Best and Worst Laptop Brands 2016

[skylord_]

Best would be apple then Lenovo
Worst would be Emachine (crap boxes)
Next would be Asus major technical issues.
And over 20% repair rates...

I really have never had a good laptop. But one day I hope I will

 

[zeyuanfu]

A few years ago, Acer were pretty chill about you upgrading parts in their laptops (RAM, HDD and even Wi-Fi card) but nowadays, it seems that they don't want you to upgrade anymore and instead buy a new laptop. Before, laptops had this big panel that you could screw off to access the aforementioned parts, but now, you have to take apart the whole laptop to even take a peek at the inside components, which can be daunting for beginners. That is the case with my current laptop.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

I thought i'd add to this, that in my experience (i have been in a position servicing laptops both in and out of warranty), that at least 50% of the repairs were due to physiocal damage or miss-use. With how i have seen some laptops treated, i would say that repair-rates are also questionable. If you have an expensive macbook, your more likely to look after it too.

 

[Flying-Q]

I have spent many years in a repair shop. This is a summary (subjective I admit) of what comes in the shop.

broken hinges - lenovo, dell, toshiba, lots of cheapies like emachines
broken power sockets - lenovo, sony, toshiba, cheap badge makes like emachines
broken screens - samsung, fujitsu, msi, lots of cheap badge makes
broken keyboards - apple, lenovo, cheap badge
broken track pads - asus, acer, occasional dells, cheap badge
broken optical drive - apple, dell, toshiba, cheapies
broken HDD - dell, sony, lenovo
broken wifi - no clear loser


It has got to the point that when someone walks in the shop I can often guess right from the label on the bag what the likely problem is.

On the software side, specifically drivers, if it is a recent model then dell is great for downloading fresh drivers after a clean install but for an old model the detector software often fails. Lenovo is awful for getting any drivers, Samsung is good for recent models and like dell less good for older models. Acer and Asus are both model dependent (even recent ones) as to whether the drivers are available. In general all manufacturers are very picky over which OS is supported driver-wise. If your laptop was released with Vista Basic installed then you are unlikely to find Vista64 or Win7 drivers on the manufacturers website.

In terms of design, any clamshell built model where you have to work your way down through the keyboard, fascia, cables, motherboard etc to get to items to repair is awful, underside access panels are great (thank you dell top-end models and lenovo likewise)

Over the years track pads have got worse with the clickable pads prevalent on Win8 machines being the worst, especially asus and acer.

 

[orlbuckeye]

There is nothing called best Laptop Brand as you put it.

you should say which is best Brand for Specific usage.

- Best for Business. that is portability and battery life and endurance.
- Best for Engineers and workstation users.
- Best for Gaming.

very Few Companies make Workstations Laptops , and very few make good business ones ... etc

IMO ,

1- Best for Business , Lenovo Think Pads , Apple
2- Best for Workstation , Dell then HP then Lenovo
3- Best for Gaming , MSI then Asus then Dell

you cant mix those in one basket.

and if you want Rugged Laptop , Only Panasonic Tough books.

I disagree heavily on Apple being the best for Business. The biggest reason to select a business class laptop is because of Software. Battery life is only a concern for mobile devices in business. Important features of mobile units a durable. Connectivity since these devices make it easy to collect data in the field . If you don't have connectivity you better have reliable ways to sync data. I would put Dell in there and add a category graphics design and put Apple in that category. Even if Apple is best suited for business the software in limited. Plus Apple is harder to attach to Windows networks.

My company has shifted from Toughbooks to Getac devices.

 

[i7Baby]

I've found it hard to get info on HP and Dell as well as them turning up with problems a lot on this forum. So I recommend against them.

But for Gaming I recommend Asus, MSI and Lenovo in that order. But from flying Qs input, I might now take Lenovo off the list. I would've thought Asus would be on Tom's list too.

Lately I've also seen Gigabyte for Gaming. Anyone had experience with these?

