The study determined that customers of each company were "generally satisfied" with hold times, the ease with which they reached a person, and the professionalism of the customer service personnel with whom they worked.

But Apple shone when it came to actually solving the problem, compared to the competition--53 percent of Apple customers reported their problem had been resolved on the call, while 45 percent of Dell customers and 39 percent of HP customers reported the same.

The Vocal Laboratories study featured 1,147 consumers surveyed immediately following a support call. The results cover the year ending May 31, 2009.