“The blood feud of the tech world is the Mac vs. the PC,” Jonathan Blum writes for TheStreet.com. “It’s been decades of fear, loathing and nighttime attacks, duking it out over which computer does what better; but with Microsoft’s fortunes fading and Apple on the rise, it may be time for this little nerd fight to take a cue from Belfast, Ireland: Getting along is now in everyone’s interest.”
“Last week, I had the temerity, impudence and crudeness to recommend a mere PC — in this case an Alienware m5550 laptop — over a comparable Apple product,” Blum writes. “From what I then heard from Apple fans, you’d have thought I was boiling children alive.”
“I’m sure there are other people out there who’ve owned and used more Macs, I have yet to meet them,” Blum writes and then goes through his Apple II – Mac Quadra history and writes, “although I don’t use a Mac at home now, the designers and some of the word shufflers in my shop do; we swear by them. The studio that produces my radio show uses Macs. And I will probably pull the trigger on a new MacPro sometime soon. Given this history, I believe I can safely say I know what Macs do — and what they don’t do.”
MacDailyNews Take: Why is “getting along now in everyone’s interest?” Getting a Mac is in everyone’s best interest, Mr. Blum, you appeaser. The Alienware m5550 laptop cannot compete with a comparable Apple product, as we pointed out after your first ludicrous article. Using Macs up through a Mac Quadra (last model discontinued in September 1994, Mac OS 7.1) is nice, but Blum shows little, if any, knowledge of current Macs running Mac OS X and what they can do, what they offer, and the advantages of today’s Macs over competing platforms that are losing share to Macintosh. If Blum has yet to meet other people who’ve owned and used more Macs, he needs to get out more often.
Blum continues, “Back in the day, Apples really were superior… But alas, those days of Apple’s idiosyncratic greatness are over. Apple is now a mainstream brand. And a rather bland one.”
“Apple products run on the same parts as other computers do: Intel chips, the same displays made somewhere in the Pacific Rim, and similar video cards; they run the same software, such as Microsoft Office, use the same Internet and have the same versions of games like Quake,” Blum writes. “And Apple’s desktop machines, matched with its iLife media tools and proprietary networking standard Firewire, offer the easiest way to build a home media server, other than having a pro installer step in and do it for you.”
MacDailyNews Take: Blum’s ignorance shines through. While FireWire, with the help of software, is nicely-suited for creating ad-hoc computer networks (we use it ourselves), it is much more commonly known and used as a personal computer (and digital audio/digital video) serial bus interface used for connection of data storage devices and digital video cameras. Additionally, Blum gives no evidence that he has ever done much more than read a blurb about iLife on a website.
Blum continues, “Macs are good, even lovely machines. But is Apple the leader of design and performance? Let’s see. In my mind, there is simply no comparison in terms of fit, finish and features for an off-the-shelf Mac to a top-of-the-line custom-made PC like a Voodoo or Alienware — Voodoos come plated in gold, if you want that.”
“For raw design, Macs are nice, but the style is getting weary,” Blum writes. “They’re all the same: rectangles in white or silver or gray. Macs aren’t ugly by any standard, but they’re like a Toyota Avalon or a Lexus. Nice design, gorgeous lines, but if you’re looking for breakout style, a Lexus won’t get you there — and neither does a Mac.”
“So let’s compare the offending Alienware m5550 to an Apple MacBook Pro 2.0 ghz with a 15.4-inch screen,” Blum writes. “For case, finish and screen, both the Alienware and the Apple are on par. The MacPro is a bit lighter, the Alienware has a bit nicer casing and finish.”
MacDailyNews Take: There’s simply no accounting for bad taste. Plated in gold? Come on. That said, if Blum is legally blind while totally lacking the ability to compare and contrast even the most basic features and specs, as we suspect, we apologize in advance.
Blum continues, “As to software, yes, Apples run Apple code and they run Windows, Linux and whatever else. But if you’re getting a Mac to run Windows XP, you’re not making the ideal choice. Apple does have software — Boot Camp and Parallels — that run both XP and Mac OS. But you’ll tie up a ton of hard-drive space to fit both operating systems on a single computer.”
