Slashdot Mirror
Forbes Predicts 5% Desktop Share for Apple in 2005
sebFlyte writes "Spurred on by the iPod, Apple's share of the desktop computer market will grow to five percent (from three percent) this year, according to research from Morgan Stanley. Apparrently nearly 20% of iPod users surveyed are planning to switch to Macs, and the sales figures for the last few quarters are backing up the theory of the iPod Halo Effect. All this suggests the question ... how many iPod-touting Slashdotters are thinking of switching?"
I plan on getting my mac mini. I've been looking for a way to not have to use Microsoft anymore and a combination of a new mac mini and an old machine running fedora is how I'll do it.
Because I had a Mac, I bought an iPod.
Kudos to Apple, though, for getting more market share.
Yes, because all those white ear-budded commuters I see on the subway to and from work everyday are on their way to an internet cafe lan party.
I do not have an iPod (and probably won't buy one), but my next system will either be a G5 iMac or a Mac Mini. The irony is that an X-Box was the final factor in my decision, since I found myself spending most of my gameplaying time on the console, I do not need a PC around to run games.
Degaussing scares the bad magnetism out of the monitor and fills it with good karma.
I used to hate Macs; pre-OSX I was convinced they were complete garbage. My next computer will probably be a Mac. I do own an iPod, but it wasn't the iPod that convinced me to switch; it was seeing that OS X is based on UNIX, and that it looks incredibly spiffy, and that it's stable, and....
Have you ever been face-to-face with their 30" Cinema? It's the most amazing thing I've ever seen.
________________________________________________
suwain_2
I don't think it's the iPods that are attracting the slashdot crowd perhaps quite so much as the great UNIX integration os x has. If you're already a linux or unix user you find that switching to OS X is almost a transparent operation, you're just running iChat instead of Gaim and doing the exact same stuff in Terminal. And if all your windows box was being used for was to check mail and ssh into the UNIX boxes, well, why did you need it? Go hang around a UNIX-centric computer science department sometime or a UNIX-centric corporate research department, you'll be amazed by how many powerbooks you see.
It's funny, switching between operating systems, you find there really aren't any compatibility or transition issues unless one of the endpoints is Windows...
I have been consulting for a large Linux shop the last few months and was surprised at the number of people running Mac laptops. The company itself provides Linux desktops for everyone, and Windows laptops for the suits, but a lot of the developers and other IT people use Mac laptops for their personal computers. I have to say I have been pretty impressed with what I have seen in terms of performance. Besides Mac just give you that extra little "Wow!" factor. Of course it is BSD under the hood, so it is a real OS. They really are slick machines. I do not think that the Ipod is the influencing factor here though.
Insert Generic Sig Here:
I think this is what Apple finally realized with the Mac Mini. They'll never get people en masse to go to the Mac cold turkey, but by giving them an affordable option, there's a lot of people who might try it since there's a way out (they can just write off the $500).
I guess the better question is - what percentage of Mac Mini purchasers continue to use it actively and don't eventually write it off as a bad investment? And how many of them swear off Windows?
Schnapple
If you think about it Apple recently dropped the prices of their computers a bit. iBook is again under 1K$, iPod-mini and iPod-Shuffle are quite cheap and very trendy, and finally a really low cost Mac: the Mac Mini IMHO is one of the best ideas to get more and more people to switch. I think iBook and Mac Mini really mean that Apple got what Average Joe wants from a home computer, that is to say ease-of-use and low maintenance cost. Ok, we can't compare 2.5 GHz G5 proc with a 1.25 GHz G4, but does your mom need all that power to read her mail or write a Word doc? :) Think different!
Me myself I have an iBook, and I couldn't be happier, as it does what I want the way I want. It doesn't really matter if I can't compile a Linux kernel in 2 minutes as long as the battery lasts 4 hours.
The upgrade problem is especially acute with something like a mini-mac, where the software upgrade costs are going to far exceed the original purchase price.
