Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
True. Just go into best buy and look at the Macs and the PC's. I mean most of the PC's are good computers, but they tend to be worth less and less as they get older and nothing new is really added to them. Look at Macs they dont come out with a new one unless there is a really Great improvement on Specs or Hardware. PC's should learn a thing or two. Plus there are so many different PC's that it is hard to decide which is better then the other. Where as Macs you just have to decide what you will use it for, from video editing to surfing the web, "There's a Mac for That."
 
Is Apple going to offer a home server with network PVR functions, yet? :confused:

It can be done with the Mini, but it's not really an out-of-the-box solution and from what I can tell it isn't really practical.

http://www.tuaw.com/2009/08/21/ultimate-mac-mini-htpc-guide-software/

Now that Apple has redefined computing with the iPad and the App Store ecosystem, hopefully they'll give some love to AppleTV.

http://northtemple.com/2010/02/01/on-ipads-grandmas-and-gam

http://www.macworld.com/article/146040/2010/02/ipad.html?lsrc=twt_macworld
 
One thing i would have to say why i would buy a Mac instead of a PC is, Customer Service. I have a MacBook Pro and anytime i need something done, i Either call Apple Care or Make a Appointment with the Nearest Apple Store. With a PC, you have to wait and wait and wait, then when you get someone on the phone, most of the time they dont know crap about what your problem is they are just researching because you are either one, talking to the Manufacture (ie Dell, HP, Etc.) or two talking to Microsoft, so either way you have a computer that is built and ran by 2 different companies, where Apple makes and Runs there own computers, making it less hassle if something goes wrong.
 
True. Just go into best buy and look at the Macs and the PC's. I mean most of the PC's are good computers, but they tend to be worth less and less as they get older and nothing new is really added to them. Look at Macs they dont come out with a new one unless there is a really Great improvement on Specs or Hardware. PC's should learn a thing or two. Plus there are so many different PC's that it is hard to decide which is better then the other. Where as Macs you just have to decide what you will use it for, from video editing to surfing the web, "There's a Mac for That."

the life cycle on a PC is about the same as a Mac, but there are just more variants, and this is due to the open environment PCs exist in where you can replace just about any piece of the hardware you want or build it entirely from scratch.

on a Mac you could probably do the same thing nowadays with the move to x86 and other more mainstream tech. but that wasn't always the case so the culture is much different. PC users tend to have more tinkerers who will swap out parts on their own or know someone who will do it for them, while Mac users are for better or worse programmed to go to an Apple store for help or buy a new computer when they want an upgrade to new tech.
 
True. Just go into best buy and look at the Macs and the PC's. I mean most of the PC's are good computers, but they tend to be worth less and less as they get older and nothing new is really added to them. Look at Macs they dont come out with a new one unless there is a really Great improvement on Specs or Hardware. PC's should learn a thing or two. Plus there are so many different PC's that it is hard to decide which is better then the other. Where as Macs you just have to decide what you will use it for, from video editing to surfing the web, "There's a Mac for That."

Best Buy simply does not sell high end PCs (like HP Envy, DELL Vostro, DELL XPS Studio etc.). And since when having a choice is a bad thing?
 
Best Buy simply does not sell high end PCs (like HP Envy, DELL Vostro, DELL XPS Studio etc.). And since when having a choice is a bad thing?

i wouldn't call Dell Vostro high end, they are pretty crappy quality, they are actually the budget small business line from Dell
 
Best Buy simply does not sell high end PCs (like HP Envy, DELL Vostro, DELL XPS Studio etc.). And since when having a choice is a bad thing?

I think the only downside is when companies like HP have a zillion slightly different skews, and you never feel like you know which one is the right one for you. My friend who got the HP laptop with the cupholder-style light ordered it from Tiger Direct, where it was advertised as having a built in webcam. When it arrived, there was no webcam. TD said that they sold him the right model and that it should have a webcam according to HP. HP said it should have a webcam. After a million calls back and forth, turns out there was a particular batch of these things that were different than the other batch, and assigned the same skew.

