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Why You Shouldn’t Buy a Mac
11th September 2010 by Zee
Apple
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This is a misleading infographic. The Mac Pro is a workstation, not your run of the mill computer. Build a similar workstation on Dell, you will find that the prices are very similar.
Mac Pro’s are easy to upgrade, I’ll concede that the iMac you can’t upgrade easily. As for prices on Newegg, a very small percentage of people will build their own computer.
Would have to agree Dan. The gentleman who created this infographic did so using an outdated version of a Mac Pro selection page from Apple.com. Sounds like the creator is a spokesman for Newegg.com, does it not?
If he were from New Egg, you would think he would be aware that the processor upgrade is far more than the GHz implied. There are about 18 different versions of the Xeon, ranging in price from $300 to $1200.
Guess which ones Dell lists.
I would be amazed if Dell offers a similar setup as they generally focus on entry level PCs up to at best middle level which is why even windows users think fairly low of them. Even their server solutions are fairly woeful.
However take a competing high end windows PC manufacturer and compare it to Mac PCs and there is still a noticeable price difference. Interestingly apparently Macs made up the vast majority of high end PCs sold at the start of the year but if you look closer its their price not their performance that ranks them as such. http://www.electronista.com/articles/10/02/01/macs.dominate.1k.plus.prices.at.us.stores/ Lack of competition, not quality, is a major factor of what makes Macs overpriced even compared to expensive windows PC brands such as Alienware. Also I’m a medicinal chemist and yet I’ve built my last two desktops although I’ll admit I purchased my laptops; hp, alienware and macbook pro.
T5500 is a high end Dell workstation. It would be on a similar level to the Mac Pro.
I agree, that this infographic is pure crap.
OMG look who it is. Fanboy #1!
Wow. This information is entirely false. Macs are EASILY upgradable. You can upgrade the RAM, the HDD, etc. Macs, while personal computers, are on an entirely different operating system which is not only easier to use but less prone to crashes, viruses, etc.
As for the price, of course you pay more. You pay more for higher quality shoes, clothes, cars, etc–why not computers? As a PC user since childhood who’s just recently switched to Mac, I have to say that they are honestly the best, easiest to use computers on the market.
I’m shocked that you’d believe this crap enough to publish it, and am unfolloeing you on Twitter.
Would have to agree. The gentleman who created this infographic did so using an outdated version of a Mac Pro selection page from Apple.com. Sounds like the creator is a spokesman for Newegg.com, does it not?
Mac issn’t high quality computers.. Similarly, iPhones are also NOT high quality phones..
Linux is also less prone to crashes and viruses and it’s free.. so what say you?
That your command of English is piss-poor.
piss-poor indeed
Ad hominem …. shame on you.
Mac OS is based on UNIX, which is what Linux is based on. It is only the UI of OSX that Apple charges for.
I also have to say, that you should read your comments before posting, your spelling is horrendous. Also I have no problems with your opinions on Macs and iPhones, but you should give reasons, not just idiotic blather. As SJ said: “We need to elevate the level of this conversation”.
Both Mac and LINUX are higher performance, less annoying, and WAY more secure than Windows. Use either. Or neither; it’s a free country. I prefer the Mac, because it has broader support for applications and devices I use in my work.
Mac not nearly as secure as Windows. However, if by secure you mean being unpopular enough for hackers and virus makers to not want to target Macs, then I guess your right.
It seems that there are a lot of Apple fan-boys getting their panties in a bunch over this. So, I personally challenge any Apple fan to a dollar to dollar comparison. You build your Mac and I’ll build a PC. I guarantee you’re gonna get a bigger bill. When you buy a Mac the only true difference is the OS.
BTW: if the grammar police want to comment on my post…..FUCK YOU!
You should have used “you’re” instead of “your.” You’re is an abbreviated form of you are, which is what you meant to say; whereas your indicates possession.
For example: I guess you’re right. This is your car.
Also, an ellipsis has three period marks “…” not five.
Geez, with posts like this, it’s like shooting fish in a barrel! Stay classy J!
None of you rose to the challenge about creating a dollar to dollar machine… Just admit that hes right. You pay premium for that cute little apple on the side and OSX. And to be fair it’s your own choice (and loss). But trying to convince others who don’t know better that it isn’t more expensive is evil.
Price is a valid point when criticizing Macs.
MAX OS X is linux… (well rebranded…) so all the benefits of linux comes with it
Its actually based on the Mach Kernel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mach_(kernel)
As argued in the infographic. The individual parts of a Mac Pro (such as the individual HDD) are no different from what you would get from sites like NewEgg but cost more.
And that dont make sense. Paying more for OSX is understandable but paying more for a HDD? It’s not like the HDD works better than one you can get off the shelf.
Why pay more for the same chips, pcb material, solder, interconnects, etc when it is sourced from a global market and labor is overseas? When injection molding was new it was expensive to develope the molds, equipment, etc. But now it is fast turnover with cheap raw materials. And now Apple is using the same standard IA64 and x86 archetecture which furthur lowers any developement costs.
I conclude their computers are sold to people of below average intelligence or ignorant people. Look at the bandwagon propaganda fanboys jump on: no viruses, easy to use, don’t crash, etc.. They are alluding to no middle ground, all or nothing, hastiness, and a self serving bias to justify how much they just spent.
Someone doesn’t think exactly like I do! Quick, stop listening to anything they say!
/unfollow
/follow “MacFanBoyNewsLetter”
….
Aaah… Much better.
“I have to say that they are honestly the best, easiest to use computers on the market. ”
at first, if u are using a pc for more than one week u think its easy and logical in use and beahvior.
and if not, u can tweak windows like u wish to. so, its not that easys to say pc´s are best or macintosh.
i am a student. and in future iam gonna buy a new PC. Why?
