Are Mac's worth the price premium?

[sovietdoc]

MAC vs PC debate is always endless but I can say this:

PCs offer better price/performance ratio
Macs offer better build quality (on average) and aesthetics

It's your choice what to pay for.

 

[Josh220]

On the consumer level (i.e., Best Buy, and other chain stores) PC's don't stand a chance.

If you are going to build your own, you can probably build something faster and more powerful for the same price. However, IMO, it will still never have the aesthetic quality, build quality, or the overall ease of use of a Mac. This is also subject to whether or not you are actually capable of building something better, or paying someone to build it for you, in which case you may not be able to for the same price.

IMO there are three categories of computers: Mac's, PC's, and custom built PC's.

There will always be die-hard PC users, but look at the production/sales curves of Apple products and it's very clear who is on the true upward path, regardless of biases and denial. Ask again in 5 years and you'll hear a very different chorus. This is also a comparison of a single company, with one solid product line vs. a plethora of companies making thousands of models. Who is really more fine-tuned and advanced in this perspective?

Get whatever feels, looks, and works best for YOU. Don't let anyone else dictate your equipment.

 

[Majeed Badizadegan]

On the consumer level (i.e., Best Buy, and other chain stores) PC's don't stand a chance.

If you are going to build your own, you can probably build something faster and more powerful for the same price. However, IMO, it will still never have the aesthetic quality, build quality, or the overall ease of use of a Mac. This is also subject to whether or not you are actually capable of building something better, or paying someone to build it for you, in which case you may not be able to for the same price.

The example I provided in my previous post was not custom built. It was purchased from Amazon. And in every aspect it outclasses (and IMO looks nicer) than the almost spec-identical Mac Pro which is priced at $1700.00 higher. So in my case, you are wrong on all counts.

Ease of use is subjective and I've found Macs less easy to use than my PC's.

 

[mjhoward]

On the consumer level (i.e., Best Buy, and other chain stores) PC's don't stand a chance.

If you are going to build your own, you can probably build something faster and more powerful for the same price. However, IMO, it will still never have the aesthetic quality, build quality, or the overall ease of use of a Mac. This is also subject to whether or not you are actually capable of building something better, or paying someone to build it for you, in which case you may not be able to for the same price.

The example I provided in my previous post was not custom built. It was purchased from Amazon. And in every aspect it outclasses (and IMO looks nicer) than the almost spec-identical Mac Pro which is priced at $1700.00 higher. So in my case, you are wrong on all counts.

Ease of use is subjective and I've found Macs less easy to use than my PC's.

My work computer is a PC I built that is about as decked out as you can get. The tower alone was $600 with the processor being $1300 and SDD @ $700. I still get more joy out of using my Mac.

 

[Josh220]

On the consumer level (i.e., Best Buy, and other chain stores) PC's don't stand a chance.

If you are going to build your own, you can probably build something faster and more powerful for the same price. However, IMO, it will still never have the aesthetic quality, build quality, or the overall ease of use of a Mac. This is also subject to whether or not you are actually capable of building something better, or paying someone to build it for you, in which case you may not be able to for the same price.

The example I provided in my previous post was not custom built. It was purchased from Amazon. And in every aspect it outclasses (and IMO looks nicer) than the almost spec-identical Mac Pro which is priced at $1700.00 higher. So in my case, you are wrong on all counts.

Ease of use is subjective and I've found Macs less easy to use than my PC's.

And they're even nice enough to pre-load all sorts of free goodies on there for you!

Like you said, it's all subjective. I personally think that notebook looks horrific and I have never owned a PC that came anywhere near the performance of any of my Mac's (desktops or notebooks) regardless of price or how they looked on paper. What good are better stats on paper if they are bogged down with thousands of programs, free trials, etc installed on them? What about viruses? Better keep up those daily and hourly updates on Norton!

If you want something that requires constant maintenance, grab a PC. If you want something that simply works and does what it's supposed to do, get a Mac.

And yes, this is strictly opinion.

