However:

3 years ago, my department went with Acer V5-571P laptops. Every single one has been broken and destroyed from casual use. We've found serious manufacturing defects and other flaws, and Acer is not interested in fixing it.

5 years ago, however, we had a small batch of Lenovo E430 devices. These devices are in much better shape than the devices two years younger than them. We have a few other groups of 'incremental updates' that have the exact same results. Lenovo devices hold up much better.

Say what you will about Lenovo's shady practices, but their computers are built like tanks.

However, I'm still happy with ThinkPad hardware and I'll still consider them when I need a new laptop. They're the only vendor including a three-button trackpoint, which I enjoy using over a touchpad. They have a nice no-nonsense aesthetic. While the build quality has suffered over the years, they're still sturdy and reliable, more so than most competitors.

I'm also pretty sure they're not the only ones doing this kind of bullshit. They're just doing a poor enough job to get caught in the act.