Apple Gaining Marketshare, Mindshare

[sososowhat]

Speakers != Video Cards

Because 99% of people outside of enthusiast community/forums for both Macs and PCs could care less about video cards. I'd be willing to wager most couldn't even tell you what one is. They only care about if they can see the email/webpages on their screen. That's it. Same reason why 99% of people listen to music on ******* speakers, because they don't care.

The analogy with speakers isn't a good one. People may not care about the quality of their speakers, but the sound going into the room is certainly worse with "*******" than quality speakers.

On the other hand, so far as I know there is absolutely no difference -- NONE -- between looking at a static webpage with GMA950 graphics or some hotshot graphics card. 90+% of people, at least those who don't play graphically intensive games on their Mac, will never even have the opportunity to notice a difference between a "decent" graphics card and what Apple provides: their experience would be exactly the same on either.

 

[overcast]

The analogy with speakers isn't a good one. People may not care about the quality of their speakers, but the sound going into the room is certainly worse with "*******" than quality speakers.

On the other hand, so far as I know there is absolutely no difference -- NONE -- between looking at a static webpage with GMA950 graphics or some hotshot graphics card. 90+% of people, at least those who don't play graphically intensive games on their Mac, will never even have the opportunity to notice a difference between a "decent" graphics card and what Apple provides: their experience would be exactly the same on either.

The point of the analogy is that most people just do not care about anything as long as they see/hear it. That's enough. Those in the minority that do will complain like always. I've been complaining for years that hd audio formats will never take off because the general public listens to music on BOSE alarm clock radio / cd players. Then there is the 75% of HDTV owners that believe they are watching HD content when in reality it's still SDTV.

 

[ifjake]

recently i've seen more comparisons of manufacturer's market share rather than the usual Mac vs. PC (PC meaning Windows) comparison. it seems to make more and more sense to look at this way, since more and more manufacturers are beginning to offer more than one OS option for their systems. even Apple does this, albeit indirectly, through BootCamp and practically endorsing various virtualization software. quite a curious turn of events.

 

[50548]

The analogy with speakers isn't a good one. People may not care about the quality of their speakers, but the sound going into the room is certainly worse with "*******" than quality speakers.

On the other hand, so far as I know there is absolutely no difference -- NONE -- between looking at a static webpage with GMA950 graphics or some hotshot graphics card. 90+% of people, at least those who don't play graphically intensive games on their Mac, will never even have the opportunity to notice a difference between a "decent" graphics card and what Apple provides: their experience would be exactly the same on either.

I couldn't have said it better...99% of the world DO NOT care about what GPU they have.

And even BareFeats shows that the Radeon bests the 7600 in 2 out of 6 games, and shows a worse performance of 5 INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT FPS when compared to the 7600, not to mention the fact that Radeon's drivers are much newer.

In other words, the world doesn't care about GPUs. And even I, one of the rabid posters on MR, don't have the damn time nor willingness to play more than 3 commercial "old" games on my iMac: Call of Duty, NWN and Hearts of Iron Doomsday.

 

[oxymoron2007]

So, this is just anecdotal evidence, but I thought it was pretty funny. I was at the mall and was able to compare the traffic at the Apple store to a Dell kiosk. The pictures are at my blog.

It's the same thing at any mall where there is an Apple Store...I remember when everyone used to crowd around the Dell kiosk (now most of them are closed). GO APPLE!

 

[ChrisA]

Do you know many people who don't play games on their pc? .

We have about 5,500 PCs here. Each is replaced every few years, so we buy more than 1,000 PCs per year. Many are high end. The one one my desk is an HP with specs to match a Mac Pro. Not one of those 5,500 PCs has a game installed on it.

Also when they say the PC game industry is 1/5th the size of the console market I think most of that 1/5th is going to the people who sell the games not to hardware companies. So even if Apple could capture 100% of the gammer market it still would not be all that much

 

[chr1s60]

I love to see Apple growing. It will still take many years, but now people can visually see the demand for Apple is going up. I look for Apple to eventually be the leader in laptops and for them to have a much larger share of desktops.

