Sad ramblings of an almost Apple switcher...

[RHD]

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.

Don't be mean. He has a fair point. He really wants a Mac because they are great but he doesn't have money to burn and he can get what he needs cheaper somewhere else.
He is, quite fairly, disappointed.

I'd love an iPhone but I can't justify the price so I don't have one. I'm sticking with my old Sony Ericsson until the iPhone gets cheaper and saving up for a new MBP if the graphics cards get better because I need it for work.

If they don't, I too will have to seriously contemplate turning to the Dark Side after over a decade of Macdom. (I still have a revision A Bondi iMac if anyone wants one)

Does anyone know if you can install OSX on a PC? (And I so hope I never have to)

 

[kuwisdelu]

*Sigh*
The same old arguments:
1) You pay more for Apple products because they're higher quality.
["As for all the complaints, that's because people on forums complain more than others!!11 And no one mentions when things work right." Ad nauseum]
2) It's okay to pay a premium because Apple computers have a higher resale value. I'm not sure who quantified that..
3) Okay fine, you're paying more for Apple branded computer (with the same components), but it's okay, because I have OS X! And because it's not Vista, I'd be willing to pay any premium they want for it.

And essentially, people can't argue about the value, but then it comes down to the fact that some posters say they are willing to pay any amount of a price premium for a mac, and therefore an Apple computer is a good value, and is not overpriced. And since you can't put an actual dollar value on the brand, some cannot be convinced that they are paying too much..

Oh come on, it's the same old arguments from both sides.

But as for what you're saying...yes, I will admit that if you go by the actual cost to make the components for the computer and put it together...then Macs are priced more than they should be. But that's just not how businesses work. Yes, if you argue component-for-component, Macs are priced higher than they are worth, and we are willing to pay for it. As long as people will pay for overall quality (and yes, whether they're the same parts or not, Apple's product is what I see as higher quality--you may disagree, but that's my personal computing experience and preference; I'll respect yours and you respect mine), they will continue to be priced that way, no matter how much they cost to make. Do you know that the soda you buy for $2 at a fast food is only worth about $0.03? Lots of people seem to think it's worth it.

So if that's how you want to look at it, then yes, Apple overprices everything. If that's how you want to look at it, everyone overprices everything, and Apple is the most vicious with it. But that's because there are happy OS X users who think its worth it; whereas if PC manufacturers priced their products like that, many of their users wouldn't find it worth its.

Does that make some of us OS X users stupid or mindless fanboys? No, it means Apple has given us a computing experience that we simply find to be a complete joy. Now Windows may simply be "different"--I'm not saying it's inferior or anything like that--but until they create as enjoyable an experience for me as Mac has, the price difference is worth it to me and many others.

So yes, for the components it's made of, my MacBook was overpriced. Does it matter to me when my overall computing experience has been worth it to me? I'm not bothered by it, and I'm known by all my friends as the tightwad among us.

 

[RHD]

*Sigh*
The same old arguments:
1) You pay more for Apple products because they're higher quality.
["As for all the complaints, that's because people on forums complain more than others!!11 And no one mentions when things work right." Ad nauseum]
2) It's okay to pay a premium because Apple computers have a higher resale value. I'm not sure who quantified that..
3) Okay fine, you're paying more for Apple branded computer (with the same components), but it's okay, because I have OS X! And because it's not Vista, I'd be willing to pay any premium they want for it.

And essentially, people can't argue about the value, but then it comes down to the fact that some posters say they are willing to pay any amount of a price premium for a mac, and therefore an Apple computer is a good value, and is not overpriced. And since you can't put an actual dollar value on the brand, some cannot be convinced that they are paying too much..

Yes as long as they ARE higher quality that's fair.
But everyone has had a few disappointments and it's not always easy to get things fixed when they aren't right.

All I've ever got from Apple's tech support is "do an OS delete and reinstall". Doesn't matter what the problem is, after 10 years that's still their only solution in the UK. It's never worked yet. At least it's saved me a fortune in AppleCare as I always refuse to pay £300 to be told to do a clean install.

 

[dsnort]

yes, I will admit that if you go by the actual cost to make the components for the computer and put it together...then Macs are priced more than they should be.

Not really proven, and ignores a very real fact of business and economics.