MacDailyNews Take: Hard drive space is consumed by having both Mac OS X and Windows on your Mac, that is a fact. Hey, Blum made a valid point finally! Don’t worry, though, most users will reclaim that lost space once they realize they don’t want or need to boot Windows anymore. Embrace and extinguish works for hard drive space, too.
Blum continues, “The headaches worsen if you’re using Apple computers on a mixed network. In my shop we are, yes, ‘plagued’ by the incompatibilities of file formats, Web-coding standards, delivery specifications and transfer protocols. Apples work great, but trust me, you do not want to share my struggles with a Web page mastered on Safari, or an Apple running on a virtual private network, or getting Apple-specified audio files to work outside of Apple equipment.”
MacDailyNews Take: “Apples?” Spoken like a true Windows sufferer. Macs work great, as any real Mac user will tell you. “Web page mastered on Safari?” Again with the weird phrasing, as if Blum – gasp! – really has no idea about which he writes. We’ve used Macs with several VPNs without incident, although getting your Windows-only IT moron at work or school to help might be a problem. They are the problem, not you or your Mac. “Apple-specified audio files?” More weird phrasing that signals ignorance. Does he mean he’s had codec issues? Blum should do some reading about codecs and use the proper ones for what he’s trying to accomplish.
Blum continues, “For the occasional Windows program running on an Apple, dual-mode Apple solutions are great. But if you’re working with crucial information — like your money — you can be asking for it if you plan to run Windows for an extended period on a Mac.”
MacDailyNews Take: Why? Crickets chirp in Blum’s article as he gives no supporting evidence to back up his statement. A Mac booted into Windows via Boot Camp is just like any other crappy Windows box, albeit in a nicer case. You can contract Windows viruses that threaten crucial information like your money as easily as you can with a Dell. A bit of advice for former Windows-only users who are new to the Mac and wish to dual boot: Use Mac OS X for your crucial information and bank transactions and use Windows for Solitaire until you figure out that there are 50 Solitaire games for Mac OS X.
Blum continues, “Here’s the truth: Apples are just like any other computer. They do some things very well, and other things not so well. Pretending otherwise is just obstinacy.”
MacDailyNews Take: The “truth” from someone who clearly is very shaky on his knowledge of current Apple Macs and who believes a thick, ugly, bathroom-scale-looking laptop from Alienware has “has a bit nicer casing and finish” than an Apple MacBook and/or MacBook Pro (and/or PowerBook G3 circa Feb. 2000, for that matter) is worthless. Apple Macs do many things very well, and does other things just merely better than Windows. Pretending otherwise is just ignorance. Blum needs to get his Mac Pro and finally use Mac OS X for awhile before banging out his next mess for TheStreet. (And don’t blame Apple if the compatibility issues you encounter are roadblocks thrown into the mix by Microsoft; divorce yourself from websites that stipulate “IE-only,” ignore services that cater to “Windows-only,” and learn how to use your Mac to beat Microsoft’s proprietary “tech” that’s designed to keep Windows users shackled to Windows.)
Blum continues, “In the new world of a rising Apple, the company, and its enthusiastic fans — you know who you are — need to take a cue from your own marketing. Think different, not ‘better.'”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The Mac is better than a Windows PC in too many areas to list. The day we follow some ignorant, tasteless hack’s advice on how to think is the day we switch from Mac to Windows.
Related articles:
Writer: Alienware PC ‘not limited by lack of software and other issues that plague Apple computers’ – October 10, 2006
More Microsoft money well spent. Them guys sure know how to make a writer happy. Does ANYONE have any idea how much of the “vig” they spread around to writers in a year?
looks like a plastic peice to me.
Isn’t this a repeat? Sure I’ve read this same grabage a week ago.
“Apple products run on the same parts as other computers do: Intel chips, the same displays made somewhere in the Pacific Rim, and similar video cards; they run the same software, such as Microsoft Office, use the same Internet and have the same versions of games like Quake,”
Yes but it’s the way they do it that makes all the difference.
