Apple Grabs Record US PC Market Share On Strong Mac Sales in Q3 2014

[H2SO4]

You don't believe, which I admit, is your option. However, with those student PCs infected with such malicious malware and viruses that they barely start up, let alone work. You can't clean such installation by Avast or whatever, those antivirus software is simply not enough. There are trojans, spyware and god knows what else, not just usual viruses that turn your files into folders, make them disappear all together or transform your PC into a hacked zombie for DDS attack. Granted, for macs its not that clean, but its not THAT dangerous.

Malware is far more prevalent on a Windows based computer than one which is OS X based, yes. But Macs are not invulnerable. If you know what has infected you, it can be fixed regardless of platform. There are plenty of issues that happen on Macs that have nothing to do with malware that require a reinstall, go to the official forums and you’ll see. Most Mac users I know think they’re invincible and at some stage they will get a very rude awakening.

That said I still prefer Apple Hardware/software. What I do hate is an Apple Fanboy.
(This is not a dig at you).

 

[szw-mapple fan]

Many corporate customers have been putting off upgrading hardware because of the economy and because of the mixed views on Windows 8. That may be accounting for some of the increase in market share.

If Windows 10 is a more compelling product for business, then there will likely be a wave of PC sales next year, dramatically reducing Apples market share, although that probably won't have a serious effect on mac sales, or profitability.

With consumers, many people are unimpressed with Windows 8, and that has opened them up to looking at macs, whereas previously the might have been PC only.
My thought on this is that if Apple offered a cheaper option, they could gain significant share in the consumer market. However, that window will close soon if Windows 10 addresses the perceived flaws in Windows 8.

Yes, very much like the Vista era.

 

[Piggie]

I can only speak from personal experience, but I don't understand why some here think a business that uses computers/pc's at a tool to perform a task would have the same mentality as a consumer who just wants the lastest toy to play with.

Saying, not upgrading due to Windows 8.
Why would you upgrade anyway?

If you are doing CAD, or Accounts, or 3D Work or Programming, and your computer/PC is simply a tool to get the work done, why would you upgrade from say Windows 7?

A computer at work is a tool to do a job, that all.

A Mechanic does not rush out and sell his spanners for this years spanners that do the same job, just so they can say I have this years spanner.
Its just a tool.

I do think some here need to forget we are speaking of companies that have no interest in computers, they are simply a think employees use to perform the task the company needs.
Only when they can no longer perform this task might they get you a new/better/replacement one.

Most businesses have zero interest, it's a tool and nothing more. It's nothing to show off with, or look cool with, or have the latest model of.
They are focused on what their company makes & delivering to their customers.

 

[SlCKB0Y]

I spend about $400/year on my PC on average and I have never for the past 20 years had a machine slower than a top level mac and usually far superior. I upgrade as needed, a video card here, a cpu there. And on rare occasion a case or power supply.

What are your current specs?

 

[TallManNY]

So, what is is you are trying to infer? Because your friends use Macs everyone must use Macs? Could it be that they are your friends because they have things in common with you like owning a Mac? Everyone I know at work has a Windows machine. I'm the sole Mac user. One expressed interest in a Macbook, but he can't stomach the price tag of a $1200+ Macbook when he can get a PC notebook for $600 that does what he needs.

Try to find high-end gamers that use Macs. They don't exist because there are no Macs that fit the requirements for hardware (even running Windows), not even a Mac Pro these days (and yes, high-end gamers tend to use PCs, not consoles since consoles are always behind the tech curve; you can play 4k games on a PC now. You're lucky to get a smooth frame rate at 1080p on a console).

Basically, yes, I'm saying that for home use Macs are taking over. The unit sale and market share numbers, I think, include all the corporate sales. I don't know if the for home use sales numbers are available, but I suspect that Apple is doing much better there.

For high level game playing, I know you need a Window machine. Note that I mention a guy I know who does the whole flight simulator thing, I'm pretty sure he is using a PC. I will have to check next time I'm at his house.

But all my other friends (who are generally speaking college educated yuppies (though not so young anymore)), have been buying Macs for years. They wouldn't waste their time with a PC, especially since they know they can spend more upfront and get a machine that works better and lasts longer. Most folks seem to be getting six years out of their Macs. Maybe even longer.

