Last updated 9/14/24. Previously updated 11/23/23. Original publish date: 12/18/22.
I write a lot of commentary in this article, but if you’d like to jump straight to the best laptops for 2024, click here.
Aside from a car and a smartphone, a laptop or desktop computer is likely to be one of the largest purchases you’ll make. And so it’d be nice to be able to buy one that doesn’t go to subsidize the CCP.
If you Google “laptops not made in China”, you’ll see a lot of blogs (including this one). But even among all of us there are a lot of different recommendations and opinions. Sadly, in many cases, whether due to ignorance or willful misleading, some bloggers will cite brands like Apple and Dell as “not made in China”, which that’s not even close to being true.
Why There’s So Much Confusion Around “Country of Origin” with Computers
I thought this was going to be an easy category to research, but it turned out to be one of the toughest. I thought it’d be easy because there are so many famous non-China brands out there. Asus and Acer are both based in Taiwan. HP and Dell have storied histories in the United States. And yet even though none of them sold ownership of their company to China (as IBM did to Lenovo), all of them appear to rely 100% on China’s supply chain to some degree.
I am especially shocked at how quickly Taiwan-based companies not only allowed China to dominate manufacturing, but seem to be fueling and accelerating the process. I’m shocked because that it’s the CCP’s goal to “unify” Taiwan and China. And make no mistake–“unifying” doesn’t mean “one country, two systems”. Just ask Hong Kong how that went.
That said, there’s more to understanding what goes into your laptop than you can tell from the “Made In” label on the box. I used to be pretty knowledgeable about the PC industry, but I didn’t realize how the landscape has shifted so dramatically in just the last 5 years.
OEM vs. ODM
My knowledge of the personal computer industry dates back to the 1980s. As you might recall from Apple’s infamous “1984” commercial, Apple had it sights set on the IBM PC, but they were clueless back then that their real enemy was Microsoft. Apple kept tight control over its hardware and software designs, while Microsoft allowed its operating systems (first MS-DOS and then Windows) to be used on any hardware. IBM had a short-lived turn as the dominant player in the PC market, but as PC manufacturers like Dell, Gateway, HP built better mousetraps, IBM became just another player. In 2005, IBM sold its PC business to Lenovo, a company headquartered in Beijing.
Something else happened in the 2010s. PC technology became commoditized. Sure, there were still improvements being made to things like processor speed, but the basic construction of the “guts” of a PC was pretty much the same across every brand.
So PC companies that once manufactured their own equipment (Original Equipment Manufacturers, or OEMs) realized they could increase their profits by essentially allowing someone else to design and manufacture their brand’s products. They’d still slap their logo on the product, outfit it with some bells and whistles, and charge a premium price prior to shipping to consumers. But the foundation of the PC itself would be out of their hands and in the hands of an Original Design Manufacturer, or ODM.
Taiwan was at the cutting edge of this trend, and by 2011, 94% of all the world’s PCs started their life being manufactured by a Taiwan-based ODM. If you’ve purchased or used laptops from Acer, Alienware, Apple, Dell, Fujitsu, Gigabyte, HP, Lenovo, NEC, Toshiba, that PC actually was made by a Taiwan-based ODM, with names you probably haven’t heard, like Compal, Quanta, Wistron, Inventec, Pegatron, or Foxconn. In fact, Wiston spun off from Acer, and Pegatron spun off from ASUS.
All of the top ODMs are headquartered in cities like Taoyuan City and Taipei. If you’re not familiar with the difference between Taiwan and China, think of it this way. What if World War II had ended in a stalemate, and Hitler’s Third Reich were allowed to continue ruling one country called “the People’s Republic of Germany” while the current Germany ruled another country called “the Republic of Germany”? And furthermore, let’s say the “People’s Republic of Germany” continued to build their vast armies and asserted that the “Republic of Germany? was theirs and that they would “unify” with them one day, by force if necessary?
That’s pretty much the situation today. Which is why it’s mind-bogglingly crazy what these Taiwanese ODMs did. They moved all their manufacturing from Taiwan to China. Yes, the People’s Republic of China. They could have diversified by looking to other emerging market economies, but they saw cheap labor across the Taiwan Straits in China.
These Taiwan ODMs proceeded to invest billions of dollars into building manufacturing plants in China. It made a certain amount of sense logically. China was offering really cheap labor and resources, and it didn’t hurt that they spoke the same language. And yes, in the short run, the executives who made these decisions will get nice bonuses, and the shareholders of these companies will enjoy some nice profit margins.
But anyone with any understanding of history, especially those who live in Taiwan under the shadow of the People’s Liberation Army, should know that anything that the CCP allows ultimately benefits the CCP. And so while these Taiwan-based firms may think they’re in a equal partnership with China, ultimately the CCP holds the cards.
Some Hope
According to a poster on Quora, Pegatron is moving some of its manufacturing to Indonesia and Vietnam, Wistron to the Philippines, Malaysia, and Vietnam, Compal to Vietnam, and Quanta to Thailand. This is likely mostly due to the tariffs that the Trump Administration placed on China and which are being continued by the Biden Administration having positive effects (if you’re an American, write to your representative and tell them to support the tariffs–because you know the CCP is pouring millions of dollars into lobbying against them).
I do hope some of this movement is also also due to some of these Taiwanese companies waking up and realizing that when you play with a snake, eventually the snake will bite you. But the damage is largely done–there is so much sunk cost entrenched in China from American and Taiwanese firms paying billions to build infrastructure in China that it’ll be difficult to completely break free.
A Chilling Example of What Happens When the CCP Gets Its Feelings Hurt
Have you heard of a PC brand called Gigabyte Technology? It’s a Taiwanese company that makes motherboards, but also makes its own computers.
