SquareTrade Warranty Blog

A rebuttal to some comments about our laptop failure study

Dear Readers,

I would like to respond to some comments made today in an article by Gareth Halfacree on the bit-tech.net website.  You can view that article here.  Specifically, a number of claims were made by Ray Gorman of Lenovo about our Laptop Reliability study, and I would like to clarify each of those claims, and give a rebuttal where necessary.

Ray Gorman: “total number claimed in this report is not a statistically significant sample for a study where no attempt is made to control key variables affecting repair rates, such as comparable machine types, end users, geography, and applications”

SquareTrade’s study examined data from 30,000 laptop owners, which we believe to be a very statistically significant sample.  When a national publication polls Americans on their attitudes towards political matters, they poll 1000-2000 people; a sufficient sample size to represent the 230 million Americans. 

We did not control for the variables Mr. Gorman mentioned, but we also did not feel it necessary.  With an average sample of over 3000 laptops per manufacturer, our sample size is large enough to assume a random distribution of users for each variable. 

As an example culled from Lenovo's own warranty repair data, Gorman points out that the company would "expect a 10X difference in repair rates between systems bought for [secondary school] students and systems used only in a home office by adults," a distinction which isn't made by SquareTrade's study.

Our data set assumes an equal distribution of the types of consumers for each manufacturer.  Thus, we believe that our data sets for each manufacturer contain a similar proportion of students, home office users, frequent travelers, and so on. 

We analyzed our data to produce a general study of manufacturer failure rates relative to one another, not to produce a study only about the reliability rates of laptops used in a home-office setting.

To return to the polling analogy, pollsters choose random survey participants in the phone book, and do not control for geography, race, income, or any number of other variables that are may be very relevant in determining which candidate the participant would vote for.

 

Arguing that SquareTrade "has a vested interested in showing scary failure rates as they have done here [as] they are in the business of selling after sale warranties," Gorman claims that Lenovo's internal data shows that laptop failure rates are "at least two-thirds lower than what is claimed in the Square Trade survey."

I won’t dispute the fact that SquareTrade is in the business of selling warranties.  However, I do dispute the fact that we’re trying to scare consumers to buy warranties.

We find our overall results for laptop failure rates to be very consistent and in line with other organizations that have reported research.   We direct our readers to the following reports:

• In June 2006, Gartner reported actual failure rates of 28% for systems purchased in 2003-2004.  They projected a 22% failure rate, based on 1 year of data for systems bought in 2005-2006.

• In November 2007, Consumer Reports reported “Repair Rates for 3- to 4-year-old” Laptop Computers at 43%. 

With our results showing a LOWER failure rate than reported by these other sources, we are telling consumers they need warranties LESS frequently than the numbers published by Consumer Reports.  If anything we’re providing “less scary” numbers than Consumer Reports and Gartner on laptops.

Furthermore, we have also published past research reports that show device failure rates far below the point at which it makes sense for most consumers to purchase warranties.  Most recently, our Game Console failure rate study from August 2009 found that only 2.7% of Nintendo Wii systems failed over 2 years.  We would not have published such data if our only interest was in selling warranties.  We provide the information to consumers and make affordable warranty protection available to them.  It is up to them to make the decision of whether a warranty is worthwhile.

 

For those concerned by the high rate of failure that SquareTrade quoted in their study, Gorman says not to worry: "PC hardware is extremely reliable, and this study is full of holes[, as the] method is flawed, the data is inaccurate, and the conclusion is wrong."

 I strongly believe that our study of over 30,000 laptops is one of the most comprehensive studies on laptop reliability.  We have not surveyed customers on past failures, which allows for subjective recollection and brand affinity bias their memory.  Instead, we have recorded device failures as they have been reported to us for warranty service. 

Readers, let me know what you think.  I am happy to discuss any questions about the study in further detail. 

 

Respectfully yours,

Vince Tseng

VP of Marketing, SquareTrade

 

 

PS. I am typing this out on my Lenovo T61 ThinkPad, which is the standard notebook distributed by SquareTrade’s corporate IT department.  Before my current Lenovo ThinkPad, my prior personal laptop and corporate laptop were both IBM ThinkPads.  For what it’s worth.

Which laptop manufacturers are most reliable? Study has people talking!

Like our previous studies, SquareTrade's Laptop Reliability report has people talking! 