Aside from a few console users and myself a bit, none of my friends game. So I don't know what the serious gamers are doing these days. I can get fine performance on my 2011 iMac in Bootcamp. Bioshock Infinity ran fine. Boarderlands 2 was fun. X-Com is fun. So I'm not complaining. I will be able to find another great game once I finish X-Com. And I could always go and buy a console. The games are going to be fun even if I can't the FPS past 50 on some game or turn on max settings.

 

[SeattleMoose]

I bought a nMP this summer so I guess I was part of this, but a big thank you also has to go to MS.

 

[msh]

We get that you prefer macs, but you really need to be fair to the other side. 94% of users still choose windows, do you think they all do it because they don't know what's best? OS X is a nice sleek smooth interface for basic functions, but windows give you a huge range of choices from dirt cheap to blow the top end nMP out of the water. And much more flexibility; I have 12 TB of internal storage in my PC which is impossible on any mac. The video card options on a PC are beyond the wildest dreams of a mac user.

I spend about $400/year on my PC on average and I have never for the past 20 years had a machine slower than a top level mac and usually far superior. I upgrade as needed, a video card here, a cpu there. And on rare occasion a case or power supply.

The comparison is really apples and orange. Mac gives you a very small, very narrow set of options. PC is a huge world, and the budget machines is just a minor segment of that huge world. And with the way Apple is entirely focused on iToys to the point they're crippling their computers to match the limitations of iToys, Yosemite is getting a lot less useful while windows 10 is looking really good.

Agree with most of this with a few exceptions.

One of them being the ability to run ZFS (a very superior file system) on my Mac which you can't do on Windows. I am using a '09 Mac Pro (which BTW has 16TB internal storage (ZFS Pool) not counting the other two internal SSDs for OS's). On the other hand I run Windows 7 on a Mac Mini because I use media server/client software (JRiver) which is not fully functional (yet) on Mac OS. For streaming photos to my TV, I go back to the Apple ecosystem using AppleTV because it can stream retouched raw photos without having to export them to .jpg first. Laptops: MacBookPros/Airs. Tablets: None.

So I have a mixed environment, and probably always will, taking advantage of what each platform has to offer for a given situation. I will probably soon add open source FreeBSD with a separate ZFS based server for my data and media.

So, yes, Windows has more (and in most cases superior) hardware and software choices than Macs and when I need that I will use it. But there are some advantage to Macs and Open Source as well and when appropriate I will use them.

 

[SusanK]

Ok. The raw figures, (which is ALL we have to work with at the moment), would suggest that your experience is atypical.
If there are 10,000 Lenovo units and they see a 10% market share rise, it's reasonable to say they sold 1000 extra units.
Similarly, if there are 1,000 Mac units and they see a 20% market share rise, it's reasonable to say they sold 200 extra units.

Most people "it would seem" are not buying Macs.

Hi,

I didn't join this thread to debate the issue. My experience is just that. One person's experience.

At first I was surprised by all the Apple products I saw in public places in the area. iPads are everywhere. The Macs surprised me. They are everywhere in my area.

Not presenting this as representative of the market. Just my little corner of the world.

Have a good weekend!

 

[nick42983]

Is there a way Apple can catch up past the others?

They already have, including iPads and iPhones they smoke all the competition combined. Luddites and "analysts" will of course dispute the fact that iPhones and iPads are personal computers, laughable.

 

[AlecZ]

You mean you had issues trying to get a controller that is not supported by Sony and not supported by Microsoft working?

No ****. You were trying to hack hardware to work on a non-intended platform - issues can arise from doing so. Its about as stupid as complaining Hackintoshes don't work perfectly.

Try to use a less retarded example next time.

You don't need any such software to use a PS4 controller in OS X because of its generic support for Bluetooth controllers. And one of the problems with the third-party driver (call it a "hack" if you want, but it's not) is that Windows makes it easy to accidentally open something twice and completely lose track of how many instances are running. I had to keep going into Task Manager to fix it.

 

[H2SO4]

Basically, yes, I'm saying that for home use Macs are taking over. The unit sale and market share numbers, I think, include all the corporate sales. I don't know if the for home use sales numbers are available, but I suspect that Apple is doing much better there.

For high level game playing, I know you need a Window machine. Note that I mention a guy I know who does the whole flight simulator thing, I'm pretty sure he is using a PC. I will have to check next time I'm at his house.

