SiliconAddict said:
And before people start crapping on such a device keep in mind that there are MANY Windows users who aren't looking for a fast GPU. Aren't looking to be able to run the latest and grestest games. If the average user can get a Mac for cheap to replace their ageing Windows 9x desktop so much the better for Apple. I know some are going to see such an idea as stupid but frankly if you want to see MS go down this is the only way.
YES! That's just it! I have an ageing PIII 450MHz w/ 64MB of RAM, 10GB HD, Riva 128 ZX and an amazingly crappy 48x cd-rom drive from Creative running Windows 2000 (
), and needless to say, it's slow as hell (not Dell, Hell!). It has to be put into "hibernation mode" because it takes too much time to turn on, and it can't even run Firefox decently, so my parents are going nuts with it. They just refuse to use the thing, and I can't blame them.
Meanwhile, my gleaming iMac G5 20'' (just like it's older brother which I sold, a 17'' iMac G4), has written "USE ME" all over it, it's just plain irresistible, and I wouldn't be so cruel to prevent my family from using it... Which means, they use it A LOT. Even my father, which hates any changes made to his habits (again, I can't blame him, since he's a Windows user, and M$ seems to force people to adapt to every single stupid idea they come up with), can use any web browser in my Mac in a productive fashion! My mother gets a bit more confused, especially with the key combinations for characters like the "@", but since she doesn't use any other computer besides *my* Mac, she should get used to them eventually!
So, why couldn't we get another Mac to replace that POS? (unfortunately, I sold my old iMac to a friend of mine) Because Macs are f*cking expensive, that's the reason! I need a speedy Mac for doing graphics design stuff for my course, but my family would be fine with a low low level eMac. But... There's a psychological barrier here: that all-in-one philosophy sometimes just can't cut it! We have a nice 17'' CRT here, which isn't flat like the eMac's, but has a better resolution (1280x1024). My father would gladly sell that junk for $20 or even give it away, buy a new one, and keep the CRT, but we would end up with yet another PC, the first one in this home running XPee (my father's Toshiba laptop is running WinME
)... And guess who would have to either fix it, or bear with my parents' whining, they day it got infested with malware? ME!
In my personal case, being kind of a "Mac evangelist" results from a curious mixture of romantism and selfishness. Here's why:
It would be very cool if everyone enjoyed Apple's digital lifestyle philosophy. I've seen with my very eyes two friends of mine playing with my former iMac for hours, having the time of their lives using Garageband. They're "hooked", but in a healthy way, because that piece of software actually gave them some new ideas, and the tools to bring them to life at the same time...
On the other side I've seen *some* people having severe issues with Windows (and I said "some" because I know lots of people that still manage to keep their Wintel boxes very usable), and a lot who had some glitches. That, besides making me sad, can turn out to be a pain in the a**, especially when those people turn up to you asking for advice! I, of course, try to give my best answer, but since I haven't used a Wintel box on a daily basis since Dec.'03, that is becoming harder and harder each day!
In >90% of the times, my Mac-using friends ask me for USEFUL advice, like "do you know of an application to do this?", or "do you know how to do this with application x?"; In >90% of the times, my Windows using friends ask me something like "Do you know how to fix this?", or "Do you know someone who can fix this?", or even worse, "Can you fix this?"
And then there's the old "There's no software for the Mac" issue, which some claim is non-existent; DAMN IT, there isn't ENOUGH software for the Mac!!! I want some games, do you hear me?? (I know that some cool ones are available, but I have trouble finding them and... must... try... HL2...
) I'd like to see my fellow architecture and industrial design colleagues being able to run AutoCAD on a Mac, otherwise they'll have to stick with PCs! I'd like to live in peace without thinking whether this or that software title will suddenly disappear from the Mac platform!
The only thing that should keep Apple from solving this problem once and for all could be some vicious technical problem, like with IBM G5 yields and such, not because of some other stubbornness from Steve! So, I'd LOVE to see Apple introducing a Flash iPod, a multi-button scroll-enabled state-of-the-art mouse, and a PIZZABOX MAC, because even if I'm not in the market for either an iPod or a Mac, those would eventually make a difference! G5 Powerbooks would be cool (or maybe hot
), but for those to appear, Apple has to tackle some technical challenges. As for the first three items, no such problems exist, so they could have been real for quite some years now. Maybe it only makes sense to introduce them right now with the huge success of the iPod; anyway,
BRING THEM ON!!!
PS- I just hope to heck you can upgrade the RAM....256MB
Yes, I hope so too. And I also think that Apple should revamp their whole line after they introduce this "thing": they should offer the FX 5200 Ultra only with this low-end Mac and maybe the low-end eMac and those specially configured iMacs without the optical drive, and they should offer at least 512MB of RAM across their line, with the same exceptions. That would shut the last "Macs are underpowered" whining from the press for a while and would surely make a lot of people happy...