What a product costs to build has absolutely no bearing on what it's sell price is.

Economics 101

Let me repeat that.

What a product costs to build has absolutely no bearing on what it's sell price is.

It's all supply and demand.

Once again, in case you missed it.

What a product costs to build has absolutely no bearing on what it's sell price is

If PC's sell for less, it's because their demand is less.

And not the demand for a windows PC vs a Mac, but the demand for a Dell vs a HP vs a Sony vs a Lenovo vs an Acer vs an Asus. ( Sorry if I missed a manufacturer).

 

[killmoms]

Thanks to the people who recognized the point of my post. Maybe at some point Apple will realize that there's a lot more money to be had in licensing the OS than there is in hardware sales. I'll leave my posting at that, there's no need to continue posting here now that the Mac is officially out. Peace.

See, it's hard to take your arguments seriously when you drop a doozy like this. Why don't you take a look at the long list of contenders in the "selling the OS on generic PC hardware" who've taken on Microsoft and remained profitable.

No no, I'll wait.

Having trouble seeing it?

That's because that list doesn't ****ing exist. Apple is a "software" company in that their software is what provides the draw, but that's not what they're selling. The software is a draw to their profitable hardware. Selling the whole widget is what has kept them profitable (and grown their company) while the rest of the competitors to Windows in the "generic x86 OS market" have floundered (and the only ones that have thrived to any degree are the ones whose distribution is largely based on being free). Not only does their hardware business keep them profitable, it has the added benefit of reducing the approved hardware list to a manageable size.

If Apple moved to make a "generic OS," they'd face the same "chicken and egg" problem every other long-deceased, one-company-controlled proprietary (or in the case of Apple, semi-proprietary) x86 OS faced: lack of support for hardware. Hardware makers won't write drivers for a niche OS because it takes too much work to create for not enough return, and the OS company can only write so many drivers and test so many configurations before they're spending ALL their time doing that and NONE of their time improving the actual OS. Add to the fact that removing hardware from the equation would cause Apple to take a GIGANTIC hit to their bottom line (remember, computer sales are still around 40% of their profits every quarter) and you see the problem. Less resources + dramatically more workload = recipe for great software? I don't think so.

Apple tried licensing their OS once, and it nearly killed them. I don't think enough has changed in the computing climate in the intervening 10-odd years that they're in any hurry to attempt it again.

 

[harcosparky]

So yes, for the components it's made of, my MacBook was overpriced. Does it matter to me when my overall computing experience has been worth it to me? I'm not bothered by it, and I'm known by all my friends as the tightwad among us.

But was your Macbook really overpriced when you take into consideration fit&finish as well as quality in assembly techniques? When I first bought a Powerbook 3 years ago, I bought it based on fit&finish and obvious quality. How can you quantify a value for that?

I only ask this because I am reminded of one companies insane attempts a building a 'personal computer'.

Remember when COLECO, maker of the famous CABBAGE PATCH DOLL. built a computer called the ADAM? My god, it was priced according to material content, and the construction techniques inside showed that. I saw components pigtailed to wired before being soldered and I saw tons of cold solder joints.

I sold my G5 Powermac to a girl who brought along her boyfriend. When he came in he admitted he had never seen or used a Powermac. I asked if he had worked on the inside of his PC, and he said he had.

I opened up the Powermac to show him the inside, and he was AMAZED.

He kept asking where Apple hid all the ugly cables you see inside a PC!

Needless to say he was one PC user who walked away impressed.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

Looks like some people cannot see obvious differences,
so here are some advantages of Mac laptops and OS X:

