One-third of laptops fail within three years because of malfunctions or accidents, a study found, with notebooks from Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) and Toshiba Corp being the most reliable among surveyed brands. Those from Hewlett-Packard Co and Acer Inc (宏碁) were the least reliable, it said.
The failure rate for laptops within the first three years is 31 percent, US-based warranty provider SquareTrade said in its report, released last Monday.
“Given that the typical laptop endures more use and abuse than nearly any other consumer electronic device (with the possible exception of cell phones), it is not surprising to see such a high failure rate,” the report said.
Keyboards, pointer devices, media drives and hard drives are all mechanical components that wear out under heavy use, while motherboard circuitry, memory and wireless devices are sensitive to heat and environmental factors, the report said.
Broken down by brand, Asustek and Toshiba notebooks have malfunction rates under 16 percent — the lowest among the nine brands surveyed — while notebooks from Sony Corp and Apple Inc followed closely with malfunction rates of about 17 percent, it said.
By contrast, more than one-fourth of HP laptops malfunction within three years, the study found. Acer and its sub-brand Gateway, meanwhile, had malfunction rates of about 23 percent.
SquareTrade, which sells extended warranties for products bought in stores or online, said that malfunctions were 20 percent more frequent in netbooks — a more basic and cheaper version of the conventional notebooks — than in laptops after one year.
The study predicted that netbook malfunction rates are 25 percent for the first three years of use, compared with 21 percent for entry-level laptops and 18 percent for premium notebooks.
Acer questioned the results.
“We were surprised to learn that our [local] competitor [Asustek’s] rating was ahead of us,” a public relations official from Acer told the Taipei Times.
Both companies outsource notebook production to similar contract makers, she said, and producing larger quantities usually offers better yield rates because of higher quality control, meaning there should be fewer failures.
A significant portion of the repair requests Acer receives are related to software, not hardware, she said.
Acer, the world’s No. 2 notebook maker, has vowed to take the No. 1 spot next year, while Asustek, at No. 5, aims to be the No. 3 notebook brand by 2011.
To better serve local customers, the company has added service centers across the country by roping in authorized distributors, increasing the number of its service centers to 25 outlets, up from 12 in 2005.
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