The added cost of an Apple

[asiancivicmaniac]

Originally Posted By: dishdude
Originally Posted By: rg200amp
Originally Posted By: WMSmotorhead
I own a computer repair shop... I compare apple users to Jehovas Witnesses... They never question what the higher ups have to say, and they badger everyone constantly to join them in the Mac camp...

All computers have their flaws... I build my own system, that way I can't complain much.


I have always found Mac users (myself being one)to be ones that use what they want to use and have what they want to have, then have people from all around tell them that their choices are all wrong because it does not match up to what they believe. . . .

Actually, I have found Mac/iUsers to think they have the all mighty devices and that everything else is junk and everyone else's choices are wrong because they do not match up to what they believe.


QFT

 

[Volvohead]

Originally Posted By: Cutehumor
I'm using windows xp right now, does that mean I get the cheapest rates? YES!

Yes. But hackers will break into your room every other day . . . except on Tuesdays.

 

[BearZDefect]

Originally Posted By: Volvohead
Originally Posted By: Cutehumor
I'm using windows xp right now, does that mean I get the cheapest rates? YES!

Yes. But hackers will break into your room every other day . . . except on Tuesdays.

Come on, you know better than that. Even Windows XP can be secured with little effort if you are a bit tech savvy.

 

[Volvohead]

Originally Posted By: BearZDefect
Originally Posted By: Volvohead
Originally Posted By: Cutehumor
I'm using windows xp right now, does that mean I get the cheapest rates? YES!

Yes. But hackers will break into your room every other day . . . except on Tuesdays.

Come on, you know better than that. Even Windows XP can be secured with little effort if you are a bit tech savvy.


Yes, You are right.
He'll also have to rent his own room locks to try and keep them out.

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: BearZDefect
Originally Posted By: Volvohead
Originally Posted By: Cutehumor
I'm using windows xp right now, does that mean I get the cheapest rates? YES!

Yes. But hackers will break into your room every other day . . . except on Tuesdays.

Come on, you know better than that. Even Windows XP can be secured with little effort if you are a bit tech savvy.


Whenever I stay in a hotel, I have a text file ("YOU HAVE BEEN HACKED.txt" to get their attention) that I leave on the desktop of every Windows system I can sneak into via the hotel's wifi. It describes how I got into their system and the steps they can take to secure it.

100% of these systems I gain access to are XP; but that says more about the folks using it than the OS itself as it *can* be secured with minimal effort.

 

[PandaBear]

I have no problem with it if they just show you different items on the first page, but you can always sort by price and pick what you want.

I have SERIOUS problem if the same items are sold at different price just because I'm using one computer over the other, and I would raise heck for that.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: rg200amp
The cost of something and weather or not it is over priced is SUBJECTIVE.

I dollar cheese burger is overpriced by some peoples standards. A 200K sports car is not over priced by some peoples standards. IT IS SUBJECTIVE.


That's the best thing about free enterprise. Like water, prices find their own level. Something is worth exactly as much as someone else will pay for it. Fill in your own common adage here.

The beauty of free enterprise is that nothing can be "overpriced" and "selling well". That's a dichotomy of terms. If something is "overpriced", people won't buy it. The manufacturer will lower the price until people WILL buy it. That, then, is the fair market value for that item.

The fair market value for a new MacBook is apparently right at what Apple is selling it for. The reason we know this is because they're selling well.

By the way, I think it's supremely funny that one person says that PC users badger Mac users about what they use, and the very next post is another person saying that Mac users badger PC users about what they use.

I don't care who you are, that's funny right there.

 

[andrewg]

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
Originally Posted By: rg200amp
The cost of something and weather or not it is over priced is SUBJECTIVE.

I dollar cheese burger is overpriced by some peoples standards. A 200K sports car is not over priced by some peoples standards. IT IS SUBJECTIVE.


That's the best thing about free enterprise. Like water, prices find their own level. Something is worth exactly as much as someone else will pay for it. Fill in your own common adage here.

The beauty of free enterprise is that nothing can be "overpriced" and "selling well". That's a dichotomy of terms. If something is "overpriced", people won't buy it. The manufacturer will lower the price until people WILL buy it. That, then, is the fair market value for that item.

