...but is CHEAPER in reality.
People say, we are a Sect, with Saint Steve as our leader. We pay way to much for what we get. Apple belongs to Scientology, we‘re all brainwashed anyways and don‘t mind dying for our fix of iProducts - or would do even worse things.
However those people are ignorant anyways, but no one really felt to clear their ignorance and gave them an analyzation why.
The Hardware
The build quality is insane. Most G3s are still running regardless of their age, most of them without any chattering or outstanding noise. Modern Macs with their aluminum unibody enclosures are not comparable to the plastic bags most PC laptop makes wrap their logic board into. There is no color which can chip off, making the machine look nasty and worn out. The keyboards, both standalone and the ones integrated into MacBooks, are outstanding and a pleasure to type on. This is however depending on personal preference, some might not like the flat keys of the aluminum keyboards, but the previous generation standalone keyboards are still way better than most PC keyboards. I own both, and I like both, however I prefer the clicky-clacky sound of the acrylic keyboard when typing, but it‘s more comfortable to type with the flat keys of the aluminum keyboard. The Magic Mouse is ahead of it‘s time, there is no PC mouse with such advanced multitouch functions. The old Mighty Mouse however has it‘s disadvantages when it comes to the scroll ball, which is much nicer then the scroll wheel of PC mouses - as long as it works properly. As soon as it got cleaned however, it continues working like a charm.
The MacBooks come with a magnetic lock, so there is no mechanics to keep both halves together which can wear our or break. Laptop PCs often break the pin inside the coaxial power connector, the Mac has a system called MagSafe, you can rip it out like a monkey and won't brake it, because it's connected magnetically.
In short, they are the most sophisticated computers out there, at least in terms of details to make it easier working with them.
Then it comes to the raw facts. MacBookPros have the fastest processors in there. The i5 and i7 are the fastest ones with a TDP of 35W, anything other would be to hot to fit in there. The MacBook and it‘s 2,4GHz Core2Duo is not, one may wonder why they don‘t put a i3 in there. This is due it‘s smaller form factor, it‘s not capable of accommodating a discrete graphics cards - like all the other 13“ notebooks. Intel has a license agreement with nVidia that allows them to develop chipsets for Intel CPUs. However they claim that this don‘t cover the Core-i family of CPUs, which left Apple to decide between a i3 CPU and Intel‘s integrated graphics, or carry on with the Core2Duo and use the much more powerful, for Apple exclusively developed 320m chipset. Apple went the Core2Duo way, until other possibilities are given. The same goes for the MacBookAir, there would be a 18W i7 CPU available.
The Software
Mac OS X is the most advanced operating system out there - pretty hard to doubt that. I could explain that in a septillion ways, but people don‘t care for that anyways. So I have that for you:
iTunes - FREE
The whole world of music - under your cursor. The biggest music store out there, the best way to organize it. It‘s a tie here, because you can download that for Windows, too.
iLife - FREE with every Mac
Mac users know why they love iLife. No fooling around with folders full of photos, you can make really good looking videos, compose DVDs, and even semi-professionally record music. It‘s just there, and so easy to use that virtually everyone can use it.
iPhoto? -> Picasa2 for free
iMovie? -> Windows Live Movie Maker? Not even close. Corel Video Studio Express, $39.
iDVD? -> Nero Media Suite, $70.
iWeb? -> Microsoft Expression Web, $150. Let‘s be generous on this one, Google Page Creator, $0.
GarageBand? -> At least Mixcraft 5, $75
Adds up a total of $185 to replace iLife, which came with your Mac for free. Remember that we were very generous here, most of them can‘t really replace the equivalent from iLife. If you‘re a Linux user, you‘d have here Picasa2, dvdauthor+growisofs, nvu and Audacity for $0, but they are hilarious compared to iLife.
You want to do backups? Well, a Mac comes with Time Machine. Want to have that on Windows? Genie Timeline Professional, $60.
When it comes to software development on Windows, you‘re pretty much screwed. Visual Studio comes in 3 flavors: Professional, Premium and Ultimate. Cost? $750, $5500 and $12000. There is VS Express for free, but it isn‘t really meant as a serious development environment, it‘s rather a version to test things out.
On the Mac there‘s Xcode, for free, which does all the things that Visual Studio Ultimate does. Also you don‘t have to renew your MSDN membership yearly for thousands of dollars, there is one Mac Membership program for $100, which lets you gain access to the pre-releases of Mac OS X to develop software for it prior it‘s release, and an iPhone Developer Membership program that let‘s you put your Application on the App Store.
So costs saved for software developers: At least $750.
This makes „Coding Woz“, a software developer, who occasionally uses iLife actually get his MacBook for free plus $60 on his hand to go to the movies, compared to a Windows machine.
Leaves us with „Average Steve“, a fictiv Mac owner who‘s MacBook costs $755 at the moment. A year goes on, Microsoft delivers minor updates, major bug fixes and calls it Windows 8 to rip-off people. „Average Bill“ has to score an update for his Home Premium for $100. With Windows Ultimate however he‘s screwed again, $250. „Average Steve“ however hits the Update-Button a couple of times until 10.x.6 or so, then get‘s the update to 10.x+1 for $29.
„Average Steve“'s MacBook? $685.
Let‘s see what NewEgg offers us for that.
MSI CR620-031US Intel Core i5 430M(2.26GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory 500GB HDD Intel HD, $684.99.
Thank you there, but with the Intel graphics, I‘ll take the MacBook, even if it's screen is smaller. The CPU toggles between 2.26-2.53GHz, so it's just a touch faster then the Macbooks, but this is more due to the new architecture.