Anyone that thinks that tacky P.O.S. is better looking than a MacBook Pro certainly deserves to have one I would say. The dude can’t help it that he has no taste (or brains).
I think the Toyota/Lexus comparison is valid. The current Mac lineup is less “Wow that’s cool” and more “Ahhh, yes” in style. If I were a zit faced teen, I too would find them pretty boring.
When he said that Mac design is not the best, i stop reading his article. Clearly he is just plain idiot or blind.
When he wakes up and smells his laptop battery burning, that might snap him into reality. Power, Elegance, Style – APPLE. He just wanted to get his article looked at a few times.
Once again, “It’s the OS, stupid!” He’s fishing for hits, of course.
I tried to like the Alien computer — but it still looks like a pair of mail-order bathroom scales.
Clunky hinges too.
Monster Truck or Porsche?
Which one has more “power”?
Which one would you rather be seen driving around town?
I’ll take the Porsche/ Apple.
When I read the Lexus comparison, all I could think of was, “Of course, Macs work well.”
If Macs are the Lexus, what’s the PC? a yugo?
Or is he saying some PCs are like Aston Martins (gold plated?)
And what does “break-out styling” have to do computers? Yes, you want them to look good. But computers are a tool to get work done. And Macs seem to be the Snap-Ons of the computer world.
“Clearly he is just plain idiot or blind.”
No, he is an idiot AND blind, at the very least. How does crap like this get into print int the first place? Are there no editorial standards at all? A bloody waste of pixels if you ask me!
He just has a tacky sense of taste. Gold-plated laptops? Fins (I don’t even know what word you’d use to describe that monstrosity on the back of the alienware case)?
It’s just that people in that category of taste don’t see the beauty of simplicity and elegance. They probably listen to whiney emo boy bands over Mozart, too.
The guy is an idiot. He stopped using Macs at OS 7 and thinks he actually knows something about today’s Macs. What a moron.
Oh, and he’s a terrible writer. Just brutal. I have written better researched editorials in my past and I’m an engineering student.
Nothing to see here.
Earning a living by being bought off to say what someone else wants just for the money makes the guy a tart.
Apart from a few pimply, games playing teenage games enthusiasts, and the odd Russian mafia oligarch with really bad taste no-one will believe him for a second..!
Alienware computers do have a unique look to them. Although, that look appears to be along the same lines of the people who want blue neon lights on the bottom of their car. Sure it might look cool to some people but to other people it comes across as a bit tacky. Apple is all about simplicty and clean lines. The thing about the clean lines is that it never gets old. The woman’s simple black dress is a classic and never gets old much like the mac. Sure, there are variations but you can never go wrong with it.
LastOneStanding, I agree, this “new” article sounds like a repeat flamebait article. He is simply repeating what he said, trolling for Mac advocates’ reactions. Funny that he refers to Mac advocates as “obstinate.” I can hear him now: “It is too good looking, and I’ll keep repeating that until you agree with me.”
Seems to me he has missed the important point: this so-called “design” from AlienWare and others has been around for a while, even Dell has tried to create a cool segment of computers, and when that didn’t work, who did they buy? If this was really good “design” it would win real awards. But it is different, and as another poster pointed out, it may well be that teens want something that looks like a bad prop from Battlestar Galactica. Fine, they can have it. But to say that such “idiosyncratic” design should be a goal is sheer nonsense, and the markets and customers are proving it.
it’s like saying Scandinavian furniture should look more like country French furniture so it’s more different.
“Voodoos come plated in gold, if you want that.”
Yo, I want dem with 20 inch gold rims and low profile Pirellis and some fuzzy dice with dat. More bling blings pleeese!
Peace out.
Lipstick on a pig.
It’s still using Windows….
73H 4L13|\| 1Z R0><><0RZ!!!11!!!
Um, Mr. Alienware Dell Ass, who cares what kind of machines you produce when ultimately, this exists…
Less than 24 hours after release, a vulnerability has already been discovered in Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.x, “which can be exploited by malicious people to disclose potentially sensitive information,” Secunia reports. “The vulnerability is caused due to an error in the handling of redirections for URLs with the “mhtml:” URI handler. This can be exploited to access documents served from another web site.”