Because I get the same performance for the HALF OF THE PRICE!
oh ,big what, i need a anti virus software. but wheres the problem?
i dont need n tower made of metall.
its standin under my desk and gettin even dusty like everthing else.
i cant hear anymore the discussions between the mac fans and pc users.
compare apples behavior and strategy from the beginning of the company with today. Open your eyes Mac-Users!
Nothing surprising here – people will pay these sums for apple to provide them with a cool identity and something bogus to brag about. This is how supreme Jobs’ marketing is.
All of Apple’s gear comes from stock – they make nothing, just rebadge it. This is mainly because only a handful of companies actually make all of the electronics in the world due to how much fabs and foundries cost.
Also, the moment you put anything into a set “print”, the pricing will be out of date. It still doesn’t change the fact that Apple overcharge by a considerable margin for standard components regardless of the fine details of the pricing.
And finally, as an owner of a macbook and user of an imac at work, I have more issues with apps bombing out, systems lockups and the system needing to be rebooted to claw back performance than I ever have had with XP and win7. This is even with using Activity Monitor to clear threads in OSX.
No OS is infallable and all of them have their issues (I have plenty of complaints about windows that OSX simply doesn’t have an issue with, but the reverse is also very much true). Fed up of this fanboy “OSX can do no wrong” astroturfing.
If I were to choose my fav OS of all time, I’d be agonising over the merits of AmigaOS and RISCOS!
Unfollowed TNW due to this garbage.
Pathetic, over 1 post criticizing Mac’s? Please unfollow.
Do you agree with the infographic yourself, Zee? You didn’t provide any context on your take of the material presented. I have to agree with everyone above that comments made don’t fully cover the differences in quality between the components thats configured in a Mac Pro vs ones that you purchase for much cheaper on New Egg.
I think NewEgg is a great place to purchase bargain components, but for professional use, there’s a clear reason why everyone in the creative industry (whom require high performance computers) use Mac Pro’s and Xserve’s.
Zee is a Mac user. Exclusively.
It’s a piece that, while not intended to be humorous, is. People should learn to take life a little less seriously.
I’m all for humor. In fact, my best buddies and I make fun of each other all the time about being Apple or Google fanbois.
I don’t mean to bash Zee about whether or not he agrees or disagrees with the comments made in the picture. In fact, that shouldn’t even matter. But I imagine (and I may be wrong) that most people read The Next Web primarily for “News, Business, and Culture”, and rarely for jokes. So it’d be great if there was some additional commentary by Zee about what he thought about the claims made, if only to improve his own integrity as the author of this post. The title alone seems to indicate that the picture should not only be taken seriously, but should be considered when deciding whether or not to purchase a Mac.
If it’s meant to be taken lightly, the least he could do for the benefit of those researching Macs is put an “LOL”.
It seems people may take life lightly, but never the iLife.
I think it’s safe to say that you don’t know much about computers in general. The clear reason why people in the creative industry use Apple products is due to the design of the Apple products. Basically, since the Apple looks sleek, they buy it. They all tout that it’s easier to use, but how so? I find Windows and Linux to be just as easy to use. Compatibility problems? Every operating system has compatibility issues.
As for the NewEgg comment. You say it’s a great place for bargain components, yet you fail to realize that NewEgg also offers high end components as well, which are designed for professional use. Also, Apple uses stock components. You basically pay for their design, which I’ll agree that it looks nice, but not nice enough that I’d want to spend an extra $500 or so.
Zee, it has nothing to do with one article. The article shows poor research and poor reporting. If its the quality of article you choose to put in, then clearly it doesn’t say much for your website.
For example, your ram increase costs $200 for 2GB when if you look, you’ll see the change is from 6x1GB to 4x2GB. Any idiot would know that 1GB are cheap as and 2GB are more expensive per GB than 1GB modules.
If you bothered to research, you’d also know that hardware is tested for compatibility with the OS, so as an example, the Mac Pro won the fastest machine a while back. Similar specced machines didn’t perform as well because the hardware was tested together to ensure it worked well rather than just lumping together any cards they could find.
You’ll also notice minor things like the drives that Apple uses. The reason they use particular brands is because they have been tested on the hardware. People who add different brands sometimes notice slow downs and issues with the OS. As an example, the tests done on the Apple OEM SSD’s found they didn’t need to be trimmed, whereas other cheaper third party brands did.
Again, someone mentioned the difference between a business machine and a generic desktop. You’re clearly comparing to cheap generic machines which this is not. Poor reporting again, because just like the laptops, if you compare models of similar quality and finishing, you’ll find they are priced exactly the same.
Any idiot can do a price comparison of different models without taking into account these issues, the differentiator between good technology reporting is that people who do the articles bother to research properly.
I think the point of the infographic is that Macs are more expensive, spec-for-spec, than their PC counterparts, and that’s correct. My impression is that people buy these machines for the branding, the aesthetics and the perception of reliability and quality. (I say “perception” because, as someone else here has mentioned, Apple’s OS isn’t perfect. That Macs “just work” is one of the greatest marketing tricks Steve Jobs has ever pulled.)
Mac’s works better plain and simple. Its not even close. My iMac has not slowed down one bit. There is a reason PC’s need defrag and Mac’s do not.
reason why mac don’t need defrag is because of old technology there still using Fat32 limiting them to 4gb files max
Umm, no. OSX uses HSFS+ as it’s filesystem. The only place you’ll see it using FAT32 is on removable storage, and even there it isn’t default
Mark Raymond, as a user of Macs and PCs, let me say that Macs are hugely better machines, with components from only the best suppliers, and last years longer than PCs. I buy a new machine every three years and sell the old one, much as you would a used Mercedes or BMW, for enough to pay a large portion of the cost of the new machine. Macs simply do work. They work out of the box without having to purchase ad-ons. No security crap. If you can’t see that, well, you just can’t see.