In May 2021, Gigabyte created a page on its Web site that talked about its products that were made in Taiwan. “Unlike other brands that’ve chosen low-cost, low-quality contract manufacturing in China, Gigabyte is devoted to creating outstanding, high-quality components and laptop computers.” They also touted the fact that 90% of its laptops are made in Taiwan.
Gigabyte was doing what it should be doing in a free market capitalist system–creating advertising that differentiates itself from its competitors. In this case the value proposition was a strong one–we spend more money to manufacture our parts outside of China so you can expect higher quality.
Immediately, the Web site caught the attention of the Community Youth League of China (an organization whose name should send chills down the spines of any student of history who has heard of the Hitler Youth). They posted a screenshot of the Web page to Weibo with a single line: “GIgabyte, where did you get so much courage?” The post was flooded with more taunting remarks. “”You don’t stand a chance any more. Seriously, don’t waste your energy. You have crossed the red line of the central government.”
All of their products disappeared from Chinese e-commerce sites overnight. Their stock price plummeted 20%. Gigabyte immediately took down the page and apologized in language so groveling it rivaled John Cena and LeBron James. They promised to examine themselves and to rectify their wrong actions. They expressed support for the disastrous “One China” policy and berates its “poor internal management”. Heads likely rolled, perhaps not just figuratively. The media didn’t help matters, claiming that Gigabyte “mocked China”. No, it was just marketing.
This is what happens to anyone who crosses the CCP or makes them “lose face”. But from my perspective, their original ad was enough to convince me to put them on the top of the “best laptop not made in China” list.
Best Laptops Not Made in China
1. Gigabyte Aero – Best Overall
I’m not just putting Gigabyte here because they were bullied by the impish Communist Youth League. And I’m not even putting them here just because they are one of those companies who stubbornly refused to move their laptop manufacturing out of Taiwan. I’m putting them here because they make really impressive laptops. And it might be years (if ever) before you can buy a laptop that comes from an ODM that doesn’t have the taint of China manufacturing.
Specifically, Gigabyte has two lines of laptops. The AERO line is geared more to creators (but also suitable for gaming), while the AORUS line is geared more specifically to gamers. I wrote to them in 2022 asking them to confirm which units are made in Taiwan. The answer was both. Here was their response, which I was very happy with. I believe as of today this is still the case.
The AERO series has received rave reviews from industry publications. PC Magazine calls it a “powerhouse content-creation laptop that has the chops to handle everything from animation to AAA gaming.” The Verge calls it an “effective combination of a color-accurate OLED screen, impressive CPU power, and portability”.
The AERO series comes in different configurations, and it’s kind of maddening how their naming conventions over the years have introduced a lot of confusion. Their distribution is also not as clean as it should be; it’s sometimes difficult to find the model you want in the configuration you want. But the key difference in pricing is going to come down to the processing power you want, the graphics card you want, and the display you want. Here’s a quick guide:
Screen Size – The number after AERO refers to its screen size: AERO 17 is a 17″ display, AERO 16 is a 16″ display, AERO 15 is a 15″ display, and AERO 5 is a 15.6 OLED display. Not confusing at all.
Processor – All AERO laptops will use an Intel i9 or Intel i7 processor. The latest models will have 13th generation processors. The highest end are i9-13900H (running at 5.4GHz) and the lower end will use the i7-13700H (running at 5.0GHz). You can still find units with 12th generation processors too.
Video Graphics – AERO laptops use NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 GPU.
Memory and Storage – Typically you’ll see configurations with 16GB to 32GB of memory, and 1TB or 2TB SSDs for storage.
Like I said, their distribution to US retailers is kind of a mess, but if you arm yourself with knowledge you can not only find the unit you want, you can get a pretty good deal.
Best Buy does a nice job of listing out the current models relatively cleanly; the titles of their products show the screen size + the CPU + the memory + the GPU + the hard drive. They sometimes have a hard time keeping things in stock because their prices tend to be competitive.
And then there’s Amazon. Amazon’s listings can be really confusing, with names like GIGABYTE AERO 16 OLED: 16.0″ 16:10 Thin Bezel 4K UHD+ 3840×2400 60Hz OLED, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 GPU 8GB GDDR6, Intel Core i9-13900H, 32GB DDR5 RAM, 1TB SSD, Win11 Pro (AERO 16 OLED BSF-A3US964SP).
But if you know what you’re looking for, you might find a pretty good price. If you can find a model Shipped and Sold from Amazon.com, grab it. Otherwise, I’d suggest going to one of the other retailers above.
2. Framework
Here’s a new laptop company that’s taking the tech world by storm. The Verge calls it “one of the most exciting notebooks we’ve ever seen”. Wired says it’s “one of those machines almost everyone should buy”. CNET says “it was designed from the ground up to be as customizable, upgradable, and reparable as technologically possible. That’s a lot of -able, and boy does it deliver”. PC World says “Come for the repairable, upgradeable design and swappable ports. Stay for the great screen and powerful processor”.
The concept behind Framework is revolutionary, but it shouldn’t be.
There used to be a time when, if you owned a computer, you could upgrade it or repair it yourself. The computer makers made it easy to get inside and add memory, swap a hard drive, or even upgrade graphics cards and processors.
Then companies, in the name of “making things easy” started locking down their computers. If something broke, no problem, just bring it in and we’ll swamp out another one. You’d better just hope you make it one day before the warranty ends. Or better yet, buy “AppleCare” because you know it’s going to break. And don’t even think about expanding the memory or the hard drive, or having a charged battery that you could swap out (remember those?)
A few years ago my MacBook broke (outside of warranty, of course). The keyboard kept repeating, the battery puffed up, and the monitor went dead. I attempted to repair it myself, but Apple clearly designed it so that even the simplest part couldn’t be repaired or swapped out without the whole thing collapsing like a house of cards.
