Asus vs Dell vs HP vs Lenovo - The Good The Bad

[QuantitativeNoob]

I am currrently on the lookout for a new laptop to replace my 9 year old HP Pavilion. I am not up to date with the current market until recently.

My budget is below $2k. My requirements are 15.6 inch screen with an Intel Core i7-7700HQ CPU & GeForce GTX 1000-series GPU.

I have short listed a couple of laptop models from each of these. What i want to know from you folks is your good & bad experience in reliability, performance and customer service.

- Asus Vivobook FX502VM-DM266T
- Dell Inspiron 15 7567-770116G
- HP Pavilion 15-bc222TX
- HP Pavilion 15-bc221TX
- HP Omen 15-ax213TX
- Lenovo Legend Y520 80WK007HSB
- Lenovo Legend Y520 80WK00ASSB

I welcome suggestions of any other laptop models with similiar specs which i may have missed out.

 

[ZrE0_Cha0s]

can consider aftershock as well

 

[ongware]

i am considering dell latitude vs hp probook

 

[Ark Law]

customer service.

Service? All models mentioned are consumer level so....

 

[Piezoq]

Dell and HP are better at customer support. Between these I'd go for the inspiron. Asus vivobook is another option.

Note that there may be issues with sub par drivers or components with lenovo and Asus. The same model may be equipped with different USB ports, cameras, disks etc. And driver support, depending on component origin may be sparse or non existent.

Please do not equate thinkpad quality to the entire lenovo line. The premium is there for a reason.

I am currrently on the lookout for a new laptop to replace my 9 year old HP Pavilion. I am not up to date with the current market until recently.

My budget is below $2k. My requirements are 15.6 inch screen with an Intel Core i7-7700HQ CPU & GeForce GTX 1000-series GPU.

I have short listed a couple of laptop models from each of these. What i want to know from you folks is your good & bad experience in reliability, performance and customer service.

- Asus Vivobook FX502VM-DM266T
- Dell Inspiron 15 7567-770116G
- HP Pavilion 15-bc222TX
- HP Pavilion 15-bc2ASSB
- HP Omen 15-ax213TX
- Lenovo Legend Y520 80WK007HSB
- Lenovo Legend Y520 80WK00ASSB

I welcome suggestions of any other laptop models with similiar specs which i may have missed out.

 

[watzup_ken]

Dell and HP are better at customer support. Between these I'd go for the inspiron. Asus vivobook is another option.

Note that there may be issues with sub par drivers or components with lenovo and Asus. The same model may be equipped with different USB ports, cameras, disks etc. And driver support, depending on component origin may be sparse or non existent.

Please do not equate thinkpad quality to the entire lenovo line. The premium is there for a reason.

I do recommend checking out Aftershock as well. Local setup with what I recall, good after sales service few years back.

I am not a big fan of both HP and Dell based on personal experiences with both brands. To be honest, after sales service for these big brands is rarely good for retail consumers. Corp will get better after sales service because they need to price decently and offer better service or risk losing contract to supply hardware to the firm.

 

[Piezoq]

Aftershock hardware wise is expensive for what you get. For example, the chassis cannot match the fit and finish of the competition.

As for Dell and HP, they offer BETTER support than the Chinese. Not fantastic. Lesser of two evils I guess.

I do recommend checking out Aftershock as well. Local setup with what I recall, good after sales service few years back.

I am not a big fan of both HP and Dell based on personal experiences with both brands. To be honest, after sales service for these big brands is rarely good for retail consumers. Corp will get better after sales service because they need to price decently and offer better service or risk losing contract to supply hardware to the firm.

 

[Irenicus]

The Asus and Dell Inspiron have horrible TN screens with poor viewing angles and contrast. Do check out the screen quality from the demo sets and compare with the other models in your shortlist.

 

[SiaoAngMoh]

Of the two HPs,

- HP Pavilion 15-bc222TX
- HP Pavilion 15-bc2ASSB

I would look at the 222TX only. Specs are similar, but the 222TX includes a 256GB M.2 NVMe SSD, so the overall speed of the system will be very noticeably faster than the bc2ASSB model.

I'm not sure the price delta between the two, but I wouldn't buy a machine now (2017) without an NVMe drive, unless it was confirmed I could add my own.

 

[Henry Ng]

Of the two HPs,

- HP Pavilion 15-bc222TX
- HP Pavilion 15-bc2ASSB

I would look at the 222TX only. Specs are similar, but the 222TX includes a 256GB M.2 NVMe SSD, so the overall speed of the system will be very noticeably faster than the bc2ASSB model.

I'm not sure the price delta between the two, but I wouldn't buy a machine now (2017) without an NVMe drive, unless it was confirmed I could add my own.