...but it wasn't an iPod that convinced me, it was having a cheap 400mhz iMac to use as a server/living room stereo for a couple years.
Not only was it great for some simple hosting, utter silence and low power consumption, but I found that I even preferred to do casual browsing on it -- despite being so remarkably slow (OS X - Quartz Extreme = Windows on a 486). It's just so comfortable.
As others have pointed out in this thread, there won't be as many Slashdot "switchers" as there will be "adders," and that probably counts for the larger population as well (why throw out the old computer when you can keep it for the dog to use?). But I bet many will follow the cheap Mac they bought on a lark to a shiny new Powerbook, just like I did.
// I will show you fear in a handful of jellybeans.
" As soon as that 20% realizes there's no games for that shiny Mac in the store window, they'll stay right where they are."
Maybe, maybe not. Around our house we realized that for the price of one good gaming PC system, you can pick up a trio of dedicated network-capable gaming consoles, each with their own small TV. Makes a fine gaming LAN.
So the Winboxen are in the process of being replaced by Web-surfing Macs, plus a Linux box running an glue layer for the odd Windows game.
And I'll be worrying a lot less about worms, viruses, malware, etc.
Seemingly along with most of Higher Education. It used to be that when I went to Internet2 or Educause conferences there were about 90% thinkpads and 10% power/ibooks. Now it is usually around 60%-70% power/ibooks. and I have noticed a lot more Linux installs on the Thinkpads.
Apple seems to have made a massive dent in Universities.
Finkployd
The program is in a complex waveform of both running and non-running states.
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
I switched last year. Bought a nice, shiny dual 1.8GHz G5 Powermac and have never been happier. Yeah, it's not perfect and I do keep my old secondary PC around for games (along with my XBox, PSX and Dreamcast) but the crap I no longer have to put up with is worth it.
For me it wasn't the iPod. It was iTunes. I was using iTuines for six months before I got my iPod and it was my experience with iTunes that made me look at the Mac for the first time in five years. I had not liked OS 9 and below and I used to consider Macs to be a joke back when they first came out.
And yes, I did give Linux a try. Several, as a matter of fact, starting with SLS 1.0 back in 1993/1994 and the last time with Suse 9 last year. I never got along with Linux very well. I figured that if I tried it out seven times in ten years and never got comfortable with it it probably wasn't for me. But I did give it an honest try.
The Mac, well, OS X, I got along with from Day One and am quite happy with. A++ Would do it again.
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
I bought a mini for in the kitchen. It is hooked up to a 17" flat panel LCD TV. My wife would not have a PC case in th kitchen. This however is smaller than a toaster and looks way cooler. I hooked a wireless keyboard with one of those nipple mice up to it. Now my wife can quickly check email- look up a recipe etc...
I have an iPod (40G and a shuffle) and the Bose speakers as well.
I don't care about games and for the naysayers: OSX is a Unix my wife and children can actually use.
Hajo Monogamy: Belief so strong that millions of people end perfectly good relationships in order to start a new one.
My company recently made the decision that all new desktop computers purchased would be from Apple. Although the average Mac is more expensive than the average PC, the (current) lack of spyware and other PC related problems will probably pay for itself in the first few months.
I can say with 100% certainty that the switch to Apples was made because of the IPods. The IPods got the company owners into Apple's Pittsburgh store and the rest is history. Apple's retail employees do a very good job of introducing customers and potential customers to their other product lines. I've never been more impressed by floor-level retail salespeople... and apparently neither were the company owners.
I'd stuck it out with Linux since making the trek to my University with a bag full of floppies and downloading Slackware 0.97 or something like that, years and years ago. I trashed Windows to install a real operating system and scoffed at the Mac.
... oh ... 10 years in front of Gnome and 5 years ahead of KDE.
But recently, I got tired of Linux. The endless quest for a better desktop or a more compatible distribution. You've just upgraded? Congratulations, now go and recompile all your multi-media apps (like DVD playing). Want to plug in a device that's been on the market for a couple of years but no one in kernel land has? Good luck and plug it into your partner's mac to use instead.