Framework’s philosophy isn’t to lock down its systems so that you need to take it to an oxymoronic “Genius” in a polo shirt. They designed their whole laptop so that parts could be swapped in and out modularly. Broken keyboard? Swap it out. Need more memory? Just add more. Screen cracked? Just replace it. Outdated processor? Swap in a new one. Need more hard drive space? Buy one from any online retailer and put it in.
There are a lot of things to love.
They chose Taiwan as the place where they assemble their laptops. Taiwan is also where they manufacture the mainboard and major subassemblies.
As for the modules, each is labeled clearly with its country of origin. Many are made in China, but at least there’s more transparency about it than with usual laptops. And you have the option of buying your own memory, power adapter, and storage, all of which can be not made in China.
3. VAIO Laptops
If you haven’t been able to keep up with the changes in the laptop world in the past years, no one can blame you.
One of the bigger changes happened in 2014, when Sony exited the personal computer business. A new company named Vaio (named after Sony’s line of laptops) was spun out of Sony and sold (although Sony remains a minority stakeholder and still retains the intellectual property rights of the Vaio brand). The new company could do something Sony never could—focus. The new company wisely retained much of the engineering talent, and wisely put the focus back on engineering great products rather than the market share land grab that Sony had tried unsuccessfully to do. And very wisely, they kept their manufacturing in Japan. They initially limited their market to Japan only, but has since started expanding internationally again.
But as with Gigabyte, you won’t see Vaio’s name plastered all over the marketplace, as they focus more on actual differentiation through their products than through their marketing.
While the VAIO is an excellent computer, and extremely popular in Japan, it’s had some challenges getting American distributors (mainly because other laptop companies pour tons of money into making sure they show up on top of Amazon, Adorama, Best Buy, etc.)
The good news is that VAIO USA (run by Trans Cosmos American in California, whom Vaio has tapped to do their distribution) has set up a Web site where you can buy directly from them. Even better, their Web site has a whole page talking about their Japanese manufacturing.
When I chatted with VAIO, they confirmed the following
- Their top-of-the line SX Series is made in Japan – I was able to corroborate this across multiple sources.
- Their F Series is made in Taiwan – I had a hard time confirming this, but this is what I was told.
- As for their cheapest models, the “FE Series”, I was told “we need to check the manufactured country with the backend team”. I think we all know what that means.
If you’re looking for solid Japanese construction over a China-made laptop that’s built for obsolescence, you’ll want to check Vaio out.
4. Panasonic Toughbook FZ-55
Panasonic produces four models of Toughbook laptops. They’re appropriately named. They’re specially designed for use in tough environments where they may need to withstand a lot of rough treatment. They’re generally available only through B2B channels for industries such as governmental agencies, public safety agencies, utilities, field service organizations, and construction. But some enterprising third party sellers do sell them to the public via Amazon.
At a time when made-in-China laptops are literally disintegrating before our eyes, it’s refreshing to see this kind of engineering, from the rock-solid display, to a case that protects from water and debris.
These are still made in Kobe, Japan. Here’s a fascinating video from a few years ago that shows their factory in Kobe for one of their older models. They’ve only gotten more powerful and more durable since.
5. Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro 360
Back in 2020, Samsung announced that it was closing its last PC factory in China, on the heels of when it stopped making smartphones in China. Given Apple’s and Foxconn’s woes in China since, this will go down in history as an incredibly prescient move.
Surely enough, when I first published this article in 2021, there were Galaxy Book2 Pro laptops being made in South Korea (for the South Korean market) and in Vietnam (for the rest of the world).
Today, the reality is much more muddled. Samsung doesn’t divulge country of origin of its products on its Web site, which in my opinion is foolish, as thousands of consumers would gladly buy from them if they knew they didn’t make things in China. I had to go to Samsung’s site in India, where they have to tell consumers the country of origin (a law that needs to be passed here in the US). Sure enough, it does say that the Book4 is made in Vietnam.
As long as Samsung is being coy, you should reach out to them to have them confirm that the model you’ll be buying is not made in China. It’s likely that some are still being made in China, but clearly some are being made in Vietnam as well.
6. System76 Linux DESKTOP
Last, but certainly not least, is System76.
I originally didn’t include them because I figured the market for laptops with the Linux OS is limited (most people prefer Windows or MacOS). I also didn’t include them originally because while many of their desktop systems and their keyboards are made in Denver, they are very tight-lipped about where their other products and their components come from. It took a bunch of Redditors to figure out that they outsource production of their laptops to China. Specifically, a Taiwanese company called Clevo manufactures the parts in China (which is only their mortal enemy set on conquering them and subjugating them to communist rule, but other than that they’re fine) and sends the parts to the US to be assembled so that System76 can say it’s “assembled in the USA”.
What’s most ironic is that the “76” in System76’s name is based on “1776”, the year of the American revolution, implying that they’re introducing a new level of independence by creating open source systems that don’t lock you into the Windows or Mac or Google ecosystems. But it seems that even they can’t avoid China for their laptops.
And so while I do not recommend their laptops until they can be a little more transparent about country of origin, I will put a plug in for their desktop systems and their keyboards as long as they continue to make them in the US. Granted, like the systems above, many of the components are made in China (which is why that can’t fully say “made in the USA”), but give them points for trying.
Do you know of other laptops that have avoided the China trap? Let us know in the comments!
- Tags:
- computers
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- Laptops
Thanks a lot! Was trying to find this out on my own but I doubt that I would have managed to avoid the “Made in China” had it not been for your article!
Unfortunately, Vaio use parts manufactured in China.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Technology/Vaio-doubles-PC-production-with-supply-chains-reconnected
Yes, as I alluded to in my cell phone article (https://notochina.org/best-cell-phones-not-made-in-china/) it’s difficult to avoid electronics where at least some of the parts are made in China, especially cheap components. If I’m reading this article properly, Vaio relies on China for parts like LCDs, circuit boards, and connectors.
