Sweet gadgets

[PeterCH]

The simple fact is you pay for the operating system. The hardware is exactly the same and unless you feel the need to pay more for a pretty laptop then you buy an Apple for OSX.

Vista is useless compared to OSX and Win XP is another story all together. Ironically the only operating system I've seen close to OSX is Ubuntu 8.04.

The HW is not exactly the same. Apple usually source from reliable manufacturers and components (eg Memory and heat sinks) are done
to their specifications. It will be the same if you choose a reliable manufacturer or only buy some of the most expensive parts around yourself.
You know the PC market is awash with thousands of different Chinese OEM's
and so on, many of whom actively counterfeit their hardware. Apple at least checks for some of that, hopefully - as they take pride in their name, more
than can be said for many Chinese OEM's.

Macs have their role. I think MB's, MBP's and Mac Pros are great. Mac Pros are expensive but offer opportunity for upgrade eg I can plug in 2 Quad Core Xeons into my first gen Mac Pro, add more RAM, change the g-fx card, add HD video capture or SCSI/RAID cards etc. You can't do that with an iMac though, neither can you upgrade the screen. That really sucks about Apple. Secondly Macs are good at video editing and photo editing/gfx work plus usual run of the mill word processing but you can't do other things on them eg run CAD software. Still as is MacOSX is way better than XP and definately even more so than Vista.

 

[megomars]

Mac AIR pure example of a useless gadget

Well I know a few guys who have mac air's and honestly its not the hardware they are after, afterall it's pretty low on graphics and processing definitely not a gaming device, rather like all gadgets they are after aesthetics and the pretty good MAC OS, Seriously with no dvd drive and limited HDD this is the perfect example of what a internet browsing cool looking laptop is.

 

[TheRift]

OSX vs Windows... like, BSD vs Windows... un*x wins.

 

[AirWolf]

The simple fact is you pay for the operating system. The hardware is exactly the same and unless you feel the need to pay more for a pretty laptop then you buy an Apple for OSX.

Vista is useless compared to OSX and Win XP is another story all together. Ironically the only operating system I've seen close to OSX is Ubuntu 8.04.

So why pay for OSX when you can get Ubuntu 8.04 for free?

 

[Ou grote]

So why say for OSX when you can get Ubuntu 8.04 for free?

Because mac users tend to have money and jobs.

 

[AirWolf]

Because mac users tend to have money and jobs.

And limp wrists?

 

[Kasyx]

And limp wrists?

And delusions of grandeur.

 

[Tns]

Secondly Macs are good at video editing and photo editing/gfx work plus usual run of the mill word processing but you can't do other things on them eg run CAD software.

use to be true about graphics but not anymore for the same price to can get a pc twice as powerfull

Still as is MacOSX is way better than XP and definitely even more so than Vista.

Vista yes , but whats wrong with XP?

 

[freematrix]

Just look at the sales figures.

Mac is growing in leaps since it is now running on Intel.(oh and it fully backward compatible)

Since MS released Vista it has been there biggest flops like Win for Workgroups, ME. Oh and it looks then 5 years to develop a major flop.

Steve Ballmer is running around like a chicken without a head because they are such a heavy giant they are being outmaneuvered in all areas by dynamic and innovative companies.

What are we going to copy today

 

[SlappY]

Actually one of MS greatest strengths is that they play such a diverse product line with a high focus on cohesiveness and interoperability between them. It makes them the ultimate choice for solutions. You can get your mail client to integrate you media player, or your media player to talk to you cell phone, your cell phone to talk to your mail server and private mail clients, your console to talk to your PC, your console to talk to your web browser... the combinations are endless. Plus the fact that this interoperability is completely effortless to achieve.

So sure Mac does x and y but as far as interoperability and scalability goes, you cant touch MS. IMHO this is far more innovative than some random idea that is completely isolated from the rest of your computing requirements.

 

[hexagon]

I bought a MacBook Core2 Duo 2.16 GHz for about R13k last year. At the time, almost all PC laptops of similar power were priced more expensively.

The MacBook was one of the few notebooks around in the price range that used a decent Firewire chipset, too.

IMO it was actually pretty good value for money.

 

[freematrix]

Actually one of MS greatest strengths is that they play such a diverse product line with a high focus on cohesiveness and interoperability between them. It makes them the ultimate choice for solutions. You can get your mail client to integrate you media player, or your media player to talk to you cell phone, your cell phone to talk to your mail server and private mail clients, your console to talk to your PC, your console to talk to your web browser... the combinations are endless. Plus the fact that this interoperability is completely effortless to achieve.

So sure Mac does x and y but as far as interoperability and scalability goes, you cant touch MS. IMHO this is far more innovative than some random idea that is completely isolated from the rest of your computing requirements.

I would tend to disagree. Microsoft split their products up deliberately and make you buy each product individually and many times users do not get what they pay for.

I still dont understand the concept of buying so many versions of an operating system, office package, mail server, web server, SQL server, CRM etc etc. Internet licenses, open license, oem, retail, terminal license, logon CAL.

I disagree with these models as this is monopolistic to the desktop market.

MAC and Unix have there versions and you install what you need with no confusion and use what you want. And these products work very well and are interoperable with the market and not just Microsoft...

 

[Tns]

how many people actually use firewire.....

 

[Ou grote]

how many people actually use firewire.....

I do.
For an external hdd it works a lot better than USB.

 

[hexagon]

how many people actually use firewire.....

Besides much more consistent data rates to an external HDD, it's (at least for the time being) the way to go for external pro audio/video devices.

 

[damian24]

The HW is not exactly the same. Apple usually source from reliable manufacturers and components (eg Memory and heat sinks) are done
to their specifications. It will be the same if you choose a reliable manufacturer or only buy some of the most expensive parts around yourself.
You know the PC market is awash with thousands of different Chinese OEM's
and so on, many of whom actively counterfeit their hardware. Apple at least checks for some of that, hopefully - as they take pride in their name, more
than can be said for many Chinese OEM's.

Actually...

The main components Nvidia, Intel Chipset, processor, display, HDD (Seagate), DVD (sony/Mitsumi et al) are all pretty much the same accross all laptop ranges. There is nothing special about the components to an Apple laptop.

the increase in cost has nothing to do with quality, if you want that buy a thinkpad... I'd sure like to se someone drive over a MacBook with a bmw and a 4x4 and only have to replace the LCD. speaking to quality, just search ebay for water damaged laptops... pretty synonymous with apple, search for blown main boards... you guessed it apple, for someone with sub 10% market share, they have a disproportionate number of broken machines listed on ebay. (not scientific but theres' a pattern there)

to counter that... if you want pretty, Apples right up there.

D