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Computers

Soluto names MacBook Pro "Best Windows PC on the Market"

By Dave Parrack
May 29, 2013
Soluto names MacBook Pro "Best Windows PC on the Market"
The MacBook Pro 13 from Apple is, according to Soluto, the best Windows PC on the market
The MacBook Pro 13 from Apple is, according to Soluto, the best Windows PC on the market
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The MacBook Pro 13 from Apple is, according to Soluto, the best Windows PC on the market
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The MacBook Pro 13 from Apple is, according to Soluto, the best Windows PC on the market

For many years, Apple insisted on focusing its marketing campaign around its rivalry with Microsoft. The PC vs. Mac commercials were a particular high point of these attempts to upset the status quo and remind consumers they had a choice other than a Windows-powered PC. But Macs can, of course, run Windows perfectly well. In fact, the MacBook Pro may just be about the best Windows PC on the market ... at least according to Soluto, purveyors of a cloud-based PC management service.

Real people, real conditions

In order to discover what the best-performing Windows PC is, Soluto collected data over the course of three months, which is much longer than most reviews manage. The result is a report which details the 10 most-reliable Windows laptops currently on the market.

The report is based on usage by "real people under real conditions." In total, the machines were booted up 1,346,000 times and spent 62,476 hours on boot. Problems encountered included 224,144 crashes, 250,791 hangs, and 84,251 blue screens of death.

MacBook Pro wins with Windows

The best performing Windows laptop is, according to the report, the mid-2012 MacBook Pro 13-inch from Apple, which, on an average week, suffered 0.01 BSoD, 0.88 crashes, and 1.06 hangs. Although these results are very impressive, two important points have to be taken into account.

Firstly, the MacBook Pro was afforded a clean Windows installation, whereas the competition would have been loaded with crapware by the manufacturers. Secondly, the MacBook Pro 13-inch is the most expensive laptop in the Top 10 with the exception of the MacBook Pro 15-inch Retina that came in at number six. At US$1,199 (without the additional cost of purchasing Windows), it's almost three times more expensive than the Acer Aspire that placed second.

Acer, Dell, Lenovo complete quartet

Acer had two laptops place in the top 10, while Dell managed an impressive five laptops. Lenovo sneaked in at the end with the Thinkpad X1 Carbon, meaning just four manufacturers make up the entire list.

While reliability isn't everything when it comes to laptops, it's a quality that will affect users on a day to day basis, so it shouldn't be ignored. Whether that's enough to prompt people to buy a MacBook Pro is unclear, especially with the premium prices Apple assigns to its hardware and the lack of a keyboard that isn't optimized for Windows, but the effects of having crapware installed on a computer are plain to see.

Source: Soluto

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ComputersAppleWindowsMacBook ProPC
8 comments
Dave Parrack
Dave is a technology journalist with a ravenous appetite for gadgets, gizmos, and gubbins. He's based in the UK, and from his center of operations writes about all facets of modern and future technology. He has learned more in his five years writing for the Web than he did in 11 years at school, and with none of the boring subjects thrown in to the mix.