There are a few things that make me feel better about getting an “Assembled in Japan” product. First, it supports workers in Japan, not China. Second, the CCP can’t be tempted to sneak some firmware into the system. Third, at least some of the profit is not going to fund the CCP. And fourth, just these few brands represent the thin line keeping China from complete dominance of the PC manufacturing market.
But thanks for the comment–I hope one day we can find a laptop where no part touches China soil.
Probably, its mechanical parts like housings are made in China as you said, but the model type Z has been designed and assembled in Nagano, Japan as far as I know. It’s fair to say that It’s not made in China considering the fact that there are “OEM models”, which are assembled in China.
Unfortunately, as of 16 Dec 2021, GIGABYTE manufactures also in Chinese cities Ningbo and Dongguan.
Except from https://www.gigabyte.com/About :
Excellent Manufacturing
Based in Nanping in Taoyuan, Ningbo, and Dongguan, GIGABYTE’s production lines are both in good supply and quality rating, and the constant renewals of equipment and automation adaptations ensure innovation and a high standard of quality control
China and Taiwan are pretty much the same thing. The mainland is Peoples Republic of China and Taiwan the Republic of China!
Thanks for your comment, cloudy lemonade. Although I need to correct you a bit…
China and Taiwan could not be more different.
Starting in 1912, there was one China, called the Republic of China. It had one Nationalist government and one army.
In 1949, Mao’s Communists decided to wage civil war, and they attacked and defeated the Nationalist Army (a particularly sleazy move, because Mao’s forces were well-rested while the Nationalist army was decimated from fighting the brutal Japanese Imperial army). Mao took over mainland China, while the Nationalists fled to the island of Taiwan and established the Republic of China there.
Mao decided to rename mainland China the People’s Republic of China to differentiate himself from the Republic of China and to commemorate the communists’ takeover of China. But neither side ever surrendered to the other, which is why you have a 72 year stalemate that continues to today. The United States has been the #1 reason why China has not invaded Taiwan–when President Carter switched official recognition from the ROC to the PRC, Congress (thank God) passed some laws committing the USA to defending Taiwan.
Mao ruled mainland China with communist and socialist principles that resulted in the death and suffering of millions, through incompetence like The Great Leap Forward and tyranny like The Cultural Revolution. To this date, they have continued a deplorable record of human rights, from crushing protesters in Tienanmen Square, to outlawing freedom of religion and speech, to breaking its promises to keep Hong Kong free, to genocide of Uyghur Muslims, to allowing COVID-19 to escape its borders while locking down its own, to the most recent “disappearance” of tennis star Peng Shuai.
In the meantime, the Republic of China thrived and became one of the world’s leading economies. In recent years, they have moved to become a full-fledged democracy, with respect for human rights and freedom.
In a series of idiotic moves, American presidents from Nixon to Carter to Bush to Clinton gave recognition and most favored nation status to China despite its continued atrocities. They assumed that opening “free trade” to China would bring liberalism to China. But they didn’t count on the Chinese Communist Party controlling every aspect of this “free trade”. And China has taken advantage of the USA’s naivety, by having their huge population provide cheap (borderline slave) labor to US corporations, who breathlessly throw all of their manufacturing to China, too greedy to realize that they are trading away their companies and their industries for their higher stock prices and bonuses.
China would like nothing more than your statement to be true. They want to wait until the United States becomes so fat and lazy that it stands quiet while the People’s Liberation Army goes and “liberates” Taiwan. They want Congress to be so filled with people who are so rich from China’s money that they don’t say a word when that happens. Will it come to that? Let’s pray that it doesn’t, and let’s vote in representatives who still value freedom and democracy over their own personal riches.
So no, China and Taiwan are not the same thing 🙂 China is as different to Taiwan as Nazi Germany was to the Federal Republic of Germany or that Imperial Japan was to today’s Japan.
You have an excellent record of true history of Ccp.
I appreciate that you have this as part of your reply. I will say the difference between the Chinese Citizens of Taiwan values and economy and the chinese Citizens of China values and economy show the difference in only 70 yrs of Ccp domination . Clearly freedom dominates a Dictatorship.
Despite the Ccp of China given preferred business status including all the tax breaks and a further 25 yrs of continual gifted billions of dollars under Thirld World Country assistance program. Ccp is using the monies on making machines of war to attack the very Nations that helped them.
Well said thanks for setting the record straight for cloudy lemonade. Hopefully they update their world view.
Bravo! Well said. Sadly, the U.S. is probably a less freedom-respecting nation than Taiwan today.
Thank you for this reply. It is well worth the time it must have taken you to write it.
Thanks for this reply. This is a great summary – perhaps you could call it an elevator pitch – of the problematic history that has led to where we are today. I encourage readers to take this short description of post war China-Taiwan conflict as a springboard from which to do further research. Look up things that Steve has referred to. Look up Great Leap Forward, The Cultural Revolution, and China’s One child only policy. The steps that Mao and the CCP’s taken to solidify and maintain their authoritarian grip on power are chilling to say the least.
Excellent Summary. Concise, comprehensive and very much to the point. Unfortunately may in the U.S. are unaware of this history and these facts. Our leaders have certainly not helped in this regard.
“China is as different to Taiwan as Nazi Germany was to the Federal Republic of Germany or that Imperial Japan was to today’s Japan”
Exactly !!
China and Taiwan are not remote the same thing.
Very, very cloudy.
cloudy lemonade has not set his/her foot on China and Taiwan. They cant be more different countries. Taiwan is a free country with democratic elected government where China is a autoritharian dictatorship that allow no freedom to his own people and neither to their declared enemies. (like Taiwan)
Except the fact that one is healthy functioning democracy & the other a murderous dictatorial hegemony.
