Back when I run for our sister publication , PC World , we used to run an annual sight of our referee , in which we asked them to grade their PCs for reliability and their PC vendors for service .
That survey made sentience in the microcomputer world : There were multiple , competing vender , and it was salutary for readers to know which one delivered the most reliable political machine and the good service . But in the Mac Earth , there ’s justone hardware vendor . There are no competitors to compare . So why did we do a reliability and satisfaction sketch for our June 2007 issue ?
For one thing , Mac usersdohave several alternatives when it comes to aim their Macs serviced : Apple shop , empower divine service providers , the smart guy down the hall . It ’d be good to know which one is best .
For another , we see a lot of anecdotic reports about Mac problems — from yellowing wrist - rests to exploding batteries — and wanted to discover out just how prevalent those job really are .
But , to be reliable , I had another , individual reason for wanting to do this narrative : To attack the stereotype of the “ Mac fan . ”
I hear that set phrase a lot from my brethren on the Windows side of the world , and it grates on my nerve . To me , it implies fatuous allegiance and irrational ebullience . No , I argue to anyone who presume use the idiom , Mac purchaser are n’t “ sports fan . ” They ’re intellectual users who ’ve made noetic decisions about the kind of data processor and operating system they desire to use , and they ’ve select the Mac . But to be dependable , I did n’t have any substantiation of that argument beyond the anecdotal . I wanted to see some numbers that ’d support ( or undercut ) my argument .
For those and several other intellect , we commissioned pollsterNeil Karlinto askMacworldreaders about the computers they utilise primarily at home and at study . How satisfied are they with those political machine ? How many problems have they had with them ? How bad were those problems ? How did they get them fixed ? How proud of were they with the results ?
When we first get the results of our overhaul - and - reliability survey ofMacworldreaders , two numbers jumped out at me now — and , honestly , made me a little nervous about my Mac - substance abuser - are - rational argument .
First number : When we asked those reader to range their expiation with their main computers ( mostly , but not all , Macs ) , 85 percent of Macs were rated a 9 or 10 out of 10 . ( By comparison , among those lector whose principal computer is a Windows PC ( mostly used at work ) , only 15 pct of those personal computer merited a 9 or 10 . )
2d telephone number : About a fourth part of the Macs in use by study respondent had a job at some stop — not a return glitch , but something serious enough to put those automobile out of commission for at least a day .
So , rough 25 percentage of those auto had a problem , yet 85 percent of them range a 9 or 10 for satisfaction . Does that make sense ? After depend at the number more closely , I think it does .
For one thing , many of the Macs that had problem were bought four , five , even six years ago . I do n’t think it ’s surprising that computer part that old on occasion go south .
More importantly , when those problems did arise , they were fix cursorily and well . Whether they took their ailing Macs to local Apple Stores or another local Apple service provider ( or shipped them to Apple ) for service , view respondents whose Macs had problems said they were super slaked with the promptitude and thoroughness of the service they received .