 

[John Chapman]

I've had bad experiences with HP and Toshiba laptops. The HPs all suffered from overheating and looked very scruffy when the palmrests got a little worn. The Toshiba keyboards actually melted when the lid was closed without the laptop being shut down. That was quite a while ago though.
Lenovo shot themselves in the foot with Superfish and it will take some time before they regain my trust.
Dell produce some good laptops but they are still far from perfect. Possibly the worst feature of Dell is Dell Support. Fortunately, you probably won't need to use it much.
My perfect laptop would be a 1920x1200 or better touchscreen display (no letterbox displays), a 256+Gb SSD AND a 1+ TB hard drive, a proper keyboard with large, well spaced keys and replace the numeric keyboard with a removable and programmable 7" tablet. No annoying flashing lights to disturb at night and a metal palmrest, preferably titanium.

 

[Annoyingnerds]

I'm pretty sure that apple laptop should be in the 6th or 7th place replacing asus or lenovo, because apple man! it's only a product placement

 

[JGunnzz]

I had an ASUS laptop for 2 years and for the most part I absolutely loved it. I didn't like some of the software that was included with the computer.

 

[orlbuckeye]

You can get a good Acer and you can get a bad Apple. Acer is now trying to take on MSI in gaming and they have shown their new Predator Laptop, Desktop and tablet gaming machines.

 

[csanjay]

IBM ( Lenovo ) is the best I had. The customer service in Chennai, India rocks. I suggest sturdy ones like L, R , S , T series. They are generally durable. Worst I had is Toshiba . They discontinued spares within 5 yrs of purchase ( battery) , while I am still able to get accessories for my older R-51 IBM Laptop. Toshiba Authorized Dealer sold me knock off power adaptor , battery ( both look like original parts with toshiba name). The insulation came off the power adaptor and I could have shorted my laptop, if I had not seen it in ttime. I have used IBM , HP , Apple Laptops ( more than 20 yrs) and never had any issue. I complained to Toshiba India and after a month they still list this dealer as authorized dealer on their website. I have not received a proper response yet . They are crappy.

 

[jakesz]

Acer are best. Got an Aspire for light gaming and it's worked out well for me. Don't listen to Lenovo haters - they are also up there. All depends on your budget and your intended use

 

[Arabian Knight]

I've had bad experiences with HP and Toshiba laptops. The HPs all suffered from overheating and looked very scruffy when the palmrests got a little worn. The Toshiba keyboards actually melted when the lid was closed without the laptop being shut down. That was quite a while ago though.
Lenovo shot themselves in the foot with Superfish and it will take some time before they regain my trust.
Dell produce some good laptops but they are still far from perfect. Possibly the worst feature of Dell is Dell Support. Fortunately, you probably won't need to use it much.
My perfect laptop would be a 1920x1200 or better touchscreen display (no letterbox displays), a 256+Gb SSD AND a 1+ TB hard drive, a proper keyboard with large, well spaced keys and replace the numeric keyboard with a removable and programmable 7" tablet. No annoying flashing lights to disturb at night and a metal palmrest, preferably titanium.

16:10 screens are only on Apple sadly today ...

 

[Tradesman1]

Don't think one can simply group laptops as a BRAND and make any kind of a definitive rating, actually I find it kind of ridiculous. All the manufacturers listed have a large number of laptops on the market, they haveHigh end, mid range, gaming oriented, low end, cheapies, etc

 

[Solandri]

Don't think one can simply group laptops as a BRAND and make any kind of a definitive rating, actually I find it kind of ridiculous. All the manufacturers listed have a large number of laptops on the market, they haveHigh end, mid range, gaming oriented, low end, cheapies, etc

Like I posted above, it's pointless breaking it down by brand names because the brand names don't make laptops. They're almost all designed and made by ODMs. And most brands buy different models from the same ODMs as each other. So a particular model Dell may have more in common with a particular model HP (made by the same ODM) than it does with another model Dell (made by a different ODM).

http/www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2591120/worst-laptop-brands.html#15699741

 

[calinpuscas]

There is nothing called best Laptop Brand as you put it.

you should say which is best Brand for Specific usage.