Except one is a functioning healthy democracy & the other a murderous dictatorial hedgmony bent on ethnic cleansing world domination
Taiwan and China are not the same things. If you’re chinese 50 cent army bot good luck trying to fool those who know a bit more. If you’re not, read more before posting bs like this.
Not
Actually, I think Cloudy Lemonade’s statement is awesome, as it gave opportunity to show the history of Taiwan in face of China. A lot of people don’t know while there are some of us still around who remember the evolution of the two.
Its frustrating to look for any item on the market and not see a ‘made in China’ sticker. I
d almost take any product over them. `
Wow, ignorance reigns, Taiwan is nothing like China, it’s a democracy with all the rights like in the US based on a free market economy.
Thanks for you thorough article about laptops NotMadeInChina. 🙂🙏👍🇩🇰.
I always try to buy products in Denmark that are Not Made In China. But like in most countries about 80-90% of all non-food products sold in Denmark come from China. So it has taken me months and years to find the right products. Luckely I am like a dog with a bone. I don’t give up 😄.
The past maybe 10 years I have only bought Samsung phones and this year I switch away from my old HP laptop and buy a Samsung laptop too. And here your article is agreat help.
Last year I found a Dutch mobilephone brand where you could upgrade all parts easy by your self. But it turned out that it too was all made in China. So that was not for me.
If you’re an actively political user like me -with only small means, then you can still find lots of items, but you need to look actively. Ofcourse it also depends on whether products in your country are required to label with ‘produced in’ or not.
Thanks for the report, Hardy. My understanding is that some of components are made in China, but that laptops are still substantially manufactured in Taiwan. But I’ll reach out to Gigabyte to confirm that this has not changed.
To your point, it’s troubling that on their About Us page they (of all companies) seem to lump Taiwanese and Chinese cities together–a year ago this same part of their Web site read “Based in Taiwan and China (Ningbo and Dongguan)”.
One wonders if Gigabyte had to remove any reference on their Web site to Taiwan being autonomous from China as “penance” for the incident above–and in order to preserve their access to cheap China labor. If so, this is a chilling development indeed.
Let’s see what Gigabyte comes back with. They may be toeing a very delicate line here.where they can’t piss off the thin-skinned CCP.
Did you ever get a reply from Gigabyte? I need a laptop and am trying to get one made in Taiwan.
Does anyone know where MSI manufactures their stuff? I know they’re a Taiwan-based company, and something I read about them a little while back gave me the impression that they made at least a significant portion of their products there. But now I’m seeing vague hints that at least some of their stuff is made in China, though I have not been able to find any hard info on this.
I have a new MSI, I bought it after I was assured it was made in Taiwan, it’s NOT, Made in China.
From what I have seen, Samsung laptops are now made in Vietnam.
Where are the Linux laptops like those of System76? System76 is a manufacturer in the USA specializing in Linux with their Linux distribution, PopOS!, based upon Ubuntu. Their manufacturing if I recall correctly is in Colorado or San Francisco, one of the two areas.
Unfortunately, this is not true. I just purchased a System 76 with PopOS! and thought it was Made in America per website. Upon unboxing (professional) it stated Made in China and Assembled in USA. Therefore, System76 is Made in China as well. I’ve started the return process. The company is professional and I hope that they read this and find it with good intent. However, with neurotechnology chips embedded in Made in China hardware, the risk is too great to purchase anything Made in China with the neurotech attack on the world, not just America.
I am a proud owner of a system, 76 desktop computer. It has worked very reliably, and it is lacking many of the headaches that I find with Microsoft and Apple products, pushing their agendas and products on you. I hope they can manage to source more from other countries than China.
I was really disappointed to find out that Lenovo is a Chinese company. I bought my old Chromebook from school several years ago, and it is now a bit more than 6 years old, and works better than my mom’s newer hp. It was an N22, and I dropped it many times and it never stopped working. The battery life is incredible too. I just lost it, and I need to get a new one because it will stop working in Jun when Google stops automatically updating it, which I think is a bunch of bogus. I went online to look for a good computer that will last a long time, and one not made in China. I do not have the money for one of the computers mentioned above, I want a workhorse that has a good battery life, and one where the company does not make it impossible to use after a while. I do not game, and the 4GB memory with 16GB eMMC flash memory worked for me, more would be nice, but not necessary. Any suggestions?
I just learned the same about Lenovo and am so disappointed.
Have you found a solution for replacing your computer with a non-made in China option? If so, I would much appreciate learning about it.
Thank you very much!
Unfortunately it’s practically impossible to avoid China 100%; the country of origin label doesn’t capture where all the components that go into a product are made, just where the final product is assembled. So even a “Made in Taiwan” laptop may have lots of parts of China. That said, it’s a start.
This list still represents the only computer brands I can find who are able to even put a “Made In” label on their product that’s not China. I’ll keep adding to it as I find more!
Just bought a Gigabyte laptop because this site said it was NOT MADE IN CHINA. It arrived today and is stamped MADE IN CHINA?!?!?!?!?!?
This is extremely disturbing to hear, especially given all the assurances from Gigabyte that their latest models are made in Taiwan.
Can you confirm which model you received (AERO 16, AERO 17, AORUS 15, AORUS 17, AORUS 17X) and that it was the latest chipset (Intel 12th Gen)?
The only thing I can think of is that maybe someone sent you an older model or you received a counterfeit. In either case, I would suggest you send it back and contact Gigabyte directly. They should be able to point you to a reputable retailer that sells the latest model that’s made in Taiwan.
If they give you the run-around, please post back here and I will have some serious words to say to them.
