[mitchell_pgh]

In its June 2004 issue, Consumer Reports again ranked Apple #1 in technical support. This report added desktop technical support rankings to the portable rankings published in March. This is the first year in which Consumer Reports has broken out desktop from portable support.

This accomplishment officially marks four years in a row in which Apple�s technical support has earned the highest score. It is also the second consecutive year where Apple received a �perfect score� in the key sub-measurements, as noted by the trademark red doughnut (?) for which Consumer Reports is well known. For desktop computers the measured areas are:
� Issue Resolution
� Agent Technical Ability
� Queue Time
� Web Support

DESKTOP RANKINGS (published June 2004)
1. Apple ???? (�full doughnut� score for all four categories)
2. Gateway
3. Dell
4. HP
5. Compaq

PORTABLE RANKINGS (published March 2004)
1. Apple ??? (�full doughnut� score for all three categories)
2. IBM
3. Gateway
4. Dell
5. Toshiba
6. HP
7. Sony
8. Compaq

I feel this indicates either two things, how great Apple's service is, or how horrible the PC equivalent is.

[cszar2001]

I think it`s a combination of both: Apple`s service has a lot of room for improvement-but is still ahead of the competition.
Not that I�m not completely satisfied with my PB.

[starman]

/me hugs his G5 and Powerbook.

Mike

[mitchell_pgh]

Originally posted by starman:
/me hugs his G5 and Powerbook.

Mike

I've only had one mac die on me, and it was 4 years old and $20...

When I went to open it up, it had screw marks all over it... so I think it had been tampered with.

[djohnson]

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
I feel this indicates either two things, how great Apple's service is, or how horrible the PC equivalent is.

A combination of both. The PC tech support is horrible... I feel bad when I have to refer people to them. However, if I have to refer someone to Apple I don't feel bad at all. There is some room for improvement, but when isn't there? Hopefully this will get some really good press coverage.

[Angus_D]

Wow, they must not have tried Apple UK's tech support.

[Eug Wanker]

I'm still p!ssed at the iBook logic board issue. Ours is a paperweight, and Apple refuses to fix it. It just happens to fall out of the serial number range, but it has the EXACT same problem.

[mitchell_pgh]

Originally posted by Eug Wanker:
I'm still p!ssed at the iBook logic board issue. Ours is a paperweight, and Apple refuses to fix it. It just happens to fall out of the serial number range, but it has the EXACT same problem.

How much is it to repair and how old is it? Is it the new G4 or an older model?

[Link]

Gateway second? HP and compaq seperately rated? Are you sure this thing is even worth being 1st on in the 1st place?

[The Placid Casual]

Originally posted by Angus_D:
Wow, they must not have tried Apple UK's tech support.

My thoughts exactly... truly dreadful.

[phoenixboy]

Originally posted by Angus_D:
Wow, they must not have tried Apple UK's tech support.

or germany's for that matter. worst_support_evar!

[Link]

Calm down now, the US has the same annoying "it's not my fault" goodness

You peeps do have it worse though

[The Placid Casual]

Originally posted by Link:
Calm down now, the US has the same annoying "it's not my fault" goodness

You peeps do have it worse though

At least in the US, portable machines don't have to be air freighted to a different country to be fixed!

[Link]

Originally posted by The Placid Casual:
At least in the US, portable machines don't have to be air freighted to a different country to be fixed!

True, but in most cases they do have to be air freighted (ahem... shipped) to another state.. and sometimes that's just as fun.

[scottiB]

Originally posted by Eug Wanker:
I'm still p!ssed at the iBook logic board issue. Ours is a paperweight, and Apple refuses to fix it. It just happens to fall out of the serial number range, but it has the EXACT same problem.

You may know this, but Apple extended the original range of the logic board qualified 'books.

http://www.apple.com/support/ibook/faq/

It seems as if it's been expanded all the way till the iBook G4s were released (covers all iBook G3s with 16 or 32MB of VRAM).

[Zimphire]

I have never had to use Apple tech support.

I would say that had a lot to do with Apple as well.

[djohnson]

Originally posted by Zimphire:
I have never had to use Apple tech support.

I would say that had a lot to do with Apple as well.

Same here. It took a couple of years before I even knew they had a tech support dept. Oh and I heard that they are laying tech support people off... I heard it through the grape vine.

[tooki]

Considering how bad Apple support can be at times, I'm frightened to think about how bad the other companies must be!!!

tooki

[hart]

Consumer Reports has viewed Apple computers consistently as kind of an afterthought for years so the fact that they keep rating them so highly is almost a concession for them. They're always saying essentially "oh, and by the way if you want a Mac it got good ratings too". This is the first review in which they didn't take off for lack of floppy.

It seems like such a natural that they would do a Apple vs. Windows comparison but so far they just pretend it's a non-issue.

[olePigeon]

Originally posted by hart:
Consumer Reports has viewed Apple computers consistently as kind of an afterthought for years so the fact that they keep rating them so highly is almost a concession for them. They're always saying essentially "oh, and by the way if you want a Mac it got good ratings too". This is the first review in which they didn't take off for lack of floppy.

It seems like such a natural that they would do a Apple vs. Windows comparison but so far they just pretend it's a non-issue.

In my hardware price comparison research for my English paper, I noticed that Dell forces you to buy a floppy drive when purchasing for a business. For consumer desktops, it's optional. (You save $8.95!!!)

[mitchell_pgh]

Originally posted by olePigeon:
In my hardware price comparison research for my English paper, I noticed that Dell forces you to buy a floppy drive when purchasing for a business. For consumer desktops, it's optional. (You save $8.95!!!)

Not to start an argument, but you could also say "Apple forces you in to buying Firewire"

[mitchell_pgh]

I still don't get why Dell and friends still push the floppy...

[ghost_flash]

. What's a floppy ?

[itai195]

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
I still don't get why Dell and friends still push the floppy...

A lot of ghosting solutions use bootable floppies, so that might be one reason why they push them on business users. I'm sure for a 'big' order they'd take em out if requested, though. On consumer machines you don't have to get a floppy drive. Believe it or not, lots of Windows users freak out about not having a floppy drive.

[The Placid Casual]

I maintain a USB floppy drive with my G5. I was about to throw it out last week, as in 3 years it has never been used.

On the day I was throwing it out, a client came in with 'vital' documents on a floppy.

Guess it stays a while longer.

[hart]

Windows users do freak out at the lack of floppy as I've found in the years I've spent switching my mother and sister. And Consumer Reports always seemed to be fueling the fire in their reviews. They'd say "NO FLOPPY!!" but they'd never say a)Mac users rarely if ever need them and b)you can get a USB floppy drive for $20 if you really need one. This has been going on for years and revealed their hidden bias. I started looking for their unconcious bias in all their reports as a result.

You can never underestimate the complete ignorance of most computer users. I wouldn't be suprised if there are tons of people out there who've read these articles year after year and have no idea you can get an external floppy drive and felt they absolutely couldn't get along without floppies so they didn't even consider an Apple computer.