Join the discussion! Join thousands of others on SquareTrade on Facebook or on Twitter. (Tweet your thoughts or comment below. See live Twitter feed of discusssion below, after the jump.)

	"3-year service history of more than 30,000 laptops has been pored over, analyzed...you get what you pay for -- shocking, right? The big talking point, though, will inevitably be the manufacturer comparison chart..."
	"Our last annual survey of laptop owners turned up a similar result...A reliability report from RESCUECOM, published last March, also put Asus ahead of the pack and HP in dead last, with Apple coming in the middle..."
	"New data from SquareTrade (one of the bigger warranty providers) says Asus and Toshiba have the least hardware malfunctions over 3 years, while one-in-four HP laptops are projected to experience problems."
	"Apple may have played its cards right by not moving into the netbook market, according to SquareTrade's data."
	"...smaller name brand notebook manufacturers are usually more reliable than their larger rivals."
	"Apple ranks a lackluster fourth...The top honor goes to Asus, which surprised me, but I suppose shouldn’t have when I consider the build quality of my fairly inexpensive Eee PC."
	"While Asus topped the list, the bottom part of the list was taken by HP, which would probably be rather disappointing to the numerous HP fans out there."
	"That's bad news for the Dayton area, with such a heavy research and technology sector tied to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base."

If you're on Twitter, you can simply include the hashtag #LaptopReliability to your tweet. (We'll update with a live feed below.) Check out other reactions to the study and tweet your thoughts!

Study Finds One in Three Laptops Fail Within Three Years

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Are you planning to get a laptop or netbook this holiday season? Our team has been collecting data on over 30,000 new laptops and netbooks. As laptops have historically been among the most popular electronics gifts, SquareTrade publicly released its findings to consumers, examining the different aspects of laptop and netbook reliability.

Highlights are below but be sure to check out the full study. Update: For further coverage of the report and discussion, check out Gizmodo, Engadget, PCWorld, Electronista or ComputerWorld and see the "Thoughts on this Study?" section below.

Netbooks projected to fail at a 20% higher rate than traditional laptops The study begins with an overview of laptop hardware failure rates, as well as failures caused by accidents. We then compare netbook failure rates to more expensive laptops and evaluate the relative reliability of several leading laptop brands.

Smartbooks vs. Netbooks: First Lenovo Smartbook Unveiled.

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Are you excited about getting a smartbook? Qualcomm, the world's largest maker of computer chips for mobile phones, gave us a sneak peak yesterday of this new product category. According to Qualcomm, "A smartbook is what you get when you marry a smartphone and a netbook."

Laptops, Netbooks, Smart phones and...Smartbooks?

Kick off of SquareDeals of the Day and SquareTweets!

It almost feels like we’re back in school – sneaking notes.  We can’t let the cat entirely out of the bag just yet.  But since you’re our fans, we wanted to let you in on the secret.

There’s a lot going on here at SquareTrade HQ. This week, we’re gearing up to launch a series of SquareDeals of the Day! 

Raise your hand if you’ve recently purchased an LCD TV, a washer/dryer or perhaps a new wii.  Maybe you’ve been planning to buy a new laptop? 

Well, this week we’ll be offering even greater savings on coverage for things like digital cameras, LCD TVs, home appliances and game consoles.  Yup, we’ll be offering up to 40% additional savings with a new coupon each day!

So stay tuned (and don’t let Miss Othmar catch you passing this note!)

On a related note, if you’d like to be the first kid on the block that has the inside scoop, you can follow us on twitter. We’ll tweet breaking news on specials like the upcoming Deals of the Day as well as nifty things we hear are going on in the world of gizmos and gadgets.

Sorry, did you ask “What's a tweet?!”  Well, Mike Massimino has been tweeting from space. Even Oprah is becoming twitter savvy. You can also ask google. 

The verdict is in: SquareTrade is still cheaper.

We're always trying to make sure we're the best deal around.  As we gear up for the holidays, we've been checking pricing from our competitors to make sure we're always, always, always cheaper. Here's what we found when we compared ourselves against Best Buy:

Pretty cool, eh?

Note:  Our regular prices are still cheaper even without a discount, but we calculated the savings using our 10% coupon code.  You can get this pricing by using coupon code ALWAYS10OFF.

Congratulations, Paula!

