“It’s a confusing time for computer buyers, and that makes this annual spring buyer’s guide to desktop computers harder to write than usual. Microsoft’s Windows XP operating system is in its last months of primacy, yet the company still hasn’t issued final guidelines for the hardware you’ll need to run Windows Vista, its successor, which is due in January,” Walter S. Mossberg writes for The Wall Street Journal. “Meanwhile, Apple Computer is in the process of revamping its entire Macintosh line to run on Intel chips. It has now made it possible for the newest Macs to run Windows as well as the Mac OS X operating system, so you can buy one machine for both worlds.”
“I believe every mainstream consumer doing typical tasks should consider the Mac. Its operating system already contains most of the key features promised for Vista. However, the Mac doesn’t really need a buyer’s guide. It has only two consumer desktop models — the gorgeous iMac and the low-end Mac Mini,” Mossberg writes. “So, as I did in my last guide last fall, I’m going to direct this one at people shopping for standard Windows desktops who would like to buy one now that could be upgraded to Vista later.”
Full article (Windows buying guide, nothing more about Apple) here.
[Walt Mossberg is the author and creator of the weekly Personal Technology column in The Wall Street Journal, which has appeared every Thursday since 1991. Newsweek magazine calls Mr. Mossberg “the most powerful arbiter of consumer tastes in the computer world today.” Time magazine calls him “the most influential computer journalist.” And Rolling Stone calls him “the most powerful columnist in technology.” The Washington Post declared Mr. Mossberg “one of the most powerful men in the high-tech world” and “a one-man media empire whose prose can launch a new product.” And the New York Times calls him a “protean critic of the new economy’s tools and toys.” Mr. Mossberg was awarded the 1999 Loeb award for Commentary, the only technology writer to be so honored.]
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Related article:
Mossberg tests Apple’s Boot Camp: Windows runs ‘blazingly fast,’ Windows apps run ‘flawlessly’ – April 05, 2006
Mossberg: Apple’s MacBook Pro gives users a ‘much better OS with vastly better built-in software’ – March 02, 2006
Mossberg: New Intel-based iMac the best consumer desktop with the best OS and best software bundle – January 18, 2006
Mossberg, you are so smart!
First post! yeah!
I’ve been trying to convince my friends & family that they should all buy Macs, and save me the trouble of fixing their useless Windoze PCs!
What gives? Several of the articles that I click on direct me to the bottom of the page for the ‘insweb’ ad.I then have to scroll to the top of the page to read the article.
Anyone else having this issue? Using Safari 2.0.3.
Boot Camp POINTS to just the latest reason why the Mac is the right choice for the casual home user.
Adding “Game Play” and “Corporate VPN Ease” as well as “Outlook” to the list of things people can do from home now on a Mac, it makes more and more sense.
Of course, these are being added to the list of iLife apps that make home users happy and with more and more things going web based, its all makes the OS X platform more and more attractive.
The day that Macs become a computer for mainstream users is the day I’ll switch to Linux.
There isn’t much you can do in Windows that you can’t do on a Mac. And Windows is much less productive.
Its operating system already contains <b>most<.b> of the key features promised for Vista.
I see this all the time, even from pro-Apple columnists. Are they just trying to be politically correct? Are they worried about offending Microsoft? Fact is, OS X 10.4 already has ALL of the features Microsoft has promised for Vista, plus more.
Remember those three “re-introducing Windows Vista” videos somebody put together that proves this fact beyond a doubt?
I’m not confused. I’m saving shekels for an Intel Mac of some kind and getting ready to learn all about Vista as Apple’s cats disappear over the horizon.
welcome to the future of web browsign on macs. I’ve had the same problem, and somehow i suspect the ads might be redirecting where the page goes by default. I hope i’m wrong, but imagine 3 ads that did the same things and they fight over visual control of the screen. Would be like reading a newspaper on a airplane as it hits turbulence.
More and more I see the crap I hated about windows find it’s way to the osx environment 🙁
“If you want a new Windows PC, my best advice is to wait until January”
Wow, PC – (Dell, etc…) makers won’t be happy about that advice. There is the potential to be a very strong Apple Christmas!
“Anyone else having this issue? Using Safari 2.0.3.”
Yes, MDN has been doing this the last day or two I think. Click on a link and it jumps you to the bottom of the article page. Good thing I love useless scrolling.
I dunno guys – the link worked normally for me. (Safari 2.0.3)
Went right to the page, top of the article, in a new window.
Its the Insweb ad at the bottom of some of the pages. Annoying as hell. It does it in NetNewsWire as well, so it isn’t just a Safari thing. I have had it happen on other sites besides MDN.
Jooop wrote:
“Fact is, OS X 10.4 already has ALL of the features Microsoft has promised for Vista, plus more.”
Really? I can’t find the new Explorers or Aero interface in my copy of Tiger. Am I missing something?
This is SOOOO COOL…. if Vista ever ships…
Now if a person wants to waste his money on el cheapo PC hardware, he’ll get get the el cheapo version of Windows Vista to go with it !!
You know what else MacSmiley, they probably wont even get the operating discs with their cheapo hardware either. Just so windows can get them on the next go around. But hey the definition of stupid is when one continues to do the same thing the same way every time yet expects different results.
“Fact is, OS X 10.4 already has ALL of the features Microsoft has promised for Vista, plus more.”
Really – Show me where the Viruses are I can’t find them in Tiger
how does Walt know that the Mini or the iMac can be upgraded to run Vista? I guess the distinction here is that most current windows machines can be upgraded to run Vista just that many if not most of them will not be powerful enough to utilize all of Vista’s new features? And, in that sense the Mini or the iMac will be able to run vista as well. Is that the logic?
“Mossberg: ‘Every mainstream consumer doing typical tasks should consider Apple Mac'”
Well thank you Captain Obvious!
Moz is an Apple employee
Really? I can’t find the new Explorers or Aero interface in my copy of Tiger. Am I missing something?
Complaining about the lack of Explorer? I hope you’re joking.
And the Aero interface most certainly is there in Tiger. It’s called “Aqua”.