Apple desktop most reliable says CR

[lexvo]

"Consumer Reports on Wednesday put out a big survey of thousands of desktop users and found that Apple’s (AAPL) desktops were the least likely to need serious repairs. According to the survey, just 7% of Apple desktop users reported having major repair needs for their machines, followed by 10% of HP (HPQ) desktop owners, 11% of Dell (DELL) desktop users and 13% of Gateway users. Consumer Reports says it conducted its survey by asking “readers who bought 8,007 desktops from 2009 through the first half of 2012 about their experiences.”
http://www.bgr.com/2012/08/15/mac-pc-reliability-study-consumer-reports-survey/

While this might be nice to hear, I don't think 7% is a small number regarding serious repairs. It would mean that 1 out of 14 Macs needs a major repair during its lifespan.

I don't know Consumer Reports (I'm from Europe), is it a reputable organisation?

 

[forty2j]

"Consumer Reports on Wednesday put out a big survey of thousands of desktop users and found that Apple’s (AAPL) desktops were the least likely to need serious repairs. According to the survey, just 7% of Apple desktop users reported having major repair needs for their machines, followed by 10% of HP (HPQ) desktop owners, 11% of Dell (DELL) desktop users and 13% of Gateway users. Consumer Reports says it conducted its survey by asking “readers who bought 8,007 desktops from 2009 through the first half of 2012 about their experiences.”
http://www.bgr.com/2012/08/15/mac-pc-reliability-study-consumer-reports-survey/

While this might be nice to hear, I don't think 7% is a small number regarding serious repairs. It would mean that 1 out of 14 Macs needs a major repair during its lifespan.

I don't know Consumer Reports (I'm from Europe), is it a reputable organisation?

CR can have some goofy opinions on what constitutes appropriate testing methodology for some products (notably cars), but generally they are well-respected. It's always best if you can read their entire writeup, and not just the headline and the chart, and make sure you agree with their methodology before just accepting their claims. They're not particularly pro-Apple; they refused to give the iPhone 4 their "top choice" award even though it scored highest in their tests, due to the Antennagate fiasco.

7% actually isn't bad. Consider that AppleCare is priced between 8.5% and 10% of the model (using the 27" prices). There's your (existent but not terribly large) profit margin.

 

[d0nK]

Custom-made PC's are the most reliable.

 

[forty2j]

Custom-made PC's are the most reliable.

Empirical evidence suggests otherwise, at least in this house.

 

[iMcLovin]

Custom-made PC's are the most reliable.

Ha yeah. Not likely. I've had numerous Hand made towers in my life, they all turn to crap over time. Both the Win OS and the mixed components.

 

[lexvo]

I agree that 7% is not that bad from Apple's point of view, but compared to for instance cars, I think it is pretty high. And we are talking major repairs here. I can't imagine car customers would be happy if they had a 7% chance that their engine or gearbox broke after 3-4 years.

 

[Lynn Belvedere]

I've had 1 hard drive die in over 15 years of using computers. Never had any other problem whatsoever. No viruses. No hardware problems. No slowdowns. Nothing.

 

[duervo]

Personally, I don't view a 3% difference between number one and number two with much significance given the number of people surveyed.

A two percent difference or less would be enough for me to personally call it a draw. With three percent between Apple and HP, a good deal on an HP system could be enough for me to call that scenario a draw as well.

However, anything greater than a three percent difference is probably enough for me to stop and think twice (about a Dell or Gateway purchase in this case.)

 

[russofris]

One of the advantages that the iMac has over the contemporary tower-style PCs is that it does not sit on a floor or under a desk. As we've all learned at one point or another, PCs are really just expensive Vacuum cleaners, especially if you have pets.

I would love to see the CR numbers for only AIW systems to see how HP/Dell AIW PCs compare to the iMac. Lumping AIW, Desktops, and Net-tops into a single group might be what's throwing the numbers in Apple's favor, which is fine, but not especially interesting.

F

 

[lexvo]

One of the advantages that the iMac has over the contemporary tower-style PCs is that it does not sit on a floor or under a desk. As we've all learned at one point or another, PCs are really just expensive Vacuum cleaners, especially if you have pets.

I would love to see the CR numbers for only AIW systems to see how HP/Dell AIW PCs compare to the iMac. Lumping AIW, Desktops, and Net-tops into a single group might be what's throwing the numbers in Apple's favor, which is fine, but not especially interesting.

F

It could be that CR counted Mac Mini's and PowerMac's as well.

 

[d0nK]

Empirical evidence suggests otherwise, at least in this house.

Ha yeah. Not likely. I've had numerous Hand made towers in my life, they all turn to crap over time. Both the Win OS and the mixed components.