For me the final straw was buying a G4 iPod, and deliberately setting up a Windows machine so that I could make sure it was formatted VFAT rather than HFS so that it would definitely be able to be used with my Linux system. And viola, it too didn't work! So, goodbye Linux, hello Mac. Sold my Linux custom-built workstation for $500 AU, bought an eMac, and have never looked back. I'm more productive, significantly more compatible with any device I want to buy and the interface is about
I still use Linux, I think it's a great server platform, but for the desktop, nah. I'm even going to be buying myself a bright shiny new 17" PowerBook soon out of my own money rather than continue to use Linux as my laptop OS for work.
Mac OS X - what Linux could have been, and what Solaris should have been.
I'm not paranoid - everyone really is out to get me.
I have wanted a mac for about 3 years now but $2000 for a "decent" configuration always put me off. I looked at the eMac product for a while but the clunky CRT and "all-in-oneness" of it always put me off.
I ordered my Mac Mini with a superdrive and 512MB and am perfectly happy with it. Total cost was under $800. It is (almost) the perfect family computer.
I was seriously considering making my next home computer a mac mini, and then I got a hold of an older iMac temporary to try OS X out. 3 things really bothered me though:
1) I can't turn off the damned weird mouse acceleration that OS X uses. I use a trackball, and like to have the mouse speed very high, but the accel. algo used in OS X drives me insane when you move the pointer slowly. I've tried all the settings I could find, up to installing MS IntelliPoint drivers, no luck...
2) I can't easily/freeely change the stupid mouse pointer..
3) I really, really miss having a tree view of folders, with files listed on the right. I deeply nest my files (for logical organization, etc.) In other respects, I like the finder.
Call me a Windows weenee, etc. But not having these available really slows my productivity.
Otherwise, have been very impressed with OS X, especially how well it performs on older hardware.
P.S. Picasa kicks iPhoto's ass, sorry.
Your hybrid is not saving the environment. Its purpose is to make you feel good about buying something.
I'm not an iPod user but I decided to replace an old Win98 machine that I used for mainly for photos with a Mac Mini. Even tho there are a few gotchas, I'm pretty happy so far. I've been learning to use the Gimp to replace Photoshop and so far I've been able to do everything I could before. 'course I'm no graphix artist... Besides that I use it for the web and email (Firefox and Thunderbird) and some office apps (NeoOffice/J). Eclipse works fine too. The only thing I really miss is Freecell. Have to move over to my Linux box for that, oh well, can't have everything.
After finally making the plunge last year to buy a Mac, I found myself giving more and more consideration to getting an ipod (something I'd previously wrote off as being overpriced, and unneccesary).
A year later, my ipod's with me daily, and serves up more than just music, via the amazing Pod2Go software. The only regret I have is not taking the plunge earlier than I did!
I went from hours and hours of tweaking, and modding my systems to behave in a somewhat intelligent manner, to just having a computer work the way I want it to. Someone in a different thread once put it best: "If I want to tweak and play, I can do so, but when I need to knuckle down and do real work, it just works, no tweaking needed". I couldn't have said it better myself.
OK. So where can I get the source code for aqua so I can compile it for x86, smart ass.
Vote for Pedro
Just getting people into an Apple store, be it to see an iPod or not, is often enough to make them want to switch. When I wanted to see the iPod Shuffle and Mac mini, I took my wife with me to the Apple store and she fell in love with OS X while we were there. She doesn't want a computer for gaming; she only needs web browsing, email, text-editing, iPod management, and basic digital photo editing abilities. Currently, she's doing this on a WinME desktop and WinXP laptop (she had them both before we got married, don't blame me). After about 10 minutes exploring OS X while I waited to play with the only iPod Shuffle in the store, she decided that our next computer will be a Mac. She'll get no protest from me; I love using my linux boxes and will keep using it but certainly won't mind adding a Mac to my collection.
