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What are the laptops with the best build quality?

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Apr 18, 2023

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Here’s the Deal

8 Options Considered

What are the laptops with the best build quality	Price	Weight	RAM
-- Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon	$1789	2.49 lbs / 1.13 kg	8GB/16GB LPDDR3 1866Mhz
-- Asus TUF FX504 GE	$699	-	-
-- Apple MacBook Pro	$1,299	3.02lbs	8/16GB
-- Dell XPS 15	$1,218.83	2kg (4.44 lbs)	8 / 16 / 32GB DDR4 at 2400MHz
-- GIGABYTE Aero 15X v8-BK4 (15.6")	$2,299.00	-	-

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon

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Top Pro

Great build quality

The Carbon X1 is a very light and durable laptop. It has the characteristic raven-black finishing of other Thinkpads on top of a carbon-fiber reinforced chassis. The carbon fiber increases the overall durability of the laptop, making it a great fit for people who travel a lot since it can withstand a lot of physical damages. See More

Top Con

Lenovo Company

Untrustworthy track record with one of the worst after sales service. See More

ProductivePerun's Experience

I'm in IT business and into coding/light gaming. I travel a lot under harsh conditions with my tent. Over the yaers, Thinkpad made me leave Macbooks. X1 carbon is the most durable, high quality build, yet still thin and light laptop I have ever used. P.S. You won't find a better keyboard anywhere else. See More

Specs

Weight:2.49 lbs / 1.13 kg

RAM:8GB/16GB LPDDR3 1866Mhz

GPU:Intel HD 620 Graphics

Ports:2x USB-C Thunderbolt 3, 2x USB 3.0, HDMI, 3.5mm headphone jack, microSD card, Native RJ45 dongle port

Top Pro

Extra rigid frame provides excellent durability

Despite not having an aluminum shell, the X1 Carbon feels quite rigid and sturdy. You can toss it in a backpack or haul it around town without having to worry about it holding up. See More

Top Con

Missing an SD card slot

The X1 Carbon has no SD card slot. This can be easily fixed by a USB adapter, but it feels strange for a laptop to not have one nowadays. See More

ShojiVR's Experience

Thinkpad is always become legendary laptop for its quality especially the keyboard experiences, no other brand so far able to defeat this laptop on this field. See More

Top Pro

Excellent typing experience

Like most Thinkpads, the X1 Carbon has an excellent keyboard as well. The keys have about 1.8mm of travel and provide great tactile feedback. Their gently curved keys also make it very easy to target without looking at them. The keyboard also has optional backlighting which can be turned on or off with a simple key press. See More

Top Con

Missing an Ethernet port

The X1 Carbon is missing an Ethernet port, so people who prefer having that option as well are forced to use Wifi only. See More

ComposedKulullu's Experience

Never. I repeat never trust Lenovo See More

Top Pro

Very portable

At around 2lbs this is a very light laptop. Especially when you compare it to other Thinkpads. It's light enough to carry in one hand and when it's carried in a backpack it's easy to forget that you are carrying a laptop because of how light it is. See More

Top Con

It is too expensive

While the hardware stands up to any reasonable usage for a long time - its spec - processor, hd, ram, graphics, - will be outdated long before it wears out, requiring upgrade or replacement. It is much too expensive in comparison to comparable purchases. See More

Top Pro

Great battery life

The battery supports over 10 hours of light activity like web browsing, watching videos and editing documents. This can be doubled to 20 hours by swapping in the extended, 6-cell battery, which can be hot swapped without turning off the laptop since it also has an internal 4-cell battery. See More

Top Pro

Built-in support for Amazon Alexa

The 2018 model of the X1 Carbon has far-field microphones built-in to work with Amazon Alexa. This will allow you to give commands to Alexa from across the room. See More

Apple MacBook Pro

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Top Con

It's expensive

Compared to other ultrabooks such as the Dell XPS 13, the MacBook Pro is very expensive. For the latest (as of July 2017) MacBook Pro and Dell XPS 13 with dual-core i5 Processor, 8GB RAM, 256 SSD, the prices are $1.1k for the Dell XPS 13 and $1.5k for the MacBook Pro. See More

