Top 8 Most Reliable Laptop Brands And Failure Rate Comparison

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There is a saying, if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. Just like everyday consumer goods, the cheaper it is, the lower the quality. Some may argue Google Android phones offer better specification than Apple yet retain the same quality. Just look around, have you seen any android phone older than 4 years? Apple smartphones on the other hand last longer as they are built with higher quality with the goal of making money via their subscription fees.

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It is hard to compare a product based on their specification alone. For instance, an iPhone’s 3000 mAh battery does not have the same quality as an Android 3000 mAh battery. The material may differ, so does the number of rechargeable cycles. The only way to know the overall product quality is to look at the average failure rate against similar competitors within the same industry.

1. RescueCom Report 2020

Latest as of 2024, no new report released after 2020

This is the latest report from Rescuecom, looks like they’ve stopped giving out reports after 2020. Ever since Microsoft decided to make the surface, they really went all in and make the best and more reliable laptops in the market. I am surprised Dell got a C, which is one of my favorite brand.

latest most reliable laptop brands

If you go far back enough, to year 2016, Microsoft really took these reports seriously and made huge improvements.

2. RescueCom Report 2019

Microsoft Surface is now King of Computer Reliability and Apple Recovers in the new RESCUECOM 2019 Holiday Computer Reliability Report.

RescueCom laptop Report for year 2019 and 2020

1 – Brands percentage share of calls into RESCUECOM 1-800-RESCUE-PC call center
2 – Calculate percent of computers released on the market against the number of repair calls per brand.
3 – Assigned by RESCUECOM to simplify the reliability scoring system.

3. RescueCom Report 2018

Samsung close behind Apple in RESCUECOM 2018 Computer Reliability Report. Milman is head of RESCUECOM, the industry leader in computer repair, which regularly provides data on their service records to give consumers information on which computers are the most reliable.

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laptop reliability report

The market for computers is shrinking due to computing alternatives like tablets and phones. To be successful, manufacturers are going to have to spend more on research and development and rely less on older designs that worked years ago, but are not well suited to today’s very complex operating systems.

4. Consumer Report 2016

Consumer Report 2016 on the most reliable laptop

Of all the laptop brands in the market, which is the most reliable and comes with the lowest failure rate? According to Consumer Reports, Apple stands out as being the most reliable laptop brand. Microsoft, on the other hand, is less reliable than most other brands.

Missing in the list are sub brands or smaller brands such as Razer, Alienware, Predator etc. These brands tend to have higher reliability than their parent companies’ products. Thus, gaming laptops are worth the price for their reliability, but in terms of performance, they are overkill for daily tasks such as surfing the web, word processing and photoshopping.

Laptop Reliability Comparison

However, if you are looking for an industrial grade laptop, not those for the average consumer, Panasonic’s Toughbook and Toughpad tablets rarely fail. In fact, Panasonic mobile computers and tablets are nearly ten times more reliable than standard business laptops and tablets. Their laptops and tablets are designed to be used in a really harsh environment.

5. SquareTrade Report 2009

Laptop reliability by manufacturer. They next turn their attention to the relative reliability of different laptop manufacturers. Their study data includes 9 brands with a minimum of 1000 units, which is enough to give us a statistically significant look at the 2 year failure rates. Figure shows the 3 year forecasted malfunction rates for the 9 brands (excluding accidental damage):

SquareTrade Report Laptop reliability by manufacturer

ASUS and Toshiba come out on top. With 3 year malfunction rates forecast to be under 16%, laptops from these two manufacturers are nearly 40% more reliable than Hewlett-Packard, the worst performer in their study. Sony and Apple also performed better than the average. The industry leader HP, which shipped nearly 16 million laptops in the past year according to IDCiii, ranked dead last in their reliability study with over one-fourth of laptops expected to malfunction in 3 years. Gateway and Acer, the #2 makers of laptops were also nearly as unreliable as HP, with an expected malfunction rate of over 23%.

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6. Computers And Laptops After Sales Service

Apart from reliability, the after sales service is equally important too. I’ve owned a great number of computer brands, such as Acer, Asus, Dell, and Sony. My Dell PC failed during the first year and Dell immediately replaced the part, no question asked. Sony did the same thing too when the hard disk failed. My Acer laptop died in the 3rd year, right after the warranty expires.

7. Planned Obsolescence

Planned obsolescence, or built-in obsolescence, in industrial design and economics is a policy of planning or designing a product with an artificially limited useful life, so it will become obsolete (that is, unfashionable or no longer functional) after a certain period of time.

