Laptop Thoughts: Best Tech Support? Still Apple

"Your notebook is driving you crazy! It keeps giving you blue screens, it won't connect to your router, or maybe it's just taking an eternity to boot. Who ya gonna call? If your notebook is still under warranty, you'll reach out to the manufacturer, either by visiting its website or by calling the support number."

It's time again for the results from LAPTOP's annual Tech Support Showdown. As one might expect, the down economy seems to be impacting technical support, with many vendors refusing to provide free support for anything but broken or defective hardware. Simple questions on optimizing the system, getting better battery life (and so on) were either refused or referred to 'for fee' vendor services. Twelve (12) vendors were tested, three (3) did better than in 2009, three (3) remained the same, and six (6) did worse than in 2009. Fifty percent worsened.

Apple received an A grade overall, and stayed at the top of the pack, trailed by HP and Lenovo (B+), Sony (B), ASUS, Dell and Toshiba (B-), Fujitsu, MSI and Samsung (C). Bringing up the rear were Acer and Gateway (D+).