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"Apple Tax" Report Backfires On Microsoft
Ian Lamont writes "A Microsoft-sponsored report that describes a hidden "Apple tax" has fallen flat among the technology press. Roger Kay's report (PDF) compares various PC and Mac configurations, and claims an all-Apple household's costs would add up to an extra $3,367 over five years. Tech columnists and bloggers have slammed the comparisons and claims made in the report — even Mac-baiter John C. Dvorak calls it propaganda. However, some Mac fans still see a pro-Microsoft press conspiracy. Even if the comparisons are questionable, Kay's report and the accompanying television ads have clearly struck a nerve among the Mac faithful."
Meanwhile, Linux users everywhere are scratching their heads.
He has a point. Macbook discoloration (pre-unibody), case chipping (pre-unibody, and this has happened to mine as well), as well as razor-sharp edges on all unibody macbooks. That and the overuse of heat paste, the general heat problems, screen backlighting unevenness... these are things I haven't seen on my dell, oddly enough.
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but if Apple can command that price and have people pay it, what's wrong with that?
I don't think anyone is claiming it's wrong in the sense of it being unethical!
But if Microsoft want to point out they are lower cost that competitors, what's wrong with that?
Just as Apple have every right to make their products expensive if they wish, people have a right to point this out when arguing about which computer is best. The issue is about what platform is best, not whether companies have a legal or ethical right to make their products expensive.
You forgot:
Office 2007 -> Office 2003 Incompatibility Tax
Reformat Every Six Months To Actually Clean The Registry Tax
Call Microsoft Every Time You Have To Reformat Tax
UAC Windows Popping Up All The Freaking Time Tax
Just to name a few.
There is also the Macbook White for 999 and the Macbook Alu for 1299. If you are really cheap, you can also go to their "Refurb" or "Clearance" page and you can get things other people sent back or the previous model for a very good price (and yes, they are tested and inspected so you don't get the crap somebody else destroyed). If you go to school or college or work for the government or an educational institution you usually get a discount too.
Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
I felt the same about my MBP at first, but even with the underclocked-as-standard graphics card that comes with it, it gets incredibly noisy when running 3D games, and after a couple of hours it just locks up due to overheating. So they may be fine for light work, but some of the engineering is actually rather poor. I ended up reading a lot of horror stories about Mac assembly over the last few years, thermal paste being applied too liberally to the CPU etc, so perhaps the machine would run better if I cleaned it out and re-applied the thermal paste myself, but I don't want to have to do that when I've already paid over a thousand pounds for the machine.
I switched to Ubuntu because it does everything that OSX did (Avant Window Manager), but it's free. The OSX UI is pretty nice, but Ubuntu is even better once you setup compiz correctly, and Avant Window Manager is a great replacement for the Dock.
which is totally what she said
With Apple's higher end laptops, I've tried to configure an equivalent system from Dell. The result is that high end systems cost a lot of money (Dell's was a couple hundred cheaper by the way). Also keep in mind that with Apple, if your shit's broke, they send you a box next day air, you put your laptop in and and ship it back next day air with the label they give you, and then you usually get it back within 3 days, no charge if you're still under warranty. That's pretty hardcore service compared to the on-site service I've had from Dell.
I see the glass as full with a FoS of 2.
The ease of installing software on many Linux distributions shouldn't be overrated.
If I want to install OpenOffice, Gimp, Pidgin, Blender, Thunderbird, Emacs, VI, Akregator, GimageViewer, Gnome Terminal, etc. it is easy to do that in one command in linux, but doing that in Windows, even with all of the specified software packages being open source is much more time consuming.
Is tons easier than going to 10 different websites, downloading at least 10 install packages, installing all of them, etc. And then there is keeping all of that up to date.
If I have nothing to hide, don't search me
This used to be a huge problem, then Apple switched to Intel and you can load Windows via Bootcamp for gaming. I had friends get the 512MB video card option on their MBP's just so they could play the latest games.
"The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money" - Thatcher.
Xbox Live =$50/year = $250 for 5 years.
Unncessary to play the vast bulk of games. You can also get it for around 35/13 months by buying subscription cards. But if you want to play figures 15/month WoW subscription for 5 years = $900.
Hard drive $100/$150
Already comes with the 360 unless you buy the crappy Arcade. But even still isn't necessary unless you play online which most games are single player anyway.
