Rich Menga is PCMech's video guy, an author and part-time host of PCMech LIVE.There’s been a lot of talk going ’round the internet lately about the new Dell XPS One. It is built as an all-in-one monitor+computer similar to the iMac.
After some intense research, I offer the following well-thought-out and poignant anecdote:
They both suck.
Now I’ll explain why:
I’m not going to talk about what operating system is better at all because it truly doesn’t matter. You’re either a Windows fanboy or a Mactard. Take your pick. You can debate pointlessly about OS accolades and flaws all day long but at the end of the day you’re still dealing with a computer built from kill-fast parts.
The reason why these slabs can fit so much into such a compact space is because the parts are smaller, i.e. laptop parts.
Let me give you the 101 on laptops.
Any laptop is designed to last 2 years. That’s it. If you can get more than 2 years out of any laptop, consider yourself fortunate. It doesn’t matter who makes it because the parts are essentially all the same across the board.
A regular big-box PC on the other hand has a life span of 4 to 5 years. This isn’t to say the OS will stay current (obviously); I’m talking about hardware. The bigger parts do make a difference and moreover the computer can "breathe" easier.
Both the iMac and the XPS One are built from parts designed to last 2 years.
Is it worth it to go with style over longevity?
Absolutely not. No way, no how.
If you want a compact computer, get a laptop. Don’t bother with the PC-pretending-to-be-a-laptop.
In addition, it’s FAR EASIER to change out or upgrade things like the optical drive, RAM and hard drive on a laptop. On my now-old Dell Inspiron 6000, the optical drive comes out by removing a single screw. The RAM takes two screws. The hard drive, one screw. All in plain sight, all easy to change out.
Don’t buy all-in-one slabs. Not worth it.
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Al said:
12/28/2007 11:16 am
You are wrong about breathing easier. With their vertical stance and vents at the top, heat rises you know, the all in one ’slabs’ cool more efficiently than your big box PC. The ’slabs’ also use cooler laptop CPU’s. The fan hardly ever runs in my iMac.
What’s more, the laptop parts in a stationary desktop do not receive the physical shocks that they would in a laptop in someone’s backpack. Using the life of parts in a hot, frequently dropped laptop to predict the life of parts in a cool, stationary desktop is just a mistake.
[Reply]
Martin Pilkington said:
12/28/2007 11:32 am
What a load of crap. Laptops are not made to last 2 years, they sometime last only 2 years because they are moved about quite a bit and not kept on a desk throughout their life like desktops. I’ve had an iMac Core Duo for coming up to 2 years now and only had a small issue with the optical drive which needed replacing. So the life of an all-in-one may be shorter than another desktop, though considering that they don’t face the two issues of poor cooling and being moved around all the time that laptops face I doubt this will be the case, but there are huge benefits to it. For one I don’t have to worry about finding space to put a tower. I just plonk my iMac on my desk, plug in the keyboard, mouse and power and that’s all the room it needs.
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Arnold Ziffel said:
12/28/2007 11:34 am
Hey, don’t want an all-in-one? Don’t buy one. But there are folks who like them. Why must you trash them? Are you one of those Microcephalic Fanboys?
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kevslatt said:
12/28/2007 11:55 am
I don’t know about the Dell, but the Mac uses a full-size logic board, a 3.5 in. SATA drive, a built-in power supply and significantly nicer speakers. None of these are laptop parts, but even if they were the MacBookPro is no slouch.
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Dave said:
12/28/2007 11:56 am
Total BS: We run our business mostly on iMacs. They are solid, reliable and secure. In 10+ years we have lost less than 4 hours of database access to our Mac server—first Mac desktops now Xserve (which is a phenomenal machine). Most IT professionals think that stat is a lie… they cannot accept that non-Windows solutions can possibly be so reliable.
Our top management rely on MacBook Pros—laptops with large screens, keyboards and mice when used in the office. We keep them refreshed to the newest OS and software app versions for most of their useful life.
We typically retire our systems after 5 or 6 years—yes even the laptops. When we started the business we bought several three year old Mac desktop systems and retired the last one of them eight years later! We just keep re-tasking older units to lesser and lesser demanding functions.
