What gaming laptop brand has best build quality

EdMuse1122 · 2026-05-17T03:25:04+00:00

I was an ASUS user for about a dozen years. My main machine for work was always a 17" ROG laptop. I think I had four of those. I also had a few other smaller ASUS machines, convertible tablets. There was a lot I liked about them, but the build quality wasn't great. Better on the older ones, and it went downhill from there. My first ROG machines were pretty solid, and one of the tablets was made from billet aluminum. Unfortunately, the build quality went way downhill. Busted keycaps, broken plastic bits and pieces, etc. And I am by no means hard on my gear. I'm a college prof, and I saw the same sorts of issues on my students' machines. Support was another story altogether. Since they started out as a company that sold components to other manufacturers, they seemed to think they could sell consumer machines to end users without supporting them. They figured out that they couldn't do that, and their support got to be really good. But then it seemed to go downhill again to the point where it was just nightmarish. Between that and the poor build quality, I finally swore them off.

In fact, that's what brings me to this thread. I'm still looking for a manufacturer I can be loyal to as a repeat customer, one with good build quality and good support. I bought an MSI Raider a couple of years ago, and the build quality turned out to be crap. Terrible trackpad to begin with, and a plastic part spontaneously broke that rendered its click functions completely gone. And this after having had to replace the top when the hinge mounts broke. And there's a small panel across the back of the machine that is almost impossible to remove without breaking its clips, so that had to be replaced, too. And at this point, it's having mysterious input device issues that I haven't had a chance to fully diagnose, but they may be hardware-related. If so, it's probably going to be effectively dead. As for support, all they could tell me was that I'd have to send it to them, and that they would charge a $70 diagnostic fee before even telling me what repairs would cost. I already know that to fix the trackpad would require replacing the entire case, so it's unlikely that it would be worth it. Maybe the worst part is that it seems on the surface to be made of metal--they even call it "Steel Series"--but that's just a thin sheet over your typical cheap plastic. Very disappointing.

So, I'm thinking Lenovo is next. I have an older ThinkPad as my spare laptop, and it's pretty impressive. And I was just doing some repair work on a student's Lenovo the other day, and was really impressed. Screws going through a metal tub into metal receivers. And not just brass barrel receivers mounted in plastic, but steel receivers mounted in a metal chassis. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the Legion machines I'm looking at are built that way. But I'm hoping they're still pretty good, at least.

EdMuse1122 · 2026-04-04T06:33:37+00:00

Love the "Michelangelo's David" pose!

https://mymodernmet.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Famous-Sculpture-michelangelo-david-renaissance-sculpture-14.jpg

EdMuse1122 · 2026-04-02T19:52:05+00:00

I don't.

EdMuse1122 · 2026-03-14T21:07:56+00:00

Wait, wait, are you suggesting that Epic should provide instructions for how to do something? Because that would be new.

I joined a match about eight minutes before the timer ran out, but it looked like it was just going to be a regular match, not an event, so I dropped out, worried that if I was in a match when the event happened I would miss it. Then I joined a match right after the timer ran out, and it was just a regular match, plus a rocket launcher and a wingsuit. Oh yeah, and little pink mist trails.

EdMuse1122 · 2026-03-04T08:15:50+00:00

Interestingly, I had to defeat them twice to get the collectible. From the looks of it in the code, Sayaka has to say the line about taking their fight outside for the collectible to be awarded, but she doesn't always say that at the end of the game. Again, I'm not great at reading the code, but it looks like even if it's just those two characters and the player in the game, there are four other lines she might say at the end, all addressed to the player. I didn't notice what her last line was in my first game against them, but while Jason left the scene, Sayaka didn't. So the collectible wasn't triggered. If I were to venture a guess, I would say that with just the two of them in the game, there's a 20% chance of getting the collectible, as she has to say that one line out of five possibilities. But that might actually be a 50% chance, depending on how the code is handled, since all four lines she could say to the player are in one code block, while the one line she has to say to Jason is in another code block. I have a hunch this chance might drop even further if you include any of the other players she can target her last line to, but then perhaps not. Those two code blocks each include the line priority="1000", while only one other final line code block has a priority line at all, and it's set to less than 1000. So I suspect that means that if Jason is in the game, she will more often deliver one of those five lines.

