I dont pay money to a corporation that tries to price gouge me. See, thats the beauty of a (regulated) free market: I can choose not to go with verizon because their pricing sucks, their customer service sucks, and their union thugs have a penchant for severing customer access lines. I can choose, for example, a company that charges far less for data.
The fact that prices here are universally higher in one single industry doesnt really nullify the point that Im also not paying the 50% mean tax rate that that link indicated in Germany (and much of Europe).
Over the years I have come to understand that Verizon really truly does not expect or want to keep customers. Their only goal is to infuriate, annoy, inconvenience, and generally cause problems for as many people as is possible.
I believe that they are not a data carrier, as much as a hatred delivery company who uses their status as an ISP to more easily deliver that seething contempt to its customers.
If you follow the chain of links, youll see predictions from 2005 that "within 5-10 years 50% of computers will support TNC", which just isnt true. It also assumes that TPM will ship on by default, which isnt the case with any computer I've seen.
Maybe that was once a threat, but right now its just fearmongering.
Give credit where credit is due, but this doesnt eliminate all past record. Perhaps this, along with ipv6 and dnssec, are a positive trend at comcast. Perhaps, with their DNS tampering, its not. Time will tell.
Thats fine, and if youre buying the laptop because of the slim formfactor, the lower weight, the aesthetics, or the superior resolution, and its truly worth it to you, go for it.
Just dont try to feed the rest of us some line about how its a superior machine; I could easily link a $1400 laptop that has superior specs in various areas that ARE important to some people (like upgradeability, video performance, etc).
Im not against Apple as a market option, im just against the idea that we need to swallow some bull about how PCs are inferior. I have a $450 laptop that does 1366x768, and you know what? The fact that I have a built in ethernet port and can expand the crap out of it is far more important to me than any of that other stuff, and it doesnt mean my machine is inferior.
For someone who has managed to be quite productive on 1440x768 or similar resolutions for the last several years, trying to convince me that somehow 2880xwhatever is somehow a necessity worth 6x what I paid for my current work laptop is a bit much to take.
Its impressive, but its also wildly expensive, and it astounds me that people would try to justify pricetag and slightly worse specs (graphics, non-upgradeable RAM / SSD) simply because the display is impressive.
Apple is doing one thing smart here, they are making a design that if produced by the tens of millions (which these will surely be) will prove to be VERY cheap.
For Apple you mean. They seem to have no compunctions about offering a $200 upgrade from 8GB to 16GB, a sum that would be questionable even if it were high end ECC server RAM.
Whats a marvel is that people try to defend a $2800 laptop with no user-replaceable parts, and that finally, as predicted for ages, even the RAM is nonupgradeable.
But nah, theyre not trying to stick it to the customer by forcing you to pay $200 for that extra 8GB of ram (market value $80), no sir.
Basically this. Keep "truth" subjective and make sure everyone knows that its defined by those in power, and you need never fear an ideological uprising.
Not while running, that Im aware of-- doing a P2V will work, except the newly created VM will typically be off once its been created, and it certainly wont replicate the current physical computer's CPU state.
Actually, IIRC theres good reason NOT to believe that there is a war. As I recall there are several clues point to the fact that there simply isnt any war, and that the entire thing is a hoax to keep the people under control.
Keep in mind that for the wireless to work you have to install firmware. It is, at least in theory, that installing a linux distro could hose specific hardware if the drivers were buggy. Anyone remember the ubuntu 11.10 e1000 NIC bug that rendered affected NICs inoperable until they were reflashed? (details might be slightly off)
Incidentally, when you say "normally $1600", it is very common for them to inflate the "normal price". That laptop would never sell for $1600, because at that point its competing against things like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152337 Which incidentally absolutely dominates any sub $2000 Macbook.
Pretty sure Word isnt included on a new MBP. And im pretty sure you can get Windows Live writer for free if you really want a free word processor, or any of the other free ones out there.