No company will admit they have this policy, but they can observe this from a products’ average failure rate and the company’s sincerity in fixing it by making available parts required to fix it. This is why I am a huge fan of Japanese products and also Apple. Products are not merely hardware, Apple on the other hand is known for updating their 4 or 5 years old iPhone with the latest OS. As for parts, it is easy to find spare parts for most Japanese brands.

108 Comments

  1. Gravatar

    One of the most consistently reliable laptop manufacturers wasn’t even included in the survey – Fujitsu, who generally beat everyone on this list.

    • Gravatar

      Source? I can pull facts out of my ass as well…

      • Gravatar
        GeckoFly [ Reply ]

        The source is in the article, read carefully. Here is the link again: https://www.rescuecom.com/news-press-releases/rescuecom-2018-computer-reliability-report.aspx

        • Gravatar

          Chris=owned

          • Gravatar
            lol

            Its 2009 data. Just saying

          • Gravatar
            Geckoandfly

            True, the data is somewhat old. I hope the readers take it as an advice, not a guide. Anyway, based on my experience, Sony appears to be doing quite well for me. I’ve been using the same Sony everyday for 12 hours per day for 4 years. Of course, it have to be the top model from Sony, not the lower end model.

          • Gravatar
            Carlos

            Geckoandfly I’ve been using a Sony for +10 years with amazing performance and reliability. Now I finally broke it and I need a new one, but I’m afraid Sony doesn’t produce laptops anymore. Any suggestion?

          • Gravatar
            Ngan Tengyuen

            Asus is good. Dell, it depends, their XPS line is of higher quality.

        • Gravatar

          The article does not mention Fujitsu at all, so of course it is accurate to say that they “were not even included in the survey.” However, the claim that they are “one of the most consistently reliable laptop manufacturers” who “generally beat everyone on this list” is still unsourced.

        • Gravatar
          Maxisuperbunny [ Reply ]

          Thanks for plucking out of your hole this ancient 2009 “report”… even though the source is not trust worthy and material is hopelessly out of date. LOL

          • Gravatar
            Edi

            My Lenovo yoga lasted a year and a half. On the other hand my dell inspiron is 16 years old, and the main reason I can’t use it is the lack of support for windows xp. I do not trust that raiting.

      • Gravatar

        you’re a dumb a”kjk”………………..and ignorant….

    • Gravatar
      Lee P. [ Reply ]

      I think Fujitsu pulled out of low price computer market and only focus on high price industrial computer market just like IBM. I do miss their computers but I believe they only have a very few laptop models for heavy duty computing now. Fujitsu is IBM equivalent of Japan and they no longer seem to offer products for light usages.

      • Gravatar
        Ngan Tengyuen [ Reply ]

        It is just the nature of businesses, the same thing is happening to smartphones now, gone are Nokia, Motorola, Simens, Alcatel, Sony, Panasonic and soon LG, Samsung… all will be replaced by more affordable Chinese make.

        • Gravatar

          More affordable, stolen intellectual property manufactured by a nation with a far lower cost of living index.

          • Gravatar
            Quicktech

            QUOTE “stolen intellectual property”.
            From what I’ve seen all these companies gave them all the information they needed, so they didn’t have to do go very far to steal the info. Look at Apple, getting rich , making money hand over fist but won’t manufacture in the states and give Americans jobs. All the while the top people are giving themselves millions and the workers crap, just like the rest of them.

        • Gravatar
          Thomas James Sides [ Reply ]

          Nokia is now back in business. We bought a new smart phone from them and love it!

    • Gravatar
      I.M. Pistoff [ Reply ]

      I own four Fujitsu laptops (so far); make sure to get the Japanese-built ones.

    • Gravatar

      I purchased a Fujitsu laptop 2006 and I am steel using it everyday.

    • Gravatar
      Thomas James Sides [ Reply ]

      We bought a Fujitsu i5 desktop here in South Africa back in 2011 and it’s still going strong! I wanted to buy a laptop here by that name but so far…. cannot find one. One sad note….the huge store that use to sell them, MAKRO…. stopped selling them soon after, but why? Maybe they were too good?

  2. Gravatar
    Andreas [ Reply ]

    Source? I can pull facts out of my ass as well…

    • Gravatar
      GeckoFly [ Reply ]

      @Andreas – visit the link, i did not came up with the info by myself.

      • Gravatar

        machine or any mechanical things normally got problem

    • Gravatar
      Denise [ Reply ]

      Right, we can just read the list of computers they suggested and know who paid them to lie their heads off probably got free electronics for the lie program. Personally I have a Asus and it RULES in my book. 4 yrs old and going strong I use it for everything. It is so great they still sell it.. NEVER over heats and is EXcellent on competative gaming. A great bang for the buck..

