Which laptop brand to buy in 2022
Knowing which laptop brands develop the most faults and when the first faults could appear is invaluable when choosing a laptop. That’s why we asked 16,097 Which? members and the general public to tell us about the problems and experiences they’ve had with their tech products within the first seven years of ownership.
Our unique survey data reveals the truth behind brand loyalty to find out which brands laptop owners would turn to time and again. We have also uncovered when popular laptop brands developed a fault and the reasons why products are repaired or replaced.
We now know the most common issue people encounter with their laptops is a severe drop in battery performance over a very short space of time. In fact, our research indicates this accounts for 22% of faults.
Keep reading to find out which laptop brands are the best.
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 for 2022
Best laptop brands
Our table below summarises this year’s laptop survey results. Brands are ranked by their customer score, which relates to how satisfied consumers are with their laptop brand and whether they would recommend it to a friend.
We also include the brand's average test score so that, combined with our robust survey data, you can use this to see which brands perform the best in our tough, independent lab tests.
Scroll past our table to find out more about the brands in our survey and for our analysis of the results.
| Brand | Customer score | Customer score rating | Average Which? test score | % Fault-free in first seven years |
| Apple | 85% | ★ | 90% | 88% |
| MSI | 81% | 64% (based on 1 review) | 88% | |
| PC Specialist | 80% | n/a | 79% | |
| Microsoft | 76% | 81% | 85% | |
| Huawei | 75% | 71% | 93% | |
| Medion | 75% | 60% (based on 1 review) | 84% | |
| Samsung | 74% | 77% | 82% |
Best laptop brand table notes:
- Results are based on a March 2022 survey of 16,097 Which? members and the general public who own laptops that were purchased between 2015 and 2022.
- Customer score is based on overall satisfaction and whether they would recommend the brand to a friend.
- An average test score is based on the results of models tested under the latest test programme and is available to buy as of August 2022.
- Fault-free percentage based on respondents not having experienced a fault in the first seven years of ownership.
- Where n/a is reported there is not enough data.
- Brands with insufficient sample sizes were not included (a minimum of 30 respondents was required).
Best vs worst laptop brands
As the table below demonstrates, there is a big difference between the top-scoring and bottom-scoring brands in our tests, and a sizeable difference in terms of how satisfied people are with their laptops.
| Best | Worst | |
|---|---|---|
| The average score in our laptop tests | 92% | 44% |
| Fault-free in the first seven years | 93% | 63% |
| Customer score | 85% | 63% |
Verdict: top laptop brands in-depth
We've pulled together insight from our laptop experts, plus our survey data and independent lab test results, to give you an in-depth look at each laptop brand. Read on to find out which brands are worth buying.
Acer laptops verdict
- 69% of Acer laptop owners in our survey are satisfied with their laptops and would recommend the brand to a friend. This puts it towards the bottom of our rankings for customer scores.
- Acer is among the cheapest brands based on the models we've tested. The average Acer laptop price as of August 2022 was £547.
- The low cost is somewhat reflected in Acer's Which? test scores, with an average of just 66%. Although we have found some brilliant, cheap Acer laptops in recent years, so they are worth seeking out.
- The time to first fault is on a par with the other brands from our survey, with Acer laptops going 5.6 years on average without developing any sort of fault.
- Customer loyalty is below the average among the brands included in our survey. Only 20% of customers with a previous Acer laptop said they purchased the same brand for their current laptop.
Interested in seeking out those cheaper, decent-scoring models? Take a look at our expert Acer laptop reviews.
Apple laptops verdict
- Apple has the highest level of satisfaction of any laptop brand, with 85% of owners willing to recommend the brand to family and friends.
- That high satisfaction is, however, coupled with a high average laptop price of £1,589.
- The average MacBook Which? the test score is 90%, which is the highest average score of any brand.
- The average time to first fault for Apple is joint second best at 6.2 years. According to our survey, 88% of consumers did not experience a fault in the first seven years of ownership.
- Customer loyalty is way ahead of the competition, with 85% of customers having replaced their previous Apple laptop with another Apple model.
Interested? Head straight to our Apple laptop reviews to see whether these high-performance MacBooks are for you. Want an Apple MacBook but don't want to pay full price? Find out what you need to know about buying a refurbished laptop.
