Now that Microsoft Windows 7 has been tried and tested, are you and your customers finally getting ready to upgrade your personal desktop and laptop computers? Should you choose Apple, Asus, IBM/Lenovo, Dell or HP? What about Sony or Toshiba? Before you make your decision, check out the results of some recent computer reliability reports.
A report from Rescuecom, which provides help-desk-like phone support and computer repair services to customers, rates several top manufacturers in terms of service calls received mapped to their market share of shipped computers.
Rescuecom rates the top five in terms of reliability in the following order:
- Apple
- Asus
- IBM/Lenovo
- Toshiba
- HP/Compaq
Asus actually scored in a dead heat with IBM/Lenovo, but Rescuecom ranked it second because of the company's "impressive 190.7 growth year over year."
"Asus was definitely the manufacturer to watch in 2009 with a skyrocketing market shipment percentage and a lopsidedly low number of computer support calls," Rescuecom said in a statement announcing the results. “This excellent performance gave Asus a computer reliability score nearly triple the scores of its competitors in Q1 2009." Rescuecom further pointed out that as the year progressed and Asus' numbers leveled out, it was still able to stay on top in Q2.
Asus also led the pack in another report issued late last year that looked at laptop computer failure rates during the first three years. Toshiba came in second, Sony in third, Apple in fourth and Dell in fifth place in that study.
Beyond the major brand-name players, Rescuecom noted that two manufacturers were worthy of an honorable mention for their computer reliability scores -- Panasonic and Samsung.
"Although not prominently known for their market share, [they] are two brands consumers should keep in their considerations through 2010," the company said. ""Both have shown that even with lower market share numbers, they were able to provide excellent computer support for their customers, minimizing the need for them to seek outside services for repair."
At the other end of the spectrum, Rescuecom said that Dell's negative growth and poor reliability scores led to an increased need for Dell customers to seek computer repair. That performance meant that Dell was unable to reach the No. 5 position this year.
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