What is the best laptop to buy?

 

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While pinpointing the very best laptop model to purchase may be a difficult task, the purpose of this article is to inform the average user in regards to individual laptop brands and manufacturers. Sometimes the features and capabilities of what you are buying should be considered equally to who you buy it from.

 

Since many laptop components are manufactured by the same third parties such as Intel, AMD, Western Digital, Nvidia, etc., the true quality of your laptop is typically determined more by the structural integrity and engineering of the laptop case, the technical support available, and the warranty service that is available. For the scope of this article, let's just say that most laptops consist of the same components regardless of the manufacturer. Two common exceptions to this rule are the motherboards and the lcd screens. These two components commonly vary greatly across each company's respective product lines.

 

Currently, the four mainstream pc laptop manufacturers are Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Sony. These are the four brands we see most often. We understand that other companies such as Acer, G ateway, eMachines, Toshiba and others may also manufacture quality laptops, but for the scope of this article, we will only be scoring the aforementioned four brands. While each of the "four" may be attractive for different reasons, we have our own opinions of each based on years of troubleshooting, repairing, and supporting users needs in regards to their laptops.

 

First off, each one of the previously mentioned companies builds laptops for varying audiences and markets. Typically, these are home users, small business users, and corporate users. For each market segment, each company builds laptops with varying features and options. These features are strategically packaged and marketed as entry level, mid level, business class, and high performance units.

 

Entry level home laptop prices start around $399 and higher performance business class systems can cost as much as $3000.00 per unit. Regardless of your needs, if you are going to spend a substantial amount, let's make sure you get an exceptional system.

 

Laptop Manufacturer Analysis:

Manufacturer	Aesthetics	Engineering	Customer Svc	Warranty Svc	Pricing	Overall Score
Dell	6/10	10/10	7/10	10/10	9/10	42/50
HP	8/10	4/10	5/10	5/10	8/10	30/50
Lenovo	7/10	7/10	8/10	8/10	6/10	36/50
Sony	9/10	3/10	6/10	4/10	2/10	24/50
Each grade provided on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the highest and 1 being the lowest. The highest possible score for each manufacturer is "50".