Posted on 12/02/2015 8:47:54 PM PST by Swordmaker
Whatever brand you swear by (or at) there's good news, and bad, in the findings. But this Consumer Reports survey of 58,000 notebook owners finds one vendor has a huge edge in reliability and satisfaction - and it probably isn't yours.
Notebook computers can be one of the most maddening consumer devices ever - especially when they break. A survey of 58,000 Consumer Reports subscribers adds some welcome evidence into just how likely notebooks are to break - by brand.
Consumer Reports is the world's largest independent, nonprofit, consumer product testing organization. They buy the products they test, don't accept advertising, and don't allow their results to be used for promotion. I'm a fan of their work.
BIG PICTURE
In the survey, almost 20 percent of respondents reported a breakdown in the first 3 years of use, most of them seriously affecting system use.
Apple, as in year's past, has the most reliable notebooks by far - a 10 percent breakdown rate in the first 3 years - with Samsung and Gateway distant seconds at 16 percent, and the rest of the industry - including Acer, Lenovo, Toshiba, HP, Dell and Asus, at 18-19 percent.
Windows machines used more than 20 hours a week - average for Windows systems - have a higher break rate. Apple users report using their machines an average of 23 hours a week, 15 percent more. More hours, fewer breakdowns, what's not to like?
WHEN BREAKDOWNS OCCUR
Yet Apple buyers face problems too. While overall reliability is good, Apple notebooks have a consistent 3-4 percent annual breakdown rate, while Windows machines are much more likely to fail in the first year, often under warranty.
While Apple notebooks break less often, when they do they are often more expensive to fix. That's one reason why CR advises Apple buyers to consider the Apple Care extended warranty, especially since Apple's phone support is highly rated. On Windows machines, they advise you to save money by skipping add-on warranties.
However, Windows machines are more likely to be lemons: among those that broke, 55 percent did so multiple times. The figure for Apple was 42 percent.
CUSTOMER SAT
Psychologists have found that an early negative experience takes many positive experiences to overcome. A rational economic actor - if there was one! - might think that sure, Windows notebooks fail more often, but they cost less, so OK.
But people aren't rational.
High early failure rates may be a key factor in another of CR's findings: 71 percent of Apple notebook owners were completely satisfied with system reliability; only 38 percent of Windows notebook owners were. Ouch!
THE STORAGE BITS TAKE
The survey results - 58,000 is a big sample size by any measure - should end the argument over whether MacBook hardware is better or not. It is. Get over it.
But you - and probably the survey respondents - can buy a $400 Windows notebook, so I'd like the results better if they'd controlled for product price. Maybe a $850 Windows machine is just as reliable as an $850 MacBook Air.
One would hope!
Dennis, why would anyone want a Yugo when they can have a Porsche? Value is quite subjective, but real-world usage over years in my house and those of other Mac owners trumps any toy from Google. Besides, who likes to shoot themselves in the foot by using anything from the largest gatherer of personal information EVER?
When you come up with a decent response, I will gladly entertain it. But you even mentioning Google makes me see that once again, you are just trying to go against the tide of truth!
Thanks, Swordmaker, for keeping us informed, despite the trolls and trash!
I hate doing this but.....
9 yr old IBM Lenovo Thinkpad Edge
Never a problem
Never power it down just to reboot once a week or so for clean up.
Now beating my head on wood for good luck. Probably die tomorrow
My wife has gone through 4 Mac books in the last 5 years. All have been plagued with problems ranging from the “dripping” display, hard drive failure, files becoming corrupted and most recently an attack by malware. She has had two replacement computers fortunately furnished by her employer, two screen replacements and a factory repair under warranty. Not exactly the paragon of reliability.
Give your Apple worship a rest first.
I have a bridge I want to sell you. Apparently you must be gullible to crap like that!
There are some things about the Mac that I absolutely hate:
For some reason, the designers do not like cut-and-paste. Maybe they think it's safer to copy-and-paste and then go back and delete. It's NOT. I have lost more files because of this cumbersome, inefficient, maddening defect than I ever lost by cut-and-paste. If the designers consider copy-and-paste-and-go-back-and-delete to be safer than cut-and-paste, fine, but they should give the consumer the option--at least.
Also you cannot blend two files and keep the contents of both; you can replace one with the other, but the contents of the replaced file are lost.
In combining and streamlining files, I have to borrow my wife's very inexpensive Toshiba, which is obviously ridiculous.