Secunia has confirmed the vulnerability on a fully patched system with Internet Explorer 7.0 and Microsoft Windows XP SP2 and says ther versions may also be affected.
Secunia advises users to “disable active scripting support.”
These Alienware drones crack me up.
Windows users…buy a PC and lose Tiger and iLife, some of the best software on the planet. Buy a Mac and lose absolutely nothing.
Alienware’s designers are the computer industry’s Harley Earle.
Forget about usability, just add chrome and fins until enough people think it *looks* good. They won’t care if it actually *is* good.
Right?
Maybe that’s what PCs really need… More fins. More plastic that does nothing. Well done.
MW: “even” (bloody murder accidents)
They’re made for kids. Gee, now that’s lasting style.
Mr. Blum the quadra days are long over with. You shouldn’t write stuff about Mac if you have no idea what you’re writing about. And that’s probably why you got racked over the coles for it.
Unless you are a totally high end super gamer the Alienware stuff is not a good idea and is very expensive even compared to a Mac.
Alienware: Yesterdays computer of tomorrow.
MDN Magic Word: “earth” (it’s true)
I love my Macs, and I love my Alienware m5550, gaming is pimp on that Alienware actually
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Think Different and better is what Apple is all about. Something that the rest of the PC market knows nothing about. Mr.Blum you really need your eyes checked and look up the facts instead of making up FUD.
You guys are soooooooooooooooooo predictable. Dvorak isn’t the only one who has your number.
About IT guys : they have to sell and keep the ignorance about Apple Mac’s as high as possible.
I suspect this writer (using the term loosely) also loves his gold nugget jewlery and the velvet paintings and blacklights he has in his double-wide.
There is no accounting for taste!
The MacBook Pro looks like a Lexus. The Alienware M550 looks like a Pontiac Aztec.
On the comments about design, I have to say it just comes down to preference of style. Apple has a very minimal design ethic that is understated and simple. However, they are also usually on point about not sacrificing any function, since they have the mindset that a minimal user interface is the best method.
Personally, I think the Alienware stuff fits in the “hot rod/chopper” design ethic of cool. It appeals to a very specific taste. Though in art, minimalism is a niche style, in design it actually appeals to a broader range of tastes than the Alienware style. Bascially, there are fewer things to dislike.
” In my shop we are, yes, ‘plagued’ by the incompatibilities of file formats, Web-coding standards, delivery specifications and transfer protocols. Apples work great, but trust me, you do not want to share my struggles with a Web page mastered on Safari, or an Apple running on a virtual private network, or getting Apple-specified audio files to work outside of Apple equipment.”
So it is a Windows/OSX/3rd party software problem, not an OSX-specific problem. The assumption that Windows is the default biases the question here – no such assumption should be made when comparing the platforms.
Although I agree with his statement that Apple does some things well and some things not so well, this hardly means that Apple is “bland”. However, I think MDN is over the top on this article. I don’t agree with his overall point, but he doesn’t venture into the territory of complete ignorance (the story from the legal consultant earlier this week) or outright fabrication that can appear in such articles.
Alienware OS limited PLASTIC Windows/Virus/Spyware running POS – no matter how much you try to polish a turd, it’s still a turd.
He probably likes Mexican Hummers and Searsucker suits from Cox, or was that Co——er suits from Sears?
Whatever……
Sing the next line to Love and Rockets hypnotic remake of “Ball of Confusion”:
and the analysts say…hey hey…and the stock goes up!
Alienware and Voodoo. expensive lipstick on the same old pig!
A computer is a tool, yes, but it’s the software that makes the tool get the job done.
I prefer minimalist design of a case, with maximum effort spent on the software.
Not maximum effort on the case, (to impress others with what is really only window dressing) with minimumm effort on the software.
No one would ever buy a computer with the high performance parts of Alienware and Voodoo, just to put them in a simple case. Who would know they had all this performance then. It would look like every other POS Winbox.
