PCs are becoming more reliable according to IT advisory group Gartner. According to Gartner annual failure rates for PCs have reduced by 25% over the last two years, potentially reducing downtime and cutting repair and replacement costs.

According to Gartner’s research, laptops are three times more likely to fail within the first year after purchase than desktops. For desktops, problems with motherboards and hard drives are the most common source of failures. While these issues also affect laptops, there are also the added risks of problems with the chassis, the keyboard and the screen.

Leslie Fiering, research vice president at Gartner, predicts that there will be additional pressure on CIOs to spot problems with faulty PCs. “CFOs will want assurances that the equipment they finance is not going to result in downtime for their employees,” she says. Gartner advises companies to perform diligent quality checks and to verify the vendor’s problem resolution processes, during the selection of suppliers.

To date, PC manufacturers have been reluctant to disclose the failure rates of their equipment, and Gartner has based its research on a number of sources, including warranty repair providers.