Batteries for controller $20 (play charge kit)
Or you can spend 6 dollars and get a set of rechargables.
Total = $470
Oh noes! Not 470 dollars!
Add the $200 for the arcade to get $670. And people say PC gaming is expensive.
If you want to play any games from the last couple of years you would have spent at least 670 if not more on your PC.
At least you online for free.
For some games. If you want to play any decent MMO you are going to pay way more in fees over the same 5 years than anyone would pay for a 360 pro and a 5 year subscription to Live. And they would have enough money left over to buy at least a dozen or more games in that same period and still come out ahead.
A decent graphics card is only $200, if a pc is relatively new it should run most games (maybe not at full settings but at 720p shouldn't be a problem).
Yeah but it's going to cost you around 600-800 dollars to build a system (assuming you do it yourself) that will be able to do that. So basically your whole argument seems moot.
Yeah, but there does seem to be a linux tax. Look at Dell's Ubuntu notebook offerings:
(I'm leaving out the Mini 9n because it is a netbook with a tiny keyboard.) The cheapest Windows XPS M1530 is $899, and the Windows M1330 is $749. More importantly, I can get a Inspiron 15 laptop for $399. Less than HALF the cost of the cheapest Ubuntu notebook. (Never mind the specs here, I'm just looking for a cheap box with a real keyboard.)
Let's look at system76 instead. Their cheapest notebook is a Darter Ultra for $739.
Excluding netbooks, if I want a cheap notebook right now, the least expensive option is to buy a Windows notebook and then install Linux!
This used to be a huge problem, then Apple switched to Intel and you can load Windows via Bootcamp for gaming. I had friends get the 512MB video card option on their MBP's just so they could play the latest games.
You still haven't convinced me. Why I should pay more now (Apple License and a Windows License) for a mac with bootcamp, when I can just have my regular ole PC (Just a windows license) to play games?
"Quote me as saying I was mis-quoted." -Groucho Marx
Looks like it's being worked on.
windows-get.sourceforge.net
There is a war going on for your mind.
At the time the G3 was technically a faster processor than the Pentium II according to the BYTEmark test. "Apple says that a PowerMac G3/300 scores 10.2 on the BYTEmark test, more than twice as fast as the 4.3 rating the Pentium II got, and 45 percent higher than a 400-MHz Pentium II." Now it's debatable whether the computer was overall faster as then you have to factor in bus speeds, memory, etc. Back then these things mattered a lot. The main point was at the minimum it was debatable and not blatantly false.
This comparison done by MS is dishonest at best. For example, for desktops it compares a Xeon class workstation MacPro to a generic consumer desktop Core 2 Duo and complains that the MacPro was much more expensive. Well, duh: a workstation meant for professionals is going to cost you more than a consumer desktop. That's just common sense. Also it includes paying for software like Office and Quicken on the Mac but don't include them in the cost of the PC. It compared old versions of Mac products with the newest PC counterparts etc. It added optional MobileMe Apple services but didn't for PCs, etc.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
(unlike in linux where you do sometimes need a recompile or even patches)
You need recompiles, because:
1. When a Linux shared library changes its functionality (even if it's still ABI-compatible), it changes its DLL name. That's actually good.
2. Linux apps never ship with all the libraries they use; those are expected to be provided by the system.
3. Because of point 2, every app needs to use the same shared library version.
You can create Linux binaries that don't need recompiles by linking statically, or by shipping your own shared libs (like everyone does on Windows); using repos works much better though.
Those who would give up liberty to obtain working drivers, deserve neither liberty nor working drivers.
Try again. This time with real numbers.
Xbox 360 arcade can handle most saved games. It does after all come with a 512MB memory card.
So $169 from Dell if you're patient.
Xbox Live Gold is $30 a month if you buy it in January. So 5 years = $150
That's all you need $319 for 5 years of gaming. (Of course then games etc.)
I don't need Wifi. I use a primitive technology called CAT5. Since there is a conveniently placed cable plug right next to my television.
Meanwhile I just built a quadcore system and it cost me about $1200. Impossible to buy as a mac. And also a fare penny more than my Xbox which I own not because it's cheaper but because it's a better gaming system.
Why would a user try to install MS Windows programs in Linux (unless that program actually has a Linux version)?
Congratulations on missing the point completely.
Life needs more saving throws.