So you mean to say the Foxconn that supplies Apple is better than the one that supplies Asus or Acer or Dell or HP etc?
Memory wise the DDR chips are split beween a handful of manufacturers and most brands use the top two. So why is apple charging that much for a one year warranty product? 3, 5, 10 (or lifetime, where legally possible) year waranty modules cost less. Is that memory buffered? Cause if else i don’t see why they are charging that much when we are going to move to DDR4 2.5K+ Mhz modules.
A power efficient 5x times longer warranty 2TB HDD costs 20-30% less than what Apple offers. A run of the mill version of the same HDD costs less then 3 times the price. And i can go on and on.
Mac Pros cannot be really classified as Workstations or Servers (except maybe the proc) because they are pretty much canned products. Workstations or Servers (and i’m not really talking about clusters) are not really this generalised, they are either more power and heat efficient, more space efficient, more performance efficient. Some that match the performance of the Mac Pro are a lot more cost effective.
I’d cut Apple some slack if they would offer more choices to take the Mac Pro into either one of two extreems, power efficiency or performance but Apple is not really about choice. Wouldn’t people want Mac Pros with procs that have a power consumption in the lower 2 digits, silent or spunned down hdds? Wouldn’t some like the option of an Ati FirePro that costs more than the two 30″s you have?
Apple products “just work” becaus apple employees don really do much work. :D What i mean is they use last generation (sometimes 2.3 generation old) hardware which has bugs ironed out by others.
I agree, Apple may be selling you caviar, but it is canned caviar, the same canned caviar the others are selling you but it’s in a brushed aluminium can. It’s not even the best quality or most fresh caviar you can have for that price. Also be careful how to hold your can of Apple caviar when you cut it open as not to get food poisoning after you opened it the wrong way.
I can only speak from experience. Recently I’ve had 6 PowerPC based Macs and 1 Intel-base Mac. I have had the following failures:
– PPC IMac: integrated video failure.
– PowerMac G4: 22′” Cinema Display failure.
– G3 iBook: notorious display backlight failure.
– MacBook Pro 15″: daughter board failure; other daughter board failure, logic board failure, 23″ Cinema HD failure;
From this, I conclude my PowerPC era Macs lasted 10 years with about 0.15 failures per Mac per; while my Intel era mac has had 4 failures in 3 years, or 1.3 failures per Mac per year.
From this, I conclude that my PPC Macs last 10x longer than my Intel Mac. This corresponds to the old life-cycle times for Macs [7-10 years for a Mac vs. 1-3 years for a PC].
So the arguments that new Macs are built from the same commodity parts as high-end PCs, yet cost 50%-150% more seems intuitively clear.
However, Mac OS X is just a sweet OS compared to Windows, so I stick with my Mac, because it is the hardware + the software that makes me productive.
Stupid edits:
“PowerPC era Macs lasted 10 years with about 0.15 failures per Mac per;”
should be:
“PowerPC era Macs lasted 10 years with about 0.15 failures per Mac per year;”
It should also be noted that 2 of the 6 failures [now 3 of 7 - since the back-light on my 30" Cinema HD display is failing] are LCD display failures – not correlated with CPU architecture. Each of the 3 displays has suffered 1 failure. However the newer LCDs failed much earlier than the old one.
This argument was meant to point out that Apple’s manufacturing partners and manufacturing standards have slipped in the last 5 years, not that Intel architecture is inherently inferior to PPC architecture. It *could* mean that the best quality components available to build an Intel based laptop are inferior to best quality components available to build a PPC-based machine. Or it could mean that Apple has chosen not to go with “best quality components”, while not adjusting their prices accordingly.
For the most part, PCs “just work” as well. I think I hate the phrase more than anything else, because it suggests that you won’t encounter any issues with a Mac, that they’ll last forever, that they’re perfect, etc. But they’re not, as other people have pointed out. Eventually, hardware fails through wear and tear. There’s no getting around that.
Also, I don’t use any anti-virus software for my PC. Microsoft Security Essentials came with the operating system, and it seems to do its job well. As far as I’m aware, I haven’t suffered any viruses yet.
I should clarify that when I talk about a perception of reliability and quality, I mean that there’s a perception of higher reliability and quality relative to a Windows PC. To me, it seems like people are paying for a marginally better experience in some ways while paying a whole lot more. I’ve used Macs before, and they’re fine machines, but I’m just not seeing the higher price point justified. Sorry.
Mark I see, you nerver had your hands in a mac, are not perfect but close i don’t need a 1/2 hour to star working in the mornig with windows, I have Mac and windows side by side in my desk, I can see the diference a lot!!! the Mac do the work period, the windows ask you all the time wath to do, and with the same software. is simple do you want a Mercedes or a Beatle
Which one of those cars can i park more easily?
Which one can carry more of my luggage?
Which one has the lower insurance costs?
Which one has the most dedicated service shpos across country?
Which one is less likely to get stolen?
What sort of a setup are you using?
I spent $600 on setting up my PC. It has a single quad-core processor in it, so I suppose it’s not as good as the dual-quad-core Mac Pro. Hardware failure wise I had my old IDE drives die but they were kinda 10 years old and had gone through the shaking of moving halfway across the continent in a car without being strapped down, and in a makeshift drive holder (I later got a new case). So that’s kinda expected (in fact I didn’t expect them to last the move).
I start up every app that I use regularly on startup, just because I get annoyed at trying to click a ton of icons only to have an app block the desktop, and have another one follow as soon as I minimize that one, etc. So my computer has a LOT to do at startup – usually after boot I have around 300 processes running, which is a lot (though normal for what I do, I just run a lot on it).
