A few months ago, Consumer Reports named Apple the most reliable brand in their annual laptop reliability survey [Subscription]. From that survey:

We estimate that only 10 percent of Apple laptops fail by the third year of ownership. The numbers for Windows laptop brands range from 16 percent to 19 percent. In addition, Apple laptops break down less often than laptops from other brands. Among laptops that fail, only 42 percent of Apples break down more than once, while more than half (55 percent) of non-Apple laptops break down on multiple occasions.

Consumer Reports has now released a more detailed breakdown of that data, broken down by specific product line:

This year’s survey doesn’t stop at the brand name—we also can see which product lines are more likely to require repairs. Not surprisingly, considering Apple’s overall showing, two Apple product lines came out on top. Apple’s MacBook Air has just a 7 percent estimated failure rate, while the MacBook Pro is almost as dependable with a 9 percent failure rate.

On the Windows side:

At the top of the list for Windows product lines are: Gateway’s NV (13 percent) and LT (14 percent); the Samsung ATIV Book (14 percent); Lenovo ThinkPads (15 percent); and the Dell XPS line (15 percent).

Reliability isn’t necessarily related to how much money you spend on a laptop. HP’s premium ENVY line is near the bottom, with a 20 percent failure rate, while the company’s less-costly Pavilion line fares better, at 16 percent.

Lenovo’s Y Series has the highest failure rate at 23 percent.

Every Windows laptop I’ve ever owned has broken down. Every one. Usually it’s the screen failing in some way. I’ve owned a lot of Macs, and I have run into problems, but I find that getting the problem addressed is far easier, and far less stressful.