HP, Gateway and Acer make the least reliable notebooks

Electronista received a report by SquareTrade that compares the reliability of notebook brands. SquareTrade researchers found that ASUS, Toshiba and Sony manufacture the most reliable laptops, with failure rates of 15.6 percent, 15.7 percent and 16.8 percent, respectively, after three years of usage.

The worst laptops are made by HP, according to the report 25.6 percent of HP notebooks malfunction after three years, while Gateway and Acer rank second and third with failure rates of 23.5 percent and 23.3 percent, respectively.

One of the reasons why notebooks from HP, Gateway and Acer are less reliable is because budget full-size notebooks dominate the lineup of these companies. To get these systems down to attractive price points the companies have to do cost-cutting and that decreases reliability.

SquareTrade analysts confirm cheaper laptops are more likely to fail than more expensive models. Netbooks for instance have a 5.8 percent first year malfunction rate, compared to 4.7 percent for entry-level laptops and 4.2 percent for premium laptops.

After three years the gap widens, SquareTrade projects that 25.1 percent of netbooks will malfunction after three years, compared to 20.6 percent for entry-level laptops and 18.1 percent for premium laptops.

The study also mentions that notebooks are historically unreliable, over three years as much as 31 percent of laptops are expected to fail of their own or suffer from drops that render them inoperable.