It takes less than five minutes for it to get from power off to everything’s running and it’s idle. I have a second profile that I use if I need to just start up quick and not have all that stuff running… and including the time the BIOS takes to check to see if I have a bootable CD, it might take me a minute and a half, and that includes having to retype the login name so I go to that profile and not the other one :P
I did get my hands on a MacBook at one point in time. The battery outright died on me. So did the new hard drive. And it was agonizingly slow doing things, and iTunes would randomly lock up the entire system while playing a song and I’d have to wait for a few minutes to have it come out of it, or I’d have to pull the plug and reboot it. I’ve since switched to a Windows-based Netbook and couldn’t be happier with it.
I haven’t really had Windows ever crash on me out of it’s own accord. Crash because I ran a buggy 3rd party program that I knew was written by a team of retarded monkeys? Yes. Crashed because I opened 2,000 images in GIMP? Yes. Crashed because I’m a clutz and managed to trip over a cable and somehow pull out the video card while the system was on? Yes to that too.
Really a Mac would go down under the same circumstances. Testing a badly written program to see if it’ll crash the system? If it’s written by a bunch of drunken monkeys, yes it will. Max out the system resources? I’ve done it on a Mac, you need to reboot it because it just locks up completely. And rip out the video card while the system is still running? Pretty sure that’ll crash any operating system.
True, Macs are made in part from components which are generic across the industry, in the same way that Mercedes-Benz are made from components supplied by the same companies (Morelli, TRW, Bosch, etc) which supply Ford and GM. But a Ford isn’t a Merc. There is far more to industrial design than the components. Over the last ten years I’ve seen a number of Dell PCs literally go up in smoke as the power supplies or motherboards have overheated. I’ve never seen a Mac do this, even though the Macs we use tend to stay on a desk in work for 4-8 years, as opposed to 3-4 years for a Windows PC.
The two myths that this kind of infographic peddles is that a computer is merely the sum of its components, and that Apple users and owners are largely under the spell of Steve Jobs and therefore can’t tell they are paying over the odds. Virtually every Mac user I know uses or has used Windows PCs, in the same way that every Merc owner I know has driven and owned other makes of car. Whatever the specs say, the user experience is better, and the productivity is better. This was already the case on OS 8.1 with a G3, even though back in those days the Intel chips on Windows PCs were definitely faster than any Mac chips.
You can rationalise to yourself for ever why a Mac can’t possibly be worth the money — people do exactly the same thing with cars. But it’s at the high end of the market that the Mac succeeds, and that, in common with cars, is where you find the most demanding and discerning users.
Um bad example to compare Fords and Mercs. Namely in view of the fact that Mercs are hand built with the “quality” that supposedly comes with that, however as most users find Mercs are more prone to the errors that come with something being handbuilt and due to the “marque” they have, repairs are thousands more expensive. And in addition car manufacturers use their own components (Engines, bodywork, etc), the only things which are generic are items like tyres, sound systems, etc.
Lets see this computer and price compared to a similar Dell or HP. This is just one-sided.
Macs are generally better built and more robust. Really, they are. (Generaly). I still use an iBook G4 with OS 10.4 to edit standard def. video and do graphic design work. The thing is at least 5 years old and still hums. I’ve got external everything (monitors, burners, hard drives), so maybe that’s helped it last as long as it has.
Any tower Mac is just as easily customizable as any PC desktop. One true point that this article makes, though, is that if you buy everything from the Apple Store, you will get ripped off. I buy my Macs at the very base level (except processor) and then upgrade the hard drive(s), RAM, video card, etc. from more affordable parts at OtherWorldComputing. Usually I can save about a grand this way, and don’t have to feel jealous about my buddies ramped up Dell that was more affordable, but burned out in half the time.
I do run both Windows and Mac, but no Linux. And I must say, that even though my Windows is an eMachine, it still performs like a champ – likely because I don’t download porn all the time or click on stupid links in emails. That’s where most people get their viruses that cause PC performance problems. With my Mac, however, I can still “rawdog it” without those damn virus scares. For now…
So, my opinion is that top-shelf Macs (MacMini & Airbooks you don’t count) are better out of the box and will last longer, but Windows doesn’t suck if you take care of your machine.
It is interesting that when I go to the configure your mac pro page the price is much lower ($2499 for a One 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon “Nehalem” system) as opposed to the deliberately outdated information in your article.
Whether or not your arguments about mac pricing are valid are undermined by the publication of outdated pricing.
Was there a reason that you did not break this down for us using current information?
How can I make a purchase decision based upon this?
I would appreciate an updated article with incite into the pricing of currently shipping models. Otherwise, I will have to find another source for advice.
This was not meant for advice. It was an info-graphic put together by someone else, showing that Apple charges more for components than other OEMs. Which, if you do a Google search on the topic, you would realize that Apple has always been expensive, so this is not new. The prices in the graphic are not important, nor were the specific prices the point. There are a lot of sources out there for advice.
If this was not meant for advice, then why is the title “Why you should not buy a mac”? Sure sounds as if the author is offering me advice on why I should not buy a mac.
How can you believe that in an article intended to show that a product is more expensive than another that the prices referenced to support the conclusion are not important?
I am not arguing that macs are or are not more expensive. I am, however, saying that this article is not helpful because of the inaccurate information provided to support the conclusion of the author.
And, since the current prices for the products being reviewed are at least as easy to gather (probably easier) than the prices referenced, did the author intentionally provide outdated figures in order to sensationalize the article or was he just too lazy to check his information?
I’d rather read it as… why you should upgrade a Mac yourself where you can. Like Mattheous said, it can be done.
