I have access to the ratings on CR online, and Consumer Reports scores the MacBook Pro higher than any other laptop.

As for the tech support scores, Apple scored 82 for both laptops and desktops. No other manufacturer was even close. IBM was second for laptops with a score of 69, and eMachines was second in desktops with 62. Dell scored a pitiful 56 and 54, respectively.

Apple has always had pretty good Tech Support. Of course I am sure we have all hit some duds when calling Apple sometimes. However they are light-years better than Microsoft and other PC vendors.

One tech support that I think equals or surpasses Apple is that of Western Digital. Western Digitals tech support people are very knowledgeable, polite and really are geared to helping the customer. A few years ago I called in with a bad 100gig drive, they sent a 120gig to replace it, when I had problems with that they sent another 120gig drive and told me to take a month a return the drive I did not want. Turns out the problem was a IDE cable that had intermittent problems and all the drives were good.

I recently had a problem with my three-year-old iBook (G3). It was suddenly refusing to recognize my Airport wireless base station after two years of flawless performance, and there were other "quirks" (losing time in the clock, weird typing problems, etc.). After trying everything "my" tech at Apple told me to do (and he gave me his direct phone number so I could reach him instead of someone else), it was determined that my iBook had to go in for repairs. They provided a prepaid overnight-shipping box to get it to them and sent it back the same way so that I would be without the computer for as short a time period as possible. The problem was not resolved at that point. The computer went back a second time; still no resolution when it was returned to me, but now I'd had two replacement logic boards and a new keyboard.

By this time the tech I was dealing with felt so bad for me that he sent me a brand-new Airport Extreme -- an upgrade from the snow version I'd had before. Just on a whim, he also sent me a new Airport card -- and that was the magic fix. My card was apparently only able to communicate with stronger signals than I could get at my home. By the time this had all been resolved and my iBook was once again purring happily, my AppleCare had expired, but everything was still covered. I figure that I spent a couple of hundred dollars for the warrantee and saved a couple of thousand at least.

My dealings with the techs at Apple were all quite pleasant; they seemed knowledgeable, if a bit puzzled by my issue. They certainly kept trying and went the extra mile to try to make up for my "inconvenience". I'm sticking with Apple!