MacBooks Seize All Available Top Slots From Consumer Reports [Widely Respected Consumer Magazine Hands Out Top Rankings To MacBooks In Every Category They Qualify For]

Posted on TFTS by Steve Anderson on Wednesday, 25. May 2011 under: Computers & Computing, PCs, Notebooks, Netbooks & Tablets

One thing is clear: for years, Consumer Reports has long been the journal of record whenever you want information and product testing done on most everything under the sun. So when Consumer Reports hands most of your product line top marks across all its tested subjects, it’s time to break out the bubbly and party like it’s, well, 1999. And who’s currently cheering for their good fortune? None other than Apple, whose entire MacBook line found high praise from the crew out at Consumer Reports.

The 11 inch MacBook Air, for example, scored a 62 out of 100 possible points. And while those of you who remember your high school days likely winced instinctively, remembering that that would be a just barely passing D-, on this particular curve it’s as good as an A as it beat the next competitor, a Gateway, with 56 points, and an HP, which only got a 49.

The 13 inch MacBook Pro, meanwhile, brought in a healthy 76 points, whilst competitors Sony and Asus took second place, and reportedly, by a pretty good distance back.

The 15 inch MacBook Pro also stepped in to seize the top three slots in the rankings, but it was a much closer fight as its next competitors were a mere three points behind, while the 17 inch category took the top two only.

It’s very interesting how Apple’s dominance falls off as screen size gets larger, and forces me to wonder just what’s going on there. While Apple clearly has a lock–and even that’s almost insufficient to describe the absolute walkover Apple showed here–on the smaller laptop market, the larger screen models put up much, much more of a fight. Has Apple found a clever niche it’s seeking to exploit–smaller screened laptops–while everyone else goes after the big screen market? Finding an 11 inch laptop that isn’t down into the netbook category is no easy feat, and the same would go for 13 inch, I’d say, so maybe Apple’s on to something here.

So what do you guys think? Does Apple just have better tech, or is Apple going after an underserved market niche with a good quality product and making itself look great by association? Hit the comments section and tell us what you think here!