HWM+HardwareZone.com Tech Awards 2014: Readers' Choice Results
The 5th annual HWM+HardwareZone.com Tech Awards saw a total of 186 brands competing for 42 Readers' Choice awards. After tallying quarter of a million votes, we finally have the list of winners. Did you vote for your favorite brands? Come on in to find out if they've won!
Welcome to the 2014 HWM+HardwareZone.com Tech Awards!
Recognizing the Best Brands and Products
This year marks the 5th edition of the annual HWM+HardwareZone.com Tech Awards, the industry's premier event where we recognize the best brands, products, and services. A total of 78 awards were given out this year, one more than last year’s 77, and they comprised of 36 Editor’s Choice and 42 Readers’ Choice awards. New this year are 4 Innovation awards, which are part of the Editor's Choice segment to recognize innovative products and cutting-edge technologies that have emerged. The inaugural winners are HGST Asia, Intel, Olympus, and Sony.
A total of 148 products spread across 33 categories introduced between December 2012 and November 2013 were shortlisted for the Editor's Choice segment. After many months of grueling testing by the HWM and HardwareZone.com editorial team, 36 winners were chosen based on their performance, value, and quality of experience they brought to their users.
Voting for the 42 Readers’ Choice categories which involved a total of 186 brands was opened to all readers of HWM and HardwareZone.com last year. At the end of the 4-week voting period, 250,000 votes were cast. Once again, we’re deeply humbled by the tremendous support shown to us from the community.
In this first of three articles, we take a look at the detailed results of our Readers’ Choice polls.
Readers' Choice Awards - Computing (Part 1)
Back in November 2013, we asked you - our intelligent and tech-savvy readers and members of the online community - for your favorite brands and services in 42 categories spanning the tech industry trinity of computing, communications, and consumer electronics. Your response was nothing short of overwhelming, as we received a quarter of a million votes. Here's a big thank you to you all. So, here then are the results of this detailed survey; check out to see if your favorite brands won. For the more curious readers, you can also check out previous year's results.
Best Desktop CPU Brand - Intel
Although Intel’s 2013 full year revenue and net income fell, it’s still by far the world’s largest and highest valued semiconductor chip maker. For desktop CPUs, it remains the undisputed king too. Continuing the success of the 2012 third-generation Intel Core processors (codenamed ‘Ivy Bridge’), 2013 saw the arrival of the fourth-gen Intel Core processors (codenamed ‘Haswell’) that brought about improved battery life, graphics performance, and the ability to fit into ever thinner and lighter form factors. And it looks like chipzilla isn’t resting on its laurels: rumor has it refreshing the Haswell lineup in Q2 this year. |
Best Gaming Graphics Processor Brand - NVIDIA
New desktop graphics cards continue to come out of NVIDIA’s labs despite the company’s apparent focus on mobile (case in point: the Tegra K1 with a 192-core mobile Kepler GPU). We saw the GK110-based GeForce GTX Titan in February last year, the GeForce 700 series in May (with the GTX 780 and GTX 770), the GK104-based GTX 760 in June, and of course, the GTX 780 Ti with a 2,880-core GK110 core that’s designed to counter AMD’s R9 290X in October. And just this week, we've the mainstream GTX 750 Ti, the first of (hopefully) many graphics cards from NVIDIA this year to use the new ‘Maxwell’ architecture. We’ve no doubt that such consistency is the reason you gave NVIDIA your vote. |
Best Graphics Card Brand - ASUS
This is the fifth straight year ASUS has strolled away with our Readers’ Choice award for Best Graphics Cards Brand. Amazingly, despite the number of brands contesting, ASUS’ share of votes has increased compared to its two previous wins (48% this year, vs. 43% and 37% in the last two). At the end of the day, we think ASUS’ popularity boils down to its ability to churn out a wide range of graphics cards for both NVIDIA and AMD fans. Case in point: this ASUS GeForce GTX 780 Ti DirectCU II OC and this over-the-top ASUS ROG Matrix R9 280X Platinumtailored for hardcore gamers. |
Best Motherboard Brand - ASUS