Wrong, 222TX has no SSD. It is 15-bc221Tx at $1,699 that has 256Gb SSD.
Recently I just got a 15-bc010Tx from IT Show so I know a bit.

 

[QuantitativeNoob]

i am considering dell latitude vs hp probook

Service? All models mentioned are consumer level so....

You guys make it sound that consumer laptops are all built to go up the lorry very quickly

Please do not equate thinkpad quality to the entire lenovo line. The premium is there for a reason.

Agreed thinkpads and elitebooks etc are more for commercial usage as they are bulkier too.

 

[Ark Law]

You guys make it sound that consumer laptops are all built to go up the lorry very quickly



Agreed thinkpads and elitebooks etc are more for commercial usage as they are bulkier too.

Consumer laptop default 1 year, commercial (not all though) laptop default 3 years - what do you think?

Just because it looks bulky doesn't mean it's heavy. Can look bulky but when pick up become surprised. Got lighter ones also nia, like Thinkpad X1 Carbon, T470S, X270, Latitude 7280. Unless you tell me 1.3kg also heavy then I nothing to say liao. Also, I'd gladly have abit of tolerable bulk for a better keyboard.

 

[QuantitativeNoob]

The Asus and Dell Inspiron have horrible TN screens with poor viewing angles and contrast. Do check out the screen quality from the demo sets and compare with the other models in your shortlist.

That's a good point, thanks!

Of the two HPs,

- HP Pavilion 15-bc222TX
- HP Pavilion 15-bc2ASSB

I would look at the 222TX only. Specs are similar, but the 222TX includes a 256GB M.2 NVMe SSD, so the overall speed of the system will be very noticeably faster than the bc2ASSB model.

I'm not sure the price delta between the two, but I wouldn't buy a machine now (2017) without an NVMe drive, unless it was confirmed I could add my own.

It's the 221TX that has the SSD. But any idea who is the OEM of the SSD and HDD? Is it Toshiba?

Consumer laptop default 1 year, commercial (not all though) laptop default 3 years - what do you think?

Just because it looks bulky doesn't mean it's heavy. Can look bulky but when pick up become surprised. Got lighter ones also nia, like Thinkpad X1 Carbon, T470S, X270, Latitude 7280. Unless you tell me 1.3kg also heavy then I nothing to say liao. Also, I'd gladly have abit of tolerable bulk for a better keyboard.

Well my current HP Pavilion is still with me for 9 years. So I am hoping that I can get a new laptop that can last me for about 6 years.

I'm fine with something weighing in at 2 to 2.5kg since I don't intend to bring the entertainment laptop out.

The overall built quality of the chassis and internal components are my main concerns. Performance can give and take some.

Based from my homework done, ASUS has the best graphics card. HP has the fastest HDD & speakers. Dell has the most default RAM. While Lenovo is the most balanced of them all.

 

[Encrypted11]

Imo, here are the current day takeaways on buying laptops.

• 
  [*]Do not assess laptops on a vendor/brand basis, but rather at the series level with in depth technical reviews
  i.e. on notebookcheck. The components used will vary as well.
• Brand =/= reliability. It is the ODM (Quanta, Compal, Wistron etc) manufacturing arms PC vendors outsource their production to, that determines the longevity of machines. That's why statistical studies or failure rates across PC brands are meaningless.
• PC vendors are mostly 80% marketing and services companies, 20% engineering and design due to the outsourcing to taiwanese and chinese ODMs
• You can't pick the ODM, it is manufactured on a contractual basis between PC vendors and ODMs.
  [*]Customer support, warranty policies are often overlooked. In SG where you don't have adequate consumer protection, its usually better to go with a "brand" with fairer warranty policies. They are not the same across.

My 2 cents

 

[QuantitativeNoob]

Imo, here are the current day takeaways on buying laptops.

• 
  [*]Do not assess laptops on a vendor/brand basis, but rather at the series level with in depth technical reviews
  i.e. on notebookcheck. The components used will vary as well.

• 
  
  Thanks for the advise! I did a search on notebookcheck, and only found the review for the exact same Dell model that I am interested in and ASUS having a somewhat similar configuration. As for Lenovo and HP, notebookcheck just not have a matching model.
  
  

  [*]Customer support, warranty policies are often overlooked. In SG where you don't have adequate consumer protection, its usually better to go with a "brand" with fairer warranty policies. They are not the same across.

My 2 cents

Good advise there!

 

[Irenicus]

Below are some video reviews of the laptop models that you have shortlisted. Take note that you should use the video reviews as a guide only and not base your buying decision on them alone.

(1) Asus FX502VM:

(2) Dell Inspiron 15 7567:

(3) HP Pavilion 15:

(4) HP Omen 15:

(5) Lenovo Legion Y520: