Computer Notebooks
Readers’ Choice: Apple Inc.
No other company comes anywhere close to Apple’s ratings.
Computer Desktops
Readers’ Choice: Apple Inc.
Apple sweeps the category, with the highest ratings in everything from the reliability of the computers to the technical support and repair service the company provides.
Cellphones
Readers’ Choice for AT&T: Apple Inc.
Apple continues to improve its smartphones. Top rated for smartphone OS, Apple also had higher satisfaction ratings for application availability, games, and music player (iPod).
Portable Media Players
Readers’ Choice: Apple Inc.
With a line of PMPs ranging from the tiny Shuffle to the do-everything iPod Touch, Apple continues to lead the way.
Network Routers
Readers’ Choice: Apple Inc.
Apple’s AirPort routers work great with Mac and Windows systems (as well as all the other Wi-Fi devices you have). As in so many categories, Apple stands head and shoulders above the competition.
Full article here.
“but most of them have no keyboards, which doesn’t make them a very good business machine…”
huh-bye Monkey Boy. You’re next Mole Breath.
Why so many Apple fans reading PC Mag?
By next year they will have to split the PORTABLE MEDIA PLAYERS category into simple e-readers and “tablets”. Guess who will win both?
@acid…
Apple products have crossed the divide. They look good, are priced well, work good and are reliable. Apple’s customer service is second to none.
That’s a powerful combo to resist, even for hardened MS lovers. Only Linux freaks and DroidBots fail to understand, or prefer to endlessly tinker.
Actually, portable media players of today usually refer to MP3/MP4 players, hence the domination of the iPod line. Currently, we don’t HAVE a category for the iPad. Actually, we may have it (tablet computing devices), but the iPad is alone in that category; no point in giving awards to the only participant in the contest…
Another thing: it isn’t that Apple fans are reading a PC Mag. It is actually that PC Mag readers are becoming Apple fans… Much better scenario, wouldn’t you agree?
Interestingly, readers rated the company a 9.3 for reliability despite the fact that 15 percent of Apple respondents reported that their laptops needed repair
I don’t see an inconsistency.
Reliability is perception of two parts: software and hardware. For normal users there’s no distinction, so when Windows craps out on you (which will of course happen far more often than on Mac of course), they blame the laptop itself.
But, software crapping out doesn’t necessarily mean a repair trip.
A 15% repair rate on Apple laptops isn’t too stellar, but it’s a too vague a measure–at the very least we need to know how old the laptop was when it went in for repair. Or did the survey only ask for hardware repairs on laptops less than one year old? If the latter, Apple needs to do better.
That said I received excellent out-of-warranty service for my 2006 MacBook. A bulging battery was replaced for free, without me explicitly asking for one. This anecdote directly translated to a MacBook sale as this convinced a friend to convert from PC.
When PC Magazine lauds Apple, across the board, I guess you could say that we have achieved critical mass, crossed the Rubicon, and reached the tipping point.
The view from up here is tremendous!
.:.
I think the iPad needs to be added to that list of Portable Media Players.
RIP forgotten MS.
iWill:
That is an undeniable and irreversible truth.
But…but this is only because purchasers of Apple products do so because of blind loyalty to Steve Jobs
mossman: Good point. I own two Mac laptops which need repair. One is an eight-year-old G4 PowerBook. Its SuperDrive pooped out about three years ago. Perfectly acceptable. The other is a two-year-old black Macbook, which my wife very unwisely carted around in a handbag with a go-mug of coffee in it. ‘Nuff said about that. Am I still satisfied with my Apple laptops? Absolutely.
Apple is now mainstream, no longer a cult, there’s no Kool-Aid®, no reality distortion field, no lemmings, FUD no longer works, craftsmanship > junk, thinking > copying, shipping products > vaporware, joy > fear, consumers = wising up.
@mossman
“Interestingly, readers rated the company a 9.3 for reliability despite the fact that 15 percent of Apple respondents reported that their laptops needed repair
I don’t see an inconsistency.”
Time frame. I don’t know how long time it is in this study. 1? 2? or 3? years. The thing is that computer does fail someday. If you are a pro and use the computer “24/7” the hard drive will fail within 3 years. Then there is also software failures. Basic thing though is the uptime.
Don’t underestimate the power of raw stupidity that has flourished for decades in Techland. Yesterday it was the mindless lemming masses buying Micro$hit, today it’s Mr. Smithers Googoil that people love to get butt raped by.
@ mossman
Same thing happened with my late 2006 MBP. I took it in for a Genius to look at something or another and they took care of the battery at the same time.
M$ Market Cap=$209.98B
Apple Mkt Cap=$240.19B
The gap is getting larger.
Unlike many PC users, Mac users have unfortunately most likely been in a position, way more often than necessary, to compare platforms. We’ve all had to use PC’s at work, at someone’s house, the library, etc. Many people who have no idea what a Mac or even an iPod or iPhone is will bash and trash till their faces turn blue, secure in their numbers- particularly past numbers. As a tech support specialist, I am often in the position of knowing way more about PC’s than the PC techs know about Macs. Or sometimes, PC’s! : )
I’m not biased. I’m experienced.
That’s something when Apple dominates the PiMPs. Take that, sucka!
Perhaps it’s those splintering MacBook top cases which drive up the repair numbers. That would not affect reliability, only aesthetics.
all those pc makers , the sheer variety that ballmer pontificates about , that makes windows and the pc such a better option
and it’s all such a huge pile of CRAP
Apple Servers will be next. Apple put them all throughout the new billion dollar server farm. Everyone will be streaming and uploading their iOS device files to it. So, when the boss asks why his servers are down again, he will know what to replace them with along with 90% of the IT department that was required to keep that Windows turd server system up and running another day.