Apple and Lenovo had the lowest laptop repairability scores in an analysis of recently released devices from consumer advocacy group US Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) Education Fund. While Apple's low marks are partially due the difficulty involved in disassembling MacBooks, Lenovo appears to be withholding information from shoppers deemed critical to right-to-repair legislation and accessibility.
The report, US PIRG's fourth annual “Failing the Fix” [PDF], calculated repairability scores for PCs and smartphones from popular brands in the US. The report examines "the top 10 most recent devices from each brand that were available for sale directly from manufacturers in January 2025." If a brand's website didn't allow people to sort by newest release, US PIRG picked devices by sorting "by 'Bestselling' or something similar," per the report's methodology section.
US PIRG's analysis included finding each device's French Repairability Index scores on PC makers' French websites and on third-party retailer sites. US PIRG calculated PC makers' grades by averaging "the total French score and the isolated disassembly score from each device." It weighed disassembly scores more heavily because it believes "this better reflects what consumers think a repairability score indicates." Next, the group subtracted half a point each for membership in TechNet or the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), industry groups that oppose right-to-repair legislation, and added a quarter point "for each piece of Right to Repair legislation supported by the testimony of the manufacturer in the last year."
Ultimately, US PIRG found higher repairability scores for cell phones this year than it did last year but emphasized that “laptops are not becoming significantly more repairable."
“HP laptops, which decreased in repairability from 2023 to 2024, hardly improved at all this year. Repairability improvements in Lenovo and Asus laptops have been slow and inconsistent over the past few years,” the report says.
Credit: US PIRG
Lucas Gutterman, one of the report's authors and director of US PIRG's Designed to Last campaign, told Ars Technica that while US PIRG isn't completely sure why laptop scores are lagging behind those of phones, the group thinks it relates to customer demand and domestic and global right-to-repair legislation pushing vendors to make more repairable phones. He also cited IDC data finding that Americans hold onto their phones for four years on average, saying this is about nine months longer “than just a few years ago.” He said this trend makes phone repairability “an important concern.”