I have an hp plastic elitebook laptop (made in 2017) and am baffled by the flexness and lack of confidence in the case compared to my MacBook. I’ve also tried using some of the well-regarded thinkpad models and dealt with plastic falling off side panels and snagging when trying to slide it into backpacks.

I think Apple makes an assumption that if you want something with more protection / grippyness, there’s a whole world of 3rd party case vendors happy to solve that problem.

>using some of the well-regarded thinkpad models and dealt with plastic falling off side panels and snagging when trying to slide it into backpacks.

I've been a very longtime user of both Thinkpads and MacBooks. I've liked my various Thinkpads but my experience using them as daily drivers was that there were invariably various port covers and other parts that could be reliably counted on to break off or otherwise be lost in a matter of months.

I think it depends entirely on the surface finish given to the device.

Brushed or patterned aluminium can be very 'grippy' (eg the lid on my old Asus Zenbook), even more than the Thinkpads with the matte plastic.

I'd rather a sandblasted/high gloss metal case over the awful soft-touch plastic of Dell's XPS line.

> awful soft-touch plastic of Dell's XPS line

Which XPS line are you referencing? I have last year's XPS 15: metal lid and metal frame.

"Color Choice: Silver machined aluminum", "Cut with precision from a single block of aluminum for a sturdy, durable chassis in a beautiful design", "The palm rest is made from carbon fiber". From: https://www.dell.com/en-au/work/shop/business-laptops-ultrab...

Unless they've changed things in the last year or so, their XPS 15 and 13 have a soft-touch plastic that's probably got carbon fiber in it, or at least patterned that way - but it's got some sort of coating that is a rubber/polymer of some kind that's soft and almost sticky.

It's sort of like the buttons on some TV remotes.

2017, 2018, 2019 models (XPS 13" and 15") are aluminium alloy top and bottom from my quick check on the Dell website.

Did you make any effort to check the facts?

Disclaimer: I have last year's XPS 15: although I am not a fan of Dell, I chose the XPS for fast i9 and good Linux support and I haven't been disappointed.

> Did you make any effort to check the facts?

There's no need to be rude or condescending.

I'm going based on my experience of using Dell XPS13 and XPS15 laptops at work over several generations. I don't have access to those laptops anymore, so I can't tell you which models they were, but I'm not making this shit up.

To be clear, I'm talking about the plastic on the inside, around the keyboard rest/etc, not the external shell - from the images on the linked page, they still have that same look to them, so I don't know if they've stopped using it.

> To be clear, I'm talking about the plastic on the inside

Ok: your original comment mentions 'lid' and 'metal case' without anything about the keyboard rest (which is carbon fibre). I am not saying I am the clearest communicator, but you didn't answer me very well IMHO.