And if the Office software is more expensive, it could still be bought individually. Some hassles, if the user think it worth the saving of having it installed.
Well, most of the item price could be a lot higher than the individual components in market. But as for the cinema display, I heard it has better calibrated colours and such, so the higher price could be acceptable (never tried it myself though)
The argument remains perfectly valid, the author isn’t building your system for you, they are simply highlighting the major price discrepancies between a major PC vendor (Apple) and building your own with parts from an online supplier (Newegg). I would hope you wouldn’t be basing the purchase of a system costing thousands of euros on any single piece of ‘advice’ you find on the internet.
first up let’s all chill and take this in the spirit that this was a bit of humor as well. second. most of the stats are dead on. i just popped over to configure my own machine and well… yep. its mostly the same.
What if you don’t know what the components are, and don’t care?
It’s the software, not the hardware that I prefer. If it were possible to use the Mac OS (without hacking) on other hardware, I’d consider it. In fact, back when that was possible, I used a PPC clone, which worked just fine. Still, I’d rather not be bothered with trying to pick the right components, get the absolute lowest price for them, etc. I don’t do that when I buy a car, so why should I do it when I buy a computer?
People who compulsively comparison shop need to get a life.
I cannot fathom how someone would be happy to purchase a Mac PC without knowing what components it contained. So do you simply buy the most expensive one or the one with the most chrome? Seriously though without investigating your purchases how do you even know what they are capable of?If I were investing thousands of euro I would be sure to be thorough in determining somethings potential instead of focusing on the software and subsequently realizing my Mac couldn’t run it particularly well.
Not all of us have rich parents or cushy “no-work but high pay” jobs that allow us to just throw thousands of dollars at things.
The vast majority of people have a budget. Thus we do comparison shop to get the best value. I’d hate to unload $3000 on a computer only to find out that I could get a similar system for significantly cheaper.
If you call burning an extra disc and changing one or two BIOS options ‘hacking’…
Holy cow! By all parameters MacPro is a server, and it costs like server. Processor – it is Xeon, completely different of consumer Core processrs. RAM? Have you mentioned that is EEC RAM? And so on and so on. It is not a consumer product, it is professional workstation.
(I’m not a blind-eyed Mac fan, you just twist the facts)
I’m sorry but what are you talking about? How are you differentiating a server from a consumer product? The only reason this isn’t being classed as a high performance gaming machine is due to the poor gaming content available on Macs and that is changing. Specifications wise this is pretty similar to high performance windows gaming PCs with a sufficiently integrated OS being the only thing lacking. Thank goodness Steam finally kicked Apple in the nuts and got them to start adding support for more diverse functionality to their machines.
As someone who services Windows and Mac based PCs, I think this infographic is very misleading. All it does is point out that Apple charges a lot of money. Do they over charge? Sure, but bet your butt if HP didn’t have to compete with Acer, ASUS, Dell, Gateway, and others, they would over charge too. Apple only has to compete with itself, no one else sells Macs. If others sold the Apple OS, they would sell it cheaper. As it is, Apple doesn’t even compete with the Windows based OEM’s on price. They think that their stuff is worth more money, and they do not base their price points on other’s pricing decisions.
As for the guy who unfollowed TNW on twitter because of this one post on dissing Macs, get a life. In the end everyone likes what they like. It is just stuff. You’re welcome to have an opinion on what you like, but you have to realize that others have that same right. It is not your job to be an ass about liking or not liking a certain brand. Get over yourself, and get a life.
Okay using your arguments about prices, Basic Mac Pro; One 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon “Nehalem” processor, 3GB (three 1GB) memory, 1TB hard drive, 18x double-layer SuperDrive & ATI Radeon HD 5770 with 1GB GDDR5 is £1999 on the Apple Shop! Dell charges £829 for a Dell Studio XPS 8100, which gives an i7 chip, running at 2.8Ghz, 6GB (2x2GB & 2X1GB) of Memory, 1TB Hard Drive, DVD +/- RW Drive & 1GB Nvidia GeForce GTS 240. Granted you don’t get a monitor but with the £1170 I’d have just saved, I think I could afford a decent monitor! Jeez Apple fans really need to realise they are just paying majorly over the odds for a PC. There are no unique parts in there, only an icon on the outside that shows you’ve swallowed the hype (hence the bite!)
And as for attacking someone’s opinion because he’s mis-spelled something is majorly idiotic and shows that you cannot attack his stance because you secretly think he’s right! (Please note before attacking my spelling of realise, in the UK we use a hard S, not Zed, like the US!)
You are comparing a workstation computer with an average consumer desktop. A power user would never be able to use the EPS to do his/her jobs and tasks.
You are comparing a workstation computer with an average consumer desktop. A power user would never be able to use the XPS to do his/her jobs and tasks.
No I am comparing a PC with a PC. Just because Apple call it a “Workstation” doesn’t alter the fact it is a standard PC. And basing the fact that the price I quoted was the lowest priced Mac Pro (The dearest was £3999) I doubt it would be that good a workstation! The PC I quoted however was verging on becoming high end equipment, in fact for another few hundred pounds (not thousands as Apple charge) you could either upgrade the Graphics Card to a Radeon 5870 or you could upgrade the CPU to an i7-875K (please note that these prices are just quick searches and that an in depth search would bring major discounts) and your old components could be sold on eBay, to recoup some of your costs of upgrading. And as the article was comparing a homebuild not a Dell which I quoted for an out of the box user experience (!), then for £1999 you could build a system which would blow that Mac out of the water including things like BluRay Burners, multiple GPU cards to allow multiple monitors, etc.
