I'm surprised Apple wasn't even higher. I own both an apple and PC (dell). I can spend hours on the phone with Dell and maybe get something resolved or with the apple I can go to the apple store and have someone walk me through a solution. Yes, it may take a half hour to get to the store and another half hour to get back but in the meantime, I understand how the solution was gotten to and I've had my computer cleaned up, I've been shown some shortcuts and I'm completely satisfied

Gamers don't have to settle! Apples for years now (since the switch to Intel processors) have had Boot Camp, a system utility that safely partitions the HDD and allows the user to install Windows... If a person were too impatient to wait for the Mac port of a game (a trend which is quickly fading) this is a good alternative to dealing with crappy tech support from across the pond...

An Apple employee friend of mine told me that Apple models their customer service after the Hyatt Regency hotel. With the amount you spend there, you better be treated like gold.

Then again, you can't really go to a Dell Store and demand someone fix your broken stuff. If you're near an Apple Store, their job is to make you happy regardless of whether or not it is really practical (within reason. A HDD crash on your iBook doesn't get you a free new Macbook Pro). At the Dell call center, it's pretty easy to just say "here is a box and tracking #, now go away".

Still not convincing to buy an overpriced laptop.

*cues flames*

@Jonbo298: Your loss.

People, you are not your computer. You are neither a PC nor a Mac. It seems like everyone has missed the point of Apple's ads - Justin Long and John Hodgman are portraying the computers people use, not the people who use them.

@B: Oh yes, my loss. Loss because I have an undying need for a Mac. I like Apple's products. The prices on alot of them are a little absurd. Yeah, my opinion. My loss. Whatever. I don't feel the need for one.

Would it be nice? Yeah. But considering how much I paid for my current laptop and the performance I get out of it, much better then what a comparable Macbook may do.

@chris_l:

(^ former apple employee)
they actually modeled their customer service based off the Ritz Carlton, but close enough

@Jonbo298: I should add, the premium you pay does give you better service, but the premium for me is a little steep. So I'm content with a slightly "lesser" product.

@chris_l: As a former Apple employee in Retail, I must corroborate this with a minor correction. When Apple decided to enter the retail world they had trainers intern in with the Hilton Hotels company and decided to pay their sales personnel a higher hourly wage rather than forcing them to work on commission. In addition, the company pays daily attention to survey data on customer satisfaction, and store managers follow up with unhappy customers, a practice which was surprisingly effective in repairing damaged relationships.

I'll spare you my biased feelings an leave you with just the facts.

I went into an Apple store once. I saw an employee walk in with a popped collar and a tray of Starbucks drinks. Being absolutely d-bagged out, I left and haven't looked back.

@HIV 2 Elway Resurrected: On a similar note, a friend of mine went to the local Obama rally, took a photo of Barry with his iphone and posted it to Facebook. Those two incidents pretty much sums up why I'm not an Apple user.

@Jonbo298: Yeah, if people are willing to plop down well over a grand for an over glorified netbook...

Kidding. Kidding!

But seriously, Mac's are a bit elitist with their pricing for someone who probably would never need customer service (i.e. me)

Don't ignore the far RIGHT data column, where LOYALTY to Apple & Dell both register at 70%.

Raises an interesting question: If Dell consumers are AS LOYAL as Apple (true per above) & Dell has 3X larger market share of the PC/Laptop market than Apple and growing(true per CNET [news.cnet.com]) then must Dell change anything to win in the short AND long term?

@AngrySicilian: Same boat as you, the only time I needed to get a laptop replaced was with HP, it had a bad touchscreen. HP did a great job getting me that new laptop.

Also, I'm fairly sure I can't get a tablet/touch combination through Apple.

@johnmc: Error: user nataku83 has encountered a fatal system error and needs to restart

@HIV 2 Elway Resurrected: Barry has a blackberry...?

@chris_l: Considering that I'm actually able to work on a computer, "Here's a box and a tracking number" is exactly what I want.

