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Sad ramblings of an almost Apple switcher...

8

88MVP

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 7, 2008
16
0
Got sick of waiting for updated MBP's... contemplated buying the current SR model, but then realized that PC manufacturer's were drastically cutting their prices on current Merom-based models to clear way for Penryn's while Apple still wanted me to pay the same price that the current machines cost many months ago....

So I got an XPS M1530 2.4 with 4 gigs of ram and a 200GB 7200k HDD for a grand less than a MBP would have cost me.

This leads me to my general sad ramblings/rants/laments about Apple.

I know a lot of Mac users would buy a Mac no matter what they cost, but I find it really hard to believe that Apple couldn't make a LOT more money if they were a bit more price-competetive (for example, sales/discounts on older technology when everyone knows a refresh is coming sometime soon). They use the same intel processors & chipsets and nVidia graphics chips as everyone else now. I, for one, would have jumped all over a MBP if it was only a few hundred more than an identically specced Dell or HP, instead of a grand.

Also, I know plenty of people who would be interested in giving OS X a go if there was a legal way to run it on any old PC hardware. I'd dual-boot on all my computers in a heartbeat. Yes, there'd be the headaches of additional driver support, but if OS X is as great as everyone claims I have to imagine that Apple could take a large chunk out of Windows' market share. The people at Microsoft don't seem to mind selling additional licenses for bootcamp partitions, why doesn't Apple do the same and make a handsome profit?

That's all I have. I'm a bitter college student who wanted the fun of a Mac but his responsible budget planning wouldn't allow for it. And the petulent 3 year-old child in me blames Steve Jobs for this.




And before someone reads this as some kind of serious shot at Apple and flames me, it's not. I really liked the MBP, hence my posting here the last few weeks. Thanks to those who gave me advice when I was asking about MBP's. Carry on, Apple users. I'll join you someday when I get a grown-up job that doesn't involve an hourly wage.
 
Hey, I'd have done the same thing. Well, actually, I'd have gone with a T61, most likely, but in the end, we've each got to decide what's worth our money. No need to apologize. :cool:
 
The OP's thread post is stupid. Telling the forum that he was almost a switcher but he found a Dell more suitable for him tells us what???
This forum is for helping people in terms of Macintosh, not to tell us that you just picked up the latest PC because Apple's prices weren't part of your diet. What did you want us to say??? Pointless thread.:rolleyes:
 
HLdan said:
The OP's thread post is stupid. Telling the forum that he was almost a switcher but he found a Dell more suitable for him tells us what???
This forum is for helping people in terms of Macintosh, not to tell us that you just picked up the latest PC because Apple's prices weren't part of your diet. What did you want us to say??? Pointless thread.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

To be fair though,the op also stated how he thinks apples are over priced,which is quite a common theme in there forums,especially the macbook air recently.

So i dont think its pointless,unless u have no answer as to why apples are far more expensive,and also as to why they refuse to drop prices on old products!
 
bigbadnewill said:
To be fair though,the op also stated how he thinks apples are over priced,which is quite a common theme in there forums,especially the macbook air recently.

So i dont think its pointless,unless u have no answer as to why apples are far more expensive,and also as to why they refuse to drop prices on old products!
Click to expand...

I stand by what I say, what are we suppose to say to the OP? He pointed out his feelings about Apple's prices and bought a Dell. So what now? We can't do anything about Apple's prices, either buy Apple or buy something else. The OP chose to buy something else that doesn't pertain to this forum and we can't help him about his new Dell so what's the point of his thread?
 
HLdan said:
I stand by what I say, what are we suppose to say to the OP? He pointed out his feelings about Apple's prices and bought a Dell. So what now? We can't do anything about Apple's prices, either buy Apple or buy something else. The OP chose to buy something else that doesn't pertain to this forum and we can't help him about his new Dell so what's the point of his thread?
Click to expand...

While I do agree with what you're saying to some degree there are far more pointless threads from people on this forum...such as "Just bought a new macbook" where all the OP does is tell us how they bought one, not even ask for any advice etc.

The OP here asked about portability of OS x onto windows, and why it's never done etc also. There are questions to be answered and discussions to be had with these questions.

