Cheap Apple PC - what to recommend

Does it have to be a desktop? The 13" Air starts at R12999,00 and I have to add I'm in a deeply committed relationship with mine.
I'm not sure you'll need a Windows partition either. There's Office for Mac which will give 'em Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint which I'm sure are the apps they'll use most. Best part is, those work pretty much the same way they do on PC so no real learning curve (or teaching hassle for you) at all. If they use Chrome, same applies. Add those app icons to the dock ('cos we don't do desktop icons here) and they should be able to work it out for themselves.
The OS is solid and if they're running IOS7 there will be a little continuity with the look and feel of Mavericks.
I'll also add this... Since I switched to Mac nearly seven years ago, I have not once called or stepped into a store for support... I'm guessing the calls you'll get are how do I do this or how do I do that while they're still thinking a different OS should mean a whole new way of working on their machines (it really isn't) and best part for you is you can just ask here if you can't answer those questions off the bat... If the Mac folk on MyBB can't help, it won't be a problem you'll be dealing with, it'll be a catastrophe.
 
At what cost for Mac Office then?

Things are jumping from their current 1K PC to 8K to 12K to 18K rather quickly.


greg0205 said:
Does it have to be a desktop? The 13" Air starts at R12999,00 and I have to add I'm in a deeply committed relationship with mine.
I'm not sure you'll need a Windows partition either. There's Office for Mac which will give 'em Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint which I'm sure are the apps they'll use most. Best part is, those work pretty much the same way they do on PC so no real learning curve (or teaching hassle for you) at all. If they use Chrome, same applies. Add those app icons to the dock ('cos we don't do desktop icons here) and they should be able to work it out for themselves.
The OS is solid and if they're running IOS7 there will be a little continuity with the look and feel of Mavericks.
I'll also add this... Since I switched to Mac nearly seven years ago, I have not once called or stepped into a store for support... I'm guessing the calls you'll get are how do I do this or how do I do that while they're still thinking a different OS should mean a whole new way of working on their machines (it really isn't) and best part for you is you can just ask here if you can't answer those questions off the bat... If the Mac folk on MyBB can't help, it won't be a problem you'll be dealing with, it'll be a catastrophe.
Click to expand...

Roux, what do they need the PC to do?
What are they using it for now?

You could always get them a new PC from somewhere, slap Linux on it and then shrug shoulders and say;

"Eish, Linux is reliable and secure, but I do not know anything about it..."

and for the PC;

"Eish... if i had to do that, even just look inside, I will void the warranty..."

So, best you get them a new PC with an extended warranty then!
 
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i.got~issues said:
At what cost for Mac Office then?

Things are jumping from their current 1K PC to 8K to 12K to 18K rather quickly.
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The prejudice is strong...

Mac Office - part of the same subscription services as Office 365. Price= around R80/month. But why would you need office?

The list of USB devices that don't work on a Mac is very short and these peripherals are highly unlikely to appear in domestic home use environments.
 
I thought Apple support in SA was non-existent ?

And those iStore/iCore or whatever, don't know their a**s from their elbows ?
 
What the PC currently does? Well apart from hosting a wide gamut of mal ware bots (I'm quite sure it does) it gets used to watch series from DVDs/USB drives and for playing SIMs (I think all three). Some use it to read email and scan pictures, also download pictures and go onto iTunes. Linux is not an option because it would require my involvement and then we are back to square one.

I'll see what reply they come up with but going forward I want them to go Apple. They know the brand, it is made for their type and I am pretty sure they won't be able to mess it up. I am also pretty sure if they do mess it up they can have what ever store sell it to them sort it out.
 
Rouxenator said:
Don't get me wrong, I think Apple is evil. I will never buy Apple. Same goes for intel and various other brands.
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Opposed to Microsoft?

But anyway, back on-topic...

A mac mini is the cheapest desktop apple. Best value is a macbook air, just look out for specials do get a better deal.
 
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iWork is free with any new Mac.

So no Microsoft Office required.

These people don't sound like they need super duper office so will probably acclimatise to Office quite happily.
 
I'll let you guys know what they decide. I think 90% chance of not hearing from them and just one day finding they PC dropped off at my house to fix...
 
Rouxenator said:
For years now, through about 4 PC systems ranging from a Windows 98 PC to a Windows 7 PC, I have had a family member that every now and then has some issue with the computer. Most of the times it was just Windows being completely paralysed by malware require a tedious backup and format operation.
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thats reason enough to go with apple
 
Malware and viruses are written for windows systems, while the mac mini is a good route to if you have basic linux knowledge mac os is built on linux so the terminal is very similar. You problems start with software... Like there is office for mac. I am not too sure about games support for mac.

Make no mistake you won't get frustrated with the malware after switch to mac but you will be doing research on how to use the mac :)
 
DA-LION-619 said:
What if I told you switching to Mac doesn't protect you from malware...
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Go ahead, it'll be a short post 'tho. IIRC, there have been 12 malware attacks since 1984 and the main culprits... Flash and Java.
If you must, there's Sophos and Avast anyway.
 
greg0205 said:
Go ahead, it'll be a short post 'tho. IIRC, there have been 12 malware attacks since 1984 and the main culprits... Flash and Java.
If you must, there's Sophos and Avast anyway.
Click to expand...

And how long did it take Apple to sort out the Java issue? Mac's are beautiful machines but the misconception that there's no malware on it, needs to stop.
 
DA-LION-619 said:
And how long did it take Apple to sort out the Java issue? Mac's are beautiful machines but the misconception that there's no malware on it, needs to stop.
Click to expand...

Who said there wasn't malware? Point is, it's hardly comparable with Windows and that is a fact. Also, Apple themselves upped their game with Lion, ML and Mavericks.
 
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