There are lower end series Gigabyte G. They have “Made in China” label on the back, you can check it on the marketplace websites posting actual product pictures.
The same for Vaio FE as sold by Walmart. Here is new “Made in China” sticker in FCC application:
electric.garden/e-s-international-enterprises-2aype/laptop-vwnr15amd
I doubt you can avoid China if you are looking for a regular commodity laptop. I think you need to update the text to make it clear it applies to specific more expensive models not to the whole product line of the brands. Then who knows how much of the product value is actually created outside of mainland China with final assembly elsewhere.
Hi Rich. Thanks so much for your comments. Sadly, you’re right that it’s nearly impossible at this point for a manufacturer to stay completely out of China.
No matter how principled a company might be, it’s simply impossible today to compete in a world where workers in China are paid slave wages and work in subhuman conditions, all with not just the approval but the encouragement of the centralized government.
It’s true that Gigabyte does a lot of business in China (they would never have been able to be bullied into silence if that weren’t the case). But I am pleasantly surprised at how they’ve been able to keep so much of their flagship models out of the CCP’s influence. I was a bit surprised to hear what you said about Vaio, but it’d make sense if they needed to mass produce some of their cheaper models in China just to stay competitive.
The one brand I’m more and more impressed by is Samsung. I’m shocked at how they’ve been able to diversify so many of their product lines out of China and still maintain high quality and competitive prices. Let’s hope others follow suit, especially as the CCP in its current arrogance continues to rattle its sabers.
Nice work done. What can be said about keyboards, mouses, or gaming chairs? I have tried quite hard but no luck…
Where are the legions of neckbeards and entrepreneurs now that we need them more than ever? If any of you are out there reading this, I’m calling you out. You guys are supposed to stand for something. And for how many years you have sat by and reaped the glory of being wiz kids while contributing absolutely nothing of tangible meaning to the change and philosophy you claim to love so much.
It was bad enough when the news articles started coming out talking about how insecure open source really had gotten simply because nobody actually paid attention. And now here we are, the free world under attack by China, after a pandemic (bad enough none of you stood up during chip shortages) and yet you still sit there stuffing your face with hot pockets doing nothing.
I think I speak for everyone here when I say DO SOMETHING! Put your hardware and software knowledge to use and get us away from China. Legions of nerds, I’m calling YOU out! GET UP!
Help me Obi Wan Kenobi!
Hi Steve.
After reading your article about these laptops ‘Not Made In China’, I chose to buy the Samsung Galaxy Book2 here in Denmark last week. When I got it home and looked at the back of it, look and behold … it is marked …
Made in China.
This is to put it mildly very dissapointing 😭. So now I have to send it back.
I have however now written to the Samsung Support team and asked them to specify which Samsung laptop models that are for sale in Denmark and that are ‘Not Made in Chine/PRC’ and I have 2 weeks of testing time before I have to give it back.
Keep up the good work.
Thank you for the information, Knud. Very disappointing indeed. I thought that Samsung was leading the way to divest from China manufacturing, but it seems that even they are keeping one foot in the China hole to service certain markets. You did the right thing: complain to them, let them know WHY you are sending it back, and make sure THEY pay for the return shipping and restocking.
I will be refreshing this article shortly, so I’ll take a closer look at the newest laptops on the market, preferably those who are consistently not made in China and don’t play games with serving some markets from China and others from other places.
Here’s some more info about VAIO. They are the smallest company on this list, because their only business is laptops, whereas the other options on this list are much bigger companies. Gigabyte is close, they make laptops and desktops, but I have a reason that I still prefer VAIO, which is mentioned below. Anyways, In the US, VAIO sells the SX series and the FE series. The SX is made in Japan, the FE is made in China. Globally, they also sell the E and SE series which are both also made in China. In Japan, they also sell the F series and S series which are “made in China, finished in Japan.” Some variants are fully made in China. With that being said, some variants of the S13 and S15, as well as the now-discontinued (I think) S11 are made in Japan. With that being said, the SX12 and SX14 are made in Japan. In addition, the Pro PJ and Pro PK (business versions of the SX12 and SX14) and Pro PG (the business version of the S13) are made in Japan. The Pro PH (the business version of the S15), Pro BK and Pro BM (the business versions of the F14 and F16) are made in China. The VAIO Z (and the business version, the Pro Z), which was made in Japan, is currently discontinued, making their SX series the flagship line. The SX series has higher-end options only available in Japan. Now, I haven’t received any of this information directly from VAIO. It’s just what I’ve seen printed on the labels of various VAIO laptops made in the last 4 years being sold on sites like eBay, Yahoo Auctions Japan, and Mercari Japan. The reason I didn’t ask VAIO is because I was already certain that their SX series were made in Japan, so I just bought one of those because I wanted their highest-end product. I decided to buy a VAIO because I still think they’re the best when it comes to avoiding China. The sheer volume of products they make is lower than the other companies on this list, and they evidently do care about Japanese manufacturing, as they’re always bragging about it. Just so you know, their mice, power cables, and certain internal components are made in China, but this is the case with any computer brand on the face of the Earth.
