It depends on the laptop to be honest.

I'd easily pay 10% more for Lenovo over Dell. Might go higher than 10% for that matter.

However, I WOULD buy a Dell. I would never buy another HP or Alienware.

We have had all 3 in the past 5 years. Most recently, we are choosing Lenovo for the build quality. Lenovo's software (driver/firmware) installations leave some to be desired compared to HP and Dell, but it is all still scriptable. Lenovo in general just seems to be a bit behind in the "enterprise management" area, but are actively working to improve that situation.

Most recent batch of HPs we had were generally good, but most of their built-in webcams failed and had to be sent for repair. Never before did we have such a wide issue with camera hardware.

The Dells we had prior to that had both compatibility issues with Dell docks (which they resolved by replacing the docks) as well as rampant battery failures, which we "fixed" by replacing with aftermarket batteries.

When you get right down to it, they are all going to have problems and they are all going to have good aspects. Some batches you get will be fantastic and others you will hate every day you have them. Just the nature of purchasing larger quantities of computers.

As for docks, I finally reached the point where I couldn't take them anymore. They are just terrible in comparison with the laptops themselves, so we literally purchase two video cables (1 HDMI, 1 USB-C to whatever you need) and then get a 4-port USB hub. You get (nearly) all of the same connectivity without needing to deal with bad dock firmware, bad dock hardware (ethernet cards in particular are terrible), and you end up saving a decent amount of money. In addition, these cables/hubs are not vendor specific. You can flip/flop between brands as much as you want as long as they continue to have USB-C and HDMI ports on the laptops. Granted, if you were actually using every possible port on your docks, that may not work, but do give it a thought. The USB-C/Thunderbolt docks just are not as good quality as the mechanical docks used to be.

I am with other commenters here that if possible, pick a vendor and stick it out. You become more accustomed with what they are good at, what they are bad at, and any work you and your team put in in automating installations or managing the equipment can more easily be re-used model after model.

I lean towards dell but have no problems with HP or Lenovo.

As a matter of fact I love HP elitebools because they still offer a traditional laptop docking station.

My company uses Asus, so I can’t speak from direct experience, but I’d recommend Lenovo simply because of the durability of their hardware vs HP or Dell. Users break shit, frequently.

Lenovo for quality Dell for Support HP customer support is lacking

As for Docks, why not go with monitors with integrated dock via single USB-C?

Lenovo P620 workstations for staff, Dell R7515 for the dc.

Too much competition, no moat sector, low margins, increase in warranty spending, high reliance on low quality services. Im out of the sector.

Apple is the exception.

Dell, virtualization and enterprise help them standout and their PC business is strong as always (typed on an Alienware, maybe biased)

Dell

Windows PC makers have terrible margins, tiny moats, and are beholden to Microsoft for future innovations. It's the classic commodity business.

Apple makes the best laptops and it makes most of the profits in the PC market. It's only about 10% of the market in units because it almost only sells over $1,000 units and ignores the sub $700 market entirely. It's average sales price is roughly $1,400 vs. the $500ish that most Windows PC makers subsist at, giving it at closer to a quarter of market revenues. And it's margins are roughly 15%, about three to four times the rest of the market, hence it's net profits are easily over 50% of the market as a whole.

Puts on $HPE

To be fair, my HP Elitebook works pretty well. 16 months in the system, it has only needed help once. Battery life is good, heating is average, no idea about tech work as I’m not a tech person, and durability is great.

HP is the best. Been using it for 3 years. NP so far (touchwood)

Ask for HP Elitebook as it has a good industrial design.

I have an 840 G1

I hv both HP and Lenovo.. Tbh Lenovo sucks.. battery drains quickly and heats .. HP soo good with performance and battery and don't know abt Dell

HP? I don't see much love for HP here. Maybe the high spec ones are OK, but personally I won't be risking HP.

business laptops. thinkpad l/t/x line, dell latitude/precision, hp elitebook/probook.

Most consumer grade laptops (gaming included) are not going to have great build quality. professional and business laptops are the way to go for excellent build quality and longevity. HP Spectre, Z Book, EliteBook, ProBook, Dell Precision, XPS, Latitude, Lenovo ThinkPad.

Having used multiple x360s, they suck. The only one that didn't feel like it was going to fall apart was the 13 inch x360 Probook. Bigger and/or x360s just feel really flimsy. Most of them also seem to not be cooled very well.

HP has some of the worst hardware out there, in terms of dependability, design .. they have done some shady shit. In like 2014, they sold a tower desktop with a laptop motherboard inside. Fake expansion slots on the back, no pci or any other ports for cards/expansion inside. You used a laptop power brick as a PSU.. as there was none in the tower. Laptop ram, laptop type CPU cooler.. seriously, a laptop board mounted in an "ATX" style case. Recalls, class-action suits, insane ink prices and policies, HP has had a rough history they haven't learned from yet.

Yet, there is more HP hardware out there in use, than their competition. Granted, Dell and Lenovo don't make printers.

Go figure.

Fuck low end HP. But yes, Lenovo, Dell, and higher end HP's served me better than Acer and Asus

In my experience Lenovo is the best hardware. Dell's have non stop goofy driver and firmware issues. HP hardware seems the worst. Surface I think is easy to manage but is expensive.

Dell has the best integrations with intune, and the best support. Lenovo is trash on every level (ordering, quoting, drivers, hardware is okay certain models). I’ve not used hp in enterprise, but I’ve seen the hardware and wasn’t impressed

IMO Dell's biggest advantage is their warranty and repair. I've tried to leave them because I really like Lenovo but shipping in a machine isn't an option for me.

The problem with HP manageability is HPIA. You can't manage it through Intune or GPOs. You've got to roll your own custom script/install/whatever to configure it. Both Dell and Lenovo offer templates for GPO/Intune management.

Lenovo 100%

There is just one choice: Lenovo Thinkpads. As HP and Dell were, are and will always be utter trash.

You guys can choose ? They just replaced my 4 years old crappy Dell by a 3 years old crappy Dell

M2 MacBook Pro developer laptop has entered the chat

Lenovo for sure. I was given a HP recently and while it looks good the Lenovo was a much better machine.

Lenovo makes the best laptops

HP Elitebooks have been amazing for us, very few problems, Dell on the other hand has been a nightmare, my last Dell had the battery bloating up so much it was "clicking" the touchpad by itself lol, drove me mad until I actually saw the whole pc being bent by the battery lol, then I understood. Dell are incredibly noisy and the speakers are trash in addition to all the ither problems

Would avoid HP if possible, their driver management and warranty stuff makes me want to pull my hair out.

We are looking to buy some laptops next year. We are definitely not going with HP. Currently our environment is all HP and so long as the current IT Manager works here I doubt we will ever use them again. We have had nothing but problems with HP. Many different parts failing and around 25-30% of our computers having had a motherboard replacement after just the first 3 years. On top of that their customer service has been just terrible. Maybe this is all just bad luck, but everyone in my department now has a bad opinion of HP.

I have worked as a sysadmin managing around 4k HP laptops and we have had a lot of issues with drivers and random motherboard failures.

We mainly have Dell and Lenovo at my current workplace and they have been flawless.

Dell for me, but Thinkpads are bad ass.

Dell hands down.

Dell. Their service tags make support so much easier. Enter service tag on their support site and get config info, drivers, warranty info all in one place.

I like Dell. We mainly use Optiplex 3070 desktops and Latitude 7x00 laptops.

Lenovo laptops hands down. Desktops don’t really matter that much. The keyboard on the Thinkpads is leaps and bounds above Dell and HP.