People say, we are a Sect, with Saint Steve as our leader. We pay way to much for what we get. Apple belongs to Scientology, we‘re all brainwashed anyways and don‘t mind dying for our fix of iProducts - or would do even worse things.
However those people are ignorant anyways, but no one really felt to clear their ignorance and gave them an analyzation why.
The Hardware
The build quality is insane. Most G3s are still running regardless of their age, most of them without any chattering or outstanding noise. Modern Macs with their aluminum unibody enclosures are not comparable to the plastic bags most PC laptop makes wrap their logic board into. There is no color which can chip off, making the machine look nasty and worn out. The keyboards, both standalone and the ones integrated into MacBooks, are outstanding and a pleasure to type on. This is however depending on personal preference, some might not like the flat keys of the aluminum keyboards, but the previous generation standalone keyboards are still way better than most PC keyboards. I own both, and I like both, however I prefer the clicky-clacky sound of the acrylic keyboard when typing, but it‘s more comfortable to type with the flat keys of the aluminum keyboard. The Magic Mouse is ahead of it‘s time, there is no PC mouse with such advanced multitouch functions. The old Mighty Mouse however has it‘s disadvantages when it comes to the scroll ball, which is much nicer then the scroll wheel of PC mouses - as long as it works properly. As soon as it got cleaned however, it continues working like a charm.
The MacBooks come with a magnetic lock, so there is no mechanics to keep both halves together which can wear our or break. Laptop PCs often break the pin inside the coaxial power connector, the Mac has a system called MagSafe, you can rip it out like a monkey and won't brake it, because it's connected magnetically.
In short, they are the most sophisticated computers out there, at least in terms of details to make it easier working with them.
Then it comes to the raw facts. MacBookPros have the fastest processors in there. The i5 and i7 are the fastest ones with a TDP of 35W, anything other would be to hot to fit in there. The MacBook and it‘s 2,4GHz Core2Duo is not, one may wonder why they don‘t put a i3 in there. This is due it‘s smaller form factor, it‘s not capable of accommodating a discrete graphics cards - like all the other 13“ notebooks. Intel has a license agreement with nVidia that allows them to develop chipsets for Intel CPUs. However they claim that this don‘t cover the Core-i family of CPUs, which left Apple to decide between a i3 CPU and Intel‘s integrated graphics, or carry on with the Core2Duo and use the much more powerful, for Apple exclusively developed 320m chipset. Apple went the Core2Duo way, until other possibilities are given. The same goes for the MacBookAir, there would be a 18W i7 CPU available.
The Software
Mac OS X is the most advanced operating system out there - pretty hard to doubt that. I could explain that in a septillion ways, but people don‘t care for that anyways. So I have that for you:
iTunes - FREE
The whole world of music - under your cursor. The biggest music store out there, the best way to organize it. It‘s a tie here, because you can download that for Windows, too.
iLife - FREE with every Mac
Mac users know why they love iLife. No fooling around with folders full of photos, you can make really good looking videos, compose DVDs, and even semi-professionally record music. It‘s just there, and so easy to use that virtually everyone can use it.
iPhoto? -> Picasa2 for free
iMovie? -> Windows Live Movie Maker? Not even close. Corel Video Studio Express, $39.
iDVD? -> Nero Media Suite, $70.
iWeb? -> Microsoft Expression Web, $150. Let‘s be generous on this one, Google Page Creator, $0.
GarageBand? -> At least Mixcraft 5, $75
Adds up a total of $185 to replace iLife, which came with your Mac for free. Remember that we were very generous here, most of them can‘t really replace the equivalent from iLife. If you‘re a Linux user, you‘d have here Picasa2, dvdauthor+growisofs, nvu and Audacity for $0, but they are hilarious compared to iLife.
You want to do backups? Well, a Mac comes with Time Machine. Want to have that on Windows? Genie Timeline Professional, $60.
When it comes to software development on Windows, you‘re pretty much screwed. Visual Studio comes in 3 flavors: Professional, Premium and Ultimate. Cost? $750, $5500 and $12000. There is VS Express for free, but it isn‘t really meant as a serious development environment, it‘s rather a version to test things out.
On the Mac there‘s Xcode, for free, which does all the things that Visual Studio Ultimate does. Also you don‘t have to renew your MSDN membership yearly for thousands of dollars, there is one Mac Membership program for $100, which lets you gain access to the pre-releases of Mac OS X to develop software for it prior it‘s release, and an iPhone Developer Membership program that let‘s you put your Application on the App Store.
So costs saved for software developers: At least $750.
This makes „Coding Woz“, a software developer, who occasionally uses iLife actually get his MacBook for free plus $60 on his hand to go to the movies, compared to a Windows machine.
Leaves us with „Average Steve“, a fictiv Mac owner who‘s MacBook costs $755 at the moment. A year goes on, Microsoft delivers minor updates, major bug fixes and calls it Windows 8 to rip-off people. „Average Bill“ has to score an update for his Home Premium for $100. With Windows Ultimate however he‘s screwed again, $250. „Average Steve“ however hits the Update-Button a couple of times until 10.x.6 or so, then get‘s the update to 10.x+1 for $29.
„Average Steve“'s MacBook? $685.
Let‘s see what NewEgg offers us for that.
MSI CR620-031US Intel Core i5 430M(2.26GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory 500GB HDD Intel HD, $684.99.
Thank you there, but with the Intel graphics, I‘ll take the MacBook, even if it's screen is smaller. The CPU toggles between 2.26-2.53GHz, so it's just a touch faster then the Macbooks, but this is more due to the new architecture.