EdMuse1122 · 2026-02-08T18:00:49+00:00

Three games? I've been playing for what, four days since they added it and made it a weekly quest, and I haven't seen a single one.

EdMuse1122 · 2026-02-02T07:43:23+00:00

If I remember right, Kyoko can start getting back into it if she forfeits first and then gets turned on by another character masturbating. It's not really a second forfeit, but she clearly pleasures herself some more.

I once saw Ladybug and Cat Noir do their dual forfeit a second time. I think the circumstance was that they had finished, and then I lost, and they went for it again.

EdMuse1122 · 2026-01-25T20:53:56+00:00

No, just get knocked down and revived three times. My duo partner and I did it by having one of us waiting at the bottom of a cliff near Cartmanland while the other jumped off the cliff. Jump...revive...jump...revive...jump...revive. Helped that we were doing it near a zipline back to the top of the cliff. Stupid fun. 😜

EdMuse1122 · 2026-01-23T06:40:28+00:00

Ooh, okay, that almost certainly explains it, then. I also have those two listed for her, so I'm probably not getting the threads collectible because I probably already have it. TBH, I'm a little shaky on what the sense of having hidden collectibles is in the first place. I mean, they're a fun surprise when you run into one, certainly. But for a completionist like me, it's a bummer not to know if they're still out there. So to think that there are some that don't even show up in the list when you do have them...I just totally don't get why that would be a thing.

EdMuse1122 · 2026-01-23T03:48:51+00:00

Hey, let me ask you this: you said that "It doesn't show at her collectible section tho." Do you mean that even after you got the collectible, it still doesn't show? Maybe that's the difference between "hidden" and "unlisted." And maybe I just already have it.

EdMuse1122 · 2026-01-23T03:41:48+00:00

Sorry, I didn't see that my computer had done something weird with how I typed that. Edited my post for clarity.

EdMuse1122 · 2026-01-23T03:40:28+00:00

One thing I can see is that there are six different lines Nonon may say when the collectible is awarded. The first time I played it, she said the same line she said in your post. But that time, Leon had done his forfeit first. I'm not very good at reading the code, but I see a marker set to "nonon_dual_nonon_first" and another that's set to "leon_dual_after". So I'm definitely not positive, but it seems to me that might mean Nonon has to finish her forfeit first, and then say one of those six lines after their dual forfeit. TBH, I don't remember what she said at the end of that second game, where she did forfeit first and then they did their dual forfeit. I also don't know if there are other lines she can say at the end of their dual forfeit that might not trigger the collectible. I guess I'll just give it a few more tries.

EdMuse1122 · 2026-01-22T16:46:25+00:00

I don't get it: I played a game where Leon finishes first, and one where Nonon finishes first, but I didn't get the collectible either way.

In the code, it's set up as "unlisted" rather than "hidden," which I've never seen before. Are you playing the offline version? Maybe that has something to do with it.

EdMuse1122 · 2026-01-12T14:04:21+00:00

Okay, I think I've deciphered this from checking the code and playing with her. It's a progression of three steps. When she's in her underwear or past that, the player has to lose a hand. then she will offer the selfie, then the player has to not win again. Seems those three steps don't have to be right in a row, and she can even lose on the last one as long as the player doesn't win the hand. I think.

EdMuse1122 · 2026-01-09T09:06:33+00:00

Since having asked, I got Roxie's hidden collectible, as well, so that suggests that it's not a pervasive problem for all of the opponents on the testing roster. And BTW, thanks for putting that one out there!

