In this month's Readers' Choice Award survey, we asked you about the laptops and tablets you use. Driven by the demise of support for Windows 7, many people have been upgrading their PCs lately, and they'll find a lot of choices—not just in brands, but in types of mobile devices.

If you have kids in school, you probably know that the old Windows versus Mac debate has a third option: Chromebooks. You can choose from small ultraportable devices or large, desktop replacements and gaming laptops. You can get a traditional laptop or a hybrid/convertible machine that can change from laptop to tablet, or you might go with a tablet with a detachable keyboard or no keyboard at all. If you opt for a tablet, you can choose between a Windows slate, Apple iPad, or Android device.

Our laptop and tablet reviews break down the differences between specific products, but read on to find out which brands of laptops and tablets deliver the most satisfying experiences to PCMag.com readers.

Laptops for 2020

Winner: APPLE (Overall)
PCMag readers' long-term love affair with Apple laptops continues. Survey respondents acknowledge that its laptops are pricey but rave about the setup experience and reliability and Apple's outstanding technical support.

Winner: MICROSOFT (Overall) 
Microsoft's portable computers have become a regular favorite of PCMag readers. Survey feedback indicates that no other Windows laptop brand is easier to set up and use, nor as reliable as Microsoft.

Winner: HP (Hybrids and convertibles) 
HP makes a wide variety of 2-in-1 laptops, and this year no other brand of convertible PCs provides higher overall satisfaction than HP.

Apple and Microsoft, our overall PCMag Readers' Choice Award winners for laptops, follow a very similar formula for achieving their high satisfaction ratings: Premium (aka pricey) portable computers that provide top-notch reliability and user experience, backed by excellent support. For Apple, this is the 13th year in a row that this formula has earned it a Readers' Choice Award. Microsoft wasn't even making laptops when Apple's streak began, but it's also a repeat winner, picking up its third straight award.

Despite issues with the keyboards on recent MacBooks, all of Apple's ratings improved this year. Overall satisfaction went from 8.9 in 2019 to 9.1 on a scale from 0 (extremely dissatisfied) to 10 (extremely satisfied), as did likelihood to recommend, a very important measure of real-world satisfaction with a brand. Satisfaction with reliability improved from 9.2 to 9.4, and satisfaction with ease of use increased from 9.2 to 9.3.

Apple also received ratings of 9.3 for satisfaction with technical support. Respondents commented positively about Apple's free classes and continued support even after products are out of warranty. One respondent summed it up very simply: "All experiences—especially tech support—are good."

Apple's ratings weren't great on every measure, however. Despite comments about how well Apple's laptops retain their value, the rating for satisfaction with cost/value was only 7.3, the lowest score among all the brands that received at least the requisite minimum responses. Microsoft received a 7.7 on this measure, the only other brand below 8.0. The two companies also had the lowest ratings on satisfaction with port selection, with Apple receiving a 7.0 and Microsoft a 7.2. Many Apple and Microsoft laptops have very limited port selection.

Some of Microsoft's key ratings dipped slightly this year, but they were still quite good and better than any other brand of Windows computer. Overall satisfaction went from an 8.9 in 2019 to an 8.8, and likelihood to recommend went from 8.9 to 8.7. Still, Microsoft had six ratings of 9.0 or better, including satisfaction with setup (9.4), screen/display quality (9.3), touch screen (9.2), size and weight (9.1), reliability (9.0), and ease of use (9.0). While Microsoft's satisfaction with technical support rating (8.1) didn't quite measure up to Apple's, it was still very good, as this is a measure that typically rates fairly low in our surveys. Several respondents highlighted different aspects of Microsoft's overall sales and support. Here is a sampling of comments:

• "I love their online resources for troubleshooting. Their knowledge base is crazy useful."
•  "Amazing return services when needed."
  
• "Microsoft is always there to help if you have a problem and follow up to make sure the problem is solved and you are happy with their service."
  
• "Tech support is very responsive, as well as very helpful."
  

