Which is the best PC maker in America?

A new study published by Rescuecom, a third-party computer repair firm, established that Asus and Apple were the most reliable PC vendors in the U.S. during the second quarter this year. The ratings were based on 11,560 support calls fielded by Rescuecom during the second quarter and adjusted to take into account the market share of each PC maker.

Thus, the fewest support calls to repair their PCs were made by users of Asus and Apple on average said David Milman, Rescuecom's CEO. As it turns the companies offered PCs with high-quality components and excellent support, reducing the need for consumers to service PCs through third-party support companies.

Meantime, Lenovo, Toshiba and Hewlett-Packard held the third, fourth and fifth spot respectively in the survey.

Interestingly, in the American Consumer Satisfaction Index, which measures user satisfaction with products including cars and PCs, Apple topped the survey with a score of 85, followed by Dell at 75, and a three-way tie between Hewlett-Packard, HP's Compaq brand, and Acer/Gateway, which scored 74.

According to Milman, consumers want PCs that require minimal repairs and good support, so the calls provide a good snapshot of PC reliability. Those manufacturers that provide high-quality components tend to rate higher, while bad components and bad support may force PC owners to call third-party repair companies.

"We review ... a combination of how reliable the components are and how good the support is from the manufacturer," Milman said. 

The success of Asus was explained by Milman as the recent craze for products like netbooks in the U.S. he says that while many customers are purchasing Eee PC netbooks the company's PC reliability ratings might change as components start to break down.

Meanwhile, Apple having much larger margins on its Mac desktop and laptop PCs than its rivals can afford free support to its consumers which also adds to its credit. "With the introduction of their Apple Genius [Bar] in retail stores, they are offering support that many other manufacturers aren't offering," Milman said.