Surprise, surprise! A recent survey from Parks Associates has revealed that Apple desktops are the most sought after this holiday season, displacing Dell, the previous leader for the 2012 and 2013 seasons. Cupertino's attractive all-in-ones also managed to beat HP, Acer and Asus, which placed third to fifth respectively.
Apple's dominance in consumer electronics shopping preferences doesn't end with desktops. The company topped the charts in tablet preferences (beating Amazon, Samsung and Microsoft) as well as in streaming media devices, where the Apple TV was more sought after than options from Roku and Buffalo.
Surveyed customers also put Apple at the top of their smartphone, laptop, MP3 player, and surprisingly, home router preferences. Only in areas where Apple doesn't compete did it not top the charts: Sony's game consoles were the most sought after this holiday season, as were Samsung's TVs and Amazon's e-book readers.
John Barrett, a director at Parks Associates, notes that while Apple is the most preferred brand in a number of categories, "consumers can still change their minds". Last year more people said they would buy an Apple TV than a Roku, but after surveying actual purchases, more people bought a Roku.
Parks Associates survey, fielded in the fourth quarter of 2014, covered 2,500 households in the United States.