The most reliable Windows laptop is a Mac, says Soluto

Soluto's PC troubleshooting Web service has saved many a forehead from banging against a desk. By scanning computers for installed software and crowdsourcing problems, Soluto's consumer service helps with everything from boot times and app crashes to remote configuration. Soluto used the wealth of data it collected in this way to compile a list of the ten most reliable Windows laptops currently on the market, dominated by a surprising star…and it's not a PC.

It's Apple's 13-inch MacBook Pro.

Soluto's collected data about crashes, hangs, and BSoDs crowns the mid-2012 MacBook Pro 13" as the most reliable Windows PC.

The list published today is based on information collected from 150,000 laptops since January 1, 2013. Analysis took into account application crashes, hangs, and blue screens. Soluto believes the MacBook Pro 13" may have gained its spot at the top of the list because of its clean Windows installations: When users install Windows on a MacBook, it comes as Microsoft intended, completely free of any OEM extras.

Second on the list is the affordable Acer Aspire E1-571, which costs a third as much as the MacBook Pro 13" yet was nearly as stable and trouble-free. The Acer comes out slightly ahead of the much fancier Dell XPS 13, which comes with an SSD and costs more than twice as much. Soluto notes that a full 32% of Soluto users removed the version of Windows that shipped with their Dell XPS, opting to start out with a clean Windows installation instead.

Soluto checks some disk condition issues as well as software conflicts.

Soluto's "big-data frustration analytics" are based on objective metrics such as the number of crashes per week and the number of processes running in the background. The company used a formula to interpret the numbers and arrive at a single, simple grade for each computer tested. The list, which is published in the April 2013 edition of "Soluto's PC purchasing guide for small businesses," contains the raw scores for each computer as well, making further analysis (and alternative interpretations) easy.

SMBs, you can simmer down now

Along with the rankings, Soluto also made a product announcement today. The new Soluto for Business service, which is aimed at small businesses and IT service providers, builds on the popular consumer software. For $8 a month, Soluto for Business supports up to ten PCs, letting IT experts (formal or otherwise) remotely troubleshoot them. Soluto has created a video illustrating the process. Future editions of the purchasing guide will be available to subscribers only.

Going up against established competitors in the remote control arena like GoToMyPC and TeamViewer, Soluto drastically undercuts prices while offering additional services. Soluto will keep offering a free version of the service that supports up to three computers, aimed at home users or small businesses who want to evaluate it.

Soluto states that the interface for the new Soluto for Business service is very similar to that of the popular consumer service.

Soluto's agent runs in the background as the computer operates, collecting data about application crashes, blue screens, hangs, and other annoyances often encountered in daily work. Administrators can then view this information in an online dashboard, taking action remotely to eliminate sources of frustration.

Endlessly tweaking his workflow for comfort and efficiency, Erez is a freelance writer on a mission to discover the simplest, coolest, and most effective software and websites to make tomorrow happen today.
More by Erez Zukerman

From PC World. Electronics product reviews and advice for best reference

The most reliable Windows laptop is a Mac, says Soluto

Soluto's PC troubleshooting Web service has saved many a forehead from banging against a desk. By scanning computers for installed software and crowdsourcing problems, Soluto's consumer service helps with everything from boot times and app crashes to remote configuration. Soluto used the wealth of data it collected in this way to compile a list of the ten most reliable Windows laptops currently on the market, dominated by a surprising star…and it's not a PC.

It's Apple's 13-inch MacBook Pro.

Soluto's collected data about crashes, hangs, and BSoDs crowns the mid-2012 MacBook Pro 13" as the most reliable Windows PC.

The list published today is based on information collected from 150,000 laptops since January 1, 2013. Analysis took into account application crashes, hangs, and blue screens. Soluto believes the MacBook Pro 13" may have gained its spot at the top of the list because of its clean Windows installations: When users install Windows on a MacBook, it comes as Microsoft intended, completely free of any OEM extras.

Second on the list is the affordable Acer Aspire E1-571, which costs a third as much as the MacBook Pro 13" yet was nearly as stable and trouble-free. The Acer comes out slightly ahead of the much fancier Dell XPS 13, which comes with an SSD and costs more than twice as much. Soluto notes that a full 32% of Soluto users removed the version of Windows that shipped with their Dell XPS, opting to start out with a clean Windows installation instead.

Soluto checks some disk condition issues as well as software conflicts.

Soluto's "big-data frustration analytics" are based on objective metrics such as the number of crashes per week and the number of processes running in the background. The company used a formula to interpret the numbers and arrive at a single, simple grade for each computer tested. The list, which is published in the April 2013 edition of "Soluto's PC purchasing guide for small businesses," contains the raw scores for each computer as well, making further analysis (and alternative interpretations) easy.

