I'd say this. I haven't had a Windows desktop computer with serious problems since 2007.
I had a long string of Windows laptops that were basically OK from maybe 2013 to 2023 except for problems with USB that got progressively worse over time (for each machine.) I think some of them were were real hardware problems but I think also the USB 3 spec doesn't guarantee that you can plug in very many devices and have it work, it depends on the PCIe architecture inside the machine. That "ding" sound when a USB device disconnects from windows has traumatized me and I've turned it off anywhere where I can because it is like a gunshot to a Vietnam vet.
I found very little literature about other Windows laptops users facing these problems but endless posts by AppleCare frequent fliers who seem to spend their lives at the Genius Bar and getting their old defective laptops replaced with new defective laptops, I think Windows users just expect it to be all screwed up.
For a long time Windows has struggled with processes that suck down a lot of resources at boot time. At home it is things that do software updates and saturate my 2x20Mbps internet connection. At work it is the backup program that saturates my Ethernet.
> I haven't had a Windows desktop computer with serious problems since 2007.
In roughly the last decade, I've had motherboards fail on me, drives fail on me, PSU fans have issues with the bearings (rattle even when it works), front USB headers not working, SATA SSDs overheat and fry themselves, HDDs fail, separate USB ports get fried, overheating issues, multi-GPU issues (that one's on me, OSes struggle with supporting those), sometimes systems even having bad performance like back when I had a Ryzen 5 4500 and Intel Arc A580 where games would run with low 1% lows BUT nothing would show up as the bottleneck in any monitoring program ever, I've had Windows bootloader freak out across updates, sometimes updates in the OS render themselves not installable for months, sometimes graphics drivers (AMD and Intel) having issues, especially with VR and so much more stuff.
I like to think that I have particularly bad luck and not high enough quality parts and sometimes just pretty jank setups due to the state of my wallet. I've also had laptops fall apart and phone batteries turn into pillows, so go figure. Also regular Debian/Ubuntu updates sometimes bringing down my homelab servers that also run on consumer hardware, so maybe it's definitely got something to do with a lack of luck.
Less so with higher quality parts and machines, like most of the ThinkPads I've owned have been pretty good and my current M1 MacBook Air is still okay (really good note taking machine for being on the move) and same for my iPhone SE, despite the OSes feeling kinda odd. Doesn't really condemn any individual setup in my eyes - as far as I'm concerned, they all suck to some degree and everything that can go wrong sooner or later will, that's just the way it is.
That said, I welcome more (relatively) affordable hardware with decent build quality - ofc running Linux distros or whatever else one desires on them would be nice too, as would more repairability.
I had a run of I think 4 laptops that I never paid for. I bought a spendy windows surfacebook back in the day, and opted for the extended warranty. The screen went out about a week before the warranty expired, they couldn't replace the screen, and so refunded me the entire purchase price, plus the cost of the warranty... which then went to the next laptop.
That cycle repeated itself either two or three more times, up to today, and my current laptop is I think going to be the one that finally last long enough that I'll have to actually pay for my next upgrade.
