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Some surprises in America's favorite tech firms

When it comes to technology, what's old might be new again.

Consumers increasingly say they're happy with desktop computers, while tablet devices and laptops have suffered declines in the American Customer Satisfaction Index. The ACSI interviews about 70,000 customers every year to create customer satisfaction rankings across a number of industries.

While desktop computers are seeing a resurgence, not all tech firms are going along for the ride. The worst-rated personal computer company was Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), which slipped 6 percentage points in the survey, ending up with 74 points. By comparison, the top-rated computer company, Apple (AAPL), earned 84 points, but that represented a slide from last year's 87 points.

"It's been mostly downs for HP for quite some time in the PC market," ACSI managing director David VanAmburg told CBS MoneyWatch. "They made some missteps and miscalculations in their acquisitions," such as Palm and Compaq.

For its part, Apple likely scored lower because it hadn't come out with any new revolutionary products at the point the survey was conducted, which took place before it announced the iPhone 6, 6 Plus and the Apple Watch, VanAmburg said.

Apple's decline represents "a bit of a staleness, a bit of lack of new products," he noted. "It's not lackluster satisfaction with iPads, but the fact that everyone who wants an a iPad has one, and the iPad Air is a slight improvement, but nothing that's wowing everybody."

The best performers in the group were PC makers with historically smaller market share such as Lenovo, who as a group saw their ratings jump 6 percentage points to 82. These makers may be demonstrating to consumers that they have a "good commitment to quality, innovating, and getting machines out there that match consumer preferences," VanAmburg said. Lenovo, which bought IBM's PC business in 2005, has been growing market share.

Overall, consumer satisfaction with desktops rose 3 percent to 81 points, bringing the lowly desktop computer ahead of tablets and laptops, with both of those latter categories suffering declines in the survey.

Why the jump for desktop computers? It's likely that some households are just now replacing older models and finding what's on the market is far more advanced than the machines they bought three or four years ago, he added.

"Our satisfaction numbers suggest as households have come to replace those older machines, they realize they are better products than what we had before," VanAmburg noted.

Interestingly, televisions emerged as America's most beloved devices, with TVs and video players rising 1 percentage point to 86 points, placing the products far ahead of household appliances (80 points) and personal computers (78 points).

VanAmburg said several trends explain the American consumer's love of his TV, noting, "It's a combination of the TV screens getting bigger, the tech getting easier and the prices getting cheaper."

Below are the rankings of computer makers:

1. Apple 84 points
2. All others, including Lenovo 82 points
3. Dell 76 points
4. Acer 76 points
5. Toshiba 75 points
6. Hewlett-Packard 74 points

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