Top Pro

Amazing build quality

The MacBook Pro has an all-aluminum body that looks great and is sturdy enough that worries of accidentally damaging are mostly alleviated. It has a robust lid, well-spaced back-lit keyboard with speakers on each side of the keyboard and an excellent button-less trackpad. See More

ShojiVR's Experience

for same price, you can buy yourself latest thinkpad or legion laptop which actually provide more features, keyboard experiences, and better hardware. See More

Specs

GPU:Apple M1 8 core

Ports:2/4 Thunderbolt 3 Ports, Headphone jack

Top Con

You need dongles or a dock to connect USB-A devices

There are no USB-A ports, so you'll need a dongle or a dock to use things like webcams. See More

Top Pro

Very portable

The latest MacBook Pro has a trimmed down design compared to predecessors. It's 0.61 inches (15.5 mm) thick and weighs 4.02 pounds. It's even thinner than MacBook Air. See More

GenuineGaia's Experience

If it comes to build quality, the MacBooks rule supreme (I have to admit, even if otherwise I am no fan of macs). See More

Top Con

15" version is expensive

$2300 for a laptop may seem as too much. See More

Top Pro

The OS is exceptionally easy to use

Macbooks are famous for working out of the box. The default operating system (macOS) is also exceptionally easy to use even for people who have never used it before. Most people will not need to customize or change anything since all the apps work perfectly as it is. The people who like to customize things and tinker with their systems will also find it pretty easy to do, considering the fact that macOS is a Unix and allows varying degrees of control to users. See More

Top Con

Hard to repair or upgrade the hardware

The battery and other components are glued in, and the battery blocks access to other parts. The battery will wear out eventually, and the fact that it's glued in means that you cannot easily repair or upgrade a MacBook Pro. See More

Top Pro

Great performance

The MacBook Pro offers great performance both for day-to-day stuff and more niche graphic-related activities. The latest model also has had an update in hardware specs where both the CPU and GPU have been upgraded to their respective latest generations. The 16GB to 32GB help with performance as well and the SSD speeds are unmatched in the laptop market which also helps with general performance. See More

Top Con

Requires the use of proprietary firmware

The source code of the firmware isn't available for users to audit or modify. See More

Top Pro

Great keyboard

The 2017 MacBook uses the second generation of the "butterfly" keyboards first introduced in 2015. They feel different to use than most laptop keyboards as they are very shallow, but most people report really enjoying the keyboard after getting used to it. See More

Top Con

Loud keyboard in 2016 and 2017 versions

Top Pro

The default macOS is relatively developer friendly since it's a Unix

OSX is based on XNU (Darwin) kernel, it's certified Unix and arguably a lot more developer friendly than Windows. Development for Unix is native on OS X. There's a large selection of great development tools available for OSX. The operating system itself comes bundled with a powerful terminal emulator, called Terminal. Additionally, Apple provides tools, like Xcode, an IDE that contains a comprehensive collection of tools for developing OSX and iOS software, for free. See More

Top Con

The keyboard has a unique feel and some people may need some time to get used to it

The keyboard on the MacBook is unique and some people may not like the way the keys feel to press or not having physical function keys. See More

Top Pro

Good battery life

The battery drains in about 15 hours of typical use. See More

Top Con

Glossy screen

Apple has deleted the matte-screen option from its lineup, an unfortunate decision that reduces the usability of the computers and means you get less work done. You won't realize how much time you spend moving your head around to get reflections off whatever you're trying to see until you switch to a matte screen. Those "deep blacks" and "rich colors" that you were supposed to get from a glossy screen are not present since they're buried behind a sheen of reflection under all lighting conditions. See More

Top Pro

Fantastic display

The MacBook Pro has a sharp, color accurate 2560 x 1600 IPS display. It's bright at 500 nits, has great viewing angles (viewable at up to 178 degrees) and capable of displaying 87.3% of sRGB color gamut. See More

Top Con

No Ethernet or FireWire ports

An adapter is required to transfer data over FireWire or connect to the Internet using an Ethernet cable. See More

