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Have you ever told a friend or family member that you were going to buy something and they tell you that they definitely wouldn't buy from a particular company? This happens all the time. If someone has a bad experience or hears about someone who has had a bad experience with a company, they tend to pass the information on. The problem with this information is that it is so anectdotal. That person's experience may be one in a million, you just never know. Luckily for us, PC World does it's yearly hardware reliability ratings. They interviewed over 42,000 people about their experiences with computers, printers, digital cameras, wireless routers, and MP3 players. There really weren't a lot of surprises this year. It seems like the same companies are known for good products and service stayed there, and the ones you always hear about being bad, were still at the bottom of the list.
Unsurprisingly, Compaq/HP and Dell got below average marks for phone support. People complained that the techs were difficult to understand and unhelpful. The reason for this is obvious - both companies have outsourced their phone support to India. I'm still trying to imagine what goes through the minds of the executives that make the decision to move phone support to a foreign country. Did they think we wouldn't notice if some Indian guy who hardly knows the product is trying to help us? The bad PR of India-based support has already caused Emachines and Gateway (now the same company) to move all of their phone support back to North America. Readers rated locally-owned computer shops very highly for support, but their reliability was slightly less than the bigger guys - probably because they tend to use some cheaper components and don't have the quality assurance processes. Emachines topped the list this year for service and reliability. They were closely followed by Apple, Dell, Alienware, and IBM. HP and Compaq were both at the very bottom of the list. I find it funny how PC World asks the companies for comments on their bad ratings. They always have an excuse and they are always doing something that they are sure will fix the problems. Interesting that they can't foresee these problems.
The bottom line: Stick to eMachines, Apple, or Dell. Dell got low marks for phone support, but reliability was well above average.
For notebooks, Sony users were very upset with the number of problems they had. Sony users had significantly more problems than average. If you're in the market for a notebook, stay away from Sony. They are overpriced to start with and these reliability numbers only make them look worse. Emachines again topped the chart for service and reliability. IBM, Apple, and Dell were close behind. HP/Compaq was again at or near the bottom of the chart.
The bottom line: If you're looking for a deal go with an eMachines or a Dell. Otherwise, IBM and Apple are the way to go.
Canon is the best company to buy a printer from. They received excellent ratings across the board. They have excellent reliability, great prices, and good phone support based in the U.S. I have a Canon printer and I would only buy Canon in the future. HP, Samung, and Epson were just behind Canon. Lexmark got extremely bad ratings. This didn't surprise me since I'd heard many people complain about their Lexmark printers. Just stay away from Lexmark. You've been warned. Also remember that most Dell printers are rebadged Lexmarks.
The bottom line: Just buy a Canon. They've got great products at very reasonable prices, excellent phone support, and the ink is cheaper than the competitors.
Overall, digital camera users had very few problems overall for any brand. HP and Kodak had the most problems. They both sell some very cheap models aimed at first-time digital camera users and this could be the cause. Still, HP and Kodak's low-end cameras are junk. Spending the same or slightly more money can get you a much higher quality camera from Canon or Olympus, both at the top of the chart.
The bottom line: As long as you don't buy the very cheapest "plasticky" models, you're likely to be satisfied.
Wireless routers have gotten much easier to setup recently, and the ratings of the manufacturers shows this. There were few complaints across the board as long as you are running Windows XP. All the manufacturers had similar ratings and none seemed much better than the others. I recently had a great experience with a Belkin router. The software on the CD took care of all my settings. Even the guy that runs my ISP was impressed. There are always going to be problems in setting up wireless routers because there are so many variables: different ISPs, interference from cordless phones, microwaves, or other networks nearby, your home's layout, etc.
The bottom line: Stick with a name brand and look for rebate deals. Plan on it taking a while to setup because there are so many variables that can affect it.
I know this is going to be hard to believe: Apple and its iPods topped the list for digital music players. But, there were many manufacturers very close behind including Sony, Creative, Dell, iRiver, and Samsung. Archos has some innovative products, but their reliability is way below average as the Geeky Jock's brother can attest. Many complaints about the digital music players were on the notoriously bad software that some force you to use to transfer music to and from the player. The best ones show up as a drive in Windows Explorer so you can just drag and drop music to it. Why can't they all do this?
The bottom line: iPods are easy to use, but there are cheaper products with more features that give you more freedom in transferring your music than the iPod. I like Creative, Dell, Rio, and iRiver.
You can read the full PC World article here.
