What is the best laptop to buy right now in the US?
Answers vary from one ask to the next, and the apps can search the web and remember the person asking. That is why we ask each question 90 times without web search and 36 times with it.
HP and Dell sell almost half of America's PCs. AI names them first in 5% of answers, 10% when it searches.
Apple comes first in 38% of answers without web search and 40% with it, Lenovo in 29% and 22%. HP, the biggest seller, came first once in 720 answers without search.
United States
Laptops
HP and Dell sell almost half of America's PCs. AI names them first in 5% of answers, 10% when it searches.
Measured without web search. The search run comes in the next edition.
The brands AI names first most often, plus any this finding is about.
Named firstNamed at all
| Brand | Named first | Named at all |
|---|---|---|
| Apple | 63% | |
| Lenovo | 84% | |
| Acer | 32% | |
| Framework | 13% | |
| ASUS | 54% | |
| Dell | 49% | |
| System76 | 4% | |
| HP | 37% | |
| Microsoft Surface | 10% | |
| Razer | 8% | |
| MSI | 8% | |
| Alienware | 2% | |
| Samsung Galaxy Book | <1% | |
| LG gram | <1% | |
| Panasonic Toughbook | <1% | |
| Gigabyte | <1% |
720 answers across ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude together, October 2026. These are AI answers, not market shares. The three assistants share a favorite on 6 of 8 questions.
By assistant, and on your own buyers' questions: that is a Position Map. See a Position Map
With web search · All eight questions
| Brand | Named first | Named at all |
|---|---|---|
| Apple | 61% | |
| Lenovo | 69% | |
| Framework | 13% | |
| ASUS | 44% | |
| Dell | 42% | |
| Acer | 25% | |
| HP | 39% | |
| Razer | 7% | |
| Microsoft Surface | 8% | |
| MSI | 8% | |
| System76 | 2% | |
| Alienware | 5% | |
| Gigabyte | 1% | |
| LG gram | 1% | |
| Samsung Galaxy Book | 1% |
288 answers across ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude together, October 2026. These are AI answers, not market shares. The three assistants share a favorite on 5 of 8 questions.
Who sells, and who AI names first.
By market size
By AI's first picks
- 1HP24.4%
- 2Dell21.2%
- 3Apple18.8%
- 4Lenovo18.5%
- 5Acer6.9%
- 1Apple38%
- 2Lenovo29%
- 3Acer8%
- 6Dell5%
- 8HP<1%
Places count every brand AI names, so the numbers can jump. "=" is a tie. "–" means AI never names it first.
US PC shipments, second quarter of 2026: HP 24.4%, Dell 21.2%, Apple 18.8%, Lenovo 18.5%, Acer 6.9%.
Omdia. The figures include desktops and business sales. We found no public US split for laptops alone, so this comparison only describes.
What it means.
AI knows HP and Dell: it names them in 37% to 49% of its answers. It just does not lead with them. Much of their strength lies in company purchasing, which a consumer question does not reach, so we would not read this as lost sales today. We would watch what happens when the person buying for a whole company starts by asking AI.
The eight questions.
Best laptop under $500?
Which laptop brand is the most reliable?
Best laptop for college students?
Best business laptop for work and travel?
Best gaming laptop right now?
Best laptop for video editing?
Best laptop that I can repair and upgrade myself?
Is your company missing or measured under the wrong name? Tell us. We correct facts at any time. Results change only in the next edition, for everyone.
Edition 1, Q4 2026. Next edition: January 2027.
Eight buying questions per market, each asked in six wordings of ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude: five times without web search (720 answers per market, 14,400 in all) and twice with it (288 per market, 4,600 in all, in sixteen of the twenty markets so far). Measured 25 to 30 October 2026. Kesterley.
Your own questions, not ours. Position Map: where you stand on the questions your buyers ask, why AI puts a rival first, and what to do first. From $2,500. Two weeks.
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