Microsoft and Apple almost fail repairability rankings
Microsoft is among the worst tech giants when it comes to creating repairable laptops, according to the US Public Research Interest Group’s Education Fund (US PIRG). A new report from the US PIRG created an aggregate score for repairability based on French repair scores, thoughts from iFixit, and companies’ histories regarding right-to-repair legislation.
Ratings on the US PIRG’s “Failing the Fix” scorecard range from 1-10. Microsoft earned a 4.6, which was a D+. Apple (3.16) was the only laptop maker to earn a lower score. Dell, ASUS, Lenovo, Acer, and HP all earned significantly higher marks than Microsoft.
The report notes that it’s possible to repair many laptops from Microsoft, but that documentation and parts are limited. Some progress was made on this front by Microsoft when it partnered with iFixit to ship official tools to independent repairers. Microsoft also lost points in the US PIRG’s rankings because it has lobbied against right-to-repair legislation in the past.