If all you have is PC/Windows experience don’t pretend to be an expert on Macs.
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Rich Menga said:
12/28/2007 12:01 pm
I worked as a corporate laptop field service tech which included Thinkpads, Latitude and Macbooks. Every single one of them busted in less than 24 months. In real-world use you get 2 years out of them. That’s it. Believe otherwise and you’re a fool. Doesn’t matter who manufactures the unit.
Your slab is a great example of why small parts suck.
You had an optical drive issue because it’s a slot-load, i.e. a slim that’s laptop sized. Were it a regular standard sized optical drive, it wouldn’t have busted as quickly.
At least with a standard box you can replace and optical drive easily. With the iMac you have to literally crack the whole computer apart just to get at it.
If Dave’s Mac Pro had an optical drive issue, he could get a new drive in there in a matter of minutes. Big box with plenty of room to work. Very easy.
I don’t like slabs and I never recommend them to anyone no matter who makes it. You want compact, get a laptop. Otherwise go with the big box. If you’re going the Mac route, save up your pennies and get the Mac Pro. Dave did and it’s an awesome box that puts the iMac to shame in every way.
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tom said:
12/28/2007 12:04 pm
you have no idea what you are talking about. Some components are the same as laptops, but far from all are. The iMac ships with a whopping 1TB hard drive… Are you trying to tell me that laptops are currently shipping with the same? Beyond storage, who cares if the components are the same. The benefits of the systems far outweigh the “disadvantages” you have outlined. The memory is fast, as are the graphics cards, and iMac owners continue to be productive long after your two year time-limit. Also, I hope you burn in hell for your little “mactard” comment. It really undermines your “journalistic” integrity. As an uncle of a child with a learning disability, I hope the negative karma points you’re building up here come knocking on your door soon.
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wee bee said:
12/28/2007 12:12 pm
The article lack of knowledge of hardware. Laptop components are small is because it is specially made to save space and for automation. Therefore it was designed to tolerate heat fluctuation. Laptop get bashed and carried around that is the reasons why the failure rate is higher than desktop not the components size. I don’t believe that you have never experience desktop failure after few years of use.
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Pietro Watanabe said:
12/28/2007 12:20 pm
Sorry, but the iMac doesn’t use laptop parts. Also just because the laptops you see in repair are less then 2 years old doesn’t mean the average laptop last no more 2 years. It only implies that breakdowns occur primarily within 2 years. You might only be seeing say 10% of the laptop population, the rest gracefully dying of old age.
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Rick said:
12/28/2007 12:27 pm
What crap. I have an ibook (toilet seat) that is still used everyday bought in 1999.
Have an titanium powerbook used every day bought in jan 2003
a blue and white g3 bought in jan 1999 running 24/365 still in use
and others
its the pc crap that dies after a couple days
what a crappy website
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Arnold Ziffel said:
12/28/2007 12:49 pm
Sure, a Mac Pro is gonna beat an iMac hands down. We have a 3 GHz Quad Mac Pro with the 30″ Cinema Display, and it is an amazing machine. Still, there are a lot of folks who don’t need that sort of power and abilities–they just want a desktop machine that has a small footprint and won’t need a lot of upgrading.
I still use a 500 MHz Dual Processor PowerMac G4, and though it won’t run Leopard, it is still chugging along doing email, surfing, and iMovie projects…and it’s 7 and a half years old! We did have to get the power supply replaced last year, but that’s the only hardware issue we’ve had.
A co-worker just made the switch to Macs for her home ‘puter and bought an iMac, which she loves. It is the perfect machine for her. She didn’t want a laptop and saw absolutely no need for a Mac Pro.
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Tony Ramirez said:
12/28/2007 12:51 pm
I still use my G4 powerbook (made in 2002) everyday. I take it to work on my Harley, and it has even survived one spill in the rain (in its case). I upgraded to a larger faster hard drive and maxed out the RAM. Don’t tell me laptops only last two years, I’ve almost tripled that lifespan. “Intense research” from you is just BS.
