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MacBooks get highest score in all Consumer Reports categories

by Chris Rawson May 25th 2011 at 7:00AM

According to The Loop, Consumer Reports has rated Apple's MacBook line as the top computer in every laptop category. The 11-inch MacBook Air took the top score for small laptops, while the 13-inch MacBook Pro dominated its category, taking the top five of seven spots. Apple's 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pros took top honors in their categories as well.

If you're keeping score at home, this means that, according to Consumer Reports, not only does Apple have the top-rated notebook computers in every category, Apple also sells the top-rated tablet and the top-rated smartphone. Although Consumer Reports doesn't give the iPhone a "recommended" rating because of its widely publicized signal attenuation issues (an assessment that independent research doesn't always back up), the iPhone still has the magazine's top score among smartphones.

Whether you put much stock in Consumer Reports' rating system or not, it's still quite an accomplishment to see Apple's products getting top marks across the board. Apple's products certainly don't have a 100 percent reliability rating -- I can attest to that -- but the company definitely doesn't make bargain bin junk in any product category.



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According to The Loop, Consumer Reports has rated Apple's MacBook line as the top computer in every laptop category. The 11-inch MacBook...
 

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TN9Design

Now if only they could address the MBPs screen flickering issues.

May 25 2011 at 2:20 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mark

While I guess I could see this either way, I was surprised to not see a single Thinkpad on the list. While technically business laptops, so was the MacBook Pro series.

May 25 2011 at 1:51 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
JustAnnuthaDewd

And yet in spite of the industry-leading reputation for reliability and longevity, many people still insist that buying the extended warranty is a must.

May 25 2011 at 12:09 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to JustAnnuthaDewd's comment
jdaman7788

BECAUSE just like their computers, they charge a primium repair cost as well.

May 25 2011 at 12:50 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Fred Fnord

FYI, Apple (laptop) hardware has around a 14% failure rate per year for the first three years. (This is normalized, of course: much fewer failures in the first year.) If you multiply that out, that means that you have about a 38% chance that your laptop will fail within the Apple extended warrantee. (Not strictly true, depending on how they treat multiple failures of a single machine.)

Assuming the naive point of view (and a $200 AppleCare plan), if the repairs to the laptop would cost $700-ish or more (adjusting for the 1-year included warrantee, also adjusting for the fact that the first year is by far the least likely to have a failure) you are better off with AppleCare on average.

On the other hand, if you know that you are a person who uses his laptop harder than average (totes it home from work every day, travels with it, takes it out multiple times a day at coffee shops, etc) then you are dramatically more likely to see a failure. (All that joggling isn't good for it.) If you're still fairly careful and don't actually DROP it, then AppleCare is almost certainly worthwhile for you.

May 25 2011 at 1:20 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Dave

But don't dare buy the iPhone 4.

May 25 2011 at 9:49 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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