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BrianG · 08.21.2011, 01:38 PM

Yeah, the Apple stores do always seem to be packed. But at least 75% of those are tweens just playing around with the stuff. Another ~10% are older people just wanting something that will browse the web and send email without having to worry about antivirus software. The last ~15% seem to be people "kicking the tires" before a possible purchase.

I personally make an effort to boycott Apple products. The only Apple product I have is a 5th gen iPod (my wife's Mac doesn't count - that's hers), but only because after-market support existed to attach it to my car deck at the time.

The problem I have with Apple is:

- Steve Jobs is sooo completely full of himself. He has the attitude that if he says it is the Holy Grail, then it is. Period. And that attitude carries over to the Apple store employees; all with their holier-than-thou, apple-is-god attitudes.

- Apple hardware is no big deal, especially given the cost. The iMac is simply a glorified tablet without a touchscreen, but with a hefty price. And the hardware in the mobile segment is nothing special either; there are other makers out there with similar specs. When you get to the hi-end stuff, the hardware is really no different than any other hi-end brand. An 8+ core CPU with 20GB of RAM and RAID0 HDDs on SATA3 is gonna be fast from any brand.

- Cost. My wife's iMac needed a new PS unit. It was a 150w module and costed $275. They covered labor free of charge (how magnanimous of them after dry raping me for the part), but it took a week to get the part in and installed. I told the tech that if this was my personal PC, I could have went out and gotten an 800w+ supply and have it installed within the hour, and it would have costed a fraction of that. He countered that their product quality was superior. Wanting to see what "superior quality" looks like, I took the PS apart and be assured, there is nothing magical in there; no futuristic glowing sphere of pulsing power or alien technology. Besides, if their stuff was so superior, why did it break in the first place?

- Apple OS on Apple hardware. This is a double-edged sword in my opinion. On one hand, it allows Apple to have an OS that is less cluttered with backward compatibility, having to support a huge range of hardware configurations, and support for legacy hardware/apps. On the other hand, it limits what people can do with it unless they want to spend all kinds of time tinkering/hacking it if they aren't using apple OS on apple hardware. Personally, I think Apple would have much better market share if they released the OS with their hardware like they do now, but offer an add-in or internet updater (similar to how Linux updater works) to support other hardware. That would keep the OS leaner when running on their products, but opens doors for other people.

I am not a Windows fan-boy either (M$ does have their heavy handed business approach), but I do like the lower price and vast hardware configurations possible. Take pretty much any PC hardware and you can put Windows or one of a multitudes of Linux distros on it - and it works (with Linux, you may have to tinker a bit). The Mac OS itself is ok (customized version of Linux), I might even be tempted to use it under different circumstances.

I too was shocked when I heard about HP stopping PC sales. But I can understand how hard it must be to be competitive on the middle to low end product segment where this is little profit. I guess that leaves Dell and Gateway for the main-stream desktop and laptop market.

I know many people use laptops instead of desktops at home now, but I just have a hard time figuring out how I could run what I do at home on dual hi-res monitors on relatively mediocre mobile hardware? The desktop platform IS shrinking, but won't be gone for a while IMO. Besides, I like the idea of separate components; when one part breaks, I just replace that instead of the whole computer.

	(#7)
BrianG RC-Monster Admin Offline Posts: 14,609 Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Des Moines, IA	08.21.2011, 01:38 PM Yeah, the Apple stores do always seem to be packed. But at least 75% of those are tweens just playing around with the stuff. Another ~10% are older people just wanting something that will browse the web and send email without having to worry about antivirus software. The last ~15% seem to be people "kicking the tires" before a possible purchase. I personally make an effort to boycott Apple products. The only Apple product I have is a 5th gen iPod (my wife's Mac doesn't count - that's hers), but only because after-market support existed to attach it to my car deck at the time. The problem I have with Apple is: - Steve Jobs is sooo completely full of himself. He has the attitude that if he says it is the Holy Grail, then it is. Period. And that attitude carries over to the Apple store employees; all with their holier-than-thou, apple-is-god attitudes. - Apple hardware is no big deal, especially given the cost. The iMac is simply a glorified tablet without a touchscreen, but with a hefty price. And the hardware in the mobile segment is nothing special either; there are other makers out there with similar specs. When you get to the hi-end stuff, the hardware is really no different than any other hi-end brand. An 8+ core CPU with 20GB of RAM and RAID0 HDDs on SATA3 is gonna be fast from any brand. - Cost. My wife's iMac needed a new PS unit. It was a 150w module and costed $275. They covered labor free of charge (how magnanimous of them after dry raping me for the part), but it took a week to get the part in and installed. I told the tech that if this was my personal PC, I could have went out and gotten an 800w+ supply and have it installed within the hour, and it would have costed a fraction of that. He countered that their product quality was superior. Wanting to see what "superior quality" looks like, I took the PS apart and be assured, there is nothing magical in there; no futuristic glowing sphere of pulsing power or alien technology. Besides, if their stuff was so superior, why did it break in the first place? - Apple OS on Apple hardware. This is a double-edged sword in my opinion. On one hand, it allows Apple to have an OS that is less cluttered with backward compatibility, having to support a huge range of hardware configurations, and support for legacy hardware/apps. On the other hand, it limits what people can do with it unless they want to spend all kinds of time tinkering/hacking it if they aren't using apple OS on apple hardware. Personally, I think Apple would have much better market share if they released the OS with their hardware like they do now, but offer an add-in or internet updater (similar to how Linux updater works) to support other hardware. That would keep the OS leaner when running on their products, but opens doors for other people. I am not a Windows fan-boy either (M$ does have their heavy handed business approach), but I do like the lower price and vast hardware configurations possible. Take pretty much any PC hardware and you can put Windows or one of a multitudes of Linux distros on it - and it works (with Linux, you may have to tinker a bit). The Mac OS itself is ok (customized version of Linux), I might even be tempted to use it under different circumstances. I too was shocked when I heard about HP stopping PC sales. But I can understand how hard it must be to be competitive on the middle to low end product segment where this is little profit. I guess that leaves Dell and Gateway for the main-stream desktop and laptop market. I know many people use laptops instead of desktops at home now, but I just have a hard time figuring out how I could run what I do at home on dual hi-res monitors on relatively mediocre mobile hardware? The desktop platform IS shrinking, but won't be gone for a while IMO. Besides, I like the idea of separate components; when one part breaks, I just replace that instead of the whole computer.