Must appeal to basement dwelling 20 somethings and/or teenagers without mortgages or families. A bad case of “look at me! look at me!”
Wow MDN, very nice responses!
Virus scare a lesson for Apple “…I plan to become a Mac owner myself in the not-too-distant future.” – Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Apple Strikes Back “And I will probably pull the trigger on a new MacPro sometime soon.” – Jonathan Blum
I see a “journalistic” trend here. Like the old racists cliché, “Some of my best friends are (black/gay/asian/etc.)”…these “writers” are promising/threatening to become “fellow Mac users” ostensibly just to be able to criticize the Mac from “within” the Mac community.
If they suck so much, why the hell are you buying them?
When it comes to design and brand appeal, I though Alienware was the one who had jumped the shark, not Apple. Alienware has a reputation in some circle for being the “ricemobile” of computers, all tarted up design-wise but basically crap quality.
Clearly written for the kids he was trying to impress with those blue neon lights and strange ribbing on the cover. BTW, I can plate my turds with gold, but it’s still a turd. I suppose somebody can plate a MacBook with gold, too. I just haven’t bothered to check.
So what if many of the parts are similar, it’s what you do with them that counts. iPods, Zens and Zunes have some of the same parts. So they must be the same, yes?…. NOT!
Now if the guy would only use a Mac, and try OSX and iLife, etc.
Alienware = Ghetto, trailer park, trash (in that order!)
What’s really so sad is that, as a so called journalist, he could have actually written something useful and pointed out actual Mac shortcomings that would mean something to people. Working with Macs in a mixed OS environment can be problematic, especially with MS on the server side, or if running exchange in work groups. Also, web page performance can be a problem if the web designer
No matter what, that alienware thing is ugly. I want to see Blum’s house, as he clearly has no taste. Either that or he’s 15 years old, in which case he is excused.
Just “bland” enough to be growing in sales 10x faster than any other PC. I will take that kind of blandness any day of the week.
Firewire proprietary????? This guy needs to look up the definition. Apple makes money off each sale of Firewire, but it is an open standard.
Hmmmm, Mr. Blum???
I am sure you liked the plastic alian ware cover to the computer but, may I remind you that you also said, (I love this part. )
“But — you knew there’d be a but — the Alienware flames out trying to be a media device. Like all other laptops, the unit sorely lacks in movie quality; picture and sound are awful. High-definition imagery from iTunes looked like it came from my waterproof camera. And even basic midmarket DVDs such as “The Wire” looked like something from a child’s play camera. Blacks were bad, colors were washed out. And the aliasing? Ick!
Also, you can expect indifferent battery life from the Alienware. My unit only worked for little under two hours at maximum efficiency — the result of all that processing umph.
Nevertheless, despite its limits, I give the Alienware m5550 the thumbs up. Think of it as the anti-Mac: a more expensive computer with fashion and flair, but one that is not limited by lack of software and other issues that plague Apple computers. “
So, you are saying that its good for playing games and for everything else, its crap. No battery life, no music, no video, but that plastic cover makes up for it. ?????
Solution. Buy a MacBook Pro, rip the cover off your alian ware computer and glue it on the Mac. Run Windows so you can get viruses and spyware and crash and burn. You should feel right at home.
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JMHO.
N.
Good heavens people. You are acting like Peter, in the episode of Family Guy – where he found out that he was – lacking – in comparison to his son. So he goes out – buys a LONG car and repeatedly drives it in and out of a tunnel.
Get over your envy. Do you like your mac? Who cares what other people say? Aren’t they gaining ground and marketshare?
Sheesh – it’s just a computer.
This site is all about Macs… the Apple Army found a lying/ignorant propagandist, it’s part of our job to find and expose BS, along with helping the newly converted. The MDN take is why I visit this site throughout the day, and as usual they didn’t disappoint.
Not only does this fool not know much about the Mac, he’s not very versed on cars either.
