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Help me convince mom to buy a Mac!

D

Doju

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jun 16, 2008
1,510
1
Our Dell Dimension is about six years old and on its last legs (damn, this is slow), and after the bliss I've encountered with my Alu MacBook, I feel obliged to convince her to run from the horrid world of PCs now given the chance. The stability, reliability, and easiness is terrific, and would benefit her enormously.

She was offered this:

Dell Optiplex GX620 TOWERS

Pentium 4 2.8GHz, with 2GB RAM, 40GB+ Serial ATA (SATA) Hard drive,
CD, sound, Gigabit Ethernet, keyboard, optical mouse, Win XP Pro COA
3 year warranty
Samsung 19" LCD monitor (933SN)
http://www.samsung.com/ae/consumer/...tors&subtype=lcdmonitor&model_cd=LS19CMYKF/ZA

470$ setup/tax included
Click to expand...
Not bad, eh? But a PC. :(

We've been hit somewhat hard by the recession, and money's a bit tight. Nonetheless, I'm explaining to her how in the end, the total cost of ownership, is normally less for a Mac. That doesn't even factor in the productivity, gained time, and all the lost headaches and secure data. We could get this now, but it would be bogged down two years down the road, and we'd likely need to buy a new one then again.

Like a refurbished Mac Mini (really, she needs not too much power, she browses the internet, word processes, and reads e-mails)? Or recommend me something else? Or should we accept the PC, and deal with it? She claims she doesn't care it's more reliable, because for what she's doing it doesn't matter. (I say, it's still a lot more productive, and easy to use. We spent 6 hours trying to set up a printer on this computer the other day, that worked as soon as plugged into my MacBook :rolleyes:)

Help guys? Please try to help me convince her. Or really, should we just go with the PC? We are tight on money, and need a relatively affordable set up.
 
To be honest, if a Dell Dimension lasted her 6 years, I would think the TCO in her mind is already low. It seems she's a light user, and honestly, if times are rough/tight, it would be a waste of money to buy a Mac. You should buy what you can afford.

Actually, if times are pretty rough, I'd just keep the old machine. Also, you may also want to check out Dell refurbs. I bought mine for $250 and has been going strong for a couple of years now and is not slow.

EDIT: Why are you looking at OptiPlex? Get an Inspiron Desktop and you can get even more for less. OptiPlex machines are geared toward business, not consumers.

EDIT 2: Found this refurb for $409:

Genuine Windows Vista Home PremiumMemory
2 GB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz (2 DIMMs)
750 GB SATA II Hard Drive (7200RPM)
V.92/56K PCI DataFax Modem
Certified Refurbished
Inspiron Desktop 530 Mini-tower: Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E7400 (3MB L2, 2.80GHz, 1066 FSB)
16X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capability

Not a bad machine at all and cheaper. It doesn't come with a monitor, so, again, times are tight, reuse your existing monitor.
 
I think you'll find this is a refurb. Pentium 4 ??? 40GB Disk ??? WinXP??? Better to buy a new laptop if you want something cheap at least it will have some disk space. But don't buy this you are just buying another old PC to replace your current one.
 
belvdr said:
To be honest, if a Dell Dimension lasted her 6 years, I would think the TCO in her mind is already low. It seems she's a light user, and honestly, if times are rough/tight, it would be a waste of money to buy a Mac. You should buy what you can afford.

Actually, if times are pretty rough, I'd just keep the old machine. Also, you may also want to check out Dell refurbs. I bought mine for $250 and has been going strong for a couple of years now and is not slow.

EDIT: Why are you looking at OptiPlex? Get an Inspiron Desktop and you can get even more for less. OptiPlex machines are geared toward business, not consumers.

EDIT 2: Found this refurb for $409:

Genuine Windows Vista Home PremiumMemory
2 GB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz (2 DIMMs)
750 GB SATA II Hard Drive (7200RPM)
V.92/56K PCI DataFax Modem
Certified Refurbished
Inspiron Desktop 530 Mini-tower: Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E7400 (3MB L2, 2.80GHz, 1066 FSB)
16X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capability

Not a bad machine at all and cheaper. It doesn't come with a monitor, so, again, times are tight, reuse your existing monitor.
Click to expand...
Link to that deal?
 
The PC you were going to get in the first place is pretty bad for the price. You can get much better for less. Just browse around. TBH why don't you let your mum use your MacBook to see if she likes the OSX interface? She may like it a lot and decide to get a Mac...
 
Terrible DEAL!!!

You can get a laptop from Office Depot or Staples for less than that with much better specs!! Just check their weekly ad on their sites.

If you really want a mac and times are tough, check out craigslist for last gen mac mini. Or try ebay.
 
I stand behind the pack; an awful prospective deal. Our home PC has better stats than the one in your listing, and is that out of date I would really not expect anyone to give me more than $100 for it.

If you cannot convince your mother (it sounds like your heart is in the right place but does she really require a Mac if she will use it for only basic tasks?) throw your weight behind the PC hunt and actually compare deals!

