Readers' Choice 2022: The Laptop and Tablet Brands You Like the Best
Our namesake category, PCMag readers know PCs. If you're in the market for a new laptop or tablet, these manufacturers should be on your short list.
February 17, 2022
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As the pandemic ebbs and Americans return to their offices, laptop sales have nonetheless continued to grow. We're still working and studying at home at least part of the time, and laptops offer all the power that most of us need and so much more flexibility than a desktop computer. Meanwhile, tablets continue to serve as excellent complementary devices for some people and even as laptop replacements for others.
In our most recent PCMag Readers’ Choice survey, we asked you to assess your satisfaction with the laptops and tablets you’re using. Your ratings may help your fellow readers determine the brand of laptop and tablet that they’ll pick for their next purchase.
This bears repeating: Today’s supply chain shortages may mean that the laptop or tablet that you had your heart set on is not available. If that’s the case, the survey results will help you determine which brands are viable alternatives…and which you should avoid.
Laptops 2022
MSI might not be a household name, but PCMag readers have been singing its praises for some time now, giving the company high marks for satisfaction and earning it four Readers’ Choice Awards in the last seven years, including this one.
What makes 2022 different is that it's the first time that MSI—or any Windows laptop brand—hasn’t had to share the award with Apple, which won every year for well over a decade. In some years, the PC brand sharing with Apple received satisfaction ratings competitive with Apple’s own scores, but in other years, they lagged, only earning an award because we know that for many Windows users a MacBook is just not an option. (Use the arrows below to click through all the scores in different categories.)
This year, there’s no question which laptop maker is delivering the most satisfying experience, according to its customers. MSI, which is primarily known for its gaming computers, received an overall satisfaction rating of 9.5 on a scale from zero (extremely dissatisfied) to 10 (extremely satisfied). That rating is an improvement from last year’s excellent 9.2 and it’s the highest overall satisfaction rating we can recall ever seeing for a laptop brand. However, that wasn’t even the company’s highest score this year. MSI received scores of 9.6 for satisfaction with reliability and screen/display quality. All the company’s other ratings were similarly impressive, including 9.4s for likelihood to be recommended and even for tech support, a category that rarely gets such high marks. Respondents were also very impressed with MSI’s value, rating it a 9.2, up from last year’s category-topping 8.7 (shared with Acer).
What makes MSI’s ratings even more startling is that nearly all of Apple’s satisfaction ratings actually improved from its Readers’ Choice Award-winning performance in 2021. Some increases were fairly small, such as overall satisfaction, which went from 9.1 to 9.2, and recommendation likelihood, which went from 9.1 to 9.3. But other ratings saw more substantial jumps (for example, satisfaction with battery life went from 8.4 to 9.0). As is often the case, Apple did rate last in satisfaction with cost/value at 7.8, but that’s actually up from 2021’s 7.4. Apple simply couldn’t keep pace with MSI and repeat once again as a Readers’ Choice Award winner, but as you can see by its ratings, Apple users continue to be quite satisfied with their laptops.
