Slashdot Mirror
Why I Ain't Buying A Mac
gphat writes "An article at Rush Magazine details why the author isn't buying a Mac. This is in response to Apple wanting our input last week."
← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)
← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)
The problem is that this guy is not in Apple's market. Apple is not going after people who want to tinker around with hardware and buy componets that have 0.1% markup. They want to sell to computer *users* like schools, small businesses, and the typical home user (like your mother). With that said, I do have to agree with the price issue that he raised. In the end, most people will probably choose a lower price over a cooler computer (iMac, for example). Apple needs a value line that competes with the $800 PC's.
You cannot do everything on a PC that you can do on a Mac. I bought my first Mac a month ago for the quality of entry level video editing. Within one day I had burned a DVD of my most recent ski vacation with edits and a soundtrack. I tried this for a long time on my PC which was supposedly more powerful and was never satisfied with the results. At one point I upgraded my PC to Windows XP and found it was incompatible with my Microsoft Mouse!
It is also not possible to do this on Linux, I tried that to. After finally getting firewire to work I found that there were too many incompatible file formats. Maybe you can get it to work but I'm tired of tinkering every night.
My SGI Irix machine worked fine. HELL! it is just 1 180MHZ RK500 and still seems faster than my PC but I could only get a 4 gig hard drive.
Everything else I've discovered that I love (iTunes, iPod, iPhoto) is just gravy.
His points:
1. Macs are Expensive
2. He buys components to "stay ahead of the curve"
3. Mhz
My points:
Number 1 and number 3 are MULTUALLY EXCLUSIVE. Every 4 or so years (+/- 1) I buy a Mac. It usually takes that long for a new use of computers to come along that challenge previous processors. I bought a 6100/60 to do word processing, e-mail, and what is now basic web browsing. I bought an iMac for mp3, CDRW, digital imaging (with larger images than the 6100 liked). I will buy a G4 iMac in the next year or so for digital video. I average about $1200 for 4 years, which is about $300 a year, or $1/day. I spend more on coffee/lattes than I do on Macs. Now my PC (bought to play video games). Every 6 months or so I do a mobo and/or processor replacement so that I can buy any game in CompUSA/BestBuy, which is about $250 a year in UPGRADE costs. That doesn't even take into account graphic cards (1 new one a year), hard drives (when I run out of space or when the cost of a new one that is 3X as big is same as origional drive), replacement monitors (evey few years), etc. All in all, I spend a little more on my PC use than I do on my Macs.
Number 3 is a bunch of shit. Think of it like this. When one purchases a computer, they (hopefully) buy it for a purpose. They have a need they are fulfilling. Lets use are car example. Lets say you could buy a sedan for $15000 or a normal run of the mill city car for $15000. Based on a simple look the sedan is a better deal. Now lets say that sedan had the drivers seat on the wrong side of the car AND every year you had to buy brand new tires to keep up with roads designed for sedans. Not only that the Sedan pollutes the fuck out of the enviroment, some times doesn't start for any appearant reason, and the radio keeps turning itself on to the easy listening station once you achieve highway speeds. Sedan isn't looking so good anymore, especially since the normal car is reliable, doesn't treat you as if you are the enemy.
His points are stupid. There are reasons NOT to buy Macs, but these aren't among them. He's an average WinTroll trying to get web hits and it worked.
Burn Hollywood Burn
The author says PowerMac G4 933MHz with a 60Gb hard drive, 256Mb of RAM, and a Super Drive (that's DVD and CD-RW people!). This is going to run me $2,299.00. At Dell's website (Dude, yer getting' a Dell) I can get a 1.8GHz Dimension with an 80Gb drive for $1,497.00. That's $800 dollars less for the same functionality, more hard drive space, twice the clock speed (I won't get into CPU architecture), and your required contribution to the Microsoft Empire in the form of Windows XP and Microsoft Works.
First, the superdrive is a DVD-R and CD-RW, it burns DVDs and CDs. The Dell doesn't have that, and guess what, it costs about 800$ to get one. The assembled-with-the-cheapest-possible-parts-PC doesn't have a warrantee, so it's not a fair comparaison.
Also, his whole argument about weither more MHz is better is quite stange. At first he says that only Joe Sixpack thinks that, and people who know computer architecture relalise that the MHz are only a part of a computer speed. Two lines later, he says that the Mac is slower because it has a lower frequency.
Let me tell you something, if you ever have two computers that have the same performances (time to do a task), always take the one with the lower frequency, you'll have a more stable system, it will produce less heat, etc.
Overall, it was a pretty crappy article...
GFK's
In his example, the author explains that a Dell costs $800 less than a comparable G4 with a superdrive. However, Dell doesn't even offer a superdrive on any of their products. Where the hell does he find the basis for that comparison?!? There isn't a PC on the market that can compare with the G4's video production capabilities.
My Blog Sucks.
My father programmed in assembly on PDP-11's years ago. He still says that that stuff I do isn't programming, it's writin' novels.
Move on. There's nothing to see here.
I'm saving up to buy a Mac at the moment. If I was buying a PC I would have done so already, but the Mac I'd be happy with is more expensive than the PC I'd be happy with.
This is an interesting distinction, and ultimately the source of my current predicament. My problem has long been that Apple's product line is too shallow and not diverse enough.
The iMac is fine, but I suspect I will want to upgrade my video card at least once over the life of my machine. Why? Because I like games. The Mac itself will last for several years but I know with the pace of game development that I'll want a new video card before the system really needs any other upgrade.
That puts me in the Powermac range, which is very pricey. I really don't want to pay for all the other bells and whistles that come with the Powermacs, like Gigabit Ethernet and a Superdrive, but I don't have a lot of choice once I get into that category. I won't even get into the financial problem of wanting a Apple display.
