A popular question I receive is which laptop or netbook computer is the most reliable. I have seen more than my fair share of failing HP/Compaq laptops,  but SquareTrade (a 3rd party warranty provider) has aggregated a wider sample and has broken down the numbers for us. (Figure 1)

Figure 1

Asus and Toshiba have the least hardware malfunctions over 3 years, while one-in-four HP laptops are projected to experience problems!

 The study also indicates that sub-$400 netbooks are 20 percent more likely to fail in the first year. (Figure 2)

Figure 2

SquareTrade randomly selected over 30,000 laptops and netbooks covered by its warranty plans for the study. Brands with a minimum of 1000 laptops included Acer, Apple, Asus, Dell, Gateway, HP, Lenovo, Sony, and Toshiba. Accidental damage and software issues handled by the retailer were not included in the numbers.