But all my other friends (who are generally speaking college educated yuppies (though not so young anymore)), have been buying Macs for years. They wouldn't waste their time with a PC, especially since they know they can spend more upfront and get a machine that works better and lasts longer. Most folks seem to be getting six years out of their Macs. Maybe even longer.

Aside from a few console users and myself a bit, none of my friends game. So I don't know what the serious gamers are doing these days. I can get fine performance on my 2011 iMac in Bootcamp. Bioshock Infinity ran fine. Boarderlands 2 was fun. X-Com is fun. So I'm not complaining. I will be able to find another great game once I finish X-Com. And I could always go and buy a console. The games are going to be fun even if I can't the FPS past 50 on some game or turn on max settings.

So you boot into Windows?

----------

they already have, including ipads and iphones they smoke all the competition combined. Luddites and "analysts" will of course dispute the fact that iphones and ipads are personal computers, laughable.

fail.

----------

You don't need any such software to use a PS4 controller in OS X because of its generic support for Bluetooth controllers. And one of the problems with the third-party driver (call it a "hack" if you want, but it's not) is that Windows makes it easy to accidentally open something twice and completely lose track of how many instances are running. I had to keep going into Task Manager to fix it.

Funny that. Everytime I’ve tried to open something twice in Windows I get a warning asking if I want to and telling me it may cause instability.

 

[Oracle1729]

What are your current specs?

i7-3770k with Gigabyte z77x-up4 th (this combo was over $400 at once but I did say average and looking at the list I think my average is actually well below $400).
16 gig of DDR3.
geforce 9800gt video (this is my next item to replace, looking to do it black friday or boxing day)
2x 3 gig HDD
3x 2 gig HDD
256 gig SSD
blu-ray writer
23" IPS monitor
27" TN monitor
coolermaster cosmso 1000 case
coolermaster 1000w PS
corsair H60 water cooler
still using the windows 7 retail license I got for $65 during microsoft's preorder offer.

and looking forward to skylake in about a year.

 

[ProfessorHenry]

They already have, including iPads and iPhones they smoke all the competition combined. Luddites and "analysts" will of course dispute the fact that iPhones and iPads are personal computers, laughable.

iPad is a personal computer? Funny!

 

[macenied]

[/COLOR]

iPad is a personal computer? Funny!

Sure, if you use your personal computer like the iPad, there is no difference . Well, maybe some iOS bugs or iCloud Drive issues nowadays, but hey, it's the thinnest device and it looks cool !

 

[n-evo]

iPad is a personal computer? Funny!

The iPad is very much a computer (be it in a new form factor) and it's meant for individual consumers. So yeah.

 

[laurim]

We get that you prefer macs, but you really need to be fair to the other side. 94% of users still choose windows, do you think they all do it because they don't know what's best? OS X is a nice sleek smooth interface for basic functions, but windows give you a huge range of choices from dirt cheap to blow the top end nMP out of the water. And much more flexibility; I have 12 TB of internal storage in my PC which is impossible on any mac. The video card options on a PC are beyond the wildest dreams of a mac user.

I spend about $400/year on my PC on average and I have never for the past 20 years had a machine slower than a top level mac and usually far superior. I upgrade as needed, a video card here, a cpu there. And on rare occasion a case or power supply.

The comparison is really apples and orange. Mac gives you a very small, very narrow set of options. PC is a huge world, and the budget machines is just a minor segment of that huge world. And with the way Apple is entirely focused on iToys to the point they're crippling their computers to match the limitations of iToys, Yosemite is getting a lot less useful while windows 10 is looking really good.

Here are the main reasons people choose a Windows machine. Note that none of them imply that Windows is better than OS X:

1. That was the computer they were given at work and they worry about being compatible when working at home
2. The Windows computers are usually cheaper and show up in the stores they tend to visit for other things
3. They like to play games that are PC only
4. They are used to Windows/PCs and hesitate to learn something new

People who buy Macs are usually people who actually did some research between the two systems and made a conscious decision to be a Mac user. Mac users have probably used both in their lifetime and made a specific decision. Very few Windows users have also used Mac for any decent length of time so they really aren't making an informed decision.

 

[Tycho24]

I spend about $400/year on my PC on average and I have never for the past 20 years had a machine slower than a top level mac and usually far superior. I upgrade as needed, a video card here, a cpu there. And on rare occasion a case or power supply.

Lol, they have support groups for chronic lying.