From our understanding, what most of you like about ASUS’ graphics cards (variety, performance, reliability) apply to the company’s motherboards as well. For the fifth year running, you've voted ASUS your favorite motherboard brand. The company has bagged an impressive 57% of the votes. Besides innovating on its boards (e.g. these Maximus VI Impact mini-ITX and Maximus VI Extreme ATX motherboards), ASUS also makes cool PC accessories like this ROG Front Base front panel control center. Gigabyte remains ASUS’ strongest challenge for this award with 20% of the votes. Interestingly, the votes for each brand held almost steady when compared to the previous year. |
Best PC Memory Brand - Kingston
Another brand that has made an award its own is Kingston, who has won the Best PC Memory Brand award for the fourth consecutive year. In fact, its share of votes (55%) is more than twice that of second-placed Corsair (21%). Just this past November, the company shipped the 2,800MHz version of its HyperX Predator memory kits targeted at overclockers and enthusiasts; and in June, Intel XMP-validated HyperX memory that supports ‘Haswell’. |
Readers' Choice Awards - Computing (Part 2)
Best Desktop PC Brand - Apple
For the past three years, this category was a fight between HP and Apple. This year though, HP’s contender position is usurped by ASUS. After tallying the votes, the trophy goes to Apple (29%), purveyor of sleek desktops like the iMac and the super-powerful-yet-super-small Mac Pro. ASUS comes in second with 22%. HP, the world’s second largest PC vendor behind Lenovo, drops to fourth place with 15%, behind Dell who has 16%. With worldwide Mac sales still going strong (well, at least better than PC sales, which are disappearing fast under the quicksand), Apple’s lead may even widen come next year. |
Best Inkjet Printer Brand - Canon
With 43% of the votes, Canon remains your favorite inkjet printer brand. Just a couple of weeks back, the company introduced the Pixma iP8770, a 6-ink color inkjet printer that prints photos up to A3+ size. For those looking for AIOs, the company has also refreshed its Pixma AIO photo printer lineup last October with the new Pixma MG7170, MG6470, MG5570, MG3570, and the highly compact MG2470 and MG2570 that cater to consumers’ varying output needs and price points. The second and third place go to HP (20%) and Epson (18%) respectively. |
Best Laser Printer Brand - HP
Last year, Canon snatched the trophy that HP has been holding for two years. But the maker of the Imageclass line of laser printers couldn’t do it this time, and the trophy is now back in the hands of HP, who garnered 27% of the votes. Second place goes to Fuji Xerox (22%), while Canon drops to third (21%). Brother, who harbors an ambition of a 25% monochrome laser printer market share in Asia by 2015 comes in fourth with 14% of the votes. |
Best LED Printer Brand - Fuji Xerox
Fuji Xerox has long been a strong proponent of LED printing, and for many years now, the company has been aggressively bringing its award-winning S-LED print head technology into products targeted at home/SOHO and SMB users. Compared to a laser printer that uses an optical scanning system, an LED printer uses a print head that’s made up of an array of light emitting diodes, and these LEDs flash to create the image. And since an LED printer also applies toner to paper during printing, it has print quality as good as a laser printer. With 38% of the votes, Fuji Xerox is once again the winner of our Best LED Printer Brand award. |
Best Wireless Networking Brand - ASUS
In the last few years, ASUS has proven that it’s capable of making networking products that go up against the very best from Linksys, Belkin, and D-Link. As we’ve noted in our RT-AC68U dual-band wireless-AC1900 router review, ASUS’ flagship router impresses with a blazing fast 5GHz band performance and tons of features. With 32% of the votes, the Taiwanese company has edged out three-time winner Linksys (21%) this year. D-Link is third with 19%. |
Best Security Software Brand - Symantec
Yes, Windows 8.1 and Windows 8 are very much more secure than their predecessors, and a large part of it is due to the improved Windows Defender. But if you need more granular control and the best protection, chances are you’ve to turn to a third-party solution. For the fourth year running, you’ve chosen Symantec (with 21% of the votes) your favorite security software brand. In second place is McAfee with 18%. |
Readers' Choice Awards - Computing (Part 3)
Best SSD Brand - SanDisk
