Consumer Reports: Mac Laptops Have Fewest Repairs; Best Tech Support

February 7th, 2005 at 2:00 PM - Reports by Brad Gibson

Appleis iBook and PowerBook portables have the fewest reports of repairs and the best technical support of any laptop PC on the market today, according to the March issue of Consumer Reports magazine.

Using data similar to that released last December in its desktop ratings report, the Consumers Union (CU) said Apple had the fewest repairs of laptops at 16%. Toshiba and Sony were second and third at 17%. Gateway had the worst laptop repair ranking among more than 57,000 CU members at 23%.

A similar survey of 69,000 desktop users gave Apple the best repair history at just 13%.

As for technical support for laptops, Apple got a readers score of 84, making it the highest of any PC manufacturer. It received a ibetteri ranking in problem solving by phone technical support, the shortest time waiting on the phone, knowledgeable phone staff and Web-based support. In second was IBM with a score of 69.

in December, CU gave Apple a score of 76 for desktop Mac support. Again, Apple received a ibetteri rating in all categories. No other PC company received a ibetteri rating in any category. Dell was second receiving a score of 57 and no better than an iaveragei rating in any category.