Are Mac's worth the price premium?

[Ysarex]

The most irritating difference between them all is Apple's stubborn refusal to ship a two button mouse

The magic mouse has left and right click along with many gestures that I've found pretty useful.

Look at that -- I've fallen behind. Does that thing actually click or do you have to tap it like a touch pad?

Joe

 

[Majeed Badizadegan]

Yes, Macs are worth the premium over Windows machines. Just as Coca~Cola is worth the price premium over Shasta cola. The same way a Mercedes is worth the price premium over a Kia. The same way wild, troll-caught Pacific salmon from Oregon or Washington or California is worth the price premium over pond-reared, Mexican tilapia. The same way gourmet coffee beans are worth the price premium over Folger's crystals. Macs last a long time, and work reliably without much effort. Macintosh hardware and the software is made by the same company, so it actually works. Hey, if you drive a Kia....fine. If you want to eat tilapia, fine. If you like Folger's crystal's instant coffee, well, God will take pity on you some day.

For photography work, the Mac's system of allowing the user to color-code files and folders is a Godsend. That makes it possible to search for files based not on name or date but on "qualities or characteristics" the files or folders or discs possess. Would you like to find folders that have already been backed up and moved to another hard drive? If you have color-coded them on your Mac, you can find those folders in seconds. Want to find ALL OF YOUR BEST IMAGES, across a terrabyte of storage, no matter where they are? ON your Mac, if you have labeled the best photos, you can do a search based on the color code, and find those files, and have them displayed in a finder window in a very short time-without the need to know the names or locations of any of the images.

Well, this is a little over the top. Saying a desktop PC is Tilapia where a Mac is Salmon probably sounds nice to all the Mac users, but it's just colorful smoke.

Macs have always catered to the creative crowd:

• Musicians, artists, photographers, filmmakers etc. enjoy the software catered to them built into the OS.
• Mac hardware & software are built/shipped together.
• Macs do have nice screens and a pleasing aesthetic appearance inside and out.

But that's it, those are the main bullet points that differentiate a PC from a Mac and I'll spend a few moments debunking each:

At what cost are these "extras" reasonable? This thread begs the question, is it worth the extra cost? In my experience (selling Mac computers for over a year) and being a Windows user since before time, I'd say no.

To me, the answer is no.

Most of the creative software that comes in the Mac OS I would never use. If I was really serious about music, film making, photography, or art I'd purchase professional programs regardless of which OS I use. I wouldn't use iMovie or iPhoto or Garage Band if I made my living from said profession. So the creative software doesn't do much for me.

Hardware and software being built together is a nice thing, but, it's somewhat of an illusion. Apple has done this forever for two reasons.
1. What they want the public to think is they do this for quality control.
At the Apple store I worked in, we had an Apple service center. If you've ever been into an Apple store, you've inevitably seen the long lines at these service desks. All kinds of problems. Problems with the software, problems with the hardware. Remember, this is the same company that requires you to ship off your iPod if the battery goes bad. If you have seen the enormous amount of hardware and technical issues that I've seen, you wouldn't put much stock into the fact that just because software and hardware are built together makes them unquestionably superior to their PC counterparts.

2. The real reason Apple builds their own computers? The same reason they build iPads and iPhones and don't contract out the work. Their bottom line. The all important dollar. It's easy to open up shop overseas, pay pittance to workers and force work in unreasonable conditions (see Foxconn Suicides 1 Million Workers. 90 Million iPhones. 17 Suicides. Who's to Blame? | Wired Magazine | Wired.com). If Apple didn't control the production, they wouldn't control price.

So what about aesthetics? The companies obsession with making everything slimmer and sexier (see Macbook Air). My PC sits under my desk. I don't care what it looks like. All I care about is what is under the hood.

Have you ever used an Apple Mighty/magic mouse? It's atrocious. After a year of use I was sure it had given me Carpal tunnel. Where's my second button and why does Apple feel like the mouse being pretty supersedes its functionality and ergonomics? Priorities wrong, there.

So how about a head to head comparison to wrap this up. Below are my computer specs (I purchased this unit 2 years ago and unusually, it has maintained its price on Amazon for a little over $1,000):

MS Windows 7 home premium 64 bit
Intel Core i7 CPU 860 @ 2.8 GHZ (hyperthreaded to 8 cores)
8.0 GB Ram
ATI 5770
1TB 7200 RPM

Price: Approx $1,100

Today, let's head over to the Apple website and let's configure a comparable Mac Pro:
2.8 GHZ Quad core Intel Xeon
8GB RAM
1 TB 7200 RPM
ATI 5770

Price: $2,874

Ouch.

The bottom line is anyone can stretch their dollar further by going the PC route. If you want to pay the premium to have a few bells and whistles, if it's worth it to you, then go for it.

But if I wanted to burn money, then I'd just get a lighter.

 

[Josh66]

Macintosh hardware and the software is made by the same company, so it actually works.

What hardware, found inside a Mac, is actually made by Apple?

My guess is none of it.

 

[o hey tyler]

Wow, a lot of MS Koolaid drinkers in here.

Is a Mac worth the extra price? Is a BMW worth more than a Yugo?

Is your opinion more valuable than anyone elses?

Nope.

 

[Ysarex]

The most irritating difference between them all is Apple's stubborn refusal to ship a two button mouse

The magic mouse has left and right click along with many gestures that I've found pretty useful.