And if you don’t want to do a homebuild yourself then other companies do builds to your specs for you. Wired2Fire, Chillblast, Mesh (to name a few) all do “Straight from the box” at whatever specs and prices you want to pay or need to do your work. And as the first 2 are generally classed as Gamer’s Builders then you can guarantee that they can deal with any graphics program you desire to throw at them!
In view of the fact that 95% of the world uses Standard PC’s to do their jobs and tasks, including Doctors, Scientists, Teachers (all the way up to University), due to the ability to be easily customised, that doesn’t speak much for the average Mac User.
Personally I don’t really see why anyone should care what any other person buys. If a person believes that what they are buying is worth what they are paying who are you to belittle their choice.
Whoever gets a Mac for the reason of “better quality” knows nothing about hardware. Nothing. Before you reply, just remember you don’t even know what’s inside your Mac.
I think talking about Apple over pricing Office is a bit of a cheap shot..
When it is Microsofts product, and therefore Apple is not setting the RRP..
The articles states Microsofts RRP is $280, yet Apple sell it as an additional for $400, thats why it’s included. And please note that just because shops had a RRP of $280 doesn’t mean it’s what they sold it at, if you’d shopped around you could find it for less.
I think you should change the title to “Why You Shouldn’t Buy a Mac Pro”. The Mac Pro is not for everyone, it’s for professionals who are serious in computing power. Obviously the Mac Pro is going to be expensive.
You left out the consumer Macs like the Macbook, Macbook Pro, iMac, Mac Mini and Macbook Air.
Mac or PC my ass, give me that 3,300 cash and i’ll build by own rig, which by the way with be far more powerfull and better rounded than any mac, dell or what ever manufacturer there is again, I’ll build my own and install all 3 OS’s mac(hackintosh), winblowz and my favorite LINUX…..”Hi im a linux and i dont fall for big coporation marketng bullshit”
This is an old infographic, of course it’s outdated. Also “Zee” did not create this, he’s merely re-posting it.
Lol, why my name is “speech marks”?
Macs suck. Overpriced and OS isnt that great either. It is just another version of open-source Linux. If you dont believe me check the web.No right click either. Gaming, and graphics suck on Macs. It it not easily customizable.
Why are people so illiterate? In general when individuals are speaking about their computers they seem to forget Macs are PCs. I have never understood how some genius came up with an advertising campaign with some ‘fat PC guy’ and some ‘douchebag Mac guy’. Any insults hurled by the Mac guy directly correspond to Macs themselves since they are, in the main, PCs. Its like people being unable to differentiate between a vacuum cleaner and a hoover.
Mac PCs are massively overpriced but so are many windows based PCs such as alienware and both are roughly on par although I’ve had fewer problems with the latter. That being said like with anything else that might have been bad luck. Dell is considerably cheaper but you pay for what you get. Finally building your own PC will inevitably be the cheapest option.
I do not understand the aggressive and at times immature (ugh I’m quitting this site as I dislike a single article) need by some people in this thread to ‘defend’ their Macs which smacks of fanboism as, even with somewhat outdated material, the article is in the main correct.Interestingly the same desire shown by certain Mac users to pay extra to utilize their PC as a status symbol is also seen in windows based systems with alienware again springing to mind with its god damn radioactive alien. So the article is correct, now can people stop moaning about it and either have an educated discussion about it or move on.
I’ll admit that I didn’t read all of the posts because most of them were the same blah blah blah whiny stuff that the guy who wrote the infographic said. I mean if you’re going to comment even with poor grammar as I am, at least contribute rather then simply agree or disagree.
Very simply I agree to a degree. As an ex Apple employee it never sat right with me how they charge more for the same thing. But as stated earlier it is a status symbol and people will pay for it regardless. Aside from the programs being industry standards for film and music which are only for OSX. Disregard the fact that they are sexy frames and extremely portable. The real reason that I will always get a Mac over a standard PC is the Applecare.
Sure you can spend less than half as much on a standard PC with all the parts and the Applecare price included, but all I’ll be damned if I ever get in a jam with my computer and hand it over to some slime bucket at local geeksquad. For three years my computer will purr like a kitten and for three years my computer will work exactly how it should, which is more than I can say for the average user of a standard PC. Say what you will about the viruses, the fact if the matter is you rarely run into them as much as you with a standard PC. After that three years I’ll buy a new a computer because that’s exactly what you’d do anyway if you were the average consumer. The parts will be outdated and frankly I’m confidant enough to admit that I’m conceded enough to want something that I know will work, runs all the shit that I use to make money and it’ll look good doing it.
I am surprised that no one brings up the fact that Apple stole their operating system. Its just Free BSD with a fancy GUI thrown on top… and a terribly mangled CLI that takes jumping through hoops to just issue a simple unix command.
”Hi im a linux and i dont fall for big corporation marketing bullshit”
Seconded, linux is the way to go if you are not some deluded fan boy and actually know anything about computers.
Linux doesn’t run everything. I’ve used both Windows and Linux, and most of the programs I use are open source apps that can run well on both OS’s. However even with WINE some programs that are meant to work in Windows just simply don’t work in Linux, and some people need to use those programs for whatever reason – and there’s no alternative available.
To put it this way – I actually have a nerd dream job of sorts doing work for a Game company. The particular game that I do work with will simply not run on Linux. At all – there’s been attempts to make it work in WINE but they simply won’t work due to HackShield and a few eccentricities with the program. I could just quit and go use Linux, though how often does a gaming job come around? In that case I’d rather use Windows :P
I have both. Mac wins easily. My PC does not even compare. Its like comparing Bill Gates to Brad Pitt for looks.
I find it ironic that you just hit the nail on the head, all be it unintentionally. Apples are always commented on their “stylish” looks and granted using the two you provide, Brad Pitt would be classed as better on looks. Just as I love the look of an Apple Keyboard. However if you use every other value then Bill Gates would win, same as a PC! eg net value, ideas created, usefulness, even philanthropy!
