Alex

Market research firm Forrester on Friday released a report measuring customers' overall satisfaction with computer manufacturers. Apple not only topped the list, it blew away the competition.

Apple's overall customer satisfaction rating was at 80 percent, 14 points above the closest competitor, Gateway, who came in at 66 percent. HP and Compaq were pretty close with a 64 percent and 63 percent customer satisfaction rating, respectively.

Dell brought up the rear with a satisfaction rating of 58 percent.

The ratings were based on three categories: Useful, Easy to Use, and Enjoyable. Apple dominated in each category, scoring 82 percent (Useful), 86 percent (Easy to Use), and 72 percent (Enjoyable).

Each of the other companies mentioned in the survey received at least one score in the 50 percent range. Dell holds the distinction as the only company to get a mark below 50 percent, scoring a 47 percent in the Enjoyable category.

Forrester compiled the data from more than 4,500 consumer surveys.

http://www.forrester.com/Research/Do...,54019,00.html

dj_stick

that's actually not surprising

Apple really do go all out customer service-wise

I'll relate my one and only call to Apple's customer support line, it was in relation to a purchase I'd made off the Apple Store

I bought the Universal Dock for my iPhone, and the product description clearly stated that I'd need to buy seperate adaptors for the iPhone to fit correctly, so I ordered that too.

My order arrives, and to my surprise, and annoyance, the iPhone dock adaptor was actually included with the Universal Dock, meaning I wasted about $10 ordering the extra adaptor pack.

Called up, explained my story, the rep there checked, confirmed the issue, apologised profusely, and had a courier come to pick up the adaptors the next day. Over something worth $10


Oh and don't forget that Apple is the only "computer" company that has fanboys/girls

__________________

clanman

Well after reading comments from Zardon and you in here I decided it was about time I got myself a new laptop and I went for an apple 13 inch macbook pro, got it on offer for 800 or so.

First impressions are the brilliant build quality and the LED screen, its so vibrant and has no dead pixels of brightness issues I can see. The backlit keyboard and controls for 15 steps of brightness are awesome!

I wish the pc's I had came with the row of specific keys for all the functions, such as screen brightness and you don't have to hit a function key to get it to work ! it also holds as well and won't revert to whatever setting you had in your mobility center which I love.

The OS im getting used to, but I got a good FTP client and I love the preinstalled software such as iworks and ilife. The web client is so easy to use and pages is the best word editor out there.

So far im really happy with the purchase and its nice to get away from vista for a bit, I am really so sick of looking at that operating system.

Very impressed so far, and I just wanted to say that I got a call from an Apple customer services representative to make sure I was happy with the purchase and she then emailed me a 10% off voucher for any products on the apple store, which I thought was a nice touch, I also like the array of videos on the apple site with guides for all the operating system functions. Hopefully I can adapt to the operating system now after years of windows brainwashing

Mac Daddy

Thanks for the feedback mate and oddly enough Stick also suggested the 13 inch macbook pro as a good starter for my own purchase.

__________________
"My mom said the only reason men are alive is for lawn care and vehicle maintenance." - Tim Allen

kris23

wasnt there a news posting where the 13inch macbook got its SATA bandwidth throttled to 1.5GBs? id check it if i were you

__________________

Lowfat

That really doesn't matter unless he wants an SSD. And only the old plastic ones I do believe.

__________________

Zardon

I addressed this with OCZ actually yesterday http://www.hardwareheaven.com/news/185...peed-caps.html

I do hear their entry level 13 inch might have a slower bus to keep the costs down (Apple prices are down big time this year), but to be honest. even 1.5gbps is around 180-190 megabytes a second. its not really that big an issue imo - im positive anyone wanting over 200megabytes a second from a top end SSD drive won't be using an entry level 13 inch macbook.

Mac Daddy

Thanks for the feedback and info guys in my case I won't be using an SSD. It will be primarily used for text editing, photo editing and anything I need at the cottage or in the backyard. I wont be gaming on it.

At home I am picking up a wireless router getting tired of being stuck down here when the weather is nice outside

__________________
"My mom said the only reason men are alive is for lawn care and vehicle maintenance." - Tim Allen

Lowfat

Hmm, actuall the unibody is affected.

And Sata 1.5GBps's throughput is actually pretty close to 120GB/s. I had an X25-M in my MBP, which was 1.5GBps limited and it wouldn't do more than 120GB/s reads.

__________________

Judas

considering overhead and whatnot..... 1.5gbps is indeed limited to no more then 120-130MBps

__________________

Zardon

Which unibody? most of the new range is unibody - ive tested both the 15 and 17 inch, both are 3 not 1.5gb...