Look at that -- I've fallen behind. Does that thing actually click or do you have to tap it like a touch pad?

Joe

Wow! I just answered my own question and did some research. Some people love it and a lot of people really hate it and Gizmodo nailed it in the review by listing it's most important feature: It looks goooood! So the biggest complaint I found was you have to raise your left finger to get the right finger click to work reliably -- finger calisthenics! And now a blast from the past:

 

[Ysarex]

Macintosh hardware and the software is made by the same company, so it actually works.

What hardware, found inside a Mac, is actually made by Apple?

My guess is none of it.

Right, but it's all designed by Apple in Cuppertino CA -- says so on the box right above made in China.

 

[NedZ]

I personally love Macs but I dont think you should switch if you are comfortable w/ PC

 

[o hey tyler]

Well, that looks mildly uncomfortable.

 

[Vipor]

 

[mjhoward]

The most irritating difference between them all is Apple's stubborn refusal to ship a two button mouse

The magic mouse has left and right click along with many gestures that I've found pretty useful.

Look at that -- I've fallen behind. Does that thing actually click or do you have to tap it like a touch pad?

Joe

It clicks. But it shares some of the gestures of the touchpad too.

 

[usayit]

....is OS X and Macs really worth the price premium?

There's an important point that often get's overlooked when the operating systems are compared. First, because this is always a "MAC zealots versus the world" battle the MAC zealots will always insists that the opposite choice is Windows. They may or may not then note that the MAC is running UNIX.

It is of course very easy to run UNIX, LINUX, BSD, etc. on tha non-MAC computer. Another post here noted that a MAC can run various UNIX incarnations -- yep, so can any other non-MAC computer. I have a couple LINUX systems at home and they're not MACs - duh.

The MAC OS-X is a lie and MAC users should know this. What Apple sells as it's OS-X is a classic, subtle Apple lie in the very name itself -- an indication of Apple's overall character which should not be discounted. It is in fact not an OS or operating system. The operating system on contemporary MACs is BSD. That's FREE BSD which you can download now and run on any generic computer: The FreeBSD Project What Apple sells is a shell over the OS. They can't sell the OS because the copyright holders (University of CA at Berkeley) won't let them. That's why you can still boot your MAC right now with the correct key combination held down and read the legal copyright notice from UCB that legally has to be there. FREE BSD IS the MAC's OS. The MAC OS isn't "based" on UNIX it is in fact BSD which is a UNIX clone created at UCB and still owned by UCB. The "cat" is just a shell like Ubuntu or Debian etc. is a shell over LINUX. Apple's shell is nice and easy to use and well designed -- they get credit for that. But let's not forget that Apple's last attempt to create a real computer OS was the abomination OS9 that made Windows XP look spectacular. Heck, back in the day I wrote shells over OSs; compared to writing an actual OS it's like grade school math compared to calculus.

Is the MAC OS-X worth the premium? Not really since UCB gives it away. Is the MAC shell over BSD worth the premium? You betcha!

Joe

God.. this is so wrong. I don't even know where to begin. You've taken one tiny bit of understanding and drafted a huge generalization with claims of knowing the whole story!

Yes.. MAC OS X has roots in freeBSD but to claim that it is a bastardized version of freeBSD with a premium price is way overboard. This is like saying that all variants of UNIX are bastardized versions of Berkley or SVR4. Why stop there? We might as well say that they are all bastards of the original Time Sharing System. We can then claim that Redhat and SuSE are simply sitting on their hands and rebranding Minix from Tanenbaum deserves 100% of the credit for their success. By doing so you completely degrade the importance of years of hard work by a whole community of very intelligent individuals.

I worked with one of the Kernel development groups that splintered off after the initial demise of Bell Labs, NJ. I was a student engineer at the time and it was a HUGE honor to have worked within that group. These are some of the brightest pioneers in Computer SCIENCES.... Not Information Technology.. Not Computers in Business... but scientists that researched complexities well before the universities even conceived the notion of a computer sciences degree.

There's a lot in your response that indicates a limitation of understanding or misunderstanding. Shell (/bin/bash to be more specifc) was not written by Apple. "Cat" or "/bin/cat" is a unix command not a shell.

you sir are flat out wrong.


PS> OS9 did suck...

Do you want to know where a lot of what makes MAC OS X a good OS comes from???? Its not FreeBSD Here are three hints

1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NeXT
2) Steve Jobs returns to Apple
3) Steve Jobs buys his old company NeXT

 

[Ysarex]

Yep, that's the only place this can go. I'll stop before it get's worse.

 

[Redeyejedi]

Yep, that's the only place this can go. I'll stop before it get's worse.

at least there's definitely kernels there

 

[2WheelPhoto]

Even though I'm a reformed Mac hater, this thread is so Ford vs. Chevy

 

[bhop]

but then again you CAN buy a Microsoft two button mouse to use on your MAC.

Wow.. you just lost all credibility. Macs have had two button mice shipped with them for years.

That's the old stand-by argument that mac haters always seem to fall back on, which only shows they haven't even used a mac in the last 10 years or so..

This argument is turning into the usual.. the fact is, some people like macs, some people hate macs. Some people like windows, some people hate windows. Then there are some people that hate both mac and windows and like other things. This old argument is like roaches, it'll probably live on even after the nukes start flying.