He's not talking about "most" people he's talking about people who make their living with their workstation. He's talking about people who write their workstations off after a few years not the consumer that wants their computer to last in perpetuity. He's talking about people that live the "time is money" mantra so they're not going to spend an inordinate amount of time searching for some killer deal. They need umbrella support with "one neck to choke" i.e single vendor and they need stability just as much as they need speed.
The Mac Pro are designed for such clients yet consumers can feel free to purchase them if they choose.
I understood his point, and it's a nice description of needing a
single point of contact.
But there was a major flaw in the logic.
The reason is more than just a single point of contact is needed. It also means businesses (SMB to enterprise) need, not just want, a
single total solution. That means in house service.
Think of it this way. A company has its headquarters in a single location, but has satellite offices in many. Possibly in multiple states. The IT staff is centralized at one location. Who's going to physically have access to the machines at the satellite offices? The users, who are most likely clueless to the internals and their operation. So no diagnostic or repair skills are assumed.
There's also the downtime and other associated costs with inoperable systems. In house service is usually quicker (say 24 - 48 hrs vs. days with shipping it to and from Apple's service center + repair time), and there's no shipping cost involved (expense not amortized in a contract), unlike Apple's methodology.
Apple's methodology is acceptable for individuals not dependant on their systems for thier income (despite the balking).
I do not think the Quad Mac Pro is all that great of a deal but I wouldn't be comparing it to consumer based Core i7 system either. Both systems are designed for different markets.
Technically, yes (ECC vs non ECC).
But in this case, the parts are of the same cost (per Intel's published quantity pricing). Which why as a value argument (basis), the Quad is lousy. Other factors, such as the memory slots make it worse for some.
I'm getting mixed messages here.
They are or aren't targeting businesses? Hehehe. One says yes, one says no. I'm going to go with "no" myself too I think.
See above as to an explaination.
But Pawn, how am I being belligerent? I want to learn. Show me the differences.
Perhaps opinion without an explaination is the basis for the missunderstanding?
It's happened to me, at any rate.
To me things are very black and white here. This thread is about price. Is it over, under, or just right for what you get? That's the question. The answer is acquired by the simple act of counting. It's not about how you feel about your mac, it's not about what you do with your mac nor your payment plan. It's also not about some fanciful thinking one might conjure up to justify the purchase. It's not about cars, trucks, planes, or motorcycles. I mean if people want to talk about those things I'm OK with it - it's not my thread - but it has nothing to do with the topic.
Are the goods and services you get from Apple over or under priced relative to the marketplace? I say very very over priced and in the friendly light of discussion, challenge anyone to show otherwise. The best argument so far has been to compare Apple to another over-priced vendor - which to me just means there are two who are over-priced.
I also think this is very worthy of honest illuminated discussion and debate because this is the first year in four that they actually have been so terribly over-priced. From 2006 to 2009 they were just about right or even a little bit on the under-priced side. If I'm counting wrong or overlooking something I seriously want to know about it. I hope no one thinks that is belligerent. "Direct" is the worst I'd call it myself.
Here's another couple of things to consider:
1. The OS. Switching to be specific (no matter the direction). To change the OS, the associated software cost must be considered as well. Which unfortunately, can quickly out cost the machine. It does depend on the specifics, but is by no means so insignificant it can be ignored.
2. Training. If you switch to another OS and application evironment, is the personnel capable of using it? If not, there's the choice to either train them, or just throw them in the proverbial "deep end", and let them figure it out on their own. Either method has a cost associated with it, including any penalties associated with missed deadlines, or poor quality of work (not fulfilled the contract/delivered a non spec compliant product).
Both of these can be "counted", unlike feelings.
But sometimes, when I see "feelings", it refers to something that can be counted in financial terms, such as the above.
Yeah, I had to throw a monkey wrench in the works....
I couldn't help myself.
