After polling thousands of PCMag readers about the computers and peripherals they prefer, we zero in on the absolute best brands in every category.
A few months ago, we polled thousands of PCMag readers to bring you a definitive ranking of the best laptops and tablets on the market. But what about the less portable, more powerful category of computers: desktops?
That’s what we’re diving into for this month’s Readers’ Choice Awards. We asked readers across the globe to share their opinions on the desktop computers, monitors, keyboards, mice, and graphics cards they use, and after crunching all that data, we have a clear picture of the companies that tech-savvy users trust the most.
Which brands should you turn to first for your desktop computing needs? Keep reading to find out!The Top Desktop PC Brands for 2024
Apple is the only desktop PC brand to repeat as a Readers’ Choice Award winner this year, which doesn’t come as a surprise—the company has taken home this award every year for over a decade. Apple’s ratings in the key measures of overall satisfaction and likelihood to recommend are more than half a point higher than any other brand in our survey. The company also tops the ratings on every other satisfaction measure except for satisfaction with value.
While Apple’s dominance is impressive, most desktop users cannot or will not purchase a computer that doesn’t run Windows. For those people, our Readers’ Choice Award winner this year is Lenovo. Lenovo and Dell earn identical overall satisfaction ratings for this category, but Lenovo has a slightly higher likelihood-to-recommend score. Lenovo also edges out Dell in satisfaction with cost/value, ease of use, and performance. Dell holds a slight edge in reliability, but both companies score quite well on this measure.
A contingent of PCMag’s audience prefers constructing their own computers rather than purchasing pre-built desktops from a PC manufacturer. It’s not a task that everyone is willing to take on, but those who do always seem very happy with their choice. It’s the same this year, with self-builders rating their overall satisfaction higher than they do for this year’s Windows-based award winner, Lenovo. However, these respondents are also pragmatic about going DIY and seem to understand it’s not for everyone. The likelihood to recommend score for self-built computers is relatively low. While they rate well from the standpoint of satisfaction with cost/value, the score is no better than Lenovo and its pre-built PCs.
MSI wins our Readers’ Choice Award for gaming computers. The company earns top marks in overall satisfaction, likelihood to recommend, and satisfaction with technical support. Alienware, which won this category’s award last year, finishes closely behind MSI overall and slightly ahead of it in satisfaction with gaming performance. However, Alienware’s ratings for cost/value are second worst in the category this year, ahead of only Dell, its parent company. HP has the lowest overall satisfaction rating in the category, but it has the best ratings for satisfaction with reliability, ease of use, and cost/value among gaming PC brands.
When it comes to users who build their own gaming PCs, their satisfaction with their desktops is higher than that of MSI (or any of the other brands) on every measure—except for likelihood to recommend and satisfaction with technical support.
