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Question has been rewritten to more accurately reflect the specific information needed, as opposed to the original generalized question.

I've been asked by a good non-techie friend for a laptop brand recommendation. The one question that I cannot answer for her by simply reviewing posted statistics and laptop reviews is which brand has the lowest fail rate. This is also one of the most important questions when buying laptop long term. I can read all the reviews I want, but that won't get me empirical data which brand is actually most likely to last her for a while or least likely to break on her.

All else being equal, which brands have the lowest fail rates? Is there an empirical data to back this up?

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closed as not constructive by Arjan, ChrisF, sblair, Mehper C. Palavuzlar, nhinkle Dec 3 '10 at 0:23


Can someone CW this? I can't seem to. –  Daniel Bingham Dec 2 '10 at 20:42
Lenovo is indeed top-tier, but a ThinkPad is probably more expensive than your friend is looking for (steer clear of the IdeaPad series, they are designed to be cheap). Maybe you could add some more detail about expected use patterns and size wanted, etc. (Of course, this question is probably going to get closed as off-topic.) –  Shinrai Dec 2 '10 at 20:43
@Shinrai Curious, I can point to a dozen questions with the exact same structure, if slightly different topics. What makes this one different? –  Daniel Bingham Dec 2 '10 at 20:50
@Daniel, the fact that other questions have gone unnoticed doesn't imply that this fits the FAQ. I voted to close as subjective (which your request for CW seems to indicate too?), but I think it's also off-topic for it's a buying recommendation. (As for making it CW: that's an automatic or moderator's job since October 14th.) –  Arjan Dec 2 '10 at 22:00
See also How do comment replies work? –  Arjan Dec 3 '10 at 17:45
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3 Answers

up vote 1 down vote accepted

This question probably isn't right for su, but I can suggest you take a look at this anyway.


I recall seeing it on the online news a few years back. It might have changed a bit but it's interesting reading. I can't say who produced it or how accurate it is now. I'm going to let you make your own mind up and I'm not going to tell you what to buy.

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I did some searches and found a number of similar questions before I posted. I meant to CW and then forgot to on posting, now I can't seem to when I edit. –  Daniel Bingham Dec 2 '10 at 20:43
Also, that article is excellent :) –  Daniel Bingham Dec 2 '10 at 21:22
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Working in IT I can tell you the ones that give me the most trouble: Toshiba!

Brands we don't have much trouble with and/or have real easy support to work with: HP Dell Asus

Now on to what I have. I use a sager laptop. I don't know anyone else who has this brand but I was extremely pleased with the device I got, it's 2 years old and I use it constantly and it has never had a single issue. In addition, I got a superb deal.


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I prefer Dell. Their Laptops are slightly more pricey but I think the all round package more than makes up for the slight increase in price. The support has always been top notch for me once you get to know the script they go off when you hit first line support you can pretty much bypass them in seconds and speak to someone who usually Really knows what they're on about.
Laptops I'd avoid - Lenovo. I will never buy one of their machines again. I bought 9 last year for some on site students and have had to replace 4 Motherboards and a screen already.

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If you're going to downvote at least leave a reason. Not quite sure how you can downvote an opinion? –  Joe Taylor Dec 3 '10 at 9:18
The downvote wasn't mine, but answering subjective questions opens up for downvotes that simply mean "I disagree". (And I also disagree: I've very BAD experiences with Dell machines, up to exploding capacitors on the main board. But I never used a Dell laptop.) –  Arjan Dec 3 '10 at 10:49
@Arjan - Wouldn;t have been an Optiplex GX270 would it? I've replaced literally 100's of motherboards in them. It was a faulty batch of capacitors from a supplier in China (or so I was told), Dell provided unlimited length support on the issue. I take your point though. Just wish people would stand by their downvote with a comment. –  Joe Taylor Dec 3 '10 at 11:38
I don't know the type any more, but Dell provided unlimited length support on the issue was not true in this case. (Maybe a different type, or I was not taken seriously.) Another fine issue: sudden reboots on 3 different machines at work, when running specific HTTP requests on localhost. And pre-installed software that disabled something very basic in Windows -- don't recall what exactly, but it messed with something weird like being unable to save as PNG, or caused hibernating to not work, ...? Well, not a fan... –  Arjan Dec 3 '10 at 11:56
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