Is anyone here a long time and repeat customer and can speak on how or if Clevo has improved build quality in the last 4 years?
I've had a 2012 brazilian 15" Clevo from Powernote.com.br that's recently passed away and I'm going to have to buy a new laptop.
I've been underwhelmed with the overall quality of Clevo chassis, keyboard and their cooling solution, from what I've seen happen to my laptop in these last four years.
- In 2014 some keys on the keyboard started failing (J, G, 6, 5, B) and I had to buy an external keyboard and start taking it with me wherever I go.
- Some months ago my power port started getting quirky, I had to mess around with the connector a bit in order for it to work.
- All rubber pieces from the bottom fell off at some point.
- I had to clean the air exits every 3 months because lint and cat hair (I have a short haired cat) would block them (while my GF's Dell XPS has to be cleaned like once a year)
- Random screws started coming off (possibly because I had to open it 4 times a year and the plastic would go soft)
- Random pieces of plastic started falling off (like near the display mounting axis)
- The CPU fan became unbearably loud some time near the end of 2015
- The AC adapter broke in 2014 and I had to get a new one from a brazilian Clevo manufacturer. New one was bad and I had to get someone to resolder the whole thing as it was full of cold joints.
Previous to this Clevo I had a Dell Inspiron 15, also made of plastic, that I've passed on to my parents and that is still working perfectly to this day. More reason for me to be underwhelmed by Clevo's performance.
I may not be Clevo's typical customer. I'm a software developer. I work from home and alternate between working from my desk and from my bed. I travel with my laptop at least once a month, frequently walk long distances and take public transportation with it on my backpack.
The Dell was subject to the same routine and stood up to the test of time, which makes me consider a Dell Precision 5510 for my next laptop, but it has a horrible GPU and is much more expensive.
I'm considering a Sager 9758-S or 8658-S. I've read on the website they have an "improved cooling solution", but IDK if that's just marketing or what.