Question about Apple Mac and PeeCee

[save2600]

AFAIK, Apple still designs the mobo's - just utilize the Intel chip. Component wise, I'd like to think that my Apple hardware is superior. And after a couple of decades of using just about every brand computer made - sure seems like it. My experience has shown that surely Apple products are better built than the generic AMD/WinTel mobo for PeeCee's.

One thing people often fail to realize with a Mac purchase is all the great software you get with it. Whether you want to believe you're paying for an innovative looking case design or not, can't escape the reality of the bundled software. The entire iLife suite is amazing and actually, I personally do not need anything fancier for writing a letter, editing a photo, cataloging my record or game collections, making a movie, storing my music, etc. Wouldn't trade *any* of that for *anything* made for a PeeCee. Mac's work and they work extremely well. Once you bite into the apple so to speak, you'll never go back to all the hassles that come with PeeCee ownership.

[save2600]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mg6wrYCT9Q


Eric Schwartz said it best. XD

Yeah, I've seen that video - awesome! Definitely no doubt here which computer we'd all like to see "mainstream" again. lol

@Tone007: I think it really is a matter of what you get used to. I have very little patience for modern computing anymore and no way could I tolerate a WinTel box today. Since computing for me is more or less a utilitarian venture, I believe that things should just 'work'. Not fudging around with drivers, install problems, spyware, viruses/resource hogging anti-virus programs, etc. What I was trying to convey also is that the Mac platform (hardware and software) has more of that 'old skool' charm to it. In other words, even though you may mostly just use a computer as an appliance of sorts, the Mac does seem to even make that more "fun" somehow. And now with the Intel CPU, people can choose to go either way if they want (errr... that didn't come out right).  lol

[save2600]

Sounds a bit contradictory to me, "old skool charm" and "just work" don't really fit in the same category.  When do Amigas ever "just work?"  Getting them up and running with all the addons and software the way you want them to is usually a project that makes configuring a PC from scratch seem like child's play.

Old skool charm as in: happy and glad to be using a computer productively vs. pissed off that you need to constantly be tending to its every need like you do with WinTel. Especially when worrying about the health of your HD, viruses, adding new hardware to one or replacing its power supply, mainboard or other cheaply made 3rd party component that just blew. Old skool to me is C64, Atari 8-bit, TI-994/A, Apple ][, stock Atari ST, Amiga, Tandy, etc. Most of these computers came with what you needed to get going right away. In almost all cases, adding a fancy new color monitor, disk drive, tape drive, printer, OS, modem, graphics tablet, light pen or whatever was a snap. Almost as easy as simply plugging it in and knowing a few command lines that were readily available in the manuals you used to receive. Closest thing we have to this ease of use today is a Mac system.

And Amiga's "just work" whenever I turn them on  :-)  Okay, besides some of the voodoo and rain dances one sometimes needs to perform when substantially adding on to their Amiga system... but I digress, I thought we were talking about WinTel compared to Mac products? And there's no comparing the two as far as configuration and ease of setup. Mac's are and will forever be vastly superior in that regard. The architecture and their business model commands it and that's the main premise behind all their products.

[save2600]

@koshman: Is it nonsense that I have made a career out of replacing, upgrading or repairing garbage 3rd party components from PeeCee's for a great chunk of my life? Nope. Unlike a MayTag repairman, glad to have WinTel boxes to work on! They're just not welcome in my home. Completely assembled and functional that is  ;-)  Which brings me to another point: you know how many Dell, Packard Bell, Gateway, Compaq, HP, etc. users literally 'give' me computers or parts of their computers for free? Modern equipment too. You nary see this phenomenon with Mac people so often. Actually, only time I get Mac stuff for free or next to free is when a school or business decides to upgrade and their accountants have written off their old electronics. And in relation to the original posters question: Mac products have a much better resale value than PC. Always have. Always will. Long live the IBM compatible platform. Without it, there'd be *that* many more Americans unemployed  ;-)

[save2600]

AmigaOS 4.1 is better than OS X.

I'll drink to that. Then again, I'll drink to just about anything. lol  About an OS being "better", my only qualification to that is the software it'll run. When it comes to the Amiga, I'm not an Adobe or Apple snob for the sake of being a snob. If current Amiga apps were as functional as say the iLife suite was, I'd have no problem switching platforms and steering away from thinking of the SAM/AROS/MorphOS/AOS4.x systems as little more than hobbyist computers.

Personally, I'd love to ditch my Mac's for Amiga, but I'd need comparable performance and that just ain't happening yet. And the thing that sucks about investments, is how much stuff you have tied up into these things. Knowledge too. Like a photographer, tough to change bodies when you have all these other lenses. Having said that, I'm a Pentax guy that has been kinda stuck for a while. Would like to go Canon or Nikon, but. one of these days  

[save2600]

@Koshman: Well, when you asked if me thinking that many more PC components fail is nonsense - yes, there was contradiction there because I can blame the platform. Architecture of Mac does not foster end users to fiddle with their computers nearly as much as PC users. Not that that's a valid argument anyway because one might argue that the average Mac users is 'smarter' or more technologically savvy than the average PC user (which is always going to end up in a numbers game and Tone007, before you flame this comment, think about ALL of the clueless computer people buying up those $400 complete HP systems at Wal-Mart and then them taking said computers to Best Buy or their local PC shop where they too get gouged on service). Which is a sentiment that I would happen share since I personally know that_many_more savvy Mac people than I do PC (and before someone takes this out of context, I also know a good handful of brilliant, not just with computers, but super-smart PC owners - lol). But... back to people fiddling with their computers that aren't qualified... if a PC user was happy with their system the way it was (they hardly ever are and thus begins the circle of installing a new program, adding a new card, etc), the fat fingered human factor would hardly apply as they wouldn't have put themselves in that position in the first place had they bought Mac.

And yes Tone007 - I agree that service costs on a Mac *are* or can be expensive. I know someone that needed their mobo replaced on a Powerbook once. Cost him $800+. Too bad he didn't have Applecare. lol  I don't believe in extended warranties myself - BUT... this is where it becomes a numbers game and both sides can show themselves in a positive light.

[save2600]

AmigaOS 4.1 is better than OS X.

That's because the Mac-heads paid way too much for their hardware to consider giving it away, and most likely invested other ridiculous sums of money having it serviced or upgraded at the Apple store.  I wonder what percentage of them are crying because they can't run the newest OS on their pampered old hardware, and now they can't get anything for it in resale.

I can't speak for all Mac users, but I've learned the hard way that constantly upgrading your OS is BS and unnecessary. That trend is something Apple learned from their marketing division having watched all the "suckas" constantly upgrading Windoze with those incessant service paks.  lol   And I can't stand Leopard at all. Sure, it might be fine for the Intel based processors, but I used it for a little bit on my G5 and it felt too bloated for my tastes. An no, have absolutely no desire to upgrade my computer because it doesn't run a less efficient OS happily.

I do know a LOT of Mac users though and none of them are crying over Leopard. Most know from research and other users (we're a close knit bunch) that it doesn't always make sense to upgrade. I'd say that earlier versions of OSX on older platforms are infinitely more useable, stable and reliable than previous and comparable incarnations of Windows running on frankenPC's.

[save2600]

I will defer to your expertise here about the servicepacks Tone... as a user, I gave up on the WinTel platform shortly after the Win2000/WinME debacle. Still professionally sold PC's compatibles by the time XP came out, but I wasn't convinced. And neither were most of our customers as many a machine came back.