As for burning software... its kind of been built into Windows since XP or earlier, with ISO burning built into Vista and above. Movie maker? Been free for ages. Photo software? Paint.net, which kicks the crap out of whatever is included with Mac.
And what spreadsheet software is included with OSX, pray tell?
The first system is very highly rated, and folks I know using that series of Lenovo are very happy with them.
What about it makes it a turd, pray tell? The lack of the apple logo, or unibody?
I note that you havent come up with any system that compares for less than double the price from the mac store. WHen i search for refurb'd 15" MBPs, (here), the cheapest machine there is a Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.2GHz Quad-core Intel i7 4GB (2 x 2GB) of 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM 500GB Serial ATA @ 5400 rpm Intel HD Graphics 3000 and AMD Radeon HD 6750M
All for $1350, all which is handly trounced by the linked, brand new, $799 laptop I linked.
I generally agree; the thing is though, when friends come to me and ask "should I buy a mac", unless they really need that extra 1/2 inch shaved off the form factor, to my mind it would be bad of me to recommend paying twice as much for mostly the same specs.
I think Ive recommended a Mac once or twice, but for most people unless they really want OSX and a slightly slimmer laptop with all custom parts, its just not worth it. Spend 1/2 as much and upgrade twice as often, if you really want the extra juice.
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I dont pay money to a corporation that tries to price gouge me. See, thats the beauty of a (regulated) free market: I can choose not to go with verizon because their pricing sucks, their customer service sucks, and their union thugs have a penchant for severing customer access lines. I can choose, for example, a company that charges far less for data.
The fact that prices here are universally higher in one single industry doesnt really nullify the point that Im also not paying the 50% mean tax rate that that link indicated in Germany (and much of Europe).
Also, what the shit is with your illogical, all-caps emphases?
I believe that is whats known as "parody".
Over the years I have come to understand that Verizon really truly does not expect or want to keep customers. Their only goal is to infuriate, annoy, inconvenience, and generally cause problems for as many people as is possible.
I believe that they are not a data carrier, as much as a hatred delivery company who uses their status as an ISP to more easily deliver that seething contempt to its customers.
According to this
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Income_Taxes_By_Country.svg
You also pay roughly double in taxes.
Ill stay brainwashed and keep my own money rather than letting my govnerment have that much say in my life, thanks.
Because then youd miss out on the world renowned Verizon customer service experience!
Oh wait.
If you follow the chain of links, youll see predictions from 2005 that "within 5-10 years 50% of computers will support TNC", which just isnt true. It also assumes that TPM will ship on by default, which isnt the case with any computer I've seen.
Maybe that was once a threat, but right now its just fearmongering.
What makes you so sure this isnt the next iteration of accelerated encryption a la AES-NI?
Even sandvine?
Give credit where credit is due, but this doesnt eliminate all past record. Perhaps this, along with ipv6 and dnssec, are a positive trend at comcast. Perhaps, with their DNS tampering, its not. Time will tell.
Thats fine, and if youre buying the laptop because of the slim formfactor, the lower weight, the aesthetics, or the superior resolution, and its truly worth it to you, go for it.
Just dont try to feed the rest of us some line about how its a superior machine; I could easily link a $1400 laptop that has superior specs in various areas that ARE important to some people (like upgradeability, video performance, etc).
Im not against Apple as a market option, im just against the idea that we need to swallow some bull about how PCs are inferior. I have a $450 laptop that does 1366x768, and you know what? The fact that I have a built in ethernet port and can expand the crap out of it is far more important to me than any of that other stuff, and it doesnt mean my machine is inferior.
Is it worth doubling the pricetag for 1/2" thinner? Because thats basically what we're looking at here.
For someone who has managed to be quite productive on 1440x768 or similar resolutions for the last several years, trying to convince me that somehow 2880xwhatever is somehow a necessity worth 6x what I paid for my current work laptop is a bit much to take.
