Reliable laptop brands 2025: which laptop brand should you buy?

So you can discover the most reliable laptop brands that are worth your money, we survey nearly ten thousand Which? members and members of the public who own laptops to tell us whether they're happy with it and if they've experienced problems.

Toshiba laptops were the least reliable in our survey, with more than a third developing some sort of fault within seven years of purchase. The most common problems on Toshiba laptops were related to the battery, very slow operation and the device occasionally crashing. Toshiba no longer sells laptops in the UK, however. 

Read on to find out which are the most reliable laptop brands.

Whatever your budget, our lab tests reveal which models are worth your money and which aren't. See our expert pick of the best laptops

Best laptop brands: which do owners recommend?

In the table below, the laptop brands are in alphabetical order and we've locked up our full results and expert analysis - this exclusive content is reserved for Which? members, so they can use it to help them buy a brand that will last. But we can tell you that there is a big difference in what laptop owners say about the top-scoring brand vs those that appear lower down in our table. 

Our customer satisfaction score is based on overall satisfaction and whether respondents would recommend the brand to a friend. The links go to the brands' websites.

Which? members can log in now to unlock the table below and view our results and expert analysis. Not yet a member? Join Which? today to access our laptop brand research and all of our online reviews - including laptops, phones, headphones and electric cars.

Need to know

The leading brand is streets ahead of the rest when it comes to overall satisfaction and is matched by just three other brands for its seven-year reliability rating. All the models from this company we've tested as of July 2025 are Best Buys, due to their excellent performance in our tough lab tests. Find out more about how we test laptops.

Battery life deterioration is by far the most common fault across all the laptop brands we analysed. Sluggish operation and apps, or the laptop occasionally crashing coming in a distant second and third. 

One laptop brand stands out as 7% of owners reported that the battery swelled up. Two brands had 13% and 12% of respective owners reporting very sluggish performance developing over time.

The brand at the very bottom of the list has not only the worst customer satisfaction score, but is also rock-bottom when it comes to the reliability of its products after seven years. Owners of this laptop brand reported that more than a third of all models (36%) developed a fault in this time. 

We have data on the following brands (if you're a Which? member, log in and click the links to see our full laptop reviews for that particular brand): Acer laptops, Apple MacBook laptops, Asus laptops, Dell laptops, HP laptops, Huawei laptops, Lenovo laptops, LG laptops, Microsoft Surface laptops and Samsung laptops.

Which laptop brands are the best at repairs?

When something goes wrong with your laptop, you need the manufacturer to be prompt with its responses and repair times. When our survey respondents reported that their laptop had developed a fault, we asked them how the repair process went. Below is what we found when respondents told us the manufacturer dealt with the repair directly. 

Satisfaction was up to 14 percentage points higher with the worst brand compared to the best, which can make all the difference to your stress levels when a laptop develops a fault.

With the top brand for its repair service, 64% of those who used it said they were satisfied with it overall. That's not that high, showing this is an area where choosing a better-performing brand can really tip the balance between a positive or negative experience.

For the worst brand for its repair experience,  just 55% of those who used it happy with how it went (or more importantly, nearly half were not).

You can't see our results as you are not a logged-in Which? member - the brands we link to below are in alphabetical order. You can Join Which? to unlock our results.

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What is the most common failure issue in laptops?

Battery problems

The majority of faults reported in our survey were to do with the battery life getting worse over a short period of time, with a quarter of all problems reported being to do with the battery. Batteries chemically deteriorate over time and this should be expected, however a sudden drop-off in battery performance is not something you should expect in the first few years of laptop ownership. 

This was the most common fault for every brand. Unfortunately it’s not something you can do much about when making a buying choice, as almost all batteries are tricky to replace because you’d need a local repair shop to carry out a battery replacement for you. There are some exceptions that have easily replaceable batteries, such as Framework laptops.

You can keep your battery in better condition for longer by not keeping it 100% charged all the time. Some laptops will have a setting that prevents the device from being charged more than 80%, which will help the battery stay in good condition for longer. It also helps to not completely run the battery down. If you’re not going to use your laptop for a few days, leave it unplugged so it’s not sitting there constantly charging.

Laptop running slowly

Sluggish laptops made up one in 10 of all faults reported. Similar to freezing and crashing, it’s worth trying to diagnose the problem first before taking the nuclear option of resetting it. Use our easy-to-follow guide on how to speed up a laptop or computer.

Crashing and freezes

You won’t be surprised to hear that another common problem faced by laptop owners is their device frequently crashing, with 5% of owners reporting faults in this area on average. This can be caused by all manner of things - from corrupted files and software to damaged hardware. 

If you’ve suddenly started seeing more crashes, it’s worth thinking about anything you’ve done recently – such as installing a new program – and uninstall it to see if that helps. Another very useful option is to reset the operating system; Windows, MacOS and ChromeOS all have functions for this and will often sort out any lingering issues.

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How we calculate the best laptop brands

Which? has a wealth of information on Britain's favourite brands. Every year we ask Which? members to tell us about the tech they own – from how likely they would be to recommend a brand, to how reliable the products are once they get them home.

This year, 15,644 Which? members and the public told us about more than 58,586 individual products, including 9,791 laptops. This means we have data that covers the whole range of brands and models available from premium to budget-friendly options, so you don't just hear about what's popular but what are the best options from right across the laptops market.

• We calculate our customer score based on whether customers would recommend each brand and their level of satisfaction.
• We also calculate which brand developed the most faults, which is based on how many faults each brand developed up to six years old.
• Our most reliable brand and reliability star ratings are based on how many products developed a fault, how quickly these faults occurred, and how much they impacted day-to-day usage of the product.

Our surveys, combined with our extensive lab tests, mean we can recommend the best laptops to buy. 

See more of our expert advice on laptops.