You DEFINITELY have a bad problem if you're coming on a tech forum and making up something as ridiculous as claiming you have a PC that is the equivalent of a top of the line $4,000 MacPro (superior even!) & pay $400/year. That is the most preposterous & laughable untruth I could even imagine. Nobody here is stupid enough to believe you. Your comment is an insult to yourself & everyone here. You should be ashamed of yourself!

 

[toke lahti]

Who cares about market share?

How high Apple's share have to rise, before they are forced to license osX out?

On the other hand, I am pretty sure Apple does not care for corporate Mac sales.

And on the third hand, I am pretty sure that Apple does not care about macs anymore. Why should they?

On a side note, I run Yosemite on my late 2008 MBP and by God, it's running so well... I want to change to a newer model, but because it is running so well I have no logical reason to change my MBPS, except vanity....

That's why MAC's are cheaper to own and run over long term...

I guess you have same amount of RAM in that mbp that you had 6 years ago?

Glad to contribute to those stellar numbers: just got my 2014 RMBP 13", 3.0GHz, 16GB RAM, 512GB-SSD.

It's as if someone was able to adapt an F-15 Eagle engine on a Ferrari: a thing of beauty, a thing of power.

Yup. You bet I'm bragging.

Yup, you are bragging about Intel Iris Graphics and no 4k@60Hz support. Not like Ferrari, more like F-15, which was designed in 70s'...

Definitely yes. The 2014 mini has assured that every 2012 refurb mini is sold within minutes of hitting the online Apple Store. As soon as those are gone whats left of other online site's new inventories will become depleted.

B&H was drained of 2.6 quad minis by the time they reopened from their holiday. A few days later another batch appeared and were almost instantly gone (one to me!).

Maybe Apple had too big inventory of unsold 2012 mini's and that's why they did what they did with 2014 mini...

Btw,
"CEO Tim Cook said that he was “especially proud” of the Mac results, which gave Apple its best PC market share position since 1995 and made Apple one of the five biggest computer sellers in the world."
WTF? Apple had bigger piece of the industry in 90s'? Anybody seen any long term charts?

EDIT:
Found this: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/07/05/tech/gaming-gadgets/mac-vs-pc-graph/
Windows 95 really hit Apple hard then...

 

[CEmajr]

Here are the main reasons people choose a Windows machine. Note that none of them imply that Windows is better than OS X:

1. That was the computer they were given at work and they worry about being compatible when working at home
2. The Windows computers are usually cheaper and show up in the stores they tend to visit for other things
3. They like to play games that are PC only
4. They are used to Windows/PCs and hesitate to learn something new

People who buy Macs are usually people who actually did some research between the two systems and made a conscious decision to be a Mac user. Mac users have probably used both in their lifetime and made a specific decision. Very few Windows users have also used Mac for any decent length of time so they really aren't making an informed decision.

Good point there. Almost everyone is taught and initially uses Windows by default. Usually it takes something going wrong with a Windows machine for people to look outside and consider a Mac not because "it looks pretty" like the other poster tried to claim.

I know for me I never even looked at the Mac as an option due to the higher initial cost, the unfamiliar OS, and them being more expensive spec for spec than a Windows machine. Then after spending thousands on so-called "high-end" Windows machines that turned to crap after just a year, I finally looked into buying a Mac, did the research, and will never use a Windows machine again. $1000 2011 MBP going strong in 2014 compared to my $1300 2009 HP HDX turned to garbage in 2010.

 

[Oracle1729]

Lol, they have support groups for chronic lying.

You DEFINITELY have a bad problem if you're coming on a tech forum and making up something as ridiculous as claiming you have a PC that is the equivalent of a top of the line $4,000 MacPro (superior even!) & pay $400/year. That is the most preposterous & laughable untruth I could even imagine. Nobody here is stupid enough to believe you. Your comment is an insult to yourself & everyone here. You should be ashamed of yourself!

The new mac pro has an Intel Xeon E5-1620, which has a PassMark score of 9491. It's a $300 chip.

My current build has an Intel i7-3770k, which has a PassMark score of 9634. Slightly faster than the new mac pro. I paid $300 for the chip last year. If I weren't waiting for Skylake or were buying a CPU now, I'd spend my $300 on an i7-4790k which gets a PassMark score of 11304.

The only preposterous thing here is people who believe Apple offers decent processing power at a decent price anymore.