Asus laptops verdict
- Asus ties with HP and Lenovo for its customer score – only 68% of buyers are satisfied with their Asus laptop and would recommend the brand to friends or family. This places Asus joint last in our survey when it comes to customer scores.
- The average price of Asus laptops we tested in August 2022 was £507, which makes it one of the cheaper brands.
- Asus laptops don't perform outstandingly well in our tests with an average Which? a test score of 65%. We do see Best Buys from the company's mid-range laptops, however, so they're worth seeking out.
- The average time to first fault for Asus is 5.6 years, which is just below the average of 5.8 years.
- Customer loyalty is among the lowest of the brands in our survey. Only 12% of customers replaced their previous Asus laptop with another from the brand.
Want to check out those Best Buy mid-range models? Head to our Asus laptop reviews.
Dell laptops verdict
- Dell comes mid-table for its customer score – 72% of owners are satisfied with their Dell laptops and would recommend the brand.
- Dell laptops tend to be slightly pricier than many of the other brands. The average price of those on our site in August 2022 was £690.
- The brand's laptops tend to score better in our tests as well, with an average Which? a test score of 71%.
- Despite the higher price, the average time to first fault for Dell laptops is 5.7 years, which sits just below our survey average.
- Customer loyalty isn't far off the average, with 30% saying they remained loyal. The average across the 14 brands we surveyed is 33%.
Take a look at all of our Dell laptop reviews.
Google laptops verdict
- Google doesn't make many laptops but, according to our survey, 70% of owners are very pleased with them and would recommend them. This places Google laptops just below the average of 73%.
- An average of 5.9 years passed before customers experienced a fault with their Google laptop, which places it on the good side of average.
- In terms of brand allegiance, Google was well below the average of 33% – only 8% of customers said they would buy Google again.
- We have lab test results for one Google laptop listed on our website in August 2022 – it's £629 and scored 82%, reaching Best Buy status.
Want to know more about our Google review? Head straight to the Google laptop review.
HP laptops verdict
- HP ties with Asus and Lenovo for the joint bottom customer score – only 68% of buyers are satisfied with their HP laptop and would recommend the brand to friends or family.
- Its laptops are middle of the road in terms of price, averaging £624.
- An average Which? a test score of 66% isn't much to write home about, but we do uncover some Best Buy HP laptops in our tough lab tests.
- An average of 5.7 years pass before the first fault arises, which sits just below the average of 5.8 years across the 14 brands we surveyed.
- Customer loyalty is just on the good side of average, with 34% of customers saying they replaced their previous HP laptop with another HP model.
Interesting in uncovering those HP Best Buys? See our HP laptop reviews.
Huawei laptops verdict
- Huawei has the joint fifth customer score out of the 14 brands included in our survey. 75% of buyers said they were satisfied with their Huawei laptop and would recommend it.
- The average price of Huawei laptops on our site in August 2022 was £772 – this makes them slightly more expensive than the average.
- The average Which? a test score of Huawei laptops is 71%, which is pretty good going. There are a couple of Best Buy's in there, too.
- 6.5 years is the average time to a first fault – this is good as it's the longest of all the 14 brands in our survey.
- We currently don't have data on how loyal Huawei customers are, as the sample size for this question in our survey was below 30 respondents.
Interested? Here's where you can find all of our current Huawei laptop reviews.
Lenovo laptops verdict
- Lenovo's customer score means it sits with Asus and HP in joint last position out of our 14 brands, with only 68% saying they were satisfied with their laptop.
- Its laptops are among the cheapest we test, costing £533 on average.
- Despite the lower cost, the average Which? a test score of 66% isn't far away from the rest of the brands. There's also a healthy number of Best Buy Lenovo laptops, but these tend to be its higher-end models.
- Lenovo laptops managed an average of 5.7 years before developing a fault, which is just below the average.
- 23% of Lenovo laptop owners would choose the brand again, which isn't great – this puts it 10 percentage points lower than the average compared to the other brands in our survey.
Want to see which Lenovo models reached Best Buy status? Head straight to all of our Lenovo laptop reviews.
LG laptops verdict
- 71% of consumers are satisfied with their LG laptops and would recommend them. This places it just on the wrong side of the 73% average across the 14 brands included in the survey.
- As of August 2022, there's currently only one Lenovo laptop review on our site – it costs a pricey £1,500 and is a Best Buy with a test score of 84%.