The vast majority of Microsoft laptops evaluated were from their Surface line of tablets and hybrid PCs, but their overall ratings were buoyed a bit by a few respondents who owned the more traditional Surface Laptop. HP actually rated slightly better than Microsoft for hybrid and tablet PCs and wins the PCMag Readers' Choice Award in this category this year.

HP's overall satisfaction rating of 8.8 was a notch better than Microsoft's 8.7, though the two companies had identical ratings of 8.7 for likelihood to recommend. The most notable differences between HP and Microsoft came in satisfaction with port selection (8.1 to 7.2) and satisfaction with cost/value (8.3 to 7.7).

Tablets for 2020

Winner: APPLE
There's a reason iPads are practically synonymous with the term "tablet." Apple continues to invest heavily in its big-screen, no-keyboard-needed (mostly) devices, and our survey respondents are very pleased with the results.

Apple wins the PCMag Readers' Choice Award again this year for tablets, posting the highest satisfaction ratings on nearly every measure. (We define the tablet category as keyboard-less devices that run Android, Amazon's Fire OS, or Apple's iOS or iPadOS. Windows tablets are included in the hybrid category above.) Apple's was by far the most popular brand among our respondents, receiving more than twice as many responses as Samsung or Amazon, the only other companies with enough responses to be included in our analysis.

Some of Apple's ratings dipped very slightly from last year but are still excellent. For instance, overall satisfaction went from 9.1 in 2019 to 9.0 this year, and likelihood to recommend dropped from 9.2 to 9.1. Apple had a few other ratings over 9.0, including satisfaction with reliability (9.4), screen/display quality (9.4), ease of setup (9.3), ease of use (9.2), and size and weight (9.2).

The only measure on which Apple did not have the highest rating among tablet brands was satisfaction with cost/value, on which it only received a 7.7 compared to Amazon's 9.0 and Samsung's 8.2. Given the low prices on Amazon's Fire tablets, some respondents were able to look the other way on other shortcomings. One respondent said, "It is slow, but the price was excellent," while another commented, "Sluggish but appropriate considering the cost."

In general, it seems that Samsung users are happy with their tablets—just not as happy as iPad users. Samsung's ratings were down a bit from last year, but in most cases, the company scored within half a point of Apple. Many respondents complimented their tablet's display; the company earned an excellent rating of 9.0 for satisfaction with screen/display quality. But comments were mixed on battery life, where some respondents praised their tablet's long battery life and others mentioning that the battery wasn't lasting as long after a few months of use. Samsung received a rating of 8.1 for satisfaction with battery life, behind Apple's 8.5 and ahead of Amazon's 7.9.

Below is the full table of results for Readers' Choice 2020: Laptops and Tablets.

The PCMag Readers' Choice survey for Laptops & Tablets was in the field from January 6, 2020, through January 26, 2020. For more information on how the survey is conducted, read the survey methodology.

You could win $350 to spend at Amazon.com! Sign up for the What's New Now mailing list to receive invitations for future survey sweepstakes.

Further Reading

• Surface Book 3, Surface Go 2: Spring 2020 Release Date Rumored
• AMD Ryzen 7 vs. Intel Core i7: CPU Face-Off in Microsoft's Surface Laptop 3
• Business Choice Awards 2020: Laptops and Tablets
• After Winning an Oscar, Taika Waititi Sounds Off About...Apple Keyboards?
• More in Readers' Choice
• More in Laptops

More Laptop Reviews

• Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 (13.5-Inch)
• Acer Swift 5 (14-Inch)
• Asus ProArt StudioBook Pro 17
• Dell Latitude 7220 Rugged Extreme Tablet
• Dell Inspiron 14 7000 (7490)

More Laptop Best Picks

• The Best Laptops for 2020
• The Best Laptops for College Students in 2020
• The Best Cheap Gaming Laptops for 2020
• The Fastest Laptops for 2020
• The Best Ultraportable Laptops for 2020