Paula R. from Madison, CT won our Back to School Sweepstakes.  She'll be getting

- an HP laptop (the most reliable brand, according to our data)
- a printer
- an iPod Nano
- a Canon Powershot digital camera
- $1000 Amazon gift card
- SquareTrade warranties on all her winnings!

And here's what she had to say...

"I can't believe it, I've never won anything. I am so excited. I've been using SquareTrade for about a year now. my friend told me about it and we use Square Trade for all our warranties.  I've told my family and friends about SquareTrade because you can't beat the prices.  Thanks, SquareTrade."

So... thanks, Paula for being a loyal SquareTrader!  We appreciate you and all of our fans!

Big surprise: Kids want laptops and cell phones for back to school.

According to a recent survey, kids think cell phones and laptops have nearly as much importance for back to school as more traditional supplies like pencils and notebooks. 

Hmm... could this possibly have to do with the fact that cell phones and laptops are also a lot cooler than looseleaf paper, giant pink erasers, and Trapper Keepers (or whatever they're using these days)?  You can't exactly MySpace from your three ring binder or text message with your protractor. 

Cool factor aside, laptops are even more in demand this year with many colleges including them in their enrollment requirements.  If you're in the market for one this season, check out this helpful guide for buying a school laptop from PC World.  Oh, and I feel compelled to urge that you pay special attention to point number ten on the list:  "Splurge on the warranty. With the excessive wear and tear that campus life can put on a computer, a warranty longer than the standard one-year parts and labor that comes with your system is a must."

Asus' concept bamboo laptops go into production.

Oh sure, Asus was just gagging around with it when they took their concept bamboo laptop around the trade shows.  But here in the cold light of Earth Day +1, they've announced they're actually going to mass-market these babies, in two flavors.

Essentially, these are going to be the standard 11.1" Asus S6 and the 12" Asus U6 (which they've previously covered in leather) cased in eco-friendly bamboo instead of mean ol' plastics, so prepare for a bunch of In your face, greenie! smack talk at your local Starbucks.  No announcements yet on chipsets, but the current S6 uses a 1.66GHz Core 2 Duo T7700 Processor while the U6 runs a snappy 2.4GHz chip.  Both pack a gig of RAM, a gig of super-quick DDR2 memory, and 100GB or more on the hard drive.  The U6 rocked 3G internet connection capabilities, too, making this thing possibly the fastest environmentally conscious toy on the planet.

The new bambooed versions are expected to retail in the $1700 range, so they're not totally out of reach, either.  We honestly can't tell if Asus weatherproofed those decks, but if saving the world means that much to you, you really might want to put a SquareTrade laptop warranty on yours, with or without Accidental Damage coverage, just to make sure your investment's saved as well.  Sorry, that won't include termite infestations.  We think.

Is this a brave new step for Ecolectronics (a word we just made up) or the My Pet Rock of laptops?  We'll find out when the lumber starts shipping in June.

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Five new Toshiba Satellite Pros: because they can.

Ah, we remember our first 8-pound grey slab of Toshiba Satellite, all tricked out to 8MB of RAM.  Good times.  So news of five newly redesigned Toshiba Satellite Pros warms our hearts just a little... and we're cutting them a break, because they already lost a format war this year.

It's a pretty decent spread, starting with the 13.3" Satellite Pro U400, a 2.1GHz ultra compact with a 1.3-megapixel web camera and microphone, fingerprint reader and 3D accelerometer protection system for the 250GB hard drive.  And it ends with the not-so-compact Satellite Pro L350, at 17" laptop that includes a 10-key pad to go with the full-size keyboard and 160GB hard drive.  Stuck in the middle are the 14.1" M300 and 15.4" twins L300 and L300D.

Somebody needs to proofread Toshiba's press release, though, because they're listing the low-end L300 at an "affordable $6991, the U400 at $1,0991 and the L350 at $1,0991.  We figure every "1" is a typo unless it's right behind the "$." 

And as long as we're cutting them a break, you should get one, too.  If you're interested in getting a 3-year protection plan on your new laptop, maybe with Accidental Damage protection, feel free to check out our reviews and use the widget in the sidebar to get a quote on a SquareTrade laptop warranty so you can compare our prices to anyone else's. 

Because it's Toshiba, you can get all those laptops at both higher and lower prices, depending on how you decide to trick your Satellite out. Unfortunately, it looks like Blu-Ray DVD drives aren't one of the available options.  How odd.

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