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Matt said:
12/28/2007 12:58 pm
What a crap article. None of the debate suggested in the title and assertions without any evidential backup. Clearly a trawl for hits. And to suggest there is no difference between the OSs is just plain idiotic. I don’t get viruses, I get great software, my computer is fun to use and I spend no time on maintenance. I think you can guess which OS I use. Redmond, not a chance.
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Michael Fischer said:
12/28/2007 1:42 pm
I have to agree and disagree. I have no evidence that laptops stop working in two years. I do buy new laptops every two years for performance reasons (for the past 24 years), but never had one break on me. I recycle old ones among our research students, and they work as long as people can handle their lower performance. I still have two working mac portables. And this is not limited to macs … all higher spec models last longer than you want to use them.
On the other hand, I would agree that for a bit more the pro models are better, but mainly on performance grounds, not reliability.
Maybe corporate types don’t get the good stuff.
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ardaz said:
12/28/2007 2:10 pm
Um…lets see, after intense thoughtful deliberation I can definitely say you - Rich Menga, are a Dell’tard of the first order. Sheesh, crawl back in your fetid hole.
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Jim said:
12/28/2007 2:19 pm
What a tard. Your title says Dell vs iMac, which is better?, it should have read, “Should I buy an all-in-one based on my limited knowledge and experience.” So, do I put any weight into your little rant, hell no. I have have both a PC and Mac laptop going on 4 years and the only problem I had was on the monitor for the Mac due to the fact I took it to Iraq and Kuwait and it got a lot of sand in it. Other than that, no problems. Go cry somewhere else. Next time try to actually write an article that has something to do with the title newb.
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Sticks said:
12/28/2007 2:22 pm
There are lots of users out there (like my family) that have easily achieved 5-6 years of reliable daily use with iMacs of various generations. That anecdotal feedback (for us) blows your anecdotal testimony out of the water. Re the life expectancy for lappies, my enterprise has a mix of Thinkpads, Latitudes, PowerBooks, etc. In real world use, the reliability seems to be tied to how much abuse an individual unit receives.
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PF said:
12/28/2007 2:24 pm
You make some decent points, but you overstate your case on several issues. My Apple laptops last 5+ years of heavy road use. My office is filled with 3-4 year old cheap Dell laptops (let’s not discuss their downtime due to software problems). The cases may fall apart after a 4 years, but the innards still function for many years after. The iMac’s case isn’t going to crumple, so I don’t worry greatly about the parts. The lack of upgrade options is a legitimate issue. The biggest problems with the iMac (I haven’t used an all-in-one Dell) is that it is overpriced and difficult to fix when the eventual problem occurs. I would prefer a laptop with an external monitor. It costs even more and is equally difficult to upgrade, but the mobility makes it worthwhile.
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Scott Schuckert said:
12/28/2007 2:26 pm
What a load. Right this moment, I’m typing on a PowerBook G4 Titanium, circa 2001. It gets taken to customer sites EVERY SINGLE DAY, and is used at home from the hot tub. (Talk about a hostile environment!) Never had one single mechanical failure, though of course the outer case is pretty worn and banged up. My spare laptop (also an Apple PowerBook) dates to 1997 and has also seen no failures.
You may not be able to make a wintel laptop last beyond two years, but that them and you, not anyone else.
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AM said:
12/28/2007 2:43 pm
My PB G4, 12inch has lasted me 4 years and counting. Travelled over 100,000 miles every year with it - Europe, US, Asia - still going strong.
iMacs are still the only choice for those who want a large monitor computer 19inch or more with a small footprint.
And if you enjoy doing this - you need to get a life.
“change out or upgrade things like the optical drive, RAM and hard drive on a laptop. …… the optical drive comes out by removing a single screw. The RAM takes two screws. The hard drive, one screw. All in plain sight, all easy to change out.
its same with all the geeks, if ” THEY like turning screws and plugging, unplugging stuff - then EVERYONE else MUST like it TOO - or else EVERYONE else is a RETARD”. GEEKS RULE!!
AM
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George said:
12/28/2007 2:47 pm
My daily experience is technical services manager for one of the leading entertainment and media companies on the planet Earth.
I have 300 Macs and 800 PC’s under my watch along with 1 Mac tech and 8 PC techs.
