I feel as if I should knock on wood or something before saying this, but we have had few reasons to call upon support from the PC maker of our family desktop and my laptop. Dell on both counts. Of course, we'll see how everything goes after I send my Dell Inspiron 6000 battery back in exchange for a new one.

Researchers at the University of Michigan have found my experience is becoming more common. Overall satisfaction with the PC industry increased over the last year by 4.1 percent to a rating of 77. That's the highest since 1994, when the American Customer Satisfaction Index began tracking consumer satisfaction with household purchases.

While the overall news is good for the PC industry, consumers still rate PCs lower than other big purchases, including cars and appliances. We still spend more time on the phone with tech support over our computers than our washers and dryers.

The thing with customer service is to make sure you don't need it, Claes Fornell, a University of Michigan professor who heads the American Customer Satisfaction Index, told Cnet.

So, how do the PC makers stack up?

• Apple led easily with a customer service rating of 83.

• Dell, which has gotten lots of criticism for customer service problems, improved by 5.4 percent over last year to reach a rating of 78.

• Hewlett Packard's consumer rating moved up 2.7 percent to 75.

• Gateway is up 1.4 percent to 73.

Would you give your PC company higher customer satisfaction marks over previous years? Let us know why or why not below.