Technology's Most (and Least) Reliable Brands

Desktop PCs: HP Gets Lousy Grades; Apple Heads the Class

HP owners reportED significantly fewer failures of the component parts inside their desktop PCs, but they also had a higher-than-average number of complaints about HP's service and its phone support. These are marked changes from HP's middling performance in these categories on our 2005 survey. Meanwhile, for its part, gaming PC maker CyberPower received low marks two years ago, and did not improve: Customers reported a higher-than-normal number of problems out of the box and throughout the life span of their PCs. At the high end of the scale, Apple customers reported relatively few problems with the innards of their machines and had fewer complaints about the way Apple services its products after the sale.