When you’re shopping for a new laptop, you need to consider many characteristics of the device things, like the performance, battery life, display and design. However, the quality of tech support you’ll receive from the manufacturer should also be a factor.
The level of customer service you’ll get doesn’t appear on a spec sheet, but it matters a lot when you’re trying to get a report done for the next day and your touchpad just stopped working. That’s why, for more than a decade, Laptop Mag has published our Tech Support Showdown, in which we go undercover to test and grade the 12 leading laptop brands.
But this year we’re changing things up, by testing all the tech support each company has to offer. That means for company’s like Dell, Lenovo, HP and Asus we tested not only the basic service, but the premium, business and gaming tech support as well. Stay tuned for follow up articles for the best tech support for those categories. Without further adieu, here are the results of Laptop Mag’s 2022 Tech Support Showdown.
| Company Name | Overall (100) | Web Score (60) | Mobile App Score | Social Media Score | Phone Score (40) | Warranty Score |
| Razer | 85/100 | 15/20 | 13/15 | 13/15 | 24/30 | 20/20 |
| Apple | 83/100 | 15/20 | 12/15 | 13/15 | 23/30 | 20/20 |
| Lenovo | 83/100 | 17/20 | 13/15 | 13/15 | 24/30 | 16/20 |
| Dell | 81/100 | 14/20 | 13/15 | 12/15 | 22/30 | 20/20 |
| Asus | 81/100 | 18/20 | 9/15 | 12/15 | 25/30 | 17/20 |
| Acer | 77/100 | 11/20 | 9/15 | 10/15 | 20/30 | 20/20 |
| Microsoft | 65/100 | 16/20 | N/A | 9/15 | 20/30 | 20/20 |
| HP | 65/100 | 13/20 | 7/15 | 9/15 | 21/30 | 15/20 |
| 63/100 | 15/20 | N/A | 10/15 | 18/30 | 20/20 | |
| MSI | 60/100 | 20/30 | 17/20 | 5/15 | N/A | 18/20 |
| Samsung | 47/100 | 6/20 | N/A | 5/15 | 16/30 | 20/20 |
| Gigabyte/Gold | 29/100 | 5/30 | 7/20 | 7/15 | 3/15 | 8/20 |
The Winners
Razer continues to rule the Tech Support Showdown with an iron fist. This is the third time in a row, the company dominated our special report by way of expertise, a large social media presence and plenty of streamlining and tweaking. But Apple isn’t far behind in second, this year in a tie with Lenovo that jumped five spots for a decisive second place finish. Rounding out third place, we find Dell and Asus in a tie with the former jumping six spots, showing incredible improvement.
The Losers
Gigabyte/Aorus is the new kid on the block with its first go round in Tech Support Showdown. No app and a non-responsive call center, shows the company has a lot to learn from its competitors. Shockingly, Samsung was second to last thanks to awkward phone interactions, slow social media response and inaccurate answers.
NO.1: Razer (85/100)
Web support: https://support.razer.com (opens in new tab)
Phone number: (800) 694-7466 (24/7)
Key takeaways: Razer does it again, securing the top spot for the third time in a row. Not only did the company continue its tradition of quick, accurate responses from its customer service team, it expanded its warranties and even launched a new module in the Synapse app to help you reach help that much faster.
No. 2 (Tie): Apple (83/100)
Web support: https://support.apple.com (opens in new tab)
Phone number: 1-800-275-2273
Key takeaways: Apple continues to be right on Razer’s heel on a quest to regain the number one spot in the Tech Support Showdown. And it’s not hard to see why. The reps are knowledgeable, friendly and hardly ever give a wrong answer. Plus, you’ve got the fantastic Apple Support app and the company’s shiny new YouTube channel full of helpful tips.
No. 2 (Tie): Lenovo (83/100)
Web support: Link (opens in new tab)
Phone number: 1-877-453-6686
Key takeaways: Lenovo leapfrogged the competition, jumping from seventh place to second thanks to polite, knowledgeable reps, easy-to-navigate FAQs and plenty of ways to get in touch. But where Lenovo really stands out is its response times.
