Good Vs. Bad Laptops
The brands that are hot – and suck big time!
By Kiki Tan
PUBLISHED: FEBRUARY 2010

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SPELLING RELIABILITY

SquareTrade’s study actually named names.
The most reliable companies? Toshiba and Asus, both with below a 16% failure rate due to hardware malfunction.

The least reliable brands? Acer, Gateway, and HP (HP's hardware malfunction rate, the worst in SquareTrade's analysis, is a whopping 25.6%).

On both times of my buying, I was – if SquareTrade is followed – wrong.
On reliability, particularly of netbooks, “we find 5.8% of netbooks to have a malfunction in the first 12 months, over 20% more than entry-level laptops, and nearly 40% more than premium laptops (N.B.: Data excludes failures from accidents).  In this rough projection, we expect netbooks to have a 25.1% malfunction rate, entry-level laptops to have a rate of 20.6%, and premium laptops to have the lowest rate at 18.1%.”

For SquareTrade, on the relative reliability of different laptop manufacturers, “ASUS and Toshiba come out on top. With three year malfunction rates forecast to be under 16%, laptops from these two manufacturers are nearly 40% more reliable than HP, the worst performer in our 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 our reliability study with over one-fourth of laptops expected to malfunction in 3 years. Gateway and Acer, the #2 maker of laptops, were also nearly as unreliable as HP, with an expected malfunction rate of over 23%.”

While SquareTrade’s study found netbook malfunction rates to be trending 20% higher than more expensive laptops, “the variance between manufacturers is far greater and should be a bigger factor in making a buying decision. ASUS and Toshiba laptops failed just over half as frequently as HP, which makes them a solid bet in terms of reliability.”

SquareTrade adds: “Given the high overall failure rates of laptops and sizeable difference in reliability by brand, reliability should be a concern for consumers shopping around for the best deals.”

SOLUTIONS, SOLUTIONS

SquareTrade admits that “to many consumers, an extra one in 20 chance of having a netbook fail is probably not going to be a deal breaker, as there are many factors other than reliability that should considered. But it is something to think about, especially given the lack of concrete data on netbook reliability beyond the first 12 months.”

With netbooks not truly highly recommended, opting for laptops – especially the higher end varieties – may be a better bet. 

Else, just use your head, e.g. make sure your laptop is as drop-proofed as possible (use a hard or a padded bag or case, route cords so they won't be tripped on, keep the kids away from your unit, et cetera), protect it as best you can from heat and dust (the biggest killers), and keep it dry (unless the model you have is waterproof).
I may have to consider getting myself a new laptop anytime soon.  At least now I have some guide how to do the choosing.