I get the part next day (or for some systems within four hours), I install it and send the old one back.

I don't have to have a "genius" attempt to diagnose my problem, and then ship my system off to god-knows-where for an indeterminate amount of time to have it come back with a wiped hard drive and a decent chance that the problem was never solved.

@Hastin: those HP TX series notebooks are nice indeed

@AngrySicilian: Ah, good catch...My amigo using his iphone snapped a photo of Barry at the rally. Either way, I'm not trendy enough for Apple products. Maybe if I frosted my tips...

@Jonbo298: Unless you are buying a laptop you should put one together yourself. It is way cheaper than any other alternative. Everything you need to know about building a PC is on the internet!

Um, There is no OS limitation on my mac. So the, "I play games, so I need a PC," complaint doesn't really fly.

You can just install BootCamp and run windows to your heart's content (there are tests that show comparable macs run windows faster than windows machines do).

Numerous tests have also shown that comparable specs on dells and macs are priced very similarly, with the mac often being cheaper. If you want a $250 emachine, you're righ, there's nothing to compare to.

@nataku83: CTRL-ALT-DEL

@Hastin:

You can't through Apple, but a 3rd party does one:

[www.axiotron.com]

And keep in mind that, while you pay a premium, Macs have a higher resale value and studies have shown that, if you figure in 'downtime' (due to viruses, other issues) Macs are overall a better deal. I've used both for 15+ years and can say, from my experience, that Macs are much, much less troublesome.

I have a Mac and I love it, but one aspect I enjoy very much about my Mac from a customer service standpoint is that I can actually take it to a physical location and get it fixed. Mom and Pop computer repair shops are pretty rare now, or at least I'm not finding any, and I live in an urban, metro area. It's nice to be able to take my computer somewhere and know that generally, people are trained to handle the problem. I've always been nervous about shipping my laptop across the country, and not knowing what was going on with it, plus there's always the worry that it'll be damaged during transit to and from the repair center.

@mattshu: I don't think he means price vs performance Macs are expensive, moreso those people who only need e-mail, web browsing, etc can go out and buy a $500 Windows laptop but there is nothing similar in the Apple world.

@HIV 2 Elway Resurrected: And paid for products twice what they're worth.

I don't recall ever calling customer service for my Dell's at home, but where I work I had to call them constantly because the Dell's we purchased were crap. I always received good service though probably because it was a business account.

Sprint on the other hand has some of the worst service I have ever had even on a business account.

@mattshu (there are tests that show comparable macs run wind...: What are 'windows machines??

I bought a dell laptop and it died the first day. It took them 2 weeks to get me a replacement. That one died the first day. After hours of "customer support" and having the agent ask me 3 times if I plugged it into the wall I told them to go to hell and went to the Apple store. I have never had a better laptop!

Reminds me of the new McDonalds coffee commercials.

Give me a good laptop at a good price, hold the attitude. People flaunt their apples like it's something special. It's a laptop. Get over yourself.

@Bladefist: Take that back. I own apple stock. Dang, you guys are l33t. Apple customer service, woohoo!!!!!

I think Agent satisfaction is less important than company satisfaction and call resolution/satisfaction - in which Apple's margin is smaller, and actually dips close to 50 percent (I guess they don't crap diamonds after all). I say this because the agent is only a part of the equation - I can have a rude agent who still resolves my problem, or an incompetent one. Or a great agent who's not empowered to help me or doesn't know the answer.

You get what you pay for!

I pay NOT to have to use Winbloze. I have friendly platform debates with friends often, but no one has ever bothered to defend the crappy OS that is Windows. Internally, hardware is very similar nowadays. What you get with a Mac is a great-looking exterior with everything you need built-in, superior customer support, and a vastly superior OS based on UNIX.

I do game on a Mac too. There may be *more* games for PC, so I have a smaller selection. But those that are ported are usually the good ones. And you can run Windows on a Mac if you really want to (I don't).

