Survey: Apple laptops are less popular in the US than those from HP and Dell

midian182

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In a nutshell: Apple's new M1 Pro- and M1 Max-powered MacBook Pros have been praised as game-changers, but Cupertino still has some way to go before dominating the US laptop industry, lagging behind both HP and Dell in terms of popularity.

According to data from a Statista Global Consumer Survey (via Finbold), Apple took a 24% share of the US laptop market as of October 2021. That puts it in third spot behind second-place Dell (27%), and leader HP, which holds a 35% share.

Sitting below Apple is Acer on 13%. It's followed by Lenovo (12%), Asus (8%), Microsoft (8%), and Samsung (7%).

The data is taken from a survey, carried out between July 2020 and September 2021, of 4,792 US respondents aged between 18 - 64. The relatively small sample size means it might not be totally accurate, but it still gives a good representation of the laptop landscape in the United States.

Apple showed off its new 14-inch and 16-inch M1 Pro/Max MacBook Pros at its fall event last month. Like the M1-powered Macs before them, the machines have been praised by reviewers and users alike, suggesting Apple could be challenging Dell and HP in a few months for a higher place on the list.

But one element that Dell and HP have in their favor is that their laptops are more affordable; the new MacBook Pros start at $1,999 for the 14-inch model and reach over $6,000 when fully specced.

Dell and HP also make some excellent laptops, including the Dell XPS 13, the Dell XPS 17, and the HP Spectre x306, all winners of various categories in our Best Laptops feature.

It's worth remembering that not everyone loves the new MacBook Pros. In addition to those who simply cannot abide Apple's MacOS, the inclusion of a phone-like notch has been a contentious issue among many. Apple said adding the cutout was a "smart" move, even though it's been causing problems with menu and status options.

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Too many of those HP and DELL laptops were purchased by companies, even though they end up inside houses, but that shouldn't count.

Proper stat should reflect laptops that people actually buy themselves, for their personal use.

So the popularity contest here is rather skewed.

Myself, for example, I have about 5 DELL laptops at home, all were given to me by various companies. But I do not use any of them. I only use Apple laptops that I purchased for myself. My current one is 2020 16" Macbook Pro.
 
I couldn't possibly care less about a non-replaceable battery laptop. Even more so, the screen, the keyboard, the SSD, and the RAM can't be replaced without hassles, since the pentalobe screws and soldered components are staples of Apple's "care" for customers (customer's money, that is).. I'm far from a techie (just assembled some PCs at home) but it will be a cold day in hell until I buy anything from Apple, as they just forbid any sort of DIY fixes or upgrades.
So, no, the latest MBP wont change a damn thing; until Apple gives me the right to repair I'll choose Lenovo, Dell, or HP.
EFF Apple and their policies.
 
Apple has best software and best chip M1 with no fan noise or heat and long time battery. I have no interest in M1 Max because it overkill for my usages and I am happy with no heat and noise. But they are lack touchscreen. Some people want touchscreen. Other brand is nice for touchscreen. Apple should consider touchscreen Macbook.
 
If I could justify it's price I'd love to own an M1 Max laptop. But for less than half the price I much rather pic something like a 5900h paired with a 3060 to have fairly comparable performance on most apps (Notable exception being first party Apple stuff but well, can't count to run those on x86 hardware for much longer anyway) and I'll deal with the unpleasantness of having to plug in my charger once or twice per day instead of not even carrying one.

It's not ideal, but push come the shove most people would rather have a useful laptop and a second hand car than just one Apple M1 Pro or Max once the specs get up there.
 
I couldn't possibly care less about a non-replaceable battery laptop. Even more so, the screen, the keyboard, the SSD, and the RAM can't be replaced without hassles, since the pentalobe screws and soldered components are staples of Apple's "care" for customers (customer's money, that is).. I'm far from a techie (just assembled some PCs at home) but it will be a cold day in hell until I buy anything from Apple, as they just forbid any sort of DIY fixes or upgrades.
So, no, the latest MBP wont change a damn thing; until Apple gives me the right to repair I'll choose Lenovo, Dell, or HP.
EFF Apple and their policies.
99% of users do not care about replacing the screen, keyboard, etc. on a laptop - so how is this relevant when talking about market shares / people's opinions about laptop brands?
 
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If I could justify it's price I'd love to own an M1 Max laptop. But for less than half the price I much rather pic something like a 5900h paired with a 3060 to have fairly comparable performance on most apps (Notable exception being first party Apple stuff but well, can't count to run those on x86 hardware for much longer anyway) and I'll deal with the unpleasantness of having to plug in my charger once or twice per day instead of not even carrying one.

