Macs top Rescuecom reliability survey, but questions linger
A new report highlights how absurdly unreliable this kind of data really is. In the space of a few months Apple’s gone from third to unassailably number one. Does this meteoric rise say more about Apple’s products, or the people and the methods making the judgement?
Extended warranty and service provider Recuecom has announced the results of its latest survey of its own customers and their problems, which shows that Apple’s Macintosh computers are the most reliable. Moreover, the data also shows that IBM Lenovo computers were the second most reliable and that Asus, the leader last time out, has plummeted to third place, it’s score falling by more than half.
“This is what we were waiting for on Asus, whether or not their reliability score would be maintained,†says David A. Milman, founder and CEO, Rescuecom. “Now that many of the netbooks by Asus have been out for a while, there is obviously a higher need for service.â€
Rescuecom Top 5
1. Apple 374 (394*)
2. IBM/Lenovo 320 (314)
3. Asus 166 (416)
4. Toshiba 165 (218)
5. HP/Compaq 134 (142)
* Aug 18 score
And, this is roughly how we’re used to seeing the world—Apple and Lenovo’s long history of reliability, backed by independent surveys from Consumer Reports that consistently reach the same conclusions.
The twist is, however, that Apple’s score actually went down, as did everyone else’s except Lenovo which managed to tick up slightly.
Lies, damned lies and statistics
What does this tell us about computers in general? According Rescuecom, Asus products became less than half as reliable in the space of about four months.
That said, Asus has been selling netbooks for about three years, a product class that’s notoriously unreliable. Then, boom, these portables start requiring service in numbers sufficient to gut the company’s score in the space of four months? One would think such a precipitous decline would have been accompanied by a public outcry.
Also, did Apple branded computers really become marginally less reliable over the same period even while regaining the top spot in the Rescuecom survey?
Lenovo responds to SquareTrade notebook reliability analysis
“The reality is that we (and I expect all manufacturers) study our failure rates both scientifically and continuously, across many sample groups worldwide and over the last three-year period, Lenovo’s failure rates are at least two-thirds lower than what is claimed in the SquareTrade survey. PC hardware is extremely reliable, and this study is full of holes. The method is flawed, the data is inaccurate, and the conclusion is wrong”—Ray Gorman, Executive Director, External Communications, Lenovo.
Although I believe the folks at Rescuecom, and for that matter SquareTrade, are committed to their work and believe what they’re saying, there’s still something fundamentally wrong with how their reliability data is parsed and presented…
What’s your take?
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