Apple storms to the top of hardware love list

Apple easily outdistanced its peers in a PC industry customer-satisfaction survey conducted by Forrester Research that found PC companies are only slightly more well-liked than insurance companies.

An overall satisfaction rating of 80 per cent was good enough for Apple to trounce the second-place finisher, Gateway, which scored 66 per cent. Forrester surveyed 4,564 US consumers online in October in compiling the results, which were published Friday on the research firm's website.

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Apple and Gateway were followed by HP, Compaq and Dell, respectively in the survey results. Gateway was the only Windows manufacturer to crack the 65 per cent barrier, which is equivalent to an "okay" rating in Forrester's survey. Apple's 80 per cent score fell into the "good" category.

The University of Michigan conducts a similar survey each summer and usually comes up with similar results: Apple leading the pack, but amid poor ratings for the overall industry. Only internet service providers, cable/satellite companies, and health insurance companies scored worse as industries than the PC industry in Forrester's survey.

Original article: Apple tops PC customer satisfaction survey from CNET News.com