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As laptops have historically been among the most popular electronics gifts, SquareTrade publicly released its findings to consumers, examining the different aspects of laptop and netbook reliability.

SquareTrade periodically does research on repair rates and makes those results publically available. Highlights are below. You can view  the full study here.

Update: For further coverage of the report and discussion, check out Gizmodo, Engadget, PCWorld, Electronista or ComputerWorld.

The study begins with an overview of laptop hardware failure rates, as well as failures caused by accidents. We then compare netbook failure rates to more expensive laptops and evaluate the relative reliability of several leading laptop brands.

• When excluding accidental damage and examining hardware malfunctions by manufacturer, Asus and Toshiba come out on top.
• Apple and Dell both fall in the middle with approximately an 18 percent failure rate; while industry leader HP has the highest failure rate.
• Over one in four HP laptops in the study experienced a hardware malfunction during the first three years of ownership.

• Asus and Toshiba were the most reliable manufacturers, with fewer than 16 percent having a hardware malfunction over three years.
• Netbooks are projected to have a 20 percent higher failure rate from hardware malfunctions than more expensive laptop computers.
• Manufacturers proved to be a more reliable determinant of reliability than the type of laptop and should be a greater factor in making a purchase decision.