There are so many bargains to be had, especially as the market bends to accommodate the fall in budgets (I wonder if this will happen to Apple?).

I try to not preach to people about Macs too much. I think it is too much of a cliché to be the Apple-eyed monster around people who don't really care for what one is discussing.

Good luck.
 
Can someone link to one of these apparent deals? Can't find any.
 
Doju said:
Can someone link to one of these apparent deals? Can't find any.
Click to expand...

Try google, or pronto, or fry's, or even staples. Even office depot will give you better deals. Do some work on your own before asking such a basic question.

Ever hear of Craigslist or ebay? :D
 
Doju said:
Our Dell Dimension is about six years old and on its last legs (damn, this is slow), and after the bliss I've encountered with my Alu MacBook, I feel obliged to convince her to run from the horrid world of PCs now given the chance. The stability, reliability, and easiness is terrific, and would benefit her enormously.

She was offered this:


Not bad, eh? But a PC. :(

We've been hit somewhat hard by the recession, and money's a bit tight. Nonetheless, I'm explaining to her how in the end, the total cost of ownership, is normally less for a Mac. That doesn't even factor in the productivity, gained time, and all the lost headaches and secure data. We could get this now, but it would be bogged down two years down the road, and we'd likely need to buy a new one then again.

Like a refurbished Mac Mini (really, she needs not too much power, she browses the internet, word processes, and reads e-mails)? Or recommend me something else? Or should we accept the PC, and deal with it? She claims she doesn't care it's more reliable, because for what she's doing it doesn't matter. (I say, it's still a lot more productive, and easy to use. We spent 6 hours trying to set up a printer on this computer the other day, that worked as soon as plugged into my MacBook :rolleyes:)

Help guys? Please try to help me convince her. Or really, should we just go with the PC? We are tight on money, and need a relatively affordable set up.
Click to expand...

If times are that tough, then I'm inclined to say that carrying on with the PC she has or getting a new one might well cost less than a Mac. That doesn't mean a Mac isn't worth it - I think it is - but if she doesn't have the money to buy a lot of computer with then she shouldn't be spending what she can't really afford regardless of the make, should she?

But if she gets a PC, don't let her get the PC you mention. That one really is awful.
 
Microcenter is currently selling the previous generation Mac mini with a $100 rebate. Total cost after rebate is $400. this is the 2GHz model with Leopard.

If she can still use her older monitor/keyboard/mouse, then you're all set. You might need some adapters if her monitor is VGA or the keyboard/mouse are PS/2.

ft
 
Stick with a PC

Listen man, this may not be what you want to here, but stick with a PC (for two reasons).

1.) They're cheaper, so it won't be such a big "bullet" to bite. And If you get one with XP SP3 or Vista SP 1, she'll be fine.

2.) She's been using a PC for six years. It's different for an adult to switch from Mac to PC's. I still keep my MacBook away from my parents because I know that it will confuse the hell out of them. The're used to the PC set up.

And it's a lot like a puppy: You can teach a puppy a trick no problem. But when that dog grows up and want to teach it something new, it's gonna take a LOOOOOONG time.
 
I went through the same process with my parents. They are basic users and their 5 year old homebuilt PC was starting to have issues and even they were complaining it was slow. I would sit down and discuss what their needs are, what the budget actually is, and most importantly if they are willing to switch. The last portion should carry the most weight. I sat down with them and did a few things on my Macbook and they seemed to like it. We ended up with a new base iMac a year and go and they haven't looked back.

I went through a similar situation with another family member. For ease of use and price a Dell Mini Hybrid thingy was the best choice. I don't have the time right now to step someone through a new operating system and then be able to support them. They will come to me with questions!

It's all in what the end use wants, not what you think is best.
 
Here's something to consider: I'm actually in a similar sounding situation (wanted a new Mac but money was tight). I had planned on buying a refurb aluminum iMac ($849 from Apple), but didn't have that much to spend. After selling my old setup I had right at $500. I found on eBay a white, 17" iMac with a 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, 128MB Radeon X1600 video card, Superdrive, keyboard, mouse, etc. for $499. That's what I bought. Now, its not a NEW machine, no, but the performance is basically the same as my wife's white Macbook (better on graphics intensive stuff). Machines like that go for between $500-600 all the time.

And as for "teaching an old dog a new trick," here's a story: my minister's wife's laptop recently died and she was looking for a new one. I showed her my wife's Macbook and she loved it. I, however, as a tech support person, was scared to death because she'd never used a Mac (and she used to call me ALL THE TIME with PC questions), so I almost tried to talk her out of it. Keep in mind she's 55. :) Would you believe that since the first of the year, I've only have ONE call with a question about her new Mac (other than me showing her the basics initially)? Overall, its been a good experience.

Hope this helps. :D
 
Tight on money = Don't get a Mac. Not now anyway. The Mac mini is costly compared to what you could get over on the PC side and its not worth the effort to make her adapt to it.
 
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