Laptop durability question

So, I'm about to buy my Dell M90 at last. My last question relates to
durability. Does anyone have experience of using a laptop as their
main machine i.e. all day, every day? Do you leave it on all the time,
exepting when it is necessary to take it out of the office? Any views
on reliability compared to a tower type?

When in the office I plan to use it's docking station and external
keyboard, mouse, 3D navigator and monitor.

All feedback appreciated.


Flynt

 

My M60 with 4 years on it is going strong. Don't get liquids near the
thing, as you know what mayhem that can cause. If you really need to
drink on the job get a desktop box and just throw away the keyboards
when they fail. I get the Dell Complete Care because they repair or
replace within 24 hours. I haven't found a problem except the battery
pack needs replacement too soon it seems.

Haven't used a dock. If I wanted all that other stuff on my desk, I
would get a regular desktop PC.

The ONLY way I have been able to keep the M60 running 99.9% uptime is
to never let it on the Internet, as I use another PC for that (a
Mac). That way the M60 doesn't get corrupted with malware. It takes
too damn long to reinstall everything from scratch with all the MS
Office & XP Pro updates.

Bo

 

I did have a M70 for about a year in a docking station which caused a
lot of problems, it automatically choose new settings each time I
started it and was nothing but trouble that way, also the usb ports
didnt always work (it was the same problems with all the M70s in the
office 15 pcs). I ended up using it outside the docking station and
the small screen made it horrible. Like the above poster I would say
if you buy it for SW get a regular desktop pc, its easier to upgrade
and you get better components for less money.

 

Wow. I've got an M70 that I've used nearly every day with virtually
no problems. The volume control buttons stopped working a while back,
but I suspect that this is a software issue and not a hardware issue.

I use mine primarily alone, but I have a docking station was well and
it gives me no problems.

good luck,
===========================================================================
Chris

 

I have a 3 year old M-60 that is my everyday machine. It works 10
hours a day everyday. At the office its set up with a docking
station, external monitor, keyboard and mouse. At home it gets used
as a laptop and it's traveled all over the country. This machine has
been rock solid and I've been very happy with it. When it was new it
would give desktop workstations a good performance run but its
becoming outdated now. A new M-90 would be sweet.

My only complaint is heat. When it's out of the docking station I
need to prop up the back of the macine about 3/4 od an inch or it over
heats.

I would definately reccomend the docking station (or at least an
external monitor) if you're going to be using this all day at the
office.

 

My Sager (new in 2000?) runs 24/7 most of the time. The paint/coating
is worn down to the plastic below the keyboard. The battery could use
a replacement. Other than the fact that SW 2006 and above won't run on
it because of performance losses, it has been pretty trouble free. I
don't know whether Dell's are built this tough. The one issue it has
is overheating due to cat fur in the fan. I have gotten into the habit
of de-furring the fan on a regular basis.

We bought a cheap machine for my son and he trashed it in a couple
years. I bought them used HPs and they are holding up well.

TOP

 

I also have a 2.5-3yr old M60, that I use all the time. It does get
warm unless I prop up the back, which I do anyway for more ergonomic
typing. I don't have an external moniter or docking station, but I've
considered getting one. I run some fairly large assembly models,
animations, and a little Cosmosworks, and the laptop has held up to
all that pretty well.

 

I have no complaints about my M60, as long as it is on SWks 2006, but
I did try using an external monitor once and seem to recall I found it
mirrored the 1900 pixel display but would not support higher
resolutions on an external monitor.

A minor irritation with the M60 is the mini FireWire connector that
DOES NOT have a powered bus. I haven't checked if the M90 does.
Without that, you need external power source for an external hard
drive. The worst part of that is if the external AC power adaptor for
your external HD glitches, and that can trash a drive, as I have done.

I would be careful to understand what resolutions an M90 will display
on an external.

I would also consider looking at the Dell laptop upgrade cycle, and
consider whether the M90 is EOL cycled now, and a new M100 might be
hitting the online store pages shortly. I absolutely hate putting
$4500 into an M90 only to see it upgraded in a month or so.

Bo