[barrkel]

You have to weight brands with the most issues vs market dominance vs likelihood of being seen by someone who observes the problem.

If most laptops are Dells, then most problems will be on Dell machines, even if a niche brand is lower reliability.

If most Apple laptops are taken to an Apple store, then a PC laptop repair shop won't see problems with Apple laptops.

And so on.

[neuromancer2600]

That is correct. However, according to a quick Google search, each hp, Lenovo, and Dell produce roughly the same number of laptops each year. Therefore the technician's statement about hp's being of better quality should weigh heavier.

[barrkel]

Does that presumably global production match the local distribution where the anecdote was relayed?

What proportion are on business contracts vs privately owned, where business laptop problems would go through the IT department?

What are the historical distributions, assuming that older laptops are more likely to be brought to a third party rather than OEM for repair?

What if less reliable laptops bricked very soon after going out of warranty, and more reliable laptops limped into a long tail?