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On Monday, Rescuecom released its led the pack in Rescuecom’s last quarterly survey.

A computer support and repair outfit, Rescuecom creates its rankings by comparing the number of computers shipped by each manufacturer with the number of support calls Rescuecom receives for that same maker. Rescuecom says that reliability depends on both the quality of components and the strength of customer support. If that support is lousy, customers will go looking for third-party options like Rescuecom.

According to Rescuecoms analysis, Macs had an 8 percent market share in the four quarters of 2009, but accounted for only 2.2 percent share of service calls. That gives Apple a score of 365, well ahead of rivals like Asus and Levono (tied at 305), and way ahead of Toshiba (199) and HP (149). But Apples score is a bit below the 374 it received in the third quarter report for 2009, and well under the 394 it got in the second.

Nonetheless, the good news for Apple comes at the same time as word that the company has claimed the number three position in BusinessWeek’s annual customer service survey.

ABI Research said Tuesday that Apple’s iPad highlights the “real start” of a tablet computer market that should grow more than tenfold to reach about 57 million devices sold annually by 2015.

“Apple?s iPad is not the first media tablet,” said ABI senior analyst Jeff Orr. “But it does help define this new device category.”

The main focus of a media tablet is entertainment, according to the US-based market-tracking firm.

ABI defined the tablets as having touchscreen controls, wireless Internet connectivity, screens from five inches to 11 inches (12.7 cms to 27.94 cms) in size, and video and gaming capabilities.

“A tablet will not replace a laptop, netbook or mobile phone, but will remain an additional premium or luxury product for wealthy industrialized markets for at least several years,” Orr said.

ABI predicted tablet computer makers will ship four million units this year.

Apple is expected to be a “fairly sizable player” in a tablet arena with traditional computer makers such as Lenovo and Hewlett-Packard as well as small firms such as Notion Ink.

The culture-changing California firm may have done all media tablet sellers “a favor” by raising the public profile of the devices with iPad hoopla, according to Orr.

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs hailed the iPad as a “revolutionary” device when he introduced it to the world on January 27 at an event in San Francisco.

Some technology analysts predict the iPad with its multimedia capabilities will be the best-selling electronics device in 2010.

Others question whether people will want to tote around what some called a notebook-sized iPhone without a phone.

Unveiling the iPad, Jobs admitted he was taking a gamble by trying to carve out an entirely new device category between the laptop computer and the smartphone.

HP has finally released the HP Mini 2102, which is basically the same laptop as the HP Mini 210. The difference is that the HP Mini 210 is sold and marketed by HP’s consumer division, meanwhile the HP business division handles the new HP Mini 2102. Priced at $447 upwards, the HP Mini 2102 is powered by a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor with an Intel GMA 3150 graphics, a 10.1-inch (1024 x 600) LCD display, a 1GB to 2GB of RAM, up to 320GB (7200RPM) hard disk drive, WiFi a/b/g/n, and an optional Bluetooth.