Computer manufacturers, Dell, Apple and Compaq lead the field for reliability and brand loyalty among Irish PC users, according to a new survey. Ninety one per cent of Dell users said they would buy the same brand again - compared to 87 per cent of Apple users, 86 per cent of Compaq users and 77 per cent of Gateway 2000 users.

In the area of PC reliability, 34 per cent of respondents said they never have any problem with their PCs. Nearly half of Dell users reporting "no problem ever". Apple and Compaq also scored better than average results in this category.

Of those surveyed, 91 per cent were desktop users and 11 per cent were notebook or laptop users.

The survey, the first of its kind here, was organised by the Scope Communications Group, publishers of Ireland's computer and Internet magazines Computer-Scope, PC Live! and Apple Report. The project was organised in association with DHL and conducted during the summer by means of questionnaires printed in each of the Scope Group's titles.

Of 1,596 completed questionnaires received, the three brands which accounted for most responses were Gateway 2000 at 19 per cent, Dell at 15 per cent and Apple at 12 per cent.

Where respondents reported problems, a quarter said they had experienced their first difficulty more than a year after they first bought their PC. Nearly a quarter indicated that their first problem occurred within less than a month, 18 per cent between one and three months, 17 per cent between seven and 12 months and 15 per cent between four and six months.

In reporting these problems it was found that two-thirds of service support was received by phone. Gateway 2000 clocked the longest "on-hold" time for telephone support, with one in five callers to the company's help-lines on hold from six to 10 minutes, and a further one in four on hold for more than 20 minutes.

For instant response, the best performer was Apple with one fifth of its users reporting no time on hold.

When it came to solving the problem after connecting to a help-desk, the top performer for service and support was Packard Bell. Dell, Gateway 2000 and Apple also ranked highly in this category. But one in five users of Compaq and IBM PCs said their problem was not resolved to their satisfaction.

Multinational brands dominated the survey, but three Irish PC makers were identified for special analysis - PC Pro, Celtic and Ultra brands with 97 replies in total.

When it came to resolving problems, 58 per cent of PC Pro users had received a successful result within two days. This compares well with Dell's best performance in this category of 45 per cent. When users were asked if they would buy the same brand of Irish PC again, 91 per cent of PC Pro users said they would, while the figures were 84 per cent for Ultra and 58 per cent for Celtic.

An interesting finding was that nearly one third (32 per cent) of all PC problems were fixed by the users themselves. Where the PC company or its representatives needed to be called in, a majority of 84 per cent confirmed that their problem was resolved to their satisfaction with only 16 per cent still unsatisfied.

Detailed survey results are available on the World Wide Web at http://www.infolive.ie/dhlsurvey