My experience is opposite this bloggers experience. I just outfitted an entire creative department with 80 iMacs after a near 15 month review with several iMacs.
Additionally I have a dozen Titanium Powerbooks bought in 01-02 timeframe.
I can’t replace them because they all work, still.
Personally, I have a couple of MacBook Pros in my house, again , no issues.
Interesting how experiences and conclusions differ.
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Will Cushman said:
12/28/2007 3:18 pm
I think this article needs to be read with the perspective that it was written by someone who primarily repairs computers, not a user’s perspective. The article should be read with that in mind.
I am a long, long, time user of Macs and am writing this on my brand new iMac. I currently have another older one, a MacBook, and a G5 Power PC tower. All have been reliable and a joy to use. Never a virus and rarely a system crash.
I do not upgrade my Macs, except to self install extra RAM. I can see where repairing or upgrading a laptop or an iMac or a Dell XPS is more difficult than working on a tower unit but saying that “they suck” is misleading. I assumed that the article was written in a provocative manner to attract attention and I took it as such.
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filecat13 said:
12/28/2007 3:43 pm
Maybe in the hands of klutzes, jerks, and morons a quality laptop will only last two years (or less), but this piece is far, far off the mark. Let’s see, my ten year old PB1400 which traveled to Europe and back still works fine, though it’s as slow as a dog by today’s standards. It’s never been down once. My nine year old PB G3/233 still works perfectly after more than 350,000 miles of travel and meetings. It’s never been down once. My six year old PB G4/667 is in use every day as a remote server and media server. It runs 24/7, has logged over 200,000 travel miles without missing a day, except the day I replaced the HD with a larger, faster drive.
My current MacBook Pro 2.33 17″ replaced a PB G4 1.5 17″ which ran flawlessly until my IT guy installed the wrong memory. Moron. After it was repaired, it worked as new, and I gave it to the receptionist to use for intensive data entry and other duties, where it works without fail.
Every Mac laptop I’ve ever owned or used is still in service. Every single one.
Now, my SONY VAIO laptop lasted 13 months before the keyboard failed. Fixed it, then the video card failed. Fixed it, then the hard drive controller failed. Fixed it, then the power adaptor failed. MS wanted to force me to buy a new software license since it was “no longer the same computer” according to its software activation. So, I threw it away.
My Compaq Pressario lasted nine months before the memory went bad. Replaced it, then it got infected (despite Norton) and toasted the HD. Replaced it, and MS locked us out until we proved we weren’t stealing their stupid OS, then the USB controller failed. Replaced it, and the wireless networking went out. Gave it away to my mother-in-law. Poor woman.
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Ax said:
12/28/2007 3:49 pm
I have two G3 Pismo’s and a early Ti-Book still working just fine after 7 years for the Pismo’s and 5 to 6 years for the Ti-Book. All the companies I’ve dealt with keep their laptops at least 3 years, not 2. How well it’s treated is one of the major factors on how long they last. Another factor is the OS. I’ve seen PC laptops 3 years old or rendered unusable with Windows XP and all of it’s service packs. I’ve also seen Mac laptops way older then 3 years running quite nicely with OS X Tiger.
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Scott said:
12/28/2007 4:08 pm
I will agree that an iMac uses laptop parts, but I would like to see quantitative evidence that a laptop on average lasts two years. There are several million Mac and PC laptops in schools in mobile carts that get heavy use that are around longer than 2 years. I have an original tangerine iBook, a white iBook and a Powerbook G4 that are all fully operational and have never needed repair. These machines are all well over 2 years old. I have an iMac G5 rev B that is nearly 3 years old that is very easy to work on. Three screws on the bottom allows the back to come off that exposes the entire inside of the computer which I can replace the HD or optical drive myself. The only repair this machine needed which was covered under warranty was a new power supply. My new 24″ iMac doesn’t have that feature, but RAM is easily installed with the removal of one screw. Of course a Mac Pro puts any iMac to shame, it uses Quad Core Xeon processors!! You can’t even compare the two. For what it costs for a Pro compared to an iMac, I could by a new iMac in two years and be money and technology ahead.