Edit: My 2012 quad core mac mini has a i7-3615QM which gets a PassMark score of 7343. It's currently going for $590 in the refurb store. When it's in stock; it usually sells out in minutes. For a 2 year old sub-$600 machine from Apple, that gives the mac pro some serious competition. For $90 more you get the BTO with a i7-3720QM, and a score of 8333. It's no wonder they neutered the mac mini for 2014; it makes the pro look better to people who are too ignorant to look outside the apple lineup.

 

[StoneJack]

i7-3770k with Gigabyte z77x-up4 th (this combo was over $400 at once but I did say average and looking at the list I think my average is actually well below $400).
16 gig of DDR3.
geforce 9800gt video (this is my next item to replace, looking to do it black friday or boxing day)
2x 3 gig HDD
3x 2 gig HDD
256 gig SSD
blu-ray writer
23" IPS monitor
27" TN monitor
coolermaster cosmso 1000 case
coolermaster 1000w PS
corsair H60 water cooler
still using the windows 7 retail license I got for $65 during microsoft's preorder offer.

and looking forward to skylake in about a year.

is it running windows or OS X?

 

[MrX8503]

The new mac pro has an Intel Xeon E5-1620, which has a PassMark score of 9491. It's a $300 chip.

My current build has an Intel i7-3770k, which has a PassMark score of 9634. Slightly faster than the new mac pro. I paid $300 for the chip last year. If I weren't waiting for Skylake or were buying a CPU now, I'd spend my $300 on an i7-4790k which gets a PassMark score of 11304.

I bet your build is uglier, louder, no dual workstation GPUs and is in a giant tower case. In other words, your build is not at all comparable to a Mac Pro.

 

[inkswamp]

So you honestly believe the 94% of people who use windows machines only do so because they don't know macs are unconditionally better?

No. I thought I was pretty clear. Let's look at what I wrote. I'll highlight the parts that you might want to review.

A good chunk of that 94% aren't consciously, actively, purposefully choosing Windows. They're just terrified of choosing something different.

I didn't say 94% but a good portion of them. I didn't say they know Macs are unconditionally better, just that they're terrified of trying something different.

----------

I know you are being sarcastic trying or at the very least try to make his argument look bad but the fact is going from command line to gui was an improvement and most people understood that fact.

Were you around at the time this transition happened? I know of almost no computer users who thought it was an improvement. Many thought it was an intriguing development but most also dismissed it as a toy, in exactly the same language many people now dismiss tablets.

The very small number of people who viewed it as an improvement were people who had previously not used computers, primarily people working in some area of publishing or visual arts. Those areas held some promise obviously but didn't really pay off until Apple and Adobe teamed up and started pushing the desktop computing concept forward.

For traditional computing tasks however, the GUI and mouse took a very long time to catch up to the simplicity and power of the command line interface. In fact, some people (including me, in some cases) would argue that it never really has caught up. The speed and power with which one can search an entire file system on the Unix command line is astonishing compared to the relatively blunt and sluggish GUI-based file search. But then you also have the whole area of shell scripting for which there is no real analog in the GUI-and-mouse era.

 

[deluxeshredder]

but there are still many occasions when OS X versions of software are inferior to the Windows counter (and I'm not talking about Microsoft software)

My experience has been exactly the opposite - OS X versions are usually of much better quality.

 

[s2mikey]

Here are the main reasons people choose a Windows machine. Note that none of them imply that Windows is better than OS X:

1. That was the computer they were given at work and they worry about being compatible when working at home
2. The Windows computers are usually cheaper and show up in the stores they tend to visit for other things
3. They like to play games that are PC only
4. They are used to Windows/PCs and hesitate to learn something new

People who buy Macs are usually people who actually did some research between the two systems and made a conscious decision to be a Mac user. Mac users have probably used both in their lifetime and made a specific decision. Very few Windows users have also used Mac for any decent length of time so they really aren't making an informed decision.

That's a pretty accurate assessment of it. Numbers 1 & 2 are especially true. Until the enterprise sector for Apple gets larger they'll always have to deal with the work incompatibility thing. The games thing is also pretty important. There are simply a LOT of very popular games that either aren't available for the Mac or don't work as well.

The build quality of the Macs is also excellent but the higher end PCs and laptops can match this. I've seen and messed with some pretty nice Lenovos or whatever.