Their leather cases for the SX12 and SX14 are made in Japan from Italian leather. I didn’t want to buy a Samsung as their laptops are made in Vietnam (and that’s not for all markets, as you can see in a comment someone else left, theirs was made in China), which is still a communist country allied with China. Also, they are very large and kind of “own” South Korea, which is dystopian. I didn’t buy a Gigabyte because they’re an OEM, which presumably means that the laptops they make in China are made there in their own factories, meaning they have closer socioeconomic ties to China than a company like VAIO who outsources their Chinese-made products (not to mention that Gigabyte buckled under pressure from China, whereas a company like VAIO has more freedom to speak out against China should they choose to). Now, I still reccomend Samsung when they’re the only option not made in China. For instance, I bought my external SSD from them. But know that they make plenty of stuff in China, too, like powerbanks (by the way, I’ve never seen a powerbank not made in China). There’s also a multitude of brands who assemble their laptops in the USA, the best of which is arguably Falcon Northwest, but they just use cheap chasis made in China by Clevo or Tongfang (which include the motherboard and display), as do all the others because those are the only two companies making bare-bones laptop chasis for assembly by other companies, so even though the assembly is done here, the low-quality chassis could ruin an otherwise good laptop. That’s the case with my current laptop, which is made in China. I got it back when I thought there was no way around buying technology made in China. Now I realize that although that’s probably true, choosing the lesser of the evils is the best option. But anyways, it’s an MSI GS65 Stealth, and admittedly it works well, but the screen broke off after only a couple years with no misuse because it’s so poorly built. (Turns out the hinges are glued to the lid.) That’s why I recently purchased a Vaio because even though they do make stuff in China, the fact that they’re a smaller company means less actual money is going to China, plus a company like Falcon Northwest with zero vertical integration is probably paying Clevo more for their chasis (and the manufacturers of the other internal components) than VAIO is paying their suppliers for their components. I needed a second laptop to take to college with me and use in class where I can’t have my battery-guzzling MSI plugged in all the time. (VAIO is known for good battery life.)
Just so everyone knows, none of VAIO’s offerings have dedicated graphics cards. I do graphic design, so my VAIO probably won’t totally replace my MSI which does have a graphics card, so if that one ever breaks down, I’d probably bite the bullet and go with a Falcon Northwest. If you’re in such a predicament, I’d reccomend you either get a Falcon Northwest or a Gigabyte, although for Gigabyte, you’d have to make sure it’s not one of their made in China models. The reason I say Falcon Northwest is because they are one of the only boutique PC companies to engineer their own cases when it comes to their desktop offerings, and those cases are made in Taiwan. Other companies with a similar laptop business don’t put as much effort into their desktop business, which I think reflects well on Falcon Northwest (they’re also the oldest such company in the business). To everyone else wanting a normal laptop, I think VAIO is probably the best option. Mine hasn’t come yet, but I bought one from Japan using a proxy service because VAIO Japan actually lets you choose a US keyboard if you so desire on certain (mostly higher-end) models, which allows me to get a better model than are available in the US but still with a US keyboard.
As you can see, some of VAIO’s laptops are made in China while others are made in Japan. In the interest of full disclosure, just know that every product page on VAIO’s Japan website touts Japanese manufacturing, which leads me to believe that none of their current range sold in Japan is fully made in China, with some being merely finished in Japan and others being made there entirely. But as a reminder, the FE sold here is made in China.
For the sake of completeness, I would include Fujitsu on this list. They don’t sell laptops in the US (directly) but they are sold in Europe. I’m not sure none of their laptops are made in China, but all of the ones I’ve seen have been made in either Japan or Germany, depending on the model. With that being said, they are a very large company with many interests, plus, their computer business is 51% owned by Lenovo, who are Chinese. I personally decided that was worse than VAIO, whose leadership are in Japan but who outsource certain models to China, because Fujitsu wouldn’t have the freedom to speak out against China whereas VAIO would.
I highly recommend Framework! They make laptops that are designed to be easily repaired or upgraded. They manufacture in Taiwan, and even wrote a blog post last year about their manufacturing network.
Trouble is, with a basic price of 970,-for the DIY model, they’re still not too well equipped so I’d have to invest about 1200,- to 2000,-. I’m into DIY for desktop models because it saves money and I can choose the mainboard and other components from a huge list. So when I heard about open source laptops I thought okay let’s get one but to see what I get for this price really drove me off.
Gigabyte Aorus 15 2023 models are made in China.
So the non-x 15 with 13th gen intel cpus at least.
Do not trust this list!
Whoa! Kind of harsh with your last sentence there, Joonas!
I’m just one guy, and I try to keep these lists updated as best I can with whatever information I have at the time I write them.
If you (or anyone) sees any information on any page that’s not accurate, I welcome you to make a comment. I’d ask you please to not just provide more accurate information, but more importantly to cite your source. This will help me in the future to identify more sources for information.
Hurling invectives doesn’t really help anyone, and it definitely doesn’t do anything to encourage me to continue this work (and in case you’re wondering, the money I make on this site is barely enough to pay for the server costs alone, much less my own time in researching, writing, and publishing it).
Here’s a reply I got from Gigabyte when I asked. Noteworthy that no new laptops(13th gen) are in that list so it looks like they moved all production to China?
We are not sure if you have any laptop range or model name that we can narrow down and confirm the information for you. Currently, below laptop series are made in Taiwan.
AORUS 17 (Intel 12th Gen)
AORUS 15 (Intel 12th Gen)
AORUS 15(Intel 11th Gen)
AORUS 17G(Intel 11th Gen)
AORUS 17X(Intel 11th Gen)
AERO 17 (Intel 12th Gen)
AERO 16(Intel 12th Gen)
AERO 15 OLED(Intel 11th Gen)
AERO 17 HDR (Intel 11th Gen)
Ps. Samsung galaxy book 3(the basic models) sold in Finland are also made in china.
Have you ever considered making this an open-source forum, i.e., allowing others (trusted by you or the community) to update the list?
Hi LeeZ,
Thanks for the suggestion! I actually did set up a forum here where anyone in the community can suggest products and improvements to my lists. It hasn’t been used a lot, so I ended up using it mainly to post “quick finds” or the results of research I’ve done that didn’t quite make it yet to one of these “best of” lists. If you have anything to share, you’re absolutely welcome to chime in there, especially to correct older posts that I may not have had a chance to update yet; aside from posting a comment, the forum would be the quickest way to get my attention.
https://notochina.org/forum/
Some long-time members of our community have written guest posts (one of our best articles is from Paul, who wrote a great piece on tools). If anyone else has the interest to do that, I’d definitely welcome more of that as well!