I was a happy iPod owner for around a year.
I got a Mac Mini last week, and from my experiences so far - I'll never go back to Windows on my personal computer.
I love that apple hardware and so bought a G4 and recently for my 16year old daughter. However we both found the UI really confusing, as we were used to Suse Linux. We're not very confident computer users, and thought the OSX looked a little more suited to experienced users than Suse Linux.
When they came out with a Suse port for the Mac we didn't waste a beat and installed it - everything just worked (ok except connecting to AirportExtreme networks!) This for us was the perfect setup, great hardware and industrial design with a sensible and productive desktop. Kelly uses it for all her schoolwork and multimedia. Since several of my workmates have done the same.
Once a linux user, always a linux user I guess -but count us in as switchers!!
Bought an iPod July 2003. Bought an iMac February 2004. Bought two more iPods. Buying a Powerbook any week now.
So yes, it works.
--- witty signature
I had the opposite experience today. I installed an ADSL moden + router + two wireless cards in two Dells. After two hours it STILL wouldn't work as planned with WPA. I felt like I was a being from space, trying to use 30th centtury tools and know-how to fix mud huts on the Congo river in the year 890 AD.
The complexity of windows is baffeling. I was amazed that something that works so easely on Mac could be so incredibly complicated on another platform. The nearest thing I had to WiFi network problems befor was my GFs iBook that had to enter a WPA-PSK password on every boot, but it was solved after some consulting on the Apple site forum.
I sweated, wept and toiled and yet I had to leave the installation half finished because I only had two hours available. Depressed and alone i reached out to grab the Old Friend that never disappoints, Jack Daniels. Suddenly, a light came on in the corner. It was my alu PowerBook, that woke up upon registering that my Bluetooth cellphone was nearby. As it changed the "away" message in Aduim to At home and available, and automatically synced the phone with adressbook, I realized. I don't need booze to drown my Windows memories. I only need the comforting white light of an Apple.
Ok, so it wasn't that bad. But the installation didn't work as planned and I have to go back tomoroow and that sucks.
I won't believe it until I hear it from Netcraft.
I'm not good in groups. It's difficult to work in a group when you're omnipotent. - Q
As for the price difference, the laptops are very competitively priced FOR THE QUALITY OF WHAT YOU GET. Sure, there is no cheap piece-of-crap-but-it-works Apple laptop equivalent to the Office Depot Compaq special you read about in slickdeals, but we're talking internal slot-loading dvd/cdrw or dvd burners in a 12" laptop. Find me a reasonably priced Dell or Sony with those specs. And there's no comment on the Mac mini, its price competition is obvious enough.
All that said, it's all about OS X for me. I think OS X is the best desktop OS ever. I'm on my first Mac (an original 12" powerbook), I've had it for over two years, reloaded it once, and this is by far the most reliable and most consistent operating environment I've ever used.
I used to enjoy building systems for friends and family until I realized that they had this mysterious idea that I would be providing free tech support for the next decade.
But, I know Apple makes cash off of very expensive hardware,
No way. It always costs me $700 to build a computer. Always. This has been true since about '96. By the time I research the specs and assemble a parts list, it comes out to be within $50 of $700 each and every time. Apple is now selling a system that is pretty close to as nice as I'd hand-build, except that it comes in a form factor I could never hope to emulate, at a price I can't touch, with an OS that I wish all of my friends and family would switch to so I could cancel my tech support "contracts". I really can't think of a good reason to ever build another workstation (although servers are still fair game).
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
You're already getting expensive just by buying an iPod at all.
Best Buy:
Cheapest 512MB MP3 Player: iPod Shuffle ($99) (#2 is $119)
Cheapest 1G MP3 Player: iPod Shuffle ($149) (#2 is $169)
Circuit City:
Cheapest 512MB MP3 Player: iPod Shuffle ($99) (#2 is $119)
Cheapest 1G MP3 Player: iPod Shuffle ($149) (#2 is $199)
Is that why there is a class action lawsuit over the "merger."
