Apple's technical support has been highly rated by the American Consumers Union, despite offering one of the shortest warranties in the computer business.

The organisation reviewed 24 laptop, 14 desktop and six all-in-one manufacturers and found that Apple technical support staff were the most knowledgeable about their systems.

They also solved more problems and answered the phone faster than those of other manufacturers.

The review, based on interviews with 10,000 computer users, found that on average technical support could only solve around 60 per cent of user problems. In contrast Apple staff managed to solve almost 80 per cent.

Lenovo and Dell also scored highly in the report, particularly on laptop problems in the case of Lenovo. Compaq and HP were among the worst performing.

Although Apple only offers free technical support via phone for 90 days the survey found this still represented as good value as longer term plans. Apple customers also get free technical support in Apple shops.