+ Smaller power supply with clever cord management.
Had it in an older laptop.. nicer cable management the Apple too!
+ Longer battery life compared to same laptop running windows. (You have to pay for extra battery "cells" with wintels)
+ Even weight distribution for walking around, typing with one hand.
Any decent laptop is like this...
+ Battery keeps its charge much longer than wintels in sleep mode. No need to shut down for traveling.
Not true ever since Apple switched to Intel
+ PC laptops can burn up if left on couch or on carpeted floor (due to various vantilation holes in unusual places that are easy to cover). Mac's ventilation are difficult to block.
WTF? PC laptops burn up? (excluding Sony battery issues)
+ Close lid to sleep; open to wake is fairly instantly. Easy to take it out of the bag, use it for 2 minutes, close and put it back into the bag.
+ Occasional reboots faster than wintels of the same speed / age.
+ Keyboard short cuts are convenient (Command key is much easier to use than ctrl). Note OS X is full of keyboard short cuts, and if you know what you are doing, you can run around windows in circles.
It's just muscle memory, Windows shortcut keys are just as effective (if not more so!)
+ Windows XP and Vista require drivers for even the most basic things.
So does OS X, you just don't see OS X installing the drivers, where as it's less transparent in OS X
+ XP and Vista can only use 3gb of ram, no matter if you have top of the line motherboard / processors. You need to pay more for the 64bit version of windows which is less useful (due to lack of drivers).
+ Windows antivirus failing (http://www.heise-security.co.uk/news/100900)
Yeah, but if you're smart about the internet, you don't get viruses anyway. I'm living proof.
+ Hate spam? Get a mac. Why? About 90% of spam you are receiving are sent by infected Windows machines.
see above
+ OS X asks for your permission; you are in charge. No default stealth windows updates that force quits your opened documents without saving.
Where does windows force you to quit without saving? 3am auto-updats that you specified?
+ You can install a lot more apps on the mac than windows without as much slow down as windows which has registry issues (installing apps without even using it in windows can slow down the computer!).
True.
+ You can open a lot more apps / documents at the same time than windows.
You can open more in OS X, but OS X slows down if you have too many up at once too...
+ More processing power than same computer running windows. A computer running XP is about 85% of speed as computer running OS X, benchmarked by Geekbench.
That explains why WoW is so much faster on Windows- NOT!
+ and many more...

I think the OP was echoing the thoughts of a lot of people on here including myself. I struggle with the idea of paying so much more for a computer when I worry that much of the hype may just be that- hype. I just can't help but feel like I may be paying for image- not unlike buying a Lexus (Toyota is damn near identical for a lot less). I am going to try Mac out though simply because I am so fed up with Windows and primarily anti-virus software. I am at the point now where I don't know if Mac is going to be better or not but I have to find out now that I am curious.

I feel the same way. The big difference is that OS X is made for the hardware it runs on. IF YOU CAN FIND A WINDOWS LAPTOP THAT HAS HARDWARE THAT WORKS AS FLAWLESSLY WITH WINDOWS AS OS X DOES WITH MACINTOSH, IT WILL WORK JUST AS WELL. Understand this, there is a HUGE difference between a Compaq laptop running Windows and a Dell business laptop running windows.

 

[kuwisdelu]

Yes as long as they ARE higher quality that's fair.
But everyone has had a few disappointments and it's not always easy to get things fixed when they aren't right.

All I've ever got from Apple's tech support is "do an OS delete and reinstall". Doesn't matter what the problem is, after 10 years that's still their only solution in the UK. It's never worked yet. At least it's saved me a fortune in AppleCare as I always refuse to pay £300 to be told to do a clean install.

Wow, I guess Apple has some work to do in the UK?

I don't know how much it varies location to location, but I certainly know some people here in the US who've had some problems and took their computer into the Apple Store, and their hardware was repaired/replaced on the spot, and the times it was too difficult to fix, were handed a brand new computer that worked perfectly...

Maybe those were just the success stories, or maybe Apple is just badly behind in its support for the UK?

 

[kuwisdelu]

But was your Macbook really overpriced when you take into consideration fit&finish as well as quality in assembly techniques? When I first bought a Powerbook 3 years ago, I bought it based on fit&finish and obvious quality. How can you quantify a value for that?

Oh, I definitely agree with you. I love how well-made my MacBook just *looks* and, better, *feels.* It's great. I'm just trying to talk in the language of some of the other people here, for whom that doesn't seem important. My old Dell was ugly and always looked like it was going to fall apart.

 

[QCassidy352]

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.

I'm sure they're crying over their "lost sales..." or maybe you missed the part where they have $18 billion in cash?

As for the tired old "apple should let people install OS X on PCs" crap... no. OS X is a vehicle used to sell macs. Macs are where the profit is. Just like the itunes store is used to sell ipods. Apple's model is to make profit on the hardware.

