Its the luck of the draw - sometimes you get a "Friday afternoon" machine :0(

As most of the components seem to be interchangeable between machines it appears to be the quality of the case that can determine whether people consider a machineto be reliable or not, for instance a bad cases can cause a broken screen if it flexes too much or hinges snap.

Also software problem will give people a wrong impression of machine reliability.

I have 4 laptops:-

I still have a laptop (its bigger than my current desktop)I use for a particular work that was built in the eighties (company no longer in existence), the software will not run on a faster machine, this has a 286 processor.

Still have a good HP running win 98, a Compaq running windows 200 pro, and a 3 or 4 yr old (can't remember which) Toshiba running Vista.

Also had a couple of works IBMs that took a lot of stick over the years.

The Toshiba has "scorch" marks on the wrist rest and I keep having to repair the DC jack.

The HPs have had no problems what so ever.

Having repaired quite a few machines for various people over the years I would steer away from buying myself an Acer or Dell (case quality mostly)

I would buy a HP but think they no longer make laptops?

Or would go for another Toshiba (liked the look of them when browsing in John Lewis the other day).

I suppose it's difficult to make this judgement unless you have used more than one make of machine, and even then you're obviously not going to be in a position to compare all the manufacturers. Purchasing decisions are made using all kinds of criteria, and reliability is something you discover after you have used the laptop for a time.

That said, I've used laptops for a long time, and I've tried quite a few different makes. My stand-out favourite is Toshiba. I've owned several, and all of them have been good, solid performers throughout their working lives.

I agree with FruitBat that it depends what you mean by reliability. I have had several Dell laptops and the units have suffered zero component failures. However, the output lead from the power block has cracked to reveal the screen, a couple of times. Of course, that may be the way that the power blocks have been handled over time and/or the cable wrapped.

If you look at the failure of electronic components it shape like a U with a very wide base i.e. failure rate high when new (bad components) and at the end of life cycle with virutally no failures in the middle.

So it will fail during its warranty or won't fail until the end of its life expectancy years later (hence my still working 80's laptop.)

If these parts fail its likely to done by an external problem - power unit fails to supply correct voltage and cooks some component - ingress of liquid - shock form being dropped, kicked or hit.

It's the moving parts that tend to fail - case hinges, flexible cables to screen, jack sockets, usb sockets, dvd drives and hard disc drives.