[sakopov]

I've gone through 2 generations of XPS laptops. The build quality has just never been there. The casing is flimsy. The battery life degrades significantly after 6 months. The charger cord falls out of the charger port. They also seem to overheat and are generally noisy. However, with all of this being said I keep coming back to XPS because, until recently, they were the best looking windows laptops which still perform quit well. I know Lenovos are great but they look like bricks. My current XPS 15 is literally falling apart after 3 years of use and I'm slowly bringing myself to buy a MBP.

[blitzd]

You may want to look into Alienware - they tend to have a way better build quality than the Dell machines, and you can get better bang for your buck than typical 'workstation' builds for laptops. I'm not sure how well their smaller form factors are, as I've always gone big - but I've used various Dell and Lenovo 'workstation' laptops and I will be sticking with Alienware for the foreseeable future.

Edit: Also, my use case tends to be database development, data analysis, and virtualization.

[nightski]

I do not disagree regarding the XPS. However I've had similar experiences with MBP. I've owned two now, and both had the charger fray/fall apart and the hinges for the display become weak/flimsy. I've experienced every issue you mention with the MBP.

Thinkpads look like a brick, but that is because they are. My X220 has lasted 6-7 years and barely shows it. I've spilled coffee on it, dropped it, and it just keeps on going fine.