It's not ideal, but push come the shove most people would rather have a useful laptop and a second hand car than just one Apple M1 Pro or Max once the specs get up there.
The M1 Max Macbook is just a great overall package (screen, battery life, performance, HD webcam, sound etc.) and absolutely price competitive with high-tier windows laptops.

Don't need a high-tier laptop? Sure, there are cheaper alternatives even within the Apple eco system (Macbook Air).
 
The M1 Max Macbook is just a great overall package (screen, battery life, performance, HD webcam, sound etc.) and absolutely price competitive with high-tier windows laptops.

Don't need a high-tier laptop? Sure, there are cheaper alternatives even within the Apple eco system (Macbook Air).
This is technically true, but far more involved that what you make it out to be: You can spec a laptop for something like 4000 to 6000 if you need a laptop workstation, meaning that you need something like a mobile quadro chip on it and that's where the price goes way up.

But the very huge omission here is that you can also spec out what I just quoted before: a consumer CPU and GPU laptop, for around that 2000 mark but specs to compete with the 4000+ macbook pro M1 max instead of just the more manageable ones.

The lower priced "consumer" grade M1 macs are just not on the level of graphic performance with a 3060 mobile laptop. They're far more efficient and for casual gaming and casual graphics work there is an argument to be made than an M1 laptop (Not M1 Pro or M1 max just the older chips) make more sense than a Ryzen APU or an intel iris pro laptop.

But on price, you can either go M1 and have low tier GPU performance (1050 to 1650 mobile GPU versions) or you can pay about the same for 3050/3060 level performance Windows laptop.

So once you want to talk workstation quadros with specialized stuff like ECC memory and such yes the Apple tax no longer applies (It does, but Nvidia has it's own equally high tax) but if you're thinking consumer, it's just more expensive or less performance depending on how you want to look at things.
 
This is technically true, but far more involved that what you make it out to be: You can spec a laptop for something like 4000 to 6000 if you need a laptop workstation, meaning that you need something like a mobile quadro chip on it and that's where the price goes way up.

But the very huge omission here is that you can also spec out what I just quoted before: a consumer CPU and GPU laptop, for around that 2000 mark but specs to compete with the 4000+ macbook pro M1 max instead of just the more manageable ones.

The lower priced "consumer" grade M1 macs are just not on the level of graphic performance with a 3060 mobile laptop. They're far more efficient and for casual gaming and casual graphics work there is an argument to be made than an M1 laptop (Not M1 Pro or M1 max just the older chips) make more sense than a Ryzen APU or an intel iris pro laptop.

But on price, you can either go M1 and have low tier GPU performance (1050 to 1650 mobile GPU versions) or you can pay about the same for 3050/3060 level performance Windows laptop.

So once you want to talk workstation quadros with specialized stuff like ECC memory and such yes the Apple tax no longer applies (It does, but Nvidia has it's own equally high tax) but if you're thinking consumer, it's just more expensive or less performance depending on how you want to look at things.
If we are talking about gaming? yeah, forgot Macs. No debate here.

Show me a laptop with an 11th gen i9 processor (or an AMD equivalent), 32GB RAM, color-accurate 16in 4k screen, a 3080 GPU, 1TB SSD for significantly under $3500 (= that's the Macbook Pro 16inch with M1 Max). That is going to be tough :)
 
For the same cost level, a Dell or HP laptop beats the crap out of Apple. Apple charges more for lesser powered systems. Those who are wise would stay away from Apple fads. (But noooo, they have to flash their Apple products because it's the trend amongst me-too trend followers.)
 
If we are talking about gaming? yeah, forgot Macs. No debate here.

Show me a laptop with an 11th gen i9 processor (or an AMD equivalent), 32GB RAM, color-accurate 16in 4k screen, a 3080 GPU, 1TB SSD for significantly under $3500 (= that's the Macbook Pro 16inch with M1 Max). That is going to be tough :)
This point is not without merits don't get me wrong. But having the option of the 3060 and 3070 as well as less-than-ideal screens means it's much easier to save substantially on a PC laptop: there's far more substantial jumps in performance to go from the M1 to the M1 Pro then M1 Max and they're kind of designed to get people to over-purchase more hardware horsepower than they actually need.

It's a very clever tactic on Apple's part and kind of why they've been working hard at creating their own hardware ecosystem to go along with the software. But I overall don't see it as a net positive to have overall less options.
 
This study ran from July 2020 - Sep 2021. The M1 Max started shipping in Oct 2021.

Also, the study is reporting on owned laptops, not new purchases, so the technical merits, price, and other factors at issue are from a mix of at least the prior 5 years if not a decade. Some of these years were not very impressive for Mac laptops (or maybe that's just my opinion.)

In short this study is telling us almost nothing about the current merits of various laptops on sale today.