Its impressive, but its also wildly expensive, and it astounds me that people would try to justify pricetag and slightly worse specs (graphics, non-upgradeable RAM / SSD) simply because the display is impressive.
Apple is doing one thing smart here, they are making a design that if produced by the tens of millions (which these will surely be) will prove to be VERY cheap.
For Apple you mean. They seem to have no compunctions about offering a $200 upgrade from 8GB to 16GB, a sum that would be questionable even if it were high end ECC server RAM.
But theres generally nothing worth upgrading in a TV.
With laptops, RAM and HDD / SSD come to mind.
Appliance buyers don't tear down their toaster very often either.
The ability to upgrade the hard drive and RAM without paying the exorbitant Apple tax certainly is something that will be missed, however.
Non-user upgradeable RAM and HDD seems like a far more important complaint to me, especially given how badly they gouge on the prices for those parts.
Whats a marvel is that people try to defend a $2800 laptop with no user-replaceable parts, and that finally, as predicted for ages, even the RAM is nonupgradeable.
But nah, theyre not trying to stick it to the customer by forcing you to pay $200 for that extra 8GB of ram (market value $80), no sir.
Basically this. Keep "truth" subjective and make sure everyone knows that its defined by those in power, and you need never fear an ideological uprising.
Not while running, that Im aware of-- doing a P2V will work, except the newly created VM will typically be off once its been created, and it certainly wont replicate the current physical computer's CPU state.
Actually, IIRC theres good reason NOT to believe that there is a war. As I recall there are several clues point to the fact that there simply isnt any war, and that the entire thing is a hoax to keep the people under control.
Keep in mind that for the wireless to work you have to install firmware. It is, at least in theory, that installing a linux distro could hose specific hardware if the drivers were buggy. Anyone remember the ubuntu 11.10 e1000 NIC bug that rendered affected NICs inoperable until they were reflashed? (details might be slightly off)
Incidentally, when you say "normally $1600", it is very common for them to inflate the "normal price". That laptop would never sell for $1600, because at that point its competing against things like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152337
Which incidentally absolutely dominates any sub $2000 Macbook.
Link me a comparable MBP for less than double plz.
Also, all of the MBPs come with 500GB drives (5400 rpm) by default.
Finally,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152337
GTFO. 1TB drive, 1920x1080, 12GB RAM, GTX670.
Comparable Macbook? ~$800 more, and cant match the RAM or video card.
But Im sure there will be reasons youll find to argue with even that.
Pretty sure Word isnt included on a new MBP. And im pretty sure you can get Windows Live writer for free if you really want a free word processor, or any of the other free ones out there.
As for burning software... its kind of been built into Windows since XP or earlier, with ISO burning built into Vista and above. Movie maker? Been free for ages. Photo software? Paint.net, which kicks the crap out of whatever is included with Mac.
And what spreadsheet software is included with OSX, pray tell?
The first system is very highly rated, and folks I know using that series of Lenovo are very happy with them.
What about it makes it a turd, pray tell? The lack of the apple logo, or unibody?
I note that you havent come up with any system that compares for less than double the price from the mac store. WHen i search for refurb'd 15" MBPs,
(here), the cheapest machine there is a
Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.2GHz Quad-core Intel i7
4GB (2 x 2GB) of 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM
500GB Serial ATA @ 5400 rpm
Intel HD Graphics 3000 and AMD Radeon HD 6750M
All for $1350, all which is handly trounced by the linked, brand new, $799 laptop I linked.
I generally agree; the thing is though, when friends come to me and ask "should I buy a mac", unless they really need that extra 1/2 inch shaved off the form factor, to my mind it would be bad of me to recommend paying twice as much for mostly the same specs.
I think Ive recommended a Mac once or twice, but for most people unless they really want OSX and a slightly slimmer laptop with all custom parts, its just not worth it. Spend 1/2 as much and upgrade twice as often, if you really want the extra juice.