[Reply]
Martin Pilkington said:
12/28/2007 4:25 pm
“You had an optical drive issue because it’s a slot-load, i.e. a slim that’s laptop sized. Were it a regular standard sized optical drive, it wouldn’t have busted as quickly.”
So the fact that it’s a slot-load drive was the reason the laser couldn’t read blank DVDs anymore?
And yes, in a corporate environment computers are likely to break much quicker because people don’t take as much care of them. Compare this to home users who buy it themselves with their hard earned money and you’ll see they take a lot more care.
“Otherwise go with the big box. If you’re going the Mac route, save up your pennies and get the Mac Pro. Dave did and it’s an awesome box that puts the iMac to shame in every way.”
The Mac Pro is way more expensive than an iMac both in initial cost and the cost to run it. It’s a far more power hungry machine than the iMac. Yes I can go out and buy a replacement drive if something breaks if I have a Mac Pro, but how often do things like this break? With the Mac Pro not only do I have to pay more for the machine and then for the electricity costs to run it but I then have to find space to put the tower. With the iMac I have the entire computer and monitor taking up the space where a monitor would be at a fraction of the total cost to purchase and run the machine.
[Reply]
Robert Davis said:
12/28/2007 5:24 pm
Strange about the 2 years - I have a Powerbook Pismo (2000) and it is still running strong with 10.4 installed. It is now 2007. Only issue - I had to replace the optical drive after 5 years….not bad….and it has bounced all over the world with me and back and forth to work as well.
Also have a Dell Inspiron that is 4 years old. That unit had the system board replaced twice as well as the optical drive. The quality of the machine was lacking. But it is still running strong now with some of those replacement parts.
I’ve had desktops as well - optical drives always went out - same with my laptops. Hard drives failed - laptop hard drives were upgraded for more space but never failed.
I would agree that sales people, for example, are some of the harder users of laptops and those just might break more often…but the quality of the manufacturing/parts can make a big difference.
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Jake said:
12/28/2007 6:05 pm
What iMac parts are “smaller” than regular desktop parts? They use laptop chips, sure, but are you claiming laptop chips are designed to–what, wear out? break?–after 2 years?
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Justin Hitchborn (hitchface) said:
12/28/2007 7:40 pm
It sounds like you guys baby your machines. In the corporate world/real world, where the vast majority of computers operate, things need to not suck and need to last a long time. There is no time to baby a computer or two…instead, a whole company’s worth of computers has to ‘just work’. If you have to spend the extra time replacing parts on a slab (parts which are often more expensive), you have just wasted money.
And regarding the part about laptops not leaving the desk…what the hell do they call it a laptop for? It’s a mobile PC, designed to GO PLACES. People take laptops with them, that’s why they were made. Hence, real world usage of laptops doesn’t make room for being ‘kept on the desk all their lives like desktops.’
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Peter said:
12/28/2007 7:45 pm
For a “PC Mechanic,” I would agree with you. If you like to tinker with your computer hardware, I would stay away from all-in-ones. But I think all-in-one designs, such as the iMac, have their place.
All-in-ones can make a handy middle-ground between laptop and desktop. For example, I would maintain that an iMac is a transportable computer–convenient to move around a house or office. If you have a wall plug, you have a computer. They take considerably less space than most tower/minitower configurations, convenient for dorm rooms or small apartments.
Personally, I like the towers, but I tend to hold onto my machines for longer and will go buy upgrades such as bigger hard-drives, memory, and (most important) graphics cards.
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SuperMatt said:
12/28/2007 8:12 pm
If you assert that your laptops die after 2 years, you should consider the amazing value of the 3-year warranty from AppleCare. For under $200, you can add 50% to the life of your computer, guaranteed. That should save your IT department an amazing amount of money in no time.
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Martin Hill said:
12/28/2007 8:52 pm
Nonsense, desktop “slabs” have far longer life spans than laptops.
I run iMacs and Apple PowerBook laptops alongside Mac Minis and MacBooks and MacBook Pros (and plenty of Dell, HP and Vaio laptops and desktops) on our campus and have found the laptops do indeed have limited lives in the corporate environment.
