w500 vs Dell Precision M4400 vs HP Elitebook 8530w

[manecas]

I am interested in buying one of these and would like to gather opinions on the pros and cons of either one.

I've been comparing prices and was amazed to find out that two similar systems on a Lenovo and on a Dell (the only diference was that the Lenovo had a WSXGA+ and Dell had WXGA+, and one had ATI and the other Nvidia) were priced at $2179 and $1865. What makes Lenovo worth $314 dollars more? roll cage and extra pixels?

Can anyone help me with the decision?

Up 'till now I am under the impression Dell worked the most on the 15'4" cathegory, making a WUXGA TrueLife screen and the Nvidia Quadro FX1700M available, with the nice add on of the backlit keyboard and the discrete Lenovo-like design.

[Technophile]

Don't know much about hp, but I had a friend that bought a dell xps 1530, which broke the first day. Originally he had 1 week shipping. Which ended up being 1 month shipping. The tech support is horrible, they make you disassemble the laptop and mess around with it to find out whats wrong. Then he tried to get a replacement, but Dell tried to con $300 from him with some reatarded super fine print crap. So now after 3 months of hassle he has his XPS.

Also, you've heard about the recent problems with the nvidias right? But I think it only invovles certain ones based on the G92 and G94 (i think that's it). Anyways, good luck.

[manecas]

those Nvidia problems hapened with all brands, including Lenovo, and I've read only Nvidia was to blame for them... I spoke with a someone at Lenovo that writes on their blog and he told me that those issues were resolved and that for the future I wouldn't have problems. It is probably true because I can't believe Lenovo, HP and Dell would be foolish to work with Nvidia if those issues were still hapening... (Lenovo mounted Nvidias on the w700)

[Utwig]

I haven't seen an 8530 yet but several 8510ps have gone through my hands.

I don't like:
- the edge facing you on the HP is shapped like 7 (thinkpads are >), you feel the edge on wrists
- louder than T42p
- keyboard is not as good as T4x and T6x series
- thicker base than T4x, didn't have any T6x to compare side to side
- the trackpoint cap on HP is uncomfortable to use

[Utwig]

If you think new Thinkpad keyboards are not as good, I can post pics of english keyboard from HP 8510p. the base is a thin sheet of metal that bends itself considerably under it's own weight.

[JadedHeart]

I had originally ordered a Dell Studio 17 last Sunday, I already have 2 Dell desktops and hadn't had any bad experiences dealing with Dell. That was until Monday. I ended up spending 4 hours on the telephone with various people from Dell that day. Each of them had a different story. I canceled the order and ordered a W500. I don't want to even imagine what it might be like dealing with them if I were to have any problems.

I felt like I was dealing with an entirely different company than the one I had bought 2 systems from in the past. After this week, I would advise you against Dell.

[Puppy]

There is high probability that Lenovo has the worst screen. I'd consider HP.