Anyways, lets get back onto more interesting stuff...like the idea of it being Tuesday, and the SLIGHT possibility of a MBP update :D
 
HLdan said:
The OP's thread post is stupid. Telling the forum that he was almost a switcher but he found a Dell more suitable for him tells us what???
This forum is for helping people in terms of Macintosh, not to tell us that you just picked up the latest PC because Apple's prices weren't part of your diet. What did you want us to say??? Pointless thread.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

HLdan said:
I stand by what I say, what are we suppose to say to the OP? He pointed out his feelings about Apple's prices and bought a Dell. So what now? We can't do anything about Apple's prices, either buy Apple or buy something else. The OP chose to buy something else that doesn't pertain to this forum and we can't help him about his new Dell so what's the point of his thread?
Click to expand...
Maybe this fact passed you by, but half of the threads on here are pointless or redundant, in the grand scheme of things this one isn't bad. The OP has made some fair, reasonable comments. They haven't trolled or posted flame bait. No need to be rude. :rolleyes:
 
HLdan said:
The OP's thread post is stupid. Telling the forum that he was almost a switcher but he found a Dell more suitable for him tells us what???
This forum is for helping people in terms of Macintosh, not to tell us that you just picked up the latest PC because Apple's prices weren't part of your diet. What did you want us to say??? Pointless thread.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Last I read, this forum's name is: "Macbook, Macbook Air, Macbook Pro" not "Macbook, MBP Help," he's free to talk about anything related to the MB. His original thread's tone didnt seem like it was a pointless bash at all, and hes just stating something that a lot of people feel. If no one speaks up, no one will be heard.

I for one, agree that Apple products are crazy expensive, but I guess you pay for exclusivity. I dont mind paying this much for my Mac, I like that my Powerbook ran like the day I bought it after 2 years w/ no defrag or any other annual maintenance. But money is money, and it is, at least in my opinion, way overpriced.
 
The XPS M1530 is indeed priced very attractively. I live in Singapore and an high-end MBP 15" costs SGD4300 and yet the M1530 with a Blue Ray drive costs SGD3400 with similar specs. It is very tempting for switchers to hold back.
 
I looked at Dell's and other brands of laptop before settling for definite on my MacBook Pro (SR). I made the right choice for me. In fact, I think the Mac could have been 3x more expensive than any of the competition and still represented value for money in terms of what I need from the operating system, the form factor and compatibility with my other Macs.

OS X, to me, is almost invaluable.
 
Thanks for this post. Now I won't need to post the same exact thing in early March, which is what I would have (well, not really, not really have) to do if the MBP is not updated by the end of February. I have come to the same exact conclusion as the OP about the value of the current MBP relative to what's available in PC land.
 
88MVP said:
Got sick of waiting for updated MBP's... contemplated buying the current SR model, but then realized that PC manufacturer's were drastically cutting their prices on current Merom-based models to clear way for Penryn's while Apple still wanted me to pay the same price that the current machines cost many months ago....

So I got an XPS M1530 2.4 with 4 gigs of ram and a 200GB 7200k HDD for a grand less than a MBP would have cost me.

This leads me to my general sad ramblings/rants/laments about Apple.

I know a lot of Mac users would buy a Mac no matter what they cost, but I find it really hard to believe that Apple couldn't make a LOT more money if they were a bit more price-competetive (for example, sales/discounts on older technology when everyone knows a refresh is coming sometime soon). They use the same intel processors & chipsets and nVidia graphics chips as everyone else now. I, for one, would have jumped all over a MBP if it was only a few hundred more than an identically specced Dell or HP, instead of a grand.

Also, I know plenty of people who would be interested in giving OS X a go if there was a legal way to run it on any old PC hardware. I'd dual-boot on all my computers in a heartbeat. Yes, there'd be the headaches of additional driver support, but if OS X is as great as everyone claims I have to imagine that Apple could take a large chunk out of Windows' market share. The people at Microsoft don't seem to mind selling additional licenses for bootcamp partitions, why doesn't Apple do the same and make a handsome profit?

That's all I have. I'm a bitter college student who wanted the fun of a Mac but his responsible budget planning wouldn't allow for it. And the petulent 3 year-old child in me blames Steve Jobs for this.




And before someone reads this as some kind of serious shot at Apple and flames me, it's not. I really liked the MBP, hence my posting here the last few weeks. Thanks to those who gave me advice when I was asking about MBP's. Carry on, Apple users. I'll join you someday when I get a grown-up job that doesn't involve an hourly wage.
Click to expand...

Apple has an $18 B I L L I O N cash reserve. CASH. They attained this using the current business model of very high margin products. This isnt going to change as im quite sure they are pleased with business. What exactely do you think a MBP costs to manufacture? I have heard that is less than $600... if thats true... oh my..
 
I like threads like this!

I am in a similar spot. I need (want) a new tower. But to spend $3000+ on one for a hobby is out of the question. And an iMac may not cut it for me so I may be building my own system. Once I am in Photoshop or Lightroom it does not matter what OS I am on.
 