However, many of the iMacs are 5-6 years old and still going strong at less demanding tasks, while I currently have many laptops (Wallstreet PowerBook G3, Titanium PowerBook G4, Aluminium Powerbook G4 17″ as well as innumerable HP, Toshiba etc) sitting on shelves busted in one way or another.
The 2 year lives of laptops are due to daily being banged around. The lighter weight laptop components in iMacs/Mac Minis are NOT noticeably less reliable or less long-lived than the many desktop systems we also still run. (mind you we now lease most of our computers for 2 or 3 years before they get replaced so it doesn’t matter even with laptops.)
As long as you don’t want to upgrade video cards, All-in-one iMacs or Mac Minis make a fine desktop computer.
-Mart
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Martin Hill said:
12/28/2007 9:39 pm
I neglected to mention I have a dozen ex-student computer lab second generation (slot-load) 350MHz and 400MHz iMacs made between July 2000 and Feb 2001 onto which I’ve been installing OS X 10.4 (yes they are slow, but they still run OS X) for donation to some local charities and every single one booted up and worked like a Trojan after sitting on a shelf for the past 3 years. These computers are 7 years old for goodness sake!
In contrast I have seven ex-staff PowerBook G3 laptops from 2000-2003 only one of which I’ve been able to get to power on.
I also have four ex-computer lab 15″ flat-screen Lamp-stand iMacs that have been in constant use since Feb 2003 and Sept 2003 that are still chugging away at work digitising lecture recordings etc and they all without exception are going strong. 4 years and counting.
All these iMacs use laptop components like the current iMac for everything except the hard disk, which like the current iMac is a 3.5″ desktop-class hard drive.
I will however admit that the number of old Windows PCs that are still useful is of course far lower - no 7 year old 400MHz PC that I know of can run Vista for example!
-Mart
[Reply]
Mel said:
12/29/2007 4:16 am
Gee whiz. Two years? My previous laptop lasted 4 years — then the hard drive failed and I decided to just get a new laptop instead of replacing. I had NO problems for those 4 years. Current laptop has lasted me 3 years so far, with no problems (other than being shipped with a bad hard drive). Am I really that lucky? I haven’t been that careful with them either…jamming them in my backpack to bounce on my back or thigh as I walk across campus to and from class, taking them out, putting them back in, jamming them into suitcases and overhead bins to fly across the country. The exterior is pretty banged up, but that’s it.
These are NOT macs, either. But I’m drooling over the new imac…that’s how I found this article in the first place. Lots o’ help, it was.
[Reply]
Rich Menga said:
12/29/2007 5:23 am
@tom: As if I’d put a 1TB drive in a slab. What a waste of $450. You fail.
@wee bee: Your grammar sucks. Fail.
@Pietro Watanabe: A-ha! You DO admit breakdowns primarily occur in the first 2 years! I win. You fail.
@Rick: I like your comment best of all because you called your Mac a toilet seat. I can’t argue with that. And thanks for commenting on our crappy web site. It just proves I own you. Fail.
@Arnold Ziffel: You nailed it when you mentioned your PowerMac G4. That’s a great box - said sincerely.
@Tony Ramirez: Again, a mention of a decent G4 machine. And did you realize my “intense research” comment was sarcasm? Did ANY OF YOU realize that? Guess not.. fail.
@Matt: There you go with OS comparisons. Shaddup. Fail.
@Michael Fischer: Yes, the pro models are better, hands down. The corporate mucky-mucks don’t get them usually because there isn’t enough ROI in them. Good comment on your part. You do not fail.
@ardaz: CLASSIC Mactard comment by using a personal attack. That was some funny stuff. EPIC FAIL. HAHAHAHAHA..
@Jim: Another classic Mactard attack. Not as good as ardaz’s, though.. you need to step up the insulting a bit. Keep it up though. I give you a semi-epic fail.
@Sticks: Your comment was good until you called them “lappies”. Do you put Hello Kitty stickers on your computers too? I bet you do. Super-fail. Not epic fail like ardaz, but I’ll give it a super.
@PF: The iMac actually isn’t overpriced. It’s priced better than the XPS One - but it doesn’t mean you get your money’s worth. Good comment. You do not fail.
@Scott Schuckert: You use a laptop IN THE HOT TUB? HOW FRICKIN’ RETARDED ARE YOU?! Sheez..
