Apple's laptops rate 'Better than Average' in reliability study

We know some of the fanboys aren’t going to like Apple’s laptops anywhere but at the top of a reliabilty test.  Therefore, take this with a grain of salt.  A recent study (PDF) by SquareTrade research has shown that Apple’s laptops just rate “Above Average”. 

Asus and Toshiba’s laptops ranked higher prompting SquareTrade to remark, “ASUS and Toshiba laptops failed just over half as frequently as HP, which makes them a solid bet in terms of reliability.”  Apple ranked at 4th place in the study of nine manufacturers between Sony and Dell.

MacBook/Pro/Air users can take solace in the fact that their laptops perennially rank the highest in Consumer Reports tests.

As ASUS, primarily a Netbook maker comes out on top, SquareTrade does note this at the bottom of their study:

Given that netbooks have only really been around in volume for about 12 months[O RLY?], it will be interesting to see how their reliability plays out over the course of the next 12 months. SquareTrade will continue to monitor the progress and publish an update of laptop and netbook failure rates in 2010.