I'll second this. Dell sent a contractor to my home on Thanksgiving day to replace a laptop screen on my kitchen table. It took under an hour to replace. I've never seen that level of service from any other company, period.

Lenovo has been exactly the same for me, with their onsite + accidental damage protection. For the same price as applecare, I've more than once broken my laptop screen from a drop, and someone is at my house the next day with a new screen.

Lenovo has been amazing for me too. It's the reason why I buy nothing but them for my company.

I just wish they would do something about their website. I find it to be awful.

Except their build quality isn't on par with Dell and Apple.

I can echo this. Even in India - Dell replaced my wife's motherboard which was slightly out of warranty by sending a tech. support to our home with replacement motherboard.

On other hand - I have written a entire blog article about how shitty Apple customer care in India is - http://gnufied.org/2011/08/30/the-applecare-story/

Dell also send out parts no-questions-asked if you don't mind fitting them yourself, which is pretty great when you know exactly which part you need and what to do with it.

I assume that's why there are so many new Latitude/Precision keyboards on eBay at any given time (people bullshitting their way to getting spares and then selling them on).

When I had the keyboard repeat issue with my XPS 13 the the Dell customer support told me, that I do not have a problem at all and that they would not help me. I asked if I can send them the device so they can check it, but they told me it is not possible to send a device to Dell for repair.

Only after I posted my experience on a public forum I was contacted by a Dell social media person in the US who then organized support from Dell Netherlands.

That has not been my experience with Dell. My new UP2516D kept going black several times a day, with no apparent cause. I couldn't replicate the problem using the laptop with same DP cable, same laptop port on my wife's U2311H.

Dell customer support was hostile from the get-go, claiming "compatibility" problems with my MacBook. Compatibility? What could cause my laptop to be incompatible with the UP25 and yet compatible with the U23? Hogwash.

They finally agreed to exchange the monitor. They sent a refurb.

Since then, I've read multiple stories of people having problems with Dell monitors, using Windows or OS X. A common thread is the DisplayPort connection.

AppleCare does cover worn out batteries though...

I also feel like you are comparing Dell's enterprise support to Apple's general customer support...

He's not talking about enterprise support. Every Dell laptop I've had for the last decade has come with their on-site warranty and I've always purchased mine through Dell's consumer site or Newegg/Amazon.

Wait, seriously? If my consumer Dell laptop dies, they will send a tech to my house free of charge?

Yes, as long as you buy on-site support, which is the same price as apple care in most circumstances.

Interesting... there was this strong anti-Dell thread just last week: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13098954

Dell enterprise support is great. Support for cheap, plasticky, consumer stuff - not so much.

Apples main audience is not technical people. There is your first mistake. So comparing apples support for non technical people to dells technical oriented people support is flawed.

Dell makes it easy to tell the phone/chat support person that you know what you're doing but it doesn't matter how technical you are. A Dell contracted tech will come to your house and replace the parts right in front of you within a few business days. A non technical person just has to spend more time going through the troubleshooting checklist.

Dell's main audience is also non-technical people.