Top Pro

Can run up to 3 external monitors and output 4K

With 2 Thunderbolt (DisplayPort) plugs and 1 HDMI, MBP can run up to 3 external monitors and output 4K over HDMI. See More

Top Con

It's missing the ESC key

There is no physical function or escape keys as they have been replaced by a touchscreen, so for example, if you're a big Vim user and don't want to change your habits, the MacBook might be a poor choice. See More

Top Pro

Good customer support

Apple offers support over the phone worldwide, provides support in Apple retail stores and authorized resellers and has community forums where users can help users. See More

Top Con

You can't upgrade the internal RAM

RAM is soldered in, so you can't upgrade it. See More

Top Pro

One of the best trackpads around

The Macbooks are renowned for having the best trackpad out of any laptop. It has full gesture support, you can configure in the software how much pressure you want before it physically clicks and the finger tracking is perfect. See More

Top Pro

Plenty of RAM for multitasking

The MacBook Pro has up to 16 GB of RAM. That much RAM is perfect for running IDEs, emulators, and virtual machines. See More

Top Pro

Both the hardware and software are designed in-house

Both the operating system and the hardware are designed by Apple and are made to be as compatible as possible from the get-go. Any drawback that the hardware might have compared to competitors, is made up by the great compatibility between the hardware and OS. Furthermore, because Apple controls the hardware that goes inside their laptops, they can be sure that every OS release will be fully compatible even with their older hardware, ensuring software compatibility for many years after the laptop is released. See More

Top Pro

One of the best SSDs that can be found on a laptop

With read speeds at 3.1Gbps and write speeds at around 4.7Gbps, the SSD used in the MacBook Pro is the best in the market by far. This doesn't just mean opening/saving files is quicker, but it also has a pretty huge impact on general application performance. See More

Dell XPS 15

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Top Pro

Slick design

The whole design is quite stylish. The aluminum chassis provides a very clean look while the black carbon fiber palm rest with an almost borderless display cements it as a visually modern laptop. All of this is made with a premium build quality. See More

Top Con

Awkward webcam location

The webcam is located under the screen instead of on top. It means that your face will be shown from a lower angle which can seem a bit weird. It also means that your fingers can partially obstruct the webcam while you’re typing. See More

ShojiVR's Experience

for specification given with the price point is a bit overpriced, there is lot of another brand that offers same quality with cheaper price. See More

Specs

Weight:2kg (4.44 lbs)

RAM:8 / 16 / 32GB DDR4 at 2400MHz

GPU:Intel HD Graphics 630 / NVIDIA GTX 1050 with 4GB GDDR5

Ports:1 HDMI 1.4 2 USB 3.0 with PowerShare 1 Thunderbolt™ 3 (2 lanes of PCI Express Gen 3) Supports: Power In / Charging, PowerShare, Thunderbolt 3 (40Gbps Bi-Directional), 3.1 USB Gen 2 (10Gbps), VGA, HDMI, Ethernet and USB-A via Dell Adapter

Top Pro

Amazing display

Two display choices are available for the XPS 15, an Ultra HD touchscreen or a Full HD non-touch screen. Both screens have a very wide array of colors as they cover approximately 100% of sRGB color space. The viewing angle is around 170 degrees. However, at 45 degrees, slight color change can be noticed. With around 350 nit output for brightness, it’s a viable choice for outdoor usage. All of this makes it an amazing display. See More

Top Con

Palmrest collects sweat

The palm rest is made from carbon fiber which attracts fingerprints and sweat. After some time it gets kind of unpleasant to touch and needs to be cleaned. See More

CapableAshur's Experience

This is a very solid device. It can handle anything you throw at it. From gaming to intense graphics applications, this device is a beast. A perfect device for office, programming, entertainment, gaming and everything that you can think of! For best experience use it with a monitor. See More