The fair market value for a new MacBook is apparently right at what Apple is selling it for. The reason we know this is because they're selling well.

By the way, I think it's supremely funny that one person says that PC users badger Mac users about what they use, and the very next post is another person saying that Mac users badger PC users about what they use.

I don't care who you are, that's funny right there.

Good post Hokie. Straight to the point.
I think us humans are so 'tribe oriented', that we sometimes need to step back and think before we react.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

I have nothing against sleeping against in the car ...

 

[antiqueshell]

The Apple Macbook case MAY be made of metal, but you can be sure that the internal components like the HDD, Memory, motherboard, ect are the exact same Chinese junk that goes into ANY typical OEM PC product from Acer, Dell, HP, ect.
Of course for quite a bit less you can buy a OEM business class laptop with a metal case and MUCH better performance hardware for MUCH less cost too.

Is America so dull that it has forgotten the old true saying that, "you can't judge a book by its cover".

I'm not saying people shouldn't buy an Apple product but they should have the minimal intellect to think and look into what is inside what they are buying. But it is true that many folks are lemmings that abide by "monkey see monkey doo" formula.

It's makes me laugh when I see CNBC talking heads gushing over anything Apple. LOL You got to wonder if Apple pays them off.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: antiqueshell
I'm not saying people shouldn't buy an Apple product but they should have the minimal intellect to think and look into what is inside what they are buying.


I should think that most are aware of this already. Apple advertises straight on their website that they use Intel Core i3/5/7 processors and nVidia and ATI GPUs.

Folks don't buy Apple products for the chips inside. They're the same inside as everything else, and that's no secret. But that's where the similarities end. The differences (like the OS, like the displays, like the construction) are what people pay for. Is it worth paying more for compared with a Wintel? That's just it: some think so and some don't, and that's just fine. If we all drove the same car and used the same computer and thought the same way, life would be pretty monotonous.

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: antiqueshell
I'm not saying people shouldn't buy an Apple product but they should have the minimal intellect to think and look into what is inside what they are buying. But it is true that many folks are lemmings that abide by "monkey see monkey doo" formula.


Apple is a *brand*; perhaps the most successful at "branding" in history. People buy the brand. People also often do consider what exactly it means to buy an Apple-branded collection of cheap Chinese parts. If people see value in the superiority of the OS, the prettiness of the hardware or just the fact that they've been convinced that they're cooler because they purchased a product from a particular brand, then they've gotten something *they* perceive as value in exchange for their money. That their metric used to evaluate value differs from your own does not make anyone a lemming-without-intellect.

I own and still use from time to time a (2006) Macbook Pro (which still runs like it was made yesterday) that runs Final Cut and Logic Pro (not available at all on Windows or Linux). My wife wants to never, ever have to concern herself with anything remotely technical pertaining her system and she likes pretty, pretty Macs a whole bunch. We both use Arch Linux primarily on generic commodity hardware; but both of us see real value in Apple products as pieces of equipment used for productive purposes.

 

[Mystic]

I used Apple Computers for a long time and I certainly agree that they are expensive. But they are not merely fancy cases on Windows computers. They use a different operating system and Apple has a lot of their own software, although they have also used open source software that they then put their own finish on. If they were merely fancy cases on Windows computers I would not take a second glance at an Apple Computer.

We know that about ten bucks worth of parts can be used to run Mac OS X legally (or illegally) on a Windows computer.

The real question a person needs to be asking is if that different operating system makes an Apple Computer a worthwhile buy. The fancy case sooner or later is just junk.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: Mystic
I used Apple Computers for a long time and I certainly agree that they are expensive. But they are not merely fancy cases on Windows computers.


As you well know, I'm not a huge Apple fan, but I detest Windows, too. One can grumble about the price of an Apple compared to the price of a PC. One should also not forget the added cost of having Windows preloaded on the darn PC, too.

And, yeah, the fancy case argument versus time is dead on. A brand new Mercedes S class is going to be serviceable and very useful ten years down the road. A computer might still be in serviceable condition ten years down the road (heck, my 1989 Amiga still works), but that doesn't mean you'll want to be using it.