This sort of thing could never happen when there are far fewer models with clear distinctions between them.
 
I think the only downside is when companies like HP have a zillion slightly different skews, and you never feel like you know which one is the right one for you. My friend who got the HP laptop with the cupholder-style light ordered it from Tiger Direct, where it was advertised as having a built in webcam. When it arrived, there was no webcam. TD said that they sold him the right model and that it should have a webcam according to HP. HP said it should have a webcam. After a million calls back and forth, turns out there was a particular batch of these things that were different than the other batch, and assigned the same skew.

This sort of thing could never happen when there are far fewer models with clear distinctions between them.

well that sort of thing shouldn't happen in any type of manufacturing, someone at HP screwed up, similar to what happened years ago when 3Comm shipped a whole batch of NICs with the same MAC address assigned. these aren't mistakes that are a result of having a huge product line, these are careless mistakes that companies shouldn't make when they have the proper checks in place
 
well that sort of thing shouldn't happen in any type of manufacturing, someone at HP screwed up, similar to what happened years ago when 3Comm shipped a whole batch of NICs with the same MAC address assigned. these aren't mistakes that are a result of having a huge product line, these are careless mistakes that companies shouldn't make when they have the proper checks in place

The difference is no one at HP actually knows all the things that they sell. With Apple (and various other mfg's) where there are a rational number of skews, almost any employee can answer a simple question as to whether it has a particular piece of hardware or not.
 
Oh, so I can just pop in the OS X install DVD and that's it?

I never knew it was that easy!




60 million users tied to Windows and suffering with either XP or Vista just upgraded. It took MS 6+ years to release a half-decent OS. After all that time MS finally got its core (in)competency right. Those who could afford to leave MS for Apple, did. Those who were tied to low cost options remained stuck. When Windows 7 finally hit and people figured out it didn't suck, they made a bee-line to it.

There's your big quarter.

You want impressive?

"Impressive" is more people actively choosing a Premium-priced item in the presence of (and aggressive promotion of) lower-cost alternatives. In a recession. And there are more of these Premium units sold successively quarter after quarter. Which tells you that either the Premium segment of retail is expanding and gaining new members that fall into the appropriate income brackets, or that consumers are choosing to spend more because they perceive a higher value proposition with these Premium-priced products.

THAT is impressive. Record Mac sales, quarter after quarter, in a recession. And we're talking new Apple customers here. And, as it has been said, Windows 7 has had no impact at all on Mac sales.

There's your definition of big quarter.

Uhh...by contrast Apple has had ZERO impact on Windows sales as well. Windows 7 is the fastest selling OS in the history of the world.

So in your world, all MS buyers are tied down to the OS, but Apple is the land of freedom and choice and happy users? Do you even look around these boards? Do you understand the concept of "PR spin" when it comes to Apple's marketing? They got beat in every way last quarter, absolutely trounced in fact. The only reason they can keep setting records is because their sales are so low to begin with. Please try and absorb that fact.

Remember, I am currently 100% OSX. But Apple has many MANY problems, and IMO are on the downhill slide, falling prey to the temptation of easy money through consumer toys. They are no longer a "pro" oriented company whatsoever. In fact, they seem to practically treat those users with disdain.

You simply cannot treat customers like you hate them forever. Slipping quality control, less developer freedom, needlessly increasing costs...it may spell success in the short run but Apple is getting extremely cocky and greedy. It will catch up to them some day.

P.S. Is OSX not Apple's "core" business anymore? Are you admitting that? You do know SL is basically crap right? A complete joke of a release.
 
It can be done with the Mini, but it's not really an out-of-the-box solution and from what I can tell it isn't really practical.
Yeah I want something out of the box. I'm waiting for the next version of Windows Home Server to provide it and network Time Machine backups.

Windows Media Center is another out of the box solution that I adore.
 
This report isn't telling me anything new. Apple sells expensive (but good) products. PCs that cost over 1000$ aren't really that much better than PCs that cost 800$, it's just the difference between mid-range and high/bleeding-edge.

