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Macs are the most problem free computers on the planet.
The internationally respected Consumers Reports magazine comes to this conclusion in their December 2004 magazine (subscribers can read the full report online, but here is 2002’s study, which is similar). They report on a survey of more than 60,000 computer users where they looked at three issues: 1) Repair History, 2) Technical Support, and 3) Buying Computers. Let’s see what they found out: Repair History results were that Apple Macs were by far the most trouble-free computers made. Regarding Technical Support, Consumers Reports examined four aspects: 1) was the problem solved, 2) how competent was the support staff, 3) how long was your wait on the phone, and 4) how good is the company’s web site support. Apple again was rated number one, and received extremely favorable ratings in ALL FOUR parts, which was enormously better than any PC assembler. (Dell, for instance, was not rated favorably in ANY of these categories.) On the third issue computer users rated buying computers from Apple to be the best of all manufactures (who were rated by price, selection, help, and knowledge of service personnel). Consumers Reports concluded their exhaustive report by saying that "our findings have been consistent over the years." Exactly what else do you need to know?
------------------------ In an August 2004 study the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor measured the attitudes of consumers in several different computer categories. Their findings were that Apple’s customers are the most satisfied of any PC vendor. They said that “Apple’s success comes from a focus on innovation and improving tech support. Just about every other PC vendor received technical support scores that were less than the scores they received for the quality of their products, but Apple was the only company that received high marks for both quality and support.”
------------------------ In their July 2003 report, PC Magazine says that Apple was rated as the top vendor (A+) in the desktop and portable and business (!) and server categories by its readers. They go on to also state that "we’ve seen a rise in criticism of the products and customer support of Dell." Further on they remark that their readers say that the Mac OS crashes less often than Windows XP.
------------------------ OK, here’s another perspective. Three years ago PC World magazine (yes, another PC publication) surveyed buyers of 18,000 personal computers representing 23 brands and asked them to rate the computers in nine categories relating to reliability and service. The categories were: - overall problem rate,
- system DOA rate (problems with motherboard, disk drive, etc.),
- non-system component DOA rate,
- time to reach a support staffer,
- time to resolve a problem,
- percent of problems never resolved,
- willingness to buy again based on service received,
- overall satisfaction on service. Apple received the highest rating (5 stars) in every category [except component DOA rate, in which Apple rated 4 stars]. Its total score exceeded the score of every PC box assembler.
In October of 2002, PC World magazine did another survey, this time of some 30,000 computer users. No surprises here: Apple again was rated number ONE. See their lengthy fifteen pages of conclusions, which includes a special write-up that they called “Dell’s Fall From Grace.”
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How about hearing it from still another source? ConsumerAffairs.com, an independent Web site dedicated to providing consumers with a wealth of unbiased information regarding products, services, and dealers said: “Surely there is no product that enjoys greater customer loyalty than Apple’s Macintosh line of computers. Apple remains the gold standard in building brand loyalty. Apple users don’t just like their machines, they adore them. They are loyal to the core, and rightly so. Very few Mac users defect to the Wintel world, and a look at hundreds of user reports (see samples) tells why — Apple machines work right out of the box and when there’s a problem Apple fixes it ... pronto. Can’t beat that.”
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A Georgia school was keeping a live update chart on the web comparing repair rates of Macs to Windows/PCs. See it here, and then email their technology director (Pete Seabolt) for more details. Their experience is that Windows/PCs have a failure rate almost FOUR TIMES HIGHER THAN MACS!
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Considering these (and many other similar surveys) if anyone in a school (or business) environment is having Mac “problems”, the most likely cause is insufficient attention to their Mac.
All computers are very complex pieces of electronic equipment. Not performing basic preventative care is akin to driving your car without any oil changes. Regardless of the quality of the car (e.g. Mercedes, Ferrari, etc.) all cars will sooner or later fail without an oil change. So it is with computers.
To make things easy for you (or your MIS people) to understand, we are including our opinion (based on working with thousands of Macs) of what these basic steps should include, on the following pages: 1 - Keeping Macs Healthy
2 - Apple Update
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