Finally, as I've posted over and over regarding the whining over the MBA, design is a feature, and one that costs quite a bit. Nobody seems to question this when it comes to cars, watches, clothing, etc., but when it comes to computers people just don't get it. Yes, apple charges a premium for their superior design. Dell packs the same components in an ugly, generic, boxy package and sells it for less. If you see a computer as nothing but a sophisticated wrench or hammer, then I can see why you wouldn't understand paying more for a mac. But $18 billion says that lots of people do understand and appreciate the difference.

In my mind, macs offer 3 advantages:
1. Hardware/software integration
2. OS X
3. Superior hardware design

IMO each of these things is significant and valuable. In fact, each one, even standing alone, is worth more to me than hardware components that are slightly faster or slightly cheaper. Maybe you disagree. In that case, buy a Dell and enjoy. But apple has a business model that clearly works extremely well, and they have a legion of loyal customers who clearly think that the advantages outweigh the cheaper alternative. I know I do.

 

[HLdan]

Agreed.....but not this time.

I think the OP's sentiments echo those of many other would-be switchers. The reality is that users pay a premium for Apple hardware/OS X. I don't think that is even arguable.

Um, I disagree. I just left Best Buy and took a look at the XPS 1330. After reading posts about how well spec'd it was against the MBP I thought I would take a good look at it.
Well it didn't take much looking, the XPS1330 is cheap junk. The keyboard is very spongy feeling, too much flex. They keyboard also looks like it's was spray painted with cheap paint.
The lid and body construction was made of very cheap plastic. Although the screen was bright it was dull in contrast. Finally the brushed metal look on the palm rest looked like Dell brushed it with a paint brush with their eyes closed.

Sorry, you do get what you pay for , the Dell XPS 1330 is cheap junk and piss poor.

 

[uncleSmurf]

The sad thing about all of this...

They are just computers... they all suck in the end anyways, macs and pc's.

If the OP is happy with his dell what's wrong with that? You have people on these boards who flame others for buying Macbooks instead of Macbook Pro's... but God forbid someone for buying a PC because it is much more cheaper for them...

But I guess a lot of Mac users are just special because they have Mac's and not a PC.. that's pretty arrogant.

Leave the OP alone, he bought a PC, he's happy. What's wrong with that?

 

[RHD]

Wow, I guess Apple has some work to do in the UK?

I don't know how much it varies location to location, but I certainly know some people here in the US who've had some problems and took their computer into the Apple Store, and their hardware was repaired/replaced on the spot, and the times it was too difficult to fix, were handed a brand new computer that worked perfectly...

Maybe those were just the success stories, or maybe Apple is just badly behind in its support for the UK?

Gosh! Lucky you!
That has certainly not my my experience with the Mac store on Regent Street in London or any of their tech support. As far as I'm aware the UK shops don't fix anything while you wait. Even if they agree to do it at all it takes weeks which is really bad news if you use it for work and are freelance like me.
Mostly they just seem to look for ways to get out of helping. Which is a very UK thing.
When I've had to get something done in a hurry I've taken it to a reseller and paid megabux for it. It isn't good.

 

[uncleSmurf]

Your personal opinion...

I was impressed with the M1330 quality. I could also say that I was at the CompUSA today looking at the Macbooks and was disappointed with the quality of the middle line Macbook compared to the Blackbook right next to it.

No company is perfect in how they produce their products...

Um, I disagree. I just left Best Buy and took a look at the XPS 1330. After reading posts about how well spec'd it was against the MBP I thought I would take a good look at it.
Well it didn't take much looking, the XPS1330 is cheap junk. The keyboard is very spongy feeling, too much flex. They keyboard also looks like it's was spray painted with cheap paint.
The lid and body construction was made of very cheap plastic. Although the screen was bright it was dull in contrast. Finally the brushed metal look on the palm rest looked like Dell brushed it with a paint brush with their eyes closed.

Sorry, you do get what you pay for , the Dell XPS 1330 is cheap junk and piss poor.

 

[ansella]

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?

It's people like you that accept price gouging and keep buying that keep apple from lowering their prices. If you keep buying there is no reason for the prices to drop. Good for you guy who bought the PC (I didn't see your screen name before posting). If there were more like you Apple would have to be more competitive. By the way there are ways to run Leopard on a PC.

