News: Computing
Smaller name brand notebooks fare better: study
17.11.2009
Notebooks made by smaller name brand manufacturers are usually more reliable than those produced by larger manufacturers, a study on notebook reliability suggests.
Of the Top 9, ASUS has the lowest breakdown rate, with fewer than 10pc of its notebooks failing in the past two years, the study published by SquareTrade shows. Toshiba, Sony and Apple also performed better than average and are either just over or under the same figure.
Dell is only slightly less reliable, but failure rates spike upwards for Lenovo, Acer and its sub-label Gateway. HP is at the bottom of the heap, with about 16pc of its portables breaking down.
The quality of the systems themselves may be one reason for the gap in failure rates. Netbooks, usually made up of cheaper materials in order to keep their prices on the lower end, not only face the highest first-year failure rate but are much more likely to break down in three years; about one-quarter (25.1pc) should stop working during that time period, the analysts say.
Budget full-size notebooks, which command the lineups of Acer, Gateway and HP, are also likelier to break and face a 20.6pc failure rate.
Premium notebooks priced at more than US$1,000, such as those from Apple and Sony, face the best chances, with a lower initial failure rate and an 18.1pc anticipated malfunction rate.
Photo: The Toshiba Mini NB200.
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