  3. Gravatar

    HP is the worst laptop. My laptop start to create problem with its sound card right when its warranty finished

    • Gravatar

      Sigh… Just because you had a negative experience doesn’t automatically make it a shitty product.

      I can bet my little finger that your top favourite brand has examples of products failing shortly after losing warranty…

    • Gravatar

      I agree HP has been worst in MY experience and I own several Apple and HP

      • Gravatar

        Yes , don’t by HP, it started giving trouble less than in 6 months.cheap parts

  4. Gravatar
    Qassimy [ Reply ]

    Congratulations.. ASUS !!
    I think the next years for ASUS,
    I prefer it, u can depend on it !!

    • Gravatar
      Carol Salmanson [ Reply ]

      I bought an Asus tablet in the fall of 2018. Within 32 days the screen became a beautiful pattern of colorful lines. In order to get the display back I had to pay for shipping. After 32 days. Do you think there’s a prayer I would buy a laptop from these people?

      • Gravatar
        Steven Kalabokes [ Reply ]

        I’ve owned a Gateway laptop since 2006 and have used it heavily. The only issue I had with it thus far is with a hard drive starting to go bad at the end of 2019. I replaced a 250mb drive with a 1 TB drive. Lately it’s had some issues connecting to the internet but running the problem solver has worked every time. I’m only thinking about buying a new laptop now because of the age of the laptop and the processor speed may become obsolete soon. I’m glad I purchased a souped up model which I figured would buy more time before replacement.

    • Gravatar
      William Fankboner [ Reply ]

      USUS = USELESS. I’ve purchased five different Asus products, including an expensive laptop, and all have failed within 2 or 3 years. What’s worse, its support group has adopted a minimalist concept of service and is populated by high school dropouts guaranteed to infuriate.

  5. Gravatar
    shaboinkin [ Reply ]

    Every single HP I have come across broke someway or another at least once.

    • Gravatar
      Glyberg [ Reply ]

      So does all HPs i come across. Mostly heat and buttons breaking.

      • Gravatar
        Travis Calder [ Reply ]

        The only HP I have ever owned, the webcam literally never worked. It gave me small electrical shocks on my left wrist for the first 6 months of owning it. There are large cracks in several places on the case from what I consider normal use.

        Best of all? The cord was designed horribly, frayed, and caught on fire. Luckily I found a cheap Rocketfish universal – a programmer can’t be without a laptop.

        Avoid HP like the fricking plague, seriously.

    • Gravatar
      despacitospider1234 [ Reply ]

      Are u guys sure? I’ve had this HP for like 5 years and it still works like brand new. It only has 4 gigs of ram and a 5th gen processor but in everyday work and even light gaming it performs just fine. This may be because the one i have is a spectre tho, it’s build quality is amazing! I would even say it’s comparable to a macbook. I don’t really know about the lower end hp’s tho.

    • Gravatar
      yohoho [ Reply ]

      Same. My Hp’s battery broke after 3 years and it just hang a lot of times with black screen and such. My friend also complained the same thing. We both agree that acer is pretty durable(my sis still use the one we used when we were 10! And shes now 22!) But i think thats just applies to the older models.

      • Gravatar

        Publish all the reliability ratings you want that you won’t catch me dead buying a HP product. This comes from years of having laptop and desktop cancerous HP stuff in the company. Everything happened, overheating, extreme slow performance, fatal crashes, and off course the classic HP over-expensive, short-life, replacing parts. You don’t have to be a computer expert to know that if you want quality and reliability from any given product, you have to go Japanese. Unfortunately both Toshiba and Fujitsu left the main market, leaving us only with questionable brands … Seems that among the rubbish, Lenovo is the way to go … Even though being Chinese brings obvious trust issues …

        • Gravatar

          Isn’t Lenovo Korean?

          • Gravatar
            Kingsolm

            google it, you will find your answer

  6. Gravatar
    Kieran [ Reply ]

    Doubt this is an accurate survey, Lenovo thinkpads have almost bulletproof reliability.

    • Gravatar

      It’s not a survey; this is reporting real-world warranty usage.

      I believe SquareTrade mainly handles consumer systems, which would explain the results. Business laptops tend to prioritize reliability. Cutting corners won’t help your margins when you’re constantly supporting businesses that ordered hundreds or thousands of your laptops.

    • Gravatar

      HP is not reliable anymore. As well as Asus (ever was?). Also HP service in Poland is/was also a joke. No more HP.

      • Gravatar
        William Fankboner [ Reply ]

        Asus flat out terrible. Service run by teen-age idiots guaranteed to infuriate. Avoid at all cost.