I was basing it on my own experience of having built 3 machines over the last 15 years that have never died, even with constant heavy use. Sure I've had 2 hard drives fail; one a week old and another which was 7 years old. It makes absolute sense that building with the best 'bang-for-buck' quality components will be the most reliable as long as you do your research first. So, I disagree.

 

[iSayuSay]

I was basing it on my own experience of having built 3 machines over the last 15 years that have never died, even with constant heavy use. Sure I've had 2 hard drives fail; one a week old and another which was 7 years old. It makes absolute sense that building with the best 'bang-for-buck' quality components will be the most reliable as long as you do your research first. So, I disagree.

Have to agree. I've had several custom PC that averagely lasts longer than my iMac. Many of them did not need any single repair job during ownership period.

While most of iMacs in my workplace need HDD, display or something replaced/repaired just under 2 years. Including my personal iMac.
Sexy tight cases usually have low durability/reliability. It's not just for computers

 

[EdwardC]

Over the last 20 years working out of my home office exclusively I have had 1 Compaq, 3 Gateways, 1 IBM 3 Mac's and have never had a failure. Now when it comes to displays that's another story, I have had Apple's, Sony's, Viewsonic's, Samsung's and Dell branded displays and the only good ones were Apple and Dell. I now only use Dell and currently have 4 that are all superb. I as well have never had a virus with either platform.

 

[HurryKayne]

Without any new Imac we will see repairs decreasin year by months.

 

[Shivetya]

Personally, I don't view a 3% difference between number one and number two with much significance given the number of people surveyed.

A two percent difference or less would be enough for me to personally call it a draw. With three percent between Apple and HP, a good deal on an HP system could be enough for me to call that scenario a draw as well.

However, anything greater than a three percent difference is probably enough for me to stop and think twice (about a Dell or Gateway purchase in this case.)

I bought my parents Dell computers. There is one major advantage they have over my Macs, Dell will send repair to your home to swap out components. When both my iMac and Mac Books needed repairs I had to tote them in to a local Apple repair, the iMac was not given back to me for nearly two weeks.

 

[lexvo]

Here in The Netherlands I have a pick-up service under AppleCare so I don't have to lug my iMac to a nearby store. For every repair I have to miss it for at least 8 days though.

 

[lexvo]

Personally, I don't view a 3% difference between number one and number two with much significance given the number of people surveyed.

A two percent difference or less would be enough for me to personally call it a draw. With three percent between Apple and HP, a good deal on an HP system could be enough for me to call that scenario a draw as well.

However, anything greater than a three percent difference is probably enough for me to stop and think twice (about a Dell or Gateway purchase in this case.)

What you are saying is that based on these number that Apple's reliability is not significantly better than premium PC manufacturers. Combined with my own experience I agree

 

[Bilalo]

What you are saying is that based on these number that Apple's reliability is not significantly better than premium PC manufacturers. Combined with my own experience I agree

Personally, apple products are longer lasting, stay fast throughout years unlike windows which always becomes gradually slower. Biggest problem in Mac's are usually hard drive probs but that should be solved now with the all new SSD's.

 

[lexvo]

Personally, apple products are longer lasting, stay fast throughout years unlike windows which always becomes gradually slower. Biggest problem in Mac's are usually hard drive probs but that should be solved now with the all new SSD's.

I agree with you regarding the software and the OS. OS-X is very stable. I was referring to hardware reliability, where in my opinion there isn't a significant difference between Apple and PC manufacturers.

 

[Torrijos]

This is a very good number considering the kind of machine built by Apple...

Apple computers are usually designed to have a small volume, rendering heat dissipation more difficult, but they still suffer less failures than cruder tower designs, showing that Apple is very careful with their engineering and their parts supplier.

 

[duervo]

What you are saying is that based on these number that Apple's reliability is not significantly better than premium PC manufacturers. Combined with my own experience I agree

For the first two manufacturers in the list, yes that is what I'm saying.

 

[MacOG728893]

I bought my parents Dell computers. There is one major advantage they have over my Macs, Dell will send repair to your home to swap out components. When both my iMac and Mac Books needed repairs I had to tote them in to a local Apple repair, the iMac was not given back to me for nearly two weeks.

Actually, AppleCare does have in home service believe it or not. I have had some on going issues with my iMac and grew tired of taking it in and an AppleCare representative offered in home service to me as part of my warranty coverage.

 

[FlotationDevice]

I'll bring up a methodology detail that others seem to have missed. Given that apple has been taking share aggressively and the other vendors have been losing it, if the survey were people who bought a PC between 2009 and 2012, then the average age of the Macs in the survey is likely somewhat less than of the Dells, HPs, etc.--thus the survey may partially overstate Mac's reliability stats.