Asus, Toshiba make sturdiest laptops: study

If you are in the market for a new laptop, this new study should come in handy. Square Trade, one of the largest independent warranty providers for electronics, analyzed failure rates for over 30,000 new laptop computers and found that one in three laptops will fail within 3 years. The company has published a research report that highlights trends in laptop failure by brand as well as by type. Netbooks, it seems, have a much higher failure rate than entry-level or premium laptops. Since netbooks have been selling in large volumes only for the past year or so, the comparison took into account only one year's worth of failure rates for the same.

The study found netbooks have 20% higher failure rate than entry-level laptops, and 40% higher than premium laptops. By brand, Asus and Toshiba turned out to be the surprise winners, trumping such heavyweights as Apple and Lenovo. With 3-year malfunction rates forecast to be under 16%, laptops from Asus and Toshiba are nearly 40% more reliable than Hewlett-Packard, the worst performer in the study. In fact, Square Trade says one out of every four HP laptops fails within three years─ an ominous sign for anyone who was eyeing one of the company's notebooks. The full study can be read for free online at Square Trade.