- LG laptops managed only an average of 4.6 years before developing a fault. This is the quickest average time to first fault across all the brands included in the survey – well below the overall average of 5.8 years.
- We currently don't have data on how loyal LG customers are as the sample size for this question was below 30 respondents.
If the quick average fault time doesn't put you off, take a look at our current LG laptop review.
Medion laptops verdict
- Medion has the joint fifth highest customer score out of the 14 brands in our survey, tying with Huawei. 75% of buyers said they were satisfied with their Medion laptop and would recommend it.
- Medion laptops, on average, reached 6.1 years before developing a fault. This is comfortably above the average of 5.8 years across the 14 brands in our survey.
- We do not have data on how loyal Medion laptop owners are as the sample size for this question was below 30 respondents.
- As of August 2022, there's currently one Medion laptop review on our site with a price of £849 and a Which? a test score of 60%. This is a steep price for a below-par laptop.
If you're interested in finding out more, go straight to our Medion laptop review.
Microsoft laptops verdict
- Microsoft laptop owners really like their PCs – 76% are satisfied with the brand and would recommend it to their friends and family.
- Its laptops are pricey, though – while the cheapest model is £549, the average price is more than £1,019.
- Surface devices consistently score well, with an average Which? a test score of 81%. All but one laptop available in August 2022 was a Best Buy.
- Microsoft laptops manage an average of 5.9 years before developing a fault, which is slightly better than the average of 5.8 years.
- Nearly half of Microsoft customers remained loyal when it came to replacing their laptops.
Piqued your interest? Head straight to all of our Microsoft laptop reviews.
MSI laptops verdict
- MSI has the second highest customer score, 81%. This puts it just behind Apple and shows that customers are satisfied with their MSI laptops and would recommend them.
- According to our survey, MSI laptops averaged 6.2 years before developing a fault. This places it joint second with Apple and comfortably above the average of 5.8 years across the 14 brands in our survey.
- We do not have data on how loyal MSI customers are as the sample size for this question was below 30 respondents.
- MSI laptops are predominantly designed for gaming. As of August 2022, there's currently only one MSI laptop review on our site with a price of £571 and a score of 64%. It isn't a Best Buy.
After a gaming laptop? Find our MSI laptop review here.
PC Specialist laptops verdict
- PC Specialist laptops have the third highest customer score, according to our survey. This places the brand just behind MSI and Apple and means customers are satisfied with their laptops and would recommend PC Specialists to friends or family.
- According to our survey, its laptops average 5.9 years before developing a fault – which sits just above the average of 5.8 years.
- We do not have data on how loyal PC Specialist laptop owners are as the sample size for this question was below 30 respondents.
- As of August 2022, we don't have any PC Specialist laptop reviews.
Want to know which laptops we recommend? Head to our pick of the best laptops for all budgets.
Samsung laptops verdict
- Samsung only recently re-entered the laptop market and has stopped selling them in the UK for several years.
- 74% of owners are satisfied with their laptops and would recommend them to friends and family. This is just above average (73%).
- Samsung laptops are among the most expensive out there, with an average price of £942.
- This price does add up to the performance, with Samsung laptops achieving an average Which? a test score of 77%. This is Best Buy territory.
- Samsung laptops managed 5.8 years before developing a fault, which is bang on average.
- However, in terms of brand allegiance, only 6% of customers bought a Samsung laptop to replace their previous Samsung laptop, which is one of the lowest and a fair way off the average of 33%.
Go straight to our Samsung laptop reviews.
Common laptop problems
In our survey, there were two common hardware problems people experienced with their laptops that stood out from the rest. The first is a severe drop in battery performance over a very short space of time. Of course, batteries only have a limited lifespan, but we would still expect them to have a gradual reduction in performance rather than a substantial drop-off. The second was their laptop dropping in speed and performance.
- 22% of reported faults were battery related
- 21% were related to dropping in speed and performance.
Wondering whether it's worth repairing a laptop rather than replacing it? Find out how much it really costs to fix a laptop.
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How we calculate the best and worst laptop brands
Which? has a wealth of information on the UK's favourite computing brands. Every year we ask Which? members to tell us about the technology products 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, 16,097 Which? members and the general public told us about their devices. We calculate a brand's customer score based on the results of our annual survey.
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