I wonder where Sharp laptops are made because I heard they took over Toshiba’s Laptop production and concentrate on the top models. Toshiba was the world’s leading manufacturer when Laptops were still sold by quality and not by price, but later lost against the cheapo-products.
At the beginning of the year, I was looking for a new laptop in computer stores in Tallinn (Estonia) that didn’t have a “Made in China” label.
The only reasonably priced laptop I found and bought was the Gigabyte Aero 15. No regrets, great computer.
I live in the UK and years back I was walking round my local Homebase store (which is a UK chain of DIY/home improvement stores) and I was picking up items at random. One had “Made in England” written on the packaging, but all the rest were made in China.
It’s incredibly hard to find stuff these days that’s not made in China, and as you say even if a laptop isn’t made in China, it doesn’t mean the laptop doesn’t contain some components that WERE made in China.
Better labelling would be a good start, but also companies with principles that are prepared to make smaller profits (or less large profits anyway) in order to provide products that 100% have nothing to do with China.
It would also be good if open source hardware became widespread. This means people could download instructions on how to build something from scratch.
I recently bought an Asus laptop on Amazon, (wrongly) assuming it wouldn’t have been made in China, but it was. It also quickly overheated after turning it on, despite claiming to have a good cooling system, so I’m in the process of returning it. UPS should be coming round today to pick it up.
One final point, buying second hand is an option. Even if the laptop was made in China, you’re not giving China any money by buying a second-hand Chinese laptop.
If a company manufactures domestic models in a domestic factory and manufactures export models in a foreign factory, workers in the home country might mistakenly assume all are made in the same factory, and not realize that export models are made in a foreign factory.
Steve, any idea what laptops are not made in China AND use Nvidia rather than intel?
Steve, thank you so much for putting in the work to get this information. I’m hoping much hasn’t changed since this was originally published and I’m not sure if there’s any new information but I am really trying to purchase Laptop not made in China and ideally, fully made in the USA. One is allowed to dream, correct? I’m looking into purchasing a Gigabyte Aero Based on your recommendation, but I’m not sure if anything has changed since this was last updated which is a little bit ago. Do you have any information. For now I see one available on Amazon because the other site as you mentioned is having difficulty keeping it in stock but I’m wondering if it’s worth waiting because at this point, I don’t know what’s considered competitive pricing for the product so I have some more work to do..
Thank you to Steve for doing all the research that went in to this site, and to others who have provided useful updates and recent experience. It highlights the questions everyone should be asking when researching this area. As all the comments highlight, things move fast and change very quickly in the business world, so this kind of information needs to be re-researched and updated at least annually. Sorry Steve!
Last week I was researching TVs with as minimal content not made in the PRC, and this week it is laptops. TVs are almost the same as PCs as the manufacturers overlap, and the business model is the same, i.e. commoditised parts, with some design and intellectual property rights held by the original company.
No company wants to say anything about where they manufacture, even if their China production is minimal, for obvious reasons.
To comment on just a few:
Toshiba did sell to Sharp, who outsourced to Taiwanese FoxConn and been owned by them for some years now. FoxConn most certainly have a big manufacturing operation in China.
In Asia, Japan Industrial Partners (JIP) who own Vaio Corporation in 2018 licenced the manufacture, sales, marketing and servicing of laptops to Nexstgo Company Limited, who are based in Kowloon, Hong Kong. i.e. PRC. They don’t refer to China as a place they conduct operations, but do refer to Hong Kong and Macau, which we know are parts of China.
The difficulty we have as consumers is not knowing what percentage of an appliance is manufactered in China (assuming the design etc is done elsewhere), and of course finding a NMIC appliance that meets our spec requirements.
You can’t trust much you see online. If possible, even you eventually buy online, I think a smart move is to go to one of your local stores and look on the laptop/TV yourself, but we have to be prepared to find the not made (predominantly) in China models to be not quite what we are looking for. It is a shame that the Taiwanese manufacturers have by and large capitulated to manufacturing so much in China. It is understandable though, as listed companies tend to behave the same the world over.
Retailers and manufacturers and band owners could be compelled in each market to explicitly say on their websites where their products are made on a percentage basis, but of course politicians are complicit in not wanting to rock China’s boat. They think that cosying up with such a nasty totalitarian regime is a price worth paying if it means lower prices/inflation. Sadly, consumers who are interested in these wonderfully researched sites (and read and write overly wordy comments – sorry everyone!) are in a minority.
I live in Tokyo much of the time, but my TV was for the UK. I did research with Currys (a large electrical retailer) and they were extremely defensive and patronising when I asked on their webschat the simple question where some of their Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese brands were manufactered. Instead of honestly saying that they either couldn’t say or wouldn’t, I got a copy and paste of the different companies’ corporate history. When I patiently repeated my question they cut me off. I went with a local independent retailer instead.
As for laptops, I am undecided. But the more we can all tell our retailers how important place/percentage of manufacturer is (and ownership/design/intellectual property rigjts etc) is the better.
Thanks for the list and effort. I almost bought a Gigbyte from Amazon but was not able to verify their gen13 laptops are still made in Taiwan.
I got the following response from Amazon
“Based on the product information, it does not specify where this laptop is manufactured.”
Hey Just some info about Gigabyte electronics, they do still have parts and components manufactured and sourced in China. In my opinion you would have to compare the supply chains of other Taiwan based assembled laptops like Asus and Acer to really have more of an impact on eliminating your $’s going to China
https://easytechsolver.com/is-gigabyte-made-in-china/
What about Asus and Acer? Afaik these are companies based in Taiwan