A Western Digital harddrive made my iMac crash. Lots of people had the same problem.
I’m more than happy to pay for a more expensive harddrive, as long as it’s more reliable.
Office 2008 Business Edition is currently listed on Amazon at $399.95 (but is discounted by Amazon to $344.99). Apple is not overcharging for Office, they’re charging the RRP.
Funny Buy.com are offering it for $229, outletdeal are offering it for $158, although you even admit Amazon are not actually selling it at $399, only $345!
“Your Mac will be obsolete within a few years”???? You have got to be kidding me. Tell that to most professional Mac users who traditionally run their businesses on 5-6 year old Mac computers without a problem.
Unlike Windows, OS X upgrades do not need a faster Mac. My own MacBook Pro is now 4 years old and the performance I get out of Snow Leopard is actually better that what I got from the original install. And that is on a system that has never had a clean re-install. Only upgrades on top of the existing OS.
Try doing that with Windows.
People should try to remember that professionals (that includes artists to developers and scientists) do not choose Mac because they love to kiss Steve Job’s ass. They choose Apple because they want to invest in trouble free technology and just get on with their work.
As someone who has built their own machines for many years now. I can say with absolute certainty that if you’re buying a package, you’re getting ripped off. It doesn’t matter which company is putting it together for you.
Parts are parts. If you like one operating system over another, fine. Everyone’s entitled to work on whichever operating system they feel makes them the most productive.
Newegg and other distributors are offering the exact same components in your Apple, Dell, etc. computers for hundreds of dollars less.
You could literally rebuild the exact same computer twice if you did it yourself. I gaurantee you that the money you save from putting the shit together on your own will so far exceed the failure level of said components as to be negligible, regardless of who put it together.
I’ve done considerable amounts of hardware intensive work on both apple and windows based products over the years. I find myself very skeptical of people who claim that either one works significantly greater than the other as a workstation. It would seem to me that anyone who deemed themselves capable of justifying such a claim, couldn’t help but see the astonishing markup cost associated with buying a brand system.
Surely they must not be aware of the potential savings of doing it themselves, or unwilling to figure out how.
The creator of the infographic is obviously under the impression that apple costumers MUST be unaware. I’m sure if you asked them, he or she would have the same sentiment about dell costumers.
I honestly find myself wondering the same thing about anyone who requires a middle man to make their computer. I guess if 1-3 hours of your time is worth pracically $1000-1,500, then it probably isn’t worth doing it yourself. I’m sure all you folks are so lucky.
Aside from that, you could probably pay someone to build your computer and still come out well under a prebuilt. Or same cost but better features (mine costs the same as most prebuillt systems but I’d consider it fairly superior to anything in it’s price range)
Seems like you want all people out there to have the knowledge of bulding their own pc which I can tell you after a while is boring so why not pay for what apple is selling: their brand, a pc already build up
Zee… You’re an ass.
He’s our ass.
Judging by the strong responses from the pro-mac camp, it’s pretty evident what kind of people mac users are. I do think macs are nice shiny things, but I wouldn’t throw away my insanity to pay as much as people do for them. I just snigger when people try to show off their new macs, because I know that I can go for a lot more fancy dinners for quite a long while more while they eat cup noodles for a month.
But he has to run Windows, I feel so sad for the cheap bastard.
To those who are saying Macs are more reliable than PCs – not really… I’m a graphic designer and I’ve been using Macs for a while. If all you’re doing is browsing the web, then yeah, you’re probably not going to have many problems. But EVERY Mac I’ve used where I’ve had to have more than 2 applications open at the same time there have been freezing issues and quite frequently. Macs are no more reliable than PCs, period. And yes, for the same amount of money you pay for a Mac you can get a superior PC.
Your anecdotal observations mean nothing with respect to the general population. There are multiple studies that have been conducted that show statistically that the average mac will last longer than a PC. This also makes sense supply chain wise as Apple tends to have more control over the parts that go into their machine.
A point that hasn’t been made yet either is Apple’s superior customer service versus its competitors.
His observations were nothing to do with length of time a Mac lasts, but rather it’s usability as a “Workstation”. An issue you tried to raise earlier, about how superior a “Workstation” it is when compared to a standard PC. ie Multitask and it locked up!
This Apple cartoon seems fitting:
http://blog.webcopyplus.com/2010/05/17/in-apple-we-trust/
lol apple is gay +1 up
Someone call the whambulance.
See what you get at Alienware for waaaay less: http://www.alienware.com/Landings/desktop-deals.aspx
D*****bags and Macs are a match made in heaven, and should definately pointed out as a selling point and justification for added expense in computer hardware. Fuck you Mac Fanboys
For price and functionality I still favor the pc. The Macs are fun but overpriced
ill add some more to the already burning fire…… recently apple invented video calling.. do you know iphone can talk face to face with a touch of a button ? ;)
Yeah but you’ve got to love the fact that you can’t actually do it on a direct call! You need a Wifi connection!
And you forgot to mention that the latest can also do multitasking!
Did you know that the EVO4G can as well… without a WiFi Connection.
Since when did monitors NOT more than double its price for 6 inches?
If you have to ask how much it costs, you can’t afford it. I’ll continue to be mindless. I dealt with years of unstable drivers, screens of death, and spyware removal. I haven’t had to look at a hijack this log since I switched. I’ll pay triple for hardware so long as I don’t have to deal with windows ever again. I’m going back to my iPad and enjoying the great user experience I have across all my products. Peace out.. another mindless sheep!
