an i5. I've never owned a Lenovo or known anyone who has, so I don't know much about the brand.
Acer Swift 5 - My understanding is that Acer's build quality / reliability is shit, so I've eliminated this.

They've all reviewed pretty similarly on the web, so I'm wondering if anyone has any personal impressions.

Between all of these I'm currently leaning toward the ASUS, I guess because I'm most familiar with the brand. I'd consider the HP or Lenovo if they're the superior choice, though. The real bummer is that all of them only have 256GB SSDs, not 512.

Thanks GAF!

EDIT: Narrowed it down some more, see update here
 
EatinOlives said:
Any reason why the Surface is not on the table?
Click to expand...

My current laptop has a touch screen and I almost never use it, so I don't really care to pay the premium for a 2-in-1 / touchscreen / surface / etc. A comparably specced surface is $970 - above my budget.

They're neat computers, though.
 
Lenovo computers have terrible reliability, the trackpads almost universally fail after a year or so, they also have a terrible keyboard layout with the up cursor key where the shift key should be. I have had more Lenovo computers come in for repairs than any other brand. Asus far and away have the best reliability of the three brands you listed.
 
I've had a Lenovo X220 for...five years, now? Maybe six? It's the best laptop I've ever owned. Rock solid, and if anything ever breaks in it, you can repair it yourself. They even have official videos that walk through replacing each of the major parts. Not that anything has ever broken. After five years, it still has three hours of battery life, too.

There's a reason this laptop is one of the most popular choices for journalists. It's incredibly rugged. They have hilarious warranty options, too, like one that guarantees that if your laptop breaks, they'll get a new one to you within 24 hours -- no matter where you are in the world at the time.

I'll physical tears the day it dies. And then I'll repair it and keep going.

Yes, I know they've been doing sketchy things in terms of spyware. Doesn't change the fact that they make the best laptops.

(It's worth noting that yes, their trackpad sucks. And the X220 had the best laptop keyboard ever -- newer models ditched it for a really mediocre one. And I have no real familiarity with anything they made after the X220.)
 
I recommend the Asus Zenbook ux330 user reviews are really unreliable

Hp Spectre I think is HP's flagship ultrabook not the envy. I've seen some bargains for it on slick deals for like around 700 for a refurb model if you don't mind refurbs.
 
The 710s is a cheap and portable laptop but has some issues.

-The screen is nice and bright but the edge light is sometimes visible on grey backgrounds. It's like the edge of a hockey rink.

-The passive cooling abilities aren't great, that's why it has two fans. The left fan isn't silent in room temperatures even if the CPU temps are well within safe limits. You can raise the threshold this with 3rd party software. The right side fan is less of an issue.

It's hard to maximise performance while keeping it quiet. It can run old games but be prepared to tinker to keep the temperature and fan noise reasonable. To run Morrowind, I limit CPU use with a custom power saving setting and use RTSS to set max FPS to 60.
This might be the worst case scenario. Even if there's power to run newer games, say Amnesia, it will be loud.

If I didn't have to basically underclock it to keep it quiet I would recommend it.

edit: The thing is, Lenovo keeps slapping so many different configurations of hardware into their cases that it's impossible to say which configuration the case was originally meant for.
edit2: Their business line is great, but heavy. Thinkpad 13 might be better for you, still cheap but rocking a dual channel RAM setup will boost GPU performance somewhat.
 
I've used Dell, HP and Lenovo in my years of working in IT. Lenovo tends to be the most resilient of them all.

I'd still gather the device drivers onto external storage and do a complete new build as soon as I get it though.
 
I bought a lenovo a while ago, great little thing. Next time i might get something more game focused but for the price i have no complaints.
 
snaffles said:
Lenovo computers have terrible reliability, the trackpads almost universally fail after a year or so, they also have a terrible keyboard layout with the up cursor key where the shift key should be. I have had more Lenovo computers come in for repairs than any other brand. Asus far and away have the best reliability of the three brands you listed.
Click to expand...

Hmm, interesting. Is this true all across their line? I was under the impression that ThinkPads were known for their reliability.

Melon Husk said:
The 710s is a cheap and portable laptop but has some issues.

-The screen is nice and bright but the edge light is sometimes visible on grey backgrounds. It's like the edge of a hockey rink.

-The passive cooling abilities aren't great, that's why it has two fans. The left fan isn't silent in room temperatures even if the CPU temps are well within safe limits. You can raise the threshold this with 3rd party software. The right side fan is less of an issue.

It's hard to maximise performance while keeping it quiet. It can run old games but be prepared to tinker to keep the temperature and fan noise reasonable. To run Morrowind, I limit CPU use with a custom power saving setting and use RTSS to set max FPS to 60.
This might be the worst case scenario. Even if there's power to run newer games, say Amnesia, it will be loud.

If I didn't have to basically underclock it to keep it quiet I would recommend it.

edit: The thing is, Lenovo keeps slapping so many different configurations of hardware into their cases that it's impossible to say which configuration the case was originally meant for.
edit2: Their business line is great, but heavy. Thinkpad 13 might be better for you, still cheap but rocking a dual channel RAM setup will boost GPU performance somewhat.
Click to expand...

I read about the severe throttling in some reviews - sound like I should avoid the IdeaPad. Thanks for the input!

The ThinkPad 13s do look pretty good, at least from a spec perspective. The design is...okay, I guess? It's fine for a business laptop.
 
I have a Lenovo Yoga 2 or 3 and love it. Regret buying the yoga since the touchscreen has ghost touches but love the laptop besides that.
 
