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nagromme

macrumors G5
Original poster
May 2, 2002
12,546
1,196
Online forums draw people with problems (why bother starting a thread to say that "all's well"?)... so it's easy to think that whatever part of the web you may hang out in must be home to the most troublesome computers on the planet!

Take heart, Mac users--every company ships SOME bad units, but the latest stats in the March '05 issue of Consumer Reports put Apple on top in hardware reliablity AND tech support--for BOTH laptops and desktops--again. Apple has earned the top position year after year in every category, in large-scale, professional surveys. I would say that makes them the best of a bad industry, though :)

Anyway, sometimes it's interesting to look beyond the anecdotes.

FYI, the reliability survey results:


Rate of DESKTOP computers "ever needing a repair or having a serious problem"
(Not rate of DOAs or rate of warranty claims--this includes problems AFTER warranty too.)
Sample size: 69,000 computers from 2000 to 2004, standardized to eliminate differences linked to age and use.

Apple - Best (~ 1 in 8 computers has a problem)
Sony (~ 1 in 6)
Dell (~ 1 in 6)
eMachines (~ 1 in 5)
IBM (~ 1 in 5)
HP (~ 1 in 4.5)
Compaq (~ 1 in 4.5)
Gateway - Worst (~ 1 in 4)


Rate of LAPTOP computers "ever needing a repair or having a serious problem"
(Not rate of DOAs or rate of warranty claims--this includes problems AFTER warranty too.)
Sample size: 57,000 computers from 2000 to 2003, standardized to eliminate differences linked to age and use.

Apple - Best (~ 1 in every 6.25 has a problem)
Toshiba (~ 1 in 6)
Sony (~ 1 in 6)
IBM (~ 1 in 5)
HP (~ 1 in 5)
Dell (~ 1 in 5)
Compaq (~ 1 in 4.5)
Gateway - Worst (~ 1 in 4)


Effectiveness of manufacturer tech support
(Brands not listed had insufficient data. And yes, they mention that IBM is getting out of the business.)
Sample size: 5000 desktops and 4500 laptops, surveyed from 2003 to 2004.

Reader scores:
100 = all customers were "completely satisfied"
80 = "very satisfied" on average
60 = "fairly well" satisfied on average

DESKTOP tech support:
Apple - Best (76)
Dell (57)
Gateway (57)
HP (52)
Compaq - Worst (47)

LAPTOP tech support:
Apple - Best (84)
IBM (69)
Toshiba (58)
Dell (57)
Gateway (55)
HP - Worst (54)


Specific support factors
Four categories rated:
* Solved Problem
* Waiting on Phone
* Support Staff
* Web Support

Rating scale, better to worse: (++) (+) (0) (-) (--)
(Same sample. (?) means insufficient data in that one category.)

DESKTOP tech support categories:
Apple - Best (++) (++) (++) (++)
Gateway (0) (+) (0) (0)
Dell (0) (0) (0) (0)
HP (-) (0) (0) (-)
Compaq - Worst (--) (--) (0) (?)

LAPTOP tech support categories:
Apple - Best (++) (++) (++) (++)
IBM (+) (++) (+) (?)
HP (0) (0) (0) (0)
Dell (+) (-) (-) (0)
Gateway (0) (-) (0) (?)
Toshiba (-) (0) (0) (0)
Sony (--) (-) (-) (?)
Compaq - Worst (-) (--) (-) (-)


Only Apple and IBM did at ALL well in those categories!


PS. The surveys may be professional, but CR's subjective reporting still shows some odd bias here and there, and some factual errors too. They have a sidebar on how bundled software tends to be poor in quality--and mention how you may need to "think again" if you expect to edit movies out of the box--but they make zero mention of iLife! But hey, they've finally stopped complaining that Macs lack floppy drives :)

And they've finally started to touch on how to choose between Mac and Windows. They make a brief (but pretty fair) statement of the advantages of a Mac--and then say that Macs cost hundreds more for the same features (which is often-repeated but clearly untrue unless you single out certain "number" features and ignore things like included expansion ports). But the specific Apple models they rate do score well.
 

Sharewaredemon

macrumors 68020
May 31, 2004
2,014
273
Cape Breton Island
That's great, I'm trying to convince my friends mom to let her get a Mac, do you have a link to a site with all of this information on it as her mom won't believe reading this on a forum.
 

nagromme

macrumors G5
Original poster
May 2, 2002
12,546
1,196
Not online--at least not for free

Your best bet to prove the data--not to mention see it all presented better--is to make a photocopy at the library. It's pages 42 and 43 of the March '05 issue. Cover is a green van and "Big Screen TVs BEST DEALS."