Here is an article telling you how.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,139038-c,macos/article.html

So go ahead and enjoy buy buy the hardware somewhere else.

I am waiting for updates before buying a MACBOOK.

 

[HLdan]

i don't know really

its not like in his original post he came off in anyway that was saying that apple is a bad company and flaming and that sort of thing

rather, he was just telling a story about how he felt about the current pricing, and was wondering what other people's opinons on the whole issue of it was. I, at least, didn't think that he came in here saying that what you think is wrong and here is the right thing instead. Rather, I feel it came off as a valid question, and people did openly flame and mock him out of pure mac and apple fanboy syndrome.

I noticed the OP has not come back so I'm sure he's enjoying this flame bait he created. At any rate you would be almost right in your idea of what the OP's intentions were accept for one thing. He bought the Dell. Why would he need our opinions on the matter anymore?
If he was on the fence and told the forum that the Dell looked attractive and the OS didn't matter but he likes the MBP but the costs are considerably more what should he do and what are our opinions?

Well that's not how it went. It went, " I'm tired of waiting for the MBP update, I bought the Dell cause it was cheaper and Apple's prices are too high, wah wah wah."
How would our opinion matter at this point. He already did the dirty deed. At this point he's looking for people to agree with him.

 

[dsnort]

IHere is an article telling you how.

Sorry, but if you use that, you are a thief. No excuse, just a lame assed stealer of other peoples work!

 

[island]

Sorry, but if you use that, you are a thief. No excuse, just a lame assed stealer of other peoples work!

Thief's rock!

 

[dsnort]

Thief's rock!

You'd never say that if you had been stolen from.

Thieves, ( the proper plural ), suck.

Big ones.

To completion.

 

[RacerX]

I've run these numbers before, so I won't do it again here, but for every Mac sale lost because someone bought Mac OS X for some other PC maker's hardware, Apple would need four additional Mac OS X sales to make up for that lost profit. And if half of Apple's current market share in hardware sales bought some other company's hardware to run Mac OS X, Apple would need to reach nearly 50% of OS market share to stay even with their current profits.

Forget making more money by selling Mac OS X for other hardware, Apple would have to struggle to just stay near their current profit range.

Asking Apple to make Mac OS X available for other PCs is the equivalent of asking someone to take a 50% pay cut while working more hours.


Frankly, Apple isn't a charity and if Jobs started running it like one, it wouldn't be around for very much longer. So anyone who doesn't want a Mac and is crying about not being able to run Mac OS X on some other computer, I have absolutely no sympathy for you. I make my living working on Macs, but rarely buy new systems. But the last thing I want is to see the platform killed off just appease people who don't even care about it to begin with.

I've never paid more than $800 for a computer in my life, and I have absolutely no problem with Apple's pricing.


Further, any student buying new hardware (of any type) while in school also deserves absolutely no sympathy... AT ALL. I would never buy new hardware while in school because it is an absolute waste of money! You've basically thrown away most of the value of your new system the moment you get it.

It is simple, if you are hurting for funds... DON'T BUY NEW STUFF!

Starting with nothing, I could have a system up and running that would let me do things most people can't do with the best of hardware or newest software... for the cost of a couple pizzas!

So yeah, when I see students whining about where to throw their $2000 for computer stuff, I find it sounding like the rich complaining about taxes...

Oh, if only all of us were so cursed!

 

[kuwisdelu]

I've run these numbers before, so I won't do it again here, but for every Mac sale lost because someone bought Mac OS X for some other PC maker's hardware, Apple would need four additional Mac OS X sales to make up for that lost profit. And if half of Apple's current market share in hardware sales bought some other company's hardware to run Mac OS X, Apple would need to reach nearly 50% of OS market share to stay even with their current profits.

Forget making more money by selling Mac OS X for other hardware, Apple would have to struggle to just stay near their current profit range.

Asking Apple to make Mac OS X available for other PCs is the equivalent of asking someone to take a 50% pay cut while working more hours.


Frankly, Apple isn't a charity and if Jobs started running it like one, it wouldn't be around for very much longer. So anyone who doesn't want a Mac and is crying about not being able to run Mac OS X on some other computer, I have absolutely no sympathy for you. I make my living working on Macs, but rarely buy new systems. But the last thing I want is to see the platform killed off just appease people who don't even care about it to begin with.