 

[netdog]

I love to see Apple growing. It will still take many years, but now people can visually see the demand for Apple is going up. I look for Apple to eventually be the leader in laptops and for them to have a much larger share of desktops.

Nothing takes many years anymore.

 

[offwidafairies]

Do you know many people who don't play games on their pc? I don't.

I think its really scary the number of people wasting their life on games. I think its even scarier that those people who spend 3 or more hours a day on games can actually afford to buy these high end computers. There are starving people in the world. In fact 80% of the world's population is living in poverty. We need to use our computing skills for good instead of evil, or for production instead of idle. But hey, that's just my 2cents.

 

[deejemon]

*

 

[WannaGoMac]

Because 99% of people outside of enthusiast community/forums for both Macs and PCs could care less about video cards. I'd be willing to wager most couldn't even tell you what one is. They only care about if they can see the email/webpages on their screen. That's it. Same reason why 99% of people listen to music on terrible speakers, because they don't care.

It's not that they don't care, it's that no one ever showed them what "good" sound is. I am sure someone at some point introduced you to better sounding audio equipment, and until then you had no idea what you were missing...

I think its really scary the number of people wasting their life on games. I think its even scarier that those people who spend 3 or more hours a day on games can actually afford to buy these high end computers. There are starving people in the world. In fact 80% of the world's population is living in poverty. We need to use our computing skills for good instead of evil, or for production instead of idle. But hey, that's just my 2cents.

I assume you don't watch TV, read books, go to the theater, or watch movies? Who are you to judge how people spend their lives. If this is what makes a person happy, who is anyone to judge....

 

[filmgirl]

I couldn't have said it better...99% of the world DO NOT care about what GPU they have.

And even BareFeats shows that the Radeon bests the 7600 in 2 out of 6 games, and shows a worse performance of 5 INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT FPS when compared to the 7600, not to mention the fact that Radeon's drivers are much newer.

In other words, the world doesn't care about GPUs. And even I, one of the rabid posters on MR, don't have the damn time nor willingness to play more than 3 commercial "old" games on my iMac: Call of Duty, NWN and Hearts of Iron Doomsday.

Absolutely! I tried to get hardcore geek about video cards and PC gaming several years back, but I just don't have the time, energy or interest. I love video games - but that's what I use consoles for (and ever since the X-Box the whole "console/PC gamer debate" has completely changed. Halo changed it) -- and really, I don't have time to play games that often anyway. Do I hate the GMA 950 in my MacBook, yes, yes I do - more in principle than in practice (it's ridiculous - every other notebook in the same class/pricepoint by Sony, Dell, Tohshiba, etc. has at least an X3100) - and I'l be honest, now that I know I can enable 224 while running XP in Boot Camp - I feel confident that the limit will either be raised in Leopard or that someone smarter than me will figure out a way to enable it anyway.

Plus, if you want to be real about it - the consumer who spend SERIOUS money on graphics cards -- and I'm not talking about a $300 or $4000 ATI or nVidia PCI-E card, I'm talking about $1000+ HDV cards from companies like Grass Valley (which now owns Canopous) and Matrox and AVID's hardware products -- most of those users who aren't on a turnkey are using a Mac Pro anyway.

But more on the actual topic - this is really great news for Apple, and I am not at all surprised. Macs are hardly uncommon at my university - but I've seen more of them on campus this year than any year in the past (and because I'm taking my sweet ass time, I've been around a while) - and I've talked to at least half a dozen people about my experience (they approached me and asked how I liked it - and I effused on how great the "switch" has been). I've already decided that my mom's next laptop will be a MacBook - she has no choice (I mean, she does - but she won't care, my mom is so computer illiterate - neither one of my parents can even burn CDs...it's ridiculous) -- and I really wish I could have talked my dad into going Mac instead of being conned (by the salesman) into spending over $2000 on a 17" Toshiba laptop that is both more computer than he needs and too difficult for him to operate. He wouldn't have listened - even if I installed Windows on it -- but I would have to Remote Desktop into his system far less often.