If Joe schmo is looking to buy a mid-range computer, they are spending less than 1000$ on a PC and 1000$ or more on a Mac.

and FWIW, I own a PC, Netbook and MacBook.
 
Uhh...by contrast Apple has had ZERO impact on Windows sales as well. Windows 7 is the fastest selling OS in the history of the world.

So in your world, all MS buyers are tied down to the OS, but Apple is the land of freedom and choice and happy users? Do you even look around these boards? Do you understand the concept of "PR spin" when it comes to Apple's marketing? They got beat in every way last quarter, absolutely trounced in fact. The only reason they can keep setting records is because their sales are so low to begin with. Please try and absorb that fact.

Remember, I am currently 100% OSX. But Apple has many MANY problems, and IMO are on the downhill slide, falling prey to the temptation of easy money through consumer toys. They are no longer a "pro" oriented company whatsoever. In fact, they seem to practically treat those users with disdain.

You simply cannot treat customers like you hate them forever. Slipping quality control, less developer freedom, needlessly increasing costs...it may spell success in the short run but Apple is getting extremely cocky and greedy. It will catch up to them some day.

P.S. Is OSX not Apple's "core" business anymore? Are you admitting that? You do know SL is basically crap right? A complete joke of a release.

When 90% of the computer-using population use a PC, there'd be something very wrong if a version of Windows *wasn't* the fastest selling OS in the world. Especially since it's a fixed Vista. Finally.

Wal Mart usually cleans up in plastic lawn-chair sales during the summer as well.

Do I look around these boards? These boards do not in any way, shape or form reflect reality. The MR bubble is completely outside the actual market. The world is indeed tied to Windows, mostly through Ignorance, Inertia, or Not Caring enough about it in the first place.

Apple's record quarters reflect . . . record quarters. It's not a competition unless you're competing with your previous results (obviously), or with The Street's expectations. I'm not sure how record growth means "getting trounced."

"You simply cannot treat customers like you hate them forever. Slipping quality control, less developer freedom, needlessly increasing costs...it may spell success in the short run but Apple is getting extremely cocky and greedy. It will catch up to them some day."

Let us know when "some day" is going to happen, because Apple's continued performance in a recession, top customer satisfaction numbers several years running, and top customer service for several years running kinda means the exact opposite of your prediction. In fact, given the absolute frenzy over the iPad, Apple's love-affair with consumers is set to continue well into the future.

From the attention to detail Apple puts into its products, the standard Apple Sets for the User Experience, the competition furiously trying to copy Apple at every turn, its pretty obvious that Apple is really the only company in tech that actually gives a damn about the user. Hence, their incredible results quarter after quarter.

Consumers handing Apple record quarter after record quarter tells us a completely different tale than your opinion. Apple's "walled garden" has proven immensely successful. Consumers with cash are buying in, and the the iPad will demonstrate this in spades. Easily.

Your crystal ball is defective. Must be an Acer product.

OS X *is* Apple's core business, whether in the form of Snow Leopard, the iPhone OS, or now the iPad OS. Better put, nearly everything Apple produces is given as much attention as their other products. It's a question of Apple's attitude and vision when it comes to what they believe should happen from the time the user picks up or turns on the device to the time the desired action is executed. No one, but NO ONE, pays anywhere near enough attention to this as Apple does. Hence, the delight over Apple products, and the current runaway-buzz about the iPad. Not about other "tablets" or MSI slates or whatnot, but about the iPad. Because the iPad is made by Apple, and Apple's reputation is clear as day when it comes to tech.

If you don't like Snow Leopard, that's certainly your right. Unfortunately, that crystal ball of yours isn't self-correcting (meaning it isn't running Unix), because then you'd realize that in a recession, every quarter that Snow Leopard has been available on Macs, more consumers with $1000+ to spend have been choosing Macs (and thus OS X) each quarter - in record numbers. That is, *actively* choosing a Mac over a PC. Microsoft has lost control of the Premium market, and the Premium market is not only the most profitable end, but also the end that features products that are the Gold Standard of their respective classes.