Why are ranting posts such as this allowed on a board which is supposed to be informational support for people who own an Apple product? I don't get it.

I would have loved to bought a Lexus but only had a Honda budget, but that didn't drive me to post about it on a Lexus support forum.:(
 
bijou said:
Why are ranting posts such as this allowed on a board which is supposed to be informational support for people who own an Apple product? I don't get it.
Click to expand...

There is a small chance someone at Apple will hear what their customers (in this case would be customers) have to say about Apple's business practices. Whether they (Apple) will listen is another matter, but it doesn't hurt trying to get their attention :cool: And it's so damned therapeutic! I feel a lot better every time I issue a written threat to buy a Dell :D
 
HLdan said:
The OP's thread post is stupid. Telling the forum that he was almost a switcher but he found a Dell more suitable for him tells us what???
This forum is for helping people in terms of Macintosh, not to tell us that you just picked up the latest PC because Apple's prices weren't part of your diet. What did you want us to say??? Pointless thread.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Pointless? Apple should be reading this, they're losing sales..as another potential switcher i cant swallow the $1000 price difference for the same hardware either, i'm not THAT excited to switch. They either need to lower the price or get their new products out the door.
 
akadmon said:
There is a small chance someone at Apple will hear what their customers (in this case would be customers) have to say about Apple's business practices. Whether they (Apple) will listen is another matter, but it doesn't hurt trying to get their attention :cool: And it's so damned therapeutic! I feel a lot better every time I issue a written threat to buy a Dell :D
Click to expand...

Yeah right, Apple is well aware people think their prices are too high after years of people saying it. Have they lowered their notebook prices? No. Why? Why should they? They make a great computer, they make it so well they have a acquired many PC switchers.
The OP is the one that's scrambled. First he says he was tired of waiting for the new MBP's, well at this point he had already made up his mind to spend this amount of money.
Then he sees a Dell and buys it. How is he helping anyone on this forum? This is a Mac forum and we use Mac OS X. He could have helped many people if he found Apple deals from a reseller that would benefit all of us.
Telling us about his new Dell deal doesn't help me, I don't want a Dell, I only want a supported OS X computer.

Okay, he's crying about Apple's prices, he buys what he can afford through Dell, what did he need to tell us for? My reaction would be the same reaction if I went to a Windows forum and told them that I bought a Mac because Windows didn't cut it for me and there was nothing in the PC world that would make me decide otherwise.
What good was this telling a Windows forum?

IMHO Apple is in a much better position to charge what they charge because they are offering something different than anyone else.

What's Sony's excuse, they charge more for their computers than Apple and their machines are common Windows machines just like the Dell.
 
Last time I checked Apple's sales are through the roof, so they're not losing sales. Windoze will always be ahead of Apple's market share in regards to selling computers, that's just a fact.

My point is that people are using THIS forum as a blog for pontificating/complaining about a product they really never had any intention of purchasing, but just want the attention of forum users (whether it is positive or negative) to justify their decision.

I think you get what you pay for when it comes to Apple products. Excellence in design, form and function. When my funds were low I purchased a $300 used Cube. When the funds increased, then the MBP was purchased. I've had the cheapo POS Dells, Gateways and Toshibas, too. You really do get what you pay for. Plus, I was switched because of an operating system which is far superior in managing my workflow, not because of hardware.
 
clevin said:
is that official explanation?
Click to expand...

Either that or I just took a wrong turn and thought this board was supposed to be support for those who actually have the product or are in the process of getting it.

Silly me for assuming wrong!
 
dimme said:
I am in a similar spot. I need (want) a new tower. But to spend $3000+ on one for a hobby is out of the question. And an iMac may not cut it for me so I may be building my own system. Once I am in Photoshop or Lightroom it does not matter what OS I am on.
Click to expand...

True, but still I appreciate the integration of Apple's operating system when using these apps as well.

BTW, a maxed-out Mini handles PS and Lightroom quite admirably. We just picked one up for our oldest teenager to make the pc/mac switch and she's very impressed.
 
wildmilne said:
Pointless? Apple should be reading this, they're losing sales..as another potential switcher i cant swallow the $1000 price difference for the same hardware either, i'm not THAT excited to switch. They either need to lower the price or get their new products out the door.
Click to expand...

Huh? I thought they were growing faster than anyone? They can't change strategies to chase a few strays.

The ones who think "Macs are more expensive" are what we'd call real analytical, and might not be worth chasing.

Apple has market discipline, and that's making them a bundle.
 
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