Tech Support Rating: Apple, Dell, Lenovo Top List
Consumer Reports surveyed over 7,000 of its readers and declared its list of companies that provided the overall most satisfactory tech support for laptop and desktop computers.
While many Tom's Hardware readers are used to doing their own troubleshooting and support of their own computers, the quality of post-sale support is often a huge differentiator between a good computer experience and a bad one.
Consumer Reports, an independent and non-profit publication, released its latest ratings for computer tech support for laptops and desktops. The magazine's findings were based on an annual survey of over 7,000 desktop- and laptop-owning subscribers to Consumer Reports from January 2009 to January 2010.
Respondents were asked to review a manufacturer's ability to solve their problems, the communication and knowledge of phone support staff, how long they were placed on hold, and the quality of the company's online support.
Based on responses from owners of 3,685 laptop computers, Apple scored 86 points out of 100. Second place Lenovo earned a 63; third place Toshiba had 60; fourth place Dell has a 56; and HP/Compaq has a 53. Trailing far behind was Acer/Gateway/eMachines with 39.
The running selection for desktop brands was narrower with only four brands. Based on responses from owners of 3,711 desktop computers, Apple takes top spot at 87 points out of 100. Dell scored 55 for second place; HP/Compaq scored 53 for third; and Acer/Gateway/eMachines grabbed another 39.
Read more about the rankings from Consumer Reports.
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Amen!
I've done tech support, not professionally, but the amount of people (50-100) that relied on me at one time was difficult. I was getting called out to give people tech support more than 3 times a day, I can tell you now; "Have you tried turning it off and back on again" (IT Crowd) is the best advice you can give.
I've done tech support, not professionally, but the amount of people (50-100) that relied on me at one time was difficult. I was getting called out to give people tech support more than 3 times a day, I can tell you now; "Have you tried turning it off and back on again" (IT Crowd) is the best advice you can give.
I work in an academy (you know one of these posh schools apparently) in the tech deppartment and you know what, every time the phone rings out comes the irish accent "have you tried switching it off and on again" its always funny untill you get one of the irish teachers calling up...
I work in an academy (you know one of these posh schools apparently) in the tech deppartment and you know what, every time the phone rings out comes the irish accent "have you tried switching it off and on again" its always funny untill you get one of the irish teachers calling up...
At which you point have to drop in:
"have you tried forcing an expected reboot?"
"You see the drive hooks a function by patching the system call table so it's not safe to unload it unless another thread is about to jump in there and do its stuff. And you don't want to end up in the middle of invalid memory."