I don't know if Apple will reach 20% of all laptops sold in the next two years, their product line-up is just too small and updates are too infrequent (you have what, six base configurations? - three for each series? That's just not enough), but it seems like the impact of the Intel move/the wider knowledge that you can run Windows on a Mac now has really started to impact sales.

But with all these kudos -- it should be noted that just like the iPod, much of the success of the portable sales is directly attributable to one person, and his name is not Steve Jobs. It's Bill Gates. And I don't mean that in a sardonic, backhanded way - I mean that seriously. iPod only succeeded in such an unprecedented way because they made it Windows compatible - plain and simple. In the same token - whether they end up using BootCamp, Parallels or not - I would venture that a large percentage of new Mac buyers are buying a Mac in large part because they know they can. That takes away the one real sticking point that was holding back the line before - and unlike high price, which Sony can match or exceed (and like Apple, much of the price increase is because of the brand more than the actual value of the product - at least in hardware terms), software compatibility is the big thing that will keep the majority of computer users away from using any OS that is different from Windows.

 

[seashellz]

MTV's UREGE; MS's ZUNE: both already missing in action?

MTV unveiled its new "Urge," online digital music destination at the big Consumer Electronics Show last year, it had all the earmarks of a major initiative. Justin Timberlake joined Van Toffler on stage during Bill Gates' keynote to unveil the service which would ultimately be tied to the then-upcoming Zune media player from Microsoft

But flash forward to present-day, where Urge has done nothing to unseat Apple's iTunes, and the Zune, is, well, missing in action. So Viacom forges a deal with RealNetworks and its Rhapsody online digital subscription service instead, abandoing Microsoft, yet continuing what seems to be developing as a major digital initiative by the company.

And that's the much bigger story here.

First, some details on MTV and Rhapsody. S&P's Tuna Amobi says Viacom was "left with very little choice" as two "somewhat fringe players try to leverage their positions" to take on Apple. The music landscape continues to change, and with change comes opportunity, so who knows: Consumers might be looking for an alternative and a relationship like Real and Viacom brings a lot of cool entertainment bells and whistles to the party. And heaven only knows that Hollywood is certainly looking for online alternatives to the iPod/iTunes juggernaut.

Real's Rob Glaser doesn't care about juggernauts or formats or any of that. He just wants everyone using his media player and his software across any format and any device.

"Google's famous for search," Glaser tells me. "Microsoft is famous for its dysfunctional operating system. Apple obviously with great consumer devices, does a great job. But video and audio is the center of our company. It's what we started with 12 years ago when we first brought out RealAudio. So we see tons of opportunity to come out with great products and if we keep doing that, we'll get our share of the benefits."

So the deal makes perfect sense for Real and could be a nice arrangement. Yet, for Viacom, the stakes are much bigger, and a deal like this one far more important.

"It was rather of surprising for us that Urge didn't gain the kind of traction that we thought it would gain, given MTV's huge and very attractive demographic," says Amobi. But when Microsoft went in another direction with online entertainment, and reduced emphasis and resources on Zune, "this was really kind of a forced situation on (Viacom.)"

Today's news signals yet another major step into online entertainment for Viacom. The company got off to a bumpy start when it lost mspace.com to Fox, which ultimately led to then Viacom CEO Tom Freston losing his job. "Viacom seems like it's been somewhat dragging its feet in its overall digital strategy," says Amobi.

But now, Viacom can't seem to move fast enough, announcing just this week plans to spend $500 million over the next year snapping up even more video games makers, after spending about that much over the last year, with a huge emphasis on online and web-based entertainment. MTV has built upon the success launched by xFire, GameTrailers, NeoPets, Nicktropolis. There was last year's $200 million purchase of Atom Entertainment. The deal with Harmonix, which now puts the hugely successful "Guitar Hero" gaming franchise under the Viacom umbrella.