My uncle worked for Chrysler before the "merger". He still laughs to this day when someone mentions it. Something about most of his bosses being fired and being replaced by native speakers of German made him think it wasn't a nice friendly merger.
I don't push paper but i'm in a decently big company.
I've been in smaller companies and really cant think of why you'd need serial or parallel ports.
- Printing is all either ethernet or usb.
- Scanning is usually usb.
- PIM synchronization is usually usb or bluetooth.
Nowadays i only see serial and parallel ports used for things like
- interfacing with lab/cam equipment
- programming door security systems and standalone card-readers
- interfacing with hardware products that are in the process of being developed
Excluding people who do this kind of technical work, who really needs parallel or serial ports?!
I purchased my first iPod about a year and a half ago. After the terrible experience of MusicMatch & the iPod on Windows, I longed for the Mac iPod experience. I also lusted after OS X and the Dock - which works the way I like my computer to work.
A few months later, my web-surfing laptop died on me. In looking for a new laptop, the iBooks definitely stood out to me, and I went for it. Safari is good, Firefox works well, and most other things that I really wanted on my web laptop were available.
It's worked out for me. I've even replaced my desktop with a 20" iMac G5, and I don't miss my noisy, tons-of-compatibility-problems PC.
Now that I have a Mac Mini my AMD 2800 at 2gz and a gig of ram just sits, turned off except for an occasional game.
My Mini is 1.25 gz and 512 megs ram, Superdrive and external USB 160 gig hard drive.
I'm happy. iBook is next. Gave my Thinkpad to my daughter.
I like the look of OSX. No, I LOVE the look. Everything is so refreshingly appealing to the eye. I like the built-in capability of 128px icons. I like the dock. However, I can get icon sets and other nice, colorful, appeasing items for XP Prof. Hell, I can get OSX imitation themes for it.
I work with a bunch of designers (I'm a devloper), and I am on a Mac probably 2 times a week for a few hours. I don't feel overwhelmed enough by OSX to actually switch to Apple. I use an XP Prof. machine, and I NEVER have any problems with it. It has failed on me maybe 1 time in the past 6 months. Maybe. My coworker has a Mac, and it freezes on him probably 2 times a week. Freezes in a manner than doesn't allow him to do anything besides restart. I just sorta laugh to myself, and continue working.
Maybe I'll switch in the future, but I just couldn't bring myself to spend 2500 on a 15" Powerbook when the only thing that I admire about OSX is the "prettiness". I spent 1700 on a HP zt3000, and got pretty much all of the same features for, oh, about 800 less.
Just my 2 cents. I really don't have anything against Apple, and I'm glad that they're taking market share from Microsoft. But when I have a perfectly good AND CLEAN XP OS, I can't bring myself to fork over the extra "style" money required to use an Apple.
"
Well I don't own an iPod, however almost 1 year ago I purchased a Powerbook over a new IBM or Dell laptop. You know why? The local retailer near me who I purchase my laptops from just got an Apple section infront of the IBM section so I decided to have a look, I tried to be a smartarse and quiz him about how I would buy one but program a, b and x were not on a Mac that I needed.
None the less, I walked out with a Powerbook and the exact software that I needed, hell, I even walked out with Office for Mac.
One year later, I now have 2 Powerbooks (1 for work and personal) and 2 Mac Desktops - I love them, and I am even going as far as trying to fix a PowerMac into a normal desktop case as to look like a normal IBM computer - why? Our business sells and repairs IBM computers and it would look a little silly trying to sell IBM type PC's when the computer I am using myself is an Apple.
I have not walked into the store since I will know I will walk out with an iPod.
Ya, I've been down this path. iPod Jul 2003, PowerBook Jul 2004.
I used to build PC's and it was fun and you'd get more bang for the buck, but I got ever sick of dealing with flaky drivers and Windows problems. But until the Mac Mini there wasn't an affordable Mac for most people.