While there’s no dispute that traditional spinning hard drives (HDDs) still hold the capacity per dollar advantage, there’s also no denying that when it comes to speed, solid-state drives (SSDs) totally mop the floor with HDDs. This year, the Readers’ Choice award for Best SSD Brand lands again in the hands of SanDisk (22%). But unlike last year, its closest competitor isn’t Intel; but rather, Samsung, whose 19% of votes propels it from fourth to second place. And before we forget, if you’re looking to buy an SSD, do yourself a favor and check out our 2014 high-end SSD shootout, which features eight top-of-the-line SSDs. For something more wallet-friendly, we also settle once and for all the question of which is the best mainstream SSD in the market today. |
Best External HDD Brand - Western Digital
When it comes to HDDs, there’s no bigger brand than Seagate and Western Digital. In recent years, they’ve grown even bigger, with Seagate acquiring Samsung’s HDD business in 2011, and Western Digital acquiring Hitachi Global Storage Technologies in 2012 (the company later sold to Toshiba the 3.5-inch business). As such, it doesn’t come as a surprise to us that both companies grabbed the majority of the votes in this category. After tabulating, Western Digital retains its trophy with 38% of the votes. For those who demand control over their own data in the cloud, you can check out the company's latest My Cloud personal cloud drive solution. And for those who like to live on the edge and are looking for the best of both SSD and HDD worlds, be sure to check out the Black2 Dual Drive. And oh, for WD Red series fans, be reminded that it now comes in 2.5-inch form factors. |
Best Removable Flash Storage Brand - SanDisk
Flash memory storage leader SanDisk has comfortably walked home yet again with the Best Removable Flash Storage Brand award with a 60% share of the votes. Its nearest rival is still Kingston, whose 14% share is the same as last year. While it’s no secret that SanDisk has increased focus on its SSD business, the company is keen to stress that it’s still very much committed to removable flash memory products. In fact, just last week, the company announced the Extreme Pro SDHC/SDXC UHS-II card, which the company says is the world’s fastest SD card, and the Extreme Pro USB 3.0 flash drive with write speeds up to 240MB/s and read speeds up to 260MB/s. |
Best NAS Brand - Seagate
The network-attached storage (NAS) category has always been hotly contested, and this year sees more than 11 brands competing. Much to our surprise, this category turned into a replay of the HDD duel involving Seagate and Western Digital. In the end, Seagate edges out Western Digital with the narrowest of margins (20% vs. 19%). It looks like Seagate’s Business Storage series of NAS solutions are well received by office and enterprise users. 2011 and 2012 winner D-Link comes in third with 16%. |
Best LCD Monitor Brand - Samsung
The LCD monitor category is another category that involves a lot of players. Last year, the winner was Samsung with 48% of the votes. This year, the award still goes to the Korea giant, though with a smaller 40% share. Like its TVs, the company continues to churn out new monitors on a frequent basis. Just this past CES, we saw the 31.5-inch UD970 and 28-inch UD590 4K UHD monitors, as well as the world’s first curved monitor. The other ‘winner’ this time round is ASUS, who sees its share of votes jumped from 5% to 13%, thus landing it in third place and within touching distance of second-placed Dell that has 16%. Like Samsung, both ASUS and Dell have recently announced new 4K monitors. |
Best Keyboard Brand - Logitech
The contest for our new Best Keyboard Brand award involves more than 18 brands, but the top three already garnered 75% of the votes. The inaugural winner is Logitech (40%), who led Razer (19%) and Microsoft (17%) right from the start. Clearly, Logitech has achieved considerable mindshare with its wide range of keyboards and related offerings. From wireless keyboards, to gaming keyboards (featuring both mechanical and non-mechanical key switches), to keyboard cases for iPad Air and iPad Mini, the company seems to have something for everyone who wants to type. |
Best Mouse Brand - Logitech
Another PC accessory that both PC and Mac users can’t do without is the mouse. Again, we asked for your favorite mouse brand, and most of you have voted for Logitech (35%). Similar to its keyboard products, Logitech has a comprehensive mouse lineup, be it for gamers, notebook-toting road warriors, or power users who crave the highest performance. There’s arguably more Mac-compatible mice than keyboards too. In second place is Razer with 27% of the votes. |
Best PC Components Retailer (Singapore) - Fuwell
Sim Lim Square has always been the go-to place for DIY enthusiasts building their own systems, as this is the mall that gathers numerous PC components retailers under the same roof. For the fifth straight year, you’ve voted Fuwell your favorite PC components retailer. Its 21% share is consistent with what it achieved last year. Its nearest rivals are Best Bargain and Best Buy, each getting about 13%. |