Also I take it you mean MB? 120 gb/s is hardly limited - would need a hell of a raid system for that puppy i have a samsung prototype 1.8inch SSD in a 13 inch Mac btw and it hits around 160-170megabyte burst and the Apple list for it is 1.5gbps..... X bench possibly overreading? perhaps....

Judas, until you try a few macs stay out of this forum, its my sanity escape from you - seeing you in here just wants to make me cry

We could always make the "dormant" dragon extinct if you want however.

humonous

not sure how a thread on apple customer care has turned into a debate on 1.5gigabits but Benchmark tests today show that, in multi-drive configurations, 1.5Gb/s SATA disk drives can reach data transfer speeds of >200 MB/s when their individual maximum data transfer rates are aggregated into a single pipe to the PC or server host.

im actually running a 1.5 gigabit board atm (pc based) and I see 158 megabytes per second from my OCZ SSD - more than enough for most people. Im sure Judas needs 200megabytes + for his forum posting though :0

Lowfat

I meant SATA 1.5gb/s as in gigabit. So far it seems just the 13" MBP is affected.

__________________

Apple_Dave

Hello Guys,

Anyone buying a CTO machine from us with an Apple installed SSD will have the full 3.0 interface speed enabled while those that ship with the standard hard drive will have a 1.5 gigabit interface via the Nvidia chipset. The one you tested for us Zardon was with a SSD.

I understand this is causing issues for people who like to upgrade the books themselves with their own choice of SSD but it has just been company policy in the new range. The prices are down considerably over the last generation as well.

Lowfat

Which Gigabyte board are you using?

__________________

Mac Daddy

Thank you for the feedback and welcome to DH !!

I am seriously considering purchasing a Macbook Pro for my work on DH in the summer and was perhaps looking at the 13 inch version as a starter. That is where the discussion drive speeds originated from. Thanks for the feedback and any information you can provide will be most helpful.

Cheers
Dave

__________________
"My mom said the only reason men are alive is for lawn care and vehicle maintenance." - Tim Allen

Apple_Dave

Any questions you have Dave I will do my best to answer. Thanks for the welcome.

Mac Daddy

Thanks Dave.

I am just basically looking for something as I mentioned in the post to work with mobile. I won't be gaming on it just text editing, photo editing and such. I am looking to try OSX out as well and interested in something not too expensive but reliable and functional.

I need to be able to work on reviews and articles from my cottage as well as work from a wireless router in the backyard at home. The Macbook pro has become my first choice because of the pictures Zardon has showed me of the layout, design and circuit design in them. Top notch !!

Thanks again

__________________
"My mom said the only reason men are alive is for lawn care and vehicle maintenance." - Tim Allen

Apple_Dave

Well the 13 inch is a great first machine especially now as they have moved to the unibody design. I know I will sound like a salesman but if you get time check out the video on this page which will show you the lengths to which Apple have went in regards to creating the machines from a single block of aluminium. Watch the video top right entitled UNIBODY ENCLOSURE Apple (United Kingdom) - MacBook Pro - Design - The breakthrough aluminium unibody.

No other manufacturer is capable of doing this.

THe internals are a work of art. The machine is even more impressive INSIDE than outside. The 15 inch might be a wiser choice if photo editing is going to be a high priority as the resolution will be higher meaning you have slightly more desk space to work with. Resolution on the 13 inch is 1280x800 and the 15 inch is 1440x900 which might not sound like much but can make a difference.

Obviously you can connect either to a monitor inside your house if you want more real estate for the times you need to edit.

Battery life on both is around 7 hours (probably around 6 with semi heavy use) and they all have the excellent Nvidia 9400M for good stable and fast GUI performance.

Probably all down to your budget but id recommend 4GB of ram to cater for snow leopard when its out and for the forthcoming 64bit version of Photoshop (due out winter this year).

Mac Daddy

Thanks again for your feedback Dave and in fact the 15 inch might be better suited to my needs. On the aluminum unibody design Zardon sent me a few pics of his newest Macbook and thanks for the video. Very nice !!

Not to go too far off topic but something that people don't really understand regarding alloys and dissipation/transfer of heat. I got into heated debate over that on TechARP run by my buddy Adrian Wong with a couple of members on copper heatsink fins.

Copper transfers heat within itself better

Aluminum dissipates heat better to other mediums (like air)

So build an all copper unibody design and watch it spontaneously combust

Being an EET I drooled more over the PCB's. Not just the components the overall layout and design.

Thanks again for the advise Dave I may be saving up for a 15 inch version. OSX interests me as well I have used Unix, Linux and older versions of Apple OS's as well looking to experiment again.

Cheers

__________________
"My mom said the only reason men are alive is for lawn care and vehicle maintenance." - Tim Allen