The Technology Excellence Awards 2017: We crown the best brands and pick the top products of the year

The UK has more than its fair share of prestigious award ceremonies. Actors have the BAFTAs, musicians have the BRITs – and for the tech enthusiasts, gadget geeks, and IT professionals, there are the TEAs: the Technology Excellence Awards.

But while those famous UK awards are all decided behind closed doors, the Technology Excellence Awards are different: we don’t decide the winners, you do. Each and every year, thousands of readers across PC Pro, Alphr and Expert Reviews take part in a comprehensive three-month survey to have their say and decide which manufacturers provide the perfect balance of reliability, service, performance and quality that means they deserve to take home the prized gongs.

How are the Technology Excellence Awards decided?

In short, by you. We ask how satisfied you are with the quality of prints, reliability of your broadband, battery life of your laptop – and collate the figures to create a nuanced report as to how you think each company performs across a range of relevant key criteria such as reliability, customer service, value for money and ease of use.

The maximum score a company can receive is 100%, where a reader declares themselves “very satisfied” with, say, customer support for their desktop PC. If they merely select satisfied, that’s 80%. And so on, until they reach “very dissatisfied”, which is 0%. So a score of 90% could be 50 people saying very satisfied (100%) and 50 saying satisfied (80%). We need feedback from at least 50 buyers of a brand to produce a result we’re happy to publish. If you want to see the detailed breakdown of this year’s scores then pop to the shops and pick up issue 278 of PC Pro where you’ll find the results posted in full. 

We also use methods to protect against “stuffing” – that is, where a manufacturer may try to bias results by encouraging only positive feedback – so you can be sure that these results are based on bona-fide customer feedback. The result is scores you can trust.

How do you select the Products of the Year winners?

These are chosen by our most trusted editors and contributors across PC Pro, Alphr and Expert Reviews. After hours of debate and deliberation, we whittle down the shortlist to decide upon the stand-out products from the hundreds we’ve tested over the past 12 months. You’ll find our pick of the most exceptional laptops, smartphones, tablets, smartwatches and more on page 2.

Click here to discover which manufacturers have won our coveted Products of the Year 2017 awards

BEST LAPTOP BRAND: Asus

RECOMMENDED: Apple

In a reflection of its growing stature as a laptop brand, it’s fitting that 2017 is the year that Asus – for the first time – wins the Best Laptop Brand award. The company’s UX300 series has been a regular award-winner, and a stalwart on the PC Pro A-List for the past two years, and it seems that readers agree: “The Asus ZenBook UX305 is an excellent slim and light laptop,” wrote William Dow, adding that as the specs have been upgraded he’ll “likely buy again soon”.

BEST TABLET BRAND: Apple

RECOMMENDED: Microsoft

It’s no surprise that Apple has retained the Best Tablet Brand crown, with customers singing the praises of the plus-sized iPad Pro in particular: “My iPad Pro with 128GB and a big and clear screen has everything to offer that my laptop and desktop can do… the iPad offers everyday functions and I no longer use the laptop since the iPad came on the market,” wrote Stephen Tortolano.

However, Microsoft wasn’t far behind in second place, earning it a Recommended award. It even beat Apple in the battery life and accessories categories, but just lost out for speed, reliability and ease of use. 

BEST PHONE BRAND: Google

RECOMMENDED: OnePlus

In the clash of the smartphone titans, Android came out firmly on top with Google and OnePlus pushing Apple’s iPhone into third place. A key battleground was ease of use: “[Google’s] Pixel XL is one of the best phones I have ever owned,” explained customer David Taylor. “I only use Android phones and having pure Google without the OEM [original equipment manufacturer] bloatware is also an experience that will take some convincing to move away from.”

BEST SMARTWATCH BRAND: Garmin

RECOMMENDED: Apple, Fitbit

Some people love their smartwatches. And going by what many of them said in their comments, smartwatches are best suited to people who use them for running and fitness, rather than as an extension to their phone. “Great device,” wrote Boyd Park of his Garmin. “Wear and train with it every day.”

It’s little wonder, then, that Garmin stole top position from Apple in terms of user satisfaction, while only four companies met our threshold of 50 votes – with the most notable absentee being the now-defunct Pebble. 

