PC Authority's Labs testing has
established itself as the best and
most rigorous in Australia, but
there are some things we simply can't
check ourselves. It's all very well to say
that a product is packed with features,
performs great and is good value, but
what if it has a habit of falling apart
as soon as you get it home? What if
its manufacturer consistently tries to
wriggle out of warranties? These factors
and more should make a big impact
on whether you buy a product in the
first place, but we are normally left to
rely on hearsay and brand reputation
as guides to a product's reliability or a
company's service. This month we cut
through the gossip and find out what
products are really like to live with.
What makes our annual Reliability
and Service survey so special is that
it's entirely based on your feedback.
Every single star rating you see beside a
manufacturer's name is founded upon
your buying experiences. To even qualify,
we demand that at least 100 readers
must have bought a piece of equipment
from each manufacturer. So rather
than rely on a single word-of-mouth
recommendation for a manufacturer, rely
on 100 recommendations – or warnings
in some cases.
The big news is that 2008's survey is
bigger and better than ever. With over
20,000 respondents, we're confident it's
the biggest and most-comprehensive
tech survey ever done in Australia,
delivering the most authoritative
information on what manufacturers
are like to deal with and how products
stand up once they're in your home.
If you're considering a purchase from
any of Australia's major manufacturers,
if you're wondering whether you
can trust online shops or if you're
wondering which ISP will give you
the least grief, you'll be able to see at a
glance how they've performed.
As always, these are results for products
you've purchased in the last two years,
and while past performance is often
an indicator of future expectations, we
certainly hope that any manufacturers
scoring poorly take a long look at the
results and pick up their game.
Overall Trends
In the three years that we've run the
reliability and service awards, some
manufacturers standout time and time
again, whether for their excellence
or for the shocking report cards they
receive from users.
Some categories are steady and see
very little change from year to year:
Seagate has dominated in our Best Hard
Disk award, for example, pipping out
Samsung and Western Digital in both
2006 and 2007. Similarly, Asus has led
the laptops category for the past two
years thanks to its laptops' combination
of excellent value and stellar
performance, but Apple has been slowly
creeping up the ranks as a challenger.
Samsung has ruled LCD displays
– not surprisingly given its market
dominance – with other manufacturers
competing for second place.
In other categories, the baton
changes regularly as the market
changes. For PCs, Dell was supplanted
by Apple in 2007 – but that reflected
the changing focus on laptops and
custom-built systems as much as any
other factor. Canon has slowly ceded
ground to Nikon in cameras and to
Oki in laser printers, but retains the
crown for Inkjets. Part of that reflects
the changing needs of home users for
laser and inkjet printing. Telstra and
Dodo have battled for the Best ISP
wooden spoon for the past two years,
while Internode and Westnet jostle for
position at the top.
Lastly, some categories just reflect
changes in the marketplace. In 2007, the
entry of Blackberry into the Australian
marketplace was reflected in its win,
and in 2008 it's hard to imagine that the
iPhone wouldn't begin to make its mark.
For graphics cards, the ascendency of
Nvidia or ATI makes a big difference
to the winners, as does the amount of
games bundled into the retail box.