Before I go on and start today’s ramble, let me make a disclaimer. One is that this article was sparked when I learned Ia’s Risk’s keyboard is on the fritz again. When I learned that Ia’s Risk was feeling under the weather, I was saddened. But never smug. Just saddened. Because that has happened to a lot of my friends before. Two, I do not endorse any of the products that I mentioned. I just know from tekkies I know that the brands Lenovo (at least the IBM Thinkpad line) and Toshiba are the most durable in the market. So read on for my reasons why I really don’t recommend going for certain laptop brands, and those laptop brands whose mettle have yet to be proven.

My first scare with laptops happened when I wrecked my father’s IBM Thinkpad 365 which ran Windows 95. While I had done that through force (I took out the entire LCD and couldn’t figure out how to put it back there. Oops.), I must say that the laptop itself was actually pretty durable. My dad had it since I was in late Grade School, I think, and I broke it in.. My first year of college. We had since 1996 or’ 97, and I wrecked it in 2001. Good enough a lifespan for a laptop, right?

Moving on, my second scare was when my friend’s ECS laptop’s keyboard got stuck after only having the thing for a few months. Next was when another friend’s second-hand Dell broke down because *literal* bugs killed the hardware (apparently, a cockroach egg hatched inside the laptop). And the last straw in my laptop scare was when my AB Psychology classmate’s laptop needed an external keyboard, because, you guessed it, keyboard got stuck again.

It was because of my friends’ stories that when I realized I needed a laptop, I decided to go for a Mac, a Toshiba or a Lenovo, no matter what. When I read Ia’s story, I was really saddened that she took a Risk.

So, the moral of the story is that, when it comes to buying new laptops, I would definitely make it a policy to go for a brand I could trust, even if it would be factory surplus stock.

I’d be wary with the pre-owned and refurbished types, but if I have a need, like right now, I would actually consider buying a pre-owned lappie. My guidelines for myself are: stable chassis, good enough battery, health of internals. As long as it boots up, can run Windows XP/Ubuntu Linux, and it still opens and closes properly: hinges and latches stable, can run the programs I need to test and Yahoo Messenger for Photosharing and a little notepad for my note-taking needs, I’m good.

Update: Ia’s Risk got fixed last September 25, 2007:

Congrats, Ia.

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