I just wish Apple would sell a mid range tower. That's all. But I don't presume to know the economics of their market better than they do, so there must be a reason why. Perhaps they like forcing me for save up.
I use to be a Big PC guy who loved getting new hardware and upgrading my PC every couple months to keep it up to date. But after a while I just got really expensive, Even with using Linux as your only OS. So I started to let my computer fall behind the times for a while and save up my money and I got myself a Sun Ultra 10. And I felt that is was a much easier to work with the Sun then with a Linux box. Although installing some programes were a bit more difficult (Had to do the make stuff). But I never had issues with the harware no unexpected crashes from hardware, it just worked after over a year it still works perfectly. And the only thing that I really should upgrade on it is the Ram. But that is only for a speed increase not because apps require more. I can probably get at least 3 more years out of the Sun Systems sience Solaris is pritty good on working on older hardware, I can get a long life out of all the equiptment More then a PC. So now I needed a laptop so after looking around I found the PowerBook G4 to be the best bang for the buck. 1 Gig of Ram 40, Gig HD, GigaBit Eathernet, Wireless Eathernet, Larger Crisp screen. USB, Firewire. It had all the stuff I needed and I check for Dell and I couldnt build a Laptop to come have the same specs and still it became more expensive. And adding external components to it is a lot less of a hassle. And the OS works a lot more closely to the hardware then a PC ever did. The Apple saves me money because it saves me time. Doing it yourself is nice but that is if your time isn't worth to much money. For me I have to much to do and PC debuging takes way to much of my time. Why spend an Hour Debuging if you dont have to. Sun Workstation and Apple Computers have a higher operation time and a Lower TOC then PCs do. Even with a Free OS.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
This past weekend I bought my fourth Macintosh computer. For details, you can check my journal.
Disclaimer: I do not play games on my computer. The only thing I load up is MAME about once every month or so just as a stress-releiver.
That said: I have found Macintosh computers to be very low-cost in terms of life-time expenses. Yes, up-front costs are lower for PCs, but having used PCs (my job requires PC use, and I have done tech support on them before), they are far less hassle and expense to keep running well.
In addition, Macs tend to have a longer life than a comperable PC. I admit that you can throw Linux onto an older 486 or original Pentium, but most users will not do that. Most Mac users will hold onto their Macs for several years, even in its original configuration.
So comparing up-front costs does not give you the entire story.
Also remember that you cannot put a price tag on ease of use and ability to get things done.
- (c) 2018 Hank Zimmerman
Dell Precision Mobile Workstation M40
s p? customer_id=555&order_code=WS-M40&cfgpg=1
s /A ppleStore.woa/53/wo/jQIy01qrrnBvvsUvNu/0.3.0.3.30. 27.0.1.3.1.3.1.1.0?123,54
512MB, SDRAM Memory (2DIMMS),
48GB IDE Hard Drive,
3.5 inch 1.44MB Floppy Drive,
Internal Mini-PCI NIC/Modem,
Internal 8-8-8-24X SWDVD/CDRW Combo Drive,
Integrated IEEE 1394 "Firewire" port.
nVidia, Quadro 2 Go, 32MB, VGA
Mobile Pentium®III Processor,1.20GHz-M with 15.0in UXGA Display
$3,968.00
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.a
Apple G4 PowerBook
667MHz PowerPC G4 @ 133MHz
256K L2 cache @ 667MHz
1GB SDRAM memory
48GB Ultra ATA drive
Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
ATI Mobility Radeon w/
16MB DDR video memory
Gigabit Ethernet
56K internal modem
1 FireWire & 2 USB Ports
Airport Card Included
$3,699.00
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObject
Dell Pros:
nVidia, Quadro 2 Go, 32MB, VGA
3.5 inch 1.44MB Floppy Drive,
Dell Cons:
No option to upgrade memory
Price
Mac Pros:
Gigabit Ethernet
1GB SDRAM memory
Airport Card Included
PRICE
Mac Cons:
ATI Mobility Radeon w/
16MB DDR video memory
No 3.5 inch 1.44MB Floppy Drive
Wait - Macs are too expensive? Did I miss something? A price difference of $300 dollars & gigabit ethernet & wireless ethernet & 512MB more RAM. Mac are more expensive?
___________________________
I'm not a geek, but I play one on TV.
Apple sells their products similarly; the various Macs since the iMac have been cool looking, easy to use, no hastle computers. Part of buying a Mac is the cool iTunes, iMovie, iPhoto, ietc. software that automagically does everything you bought your new PC for, including uploading your stuff to your mac.com website.
It's all about increasing coolness and decreasing hastle for both VW and Apple.
> I don't buy computers anymore; I buy components.
Congratulations, pal, you're not in any of Apple's target market segments. Don't let the doorknob hit you on the way out.
> I don't think Steve Jobs is concerned with Apple
> making money -- excuse me, 'increasing
> shareholder value'.
I hate to say this, but this guy is a moron. Just because they're not interested in catering to the shade-tree PC builder doesn't mean they don't want to make money. In fact, Jobs clearly is interested in making Apple a profitable business. Along with Dell, Apple's one of two PC companies actually doing well during this recession. So claiming otherwise is just silly.
Insert simplistic political, ideological, or personal proselytization here.
Fortunately, I don't really care why someone else doesn't want to buy a Mac, and I don't care if they waste their time publishing an article about it.
I care that I use one every day and I love it, and I wouldn't trade it in even for the newest, maxed out Dell.
It's amazing how a company can have 90% customer loyalty -- but receive such awful press. Obviously PC users are missing something here. Brand loyalty and outstanding products aren't suppose to equal poor press and biased reporting. But hey, like I said, as a Mac owner I have the privelage of not needing to worry about it.
The next comment I write will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!