        • Gravatar

          That is for sure ASUS never again in my life

  7. Gravatar
    Tom Van Lint [ Reply ]

    This article is warmed up stuff from November 2009 !
    Look at the origin of the graph, if you don’t believe me.

    You can simply not compare Laptops that were 3 years old in November 2009 with those that are on the market right now.
    I also wonder why somebody that spends a lot of money on a high end laptop would care if it still works after 3 years. By then he has most likely already replaced it.
    What I want to know is the failure rate in the first year, also for the second year. About the third year I frankly don’t care.

  8. Gravatar
    Robert Richardson [ Reply ]

    i would like to join laptop survey how do i do this

  9. Gravatar

    don’t buy HP… battery and monitor is not reliable :(

    • Gravatar
      GeckoFly [ Reply ]

      Yeah, that’s what I heard. Try Sony

      • Gravatar
        charlie [ Reply ]

        Hey, I’ve owned a Sony Vaio for +-10 years and I’ve been using it everyday about 4-6 hours and carrying it to the uni on my backpack. I almost never turned it off, in general I wasn’t very carefull with it. It has been working fine and running pretty heavy software until now that I finally broke it xD. Now I have to buy a new one but I’m afraid Sony doesn’t produce laptotps anymore. Do you have any recomendation for a reliable laptot like vaio’s? Thanks for your post, have a nice day ;)

      • Gravatar

        My last 2laptops were both HP. The previous generations I have still work now. But current quality is diabolical. Hp250 has now died due to heat sensor failure. The pad and buttons so poor I have used a mouse with both systems from new. Just rubbish.

  10. Gravatar
    dianne [ Reply ]

    While yes, manufacturers do change over time and the numbers are potentially incorrect now, the fact doesn’t change that squaretrade deals with laptop failure on a very personal basis. Their quotes probably vary per brand for warranties, and they have to do the math on which ones fail because otherwise they would not be profitable.

    • Gravatar

      SquareTrade will likely have the most accurate numbers on failures across a range of manufacturers, data that is 6 years old is just not even worth mentioning when considering quality or reliability of products currently on the market. In the tech world 6 years may as well be 60, as so much can change in general technological innovations as well as the quality that individual manufacturers produce. Look at the leaps that Sony have made with their smartphones since releasing the Z range, or the introduction of 2-in-1 laptop/tablets.

  11. Gravatar
    Jessie [ Reply ]

    @Kieran – in my office, most of the employees use Lenovo Thinkpad. One morning in 2010, my friend’s adapter suddenly burned by itself while in use, the smoke went to the smoke detector above his desk, and people sat around to him grab their laptops and ran for cover since they were afraid that the sprinkle started to work. Awful sights in the morning. Good news was the laptop still have warranty, bad news was getting the replacement for the adapter takes around 2 weeks. Some of my friends also reported screen problems with their Thinkpad. No Brand is bulletproof.

  12. Gravatar

    I bought an Acer Aspire for $500 and the Harddrive failed within the first two months. Acer replaced it due to it still being under the crappy 90 day warranty, then ten months after that it failed again. Acer refused to fix it or admit that it was actually faulty from the start. They told me they’d repair it again for more than I paid for it when it was new, and said I’m better off just purchasing a new Acer laptop, ha. I lost everything, twice, and was out of $500. Acer is a joke. What a scam.

  13. Gravatar

    Every laptop give problems. I have used Apple, vaio and dell and I have received the best service from dell. In case of warranty or any service, you can be fully reliable on dell. I have been using Dell inspiron 15R for last 5 years and whenever any problem occurs I get the home service from dell. You will also get accidental warranty with dell. Thus, my vote goes to Dell.

    • Gravatar
      Phil Salley [ Reply ]

      Where did you guys learn English? Can’t your write even basic sentences correctly? I corrected this post as follows:

      Every laptop gives problems. I have used Apple, Vaio and Dell and I have received the best service from Dell. In case of warranty or any service problems, you can fully rely on Dell. I have been using a Dell Inspiron 15R for the last 5 years and whenever any problem occurs I get home service from Dell. You will also get accidental warranty with Dell. Thus, my vote goes to Dell.

      • Gravatar
        abdullah [ Reply ]

        You should consider that most people on the internet are not native english speakers, so don’t be so picky…

        • Gravatar

          Abdullah, I agree with you, people can be so picky, bully “cruel” and childish in their English mistake findings!