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8 comments
ikinone
> which, on an average week, suffered 0.01 BSoD, 0.88 crashes, and 1.06 hangs
I'm using an old Toshiba J40 [2004] which in two years (I inherited it) has not experienced any of these issues. Clean install of windows and keeping it updated works wonders.
Yevgenyi Gorbachev
the typical windows user obsesses about the cost of hardware, and assumes that all computers are doomed to crash. even this article falls into the same traps.
the "huge" difference in price is about $800, which, over the 3-year life of the laptop, is less than $300 a year. how much support do you get for $300, when you're averaging 1 bsod, 40 crashes, and 50 hangs per year?
the real comparison should be in terms of support cost, translated into dollars. because, compared to mac os, windows is the most expensive mistake a computer buyer can make.
Kris Lee
When I still used Windows (XP) then I never saw BSOD. Newer. I do not remember it crashing or hanging either. Of course I always install the system by myself.
Catweazle
The first thing to do with a new Windows install is to navigate to Control Panel > System > Advanced System Settings and set to 'Adjust for Best Performance'.
The only 'Appearance' settings worth keeping are 'Drop Shadows for Icon Labels' to keep your desktop icons legends tidy and 'Show Thumbnails Instead of Icons' so you can see your images in Explorer.
Some of those flashy graphics DLLs are extremely flaky, not to mention using unnecessarily large amounts of CPU cycles and main and video RAM that they don't always release reliably.
Then trawl through Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services and disable a number of unnecessary services, look on the Internet for advice as to which are likely not to be needed.
Watch out for software installs that seem to want to put everything including the kitchen sink into Startup too.
A slim, well-maintaned Windows installation should never BSoD or hang at all, basically. I have a number of systems that have run for years with no triuble at all - but I have put the hours in to keep them clean, lean and mean!
Michael Wilson
the biggest difference I saw when reading the article was the fact that A: the mac had a clean Windows install, without all the vendor included crapware and B: the mac computer is a more expensive laptop than majority of windows systems sold, and it is generally built with better materials. I own a computer shop and when I sell laptops, I sell more refurbished business systems than anything else. We rarely if ever get a system returned unless it is for the odd hard drive failure, but last I checked, macs were not immune to those either. Most people buy consumer crap churned out by HP, Dell and Asus that are all built with cheap components, flimsy plastic cases and loaded with crapware that most don't want or need. The crapware slows the system down after a year, plasticy cases and components start to fail, or the user drops the system and cracks the screen and the system is trashed. These systems are generally designed to last through the 1 year warranty included and then promptly crash therafter. I have a dell d630 that is currently 6 years old. Over its long service history, the laptop received an upgrade from Xp to Windows 7, 4gb of ram and a new battery two years ago. Thats it. You cannot compare apples to oranges, comparing a mac Pro, built like a business laptop against the $300 consumer crap that most people pick up at best buy is like comparing a mercedes s500 to a Chevy Aveo. Both machines will get you where you need to go, but one is built with far superior components and costs much more, the other is designed to only get you from point A to B and not much more.
Getfreight
Try a Toshiba KIRAbook. It is turning out to be a great buy for me. A little pricey but it has been worth it.
It is too new to be included in a review like this. Too bad.
Nairda
I have a crummy Toshiba laptop that I purchased in 2009 running Windows 7 Pro 32bit (Originally Vista 32 bit for 2 yrs before upgrade)
Both under Vista and Windows 7 the only time it becomes unstable is after a dozen windows updates and me refusing to restart out of spite for being required to do so. Usually restart it every 40-60 days.
This machine has 7 external USB hdds hanging off it doing various things from running an sFTP server to remote clients and continuously streaming media via wireless to other devices in my house. Don't know what quoted MTBF for internal HDDs is, but I've never had any indication of failure on internal and USB drives, and they churn 24 hrs a day.
The only maintenance required was replacing the laptop fan after it began to sound like it was about to go (3rd year). Dusty house doesn't help.
What I'm getting at is that a correct initial OS and software setup with stable applications that don't clash with hardware should cause no problem for anyone regardless of the price you've paid. Poor drivers, bloatware and incorrect corporate/vendor scripts are the main source of grief for most people.
Re: Michael Wilson We use Lenovo Thinkpads at work (W500, T420s). Now a W530s with the sole purpose of running Office 2010, corporate portal apps and some Engineering stuff via RDC. Without exception, they've all had unexpected deaths, and if it had not been for my frequent backups I would have lost everything numerous times. These machines cost twice as much as as my home one, and sit idle most times.
What all this has to do with the MAC? As far as I'm concerned its irrelevant what laptop you choose in our day and age. Just make sure you do a fresh install and choose the most stable drivers. Disable Windows auto update, and read up on compatibility between different applications, especially when both running they fight for the same hardware resources.
PS - Mac pro may be 100% stable as long as you play no games. It is exactly 100% Unstable after 10-20 minutes of playing any games that tax its Nvidia 650, as has been proven in other reviews. It is not a gamer laptop, which is a shame given the resolution of the Retina display.
Rann Xeroxx
Apple does not fully support Windows drivers and the ones they do provide are sub-par. Last MacBook Pro Windows 7 machine that I loaded, I had to dig around for some drivers because not all of my Apple hardware worked correctly.
And as others mentioned, the Mac was custom loaded, the PCs were not. Kinda a crappy test case comparison.