So, to put it in the simplest layman's terms . . . Apple has better and more expensive computers, and more people keep buying them each time (more than the last time), despite cheaper stuff that can save them money. Ergo, there's really no way Snow Leopard can be anything but the best in its class.

Cheers.
 
People are much more willing to give Apple money for their solution than do any work to evaluate the options that are available.

My concern is that this turns disturbingly into an ARM based 1984 commercial hell where the masses will believe that the only way to consume content and get applications is from Apple.

Keep on telling us about our benefactors Dr. Breen.
 
People are much more willing to give Apple money for their solution than do any work to evaluate the options that are available.

Everyone knows what other options there are. An ocean of PCs running Windows. Any time you enter a brick-and-mortar store (what most people are still doing), those other options are in your face - you're almost assaulted by a huge mass of PCs and Microsoft products.

And given the fact that Windows is almost exclusively what we all see in the workplace, it takes quite a bit more effort and consideration to choose a Mac - especially since it is very often the more expensive option. I'd wager you'd be a lot more careful in spending $1,400 than you would $400-$600. It's not hard to evaluate the "other options" when you not only use them at work everyday, but when you can't swing a dead cat without hitting one.

Look at my sig. One of the few times Thurrott (Mr Windows) was actually right.
 
Where to buy iMac?

I found some info and where to buy iMac here Buy iMac but i want to know where to buy iMac with best price
 
Everyone knows what other options there are. An ocean of PCs running Windows. Any time you enter a brick-and-mortar store (what most people are still doing), those other options are in your face - you're almost assaulted by a huge mass of PCs and Microsoft products.

And given the fact that Windows is almost exclusively what we all see in the workplace, it takes quite a bit more effort and consideration to choose a Mac. It's not hard to evaluate the "other options" when you not only use them at work everyday, but when you can't swing a dead cat without hitting one.

Look at my sig. One of the few times Thurrott was actually right.
You need to look beyond Windows friend. As much as we love to reenact old wars and battles, Apple did much more than introduce the iPad the the keynote.

What's amazing is how long these pieces have been coming into play and yet corporations didn't change.
 
People are much more willing to give Apple money for their solution than do any work to evaluate the options that are available.

My concern is that this turns disturbingly into an ARM based 1984 commercial hell where the masses will believe that the only way to consume content and get applications is from Apple.

Keep on telling us about our benefactors Dr. Breen.

Currently, "the masses" are all on PCs running Windows.

2010 is no different from 1984 in that regard. Replace the talking head on the screen with Ballmer's mug and you won't miss a beat.

But you're right in saying "look beyond Windows." The point of any revolution is to eventually replace the old with the new, and hopefully better. The point is to grow and disseminate the "new and better" in ever-growing quantities. Your iPad remark is very prescient.

For my part, I'm banking that if the spread of the iPad is going to happen the way we expect it to, that we'll be getting more of the Better.

Otherwise, the door will be wide open for another Apple-in-1984-like competitor to throw their own hammer at the screen. And if that's what's really in store for us, then I welcome it.
 
Otherwise, the door will be wide open for another Apple-in-1984-like competitor to throw their own hammer at the screen. And if that's what's really in store for us, then I welcome it.
Do you think there are going to be any tech wizards left after all this in order to do so? Maybe I'm being too pessimistic.

In a sense I deeply loathe Apple with every fiber of rational thought because of what they have done. Still, they manage keep me interested in buying another MacBook. I do not accept it and it instills a fear that the masses will simply accept it.

What are we left with after that? Maybe I'm just looking at too large a scale and not how most of these things began in someone's garage or a start up.

I think my fear overall is that we might be the last of the tech wizards after this.
 
Do you think there are going to be any tech wizards left after all this in order to do so? Maybe I'm being too pessimistic.

