“If you’re an ‘average’ computer user, choosing to buy a Mac is the right decision,” Danny Gorog writes for APC Magazine.
“On the whole, the ordinary person needs a computer that lets them email, surf the web, write letters and documents, browse and edit digital photos, rip and listen to music and watch DVDs. They might dabble in P2P and Skype,” Gorog writes. “For those users, a Mac is absolutely ideal, and the only decision they need to make is whether to by an Apple notebook or desktop.”
Gorog writes, “Macs are first class computers when it comes to internet connectivity, with a great default web browser and networking configuration that is dramatically easier than Windows’ gordian knot.”
“If you’re still working on an assumption from a few years ago that Macs are too expensive and a PC is far better value, do yourself a favour and do a feature-by-feature analysis comparing a Macbook to the latest from HP, Toshiba or Dell (they’ll be the ones in the Harris Technology catalogue with memorable names like GXA-5456a). I guarantee that you’ll find in an even-featured match that the Mac stacks up well,” Gorog writes.
“Users who have done the above analysis and still buy a PC are plain stubborn. The truth is, as much as they don’t want to admit it, some people are simply slaves to their PCs and Windows. It’s a weird sado-masochistic bondage fetish: they take pride in routinely keeping their security suite up-to-date, installing all the latest Windows patches and religiously staying on the lookout for new vulnerabilities,” Gorog writes.
“Most Windows users who move over to a Mac quickly discover how much they don’t need Windows,” Gorog writes. “And, of course, [if you get] a Mac, [you’ll] also get OS X, clearly the most advanced desktop operating system (still miles ahead of Windows Vista in most areas) plus the iLife suite that will literally transform the way you consume and create your digital media. And you’ll buy in to a community of users who actually care about their platform and are enthusiastic about helping other Mac users,” Gorog writes.
Full article here.
“If you’re browsing the web and reading email it make fsck all difference what the OS is.”
It makes all the difference when you (or even more likely, that hypothetical daughter of yours) hit that drive-by-download malware site or get a nefarious email attachment. Then it becomes a matter of either hosing your Windows machine totally (or worse, having your identity stolen or becoming unwitting pawn in a spambot network) vs. Mac OS X not batting an eye…
“IE is hell of a lot more stable than Safari if we’re all honest.” – Finest bit of FUDmeistering I’ve seen on the net today.
“I’m not stealing it. The Corporate License entitles me to home use.” – Nice turn of the phrase, but totally false.
@Reality Check
Buy a PC.
There now that’s settled. You are happy, we’re happy.
Back to my ‘over priced’ Mac.
(BTW where are you getting the writing program for the 400$ PC? or are you going OpenSource?)
[IE is hell of a lot more stable than Safari if we’re all honest.]
“I’m not stealing it. The Corporate License entitles me to home use”
Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge.
Um, how do PC software vendors make any money when Windroids don’t pay for any of it?
I’d wager that Adobe, et al., makes as much actual cash from MacFolks as they do from WinFolk — even though there are ‘more’ COPIES of their PC software ‘out there’.
Having trouble posting today. What’s up MDN?
@ Reality Check, You gets what you pays for!
Now on the other hand, for .99c I could provide you with a jug of camels milk!
It will make you and your daughter fart the national Anthem louder & better than Jimi Hendrix’s rendition!
Record it and download it onto itunes and YouTube, the money you make from them, buy yourselves a decent Mac with all the bells and whistles, then send me the change as a fee for this darn good idea!:-)
I am a mac fan but I must admit that some website are not displayed properly (due to its design are based on IE’s framework) and in fact Safari crashes more often than IE. Apple, give us a less buggy one! I love Safari’s speed and ease of use but some sites are just not working under it….
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I’m just a little pi$$ed that MDN deleted the whole fake chrissyone post and replies and didn’t tell anyone about it. If you’re going to cens…I mean, moderate peoples posts, why not edit out Reality Check and Zune Tang?
Keep it up guys, you’re about to lose my patronage. I can delete this widget just as easy as I installed it.
“Either way, I’m struggling to see what Apple has to offer for people with limited budgets.”
You are correct sir. Apple doesn’t offer anything to people with limited budgets. As things in the industry stand currently, for Apple to offer a $399 computer would be to compromise on the experience that Apple promises with every computer. And Apple does not compromise on its experience. Coincidentally, this is the reason why the Mac is superior to Windows PCs. Are you starting to understand yet?
I’ll offer a separate analogy because I doubt you are following as of yet. Can you think of the cheapest car manufactured by Porsche? They start somewhere north of $50,000 US. Why, you might ask, does Porsche not make a 3 cylinder, $12,900 sedan made primarily out of plastic? The reason is simple, and it is this: It would completely destroy their brand, their reputation, and everything they have worked for decades to build. It would not offer the same experience as, say, a Porsche Cayman S. Obviously the prices are slightly different in this analogy, but the concept is identical.
Here is what Apple “offers” to people on a limited budget: A used Mac. You can get a solid iMac with a 1.25Ghz G4 in it that is twice as fast as the Mac I am currently using for about $500 probably. That computer can do email, word processing, and anything on the internet just as fast as anything brand new can. Now go to eBay and find yourself a nice one there, or go to Circuit City and buy an Acer for $399. The choice is entirely yours.
–mAc
These car analogies are still used by clueless Mac zealots. I can build a computer with the latest hardware while you’re still stuck in Apple’s legacy hardware. Apple doesn’t even use Intel’s premium chipsets, worthless for someone who would like faster DDR2 memory (and now DDR3), a little better graphics capability, and overall premium featuresets that the major motherboard manufacturers offer.
Apple is just a plain hardware vendor, a good one at that but not at the level some of you make it out to be.