One in Three Laptops Will Fail Within First Three Years

With the age of computers and laptops, you might be thinking of purchasing a laptop for your business or personal needs. A laptop computer is so much better than a personal computer due to the flexibility to take the computer with you anywhere and the ease of working on the go. If you are thinking of buying a laptop, a new study came out that says one in three laptop computers will die within the first three years.

This new information basically states that within the first three years of owning a laptop, 31 percent of them will die. The information was gathered from Square Trade, a company that provides aftermarket warranties to laptops and over 30,000 new laptops that are covered by Square Trade were in this study. The new study from Square Trade, looked at all aspects of a laptop failure, such as computer hardware malfunction and accidental events like dropping the laptop or spilling something on it. Within the study, it was apparent that over two-thirds of all laptop deaths occurred because of hardware malfunction, which is about 20.4 percent compared to the one-third of laptop deaths, around 10.6 percent, which happened due to accidental drops or spills. Square Trade analyzed data from both laptops and netbooks, and then compared the durability and reliability of each and also examined the types of failures that occurred. The whole entire study from Square Trade is available here for people who want detailed information on the study and the analysis of each computer. The Square Trade study also revealed that a hardware malfunction occurred 20 percent more often in a netbook than in a laptop, maybe due to the smaller configuration of a netbook or the overall quality of a netbook. Netbook computers are less expensive generally than a regular laptop, so naturally the expectancy of life from a netbook is going to be less than that of a laptop. The ideal is pretty much you get what you pay for, meaning that spending a thousand dollars or more on a laptop might make the difference in your computer lasting beyond the three-year study group.

If you are looking for a laptop to last, then the study by Square Trade should help you out. According to the study by Square Trade, the highest successful and reliable brands were Toshiba and Asus, both had a failure rate of less than 16 percent. The failure rate of 16 percent for Toshiba and Asus is only in hardware malfunctions; this does not include accidental failures caused by a person such as a spill or drop. Square Trade also noted in their study, some of the worse brands of laptop computers and also took in to account only the hardware malfunctions.

According to the Square Trade study Acer, Gateway, and Hewlett Packard are the worse laptop brands known for hardware malfunction, with Hewlett Packard having a 25.6 percent failure rate. So to basically come out and say it, you should not skimp on spending more money for your laptop if you want the laptop to last for more than three years. Hardware malfunctions happen here and there, but human errors like dropping the computer or spilling your morning coffee on the laptop can be avoided. Square Trade has suggested in order to keep human errors from occurring, you should buy a protective case for your laptop in the event it does fall so that it will not break. A laptop computer is probably the most used device next to the cell phone, so natural hardware malfunctions can occur due to the constant use of the laptop, but buying a more expensive computer might help you keep it safe and clean.

I can really relate to this article, because through the years I have had desktop computers and laptops, and can say a laptop is really not as durable as a desktop computer and I have gone through many of each. Laptop computers are all I use now, being I have been writing articles and doing surveys and like knowing I can pick it up and go sit on the couch. The really interesting part about the Square Trade study was that I have an Acer Aspire as one of my two laptop computers, and yes it has malfunctioned on me. I bought the Acer Aspire about 2005 or 2006, and never really had any trouble with it until this past spring. It was just outside of the three year warranty when it decided to crash. I went to turn on the computer only to find a black screen with no writing or system-boot screen loading. I kept turning it on and the Acer would continue to get to the loading screen and then magically shut off. It is kind of funny because otherwise, I have had limited problems with laptops like batteries going dead and power cords going out so it has always been a fixable problem.

After about 20 minutes I finally gave up on getting the Acer to load, and decided the only thing I could do at that point was start over and wipe the system. I had not backed-up any of my work I had on the computer, so I knew by pressing that button everything I had done would be gone. Resumes, applications, passwords and favorite sites, along with many document files I had downloaded over the years. All of it was gone within the stroke of a key, and it was a frustrating feeling for me to know there was nothing I could have done. The Acer Aspire has always been scanned for viruses and other malicious events, so I knew it was nothing caused by that, it was a hardware malfunction. The hard drive just seemed to stop working for a while, no real reason or cause. I did not spend that much on the Acer laptop, around 600 dollars, so the Square Trade study really makes sense to me. Knowing that out of 30,000 new computers 31 percent are going to fail, and Acer is on the list for a bad brand to buy, surely will make me think harder when I go to buy another laptop.

Sources:

Square Trade, "1 in 3 Laptops fail over 3 years", Square Trade Incorporated

Austin Sands & Vince Tseng, "1 in 3 Laptops fail over 3 years", Square Trade Incorporated