ComScore Media Metrix says 42 million unique visitors spent time on MTV's game site in June, a 20% jump from January. MTVN has also signed casual gaming deals with Verizon and Nokia. The timing of today's Real deal is also important since it comes just a few weeks before MTV's big Video Music Awards where you'll see this relationship get plenty of play during the broadcast.

It's a sweet deal for both companies, yet won't do all that much in the near-term to unseat Apple's dominance. But this online digital entertainment marathon is still only in its first mile. And the race is a lot bigger than a competition against just Apple Inc.

not to b Apple-centric, but all these new services are DOA-like the ZUNE

© 2007 CNBC, Inc. All Rights Reserved

 

[WannaGoMac]

Absolutely! I tried to get hardcore geek about video cards and PC gaming several years back, but I just don't have the time, energy or interest. I love video games - but that's what I use consoles for (and ever since the X-Box the whole "console/PC gamer debate" has completely changed. Halo changed it) -- and really, I don't have time to play games that often anyway. Do I hate the GMA 950 in my MacBook, yes, yes I do - more in principle than in practice (it's ridiculous - every other notebook in the same class/pricepoint by Sony, Dell, Tohshiba, etc. has at least an X3100) - and I'l be honest, now that I know I can enable 224 while running XP in Boot Camp - I feel confident that the limit will either be raised in Leopard or that someone smarter than me will figure out a way to enable it anyway.

Plus, if you want to be real about it - the consumer who spend SERIOUS money on graphics cards -- and I'm not talking about a $300 or $4000 ATI or nVidia PCI-E card, I'm talking about $1000+ HDV cards from companies like Grass Valley (which now owns Canopous) and Matrox and AVID's hardware products -- most of those users who aren't on a turnkey are using a Mac Pro anyway.

But more on the actual topic - this is really great news for Apple, and I am not at all surprised. Macs are hardly uncommon at my university - but I've seen more of them on campus this year than any year in the past (and because I'm taking my sweet ass time, I've been around a while) - and I've talked to at least half a dozen people about my experience (they approached me and asked how I liked it - and I effused on how great the "switch" has been). I've already decided that my mom's next laptop will be a MacBook - she has no choice (I mean, she does - but she won't care, my mom is so computer illiterate - neither one of my parents can even burn CDs...it's ridiculous) -- and I really wish I could have talked my dad into going Mac instead of being conned (by the salesman) into spending over $2000 on a 17" Toshiba laptop that is both more computer than he needs and too difficult for him to operate. He wouldn't have listened - even if I installed Windows on it -- but I would have to Remote Desktop into his system far less often.

I don't know if Apple will reach 20% of all laptops sold in the next two years, their product line-up is just too small and updates are too infrequent (you have what, six base configurations? - three for each series? That's just not enough), but it seems like the impact of the Intel move/the wider knowledge that you can run Windows on a Mac now has really started to impact sales.

But with all these kudos -- it should be noted that just like the iPod, much of the success of the portable sales is directly attributable to one person, and his name is not Steve Jobs. It's Bill Gates. And I don't mean that in a sardonic, backhanded way - I mean that seriously. iPod only succeeded in such an unprecedented way because they made it Windows compatible - plain and simple. In the same token - whether they end up using BootCamp, Parallels or not - I would venture that a large percentage of new Mac buyers are buying a Mac in large part because they know they can. That takes away the one real sticking point that was holding back the line before - and unlike high price, which Sony can match or exceed (and like Apple, much of the price increase is because of the brand more than the actual value of the product - at least in hardware terms), software compatibility is the big thing that will keep the majority of computer users away from using any OS that is different from Windows.