Readers' Choice Awards - Consumer Electronics (Part 1)
Best Ultra Portable Notebook Brand - Apple
Despite the avalanche of Windows-running Ultrabooks we witnessed in 2013, the winner for Best Ultra Portable Notebook Brand is Apple, the maker of MacBook Air, widely regarded the ‘first Ultrabook’. In fact, with a thickness of 1.8cm and a weight of 1.57kg, the current 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display is also just as portable. But that’s not to say other brands have given up. In January, ASUS (who comes in second with 25% of the votes) unveiled the Transformer Book Duet, an Ultrabook that switches between Android and Windows 8.1 with the press of a button. |
Best Business Notebook Brand - Lenovo
For the business notebook category, the trophy remains in the hands of Lenovo (22%), currently the world’s largest PC maker. With good products like the ThinkPad X1 Carbon and constant innovation in its Yoga series, the Chinese company is one of the rare PC makers that’s still making money despite the slowdown in the PC industry. Following closely behind however is Apple (20%). This suggests that in addition to iPhones and iPads, Macs too are very popular in the enterprise. ASUS has a very strong showing too, amassing 17% of the votes (up from 10% in the previous year). HP is the worst hit: its share has fallen from 16% last year to 9% this year. |
Best Gaming Notebook Brand - Dell/Alienware
For those unaware, Alienware is a wholly owned subsidiary of Dell, Inc., and it specializes in putting together high-performance desktops (e.g. Aurora R4) and notebooks (e.g. Alienware 14, 17, 18 that were recently updated with Intel’s fourth-gen Core processors) for professional and gaming purposes using third-party components and custom enclosures. Its 36% share of the votes is similar to the 35% it achieved last year, and is more than enough for it to retain the top spot. ASUS comes in second (22%) and Razer third (16%). Local outfit Aftershock is fourth with 9%. If you’re in the market for a gaming notebook, be sure to check out our recent shootout which compared six flagship gaming notebooks. |
Best Tablet Brand - Apple
It’s true: The iPad remains our readers’ most beloved tablet. Interestingly, despite the truckloads of Android tablets launched last year, Apple’s share in this category (56%) actually grows compared to last year (53%). Since Apple only makes two tablets, we can only assume that consumers like what the thinner and lighter iPad Air and the Retina display in the latest iPad Mini, both of which also come with Apple’s powerful 64-bit A7 chip. Samsung, who sells gazillions of Android smartphones, sees its share of votes dropped from 25% to 18%. We shall revisit this next year to see if its new Galaxy Note Pro and Tab Pro tablets make any difference. |
Readers' Choice Awards - Consumer Electronics (Part 2)
Best Point & Shoot Digital Camera Brand - Canon
Here’s the grim truth: According to the the Camera and Imaging Products Association (CIPA), total shipments of digital cameras have fallen to 62.8 million units in 2013, which was a 36% drop from 2012’s 98.1 million units. Shipments of cameras with built-in lenses (i.e., most compacts) have suffered the most, dropping from 2012’s to 78 million units to less than 46 million, a 41% contraction. In fact, CIPA is predicting this trend to continue, and forecasts that total shipments for fixed lens cameras would drop to less than 34 million this year. That said, with still a good 7 out 10 cameras shipped around the world by CIPA members in 2013 being fixed lens cameras, the compact camera market is unlikely to die just yet. And judging from your response, many of you are still buying compact cameras. For this Readers’ Choice category, the winner is once again Canon. Just a last week, the Japanese camera kingpin announced the PowerShot G1 X Mark II. Sporting a 1.5-inch 12.8-megapixel CMOS sensor, it sports a redesigned body and a faster 24-120mm F2.0-3.9 lens than the original G1 X that it replaces. |
Best Mirrorless Camera Brand - Canon
Ever since we created the mirrorless camera category to reflect the rise of a new type of camera system three years ago, there had been a different winner each year. The inaugural award went to Sony; 2012’s winner was Nikon; and last year, it was Olympus who took the crown. This year, we’ve yet another new winner, and it’s Canon, who has recently announced the EOS M2. Surprisingly, Panasonic, who makes (in our opinion) pretty good mirrorless cameras, doesn’t figure in the top five, as Leica snatches the fourth spot. |
