As part of our ongoing mission to help you make better buying decisions, we recently polled thousands of PCMag readers and used their input to pinpoint the best desktop PC brands of 2024. Now, we're taking that data a step further and digging into a different subset of the PC market: desktops that are used and deployed at the office.
What brands should you turn to if you need a computer for working from home? Which companies should you trust if you're an IT manager looking to deploy a fleet of desktop PCs to your team? No matter your situation, you'll find the answers you need in this article. Keep reading to see which brands earn PCMag's coveted Business Choice Awards for 2024.
What to know which desktop systems, monitors, and even graphics cards and peripherals are the best for everyday at-home use? Check out our Readers' Choice Awards.
The Top Work-From-Home Desktop and Monitor Brands for 2024
Apple is no stranger to the winner's circle for Business Choice, going back to 2013. The only time it didn't place on top in the last 11 years was 2020. This year it's the top pick once again across all types of desktop PCs that are used for working at home. The only category where Apple doesn't earn strong satisfaction ratings is cost.
Not everyone wants a macOS desktop, so we always pick a Windows-based winner as well. This year, Lenovo stands out from the competition with impressive satisfaction scores—particularly for cost, but also on the important measures of overall satisfaction and likelihood to recommend (it ties Apple on the latter).
(Note: Click the down, left, and right arrows in our interactive charts to view different elements of our survey results.)
This isn't the first time Lenovo has taken a top spot in our Business Choice awards, either. The company also made the podium in 2021.
The other two PC brands that place this year are Dell and HP. Neither company comes particularly close to beating Lenovo, but it's worth noting that HP scores slightly better than Dell on tech support and repairs.
It should also be noted that, much like in our Readers' Choice awards, it seems that no brand listed above can outscore the true favorite of a PCMag reader: the self-built, hand-crafted, DIY desktop PC. Self-made machines score even better than Apple when it comes to overall satisfaction, but users are not foolish enough to think anyone can handle a self-built computer, as they give the option a low recommendation score.
PCs themselves are just one part of the equation, though. In order to use a desktop PC, you also need a display. Which monitor brands are best for work? The answer, according to thousands of tech-savvy readers, is Asus. It's our first Business Choice Award winner for work-from-home monitors.
Asus monitors earn top marks in almost all the major categories we polled for this year. The company only falls behind Samsung in one: the likelihood to recommend.
Prospective buyers shouldn't overlook Samsung, either The company's work monitors make it a worthy silver medalist, as it scores particularly close to Asus for overall satisfaction, reliability, and display quality.
Our previous winner for home monitors, LG, places fourth when it comes to displays for work. Acer and HP remain at the bottom, despite Acer actually tying or beating winner Asus in categories like setup and ease of use. Acer just doesn't compete on the all-important measure of overall satisfaction.
For our in-depth reviews, read The Best Desktop Computers for Business and The Best Computer Monitors for Work.
IT Managers' Choice: Admin's Favorite Desktop and Monitor Brands
Last year, this category went to another dual win for Apple and Dell. This year, however, Apple doesn't get enough responses to make the list, and Dell (despite having the most responses) falls to second place behind Lenovo. It's the preferred brand this year among the IT people taking our survey.
Dell's overall satisfaction score for IT desktops is up by a tenth of a point compared to last year, but that's not enough to beat Lenovo's half-point leap. Lenovo has the lead in every sub-category except for repairs (behind Dell) and likelihood to recommend (same).
Our first IT-managed monitors survey pegs ViewSonic as the best brand for just about everything. It only falls slightly behind for setup (behind HP and Acer) and cost (behind Acer).
Perhaps most importantly, ViewSonic earns the top score for display quality. Once IT has it set up, that's what really matters.
For our in-depth reviews, read The Best Desktop Workstations.
Full Results
The PCMag Business Choice survey for Desktops and Monitors was in the field from May 12 to June 2, 2024. For more information on how we conduct surveys, read the survey methodology.