Can’t take that seriously at all. MS ranks #1 and I actually know someone who works at a large customer and their surface devices last 12-18 months. They had over 500 of them. They don’t send them for repair because the warranty is a year so they are scrap then. No statistical contribution to that study. They are replacing them with Lenovo units with 3y NBD repair and support and they are cheaper.
As for Apple, you buy a 3 year warranty with AppleCare for less than the surface costs and that includes accidental damage for a small excess fee per event.
> As for Apple, you buy a 3 year warranty with AppleCare for less than the surface costs and that includes accidental damage for a small excess fee per event.
What? Maybe this is true for the M1-based MacBooks now, but I bought my Surface Book 3 with my Microsoft Business account (which was made for me for free when I bought my Surface Book 2 by a manager at the Dallas, TX Microsoft Store) and for $249 I got a three year warranty with three accidental damage incidents, also with no deductible. Yes, I had to pony up for a year of Office 365 for $69 to get the normally-$349 warranty for $100 off, but I already use Office 365 yearly sub anyway, so adding on an extra year of something I was going to buy anyway, for $100 off a 3-year, 3-incident, deductible-free warranty isn't exactly a "hard sell".
Although the only problem I've ever had with Microsoft's hardware products was my original Surface Book, and I'll admit, that was a miserable experience, but I had zero problems with my SB2 and none so far with my SB3.
Having said all that, I might actually switch over to Apple if they had a 15" 2-in-1 like my SB3. In order to functionally replace my Surface Book 3, I have to buy a $1499 12.9" iPad Pro, a $129 Apple Pencil 2nd gen, and a $2299 MacBook Pro M1. Adding Apple Care+ and tax brings the total up to $4670. But I also now have the problem of having to lug around two devices instead of just once as I do with the Surface Book 3. My totally pimped out Surface Book 3 + warranty + Office 365 1-year sub was $4350. That's the Quadro RTX 3000 MaxQ version also.
Right now, the Apple products have the performance advantage, I can't deny that. But they didn't have that when I bought my Surface Book 3, and Microsoft isn't going to sit on their ass. Their ARM-based Surface Pro X is following Microsoft trends perfectly. The first version of all their hardware ranges anywhere from a total joke to slightly underwhelming. But by the time 3rd and 4th iterations, Microsoft has their shit together. I fully expect that in 2-3 years, a Microsoft ARM-based Surface Book 5/6 will be a serious MacBook Pro contender, while also winning over users like me for the 2-in-1 aspect.
That's just some random help provider call stats though. Could just mean that the average Mac users are more prone to call such services, or that their sample might not be representative, or whatever.
As for Apple, you buy a 3 year warranty with AppleCare for less than the surface costs and that includes accidental damage for a small excess fee per event.