      • Gravatar
        Neat Steve [ Reply ]

        Phil,
        Where did you learn English? Can’t you even write basic sentences correctly? I have corrected your post as follows:

        “Can’t your write…”
        Can’t you write…

        “service problems, you can”
        service problems you can

        “also get accidental warranty”
        also get accidental damage warranty

        You’re welcome

        • Gravatar

          mint lol

        • Gravatar
          Non-native speaker [ Reply ]

          “service problems you can” — have you ever heard of punctuation? The you “corrected” used it correctly. This is what happens when you don’t pay attention in school

          “also get accidental damage warranty” – the guy wasn’t wrong. He just omitted a word because it was implied by the context.

          “Can’t you writr” — That looked like a genuine typo.

      • Gravatar
        Robert [ Reply ]

        Every laptop gives problems. I have used Apple, Vaio and Dell and I have received the best service from Dell. In case of warranty or any service problems, you can fully rely on Dell. I have been using a Dell Inspiron 15R for the last 5 years and whenever any problem occurs I get home service from Dell. You will also get accidental warranty with Dell. Thus, my vote goes to Dell.

        I’m only writing the below to correct Phil. Who, seems a bit smug. I would not have written this for the original poster if it hadn’t been for Phil’s post. I apologize to the original poster as this is not intended to offend that person. That post was fine. We got it.

        Eventually, every laptop will have a problem. I have used Apple, Vaio, and Dell and I have received the best service from Dell. I’ve been using a Dell Inspiron 15R for the last 5 years and whenever a problem occurs, I’ve received great home service from Dell. Optionally, you can also purchase an accidental damage warranty with Dell. Thus, my vote goes to Dell.

      • Gravatar

        Have you ever tried to write other than English ‘Mr Lazy English man’? Just in case if your small stupid brain doesn’t understand….the whole wide world doesn’t speak English alone!!! Atleast other nationalities are trying to learn more than one language and attempt to communicate with others. May be you should try to learn other language and see if your small brain could take it. If not, please don’t judge people so quickly and belittling them.

      • Gravatar
        Thomas James Sides [ Reply ]

        You must live in a bubble trapped inside a time warp!!!

    • Gravatar

      I hope that I have the same luck as you, I bought a Dell laptop recently,
      it performs well and I’m satisfied. Customer service is excellent, I’ve
      called them several times, waited no longer than 1 minute to connect,
      minor adjustments were resolved efficiently.

  14. Gravatar

    This article is bootleg and bs. Those graphs are stolen from a report done in 2009 and are no longer up to date. The original article containing them is here. https://www.squaretrade.com/htm/pdf/SquareTrade_laptop_reliability_1109.pdf

    • Gravatar
      Ngan Tengyuen [ Reply ]

      1. Are you blind? the article says according to squaretrade. how can it be bootleg? I never claimed it to be mine.
      2. Did you not see the year it is quoted? I never claimed it is the latest for 2015 and 2016.
      3. Learn to read before typing.

  15. Gravatar

    I had HP-Compaq laptop since 2010 but till 2017 i repaires it 3 times.
    I didn’t find anything special in HP it seems it as a overrated brand.
    go for ASUS or DELL.

    Webcam is not working now CD drivers are also not working

  16. Gravatar
    Andrea Walsh [ Reply ]

    I really love Fujitsu laptops because they have such great battery power in them and very long chargers!

  17. Gravatar

    My previous laptop was an Acer. Perfectly good laptop as far as performance/etc. but the keyboards on Acer laptops are horribly designed. Had to replace mine twice because the little clips on the keys that hold them onto the keyboard break so easily. Have an ASUS now though and no issues at all. Well, except for that it does seem to miss keystrokes randomly, which is pretty annoying… I must have bad luck with laptop keyboards or something.

  18. Gravatar
    Brian wilson [ Reply ]

    Toshiba satellite 17 inch has been my biggest disappointment, up graded to win 10 from win 8.1. This machine has performed like a pig, freezing, running slow, overheating, with 2 x 1 Tb drives and 16gig ram this machine should have scorched along. Starting this machine I can then start a 10 year old xp Acer Aspire 5611 AWLMi, retrieve files on USB and return and find it still struggling to start. Acer wins hands down.

    • Gravatar
      Ngan Tengyuen [ Reply ]

      maybe your fan is not working properly? try cleaning the fan.

    • Gravatar

      I have a Toshiba satellite that came with win 8 as well. It worked great but since the Window 10 upgrade has been having problems. Especially since the Fall 2017 major windows update. Things like the HDD suddenly running at 100% much of the time, sluggishness, geneeraly disabling programs…
      With my Toshiba it does not seem to be the Laptop itself but Windows 10 causing problems, more every time it forces an update. I am seriously starting to consider trying Linnux.