MTV unveiled its new "Urge," online digital music destination at the big Consumer Electronics Show last year, it had all the earmarks of a major initiative. Justin Timberlake joined Van Toffler on stage during Bill Gates' keynote to unveil the service which would ultimately be tied to the then-upcoming Zune media player from Microsoft

But flash forward to present-day, where Urge has done nothing to unseat Apple's iTunes, and the Zune, is, well, missing in action. So Viacom forges a deal with RealNetworks and its Rhapsody online digital subscription service instead, abandoing Microsoft, yet continuing what seems to be developing as a major digital initiative by the company.

And that's the much bigger story here.

First, some details on MTV and Rhapsody. S&P's Tuna Amobi says Viacom was "left with very little choice" as two "somewhat fringe players try to leverage their positions" to take on Apple. The music landscape continues to change, and with change comes opportunity, so who knows: Consumers might be looking for an alternative and a relationship like Real and Viacom brings a lot of cool entertainment bells and whistles to the party. And heaven only knows that Hollywood is certainly looking for online alternatives to the iPod/iTunes juggernaut.

Real's Rob Glaser doesn't care about juggernauts or formats or any of that. He just wants everyone using his media player and his software across any format and any device.

"Google's famous for search," Glaser tells me. "Microsoft is famous for its dysfunctional operating system. Apple obviously with great consumer devices, does a great job. But video and audio is the center of our company. It's what we started with 12 years ago when we first brought out RealAudio. So we see tons of opportunity to come out with great products and if we keep doing that, we'll get our share of the benefits."

So the deal makes perfect sense for Real and could be a nice arrangement. Yet, for Viacom, the stakes are much bigger, and a deal like this one far more important.

"It was rather of surprising for us that Urge didn't gain the kind of traction that we thought it would gain, given MTV's huge and very attractive demographic," says Amobi. But when Microsoft went in another direction with online entertainment, and reduced emphasis and resources on Zune, "this was really kind of a forced situation on (Viacom.)"

Today's news signals yet another major step into online entertainment for Viacom. The company got off to a bumpy start when it lost mspace.com to Fox, which ultimately led to then Viacom CEO Tom Freston losing his job. "Viacom seems like it's been somewhat dragging its feet in its overall digital strategy," says Amobi.

But now, Viacom can't seem to move fast enough, announcing just this week plans to spend $500 million over the next year snapping up even more video games makers, after spending about that much over the last year, with a huge emphasis on online and web-based entertainment. MTV has built upon the success launched by xFire, GameTrailers, NeoPets, Nicktropolis. There was last year's $200 million purchase of Atom Entertainment. The deal with Harmonix, which now puts the hugely successful "Guitar Hero" gaming franchise under the Viacom umbrella.

ComScore Media Metrix says 42 million unique visitors spent time on MTV's game site in June, a 20% jump from January. MTVN has also signed casual gaming deals with Verizon and Nokia. The timing of today's Real deal is also important since it comes just a few weeks before MTV's big Video Music Awards where you'll see this relationship get plenty of play during the broadcast.

It's a sweet deal for both companies, yet won't do all that much in the near-term to unseat Apple's dominance. But this online digital entertainment marathon is still only in its first mile. And the race is a lot bigger than a competition against just Apple Inc.

not to b Apple-centric, but all these new services are DOA-like the ZUNE

© 2007 CNBC, Inc. All Rights Reserved

My god. You guys have a lot of time on your hands to type so much!!
I really just replied to create a mega-super-long post by combining both of your crazy long messages. Phew, talk about typing-diarrhea

FYI, Brevity is the soul of wit

 

[SiliconAddict]

The title should read Apple Gains marketshare while loosing quality. I'm dead serious. compared to the days of the Pismo the MacBook and MacBook Pro are not quality driven products. In days of yore Apple was about think different. Today its about think profit.
The one thing I will warn people before getting a Mac is if they need fast turn around time do not get an Apple. Dell and a few other manufacturers will ship the part out overnight and actually send a tech to your door (Or workplace, where ever you schedule the appt.) Apple? Apple store if you are lucky. And even then you are Qued up in line. If you are unlucky they will send it into depot where you will be lucky to get it back in a week.
I'm dead serious when I say if Apple really thought their wares were head and shoulders above the competition they should back it with a much stronger warranty. As it stands....