Best DSLR Camera Brand - Canon
Despite the rise of mirrorless cameras, when it comes to sales, DSLRs still figure way more (13.8 million vs. 3.3 million in 2013 according to CIPA). And a large part of the sales went to Canon, and the company even claims that its EOS line of DSLRs has held the number one share of the global interchangeable-lens digital camera market for the past decade. In 2013, we saw three DSLRs from the company, the EOS 70D, EOS 100D, and EOS 700D. And just last week, we’ve the entry-level EOS 1200D. For the fourth straight year, you’ve voted Canon the best DSLR camera brand. Nikon, who also released several excellent DSLRs in 2013 (e.g. D7100, D610, D5300) comes in second. And Sony is a distant third. |
Best HD Camcorder Brand - Canon
Most of the brands contesting in this category have gotten a double-digit share of the votes, but at the end of the day, there can only be one winner. For the fourth year straight, you’ve voted Canon (35%) your favorite camcorder brand. In January, the company added the Legria Mini X pocket camcorder to its lineup, as well as a pair of camcorders (Legria HF R56 and HF R506) with a 32x optical zoom lens and a 3.2-megapixel full HD CMOS sensor that focuses on video image quality. With this win, Canon has made a clean sweep of all camera-related Readers’ Choice categories this year. Sony, another camcorder giant, is second with 27% of the votes. |
Best Consumer Electronics Megastore (Singapore) - Challenger
With 37% of the votes, IT and CE chain store Challenger managed to hold on to the trophy it won last year. This share is also up from last year’s 33%. increased compared to this time last year. Harvey Norman (15%), Best Denki (14%), and Courts (12%) followed behind. |
Readers' Choice Awards - Consumer Electronics (Part 3)
Best LED TV Brand - Samsung
For the eighth consecutive year, Samsung is the world’s biggest TV vendor. Its dominance is so complete that we don’t really foresee anyone overtaking it in this category for at least the next three years. It nearest rival this time is Sony (who will soon spin off its TV business as a separate subsidiary), who despite being second, only has 15% of the votes compared to Samsung’s 55%. Rounding up the top three is LG, who has 13%. |
Best 4K TV Brand - Samsung
With most people going for Samsung’s 1080p flat-panel TVs, 4K UHD TVs (typically with a 3,840 x 2,160-pixel resolution) offer an opportunity for other makers to get back into the game. Just this past CES, we saw new 4K TV offerings from LG, Panasonic, Sony, and Toshiba - just to name a few. But Samsung isn’t resting on its laurels either: the company’s S9 and F9000 4K TVs have been in local stores since August last year; and at CES, it even showed off an 85-inch bendable 4K LED-based LCD TV prototype. Fortunately for Samsung (which is another way of saying unfortunately for other brands), when one talks about 4K TVs, it’s still the brand that comes to mind. For this new Readers’ Choice category, Samsung is the winner, taking half the votes. |
Best Pay TV Service (Singapore) - StarHub TV
With over 200 channels (with new ones still being added), the return of the Barclays Premier League, and an IPTV service targeted at businesses, just to name a few, it’s perhaps no surprise that StarHub TV is yet again your favorite pay TV service. A recent survey by the Media Development Authority (MDA) seems to back this up too: In 2013, viewers spent 4.6 hours on StarHub TV, compared to 1.9 hours in SingTel Mio TV. Just recently, StarHub has also rebranded Anytime TV, its pay-per-view cable TV plan for StarHub home broadband customers, to StarHub TV Lite. |
Readers' Choice Awards - Consumer Electronics (Part 4)
Best Headphones Brand - Sennheiser
Featuring more than 23 brands, the headphones category is the second most contested Readers’ Choice category (only the in-ears category has more, with more than 25). After tallying, German audio specialist Sennheiser has retained the award for the third time in a row with 18% of the votes. Bose loses out narrowly with 17%, and Klipsch is placed third with 13%. |
Best In-Ear Earphones Brand - Klipsch
Last year, Sennheiser was the winner of the category, with Bose and Klipsch peering over its shoulders. This time round, Klipsch, who last year launched its premium X11i and X4i earphones, does pip both Sennheiser and Bose to the award with 18% of the votes, which is a good 5% more than what it managed last year. |
Best Wireless Speakers Brand - Bose