  19. Gravatar
    Savage [ Reply ]

    Apple also costs 3x more than comparable Win/Intel units. So Alienware and other ‘Boutique’ pc makers should have been included.

  20. Gravatar

    It’s 2019 now and I am still using my Dell Inspiron from 2008. I bought it in 2008 but I think it was built in 2007. The screen has died so now I use it as a desktop with a monitor connected. I have had to reinstall my OS a few times over the years as the computer had stopped running. I am still using XP. But this computer is still working, and it has a lot of miles on it. I still use it daily for music production with Ableton, Pro Tools, Adobe Audition, etc…

    Anyway I am looking for a new laptop now so I came to this article. I am mainly considering Lenovo, Dell and MSI right now. I need gaudy specs for my music production, which is why I am considering certain gaming laptops. But reliability is also top priority for me. Anyhow, thanks for the article!

    • Gravatar
      Carlos [ Reply ]

      I’m in a similar situation. I’ve been using a Sony Vaio for +10 years for various activities including DAW softwares. I also want a reliable laptop for the long term. If you decide which one you will choose I’d be interested in your arguments, so I would appreciate your response.
      Greetings

    • Gravatar

      It’s 2019 and I upgraded a Toshiba Satellite A100-220 to work pretty fast for internet use using Windows 8.1. I don’t know how old that laptop is. Replaced 2 battery cells too. A HP laptop is giving you an error message if you try and upgrade the RAM or the HDD which is not cool at all. My daughter made me pay a bunch of money for a HP tablet that’s not gonna take pictures ever because camera isn’t working anymore. It’s not such an old tablet and its price was pretty high. One more “good” thing about HP laptops. Cooling systems they design are making lots of video cards and chipsets to fail. Having CPUs running at 70 degrees Celsius is not giving you any other options but to wait for them to fail. Right now when I’m writing this the CPU of my PC is running at 36 Celsius. I have an old Inspiron with two cooling fans running pretty cool (40-45 Celsius) and an EEE PC that’s having its CPU at 100 percent usage almost at all times still working at not more than 50 degrees Celsius. I have 2 HP laptops at home still working while 3 other HP laptops aren’t working anymore. Guess I’m not buying a HP product anymore.

  21. Gravatar
    DJ Flowers [ Reply ]

    Could give me all the reports in the world and I wouldn’t believe HP anywhere but last. Anything I’ve ever gotten from them has went through severe mechanical damage and had no shelf life. Oddly enough I put Gateway toward the top (or Acer) as I’ve had 2 from Gateway go more than 12 years and still running (one was from a pawn shop) and currently on an Acer where only problem is one usb port and some bad sectors on one hd, but it was best price when it came out. I’m hoping MSI is just standoffish and that’s main reason for bad result, cause I’ve heard good things about their gaming laptops and want one. I’ve had Dell as well which was dependable. Toshiba was dependable till someone cracked power jack. Lenovo was dependable to a close family member and given how hard they are on electronics, that must mean reliability. Again this is only from consumers experience, but all in all there’s only 2-3 makers I wouldn’t touch. I’m hesistant to try Samsung just based on them not having huge lineups of laptops and being more specialized in other markets. I’ve wanted to try Microsoft for awhile as I get into needing a more compact laptop and Apple has always been solid, but ultimately I have way too much going for me in Windows and Linuxworld.

  22. Gravatar
    Invalid [ Reply ]

    I have a 6 yr old android that still works to this day although the battery is diminishing, fight me

  23. Gravatar

    My hp pavilion broke after 2 year. Graphic card seemed to broke. That was vista era.

  24. Gravatar
    Al Seider [ Reply ]

    This is contrary to my personal experience and those of my customers. Toshiba laptops run forever and rarely fail. Unfortunately Toshiba have stopped marketing consumer level laptops. Lenovo is second and they are now my preferred brand. They offer good value and performance for the money, and are solidly built thanks to their IBM heritage. Sony laptops are very expensive with a high failure rate and don’t have particularly good customer service. I’d rate them last as they are just not worth the money. Dell and HP replacement parts are expensive and very proprietary. Asus and Acer are mediocre at best. I’ll never buy anything Microsoft unless I have to, and Apples are literally in a class of their own. I have 15 year old Macs still going and going and going, however, never attempt to open them up to repair them. Proprietary everything, including the tiny screws…
    I still have ten year old Toshibas still happily running on Windows XP, while all other brands have long since died. So in summary, my recommendation is Lenovo.

  25. Gravatar

    My Macbook Air lasted about 15 days before the display started ghosting. The laptop was replaced under warranty today but I am having trust issues now. A MTBF of 15 days does not bode well..