The Toyota/Lexus is the pinnacle of inoffensive, committee-designed vehicles. The Toyota/Dell of computer design would be Dell. Apple’s designs are purposefully simple and clean, much like Audi. Alienware is like a 90’s Pontiac — overdesigned and very limited in appeal.
To Dr. Gecko,
I agree that we need to de-philosophize the Mac in order to let people who don’t need another cause, to have baggage-free access to the Macintosh platform.
That being said, I come here to freely revel in my propensity for using Macs. It’s just a damn good computer, and those of us who’ve been using them since 1984 or 1985 or so, have been mentally torchered by winbox manufacturers for over two decades about that fact. We’ve been cheated out of Macs in the workplace, lied to about how hard it is to get a Mac “connected” [to everything], and well, just read the article to see the rest of the negative Mac myths we’ve had shoved down our throats for a long time now.
No computer is perfect, but the Mac is getting there a helluvalot faster than Windows is (unarguably). I’m wiling to listen to the truth about the Mac’s imperfections, but only in the name of getting them worked out, not as an agument for using MS Windows.
I don’t use MS Windows (when given a choice) for three basic reasons: 1) I don’t have to, 2) I don’t have to, 3) Windows is way too expensive to operate and maintain. I don’t recommend using Windows at home or at work, – period.
So I come to MDN to be reminded that it really is ok, and actually, quite natural to NOT want to use Windows. And, to remind myself that I’m only one of millions who feel the same way, each in his/her own unique way.
Yes its only a computer (my sentiments exactly), but when a world dominator like MS wants to neutralize my personal right not to use their product (or products that require their products in order to function), I become rather irrate. This has been the real-world experience of many who have chosen not to use MS Windows – Hence the reactionary demeanor of some regular posters here at MDN.
Does that help?
I would say a Mac is more like a VW or BMW than a Toyota or Lexus.
I bought a Jetta because it was the closest I could come to an Apple-designed car. I’m on my 2nd jetta, actually. Love that thing.
S
His taste is in his arse. That Alienware thing is UGLY…
Mr Blum is a frickin tool. With a “laser” beam on his head.
This is a perfect example of why I don’t bother to read “Experts” online.
In Blum’s first article, he hardly mentioned Apple – what he really did was to show that his consumer tastes … while he thinks that he is Mr. Sophisticated (997 Turbo, indeed), his superficiality in wanting to “Look Cool” to kids in Airport, while tolerating a horrible screen and so forth, really reveal himself to us as a classical POSEUR that puts what he thinks strangers think of him above his own performance needs.
Yes, that’s idiotic. But as the owner of a
” rel=”nofollow”>real 911, I can assure you that Blum’s not unique. Either in real life (he’s not a 997 or a Ferrari owner), or the PC equivalent. What Blum has done is that he has admitted that he is attracted to the PC equivalent of being “Riced Out”.
Granted, there is a certain demographic consumer market for the KIA or Civic that has had its owner dump far too much money into it for cosmetic “improvements” of a plastic body kit, mag wheels, a big can muffler and some stickers that claim that there’s more under the hood.
However, “Rice Boys” (and Girls) aren’t usually old enough to be at their mid-life crisis.
And what invariably happens to these “don’t I look neat” poseurs is that when it comes to actual substance, parties such as MDN will tear him a new one. On the highway, when they try to instigate a race with me in my 911, I’ll toy with them for 15 seconds, then let them win: this simple manipulation gives me a Rabbit speeding ahead of me, which helps me avoid the next police speed trap down the road.
Unfortunately, when a group like TheStreet tolerates such a gross example of marketplace ignorance such as that which has been manifested here by Blum, it reflects poorly on all of them.
Afterall, anyone who is foolish enough to critique a vendor’s product after not even having touched it for a DECADE (!) before making his pronouncements doesn’t deserve his next paycheck, and not only would I consider his column to be permanently poisoned, but such unprofessionalism bleeds through their entire publication, lowering it to the ethical standard of merely a Rag.
Thanks to MDN for identifying another one of the criminally clueless.
-hh
everyone wants a computer that looks more like a zx spectrum nightmare from 1982 , don’t they ?
alienware = tacky shit through and through