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MacBooks are still the hardest laptops to fix, consumer group says

A new repairability report says MacBooks are still the worst to fix

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The torn-down M2 MacBook Air rests on a wooden floor.
M2 MacBook Air Teardown iFixit

Apple is leading the pack in one laptop category, but it’s not an award anyone would want to flaunt. The MacBooks have taken the throne as the worst in laptop repairability.

The latest Failing the Fix report from the U.S PIRG Education Fund ranked these notebooks at the bottom. In the 2026 edition of the annual report, the group measured both major smartphones and laptop brands on how repairable their products were.

What do the rankings reveal?

The report used European repair data and additional adjustments tied to Right to Repair lobbying and support. In the laptop section, the PIRG ranks ASUS with a B+ rating, followed by Acer with a B. HP, Dell, Samsung, and Microsoft were all tied at B-, while Lenovo got a C. Then there’s Apple, which finished last with a C-.

Why is Apple at the bottom of the list?

PIRG is pretty direct about the result. In the official summary, it says Apple is “finally” last among laptop brands covered in the scorecard, with no grade change from 2025 to 2026. The group further adds that laptop repairability as a whole looks fairly stagnant this year, with only slight movement across the major brands.

But that doesn’t mean that Apple gets a pass.

PIRG uses laptop grades based on France’s repairability index for laptops. The scoring looks at factors such as how hard a device is to disassemble, the availability of spare parts, and repair documentation, tool and fastener requirements, and software support. There’s extra weight given to disassembly because that is the part of repair that most likely reflects the real-world difficulties consumers would face.

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While the report found that Apple made some real progress on parts pairing in the smartphone space, MacBooks don’t get a similar treatment, and finish in last place in laptops this year.

Vikhyaat Vivek
Vikhyaat Vivek is a tech journalist and reviewer with seven years of experience covering consumer hardware, with a focus on…
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