 

[Fox_Racing_Guy]

I don't fit any of these descriptions so it was a easy choice.

 

[Josh220]

I don't fit any of these descriptions so it was a easy choice.

Damn fart-huffers...

 

[Josh66]

LOL

 

[Josh66]

Top result for "Linux is for" was hipsters, lol. Closely followed by nerds.

 

[jamesbjenkins]

It's nothing to do with the hardware, specs or aesthetics. It's about the user experience. Even with all of the improvements over the last few generations of Windows, they're still not even in the ballpark of Mac in the UI department.

Between the dashboard, mission control, exposé and launchpad (assuming you're running Lion, the current Mac OS), the Apple user experience is significantly more streamlined than anything Windows can offer right now. The increased productivity that provides me is most certainly worth a few hundred dollars over the lifespan of the device.

 

[Josh220]

It's nothing to do with the hardware, specs or aesthetics. It's about the user experience. Even with all of the improvements over the last few generations of Windows, they're still not even in the ballpark of Mac in the UI department.

Between the dashboard, mission control, exposé and launchpad (assuming you're running Lion, the current Mac OS), the Apple user experience is significantly more streamlined than anything Windows can offer right now. The increased productivity that provides me is most certainly worth a few hundred dollars over the lifespan of the device.

X2

You would pay more than that for virus protection and on Aspirin for all of your headaches, IMO.

 

[Natalie]

Between the dashboard, mission control, exposé and launchpad (assuming you're running Lion, the current Mac OS), the Apple user experience is significantly more streamlined than anything Windows can offer right now. The increased productivity that provides me is most certainly worth a few hundred dollars over the lifespan of the device.

I have lots of friends who use Macs, and when I try to use their computers, all those things you mentioned just make using the computer difficult and frustrating, especially when I'm in a hurry. It seems like all the time I hit the wrong button or click in the wrong place and some app comes up that I don't need and didn't even know was there. When I try to minimize the web browser, instead of going to the bottom of the screen it just disappears (I still haven't figured out where it goes or how to get it back, so I have to open up a new window). There was also something at the bottom (from what I remember, maybe it was just the older OS) that slides around/moves when you just put your mouse over it, which is thoroughly annoying. It might be streamlined for someone who's used to all that stuff going on, but it's definitely not intuitive.

With my laptop running Windows 7, everything is efficient and easily accessible... The only applications I have open are the ones I'm using at the time. It doesn't get any easier than this:

 

[Josh220]

When you minimize a window it just goes to your dock...

Even if you could not find the dock, when you try to open a new window (Safari for example) it will automatically re-open the minimized window... But since Safari is most likely located on the dock, you can probably find the minimized window as well. If not, then your friend has poorly reconfigured the layout of his computer.

The buttons that open apps, dashboard, launchpad, etc are located on the F buttons at the top. Those are still present on PC's, thus would not solve the problem. Stop clicking the F buttons if it's an issue

 

[Josh220]

P.S. Alt + F4 works wonders.

 

[Natalie]

When you minimize a window it just goes to your dock...

Even if you could not find the dock, when you try to open a new window (Safari for example) it will automatically re-open the minimized window... But since Safari is most likely located on the dock, you can probably find the minimized window as well. If not, then your friend has poorly reconfigured the layout of his computer.

The buttons that open apps, dashboard, launchpad, etc are located on the F buttons at the top. Those are still present on PC's, thus would not solve the problem. Stop clicking the F buttons if it's an issue

It wasn't the F buttons. There was one button on the mouse, which had one main button and then a little ball that could be pressed in the middle, and the little ball is what caused all the trouble. It was impossible to scroll down without pressing it inadvertently, and when that happened all the windows would disappear and some useless app would come up. There were also buttons on the side of the keyboard that did that kind of stuff too (it was a desktop computer with a full keyboard).

P.S. Alt + F4 works wonders.

Oh so that's how you have to close windows on a Mac? That works on a PC too, but we also have these little red buttons in the corners of windows that you can use to close windows you're done with. One more simple thing Apple refuses to do? LOL.