  26. Gravatar

    I teach computer classes in rural Central America with hand-me-down computers on which I put Linux (currently OpenSUSE 15.1). I rate HP as worst, especially screens. I’m happiest with Dell, next Lenovo, and then Asus. If you want to help or donate, our 501(c)(3) is The Least of These – Honduras, College Station, TX 77845 or Misión Para Cristo, Blessings.

  27. Gravatar
    Boomer [ Reply ]

    I may look like a boomer but most old laptops were solid. I still use a 10 year old acer Emachines till this very day with zero problems.

  28. Gravatar

    My note 5 and Xperia andriod phones are still working with 4+ years of heavy usage, I switch usually for a better screen resolution or a dying battery.
    Assuming Apple is the only phone maker that makes quality phones, which then justifies their marketing & pricing scheme is just nonsense.

  29. Gravatar

    This article isn’t reliable, especially when taken from another 2009 report! You would think that with technology the laptops would become more reliable, but older models like Dell are more durable.

    • Gravatar
      Ngan Tengyuen [ Reply ]

      That is why the 2009 report is at the end of the article. It is for comparison purpose, to see which company make effort to improve their product, that’s all.

  30. Gravatar

    I can see people throwing their 2019-2020 laptop out the window and saying “I’m mad as hell and I’m not buying anyone!” LMBO

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    I have two lenovo ideapad laptops, one bought in 2011 and other in 2012. Both are working fine with minor problems and maintenance. Build quality is very good.
    From my friend’s experiences, dell gives out lot of problems after 2-3 years of usage. Moreover they have the same inspiron nonsense since decades, no innovation and no new models.

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    Khan Lohar [ Reply ]

    Glad to see!
    The Acer is growing day by day as they have launched so many gaming Monsters that can beat other billionaire companies.
    Most of the gamers has started using it after Asus’s successful PC’s.

    Thank you Asus!

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    BlueberryBadger [ Reply ]

    HP laptops are trash they are made from cheapest possible components and their motherboards must be made from recycled yogurt cans. HP TX1000, TX2000, HP TX2, HP DV2000, HP DV6000, HP DV9000, HP G6, HP HDX, Envy series, Pavilion series, Spectre series, from faulty video chips to power issues, defective lcd/led screens and chasis flaws. For years HP has been releasing nothing but commercial waste. Other brands have their old laptops working fine up to this day yet most HP laptops are at the recycling plants with mainboard issues and only very few which are still somehow kicking around. Dont go with HP pick any other brand any at all and you will be one happy person.

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    Can anyone suggest a laptop to buy now except the apple ones (they are out of my range)? I want one which I can use for long term.

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    I strongly disagree, ASUS VIVOBOOK is very SLOW, I bought it brand new and I wasted my money on it. I should have stayed with Toshiba, HP or Sony. Expensive but NO STRESS! I HATE ASUS, this will be the 1st and last I will buy asus brand, I will stick and HP, TOSHIBA or SONY

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    Android phones more than 4 years?? Mine is LG V20, almost 5 y/o. Was a flagship phone with durable components. Battery is now at 60% health, but since I it’s user replacable, I have another spares to compensate for that. Another 60% health battery lol. No more updates like iphones? Yeah, true, but the phone works almost still like it was before. My friend’s iphone 7 received updates regularly and getting more and more strange “features” like unresponsive buttons/screen, etc. Yeah, updates are always that good.
    Back to laptops, my experience was greatly varying, with 5 different brands. The oldest one was Compaq, from 2005. Great build quality but can’t keep up with modern requirements after around 4 years. Toshiba satellite of 2009, not as durable as the older ones, with broken hinge in less than 2 years. Asus ROG, started LCD problem after around 5 years. MSI Apache, broken hinge after almost 4 years. And now I’m just starting using Alienware M15. Feels quite sturdy, and I hope will live long enough.
    Looking at my friends’, the experience is that, at the low/mid end price point, Asus and HP is generally more durable than Acer or Lenovo (whether they tend to be more creaky, or feeling/looking cheap). The high end ones I know mostly is Apple’s. It’s durable, and I have no experience of comparison from other brands at such price point.

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      my toshiba L350 still works well
      never had issue with hinge
      replaced the hard drive 2 years ago and added ram 5 yrs ago

      graphics is now starting to go..getting sudden sporadic white screen of death

      but otherwise this beast would have lasted many more years
      so good investment back in 2009/2010

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    Shaun Moss [ Reply ]

    I am in the same boat the more I read the less confident I feel in buying any laptop!
    So much for trying to go online for some help in advising me I’ve spend a week reading cross examining everyone’s advice. I have a splitting headache.
    I think I should have listened to my wife, she bought a cheap one at the nearest store
    It’s lasted 4 years no problems, if it breaks now she will just do the same again. No stress it’s only a laptop !