The advent of mobile devices greatly contributes to the exploding growth of wireless speakers in recent years. Not only can you enjoy higher-quality sound than the device’s tiny built-in speaker, being able to not tether to another hardware means that you can keep hold of your device, move about, and still control music playback. While dedicated speaker docks or Hi-Fi systems tend to offer better sound quality (usually due to larger drivers and being mains-powered), the gap between between them and their wireless brethren is closing everyday, thanks to near-lossless technologies like aptX. For the second time in a row, you’ve voted Bose your favorite wireless speakers brand. Its 29% share is the same as last year. |
Best Business Projector Brand - Epson
Those into projectors will probably know that according to market research firm Futuresource Consulting, Epson has been the world’s number one selling projector brand for the last 12 years. And no wonder: be it entry-level business projectors, high-powered projectors for large venues, or 3D business and education projectors, Epson seems to have every possible angle covered. And looking at the votes, you agree too. After many years, Epson is now your favorite business projector brand, overtaking long-time winner NEC. |
Best Home Theater Projector Brand - Sony
For home theater projectors, you’ve once again voted for Sony (32%), maker of the excellent VPL-VW500ES/VW1100ES 4K projectors and VPL-HW55ES SXRD full HD 3D projector. Panasonic (17%) remains in second spot, and Epson is a close third (16%). |
Best Home Theater System Brand - Bose
Readers' Choice Awards - Communications
Best Mainstream Smartphone Brand - Samsung
According to Gartner, Samsung sold almost 300 million smartphones worldwide in 2013, up from 206 million in 2012. The company seems to have a stranglehold when it comes to Android market share too, which Localytics said is at 63%. Indeed, in a smartphone universe dominated by Galaxy S and Galaxy Note smartphones and iPhones, we kind of expected the winner of this category to be either Samsung or Apple. In the end, Samsung takes the trophy with 44% of the votes. That said, this share is much lower than the 68% it achieved last year. This is in large part due to Apple, whose share jumped from 1% last year to 34% this year. Perhaps the iPhone 5C is better received than we expected. |
Best Premium Smartphone Brand - Apple
Maybe it’s the iPhone 5S’ 64-bit A7 processor, or maybe because it’s available in gold. Whichever is your reason, the fact is most of you have voted Apple your favorite premium smartphone brand. Samsung who won the award last year is second with 34% of the votes. Perhaps the polls would turn in Samsung’s favor next year when (if?) it does launch a metallic version of the Galaxy S5 this year. |
Best Telco (Singapore) - SingTel
Despite the recent kerfuffle, SingTel remains the one to beat in this category, garnering 56% of the votes cast. On a somewhat happier note, the big red has recently completed its 3G and 4G network upgrades along the North-east Line, and some stations along the Circle Line. |
Best Fiber Broadband Service Provider (Singapore) - SingTel
Compared to fixed line and mobile telephone services, the fiber broadband market in Singapore is a lot more competitive due to the presence of more providers. Still, SingTel has retained the award that it won last year with 39% of the votes. The only fiber broadband retail service provider to come close to the three telephone operators is MyRepublic, whose 13% is very close to third-placed M1’s 15%. We’re sure its super-affordable 1Gbps fiber plans had a hand in this. |
Best 4G Network (Singapore) - SingTel
Last year, all three local telcos completed deployment of their respective nationwide 4G LTE network. So we took the opportunity to ask you which is your favorite, and you’ve answered with your votes. SingTel, who was the first telco to announce 4G service plans for smartphones last year, is the winner for this new category, taking 58% of the votes. (Editor’s note: Late last year, we’ve also conducted several independent LTE network assessments, covering six shopping malls in the heart of the popular Orchard Road belt, as well as northern, southern, eastern, western, and central zones of the island. So check these articles out if you’re interested to know more about each telco’s performance in your area.) |
That concludes 42 categories of Readers' Choice results from our HWM+HardwareZone.com Tech Awards 2014. Stay tuned as we bring you a detailed rundown of the Editor's Choice segments next week!
Our articles may contain affiliate links. If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission.