Notebooks: Mixed Results.

APPLE Computer Inc. ; EMACHINES Inc. 044096886 EEEE; GATEWAY Inc. GTW

This article reports on the results a 2004 online survey conducted by PC World which investigated more than thousands of subscribers about their experiences with notebook personal computers. Among notebook PC owners, Apple and EMachines users reported the most satisfaction with reliability, while Compaq, Gateway, HP, and Sony ranked near the bottom. Twenty-nine percent of them reported hardware or software problems with their machines, as opposed to only 16 percent of Apple's notebook users. Customers also reported low satisfaction with Sony tech support. Twenty-three percent of Sony customers who encountered a problem with their notebook said that the company never solved it. The mean for all notebook vendors on this measure was 14 percent. According to Steven Nickel, general manager of Sony VAIO service operations, the company made some changes to its call centers during the summer of 2004 to improve customer service. Sony reduced the number of call centers in the U.S. and overseas, improved training, and increased its monitoring of calls, he says, all of which should improve service and problem resolution for Sony customers. Like their desktop-owning counterparts, many Compaq and HP notebook owners had problems when dealing with service representatives.