No. 3: (Tie): Asus (81/100)
Web Support: Link (opens in new tab)
Phone number: 1-888-678-3688
Key takeaways: Asus made a serious comeback during this Tech Support Showdown, jumping from ninth to third. This is in no small part thanks to the company’s speedy response times through just about every aspect of its tech support team.
No. 3: (Tie): Dell
Web Support: Link (opens in new tab)
Phone Number: 1-866-695-2237
Key takeaways:Bots and humans working together towards a more perfect tech support experience. Boasting a ridiculous amount of call centers, and ever expanding library of helpful videos and a seamless app experience, Dell has a lot to offer consumers. They just need to brush up on their proprietary software knowledge.
No. 4: Sharp (77/100)
Web Support: Link (opens in new tab)
Phone Number: 1-800-624-9896
Key takeaways: The Acer customer support team is fast on its feet, providing accurate answers most of the time. And Acer Support Center is a handy one-stop shop for all your troubleshooting and diagnostics needs.
No. 5 (Tie): Microsoft (65/100)
Web support: Link (opens in new tab)
Phone number: 1-800-642-7676
Key takeaways: Microsoft’s tech support has some definite strong points such as the Get Help app where agents provide quick answers in a polite fashion. However, the tech giant leans too heavily on linking out to solutions rather than giving straightforward answers.
No. 5 (Tie): HP (65/100)
Web Support: Link (opens in new tab)
Phone Number: (866) 695-2237
Key takeaways: HP has a plethora of ways to contact them if something goes wrong with your notebook. The Support Assistant app and phone support are bright spots in HP’s arsenal, but hard-to-locate contact information and outright wrong answers on social media, kept HP from rising higher in the ranks.
No. 6: Google (63/100)
Web support: Link
Phone number: 1-844-613-7593
Key takeaways: Google did just enough to keep it in the middle of the pack, delivering solid social media response for the most part and quick, polite service on the phone front. However, our tester was disappointed by the lack of Facebook response.
No. 7: MSI (60/100)
Web support: Link (opens in new tab)
Phone number: 1-888-447-6564
Key takeaways: MSI is rising up the ranks ever so slowly. The company jumped from a last place finish to seventh place thanks to a new live chat feature. However, the phone and social media arms of the equation need work as our tester rarely received a response.
No.8: Samsung (47/100)
Web support: Link (opens in new tab)
Phone number: 1-800-726-7864
Key takeaways: Samsung has a lot of work to do. What was once a shining star in the Tech Support Showdown has taken a massive fall from grace due to inaccurate, sometimes abrupt “Pros,” long social media wait times and ghosting live chat agents.
No. 9: Gigabyte/Gold (29/100)
Web support: Link
Phone number: 1-626-854-9338
Key takeaways: Gigabyte/Aorus needs a revamp and maybe a call center restaffing. Our frustrated tested only made contact twice with the company’s phone reps which yielded one right answer and one wrong. To throw salt in the wound, the social media agents never answered and there’s no live chat. It leaves a lot to be desired, but also a lot of room for improvement.
How We Rate and Test Tech Support
To see how well laptop-makers support their products, we went undercover, posing as everyday users, and tried to get answers to three questions. We explored just about every option available to consumers from the top 12 laptop manufacturers including forums, social media, live chats, apps and the calling in.
For each brand, we asked about how to adjust touchpad sensitivity as well as how to hide the system from other devices and networks. While our third question was custom for each manufacturer.
We initiated two phone sessions for each brand, asking one question per session. We also used each company’s web resources – including articles, forums and live chat – to find answers. We attempted to contact the companies via both Facebook and Twitter. If a company offered a mobile app for support, we also tried that.
Each brand received a score out of 100. Thirty of those points rate the company’s phone support with 20 points going to web and warranty while 15 points going to apps and social media presence, respectively.