In a sense I deeply loathe Apple with every fiber of rational thought because of what they have done. Still, they manage keep me interested in buying another MacBook. I do not accept it and it instills a fear that the masses will simply accept it.

What are we left with after that? Maybe I'm just looking at too large a scale and not how most of these things began in someone's garage or a start up.

I think my fear overall is that we might be the last of the tech wizards after this.

Interesting point.

I certainly don't want to see them gone. Tech wizards created Silicon Valley, including Apple. You seem to be worried about a stifling of innovation due to less adventuresome "tinkering" or a lack of bravery in creation of new tech due to fear of possible patent violations. Although the iPad might also signal a *different direction* for innovation, not necessarily a degradation. Good question.

If you're predicting that tech wizards will turn (or are turning) into an endangered species, then by default you probably need to acknowledge some huge failure or decline (in a key area) on Microsoft's part. Unless Microsoft also plans on following Apple in this regard (i.e., control of hardware and software on Apple's scale.)

As long as Microsoft products remain ubiquitous, I think tech wizards will find a home there. Unless of course MS and PC makers (and makers of mobile devices outside of Apple) are going to embrace automation on the kind of scale that will make tech wizards run for the hills.
 
Well if you're predicting that tech wizards will turn (or are turning) into an endangered species, then by default you probably need to acknowledge some huge failure or decline (in a key area) on Microsoft's part. Unless Microsoft also plans on following Apple in this regard (i.e., control of hardware and software on Apple's scale.)

As long as Microsoft products remain ubiquitous, I think tech wizards will find a home there. Unless of course MS and PC makers (and makers of mobile devices outside of Apple) are going to embrace automation on the kind of scale that will make tech wizards run for the hills.
Going deeper than that, just because you give technology to the masses doesn't make them wizards.

Almost in a sense of lost technology or a dark age. Is this engendering a sense to learn or just to consume?
 
That's a whole lot of computers that aren't good at anything.
You're full of crap. For what most people do they are fine. These computers are coming with dual core processor on much better architectures. This isn't the days where that kinda money would give you a celeron with 128kb of l2 cache. I've seen quad cores for under 500 with dedicated cards in stores. In order to get that with apple your first option is almost 2000 dollars.
 
You're full of crap. For what most people do they are fine. These computers are coming with dual core processor on much better architectures. This isn't the days where that kinda money would give you a celeron with 128kb of l2 cache. I've seen quad cores for under 500 with dedicated cards in stores. In order to get that with apple your first option is almost 2000 dollars.

If you think consumers are only after raw specs, you're quite mistaken.
 
Going deeper than that, just because you give technology to the masses doesn't make them wizards.

Almost in a sense of lost technology or a dark age. Is this engendering a sense to learn or just to consume?

I think it's all about making tech approachable and usable by anyone. Zero learning curve. But this naturally comes with the dissemination of tech. never before have we had so much of it, in every area of our lives - from airliners that almost fly themselves to a cellphone for everyone (including children) to so much content and information in digital form. It's almost a requirement to make tech dead-easy for anyone to use because tech is becoming the gatekeeper for almost all information.

More people than ever have to take advantage of tech to get the most out of available information these days - even relationships, be they formal or personal.

We're getting to a point where technology will no longer be a source of wonder in and of itself, but a given. The next Great Enterprise for people might very well be something outside or beyond tech. is it the expansion of consciousness in radically new or different ways? Will it be the discovery of new life? Will it be a renewed sense of physical exploration (space)?

Obviously, tech will play a critical role in all of this, but I think the wonderment will be about the new discoveries it will allow us to make, rather than about the tech itself. Which might very well mean that the posited vanishing tech wizards of today might very well be our Great Explorers of tomorrow - creating and using the tech required to map out the rest of our universe.
 
If you think consumers are only after raw specs, you're quite mistaken.

Yeah, you and Laguna are experts on everything.

Depends on the customer. Some are looking for raw numbers, others are looking for shinny cases, others just want something that works out of the box, others find no better joy than tweaking their boxes to hell and beyond.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.