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HP vs IBM Laptop Engineering

I have just had reason to open up two ageing laptops to retrieve their CMOS batteries. Here is a quick rundown of what I had to do to get to them.

HP Compaq Evo N115


What I had to remove:
  • Battery
  • Hard disk
  • CD-ROM drive
  • LED cover
  • Keyboard
  • Screen
  • Heat dissipator
Total screws: 19 T-8 head screws of varying sizes, including 4 sprung screws that have to be removed and replaced in a specific order to prevent the heat sink breaking.

Time to disassemble: 20 mins
Time to reassemble: 10 mins

IBM Thinkpad R30


What I had to remove:
  • Keyboard
Total of 2 Philips head screws.

Time to disassemble: 1 minute
Time to reassemble: 1 minute

Conclusion

I think the conclusion is fairly obvious. The R30 is a "consumer" level laptop, so doesn't have the shear awesome build of the T or X series Thinkpads, and yet even for something as simple as this it runs rings around the other "big brand" laptop I have the misfortune of owning.

Thinkpad. Because anything else is just a world of pain.

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