- Best for Business. that is portability and battery life and endurance.
- Best for Engineers and workstation users.
- Best for Gaming.

very Few Companies make Workstations Laptops , and very few make good business ones ... etc

IMO ,

1- Best for Business , Lenovo Think Pads , Apple
2- Best for Workstation , Dell then HP then Lenovo
3- Best for Gaming , MSI then Asus then Dell

you cant mix those in one basket.

and if you want Rugged Laptop , Only Panasonic Tough books.

Another category you missed is easiest to upgrade components.

yeap.. it's like comparing apples with strawberries...

 

[orlbuckeye]

The issue with laptop and even desktops is the laptop may have Dell on it and almost NOTHING inside is made by Dell. You have Intel processor and maybe a ASUS motherboard. Nvidia, ATI and/or Intel integrated graphics. Maybe a Seagate or Western digital Hard dive or a Samsung SSD. Note sure how many companies make optical drives. Many different wireless and network card manufacturers. Then the laptops are put together in the Taiwan and China. So in the post about Toshiba and no part well Toshiba can't get part from Maxtor if Maxtor doesn't make the part anymore.


Apple's closed architecture is both an advantage and disadvantage. Apple has more control over the components used in their devices and they have few models.

 

[Below0]

I don't know why everyone is saying brands don't matter. Even if they order from other companies, they pick what to order, which ultimately leads to changes in quality and even innovation. You don't get something like the XPS 13 without some innovation.

And man, brands are different when it comes to repairs and warranties. There are some brands I'll go back to again and again because they've given me great service. Ditto if they don't have bloatware. And those things are all factored into these scores.

 

[orlbuckeye]

Yes they pick but they don't do the quality assurance tests at the factory. You order a pc from Dell they test it once all put together they don't have the resources to test all components. So all manufacturers are dependent on those 3rd party QA's. Just like a few years ago when batteries were exploding. Yes the OEM designs the laptop and the ODM builds to that design.

Millions of lithium-ion batteries manufactured by Sony for various Apple and Dell products were recalled in 2006 after several fires occurred.

See the issue with laptops is every case is different and the motherboard is designed specifically for the case (mobo has to fit, ports, Optical drives). The design has to include components that already exist because Dell doesn't make them specifically for that model.

Warranties are available to be researched without purchasing. Costco probably has a better warranty then any OEM. They offer 2 years on all electronics they sell.

You look at these computer forums and see some people have good luck with Lenovo or Acer and some have problems. The best laptop is one you don't even know what the repair process is. I've had Acers, HP and Dells and HP has given me the biggest issue. The thing is they may be good for one customer and bad for another. Everyone has bloatware but that doesn't even matter as it can be ignored unless it's set to run at startup. There's good bloatware and bad. I used the good Dell utilities on my Alienware and ignore the ones I don't use.

So in the end you best brand and you could have problems. I have had 3 Acers (usually ranked at bottom of quality test) and they never failed. I've had a HP that didn't really have problems but battery lasted 6 month and it was hot. Now I have an Alienware that I love it's upgradeable almost every component and sturdy. I had a mobo issue and it was hard to understand the support people but the return was like less then 18 hours from a me shipping until an email saying they are working on it then I received less then 18 hours after an email saying was fixed. I can track everything about my PC online. I can run a diagnostic.







'

 

[Solandri]

Apple's closed architecture is both an advantage and disadvantage. Apple has more control over the components used in their devices and they have few models.

Apple doesn't make the Macbooks. Quanta does. Quanta also makes most of HP's laptops. As well as laptops for Dell, Lenovo, Acer, Toshiba, etc.

And Apple's architecture isn't closed. OS X is just limited in what hardware it supports. Windows will install on a Mac just fine, as well as support hardware that OS X won't recognize. (For that matter, OS X will install on a PC if you use hardware it supports and bypass some checks. Google Hackintosh if you're curious.)