Hello, I'm a Mac. And I'm a $248 Win8 PC.
theodp writes "A little birdie told me which Windows 8 machines would sell out fast. 'Cheep' ones! While no official sales figures have emerged, anecdotal evidence suggests that cheap Windows 8 laptops were a big hit with Black Friday shoppers, leaving some Walmart and Best Buy bargain hunters disappointed at missing out on the sub-$250 deals. So, was the Doctor-Desktop-and-Mister-Metro dual nature of Windows 8 and lack of a touchscreen no big deal to these bargain basement 'Laptop Hunters', or did they not realize what they were buying? Or, as a GeekWire commenter suggests, perhaps they were really just looking to score an ultra-cheap Linux laptop!"
I will pay an extra $500+
for a well-designed & configured machine.
For a robust, stable OS.
For cheap OS upgrades.
For useful free apps - pages, numbers, etc.
For standards compliance.
For better than average HW, w/ excellent, reliable support.
For a good OBE.
For drivers that work the first time.
For a decent user interface.
For free, professional, in person help in every major city in the world.
For not wasting 200 hrs on configuration.
For a good API & Xcode.
For a useful command-line.
For smart standards & consistently.
For fighting entropy.
For letting me get stuff done quickly.
For a free HW swap within warranty.
For useful online documentation.
For a ridiculous resale value.
For BSD / Unix.
For superior security.