I do almost all work and personal stuff on the Mac now. Only time I tend to go back to WinXP is for Visio (which doesn't seem to quite work right under VirtualPC). I'm hopeful that one-day Visio will be produced for the Mac.
Fedora Core is also used, but primarily as a server platform in my small business.
We've got a number of Toshiba WinXP laptops and all of my users have trouble every single day with Windows Wireless networking. They have to repair their connections 2-3 times a day. My PowerBook has no troubles at all with connections. Hibernation of laptops is another - try going a week with hibernating Windows - it becomes so flakey. Now the PowerBook only gets a reboot when an OS update needs it. Otherwise hibernation just works - currently at 24 days with hibernation only - no reboots! All off my work colleagues reboot their WinXP laptop daily.
I have been providing tech support for family and friends in the past, but now with the Mac Mini I'm going to provide them with a subtle and a not-so-subtle hint - "Check out the Mac Mini!" and I'm no longer providing support for Windows.
The Mac operating system and application platform is great. iLife (haven't touched Garageband) is a really great suite of software and the integration works really well. I'm going to be suggesting to family that they should switch just because of the improvements they will have in being able to manage their digital photos etc. And having it all on *nix underpinning is nice - its great for me being able to crank open terminal.
I had an Apple ][ many years ago - ah Castle Wolfenstein ;) but hardly touched pre-OSX because it was and still is crap. I did get a dual-CPU Mac once but promptly installed BeOS instead.
I got a mini to start using OSX and to have a portable media server. I was originally going to buy a windows notebook for that purpose, but I decided on the mini because it just looked too intriguing.
However, I also upgraded my desktop system the same week, it's now an overclocked Athlon64 system with an SLI motherboard and a GF6800 (only one for now). It runs windows XP. So I certainly didn't "switch" to the mac.
I use the Athlon box for games, and as a digital audio workstation. But now with the mini I only turn on that box when I'm doing games or DAW work... everything else, the day to day stuff, I use the mac for because it's just a refreshing change and OSX is a lot more pleasant to use.
Could I have a mac as my only system? Sure, if somebody GAVE me a dual G5 perhaps. I'm not sure which one is my "main" computer now, because I use the mac most of the time, but I use the Athlon rig for the really heavy duty stuff.
After using OSX for a while, I'm starting to think that my 3rd computer would be a mac too. Funny how that works. I've read that the mac mini is the gateway drug...
-CausticPuppy "Of all the people I know, you're certainly one of them." -Somebody I don't know
Disclaimer: 10 Year Mac User. OSX fan.
OK Let's face it, Linux on the PB's is the way to go; clean, lean and outperforming the OSX. Me? Ti PB (1 week old). I **thought** I was happy until I put Debian on it. It Just Works
I've tested Doom3 frame rates, writing PDF's, boot times and burning DVD's. Debian, I am sad to say, smokes Mr. Blue.
Sure I keep a dual boot box, but rarely do I ever touch OSX these days. Run 'top' on OSX lately? it's depressing. Half the GPU is being hogged by OSX's insistence on *2D* blitting, the rest of the system memory is doing God Knows what with some iLife update sillyness. Linux just feels better, it's free, mature, and has the worlds *best* kernel hacker making sure it works really really well - Linus (his desktop is a Mac). You might see alot more Mac's around lately, but more and more are running Linux under the hood, so.. not a switcher, but a pitcher.
Oh yeah, think I'm missing out on any Look and Feel? Wrong!..I never touch the CLI these days!
http://kde-look.org/content/preview.php?preview=1
I bought my mum an iBook recently. I've always been a fan of the Mac to a certain degree. Never owned one though. I'll be getting a Mac Mini in the not too distant future (after Tiger is released probably) to use as a media center. And yes I do own an iPod.
I'll still do all my work on my Linux laptop though.
-- Oliver Jones - Deeper Design Limited
That's funny, I absolutely loved Giants, and I was playing it on my old G4/733 a few years ago just fine ;) It was actually one of the very first OS X-only games.