The only time I've been impressed with Apple is when they outright replace my MBP after the 4th time I had it in for repairs. All told I've had 1st and 2nd MBP and C2D MBP in for repairs 6 times. Twice on this new one and four times on the old.

 

[FoxyKaye]

Apple really does need to rethink its service and support - I had a Dell PII once, and when I needed a CDR drive changed out, Dell sent someone within 2 business days of my call ("No m'am, you don't need to do it yourself, it's part of your warranty and just as easy for us to send someone out."). Compare that to Apple, who, if my experience at the Emeryville, CA "Dummy Bar" is to count, first told me to re-install OS X to fix an obvious hardware problem (I do a lot of CD/DVD burning), really needs to get in the game.

While I was waiting at the Dummy Bar for an appointment that was an hour and 15 minutes late ("Well m'am, you should expect us to be running late." - I'm not kidding) and spending money on parking, the Dummy Bar staffer literally made another woman cry. And for what? So Apple can save a few dollars on replacement parts?

After my experience in the Emeryville store, I've done the mail-in parts replacement, which thank the gods my iMac is the one "user-service" model, because the Emeryville store also wanted to keep my iMac for 11-14 days to swap out a defective DVD drive. I asked the manager, "Are you aware that this is how I make money? Film/sound editing, DJ work and consulting are all on this iMac, and you want to keep it for almost two weeks?" He replied, "Well, that's how the program works."

It sounds like Apple's program isn't getting much better.

 

[twoodcc]

great news! now hopefully more and more businesses will start switching

 

[WannaGoMac]

I asked the manager, "Are you aware that this is how I make money? Film/sound editing, DJ work and consulting are all on this iMac, and you want to keep it for almost two weeks?" He replied, "Well, that's how the program works."

Sounds like you need to have extra computers on hand if your business really depends on it. If a computer is your livelihood, you're crazy to have just one. You should have a minimum of two ready to go at all times.

 

[Scarlet Fever]

screw the gaming market. Their needs are so specific that there is no way Apple would be able to cater for them. They're a dying breed anyway; the XBOX 360 is better than most of their gaming computers, and it costs a fraction of the price.

I reckon the fear of viruses isn't an issue for the average Mac user, but part of the reason they are so prevalent on PCs is because stupid people click on everything that moves. If those same stupid people come to the Apple platform, they're going to have a whinge because they deleted their home folder and now their computer doesn't work anymore.

Ahem. Vista.

that only took a couple of months to fail miserably

 

[sbarton]

I couldn't have said it better...99% of the world DO NOT care about what GPU they have.

And even BareFeats shows that the Radeon bests the 7600 in 2 out of 6 games, and shows a worse performance of 5 INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT FPS when compared to the 7600, not to mention the fact that Radeon's drivers are much newer.

In other words, the world doesn't care about GPUs. And even I, one of the rabid posters on MR, don't have the damn time nor willingness to play more than 3 commercial "old" games on my iMac: Call of Duty, NWN and Hearts of Iron Doomsday.

Funny how you tried to twist that benchmark and review to look good. First of all....the 7600 your refering to was a BTO option on a handful of 24" imacs. Second...I challenge anyone to read that review with the benchmarks and come away with a good feeling about the iMacs gaming abilities.

I know you maintain that running games at 1024x768 stretched across the 1920x1600 pixel screen of the 24" iMac is "acceptable". But it really isn't. Playing any of those games at a native resolution is going to result in a very poor experiance.

There are plenty of people who will be well served by the current iMac's. And there are plenty of people who want more in the 3D graphics department. I'm an Apple entusiast and supporter and have been since around 95 when I started using Macs exclusivley. Your deluding yourself if you think the only ones complaining are those "fringe gamers" that have nothing better to do than to come over the Macrumors and post a negative comment...