Top Pro

Very well-rounded laptop

The cheapest configuration is a great choice for general non-intensive use - things like internet browsing, watching movies and similar tasks. Whereas the more expensive configurations are gradually more capable of intensive tasks, like video editing or gaming. It’s not as good as a specialized computer built for a specific purpose, like a video editing laptop with an enormous RAM size or a gaming laptop with a superior graphics card, but it’s a very well-rounded, reliable laptop. See More

Top Con

Battery doesn’t hold long with the Ultra HD screen

If you’re choosing the configuration with an Ultra HD screen, expect a very short battery life of around 6 hours for general usage. With more intensive tasks it's even less than that. See More

Top Pro

Optional password-free-sign-in via a fingerprint reader

For an additional $25 it’s possible to enjoy a password-free-sign-in by having a fingerprint reader. It will keep your laptop safe while still providing convenient access to it. See More

Top Con

The screen bends if you press

Top Pro

Good battery life if you pick the 1080p display

Models with the 1080p screen last about 10 hours with general usage. Naturally, if more intensive tasks are involved, the battery will be drained faster. See More

Top Con

Microphone was not installed (missing) at factory

Top Pro

Solid keyboard and trackpad

The keyboard and trackpad are reliable and solid all-around. The keyboard is responsive but is not super “clicky”, rather a bit soft. It has a white backlight on black keys that illuminates them at night. The touchpad is rather large while having no buttons. Despite this, the XPS 15 can reliably distinguish between the left and right clicks which are done on the trackpad itself. See More

Top Con

Display cable tends to break over time

Top Pro

Operates well on a Linux system

All essential things, like network connectivity, ports, and sound work right “out-of-the-box” with a Linux operating system. There is a compatibility issue on the new 9560 model with its graphics card but the laptop is still very usable with its integrated Intel graphics card. See More

Top Con

Noisy fans

The laptop is very quiet during idle and light usage but when there is some workload, the fans get quite loud and distracting. See More

Top Pro

Can run most modern games

Being an excellent all-rounder, it can be used as a gaming laptop for games that are not exceptionally demanding, like Overwatch or Dota 2. Unless you’re using the cheapest model, you can expect a reasonable 60 frames per second for almost all modern games, provided that you’re willing to lower the game’s settings. See More

Top Con

Some ghosting in games

he display is not intended for gaming purposes so it can produce an effect called “ghosting”. Ghosting is when the pixels are not able to change their colors fast enough, so the color of the preceding frame can still be slightly seen on the next frame. This causes a blurring effect. Note that it only happens on high framerates coupled with fast objects. See More

Top Con

Audible coil whine

Coil whine can be heard when it’s generally quiet and the fans are not running. Audible when the laptop is connected to the power supply. The manufacturers have acknowledged it as a problem and, if possible, will push out an update which should eliminate it. Until then, it’s still a gripe. See More

Top Con

Overpriced

On another brand, you can have same specification and quality with $100-$200 cheaper than this laptop See More

Top Con

9560 model's GPU has compatibility issues on Linux

The new 9560 model has some trouble accepting its GTX 1050 Ti video card while running a Linux operating system. Fortunately, the integrated Intel graphics card is capable enough to substitute it. The manufacturers are probably aware of the issue and will, most likely, release an update for it. See More

GIGABYTE Aero 15X v8-BK4 (15.6")

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Dell Precision 7730

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Top Pro

Robust

Top Con

Battery life

Battery life is a bit dissapointing. See More

RickZeeland's Experience

Very robust 17" workstation with flexible configuration options, the cheapest display is not recommended however. See More

Specs

Top Pro

Excellent structural rigidity

Lower boday is a rigid unibody like build, almost up to par with a MacBook. See More

Top Con

No fingerprint scanner

The system does not offer a fingerprint reader or other biometric authentication mechanism. See More

Top Pro

Ports

3.5 mm jack, 3x USB 3.0 Type-A, 2x Thunderbolt 3, SD card reader, smart card reader, HDMI, mini DisplayPort, RJ45 Ethernet. See More

Top Pro

Keyboard

Top Pro

Performance

Impressive performance. See More

Top Pro

Xeon CPU for reliable performance

Alienware m15 (AWM15-7830SLV-PUS) (15.6")

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