A few reasons why a Mac is still a bad choice ...
There were a number of people trying to push the idea that somehow the recent Vista delay might be good news for Apple and that we might see a large increase in their sales - let's see why that is not quite so:
- the Apple notebooks are still extremely overpriced - while the typical born-rich macfan will pay almost any price Apple asks just to feel "special" most people will find that a 550 US$ Dell notebook is around 4-5 times less expensive yet will do just fine ... or even better in terms of backwards compatibility and support;
- for that HUGE price premium most people would expect to get a machine that has BOTH OSX and XP/Vista legally installed and supported!
- what is probably the MOST important show-stopper for any serious user - the 5-times-cheaper Dell notebook has 100% more mouse buttons and also around 100% more "control keys" - only really dumb people can believe that NOT having real PageUp/PageDn, Home/End, Delete/Insert keysis an advantage ...
- even if the Apple marketing machine will try to convince you that OSX is the most advanced operating system on earth that is simply "marketing bullsh*t" - some eye-candy might be appealing at first but in the end it will be just another distraction;
- and last but not least - it still is a TOTALLY CLOSED ARCHITECTURE !
- the Apple notebooks are still extremely overpriced - while the typical born-rich macfan will pay almost any price Apple asks just to feel "special" most people will find that a 550 US$ Dell notebook is around 4-5 times less expensive yet will do just fine ... or even better in terms of backwards compatibility and support;
- for that HUGE price premium most people would expect to get a machine that has BOTH OSX and XP/Vista legally installed and supported!
- what is probably the MOST important show-stopper for any serious user - the 5-times-cheaper Dell notebook has 100% more mouse buttons and also around 100% more "control keys" - only really dumb people can believe that NOT having real PageUp/PageDn, Home/End, Delete/Insert keys
- even if the Apple marketing machine will try to convince you that OSX is the most advanced operating system on earth that is simply "marketing bullsh*t" - some eye-candy might be appealing at first but in the end it will be just another distraction;
- and last but not least - it still is a TOTALLY CLOSED ARCHITECTURE !
posted by cool_stuff_or_not at 12:05
5 Comments:
- overpriced: opinion. Just the software alone would justify the cost, IMHO. First of all, a 550$ Dell notebook isn't 4-5 times less expensive, but two (since the lowest priced Apple notebook is 999$). Second, you get OS X, iLife and the iWork demo, which means you get movie making software made by professionals (unlike Windows Movie Maker), DVD authoring & burning, music management, photo management, web site building, and a basic office automation package. With 300$ more, you get a dual core computer, including the monitor, which also has Media Center capabilities. Or you can drop the monitor's 200$ and get a Mac Mini. You get what you pay for.
- OS X fits Macs like a glove. You won't ever need to change drivers or tweak the registry to make it go. Unfortunately, many PC notebook makers simply don't know how to set up Windows correctly, and some peripheral makers, so you get annoying tray icons and overall sucking behaviour from your 'book. Not so with Apple computers.
Why should Apple try to coax such a sparse OS as Windows into liking its machines when it has a much more advanced, homegrown OS at its disposal?
- 100% more control keys -- you have never tried a Mac for more than a few moments, have you?
Why do you think we don't have two-button mice? BECAUSE WE DON'T NEED THEM. One is fine. You can go with two if you wish. But one is fine.
Plus, if you really really want them, Macs DO have pgup/dn/end/home keys with fn combinations. They're not really problematic to use.
- Compare the internal Windows security infrastructure to the Mac's and then come back. Windows has YEARS of infrastructure problems dating back from its win16 years that the Mac simply does not have. Both have problems; but if you asked a OS programmer to compare them, well, OS X would win hands down.
Just to make an example: Administrators are NOT full-powered users on the Mac; they are simply regular users and cannot modify system data. However, the system grants Administrators the chance to escalate privileges (with full logging) by authenticating; such privilege escalations are closely guarded by the system. Compare and contrast with a Windows administrator user, which is essentially root.
- Closed? Yeah. But it works very well and _costs less_ in the long run. Don't like closed archs? Don't buy a Mac. But don't say the Mac sucks just because you don't like some of its architectural choices.
(Plus: no consumer-level user EVER opens PCs anymore, thanks to USB and FireWire. It doesn't matter anymore if it's closed or not.)
i mostly agree with what l0ne said apart from the fact that two button mice aren't necessary. two button mice are so much better, and not harder to use, as most peole put 2 fingers on their mouse anyway
On the 100% control keys...
I bought an iBook once, wanting very much to "think different" and change to OS X. Beautiful machine. But as a long-time PC user, the lack of the control keys drove me nuts. When you are used to the two-button mouse, a one-button mouse is hard to use. With some of the F-keys already assigned to OS X uses, working in Excel and using its F-key shortcuts meant I had to press the Apple Control button for those.
These different key sequences (and also the lack both a backspace and delete keys) just drove me nuts. It would probably be the case for any long-time PC user.
I sold the iBook and bought a Dell. A friend asked me how the Dell felt, and I could only reply: "It's a relief."
"- even if the Apple marketing machine will try to convince you that OSX is the most advanced operating system on earth that is simply "marketing bullsh*t" - some eye-candy might be appealing at first but in the end it will be just another distraction;"
Wot about Vista? Ubuntu? and further still ... Playboy? Ferrari? Nicole Kidman? :-) etc etc, that argument of yours holds no water cos its always nice to have nice things, its just nicer.
and I agree with l0ne about the software bundle and would like to add that, if that bundle suits your needs, then a Mac is great value for you, if not, then its like many other PC systems out there, it just does not suit your needs, think Sony Viao, high-end Lenovo, even Tablets or the UMPC.
Would your next post be "why upgrading to Vista is still a bad choice ..." ? After all Vista is just the OS software and Windows is never cheap (How much did you pay for XP and then the software to maintain XP?). What about MS Office 12? Full of GUI update GUIness ...
"- even if the Apple marketing machine will try to convince you that OSX is the most advanced operating system on earth that is simply "marketing bullsh*t" - some eye-candy might be appealing at first but in the end it will be just another distraction;"
Wot about Vista? Ubuntu? and further still ... Playboy? Ferrari? Nicole Kidman? :-) etc etc, that argument of yours holds no water cos its always nice to have nice things, its just nicer.
and I agree with l0ne about the software bundle and would like to add that, if that bundle suits your needs, then a Mac is great value for you, if not, then its like many other PC systems out there, it just does not suit your needs, think Sony Viao, high-end Lenovo, even Tablets or the UMPC.
Would your next post be "why upgrading to Vista is still a bad choice ..." ? After all Vista is just the OS software and Windows is never cheap (How much did you pay for XP and then the software to maintain XP?). What about MS Office 12? Full of GUI update GUIness ...
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