BEST CLOUD STORAGE: Dropbox, Google Drive

If the tussle for best cloud storage had been a football match, it would have been a gruelling, muddy 1-1. There was little to separate the two rivals, which scored identically for ease of use and whether you would recommend them to friends, family and colleagues. The only wafer-thin difference came in speed, with your comments suggesting that Google Drive is the slightly quicker service. A replay might be in order.

BEST PC BRAND: Chillblast

RECOMMENDED: PC Specialist

While multi-national companies pick up the awards in almost every other category of our awards, when it comes to buying desktop PCs, British companies Chillblast and PC Specialist dominate. While they both performed very well for speed, reliability and value for money, it’s customer service that appears to win people’s hearts. “This was my second PC from Chillblast,” wrote Alan Millar from Edinburgh. “On both occasions, from the first call to its arrival, nothing was too much trouble… Great customer support at a sensible price.”

BEST ONLINE RETAILER: Scan

RECOMMENDED: Amazon, John Lewis, Overclockers UK

The online retailer category is the most hotly contested of them all, so well done to Scan for fending off stern challenges from big names such as Amazon and John Lewis. The Bolton-based company performed particularly well in the holy trinity: customer support if things went wrong, speed of delivery and tracking information. “I just think Scan has that little je ne sais quoi about it that’s hard to explain,” wrote James Winnard, “but you know it puts them ahead of the competition. 10/10.”

It’s also pleasing to see that smaller British firms – Overclockers UK, Novatech and CCL Online – were challenging for top honours, with readers praising the high quality of their customer service.

BEST NAS BRAND: Synology

RECOMMENDED: Qnap

In the era of the cloud services, NAS might be considered something of an anachronism – but many of you still place a high value on local storage, and Synology is still the brand you trust the most. 90%+ scores in every category, bar value for money, suggests that the reliability and speed of Synology products come at a premium, but one worth paying. “Simply amazing,” wrote Richard White. “We’ve ditched our server and bought two Synology NAS devices, one for off-site sync.”

Click here to read our review of the Synology DS216j

The Technology Excellence awards: Best of the rest

BEST BROADBAND: Zen Internet

RECOMMENDED: AAISP

BEST ROUTER BRAND: DrayTek

RECOMMENDED: AVM Fritz!Box

BEST MOBILE DATA: GiffGaff

RECOMMENDED: Tesco Mobile

BEST MONITOR BRAND: Iiyama

RECOMMENDED: Asus, BenQ

BEST WEB HOST: Zen Internet

RECOMMENDED: Tsohost

BEST PRINTER BRAND: Brother, Samsung

Head on over to page 2 to discover Alphr, PC Pro and Expert Reviews’ picks for Products of the Year 

2017 has been a bumper year of new products – not only for laptops and phones, but in the business world, too. Here are the picks from editors at Alphr, Expert Reviews and PC Pro.

SMARTPHONE OF THE YEAR – Sponsored by Alphr

Samsung Galaxy S8

“It’s tough coming up with market-leading smartphone designs, year after year, but that’s exactly what Samsung has done with the Galaxy S8,” explained Jonathan Bray, reviews editor of Alphr, who certainly wasn’t short of praise for the device. “The Galaxy S8 is simply stupendous in every regard: gorgeous to look at and hold in your hand, superfast where you need it and it has a cracking camera and superb battery life. With waterproofing, microSD expansion and that glorious bezel-free display to top it all off, there’s simply no other phone that comes close this year.”

LAPTOP OF THE YEAR – Sponsored by Expert Reviews

Dell XPS 13

We think this is a first: for a piece of hardware design to be so market-leading that it wins our Laptop of the Year award for the third year running, with just minor tweaks along the way. “While Dell has added a 2-in-1 version of the XPS 13, the original is still the best,” said Sasha Muller, senior editor of Expert Reviews. “It’s faster than ever and that 13.3in, edge-to-edge screen remains a joy to behold.”

