This is perhaps the second most asked question that my customers ask. I use to recommend Toshiba’s based on personal experience and quality. After spending a week fixing nothing but Toshiba’s, I now think that you really need to stay away from the low-end Toshiba’s, just like all the other manufacturers. Notice the hyphenated keywords: LOW-END.
But, so customers and others can do their own research, I present one of the papers that I regularly talk about in those one on one “What should I buy” situations.
eBay’ers will recognize SquareTrade. If you don’t know who they are, they’re a “middle man” company that settles a lot of high end transactions so no one gets the short end of the stick. They also provide warranties to some customers, which is where the data comes from.
Now, you will see a brand called ASUS listed in the study, which you’ll also see listed on our homepage (we’re a partner). I love this brand, they make decent electronics, servers, and they even started the NetBook craze. Historically, I wouldn’t recommend them since most people don’t know the brand name, which typically causes the “WHO?!” conversation, but that’s changed.
So, an introduction is due, in case you’ve never heard about them: ASUS has been around since 1990, but hasn’t really branched out until the last 3 to 4 years. As of now though, they handle about 29% of all motherboards in machines for Dell, Apple, Toshiba and others… Food for thought.
Again, this is a LAPTOP study, not a desktop study. There are certain laptops that I cringe at hearing about (HP DV series laptops are the top cringe-causing laptops), but I’ll recommend certain desktops on occasion as well. I need to find more comprehensive desktop study to publish before openly talking about them.
Justin
