The Labs award for PCs and notebooks is given to the manufacturer with the highest quality and consistency throughout the year. To reach the shortlist, manufacturers had to have submitted products for review on at least five occasions and perform well each time. Only seven companies qualified for our shortlist.
To find our winner, we looked at our Labs sections from the past year and calculated the average scores for all manufacturers. We then added bonus points for every award won.
If anything, this year seemed more variable overall than last years results with there being fewer standout companies. But Sony’s seven appearances garnered it two awards and an overall score of 4.7 stars which proved enough to win a Highly Commended award.
But the legacy of last year's software award winner, BootCamp, meant that we were able to fully test every Mac computer this year, including the new iMac and MacBooks. By winning three awards from five appearances and with an overall score of 4.9 stars. Apple’s overall consistency and quality makes it a worthy winner this year.