Why do people buy macs?

[ZeUs!!]

SARIEN I HATE APPLE MACS, WHAT HAVE YOU GOT TO SAY TO THAT?

[Sarien]

I say that I want you to use your new camera to get me some good pictures of the Isambard Kingdom Brunel dedication statue. Never been to England and he's one of my favorite past engineers.

Also I was going to take a screenshot of me using google to mess with your head, but since it actually did turn up pictures of you, I decided it would cross over the line from funny to creepy.

[geekbot]

it's really up to the user, and sadly, 90% of PC users are ignorant.

That's the reason having a mac is so carefree. If 90% of PC users can't keep their computer clean, isn't something wrong? I am an engineer so I consider myself fairly smart. But yet I weekly fight with my computer to get it to do what I want. Whether it's installs, or firewalls messing up programs, or domain issues, or registry issues.

Am I really an ignorant 90% person? With a Mac, it's less "up to the user" to keep the computer clean. 90% of people can use it without breaking it. (The ConcreteSchlyrd caveat: This is due in no small part to the fact that Apple controls the hardware, software, and the price. Yes, you have to pay a price for computing peace of mind. At least for now.)

and the only reason my uptime isn't measured in weeks or months is because it's a laptop.

My XP Home laptop was much more stable. And I would agree that uptime was in the weeks or months not including installs (including installs, Mac has a slight edge). I have blue screened more than a couple of times but averaging over the lifetime of the laptop it's a reasonably small number.

[ZeUs!!]

Also I was going to take a screenshot of me using google to mess with your head, but since it actually did turn up pictures of you, I decided it would cross over the line from funny to creepy.

You searching google and finding pictures of me is fairly creepy on its own, could you pm me what you searched?

[Ice Weasel]

With MAC coming out with Intel Processors in 06, what do you thinks gonna happen?

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2005/jun/06intel.html

[Kontrolz]

There's one main difference that results in all the pros and cons for each. The PC is more modular (more easily compatible with more software/hardware). The MAC is more specific making it more secure and also makes it run smoother. Both have their pros and cons. In the end it all depends on what you want to use the computer for. It's like when you decide to buy anything, decide what you want to do with it first, then choose the one that most fits your needs.

I'm no expert on computers so I can't really make a good suggestion for you bioture. Sarien seems to know his stuff pretty well so maybe he can offer up some decent advice but be careful, I think he's a salesman for OS X.

[ConcreteSchlyrd]

That's the reason having a mac is so carefree. If 90% of PC users can't keep their computer clean, isn't something wrong? I am an engineer so I consider myself fairly smart. But yet I weekly fight with my computer to get it to do what I want. Whether it's installs, or firewalls messing up programs, or domain issues, or registry issues.

Am I really an ignorant 90% person? With a Mac, it's less "up to the user" to keep the computer clean. 90% of people can use it without breaking it. (The ConcreteSchlyrd caveat: This is due in no small part to the fact that Apple controls the hardware, software, and the price. Yes, you have to pay a price for computing peace of mind. At least for now.)

My XP Home laptop was much more stable. And I would agree that uptime was in the weeks or months not including installs (including installs, Mac has a slight edge). I have blue screened more than a couple of times but averaging over the lifetime of the laptop it's a reasonably small number.

The biggest reason I think that 90% of PC users are ignorant is because PCs are so much cheaper than Macs (at least for the general buying public--John Q. Sixpack isn't looking for Mac deals on the net). This causes the dumb public to buy a PC. If Macs were comparably priced and the market share was a bit more even, I'd say that the percentage would be the same across platforms. If Apple was truly serious about making computers more user friendly across the board and revolutionizing a paradigm, they'd price their stuff less. I guarantee they'd sell more.

I agree with the poster above that says you just have to know and be comfortable with any sort of OS before your computer runs rock-solid. It isn't platform, it's an error between the keyboard and the chair to coin an overused term.

[Sarien]

Not sure how price drops make them more user friendly. More affordable for people across the board, sure. But the thing that's being kind of overlooked here is how well Macs hold their value. My Quicksilver is from 2002, and I could easily go sell it for $1000 on ebay. My Cube from 1999 would just as easily go for $500-800. When the Mac SE/30 first came out, it cost $6000, for a 68030@16mhz, 9" monochrome screen. People bought it, they saved up, and they bought it. If I knew I could save for 2 months and get a Dell, or go the extra mile and save for 4 or 5 months, and get a G5? I'm totally going to get the G5. Why? Because it holds value. Because it is a quality machine, made from quality parts, and I won't have to worry about dealing with a lot of the hassles that come from using windows.

Note: I think I might just get buried with my G4 Cube. I love that little thing, and if I get the money to waste I might just get one of those sonnet upgrade kits to turn it into an 8" cube of dual processing joy.

[DoTheFandango]

I have an AppleIIe in my basement that worked up until about 6 months ago.

Someone tell me they had a computer that lasted that long and I'll congratulate you.