I read, I agree with it, but will still get one :) same argument is Toyota vs BMW… some people just have to cash to differentiate themselves from the pack
I understand why Mac users are so defensive, and yes this article is a little misleading since it’s using outdated prices and doesn’t mention that you can get around apple’s upgrade pricing by buying your own upgrades yourself… but the fact that I think he’s trying to point out is…
Apple is f’ing EVIL for pricing their upgrades in such a manner. It takes advantage of users who know nothing about upgrading computers and would rather pay a premium for apple to ship them a computer with what they want. Here lies the “Apple-tax”. You mac users have to agree that Apple is absolutely evil for charging these prices on hardware that is much cheaper when you try to upgrade a dell or hp on their websites. They’re (HP/Dell) pricing makes sense, and often enough they have deals where they double your ram or upgrade your HDD for FREE (yeah yeah it’s probably included in the base price.. but still).
Bottom line.. Apple charges you a premium for the same technology that the PC vendors offer. And since both platforms can essentially do everything the other can do… it just makes logical sense that you mac users ARE PAYING AN APPLE TAX.
Oh and stop saying how mac is more secure.. just because hackers and virus makers don’t want to bother attacking an OS that has less than 10% of the market share.. doesn’t mean you guys have better protection. It’s like Canadians saying.. Canada is more secure than America.. but that’s because nobody wants to attack Canada.
this is so dumb. all the reasons for not getting macs are bullshit. I have not read one good argument for not getting a mac. These arguments are as legit as someone trying to fight the factual information in the bible….
If being able to get a similar spec’d machine for half the price is dumb or bullshit, then please feel free to join the other sheep outside your local Apple Store, where Apple will be happy to fleece you for the rest of your life.
Oh and while you’re here, I have these Magic Beans. They don’t do much but they look pretty, and if it will clinch the deal I’ll paint an Apple logo on the side. *
*Please note that under the terms of buying these beans, I decide where they will be planted, when they will be planted, when they will be harvested and if I’m not happy with anything you to do the beans I will come along and chop down the beanstalk!
I haven’t read the posts for the most part, so maybe some people have pointed this out. But the infographic has another point, that I’ve been following for 23 years: buy a Mac CPU as stripped-down as you can possibly get it, then build it out the way you need it with standard parts. And that’s much easier to do now that Macs are Intel.
So you max out the memory with Crucial, and you put in a decently-sized HD or three or four for a hundred bucks or so each.
Time Capsule? Don’t make me laugh. Time Machine? Essential. But with third-party external drives that both work and don’t send you to the poorhouse. Like LaCie (figure on replacing the power supplies regularly, for about $17 each, and don’t have a heart attack the first time Disk utility says one is going down. It’s the power supply, not the drive.) or Seagate.
Western Digitals are pretty and claim to work for the purpose, but I’ll quote Uncle Mick here: “Once burned, twice shy.” Yes, I realize that’s not original with him, either.
AppleCare is for iPhones and daughters going away to college, maybe. RealityCare is Day 366 and a set of Torqx screwdrivers, and doubling the size of the internal HDs every year or so. You young geekier types know the ins and outs of Unix memory management better than I do; I know I spent $149 for a 500-gb, 7200-rpm internal and breathed new life into a late-2006 MBP, when I was starting to think seriously about a new one.
Not that I seriously tax a processor in the course of a day – I just run a few little CS5 apps with about ten browser tabs at any given time – and only my favorite 500 or so Opentype fonts. Add Apple Mail and iTunes, and a couple other utilities – why would a 3gb, four-year-old notebook have any problem with that?
Frankly, the creator of this sounds like some 12 year old gamer with a chip on his shoulder, trying to prove how 31337 he is to the rest of the (much more intelligent) Internet world. He is clearly new to the Internet if he’s not aware that his ideas are completely unoriginal and mostly wrong.
I’m sure everyone else has rebutted Mac Pro costs versus Dell (rehashed over and over in 2006 on the launch of the Mac Pro where the Dell was more expensive), the cost of higher-density RAM, and the fact that computer makers mark EVERYTHING up. It’s all old hat to everyone except this dumb kid.
Another Mac sheeple to the rescue! The point of this article is to state that building your own computer is cheaper than buying a pre-built Mac. Obviously buying a pre-built computer anywhere is just as idiotic. You point out the price of HD RAM being higher, ok, but you can get the same quality of ram or better for your PC at the same price point or cheaper. All the other hardware costs he points out in this article still holds true.
Maybe you should do a little research before you go out spouting nonsense.
But it’s also cheaper to build your own PC compared to buy a pre-built one. Also one should compare the Mac Pro to a computer with simillar components like Xeon-CPUs and ECC memory. The big question is why Apple insists to not offer a Mac midi which should be a tower model with “normal” components like i5 and i7 processors and so on.
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Well, I’m pretty sure ECC dimms are more expensive than the non-ECC dimms.
The mac pro is based on server hardware which does bring the price up maybe even up to the HDDs and you are paying for the OS too
Hey boy you don’t even know WHAT IS A MAC ?
Cheap people like you think that Apple is expensive ?
and more over do you know apple don’t even touch dirty RAM available in the
local market for your PC they design there own RAM’s other peripherals with the
help of other companies Thats why it works better . you people never change .
I pity on those people who have recommend for this stupidity ………..
BUY A MAC FEEL THE DIFFERENCE GOT IT …………………….
Lol! You’re right in some ways yet so ignorant. What are you? 14? Calling people cheap? And yes, Apple is too expensive and limits your options to force your way into buying the next higher model. Buy a powerful PC and install linux, then you’ll feel the real difference (you’ll also save some money). People like us aren’t cheap, we’re just technically better than you guys that just love Macs out-of-the-box.
Ah oh yes, I’ve own a Mac and only use it for web design. That’s it.