Mac user: Need advice shopping for Windows computer

Hi, thanks a lot for the big response! Some very good information from a credible perspective.

I'm mainly looking for a laptop for this reason: I need it to use as a mobile DJ / karaoke computer and the programs I use recommend a dedicated video card. So if you don't run it on a machine with dedicated graphics, any problem you have they just blame on that. The old computer I ran karaoke with occasionally died in a car accident. I would also like to use it for occasional processing of large file size photos I take with my Canon T3i as it's difficult to go through them and view / edit them with any speed on my Mac. Another reason I want the higher specs is so it doesn't go outdated in a year or so, and so I have more options with multitasking / workstation with multi-monitors should I need it.

Right now I'm really sold on the y410p and y510p by Lenovo. They seem to be an excellent value for HDD+SSD, i7, and 8GB RAM. Most of the problems that I've researched with it seem to be software based, which I hope Windows 8.1 solved. There are a few hardware complaints that to me are irrelevant. ex: When changing settings to "Do nothing" when laptop is closed, the screen interferes with the touch pad causing it to click everywhere and open programs. I don't use that setting, and if I did I could just turn off the touchpad. The only other hardware problem I found was complaints of the wireless card but I like the model with the newer card and 24gig SSD cache.

Do you have any input on that model or know anything about it? Any other models you would suggest?

The biggest problem I have with Lenovo is that they do the whole "slightly different model every six months" thing and that kind of production model is very incompatible with keeping around a lot of warranty parts. It could be done, but usually the rationale behind rapid release is that you aren't sitting on a huge inventory of parts, so it at least looks better from an accounting standpoint and to potential investors. To potential customers however, particularly those who might buy a unit on clearance somewhere, it's pretty much the exact opposite of what you want.

Also, I will just toss this out there. I've only worked on one Lenovo laptop and it was very shortly after IBM sold its computer business to Lenovo, so it's possible it was an IBM design. In any event, someone asked me to look at it, and after finally getting the thing open, which was a chore in and of itself, I noticed that some bright spark had scotch taped the wifi antenna cables to the CPU heatsink. This had been done at the factory, since it's easy to tell whether or not a unit has been disassembled before just based on the torque needed to loosen the screws. Forget the interference you could get coming off the CPU that would mess with the wifi signal, if things get too hot the shielding around the cable will melt and then the cable itself will heat up and transfer some of that back right to the wifi card.

Based on what I personally witnessed happening when I worked as a repair technician with companies that adopt this kind of model is this: Say you buy a model on closeout somewhere and it's already about a year since the company released that model, irrespective of how old that particular unit may be. Six months later something breaks, so you take it somewhere to get fixed under warranty. The repair place diagnoses, let's say a motherboard failure due to a bad set of capacitors. Completely valid warranty claim. Repair shop will put in an order for the part and the order will sit and sit and sit until finally the repair shop follows up to find out what the hold-up is. They'll be told that there are no motherboard units in stock for that model and then be told that the company will special order one for about a 300% markup.

I very vividly remember the mini-rampage my old supervisor went on when Acer pulled pretty much that exact stunt. It was for some desktop model with a failed video card. Even when the model was brand new, it was a mid-range video card at best and would have never retailed for more than $250. When this was all going on, it was probably worth about $100 retail. At the time If memory serves that unit was still under manufacturer warranty, which is why when Acer came back saying they'd sell us a new video card for like $400 my supervisor kind of lost it. I don't have any direct evidence that Lenovo does the same thing, but it's the kind of thing that tends to go hand-in-hand with how Lenovo produces units.

The above example is why I tend to stick with Dell and Toshiba for laptops. Dell is second only to Apple, and then only just, when it comes to warranty service. They are very easy to work with on the service side of things, they stock parts for about 5 years for every model and will usually dispatch repair parts within 48-hours with 2nd day delivery. Apple charges authorized repair shops if they don't return parts within a certain window of time, Dell will rip up the bill if for some reason the part got delayed on its way back to them. Basically they just want to make sure you aren't stocking your own inventory on their dime. Toshiba can sometimes be agonizingly slow getting parts because they have to order them from China and they come over on those bulk freighters that take about 2 weeks to cross the Pacific, but I've never seen Toshiba try and shirk from a valid warranty claim. When the Qossimo x305s, with their idiotic idea of dual sandwiched video cards, were overheating and failing right and left, Toshiba actually sent one of their engineers to our shop to look at the units.

That sort of thing matters to me. You always hope that your computer will never need servicing, but it's an important consideration just the same. One that all too many people overlook. Better to spend a little more on a laptop with lesser specs, knowing that you can get it serviced quickly and painlessly if need be, rather than find out the warranty is worth more as an emergency supply of toilet paper than it is getting your unit fixed and your only real recourse would be to take the company to small claims court for breach of contract. You'll almost certainly win by default, but you're still out a laptop.

I won't go and recommend any specific models, but I would recommend giving Dell and Toshiba's offerings a good hard look before pulling the trigger on the Lenovo.

As such you may not like any maker for the reason you elaborated on.
Bob

Not the entire market, just everyone that isn't Dell, Toshiba and Apple.