Mac OS-X / Vista Gain Share

Did you completely miss my post where i actually made the two machines you were trying to compare equivalent?

FWIW, the only one's i've seen on here screaming about price are the PC owners who are trying to show that PC's are cheaper than Mac's. All the Mac owners have simply been replying to those posts with actual evidence between comparable computers that shows they're similarly priced...

 

Oh, just buy one of each and be done with it. All this acrimonious "mine's better than yours" crap is really getting tiresome.

 

So... i recognize that you've loaded the HP up with a bunch of junk i'll never use - congrats. If you have no interest in doing an actual price comparison between equivalent machines and would rather say "look at all the goodies i can get!", then fine. Have fun with that. I've learned that people with blinders on like you simply can't be convinced to do an honest comparison.

 

Ok, lets try a different tack.

You can build a Dell Studio 15" with Macbook Pro like specs on paper for $1688. The Dell XPS M1530 with basically the same specs comes out at $1968. The MBP is $1999, although you can usually get it refurb'd by Apple (like new, full warranty) for $1699. Does Dell just build the XPS for stupid people who don't know that $1688 is cheaper than $1968, or is the XPS a better machine even though its on paper specs are very similar?

The fact that the Macbooks are built by ASUS is irrelevant. I would still take a Toyota built in a US factory over any car built by a US automaker. The difference is engineering, design, management, quality control and customer support. Its cool that HP gives you more options. Buts lets face it, a Focus with NAV, a kickin' stereo, and chrome hood vents is still no Prius.

BTW I'm pretty much just joking around here. There are plenty of decent PCs (and many not so decent), and I think Mac makes high quality hardware with a nice OS. Whose stuff is cheaper for the same specs is pretty subjective depending on whats important to you, where everyone is in the product cycles, whats on sale etc.

Rob

 

You forgot to add the free printer and free subscription to the AOL sweepstakes! That HP is still almost 0.5 inches thicker than a macbook and infinitely thicker than an Air. That is the most important measure of a laptop.

Can someone explain to me how is blu-ray useful in a laptop? If you are going to take movies with you it makes more sense to rip and encode them or simply rent them from iTMS. Are you you telling me you carry discs in the 21st century?

 

I'll bet if any of these were in Macs ahead of PC's the Mac heads would be beating their chests and claiming a computer is useless without it.

 

Just so you know... i only switch to Mac 2 years ago, and i know i'm not going back anytime soon. Even before that, though, I've never used half the stuff on your list. Let me ask you... whats the point of a BluRay player on a laptop? So you can watch high def movies on a 15 inch screen in the airport? What are you doing with a laptop that requires the fastest chip out there (which, btw, will reduce your battery life)? I've almost always downgraded the chips in my laptops to improve energy efficiency and increase battery life. 320 gig hard drive... sure, if thats the default for a computer i'm not going to complain, but anything over 200 gigs is just wasted space for me in a laptop - with 200 gigs, i can have all my programs, developer tools, music, and enough video to last me a few weeks vacation. What more do i need when you can get a TB NAS drive for home use fairly cheaply? TV tuner... yes, because i'd rather watch TV on a 15 inch laptop screen than the 30+ inch TV that's in every home and hotel room in the country. Media card reader because people actually use those now a days? fingerprint reader... because i have documents on my computer that i feel need more protection than my already complex password? Lightscribe... because i author CD's/DVD's on a laptop frequently? HDMI... because i'm going to need a high def connection to a TV from my laptop? everyone i know that has a high def TV already has high def options for displaying video on it (be it some variety of appleTV/media center, bluRay player, etc)... my laptop is really going to be valuable then!


When it comes to included hardware components, you'll never hear me say something is "useless without it" unless it's literally useless without it... like, for example, a hard drive or CPU - a laptop would be fairly useless without those. The iSight camera Mac's have is nice, but not really a requirement (i don't even use mine that much, but it is free). Likewise, wireless N and bluetooth aren't a requirement for a laptop, although those are items that i do use frequently so they're a requirement for me. iLife isn't a requirement for a computer, but I've been happy to enumerate the cost of getting other software for windows that would serve to replace it if you felt the need for it.

 

Eagle, I wasn't specifically targeting you with my previous post. You keep a level head when stating your preferences. I'm sure you will admit that there are those in the Apple community that don't, thus my reference to the iBoard in an earlier post.
I agree with you on your evaluation of the needs in a laptop, mine BTW is an older Compaq with 1.8GHz Turion CPU, 60G drive, and 512M of RAM. My desktop OTOH is a screamer, core 2 quad CPU, 500G drive, 4G RAM, get the picture? It does not however have a BluRay drive, but it does have HDMI and 6.1 audio (both copper and fibre). When I have a few extra bucks and the drive comes down a little more in price, I will slip one in. Hence my preference for the PC over the Mac, yes I could do that with a Mac Pro but it cost me $900 including Vista ultimate to build mine, besides the Mac Pro is more tailored to the server market (Xeon processors etc.). If, on the other hand I'm looking for a server for a data center...

 

I cannot believe this discussion is even happening in 2008....

After 20 years of working in corporate networks the only place I hear any debate about Apple is either on a message board or when I am in the presence of an educator, musician, film maker, or artist. Thats about it.

From what I have seen over the past twnety years in over 2000 different network designs, is there simply are very few Mac products except in instances of vertical application requirements.

I will not argue better or not. In my opinion, the best product is the one that performs the tasks required and expected, with minimal problems, and with easy access to support if required.

Through all the implementations of DOS, Windows 3.0, 3.1, 3.11, WFW, Win95, Win98,NT, Win2000, WinXP, and Vista, there have been few problems for most people who use good hardware with good component drivers. And add to the matrix networking applications like Banyan, LANtastic, and Netware... Applications such a Quattro, Lotus 123, Symphony, WordPerfect, Professional Write, Paradox, Dbase, and accounting packages such as Realworld, Solomon, Macola, MAS90...

The list is endless... And yet with good hardware and proper installation procedures the vast majority of systems worked well.

Apple, with its close to the vest policies in regards to operating systems lost out on an entire world of opportunity. Apple has generally had a better operating system and generally had high quality controls on their branded hardware, but without being supported by the applications the corporate world requires, they were left outside and consequently they became a nuisance to IT managers and more costly for consumers.

I would not buy an Apple today simply for the lack of qualified support professionals, lack of applications, and somewhat higher expense of initial purchase. The "ease of use" argument no longer applies as even my 86 year old neighbor could easily navigate Vista without any training, plus if she does have a question she can call anyone in the neighborhood where if she had a Mac she would have to pay for support (in my area).

Apple is making money on phones and MP3s... Despite their rise in computer market share, I expect they will continue to develop alternative revenue streams to fuel their growth.

 

>> "well, my Mac can do this or that" when in fact the user is typically too ill-informed to realize that a PC can do the exact same thing.

course gnu / linux can do the same for the least $$$

 

but if SOHO computers were automobiles ...

 

I guess I can't be bothered to use a laptop as a home theater PC that has to be unplugged and plugged back to the TV. For Blu Ray player, I use a home theater PC or a PS3.

BTW, Mac laptops have a video port that is compatible with S-Video, VGA or DVI. DVI is just like HDMI and all it needs is a DVI-HDMI cable to be used with HDMI devices.

To each his own but I wouldn't trade 0.5 inch thickness or more in a laptop for ANY kind of drive. My favorite laptop at the moment is a MacBook Air (0.17 inch thickness) which has no drive.

 

Ubuntu is very popular (& what I use) Support Overview | Ubuntu

openSUSE is also nice (& a division of Novell if that helps you sleep better) Project Overview - openSUSE