I have an envy 13. Think it's great for what it is. Couple of issues

1. Battery life on win 10 is average. Swapped to Linux and runs a lot longer for me;
2. Weird issue with some speakers. Google hp envy 13 crackling speakers. Hard issue to find root cause. Appears to be a driver problem but if you're the type of person who likes to uninstall the vendor OS and whack your own on you are probably going to encounter the issue.

If you can deal with the above, pretty good ultrabook.
 
cormack12 said:
I have an envy 13. Think it's great for what it is. Couple of issues

1. Battery life on win 10 is average. Swapped to Linux and runs a lot longer for me;
2. Weird issue with some speakers. Google hp envy 13 crackling speakers. Hard issue to find root cause. Appears to be a driver problem but if you're the type of person who likes to uninstall the vendor OS and whack your own on you are probably going to encounter the issue.

If you can deal with the above, pretty good ultrabook.
Click to expand...

What is average? 5-6 hours?
I'm coming from a laptop that goes ~2 hours so pretty much anything is an upgrade.
 
Piano said:
Now that my laptop is over 4 years old, I'm in the market for a new one.

Since I've got a decent desktop for all of my gaming / video-editing needs, I'm in the market for a small, portable laptop for travel / school that can easily handle web & productivity and maybe some indie / older games. Basically, mid-range ($600-800) ultrabooks.

I've narrowed it down to these four possibilities:

ASUS Zenbook UX330 - My last two laptops have been ASUS and they've held up super well, so my impression is that ASUS is a dependable brand. This one's got some rough user reviews, though.
HP Envy 13 - Similar specs but cheaper. Is HP reliable these days? When I was in college tons of people had HPs, and almost all of them broke down within a year. They were total garbage. That was 9 years ago, though, so who knows.
Lenovo Ideapad 710s - The most expensive, but with an i7 rather than an i5. I've never owned a Lenovo or known anyone who has, so I don't know much about the brand.
Acer Swift 5 - My understanding is that Acer's build quality / reliability is shit, so I've eliminated this.

They've all reviewed pretty similarly on the web, so I'm wondering if anyone has any personal impressions.

Between all of these I'm currently leaning toward the ASUS, I guess because I'm most familiar with the brand. I'd consider the HP or Lenovo if they're the superior choice, though. The real bummer is that all of them only have 256GB SSDs, not 512.

Thanks GAF!
Click to expand...

i have to add that Swift 5 is best reviewed out of bunch, including user reviews...
 
Its not the brand that matters but the line... ie HP elitebook or Dell Latitude or Lenovo Thinkpads are great. HP Pavilion, Dell Inspiron, and Lenovo Ideapad are terrible
 
I bought an ASUS Zenbook at the start of the year and I love it. It might be the best laptop I've ever owned, honestly.
 
Piano said:
What is average? 5-6 hours?
I'm coming from a laptop that goes ~2 hours so pretty much anything is an upgrade.
Click to expand...

I've had about 4.5-5.5 on Linux. Windows is much more around the 3-3.5 hour mark. You can of course dim the screen, enable sleep mode after a short amount of time etc. but I wouldn't venture out without the power adapter too far.

Let's say if I get into work and have 80% battery in WIndows. if I have a meeting at 10:00- 12:00 then I'd take my power adapter just in case.
 
Piano said:
What is average? 5-6 hours?
I'm coming from a laptop that goes ~2 hours so pretty much anything is an upgrade.
Click to expand...

That new one you posted, I have it. The battery life is ridiculously long on it, very much improved from earlier versions from what I've read.

I can go to class in the morning and study till late afternoon with it comfortably.
 
aasoncott said:
I've had a Lenovo X220 for...five years, now? Maybe six? It's the best laptop I've ever owned. Rock solid, and if anything ever breaks in it, you can repair it yourself. They even have official videos that walk through replacing each of the major parts. Not that anything has ever broken. After five years, it still has three hours of battery life, too.

There's a reason this laptop is one of the most popular choices for journalists. It's incredibly rugged. They have hilarious warranty options, too, like one that guarantees that if your laptop breaks, they'll get a new one to you within 24 hours -- no matter where you are in the world at the time.

I'll physical tears the day it dies. And then I'll repair it and keep going.

Yes, I know they've been doing sketchy things in terms of spyware. Doesn't change the fact that they make the best laptops.

(It's worth noting that yes, their trackpad sucks. And the X220 had the best laptop keyboard ever -- newer models ditched it for a really mediocre one. And I have no real familiarity with anything they made after the X220.)
Click to expand...
Are you me?

Second everything in this post. Also own the X220, have had it for years and years, not sure if it will ever die. Had some LCD issues at one point, but easily repaired it myself with a new panel. Can't remember if I'm on my original or replacement battery, but still getting 6-8 hours.

The Superfish fiasco still bothers me greatly, but I can't deny that Thinkpads are great machines.
 
I think I've narrowed it down to either the ASUS UX330 or buying a refurbished ThinkPad (either T460s or X1 Carbon).


  1. The Asus UX330 has the sleekest design, is the cheapest, the most portable, and is brand new...but I worry about reliability down the line.
  2. The Thinkpad T460s is reasonably priced, has all of the specs I want, and is probably reliable ... but the screen is apparently awful and I can only afford a refurb from last year. Plus it's the heaviest of the three (over 3lbs).
  3. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon is everything I want, is allegedly reliable, is portable, etc ... but even a last year refurb model is ~$300 over my budget without necessarily having better specs.
Any further thoughts, GAF? Sorry to keep bumping the thread, it's just hard to make such arbitrary, expensive decisions sometimes. Any thoughts help.
 
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