Your not doing the Mac community any favors by trying to "convince" everyone that "your" needs are good enough for everyone else. Why don't you praise the iMac for what it is and quit trying to piss on those people's opinions that it falls short in certain areas.

Is not...Is so...Is not...Is so....Is not....Is so...Is not...Is so

 

[mozmac]

I definitely know more people that are switching to a Mac than are switching back.

 

[!¡ V ¡!]

The title should read Apple Gains marketshare while loosing quality. I'm dead serious. compared to the days of the Pismo the MacBook and MacBook Pro are not quality driven products. In days of yore Apple was about think different. Today its about think profit.
The one thing I will warn people before getting a Mac is if they need fast turn around time do not get an Apple. Dell and a few other manufacturers will ship the part out overnight and actually send a tech to your door (Or workplace, where ever you schedule the appt.) Apple? Apple store if you are lucky. And even then you are Qued up in line. If you are unlucky they will send it into depot where you will be lucky to get it back in a week.
I'm dead serious when I say if Apple really thought their wares were head and shoulders above the competition they should back it with a much stronger warranty. As it stands....

The only time I've been impressed with Apple is when they outright replace my MBP after the 4th time I had it in for repairs. All told I've had 1st and 2nd MBP and C2D MBP in for repairs 6 times. Twice on this new one and four times on the old.

Couldn't agree more, Apple has questionable QA issues since the past few years. From experience my pismo gave me no problems, my iBook G4 gave me no problems however my iMac G5 has had the same issues occur on more than one occasion. And the most recent incident is my 4GB Nano 1G, when the input buttons decided not to work for some strange reason.

After speaking to the customer rep, and they could not do a thing due to being tied to Apple's policy I have since decided that I will use my SD card in my car and free mp3 player for the sports activities that I require it for. Buy buy iPod.

With the new iMac's I am not impressed at all, this leaves me to stick with my G5 for a couple more years.

 

[!¡ V ¡!]

Sounds like you need to have extra computers on hand if your business really depends on it. If a computer is your livelihood, you're crazy to have just one. You should have a minimum of two ready to go at all times.

Instead of placing fault on the consumer, maybe the company can improve in this area or shortcoming by giving a temp computer to any person who bring in they system for repairs similar to how a car company does when you send your car in for repairs.

As for your data, an external HDD with a carbon copy of your system settings and personal settings should patch over well when you acquire a free temp computer.

 

[WannaGoMac]

Instead of placing fault on the consumer, maybe the company can improve in this area or shortcoming by giving a temp computer to any person who bring in they system for repairs similar to how a car company does when you send your car in for repairs.

As for your data, an external HDD with a carbon copy of your system settings and personal settings should patch over well when you acquire a free temp computer.

It's not placing fault, just identifying a bad business practice. It is stupid to only have 1 computer when they cost nothing compared to a yearly total income that depends on the devices. If apple had a next day repair service then maybe fine (even then, I would still have multiple computers), but they don't so why would you limit yourself?

 

[bananas]

We have about 5,500 PCs here. Each is replaced every few years, so we buy more than 1,000 PCs per year. Many are high end. The one one my desk is an HP with specs to match a Mac Pro. Not one of those 5,500 PCs has a game installed on it.

Also when they say the PC game industry is 1/5th the size of the console market I think most of that 1/5th is going to the people who sell the games not to hardware companies. So even if Apple could capture 100% of the gammer market it still would not be all that much

If Apple had machines with powerful graphics (say mac mini-ish machine with a gf8800m) Apple would sell more computers. It's that simple BOOM, millions of more.

I'm saying that it would be good business to make a second edition of Mac Mini with $300 graphics card and sell it for $400 more than the current model. I would buy it! BOOM it's that simple. (i'm not suggesting to stop selling the current Mac Mini though)