SMBs, you can simmer down now

Along with the rankings, Soluto also made a product announcement today. The new Soluto for Business service, which is aimed at small businesses and IT service providers, builds on the popular consumer software. For $8 a month, Soluto for Business supports up to ten PCs, letting IT experts (formal or otherwise) remotely troubleshoot them. Soluto has created a video illustrating the process. Future editions of the purchasing guide will be available to subscribers only.

Going up against established competitors in the remote control arena like GoToMyPC and TeamViewer, Soluto drastically undercuts prices while offering additional services. Soluto will keep offering a free version of the service that supports up to three computers, aimed at home users or small businesses who want to evaluate it.

Soluto states that the interface for the new Soluto for Business service is very similar to that of the popular consumer service.

Soluto's agent runs in the background as the computer operates, collecting data about application crashes, blue screens, hangs, and other annoyances often encountered in daily work. Administrators can then view this information in an online dashboard, taking action remotely to eliminate sources of frustration.

Endlessly tweaking his workflow for comfort and efficiency, Erez is a freelance writer on a mission to discover the simplest, coolest, and most effective software and websites to make tomorrow happen today.
More by Erez Zukerman

From PC World. Electronics product reviews and advice for best reference

Need Reliable Office Software at a Sub-Microsoft Price? Consider Kingsoft Office Suite

Business still revolves around the Big Three software applications: word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations. And Microsoft still charges an arm and a leg for Office licenses. What's a cash-strapped small shop to do? There are, of course, a number of freebie alternatives to Microsoft Office, most notably OpenOffice.org and LibreOffice. However, OpenOffice faces an uncertain future, and LibreOffice is bogged down by a clumsy, outdated interface and iffy file compatibility. Allow me to suggest a lesser-known alternative: Kingsoft Office Suite 2012. Kingsoft offers Free, Standard (available here), and Professional editions, the latter two priced at $50 and $70, respectively.

Kingsoft's suite consists of three modules: the aptly named Writer, Spreadsheets, and Presentation. They're fully file-compatible with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint; I had no trouble loading my existing documents or saving new ones in Microsoft formats.

On the feature front, it matches up pretty well--though there's one big ace up the Kingsoft suite's sleeve: a tabbed view for documents, something Microsoft Office still lacks. Each open document gets its own tab, just like different Web sites get tabs in your browser. That makes switching between them much easier than in Microsoft Office.

The only question is, which version of the suite should you get? My advice: Start with the free one. Its interface is immediately familiar to anyone fluent in Microsoft Office 2003, and the only significant feature it lacks is macro support. The free version also lacks the ability to save documents in Office 2007/2010 formats, though it can open them.

That said, if your employees are already accustomed to Microsoft's Ribbon interface, consider investing in Kingsoft Standard or Professional. Both give you a choice between the aforementioned Office 2003-style interface or one that looks straight out of Office 2010. In other words, it's a Ribbon knockoff, and a damn good one. (You can actually switch back and forth between the two, a nice touch.)

If you want to learn more, Kingsoft has a page devoted to the differences between Office Free, Standard, and Professional.

For the record, I've been using both the Free and Professional versions on different machines, and I've found both to be excellent. But I prefer Pro, mostly because I like the Ribbon-style interface.

And at $70, Kingsoft Office Suite Professional costs considerably less than Microsoft Office Professional 2010, which starts at $350. Granted, the latter also includes Outlook, Publisher, and Access, so it's not quite an apples-to-apples comparison.

However, if you don't need those tools, but do need the Big Three, I definitely think Kingsoft Office is worth a look.

--Rick Broida

Kingsoft Office Suite Standard 2012 is designed to cater to the office need of users at home, school or company. It consists three parts: Writer, Spreadsheets and Presentation. Using it, users can create, view, edit and save all document formats of Microsoft Office.Whilst, Microsoft Office can open all Kingsoft files even without Kingsoft Office being installed on that computer, so users don't have to worry about the compatibility problem.

The interface of Standard 2012 also adopts the 2012 interface design elements. The multi-tab feature and and sophisticated toolbar facilitate quick and convenient file management. The appearance of this interface is highly similar to Microsoft 2007.

The standard version has all the features which professional version has except the VBA macro function. These features standard version has are enough to match the daily requirements. The installation package of Standard 2012 is small and allow users to easily install and uninstall the software. Secondly, it offers a built-in spell checker to help check the documents. Thirdly, the built-in PDF converter allows convert Word, Excel and PowerPoint files into PDF formats. Lastly, offers a large number of templates in Presentation Standard 2012 that help users to easily and efficiently create slides directly by using these templates.

In addition, Kingsoft Office Suite Standard 2012 added several distinctive functions. The powerful paragraph adjustment tool allows users to edit paragraphs with ease. It supports dropping and dragging the paragraph directly. There is also a table style adjustment function that includes a useful add row or column icon. Simply drop and drag the icon when users need to add a row or column to a table.

With this update, it is now easier to protect documents. An encryption function is offered as part of Office Standard that allows users to better protect their files. There is also an online update function to help download the newest.

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