What are the odds of that? At best, 50/50, I think. By my recollection:
Core Duo: Compatible.
Core 2 Duo: Same socket, but not compatible with early Core Duo chipsets.
Nehalem: New socket.
Westmere: Compatible.
Sandy Bridge: New socket.
Ivy Bridge: Compatible.
Haswell: New socket.
Haswell refresh: Compatible.
Broadwell: Same socket, but not compatible with early Haswell chipsets.
So basically, they're changing the socket with every non-minor-speed-bump release, and with some of the minor speed-bump releases. This translates to about a two-year incompatibility cycle. Most people don't upgrade their CPUs more often than that, so in practice, motherboards are now disposable even if you build a machine yourself. The only things you can usefully reuse are the case, the power supply, and mass storage devices.
IMO, the entire industry might as well switch to soldered-on CPUs. There's no real advantage to socketed CPUs at this point, given the relatively short upgrade window. Ditching sockets would halve the number of SKUs (no need to stock the CPU and motherboard separately), would reduce effort for system builders (both in choosing parts and in installation), and would improve reliability.
There's a downside, of course. Most Haswell machines on the market draw 30W idle consumption or higher. At $0.38 per kWh (what I pay for additional consumption), assuming the machine runs 24 x 7, that translates to $67 per year more in your power bill, or a couple hundred bucks over a three-year product lifetime. Heck, the Alienware I looked at idles at 46W, or $120 per year more in power costs. That adds up rather quickly.
I'd *love* to find a PC that draws 10W or less when idle, with a desktop-class Haswell Core i7. In theory, I'm told that it is possible to build systems that are roughly in that ballpark, but most of the systems out there don't get close.
Sure, $120 per year more, or if he could save time on the graphic rendering or processing, even by cutting it in half the time, he would be able to move onto more projects, and the return is that he would be able to make more money, or at least have more free time for himself.
I think there is a much higher and a longer term view than just number of dollars and wattage usage. In the end, it's all up to each person to decide what's more valuable.
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Before I went to Macs I had a lot of Dell's, as well as many friends and family had a lot of Dells. They all had hardware issues, dead motherboards, etc. I wonder if Alienware's quality has changed since Dell bought them. I don't know if Dell's current products are any higher quality than they used to be, just no experience with them, but they used to be awful.
I went thru the same issues with Dells too, and I would have said the same back then.
Like Apple, there was/were/is/will be a good time to buy it's product, and when to avoid it. No one is going to be perfect from day 1 and continue that way. That is why we have competition. If you don't get back on your feet, you're out of the game. Right now, I think Apple is just riding on their momentum and their reputation, particularly from Steve Jobs, and they're just taking it for granted. I hope I'm wrong.
That's why I may consider the option of building a machine myself. If a component fails, I know what it is as I diagnose it and return/exchange as needed.
The nice thing with Dell is that if I was to put together the parts for a machine similar to what Dell offers, Dell would win in the total cost, because they bought all the parts in bulk, no retail box, no extra cables, no extra printed materials, and in turn, passes the extra savings onto the buyer. Buying from Newegg is paying retail price, or they may discount it a bit to compete with other e-commerce, but I will always be paying slightly higher building it myself. Going with Dell/HP/etc. would be a good choice for those who are new to computers or aren't looking to hassle with putting parts together. And of course their warranty covers all parts of the computer. It's all a personal decision for everyone.
Just in case someone wants to delete my posts, how does all this relate to Mac mini? Well, you guys seem to really like your CPU performance, your RAM upgrade-ability, and your storage flexibility. Why not go PC?
This isn't about PC vs Mac. Unless there's something you can only do with Mac, fine, stick with it. Otherwise, you're better off going elsewhere if you need better performance.
Money flows to where it is most appreciated.