Chinese consumers buy more desktop PCs per year than any other nation—after all, China has some 1.4 billion people—but US consumers are second to none in terms of spending on them. Especially when it comes to systems for home offices and high-performance gaming. And the numbers sold have been going up.
The big three PC manufacturers in the US—Dell, HP, and Lenovo—have all seen a spike in worldwide shipments recently, driven by several factors. For one, several users have bought replacement systems to upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 (though US market sales for that reason remain flat). Some are buying to beat the inevitable price increases in memory caused by the AI gold rush (but you can and should perform a reality check to see what memory you really need). Some buyers want to stay on the cutting edge and are investing in AI PCs with Neural Processing Units (NPUs) to maximize LLM use. Gartner says 31% of all computers sold in 2025 were AI-capable, and that figure will jump to 55% this year.
Though a vocal segment of PCMag readers builds their own rigs, the far easier route for most is to buy a pre-built desktop from a trusted source. It’s probably also the less expensive move, given the issues noted above, plus the tariff-related price spikes on internal components (though tariffs may be eliminated due to recent rulings).
No matter the market conditions, it’s always wise to buy a high-ticket item like a PC from a manufacturer you trust. To help you choose, we polled more than 2,000 of your fellow PCMag readers to find out which brands they like the best (and least) for the long haul. If you’re about to buy a desktop computer, these companies should be on your short list.
Are you more of a laptop fan? Read up on the 2026 Readers’ Choice picks for laptops.
The Top Desktop PC Brands for 2026
Alienware, a Dell-owned brand known primarily for gaming, is already having a banner year. Earlier this month, we named it one of the 25 Best Brands for 2026. Now, Alienware is the all-around top desktop brand—whether used for gaming or not—according to our readers.
(Note: Click the arrows in our interactive charts to view various elements of our survey results.)
Apple and MSI, last year’s co-winners, tie for second place. Both outperform Alienware in likelihood to recommend, our second-highest-weighted metric. Apple distinguishes itself in reliability, and MSI in graphics capabilities. Alienware, though, achieves the highest overall satisfaction score—the factor that carries the greatest weight in our rankings.
“It’s a solid, powerful performer,” says one respondent who uses an Alienware desktop. “It’s not used for gaming but as a powerful system at a great (Black Friday) price.” Conversely, another reader offers this assessment: “Although I primarily use it for gaming, it is also a good all-round system. I have never had to have it repaired.”
“Alienware targets a certain type of enthusiast user, and it’s clearly hitting the mark with them,” says Matthew Buzzi, our lead laptop reviewer. “It’s interesting to see that these systems are succeeding as general-use desktops, too. They do have nice build quality. The Area-51, for example, is a luxe, high-end option for both gaming performance hounds and professionals alike.”
Meanwhile, 22% of our respondents prefer building their own desktop PC to buying one from a name-brand manufacturer. This year, self-built PCs score a couple of tenths of a point better than even Alienware for satisfaction. Why do people prefer this option when they could just buy a complete system? “Having the knowledge on how to select components and create a powerful, yet 100% stable, system saves thousands of dollars,” says one respondent.
If you’re not one for the DIY route, read our recommendations for The Best Desktop Computers for 2026.
All-in-One Desktops
All-in-one (AIO) desktops combine the monitor and the PC itself into a single unit. They lack upgradability, but look fantastic and save space. And for the third year in a row, the same two companies lead the pack when it comes to these aesthetic wonders. Apple wins overall for all-in-ones with its iMac line, and Dell takes the award for Windows-based AIOs. Both score well ahead of HP.
Dell has respectable scores across the board, in particular for cost and ease of use. The latter is a key factor for choosing an all-in-one in the first place. Then there’s the longevity factor. “I bought my 2015 27-inch iMac with the top-level processor and upgraded the memory,” says one respondent. “That’s why it still meets my needs 10 years later!”
“Apple helped spur the all-in-one computer category with its first iMac back in 1998, and Dell has taken on the task of representing AIO PCs incredibly well over the years,” says PCMag deputy managing editor Joe Osborne. “I suspect we’ll see AIOs for a long time to come based on their out-of-the-box simplicity alone.”
What’s the current AIO leader in our lab tests? Check out The Best All-in-One Computers to find out.
Budget Desktops
Not many PCMag users are drawn to budget desktops, according to our survey results, but those who are stick with the big names, with HP coming out on top. HP’s value PC satisfaction score is more than half a point higher than Dell’s; it also leads Dell in cost, ease of use, reliability, upgradability, and likelihood to recommend.
“Over the years, I have had several HP laptops and desktops,” says one respondent. “My experience has been mixed.” They’re pleased with their latest HP, however: “My current desktop (about five years old) has been great.”
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Read our expert take on The Best Budget Desktop PCs.