 
For the same cost level, a Dell or HP laptop beats the crap out of Apple. Apple charges more for lesser powered systems. Those who are wise would stay away from Apple fads. (But noooo, they have to flash their Apple products because it's the trend amongst me-too trend followers.)
Please provide some examples of Dell or HP laptops that "beat the crap out of Apple" at the same cost level.
 
99% of users do not care about replacing the screen, keyboard, etc. on a laptop - so how is this relevant when talking about market shares / people's opinions about laptop brands?
so a battery failing isn't important for you? An unreplaceable DDR module isn't important if you want to upgrade? An SSD which dies *Yes, I've seen that first hand* isn't relevant?!
Except for tablets *and phones, nowadays*, non removable batteries are a no-go.
But.. it's your money.
 
so a battery failing isn't important for you? An unreplaceable DDR module isn't important if you want to upgrade? An SSD which dies *Yes, I've seen that first hand* isn't relevant?!
Except for tablets *and phones, nowadays*, non removable batteries are a no-go.
But.. it's your money.
Apple's not dumb and they know their customers. You see it as an unreplaceable battery. Their market studies tell them many of their customers are happy to walk to the Apple store that is within a few blocks, pay a fee that is maybe a little inflated but not any more exorbitant than the Apple tax in general, and walk out with the replaced battery, polished device, trendy bag, and a smile.

Same for component repairs. An enthusiast may prefer to do it with supplies on hand, but many mainstream customers are actually better off with Apple support than most other brands. The Apple store is a realistic venue to be back in business by end of the day. Not always easy to do as a non-computer person with another brand. I had a new Gigabyte laptop with a bad motherboard, I didn't get the laptop back for four weeks.

Apple's markup on RAM and SSD can be truly out of hand, but that's only relevant to someone who wants more than the standard level. And for upgrades, you have to factor in that the path for many Apple fans is to simply take advantage of the generally good resale prices and buy new.

Not trying to talk you out of your opinion, which btw seems similar to my own preferences. Just saying there's a reason Apple is still in business despite these policies.
 
so a battery failing isn't important for you? An unreplaceable DDR module isn't important if you want to upgrade? An SSD which dies *Yes, I've seen that first hand* isn't relevant?!
Except for tablets *and phones, nowadays*, non removable batteries are a no-go.
But.. it's your money.
This is not about what I personally prefer but what the vast majority of users consider important. And repairability clearly is not high on the list.

I got to say though: Of the myriads of computers/laptops that I have used in the last 30 years, Apple products have consistently been the most reliable by a large margin. And if I ever had a hardware issue, Apple always was very quick and uncomplicated in fixing it.
 
I still have my 2012 Macbook Pro and is running just fine. Replaced my track pad, speakers, and hard drive cable myself because you can do it (Right to repair) yourself unlike today. Apple was once good but now they're getting sloppy, careless and just don't care. I may be behind with Apple but my MBP works so why change or mess with it?

Apple is expensive and I would never buy brand new, either refurbished or open box. My MBP was open box from Best Buy and was returned in a week from another person because the screen was too small for him. My latest buy was a Lenovo Ideapad Win. 10 for what I have to do.
 
On film and on TV, Apple is number 1. In the real world, it is 3rd. How many people bought Apple because they see it in entertainment programs? If anything, Apple is shrewd when it comes to product placement advertisement.
 
Literally all of them.
I'd never pick a HP over any Apple laptop that's for sure.

Dell, maybe but Dells cheap laptops are terrible. Wonky touchpad, flexing keyboard and mediocre screen (this is true for almost all HPs tho).

If you're into cheap looking plastic notebooks, HP have alot of options.

I prefer Lenovo Thinkpad.
 
Apple's not dumb and they know their customers. You see it as an unreplaceable battery. Their market studies tell them many of their customers are happy to walk to the Apple store that is within a few blocks, pay a fee that is maybe a little inflated but not any more exorbitant than the Apple tax in general, and walk out with the replaced battery, polished device, trendy bag, and a smile.

Same for component repairs. An enthusiast may prefer to do it with supplies on hand, but many mainstream customers are actually better off with Apple support than most other brands. The Apple store is a realistic venue to be back in business by end of the day. Not always easy to do as a non-computer person with another brand. I had a new Gigabyte laptop with a bad motherboard, I didn't get the laptop back for four weeks.

Apple's markup on RAM and SSD can be truly out of hand, but that's only relevant to someone who wants more than the standard level. And for upgrades, you have to factor in that the path for many Apple fans is to simply take advantage of the generally good resale prices and buy new.

Not trying to talk you out of your opinion, which btw seems similar to my own preferences. Just saying there's a reason Apple is still in business despite these policies.
one of the best common sense answers I've read! Thanks, mate!
 
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