People Happier Than Ever With New Computers
Apple is ahead of the pack when it comes to computer happiness, but Windows 7 has done much to help the PC camps.
The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) has released its report on customer satisfaction ratings over the past year, showing that people are generally happier than ever with their goods.
“In order for demand to rebound, consumers must exhibit an increased desire to spend and have the means to do so,” said Claes Fornell, founder of the ACSI and author of The Satisfied Customer: Winners and Losers in the Battle for Buyer Preference. “ACSI data suggest that for durables, the first condition has been met in the form of higher customer satisfaction. Whether this will translate into increased consumer demand will depend on positive movement in the factors that impact the means to spend: employment, wages and access to credit.”
For satisfaction of personal computers, the rating surged up 4 percent to match the all-time industry high of 78 on the ACSI’s 0 to 100-point scale. Apple gains 2 percent to 86, its highest score ever. This marks the seventh straight year that Apple leads all other PC makers, and the 9-point gap between Apple and its nearest competitor is the largest in ACSI. Potentially skewing Apple's rating upward is the ASCI's inclusion of the iPad, which is the highest ranked product that the ASCI has ever tracked.
Despite that gap between Apple and the rest, Windows-based machines also improved and no brand declined. Dell improves 3 percent, while Acer (Gateway and eMachines) and the HP division of Hewlett-Packard both rise 4 percent, forming a three-way tie at 77. These companies are joined by the aggregate of all smaller PC makers, such as Sony and Toshiba, which gained 4 percent to 77.
“Windows-based PC brands appear to have recovered from the problems associated with the Windows Vista software,” said Fornell. “Barely a year into the release of Windows 7, satisfaction with these brands has returned to, and in some cases even surpassed, the levels prior to the launch of Vista.”
ACSI said that PC makers have benefited overall from better customer service, although this service continues to lag far behind other durable goods industries. PC owners who had reason to contact customer support are 8 percent less satisfied than those with no post-purchase contact with the manufacturer or retailer.
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Hardware and software have become more reliable and easier to used over the evolution of PC hardware, remember when you had to add hardware in the past (286,386,486 era) you had to change jumpers and work out conflicts between IRQ, DMA, I/O, then with processors you had to set jumpers for voltage, speed, bus, the closest thing to plug'n'play back then that I remember was SCSI and even that needed jumpers for ID and termination to be set. Now everything is pretty much plug'n'play, most hardware can be added via USB and most drivers are unified.
I read a report somewhere that Apple customer satisfaction was due to some kind of 'denial' where they paid so much more for their product that it was difficult for their brains to come to terms with the fact they may have an inferior product. Reading this now, that report would explain why apple always has higher satisfaction rating, despite being lower quality and more restrictive for consumers.
I read a report somewhere that Apple customer satisfaction was due to some kind of 'denial' where they paid so much more for their product that it was difficult for their brains to come to terms with the fact they may have an inferior product. Reading this now, that report would explain why apple always has higher satisfaction rating, despite being lower quality and more restrictive for consumers.
A well known fact, smugness clouds their minds.
And to agree with the article, my parents love their new laptop I picked out for them and they love Windows 7.
I agree with the people who are making comments about Apple. Steve Jobs has devotees who could only be compared to the people who followed Charles Manson in their blind devotion to him and all overpriced gadgets that start with a lower-case i. As for the brands, they're all the bloody same. I worked at Tiger Direct and I sold them. They all use Foxconn, JetWay or ECS motherboards, they all use Intel or AMD CPUs and they all use hard drives by Hitachi, WD or Seagate. Brand-In-A-Box computers are crap and a terrible value compared to home-builds. People may be happier but they're just as ignorant as they have been in the past.
P.S. - If I hear one more person refer to hard drive space as "memory" or a tower case as a "CPU", I'm going to tar them, feather them and hang them from the spire of the CN Tower.