PC Reliability & Service: Who Can You Trust?

Readers Talk Back

Last spring in an online survey hosted by World Research of San Jose, California, 6861 PC World subscribers told us what they thought of their different PCs and the companies that built them. We asked them to rate manufacturers on a wide range of criteria, from the objective ("Over the life of your PC how many faulty components have you had to replace?") to the subjective ("How satisfied are you with the service and support you received from the PC manufacturer or authorized service provider?"). All told, readers gave us enough data to report on 17 makers of desktop and notebook computers. What they had to say ranged from pleasantly surprising to downright disappointing.

Although some companies excel in certain areas, none stand head and shoulders above the rest. That's why you won't find any companies with a five-star, Outstanding rating for overall reliability and service. Still, some fare better than others. Among our findings:

No surprise: Continuing a trend, Dell and Micron share the spotlight, ranking at the top for all three types of computer, while portables pioneer Toshiba consistently earns good marks for its notebooks.

Pleasantly surprising: Two newcomers to our survey--CyberMax and Sony--garner high praise from home PC users. And it's hard to go completely wrong when picking out a PC for your office (unless it's a Packard Bell; see below).

Downright disappointing: Packard Bell desktop owners are equally unhappy at work and at home, Fujitsu notebook users are unimpressed with the company's service, and owners of Acer home PCs give the company our lone Unacceptable rating for overall PC reliability and service.