The best PC, phone and tablet brands for longevity

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Most people buy phones, tablets and computers knowing that they will likely be outdated after a few years of use. Whether it’s because they can’t keep up with software updates, the batteries can only survive a limited number of charge cycles, or the companies behind the products will eventually stop supporting them, it’s virtually guaranteed that you’ll have to upgrade or replace them after a certain period.

But what if you don’t want to follow that precious cycle? Which brands should you buy from if longevity is one of your biggest concerns?

To find out, we dug deep into our annual Readers’ Choice surveys on , , and. In these polls, we ask readers to indicate how old their devices are before rating their overall satisfaction. This allows us to segment the data and see which brands still get good ratings for products that are older than four years. Any brand that can satisfy customers so far away deserves attention. These companies build the best technology for the long term.

The best computer, phone and tablet brands for longevity

Laptops: Macs are built to last

In this year’s survey results, nine laptop manufacturers earn scores for products in use for four years or more. This suggests that people keep their devices for a long time. But of all the laptop brands that people use for the long term, none are as highly regarded as . The company receives an impressive 9.2 out of 10 for satisfaction with machines that users have owned for at least four years, putting the company well ahead of the competition.

For comparison, we’ve also added a tab above that shows the scores suppliers earn for short term also satisfaction: this applies to all devices that are less than a year old according to the assessment. Fewer laptop brands meet our response threshold for inclusion in this category (another sign that people are hanging on to laptops longer), but of the four companies that do, Apple remains at the top with even higher scores than it deserves for old machines. That’s not unusual in our survey results. People tend to report higher satisfaction levels with newer technology, so it’s interesting to note that Lenovo laptops actually perform worse after just a year of use than they do after four years or more.

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Laptops for work: Apple computers last longer than Windows systems

What about laptops you would use to get your work done? Apple Once again leading the pack in this division, finishing ahead of the three major PC vendors: Dell, HP and Lenovo.

Apple doesn’t get enough responses for short-term business laptops to make the rankings, leaving Lenovo in the lead with exactly the same scores as it scores in long-term satisfaction. No laptop brand gets enough responses to have a long-term graph on IT-managed laptops.

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Desktops: Even home-built PCs can’t match Macs

For years, we’ve seen in our Readers’ Choice surveys that the top-rated PCs are often ones that readers build themselves. The feeling of satisfaction you get from doing something yourself usually translates into higher overall satisfaction with the finished machine – and it does almost the case here. The long-term satisfaction scores for home-built PCs top the list, well ahead of all Windows-based PC brands.

But even home-built computers can’t match the lifespan of Macs. Apple Computers have the highest overall satisfaction scores of any four-year-old desktop system, even ahead of DIY installations that users build themselves. It also applies to newer desktops. Apple’s short-term satisfaction scores on recently purchased desktops are close to a perfect ten, as we typically see from our survey results.

Gaming desktops: MSI machines have the longest lifespan

The best alternative to a home-built gaming system is one from a gaming-specific PC vendor that allows you to choose the hardware and components that go into your computer. Companies like MSI, Alienware, and CyberPower (and many others) excel at this kind of thing. These vendors top the list for long-term satisfaction with slot machines over four years old, each with a score of 9.0 or higher.

But even in a field with such strong competition, it is the clear winner overall, achieving notable scores for both satisfaction and likelihood of recommendation.

The one rating that MSI can’t beat is its long-term satisfaction rating with home-built PCs. But even DIY users don’t recommend their systems as much as the rest (except Dell; they certainly recommend building your own gaming rigs more than Dell does).

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Desktops for Work: Apple and Lenovo Tower Over the Pack

When it comes to desktop computers used in the workplace, Apple once again stands out with exceptionally high ratings for computers older than four years. The difference in this category, however, is that homebrew desktop PCs score higher than Macs when it comes to overall satisfaction. However, DIY desktop users don’t necessarily recommend their DIY PCs for work, as both Apple and Lenovo have higher long-term recommendations.

As for the brand of desktops that IT professionals prefer: Lenovo earns the highest score for long-term satisfaction, narrowly edging out Dell to win our Readers’ Choice Award for the work desktop category.

Neither work desktop showed short-term satisfaction ratings, indicating that users typically keep desktop workstations longer before upgrading or replacing them.

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Phones: Samsung’s handsets are aging nicely

Competition is fierce when it comes to mobile phones that last a long time: four suppliers are all equally satisfied with mobile phones that are older than four years. But that’s where having our other important score – likelihood of recommendation – comes into play and serves as a tiebreaker. While satisfaction scores for older phones don’t vary much between brands in this category, there is a notable difference in their recommendation scores. All things considered, Samsung is the best choice for long-lasting phones.

Compared to computers and tablets, mobile phones tend to be on a faster innovation cycle among the American public. Trade-in service SellCell.com says the period from 2024 is 2.75 years. So it’s perhaps not surprising to see consistent long-term satisfaction for phones that are more than four years old, as anyone who has held onto a device for that long is likely so satisfied with their phone’s performance that they don’t feel compelled to to upgrade.

In the short term, Apple, Google and Samsung all score again in satisfaction, but Apple has an edge over the others when it comes to the likelihood of a recommendation.

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Tablets: Apple tablets stand the test of time

From Apple iPad is well ahead of the competition in the tablet category and easily earns our final award for longevity. The company’s satisfaction and recommendation scores are significantly higher than those of Microsoft, which finished in second place, and almost 1.5 points ahead of Amazon, which finished in last place.

The short-term figures also give Apple an edge over the rest. The scores on the younger tablets are generally better for the brands included in our results, but the overall ranking of brands is largely the same as for tablets older than four years. Apple iPads clearly make users happy after their first purchase, and that happiness will continue for years to come.

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