Furthermore, you cannot batch rename. If you have 30 photographs to name, you must click-and-rename each one--which is infuriating. You can't just click "rename" and type in "Paris, August 17, 2015" and have them all renamed-- Unless, of course, you have a wife with an inexpensive Toshiba.
Also, in the new Mac, you cannot merely save-as and keep the document in its location. You must go through several steps to choose the location you want. This is not an improvement.
People who are enamored of Apple seem to consider these charming little "quirks". They're not. They are serious and infuriating defects.
I went to your forum. You are a terrible example of a Republican or conservative.
Sure hope you are not a neighbor of mine. You would bring down property values for sure.
“For some reason, the designers do not like cut-and-paste. “
Huh? I use cut and paste all the time.
Your other problems I can’t address.
If you factor in the longevity of Macs, they end being far more cost effective in the long run. My MBP gets used 50 plus hours a week, it is a 2011 model, and works flawlessly. I will likely keep it another year. That means it will be 5 years old, and quite usable. Not many PC laptops last that long. With heavy use.
And yes, I game on it, I use Photoshop a lot, and I edit video on it. It is a workhorse.
$850 MacBook Air.
HAHAHAHA....yeah right. Get Santa to bring you one.
$2500 for a Macbook Pro. I have one sitting on my bar.
I ran over my Dell laptop with my truck. Had to replace the screen. It’s 7 years old now and still working. I’ve upgraded the OS twice.
I think there were a lot of bad hard drives following the flooding in Thailand that closed so many manufacturing sites. A lot of second rate hard drives in use for a while.
I also have a Surface. It developed a yellow streak in the display within weeks. They replaced it. Same problem with the replacement.
My husband has been through 3 Toshiba laptops to my one Latitude.
If you put a lot of time on your laptop buy accordingly. Home use machines are not suitable for heavy users and business class users.
I concur. You are a repulsive POS. Stay off Apple threads if they offend you, clymer!
Proves nothing except that AAPL doesn’t serve the low end market... WinTel machines come in literally millions of hardware combinations and are used by people that have no experience to decades of experience... AAPL products come in a few basic configs and the manufacturer controls the software... Not surprised that is more reliable... I also didn’t see where in the sample a “breakdown” was defined. Obviously from a hardware perspective the HDD is the most vulnerable to failure but the CD/DVD/BluRAY drive is a close second... and HDD’s vary in quality and reliability (I use Fujitsu and HDS) ,, as AAPL uses the same drives as everyone else I’d have to say the additional failures are all software... From a software perspective a “failure” can mean anything ... Grandma bluehair would report a failure while I might just right click and resolve an issue...
Glad to see you’re staying on course ,, nothing but AAPL Phanboy (or is it Fanboi?) news all the time!
troll? you can’t troll worthlessness, which is what your threads are; worthless mac marketing threads that are whoring themselves out in the service of selling apple goods and services.
you’re a walking, talking, constantly posting advertisement for apple.
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Can’t see how anyone can argue with you there ... you did notice how SM never answers the “paid advertising social media troll” question...
I think there were a lot of bad hard drives following the flooding in Thailand that closed so many manufacturing sites. A lot of second rate hard drives in use for a while.
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At about the same time the NSA mandated hdd controller firmware with their spyware... almost put WesternDigital out of business with hdd failures...
if there are 700 people in your ping list, 680 of them must be dead or banned. it’s the same 12 to 15 devotees that are hyperactive in your threads . . . over, and over, and over.
So, don’t act like there is some huge, universal demand for threads pimping apple gear. that’s just delusional.
You can cut-and-past text in a typed document, but you can't cut-and-paste a photograph or document from one place to another.
There is something tyrannical and user unfriendly about the design of Macs that is frustrating, inefficient, and infuriating.
Maybe everybody who buys a Mac should also get a Toshiba. This is probably not lost on the Japanese. In a few years, they'll probably come out with a computer that combines the best (and eliminates the worst) of both of them.
With 5000 Amazon reviews they are doing something right. I promise you Apple honchos huddling in their bizarre new Louie Farrakhan designed mothership head quarters are breaking out in a cold sweat. Chromebooks are a real threat to over priced Apple jive-turkey products
The one thing with cheap Windows laptops is that batteries wear out after a year if they are left plugged in all the time. At least it used to be this way. I still take the battery out when on electrical power and they remain like new. Maybe this is fixed in recent years, but it's a habit with me now.
I currently use a 17-inch laptop that cost $400, and would have been $2000+ as a Mac.
I think a lot of breakage is from clumsy use, and Macs can probably handle abuse better than Windows laptops.
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