[ConcreteSchlyrd]

You're a young guy, though. Shit, I have an Atari 400 that works sitting in my closet as well as a PET somewhere at my parent's house. And I'm sure Epi or someone has some mechanical abacus or a glorified calculator somewhere.

(I've got a response to Sarien's post, I just need time to drive out to the office and install some stuff--I'll write the rest of the response there)

[ConcreteSchlyrd]

Not sure how price drops make them more user friendly. More affordable for people across the board, sure. But the thing that's being kind of overlooked here is how well Macs hold their value. My Quicksilver is from 2002, and I could easily go sell it for $1000 on ebay. My Cube from 1999 would just as easily go for $500-800. When the Mac SE/30 first came out, it cost $6000, for a 68030@16mhz, 9" monochrome screen. People bought it, they saved up, and they bought it. If I knew I could save for 2 months and get a Dell, or go the extra mile and save for 4 or 5 months, and get a G5? I'm totally going to get the G5. Why? Because it holds value. Because it is a quality machine, made from quality parts, and I won't have to worry about dealing with a lot of the hassles that come from using windows.

Okay, that's not really what I'm saying though, that "price drops make them more user friendly." What I was responding to was this:

That's the reason having a mac is so carefree. If 90% of PC users can't keep their computer clean, isn't something wrong? I am an engineer so I consider myself fairly smart. But yet I weekly fight with my computer to get it to do what I want. Whether it's installs, or firewalls messing up programs, or domain issues, or registry issues.

What I was trying to point out is that yes, 90% of ALL computer users are pretty ignorant, regardless of platform. I could name 4 Mac users at my office who are completely retarded, and have had me fix thier systems multiple times. And that's just in a branch about 30 people strong.

I look at it like cars. Everybody wants to own a car, but nobody except the enthusiasts or people who have a lot of money buys a really nice car. So, the majority of the people will buy the less expensive car. Sure, the more expensive car is prettier and it sounds nice, but it generally just drives the same way a Kia would. Expensive cars never use stock parts, they only use parts only available from the manufacturer. Why? Because then you have price control.
Inexpensive cars, on the other hand, can be driven to death if properly maintained. That's the key though--they HAVE to be maintained. They're not super hard to maintain, because there's boatloads of not only brand-name parts, but also tons of aftermarket goodies that can be bolted on to constantly increase it's power or reliability. Maintenance isn't hard, but the driver just can't be completely ignorant, which most people seem to accept.

Did that make any sense? I'm sorry, I'm a bit knockered right now and that may have just been a complete ramble.

The same reason kinda holds true with the whole "keeping it's resale value" idea. Why do expensive cars hold a lot of resale value? Two reasons, because there are simply less of them, and they're seen as physical works of art. Not because they could out-distance a Camry.

People are kind of generally retarded. There, I said it. Wanna fight? I think that if the market share was spread evenly, you'd hear just as many stories of computers crashing due to user error. All OSes are getting more idiot-proof, but so far there's not one that can make sure you don't pee on the keyboard and short it out.

[geekbot]

I wasn't really trying to speak for majority of users. Jerome said 90% were ignorant. I was saying that I fight with my PC but I don't fight with my Mac. So I'm ignorant on the PC (which I've used since jr high) and I'm not on the Mac (which I've used since last year). I haven't peed on either keyboard yet.

Conc, I was going to ask you if the Atari 400 was for sale until I googled it and saw a picture of it. What it the world it that and what can you do with it?

[Epinephrine]

You're a young guy, though. Shit, I have an Atari 400 that works sitting in my closet as well as a PET somewhere at my parent's house. And I'm sure Epi or someone has some mechanical abacus or a glorified calculator somewhere.

(I've got a response to Sarien's post, I just need time to drive out to the office and install some stuff--I'll write the rest of the response there)

Close. I have an original electronic calculator. First generation calculator, the LED lights up glowing red. I still use it from time to time (my parents use it to do the taxes), it's quite good even if it only does the basic operations and only has 8 digits. We also have an abacus at home as well, but that's cause I'm Chinese



As for Conc's other point about price, he's got it on the money. If it costs $2000 to get a Mac and $1000 to get a Dell, most people are going to buy a Dell unless they have some ultimate reason for buying a Mac. People don't spend extra money on something that does the same thing (most people use a computer for word processing and internet access) unless they have money to blow or they are super enthusiasts.

Just as it's hard to find bad golfers playing with Callaways (and even rich people who buy them golf a lot cause rich people golf a lot :P) or using Taylor-made drivers, but it's very easy to find bad golfers using Wal-Mart $100 golf club sets, it's easy to find completely ignorant PC users and Mac users who know what they are doing. Yet even then, I too have worked in places where they were only using Macs and people had huge problems all the time that I had to correct.

[DoTheFandango]

Regardless of what OS you use, your Grandmother will still call you to figure out how to send pictures in her email.

[PhaTz]

1394 fiyawiya~