Apple drops to number two in reliability

This report seems a bit suspect to me. So they get their figures from the calls they themselves receive? Who the hell calls RescueCom for support on a Mac?! If they had the actual call data from the manufacturer themselves (Apple, Asus, HP, Lenovo, etc.), then we'd have a better idea of real service numbers.

Don't take this report with a grain of salt, take it with a block of salt.

Dan S. where were you last week when I needed you? I went to the Genius Bar 3/30/09 with my never had problems hardly used iMacG5 2005 because I am 80 y.o. and this is my first computer so what do I know. Genius tells me that capacitors,logic board and I think power supply need to be replaced $900. I went home and cried. Found a repair person who said he would do it for half that price. Where was the Apple recall notice? Seems Apple's supplier used a vendor who used counterfeit electrolyte fluid in the capacitors. Not my fault,right? Yes, could have been worse, could have leaked. Doesn't make my feel any better or take the sting out of the cost to repair. Am I the exception to the rule? Does that absolve Apple of any responsibility?

and considering HP uses Asus boards in many of its desktops it is no wonder they are doing well in reliability. It is also good to see that the Chinese have maintained the reliability IBM strived for in the PC line since selling it off to them.

I've been using Apple products for 5 years and have seen a noticeable drop in quality. In the first two years of owning a Mac, I spent under 20hrs maintaining the machine. In 2009, I've spent at least that trying to work through just networking issues between Airport Extreme/Express and AppleTV. Add to that having to return two new Macbooks and one new Macbook pro (late '08 model), and to bring the replacement Macbook Pro in for fan and screen replacement within two months, and I'm still doing better than I did with Windows.

Given how it's gone for me, I was really impressed and encouraged to hear that Snow Leopard will focus on stability and performance improvements. I think Apple has over-extended itself, but knowing that they see a cycle for regrouping around quality makes me think they'll get the #1 spot back.

My uni-frame MBP has been doing fine - no issues since it was released. My wife's MBP from 2008 has so far needed the DVD drive replaced, the keyboard / trackpad module replaced (repeating keystrokes / disappearing cursor / lockups), now stripes are showing up on the display. We need to take it in again. I think she received a lemon.

All laptops break, it's just the nature of the machinery. It's put under more stress, and some sensitive connections (ie the screen's cables and antenna for the wifi card) are forced to move every time the screen opens and closes. Add to that the fact many people move their laptops every day, and use them during traveling, and that puts strain on the hard drives and optical drives.

Build quality and features like an accelerometer to park drives when falling/moving contribute a lot to reliability. Design is also important in other areas, as overheating can lead to slow performance, discomfort while using the computer, or even hardware failures.

However, support calls in general are likely more about software than hardware, but even that differs. Old or poorly made drivers and bundles of "trialware" can make a computer perform poorly out of the box, worse than it would with a clean install of Windows and the minimum and most current drivers needed from the manufacturers. Sometimes an esoteric office suite is included to save costs (MS Works, Lotus Notes, etc), which users are unfamiliar with. Some companies don't even include a legitimate Windows CD (they include a restore disc, an image of the hard drive's factory configuration, complete with crapware), so you can't even do a proper reformat.

Thus, laptops actually do vary quite a bit.

Oh, I know, last year this company was a good company because i their charts apple was ºst. This year nobody know them, it's FUD, etc.

I like the way fanboys mind work.

I can't understand how someone can read anything writed by Daniel Eran, it's the buggest fannatic I have read (Turrot excluded).

Sorry for my English

Cawen la puta, a veces da vergüenza tener productos de Apple viendo la pandilla que si Jobs les meara encima aún se lo agradecerían.

Rescue... who? It must be a slooow newsday for TUAW to fall for FUD stats from an unknown.

Lenovo is an independent company. Even the IBM co-branding, a transitional state of affairs, is now over.

"Apple still probably doesn't have too much to worry about -- as Wired notes, these are only quarterly scores, and don't forget that this is the quarter in which many people were still learning how to use their iPhones, iPod touches, and the App Store. But this might be an early sign that as Apple grows, it'll be tougher for them to guarantee reliability in their products."

...what does reliability have to do with "I don't know how to use it"?

i'll bet a good number of those calls are from geniuses who, in and effort to reclaim drive space, delete the larger files in dirs where they have no business poking around.