I've never paid more than $800 for a computer in my life, and I have absolutely no problem with Apple's pricing.


Further, any student buying new hardware (of any type) while in school also deserves absolutely no sympathy... AT ALL. I would never buy new hardware while in school because it is an absolute waste of money! You've basically thrown away most of the value of your new system the moment you get it.

It is simple, if you are hurting for funds... DON'T BUY NEW STUFF!

Starting with nothing, I could have a system up and running that would let me do things most people can't do with the best of hardware or newest software... for the cost of a couple pizzas!

So yeah, when I see students whining about where to throw their $2000 for computer stuff, I find it sounding like the rich complaining about taxes...

Oh, if only all of us were so cursed!

Finally, someone who understands how businesses work

If Apple put their OS on third party hardware, everyone would lose out. Sure, you'd have a cheaper computer with OS X, but it wouldn't be as stable as it is now; Apple would lose money, which would mean worse OS X down the road; then we're in the same situation as Windows.

You can't always expect to get a great product for free. Luckily, there are people out there working on things like OpenOffice.org and Linux and other open source projects, but that's not Apple.

I agree on the sentiment about students, too. I'm a university student right now, lamenting that I don't have a new iPod Touch and a nice shiny MacBook Air, but lamenting--definitely not complaining. I got a nice MacBook before coming to college, knowing it would serve me well, and I plan to keep using it as long as it lasts, which I expect will be a long time. Buying a new $800 laptop with Vista every year and constantly being frustrated just doesn't make sense when I could bite the $2000 bullet once and happily compute virus-free and productively for 4+ years. Because it's a Mac

 

[Freyqq]

I feel the same way. The big difference is that OS X is made for the hardware it runs on. IF YOU CAN FIND A WINDOWS LAPTOP THAT HAS HARDWARE THAT WORKS AS FLAWLESSLY WITH WINDOWS AS OS X DOES WITH MACINTOSH, IT WILL WORK JUST AS WELL. Understand this, there is a HUGE difference between a Compaq laptop running Windows and a Dell business laptop running windows.

actually, OEMs do the same thing as Apple. They pick components that work well together..not just the cheapest junk they can find. Some do, but most don't. They have the same pool of components that apple has to choose from. The only difference is that apple puts it in a nicely engineered case and slightly modifies some of the parts.

You're making it sound like apple makes all their own chips or something..which they don't. Windows has a lot of drivers b\c it supports a lot of components, but those drivers are written by the component manufacturers anyways.

 

[a4abt]

I was in the same situation about a month ago. I was comparing PC notebooks prices and Mac notebook's. I ended up with a Macbook Pro that cost a few more $$ than a similar PC, but the difference between both is far beyond simple hardware specs. I have been with PC all my life, the Macbook Pro was my first Apple computer and I will never go back to PC's! Only complaint about my Macbook Pro; it runs a little hotter than a PC notebook, but I've read that Apple decided to go with a passive cooling that makes their computers run warmer compared to other notebooks. It just takes time getting use to seeing higher CPU temperatures and not being concerned!

When buying a Mac, I believe there is a lot more than $$ differences

 

[BigPana]

Just like buying a TV, don't get one solely based on specs, you have to use your eyes.

And honetly for ME, yes macs are a little more expensive, but I guess it doesn't seem as crazy to me as it used to because I know that macs just come with tons of extra things that usually doesn't get listed on a quick spec sheet.

 

[Radio Monk33]

I noticed the OP has not come back so I'm sure he's enjoying this flame bait he created. At any rate you would be almost right in your idea of what the OP's intentions were accept for one thing. He bought the Dell. Why would he need our opinions on the matter anymore?
If he was on the fence and told the forum that the Dell looked attractive and the OS didn't matter but he likes the MBP but the costs are considerably more what should he do and what are our opinions?

Well that's not how it went. It went, " I'm tired of waiting for the MBP update, I bought the Dell cause it was cheaper and Apple's prices are too high, wah wah wah."
How would our opinion matter at this point. He already did the dirty deed. At this point he's looking for people to agree with him.

Actually, he did come back here with a follow up post on this thread, around page 2 so this is hardly flamebait. I think he's waiting for an apology.