TABLET OF THE YEAR: Apple iPad

You only need to read any of our reviews – or the group test in this month’s PC Pro (it’s on p76 if you already have a copy to hand) – to realise why the iPad takes our Tablet of the Year accolade. If you don’t need the iPad Pro’s 120Hz screen or superior power, the updated iPad – now with a lower price, too – will likely offer everything you need in a tablet. Add one of the many third-party keyboard accessories available (yet another of Apple’s strengths) and it turns into a cheap alternative to a laptop.

CONVERTIBLE OF THE YEAR: HP EliteBook x360 1030 G2

“This isn’t some over-styled, underpowered fashionista laptop,” said Stuart Andrews, one of PC Pro’s long-term testers of laptops. “While slim it’s by no means the slimmest, it’s low on gimmicks and it hasn’t got the highest-resolution display. What matters, though, is that it’s usable in every way: speedy, light, with a great screen and keyboard and all the battery life and connectivity you’d want. It looks fantastic and it’s built to get serious work done.

SOFTWARE OF THE YEAR: Adobe CC

“Adobe Creative Cloud has very little in the way of competition when it comes to professional creative software,” said PC Pro’s contributing editor Paul Ockenden. “Normally such a monopolistic position would be a problem, as it tends to stifle innovation, but that’s not the case here – each year brings a new release bristling with genuinely useful features, and 2017 was no exception.”

Products of the Year 2017: The best of the rest

Server of the Year: Fujitsu Server Primergy TX1320 M3

“Small but perfectly formed, Fujitsu’s Server Primergy TX1320 M3 pedestal server is the ideal choice for space-constrained small businesses,” said Dave Mitchell, PC Pro’s business hardware expert. “It squeezes a remarkable specification into an ultra-compact and quiet chassis while a clever internal design leaves plenty of room to grow.”

Business Software of the Year: 3CX Phone System v15

PC Pro’s contributing editor Jon Honeyball has been using 3CX for years, but after the release of v15 felt the time was right to move to the cloud. So why does he love it? “Mature, feature filled, excellently supported, rapid feature improvements, and tight integration with quality phones. And the cloud service moves everything, except for the phone, off premises.”

Workstation of the Year: Scan 3XS WI6600 Viz

“The Scan 3XS WI6600 Viz [which PC Pro reviewed as the 3XS Classic 3D] with its Intel Core i9 processor update provides the perfect balance of class-leading modelling with huge amounts of CPU rendering power,” explained our resident workstation guru, James Morris. But it’s not just about the hardware. “All this is backed by a three-year warranty with technical support bene ting from Scan’s years of experience supplying systems to the content creation market.”

Business Hardware of the Year: Polycom RealPresence Trio 8800

“With so much talk about remote working and reducing travel costs, it’s great to see a slick product that can actually make this happen,” said editor-in-chief Tim Danton. “You get everything you need for voice and videoconferencing in this kit, which means instant, no-fuss calls with high-quality audio and video.”

Read our full review of the Polycom RealPresence Trio 8800

Gaming PC of the Year: Yoyotech Redback N6

“I’m not a hardcore gamer,” said PC Pro’s associate editor Darien Graham-Smith, “but if I were to splash out on a gaming PC it would look a lot like this one. The N6 has the power to tear through games and productivity applications alike, and while many systems turn me off with their lights and futuristic stylings, Yoyotech’s is a more tasteful design for grown-up gamers.”

Desktop PC of the Year: PC Specialist Vulcan X 02

“The Ryzen 5 1600X may nominally be a mid-range CPU, but with six cores and a screaming maximum frequency of 4GHz the Vulcan X 02 is one heck of a performer,” explained Darien Graham-Smith. “PC Specialist also throws in a smartly chosen graphics card and an excellent, highly expandable motherboard: it’s a real do-everything PC, and for under a grand it’s unbeatable value.”

Security Product of the Year: iStorage diskAshur Pro 2

“Portable data should be encrypted, that’s a given; but encryption comes in many flavours and ‘hardware’ is the tastiest,” says PC Pro’s security expert Davey Winder. “With PINs and keys encrypted at rest, physical protection against external tampering and being fully GDPR compliant, the diskAshur Pro 2 is the most secure hard drive I’ve ever seen.”