"based on operating system support, around eight years is probably a fair time scale after which you should probably replace your Mac." Is that PC going to last that long or will components have to be replaced?
YES. Even longer than that as Windows support goes beyond 8 years. Also in general it's way easier to upgrade or replace components with Windows computers which is a definite advantage.
"Apple products might look more expensive at a first sight than Windows PCs, but the balance clearly changes if we take all software and support costs into consideration."
That's just a not true. It doesn't even make much sense. What software and what support?
"The cheapest laptop from Apple starts at $999, but if you sum up all the software costs, Windows PCs are 3 times more expensive than Macs. A Mac is around $454 more expensive than a PC, saving up to $543 per Mac, compared with a similarly configured PC." - 2017
What software costs? What software can triple the price of a Windows laptop? That's just nonsense.
"One of the biggest problems with issuing software updates to Windows machines is having to account for the fact that they have to run on systems with wildly different components. Microsoft has minimum system requirements to run the latest version of Windows, but beyond that hardware makers (or individuals) are free to build their own machines." This results in fewer or slower updates - Why I always recommend Macs over PCs — even though they're usually a lot more expensive -(2018)
LoL what fewer updates? I can install updates on a PC with 2010 hardware as soon as they are generally available in my regional, there's no delivery limitations based on hardware age.
Microsoft constantly pushes software updates, most of the time I get more than one update per week. Not to mention constant GPU drivers updates.
"Any organization serious about managing and securing Windows will need to add additional software and tools to the cost of their cheap PC, as opposed to having those features built into the operating system with Mac. Finally, when you add on the cost of management tools and support, the total cost of ownership gap can potentially be huge for an organization. In fact, IBM found they saved between $273 - $543 per Mac they deployed compared to PCs." - 2020
Any organisation serious about security will need to add software and tools in order to insure and control that security no matter the OS. This is why Windows ia by far the most dominant OS amongst companies and I don't see MacOS winning any ground in terms of market share in general.
IBM has The Only Example for so many years and it's becoming comical.
This reminds me of a story about a van by brother got. He bought this cheap van (it was a great deal) but he had to have it retrofitted with AC (which cost a bucket load of money, but it was a great deal) Then on the way to where we lived his all electronic dashboard went out - van still ran so he kept pace with truckers and just blindly filled up the tank when he had the chance. According to the place he took it to the van's computer had died and would cost $500 (this was back in the early 2000 so adjust for inflation) to replace...but it was a great deal.
Oh more irrelevant stuff.
The moral is you get what you pay for. Sure you can get a PC that is upfront cheaper then a Mac but when you figure in getting rid of all the ad/bloat ware (which is why it was cheap to begin with as margins are insanely thin), paying for useful software that comes with a Mac, and general long term usability the PC is more expensive.
The moral is that you can get similar or much better performance and quality for a much lower price than a Mac most often because of the better hardware (CPU, GPU, faster RAM, SSD).
PCs are cheaper (which is the correct term) because Apple overprices it's hardware and there's a lot of objective competition between PC OEMs.
You keep talking about software but in case you are not aware Window's software library in general is way larger thta Mac's and it extends beyond payed software, in terms of good quality freeware software the ratio is like 100 to 1 in Window's favor.
And because we are taking about software what do you have to say about gaming? I for example like Red Dead Redemption? Can I natively play it on a Mac at 4K60fps at a reasonable price?
So I checked those links and it's amusing.
2 of the links are for very old articles which are just irrelevant in 2020 taking in consideration what hardware choices exist today in the PC world.
The last one is a blog post that ends with: If you’re ready to start taking Mac seriously and saving big dollars in the process, please contact us.
So it's basically just a long comercial for Mac for Enterprise. But it's funny that after so much time IBM is still the only relevant example in this case.
