this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2023

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Recommendations of non-Apple products with similar longevity? (kbin.social)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by wrath-sedan@kbin.social to c/technology@beehaw.org

121 comments fedilink hide all child comments

EDIT: Getting a ton of great responses thanks everyone <3 Once this is up for 24 hours or so I’ll make another edit summarizing everyone’s recs for future reference. Keep ‘em coming!

TL;DR Have any recs for non-Apple phones/laptops that have lifespans of at least 5+ years?

Wanted to get everyone’s opinion on want brands/products have worked for them. I’m lightly techy and not afraid to put some effort in, but also don’t want to build everything from scratch. I think Apple’s products are often anti-consumer, anti-privacy, anti-yadda yadda yadda.

At the same time, with both phones and laptops, I’ve found my Apple products to have double or even triple the lifespan of any other brand. I did my research and bought a $1000+ HP laptop with Ryzen7 a little over two years ago, and due to a flaw in the hinge which is now subject to a class action lawsuit, the screen has cracked and it’s mostly unusable. Other purchase haven’t failed quite that dramatically but don’t tend to last as long. On the other hand, my or my partner’s old Macbooks and iPhones are easily seeing 5+ years of use in addition to software updates.

So let me know what’s worked for you!

(page 2) 50 comments

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[–] TheBest@midwest.social 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Side note, I have such mixed feelings on HP. I have only anecdotal things to say, so please keep that in mind!

I bought a budget HP Pavilion back in 2020, for a similar reason to you, because of the Ryzen setup. It sees use 4-5 times a week. And I have to say... I love it.

The build quality is, in my opinion, outstanding for a budget ($600) laptop. Its metal, solid, with almost no noticable keyboard flex. It feels so much better than both Dells my wife and I use for work. And the keyboard is actually my favorite of all the boards in my house.

My family has always had new tech coming in and out of the house and one of the longest lasting devices we had was an HP 2-In-1.

I don't support their scummy software practices (shoutout brother printers). But for the most part every piece of HP tech I've bought has been average or above. But online they're somewhat universally panned. Its interesting.

[–] JustARegularNerd@aussie.zone 3 points 1 year ago

This is just in my limited experience, I work as a tech for an MSP and I've generally seen HPs fail more so than other brands (not by a wide margin but I wouldn't buy a HP).

The other device we see fail more is Microsoft Surfaces, especially the tablets. I love the form factor and what Microsoft goes for with them but I'd never buy one purely on the reliability concerns I have, and (with a couple of exceptions) terrible repairability.

[–] wrath-sedan@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

I would have agreed until the hinge broke through my HP Envy x360 screen :-(

Not much of a warning before it happened either, I would look into your model to see if that’s a recurring issue. Apparently you can loosen the tension in the screw on the hinge ahead of time to help avoid it eventually snapping. Good luck either way!

[–] skankhunt42@feddit.de 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

xiaomi. super cheap and top notch specs. have multiple phones and laptops. even without case the phones are almost unbreakable

[–] cnnrduncan@beehaw.org 3 points 1 year ago

Can confirm, accidentally threw my Poco down the concrete staircase (and ~1.5m drop) outside my flat and it somehow didn't even scratch the screen!

[–] Papercrane@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago

Can confirm, I bought a Poco phone F1 and I still use it to this day. Bought it in 2018

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.one 3 points 1 year ago

My work machines get cycled out after 3 years, but I've had good results with Lenovo and Dell.

[–] Overzeetop@beehaw.org 3 points 1 year ago

Dell Precision line for computers. They are not light. They are not slim. They are not fashionable. They can probably stop a bullet. Dell is still actively still selling (refurb'd) units from ~6 Intel generations ago. The desktop workstations are similarly bulletproof.

[–] variants@possumpat.io 2 points 1 year ago

I've had good luck with Dell,I recently was using a old Dell Inspiron again to access my VM from. Stuck a SSD in it and upgraded the ram and it works surprisingly great, I think it's from like 2015 but the i5 in it still runs super quick.

For phones I'm really liking my Samsung, I upgraded to a s22 from my pixel 3 last year and having Samsung Dex is pretty awesome, I used to build up a little PC to use on my breaks at work but now I just spin up dex on a spare monitor and can parsec into my VM and do anything I'd want without carrying a laptop

[–] Scrof@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

My Lenovo Legion laptop is going strong for 5+ years now, also a Nokia smartphone is 3+ already. Had terrible experience with ASUS and HP laptops in the past and had to change them after 2-3 years of use.

[–] Brkdncr@artemis.camp 2 points 1 year ago

Thinkbook t14

[–] 520@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

I buy a lot of my laptops from Dell Outlet. Extremely good for the price and I haven't had a single one die on me yet - and the first was bought 13 years ago!

[–] Nerd02@lemmy.basedcount.com 2 points 1 year ago

Smartphone: I've just said goodbye to my Honor phone after 5/6 years of service (can't remember how many precisely). Incredible lifespan for its price.

However repairability could be great. I've changed its battery once and screen a couple times, by the end of it the frame was about to break from all the times I had opened it.

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