The small Mac vs. Win coverage starts on page 41. You'll also find the sidebar chart there telling how software bundled with Windows machines tends to fall short. In contrast, you can demo iLife '05 :)

And to disprove CR's statement that Macs cost hundreds more, just go here:
http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/editors/2005/01/miniapplesandoranges/index.php

(CR does note that the Mini just came out, and plans a future review of it.)
 

cubixcrayfish

macrumors member
Mar 21, 2004
73
0
My windows machine is a gateway, and it sucked, we had to totally re-install the OS 2 times... and the guy who helped me did not speak english at all, It was so hard to understand him, that bothered me
 

Sharewaredemon

macrumors 68020
May 31, 2004
2,014
273
Cape Breton Island
nagromme said:
Your best bet to prove the data--not to mention see it all presented better--is to make a photocopy at the library. It's pages 42 and 43 of the March '05 issue. Cover is a green van and "Big Screen TVs BEST DEALS."

The small Mac vs. Win coverage starts on page 41. You'll also find the sidebar chart there telling how software bundled with Windows machines tends to fall short. In contrast, you can demo iLife '05 :)

And to disprove CR's statement that Macs cost hundreds more, just go here:
http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/editors/2005/01/miniapplesandoranges/index.php

(CR does note that the Mini just came out, and plans a future review of it.)

Thanks, I'll let her know.
 

joebordenrebel

macrumors newbie
Oct 26, 2005
2
0
I'm like the original Mac Bigot

I've loved Apples since my Apple IIc+, so I go way back with Jobs et al. However, the little company that could is starting to think much like the Evil Empire as of late.

Exhibit A:

I have one of *those* dual-USB 700 mhz iBooks; you know the ones, the illogical-logic board crashing black screen of death ones. My time is drawing nigh on my Thank You Very Much two year warranty extension, but not much has changed. I bought this laptop in January of 2003, its board bombed in February 2004 (but they replaced it because they knew there was a problem, even though it was technically out of its original warranty period of one year), then bombed again in April (?) of 2005, and just bombed for the third time in October of 2005. Now it's all well and good that they've offered me an extended warranty and have shipped it in and out of their servicing plants in a tremendously expeditious manner--usually within one week, all for free. But I'm just looking at this recurring pattern (12 to 14 months, just like all the articles state), and I'm looking at January 2006 being the end of my yellow-brick road, and I'm thinking seriously about just selling this and getting a PowerBook instead.

But I don't want to do that. I'd like this computer to just do what it's supposed to do--that is, work until *I* do something to mess it up or become so feeble that it can no longer run the latest version of Safari, no matter how much RAM I cram into its bay.

So I ask the very nice, polite sounds-like-American-labor (thank God) tech support agent if he could explain to me what's going to be different this time around. He couldn't. So I ask to speak to his supervisor and he tells me his supervisors don't speak to customers (first time I've ever heard that in ANY corporation, either working for or dealing with). So he transfers me to a "Product Specialist" who then proceeds to pick a fight with me and not answer the question. The PS even went so far as to say that there *were* bad logic boards in the supply line before (#s 1 and 2 for me) but that now they *should* be flushed out; therefore, no worries!

I asked to speak to his Sup, too, to which he replied that his Sup is only there to make sure he's at his desk on time and can't speak to any customers either (if his Sup has such a small area of responsibility then it sounds like he ought to have plenty of free time to do something useful for the company).

Anyway, long story short, this is beginning to suck. Any thoughts? I know they really have us over a barrell. What are our choices? The Evil Empire? Linux and all that code/computer geekdom? Right. . .those aren't actually choices for me.

Any chance UMAX is coming back with another clone? I 'd love to see it right about now. . .
 

Sharewaredemon

macrumors 68020
May 31, 2004
2,014
273
Cape Breton Island
Email Steve Jobs about your experience and how you are displeased with the fact that you can't talk to their superior, I think that is silly, and I'm sure Steve would too.

Explain everything you did here and you should get a response.
 

joebordenrebel

macrumors newbie
Oct 26, 2005
2
0
Oh, to be sure. . .

Sharewaredemon said:
Email Steve Jobs about your experience and how you are displeased with the fact that you can't talk to their superior, I think that is silly, and I'm sure Steve would too.

Explain everything you did here and you should get a response.

I'm working on one dilly of a letter for Jobs and all his board members (now that I have my illogical iBook back in hand). Just priced another iBook (powerbooks are still too $$$ for me) and the 12 inchers loaded out are $1,800. Figure I can sell mine for $500 (can it fetch 5 bills on ebay) and that leaves me right back where I started--shelling out 13 c notes for a computer.

I've heard such good tales about we multi-bombing sufferers. . .tales of wonderful upgrades at no charge, compliments of the right-thinking people at Apple. Can such tales really be true? Oh how I want to believe in the Wizard of App.
 
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