Finally, when you buy a Mac you gain access to a cult that is impossible to leave once you join. As a member, you have an obligation to convert PC users and troll blogs like this one - spreading your Apple doctrine, of course.

Just to be contrary, I would like to mention that I have had no trouble at all with Dell, while Apple made me mad enough that I actually made an angry webpage about it. (This was in the pre-Consumerist days, or I would have EECB'd them.)

@HIV 2 Elway Resurrected: that makes a lot of sense, because no one at dell has ever popped his/her collar, or consumed any starbucks. it makes even more sense because the retail workers at apple stores have such extensive involvement in planning and creating apple products. using this logic, the douchebags who work at best buy would prevent one from buying a dell.

@Bladefist: But I like my coffee with extra smug.

@mermaidshoes: The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Its also a joke, no need to take computers so seriously. Apple has worked hard at developing its brand and image. Too some, that image one of the insufferable douch-bag.

I used to love my IIGS!

Alternatively, for those purchasing desktops - the customer service I provide myself in knowing how to fix a machine I bought and assembled myself is currently rated at... let me check... yes, I'm feeling smug today - 100%.

@mermaidshoes: Anyone who works at dell probably cant afford a collared shirt. The margins are too low on their PCs. So HIV 2 Elway argument is flawless.

@Jakuub: I'm just too lazy to pick out my hardware, put it together, make sure everything is compatible, make sure i got all my drivers and all that nonsense, when I can just buy a HP for 350 bux and be done.

Now for powerhouse gaming machines, you have a point. But that is really more for the serious pc users.

I have had excellent support from Dell, I bought a Latitude D820, after about 2 months the HD died, I called at 7:30pm EST and told them the issue, at 10AM the next day I had a new HD at my door, now thats service!

I can't rate my experience with Apple's support because I haven't needed to call them, I have been using macs since 2002 and nothing has ever gone wrong where I needed to call support!

@Hamtronix: I think it's pretty obvious from context that mattshu means non-Apple computers with only Windows installed, vs. Macs which can run either OSX or Windows. And I think you new that. Whether mattshu's speed claim is true, I have no idea.

My husband has a Dell, I have a Mac (both laptops). We sit next to each other on the couch at night and surf the web. His computer often freezes up - the latest is the "blue screen of death". Me...my Mac froze up on me one time in three years. Will my husband ever convert? Nope. He hates doing anything on my computer because he's so set in his "PC" ways. Oh well.

150-160 Surveys will not prove anything... Dell sucks in my opinion. Substandard parts, no creativity (design wise) want me to keep on going.....?

Bah, this is a bunch of silliness.

The products shouldn't need servicing or service calls, to start. If they DO, then sure you're better off with some companies than others. But they shouldn't to begin with--and that's what I find more important than whether or not the service I'll get will be better than others. I don't care if Apple is sunshine and roses if I have to make calls there every few months for a problem here and there.

I've had zero issues with the two Dell XPS machines in my apartment. Have talked with support a few times just to ask about some specifics that weren't clear, but it was good service. The XPS models are the premium brand within Dell, so I figure the service for that is better than the $400 sale Inspiron you buy at a Wal-Mart. the Dell XPS people have still been very great to me for the silly questions, and fast in responses.

I also used to work technical support for AT&T when the iPhone came out. We were required to call Apple for hardware issues, and my experiences with talking with them were less-than-friendly on the whole.

Beyond that, using a PC doesn't mean you're buying from a brand manufacturer name machine--there are quite a few people out there who have customer service experiences with a place like Newegg and Newegg alone for issues (who have been great to the majority of people that I know who use them; for me, 50% of the stuff I've bought has been DoA or defective).

@mattshu:
boot camp woo! I play BioShock, Halo PC, Halo 2 & Counter Strike all the time on my Mac, and they run better than they ever did on my $2,200 Laptop

These numbers only mean that a greater percentage of customers believed themselves to be satisfied. It COULD very well be that Apple customers have longer hold times, slower repairs, and more mistakes. Again, this is merely a customer satisfaction survey that is useless for any other purpose.