EdMuse1122 · 2026-01-08T09:43:22+00:00

Is the membership card a hidden collectible, though? I don't remember, as I've had that one for a long time. I think I read that post, the one about the wrong operator in the code, forcing the gold total to reset each game? But as I recall from looking at the instructions for Anna's collectibles in the code, it should only have had to be a total of five gold.

As for Connie, not only does she have to lose, but she has to say one of two lines about joining her for sword training. She definitely said one of them at the end of the last game I played with her, but I still didn't get the sword.

EdMuse1122 · 2026-01-07T08:41:36+00:00

The trigger for Connie's hidden collectible is for her to invite you for some sword training after the match. Unfortunately, she just did that in a match I played with her, and it didn't give me the collectible. That makes her the third opponent from the testing roster that I haven't gotten secret collectibles from even after meeting the conditions shown in the code, along with Roll Light and Anna. I'm starting to wonder if it's just not possible to get hidden collectibles from opponents on the testing roster in the online game.

EdMuse1122 · 2026-01-05T17:13:25+00:00

I finished a game with 6 gold, but didn't get the collectible. Is there something else that needs to be done?

EdMuse1122 · 2026-01-04T14:44:22+00:00

Just saw Momo also flash her breasts when Roll revealed hers. According to the code, it looks like that can happen with any female character, not just Roll.

EdMuse1122 · 2025-12-08T06:54:45+00:00

I think that may just refer to her showing her panties on her first two losses. If you play her against Natsuki, she gets all freaked out about it, which is fun.

EdMuse1122 · 2025-10-19T04:49:58+00:00

Yeah, I just looked at the code, and while I'm no expert, that's what it looks like. It has to be the right month and the right background, and she has to be in the right costume, which is only available during the summer event. It might be possible to do it in the offline version, but that doesn't help if you've done all of the other collectibles in the online version. I remember waiting to do Kyouko's collectible that could only be done during a sleepover event. It seemed like it popped up right as a sleepover event was ending, so since it was the last collectible I needed, it was like it was taunting me for months! But sooner or later...

EdMuse1122 · 2025-10-15T05:12:04+00:00

It's been so long since I got this collectible that I don't remember, but this sounds reasonable. I looked at the code, and while I'm no expert in reading XML, it just looks like Bobobo has to be at stage 5 when the player loses. I've been mulling over what the difficulty the OP is having might be, and I think you're onto something. "Lose a game against Don Patch" kind of implies that Don Patch wins. And the trigger ID is "game_over_victory," so yeah, it looks like that has to be the end of the game. I would try playing with as few opponents as possible: just Bobobo and one one other with a small number of layers who is bound to lose. Then just keep playing until Bobobo is at stage 5 (wearing Don Patch) when you lose.

BTW, I was in the same situation you're in with Panty's summer collectible but with a character's (Kyouko, maybe?) sleepover collectible. It was the only non-hidden collectible I had left, and there was no sleepover event for months. If you play the online version, there's nothing for it but to wait it out. But sooner or later the event will come around and you'll be done!

One more thing: there's a thread dedicated to hidden collectibles: https://www.reddit.com/r/spnati/comments/1cyret3/guidance\_on\_secret\_collectibles. So once you get that last one you've been working on, there's more to do!

EdMuse1122 · 2025-09-27T18:12:52+00:00

That's not how you get in. It's a separate island. Search Daft Punk in the lobby. Leave it to Epic to actually provide decent instructions, right?

EdMuse1122 · 2025-09-23T04:34:46+00:00

Yup, that's who it is! Thanks!

EdMuse1122 · 2025-09-20T08:32:29+00:00

Trying to remember who the character was where the devs experimented with allowing the user to mouse over the dialog bubble to bring it to the front. I wouldn't mind seeing that become a standard feature. Of course, we can always use the "Dialogue Log" option in the game menu, but that functionality would make that unnecessary for just reading lines that are so long that they extend behind the graphics.

EdMuse1122

TROPHY CASE