But it has stumbled over the years in the PC market. Lately it has made a comeback, and today it's a leader in many areas, including notebook PCs, hard disks, and e-business. HP is a major player in the retail market and is a good choice when shopping at a local computer, office supply, or consumer electronics store. Its reliability scores, though, are middle of the pack. Consumer Reports readers placed the Mac in fourth place out of nine vendors ranked, and PC magazine readers, not the most fervid of Mac fans, gave it only a C grade.
Reliability here depends on the individual store, particularly for smaller stores.
In general, though, PC magazine readers gave white boxes a respectable B grade. Among the national retail chains, PC World readers gave Circuit City and Office Depot better scores than Best Buy, CompUSA, and Staples. In buying a PC, after reliability comes support, since even the most reliable PCs can have problems. Dell also received the top support scores, followed by Gateway and Hewlett-Packard. Even though playing the percentages doesn't guarantee you'll have a hassle-free experience, it can stack the odds in your favor.