Desktop Workstations
When it comes to high-power desktops for work, Apple is the overall winner, leading in all subcategories except upgradability, which Dell wins, and cost, which goes to HP. Dell, meanwhile, triumphs as the best Windows-based desktop workstation option. Dell’s score for upgradability is significant: It’s almost three points higher than Apple’s.
“Dell Business Class PCs are the best on the market, in my opinion,” says one reader. “They last the longest and can handle anything you can throw at them. I also love how Dell continues to push out updates to its PCs long after other manufacturers have stopped. I’ve had a slew of different brands throughout my life for work and home, and other brands just don’t hold a candle to the quality and longevity of Dell.”
“Just as they do across practically all computing categories, Apple and Dell compete directly on workstation desktops,” says PCMag’s Osborne. “Apple is laser-focused on compact performance and drawing as much as technically possible from a system-on-chip platform, whereas Dell works with dedicated processing hardware and various form factors, from small to monstrous in size.”
Meanwhile, readers’ self-built workstations score just below or equal to Apple in most cases. They manage to outrank Apple for tech support and, as you’d expect, upgradability.
Recommended by Our Editors
Dig into individual PC performance in our current roundup of The Best Desktop Workstations.
Gaming Desktops
For the third year in a row, MSI takes the desktop gaming prize, defeating even our overall winner, Alienware. (MSI and self-built gaming rigs tied for satisfaction this year.) “MSI offers gaming desktops at a wide range of prices, so it’s impressive that the company is satisfying many different types of gamers,” says Buzzi. “While MSI has expanded into some professional systems too, it hasn’t lost its traditional focus on mainstream and hard-core gamers. The brand is doing well, balancing price and performance.”
We also asked readers to rank their systems with discrete graphics. Only two vendors qualified, with MSI handily beating Dell. “MSI has a real beast of a desktop,” says one respondent. “I like mad FPS for gaming and 4K for editing. This unit has it all.”
Readers with self-built PCs featuring discrete graphics rank their DIY systems on par with MSI systems in terms of satisfaction and reliability.
To see which desktops for gamers currently lead in our lab testing, read The Best Gaming PCs.
The Top Desktop Operating System for 2026
GNU/Linux Distro users account for only about 4% of OS installs in the US, according to Statcounter. But they’re a very vocal minority. Our readers tell us that Linux is far more satisfying, reliable, and secure than other operating systems.
“Linux operating systems will do everything that the general user needs their computer to do,” says one respondent. “Linux has many significant benefits: It’s free, it doesn’t collect and sell your personal information or usage habits, and it’s safer against malicious activity such as viruses. Unfortunately, most people aren’t familiar with Linux and aren’t willing to use it simply because they’re already familiar with Windows.”
Windows isn’t going anywhere, of course, even if it ranks well behind Linux and Apple’s macOS. While our readers are not fond of being told by Microsoft to update or lose support, our survey shows they prefer Windows 11 over Windows 10.
For more, read Which OS Is Best in 2026: Windows, macOS, Linux, or ChromeOS?
Full Results
The PCMag Readers’ Choice survey for PCs was fielded from Oct. 27, 2025, to Jan. 19, 2026. For more information on how we conduct surveys, read our methodology.
PCMag Readers’ Choice: How Our Surveys Help You Find the Best Products
About Our Expert
Eric Griffith
Senior Editor, Features
Experience
I’ve been writing about computers, the internet, and technology professionally since 1992, more than half of that time with PCMag. I arrived at the end of the print era of PC Magazine as a senior writer. I served for a time as managing editor of business coverage before settling back into the features team for the last decade and a half. I write features on all tech topics, plus I handle several special projects, including the Readers’ Choice and Business Choice surveys and yearly coverage of the Best ISPs and Best Gaming ISPs, Best Products of the Year, and Best Brands (plus the Best Brands for Tech Support, Longevity, and Reliability).
I started in tech publishing right out of college, writing and editing stories about hardware and development tools. I migrated to software and hardware coverage for families, and I spent several years exclusively writing about the then-burgeoning technology called Wi-Fi. I was on the founding staff of several magazines, including Windows Sources, FamilyPC, and Access Internet Magazine. All of which are now defunct, and it’s not my fault. I have freelanced for publications as diverse as Sony Style, Playboy.com, and Flux. I got my degree at Ithaca College in, of all things, television/radio. But I minored in writing so I’d have a future.
In my long-lost free time, I wrote some novels, a couple of which are not just on my hard drive: BETA TEST (“an unusually lighthearted apocalyptic tale,” according to Publishers’ Weekly) and a YA book called KALI: THE GHOSTING OF SEPULCHER BAY. Go get them on Kindle.
I work from my home in Ithaca, NY, and did it long before pandemics made it cool.
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