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: Mystic
We know that about ten bucks worth of parts can be used to run Mac OS X legally (or illegally) on a Windows computer.


Mystic -

I am very certain that one no longer need that silly little USB dongle (that I believe you're referring to) to get a "Hackintosh". I think now that as long as you have the correct hardware (*Never* a given; MacOS only has proper drivers for specific hardware) and a computer that boots in the proper way that installing a Hackintosh is now a matter exclusively of software.

I am also of the opinion that doing so is less "illegal" and more "contrary to the MacOS end user license agreement". I understand the in the States running afoul of a corporation and breaking the law are darn-near synonymous but I don't think that anyone is going to go after a private user using a Hackintosh.

 

[PandaBear]

Not saying Apple is not expensive or anything less is junk. I use both Apple's computer at work and build my own PC with Windows at home, and I come to the conclusion that it is expensive but it cost a lot more to make than a lower priced PC.

You can say Packard Bell and eMachine are the same as Lenovo, Dell, HP's business class computer / laptop and those business class computers are overpriced (or Packard Bell and eMachien are junk). You can also say SCSI/SAS are overpriced and everyone should just use the $60 hard drives from Bestbuy. But that doesn't mean it cost the same to make or can sustain the same environment or duty cycle.

It cost a lot of money to layout a PCB that is awkward in shape and place components in a thermal efficient way, and a lot of labor to assemble these awkward PCB and components. It is also expensive to tune a driver and OS for power management, and lathe a block of metal to make a shell so it can dissipate heat faster.

Is it worth the extra? You be the judge, but there are always choices if you don't like it. Just like I personally believe V6 sedans and any SUVs are a waste of resource, but that doesn't means V6 sedans and SUVs are overpriced.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: antiqueshell
The Apple Macbook case MAY be made of metal, but you can be sure that the internal components like the HDD, Memory, motherboard, ect are the exact same Chinese junk that goes into ANY typical OEM PC product from Acer, Dell, HP, ect.
Of course for quite a bit less you can buy a OEM business class laptop with a metal case and MUCH better performance hardware for MUCH less cost too.

Is America so dull that it has forgotten the old true saying that, "you can't judge a book by its cover".

I'm not saying people shouldn't buy an Apple product but they should have the minimal intellect to think and look into what is inside what they are buying. But it is true that many folks are lemmings that abide by "monkey see monkey doo" formula.

It's makes me laugh when I see CNBC talking heads gushing over anything Apple. LOL You got to wonder if Apple pays them off.


I would agree that some aspects, like the specific processor cores, etc. may all be the same.

But do you deny that there are different grades of capacitors, memory, etc. that are available on the open market?

Funny how the lifecycle and MTBF of my PC stuff is far poorer than that "same" stuff from Apple. The only stuff that has similar MTBF is the basic components such as the processor cores. Stuff like HDDs, power supplies, etc., fails miserably.

 

[DuckRyder]

We recently bought a Macbook Pro (But not one of the ones with the retina display) I could not find any Laptop PC with a quad core i7 at any price and anything of similar build quality with an i7 was similarly priced, so I don't buy the "overpriced" argument.

Also you guys do realize the new Macbook Pros with Retina have SSD's and the minimum processor is an i7 quad core @ 2.3ghz?

 

[SwampSurvivor]

"Retina" is just a fancy term for a high end display that you can get in most laptops.

Core i7 and SSD are not a rarity for laptops.

My next laptop is going to run Linux as the primary OS and have a windows VM for netflix. That should do 100% of what I need and still at a fraction of a cost.

 

[rg200amp]

Originally Posted By: Miller88
"Retina" is just a fancy term for a high end display that you can get in most laptops.

Core i7 and SSD are not a rarity for laptops.

My next laptop is going to run Linux as the primary OS and have a windows VM for netflix. That should do 100% of what I need and still at a fraction of a cost.


The retina display is not just some fancy term for high end displays. It is a VERY high resolution screen.

No screen on laptops today can compare to the resolution of the Retina on the MacBook.

And:
Core i7s and SSDs are a rarity in laptops.

There not a rarity in high end laptops like the MacBook pro or other pro laptops, but in general terms, the majority of laptops sold today are not equipped with that kind of hardware.