Actually, Microsoft does produce some pretty fantastic research.
Bullshit. They may have smart people working for them, but they are hardly the R&D powerhouse that their marketing seems to make them out to be. Except for the occasional fringe internet markup language and rough-edged rigged demos of 3d user interfaces that are of dubious innovation (not to mention utility) I have yet to see anything truly groundbreaking come from Microsoft Labs. Name one thing that MS Labs has produced that is in any way groundbreaking.
Don't get me wrong, most of Apple's innovations in the past several years have been pretty modest and generally evolutionary (except for the iPod, of course). But they have been real, and they've come at a steady, rapid pace. They are a company that is perfecting computing. MS's idea of R&D is throwing enormous amounts of shit at a wall randomly and hoping some of it sticks, which is not surprising for anyone who has been watching them for the past 20 years. They can't hold a candle to the real powerhouses of American R&D history like Bell Labs, Xerox, DEC, IBM, or HP.
When Jobs was ousted from Apple in the mid-80s, they were on their way to being one of the long-term torch bearers of tech innovation in the US and it looks like they are right about there again. It's a very good time for that company and they may grow to be peers with the R&D giants mentioned above.
I'm a console gamer.
/. on occasion, and saw mention of the Playstation 2 Linux kit, thought it would be a good cheap way to do "computer" things (and learn more about this "Linux thing" mentioned on Slashdot so much) and bought one when they became available. in '02. The Linux kit became my personal machine for the most part, so in '03 I began looking online for a "real" computer for the rest of the tamily's use.
My first internet access device was a WebTV Plus. I visitied
Just to let everyone know, when I pre-ordered the LInux kit, I bought some LInux books and began reading them. When I got my kit, I had it usable for my needs within a day.
I had looked at the Mac's available in spring of 03 but they cost more than I wanted to spend. Eventually I settled on a cheap Gateway laptop. I tried playing a few games on it, but quickly realized that for games, my Playstation 2 was a far superior machine.
However if the Mac Mini had been available then I would have bought one of those instead for sure. It's small, quiet and you can even hook it to the TV if you want.
OS-X is another plus, here's an anecdote. Some time back a friend in IRC had bought a new computer, a Mac. They needed to get themselves identd'd but didn't know how to get that to work on their Mac. I asked if their Mac ran OS-X (just to make certain that they hadn't bought a used older Mac) I had read that OS-X was BSD based so I did a Google search thinking that maybe my limited 'nix knowledge might help out. I found a web site with some VERY familiar insructions, basically they'd have to do what I did to enable identd on my PS2 Linux kit. So I walked them through using Terminal and Vi to edit the config file to set it up and get it running.
I was just so amazed that I already knew how to do things on OS-X without ever having used it.
Eventually, I'm going to own a Mac. I don't need Windows at all, not even for games. So I guess I fit your premise.
I'm thinking of doing that in the future. But I'm not planning to swith to OS X.
About a week ago I got my Mac Mini (my first Mac!). And for the last week I have been using it as my primary desktop (I even unplugged my main machine, so I would me more or less forced to use and learn OS X). During that week I have made the following observations:
- I absolutely love the hardware! The Mini is sexy, cool and quiet. No cheap-looking plastic or abundance of LED's. Just toned-down coolness.
- OS X looks very good. It has lots of eye-candy and chrome.
- iLife-apps are very good.
- Stability of the system is good
- Installation of apps is very easy!
- I still like my Linux/KDE-combo more
Yes, I can see why some people think OS X is the greatest thing out there. The OS is very good and it looks gorgerous. But in the end, I noticed that I still missed using KDE. While OS X was good, it simply didn't do it for me.
I can see myself buying a PowerMac sometime in the future, and I can see myself running Linux on it (Well, I would propably use Mac-On-Linux as well).
Lesbian Nazi Hookers Abducted by UFOs and Forced Into Weight Loss Programs - -all next week on Town Talk.