Reliability and Service

Users rate their PC companies.

PC World Editors

When you're bargain shopping for PCs, you want to know how well the vendors' computers tend to hold up and whether you can get decent technical support in the event of a meltdown. Unfortunately, gauging either of these variables is an inexact science.

Or it would be if you couldn't ask thousands of your closest friends what they think of their PCs. PC World does just that every year through its reliability and service ratings, which are based on surveys of computer users who subscribe to PC World. Granted, it's impossible to rate every PC maker under the sun. You can't fairly judge a company--even a tiny one--based on the opinions of a handful of people; before drawing conclusions, you need a reliable sample size.

Following are ratings for some of the biggest computer brands on the market. You'll notice that a couple of brands (Compaq and EMachines) have their own ratings, even though they're sold by a parent company (Hewlett-Packard and Gateway, respectively). There are even ratings for independent computer stores (taken collectively), so you can compare them to name-brand vendors.

Very important note: Users were asked to rate their systems on 12 separate criteria, including the subjective issue of satisfaction with reliability and service. Other measures were strictly objective, such as how many problems a system had per year, how long the user waited on hold to talk to tech support, and how many days it took the company to resolve a problem.

Sometimes if you ask people what they think of their PC, they may answer, "Aw it's just okay." But if you ask them how many problems they've had with it, they may say, "No problems at all." So before jumping to any conclusions, read PC World's December 2003 article "Reliability & Service Report Card" to get the full results of its most recent reliability and service survey. You may decide that you don't care about waiting on hold, as long as the computer isn't prone to having problems.

Compaq (sold by Hewlett-Packard)

Satisfaction with reliability: Poor

Satisfaction with service: Poor

If the feedback from Compaq users indicates anything, it's that Hewlett-Packard hasn't done a great job supporting the old Compaq brand. Bottom line: It sounds as though prospective HP customers should consider the HP line of systems, not the Compaq line.

Dell

Satisfaction with reliability: Good

Satisfaction with service: Fair

Folks said their Dell PCs were pretty reliable, but-perhaps surprisingly considering Dell's reputation-the company's technical support wasn't up to snuff. The staff knows a lot and works hard to get problems resolved, but getting them on the phone could be a chore.

EMachines (sold by Gateway)

Satisfaction with reliability: Fair

Satisfaction with service: Fair

Gateway's purchase of EMachines may be the best thing the company has ever done. Users of the extreme budget systems have been saying a lot of nice things about their PCs. Though their satisfaction scores don't reflect it, EMachines users admitted that the systems work great right out of the box and that EMachines staffers work hard to fix problem when they arise. Get the full picture from PC World's report of its latest Reliability and Service survey.

Gateway

Satisfaction with reliability: Fair

Satisfaction with service: Fair

Though Gateway users tended to be neutral about their experiences, they didn't have much negative to say about the company and its systems--nothing to write home about, but no red flags to warn people away from the struggling PC maker either.

Hewlett-Packard

Satisfaction with reliability: Poor

Satisfaction with service: Poor

Where's the silver lining in what HP users had to say about their systems? Well, they said that the computers themselves were fairly well built and worked right out of the box. And at least the tech support staff tried its best when things went wrong. But HP users certainly weren't raving about the company or its computers either.

IBM

Satisfaction with reliability: Fair

Satisfaction with service: Fair

Like EMachines users, IBM users tended to be restrained in their praise of the company's reliability and service. But when asked more-objective questions, such as how long they had to wait on hold to get service, they ranked IBM among the best in the business. Delve further into IBM users' opinions in PC World's story about its most recent Reliability and Service survey.

Sony

Satisfaction with reliability: Good

Satisfaction with service: Fair

If you're shopping for a Sony PC, the good news is that users considered the systems reliable. The bad news is that getting service from Sony can be a hassle. Users reported especially long hold times.

Independent Stores

Satisfaction with reliability: Fair

Satisfaction with service: Good

People who bought their systems at a local mom-and-pop store said that the computers themselves were nothing special--as you might expect from systems put together with reliable-yet-unremarkable parts. But these independent stores live off their reputation, so good service is a must. And users said that their mom-and-pops did a good job of dealing with mechanical issues.