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    Jenn T. [ Reply ]

    Where are VAIOs? That was the best and longest lasting laptop I ever had.

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      Ngan Tengyuen [ Reply ]

      Sony discontinued making them, and sold the VAIO brand to another manufacturer.

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    “Just look around, have you seen any android phone older than 4 years?”
    Yes, mine. A Galaxy S7 android phone (2016). And it’s still very fresh.

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    There is a very large difference in the ‘consumer’ lines of the companies like HP and Lenovo (not so much Dell) and their business models in build quality and reliability. The business models commonly become available when they come off lease after two or three years. All the companies here offer these on the web, but usually on a separate web site not the main site. They are also available through Staples, Newegg and others.

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    One other thought. I bought an Acer the last week before Win 7 came out. Came with a certificate for Win 7 AND a Windows Home Server (Staples promotion). Just last year donated it to a school, Runs Windows 10 slow, but hey, a single processor Pentium.

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    Gee … I had better luck with my old 8086

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    thxs for the intel
    im guessing model levels are critical in the brand reliability numbers listed
    ie dell xps vs dell inspiron 3000

    but getting access to that level of granularity along with enough datapoints to ensure sampling error and robustness

    my key takeaway is to stay away from gimmicky items…flips, touch and buy as high up the brand spectrum should improve chances

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    After having my HP envy 17″ crap out on me due to a motherboard failure I don’t want to get another crappy laptop. So I went online to do some research. After spending numerous hours online I’ve come to the conclusion that the best laptops are Japanese built business laptops. So my next laptop will be one of the following:

    1. Fujitsu Lifebook
    2. Toshiba Tecra
    3. Toshiba Portege
    4. Toshiba Satellite Pro

    If I had to buy a non-Japanese business laptop. It would be one of the following business laptops:

    1. Lenovo Thinkpad T series
    2. Lenovo Thinkpad X series
    3. Lenovo Thinkpad P17 Workstation
    4. Microsoft Surface Book 2
    5. Microsoft Surface Studio 2
    6. Dell Latitude 15
    7. Dell Latitude e7270
    8. Dell Latitude e5480
    9. Dell XPS
    10. MSI

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    Bluesjunkie [ Reply ]

    Thanks MarkB for your research. I looked at your recommended list and followed up on it.
    The following 15″ display laptop reviews really caught my eye:

    1. Toshiba Tecra Z50-C
    2. Lenovo Thinkpad T540P
    3. Fujitsu Lifebook E754

    4. Lenovo Thinkpad W550S (These 2 are tied)
    4. Toshiba Tecra Z50 A-12K (These 2 are tied)

    5. Lenovo ThinkPad W540 (a touch behind the above W550S)

    I’m in the process of reviewing some 17″ laptops. I’ll post my findings here as soon as I’m done. GLTA.

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    I’ve done the research and all of the work for you. Here is an updated list of the ONLY laptops I would ever buy. And they do not include Lenovo Thinkpad’s, Dell Latitudes and XPS’s and Microsoft Surface Book’s. I’ve listed them in the order of which I would buy them:

    Just check out the reviews on them on notebookcheck.net

    Tier 1.
    In a class by themselves. The Best of the Best:
    1. Toshiba Tecra W50-A Mobile Workstation
    2. Fujitsu Celsius Mobile Workstation

    Tier 2.
    Good solid, reliable, well built business class machines:
    3. Toshiba Tecra Z50-C
    4. Fujitsu Lifebook E754
    5. Fujitsu Lifebook E756
    6. Fujitsu Lifebook E558

    Tier 3.
    Very strong third choices:
    7. Toshiba Tecra Z50-A
    8. Fujitsu Lifebook E753

    Toshiba Tecra’s, Fujitsu Lifebook’s and Dynabook’s are my all time favorite laptops. I also really like the Toshiba Z40 series laptops and the Toshiba/Dynabook Portege’s. Dynabook also build high quality business laptops.

    Just check out the reviews on them on notebookcheck.net

    I got really lucky and scored a deal on the Toshiba Tecra W50-A Mobile Workstations recently. So I bought the last two the guy had. They were off lease from a local Police force which had used them. They each came with Haswell i7 CPU’s, 32 GB RAM, 440 GB SSD’s, Full HD displays, Nvidia Quadro graphics card, Super Multi DVD burners, Win 11 Pro, MS Office, Antivirus and Port Replicators. Got them for $400 each. What a steal of a deal. GLTA.

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