@AM: Yes you have a decent G4. The G4’s from Apple were great machines. Apple has no “middle ground” for an in-between computer option. Wouldn’t it be great if they had something between the iMac and the Mac Pro in a box form with separate monitor that isn’t a mini? One can only hope..
@George: No mention of company = company doesn’t exist. Fail. Try again.
@Will Cushman: Man, why’d you have to sound all professional like that.. I can’t put a fail on you.. darn it.
@filecat13: Comment is too long.. hurts my eyes. Fail.
@Ax: Get rid of your G3’s, sheesh.. at least run a G4.
@Scott: If you want evidence, tour any computer recycling facility warehouse. You’ll see pallet after pallet stacked six-foot-high of busted laptops and Macbooks under 2 years old.
@Martin Pilkington: Yes.
@Robert Davis: VERY GOOD POINT about the Sales Force people. Awesome point, in fact. They absolutely murder laptops. That’s real-world corporate use. Good comment. I score you as a win.
@Jake: The optical drive is one. See above comments.
@SuperMatt: That’s a horrendous amount of cash for an extended warranty. It shouldn’t cost that much.
@Martin Hill: The most important point you make is the end-of-lease cycle at the 2/3 year mark where the computers are replaced. That’s how computers are supposed to be replaced properly in a environment where they’re used heavily. Good comment.
[Reply]
Sticks said:
12/29/2007 10:12 am
Yo, Menga….I’ll speculate that plenty of posters here (like me) use OSX and Windows every day. Your scatter-gun attempted smackdown of a bunch of responses that exposed your anecdotal opinion was very weak. Several of us actually have responsibility for selecting and setting up enterprise desktops and laptops…we see how durability is largely a functionn of how a user treats his issued machine.
Getting back to the alleged title of your article, the Dell XPS series has a lot going for it; but if you need or want to run both XP/Vista and OSX, then the Dell is not a viable option. Also, when you objectively compare the software that is bundled and integrated in both systems, the iMac kicks butt and takes names….something you would know if you had spent any significant hands-on time actually using a current Mac.
[Reply]
Mr Roberto said:
12/29/2007 10:36 am
Based on personal experience I have to agree. I bought a Power Mac second-hand 5 years ago and it’s been running fault-free as the main workhorse in my graphics design studio. In the same period of time, I have had 3 laptops from Apple and they have all had problems.
One thing in common: they all had hard disk failures within the first year. My 12-inch Powerbook has had the hard disk fail twice, and this third one is already acting all wonky. So the suggestion to use a laptop (in Apple’s case: a notebook, as their machines sure aren’t laptoppable) as a desktop replacement is suspect.
Secondly, “slabs” as you call them have inherently worse value for money. They are not faster than notebooks, and are not as expandable or easily repairable as desktops. So they exist in a weird state of limbo only occupied by Mactards who have trouble just trying to configure software RAID (just a comment I happened to read on another site just now).
Thirdly, I know two small-time ad agencies who’d bought iMacs because they couldn’t afford Power Macs for their designers. 5 machines bought, 3 went back for repairs within 2 months. In a real heavy-duty work environment, cramming hot components into a tight space is not a very good idea, to put it mildly.
That said, I love my G4 tower. Had a G5 tower for a while, but that also developed problems, with the mainboard. So I sold it off.
Give me a tower for real work and an Eee laptop for mobility any day.
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Sticks said:
12/29/2007 11:28 am
Both my son and I are using 2yr old 12″ PowerBook G4 1.5 machines. The hard drives (Toshiba and Hitachi) are faultless, as are the Hitachi and Western Digital external Firewire hard drives we both use to create bootable backup clones of our laptop environment (another Mac advantage, by the way).
That said, failing hard drives are a crap shoot on any system, and don’t just happen to ‘mactards’ or ‘wintrolls.’
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Frank Ryan said:
12/29/2007 12:29 pm
Sorry, no objectivity here, nothing to see, move along.
Nothing better than a twenty year old form factor, big ‘ol ugly bread box that makes it easy for “ham fisted” computer repairmen to fish around in while they install cheap no-name hard drives and generic memory in their customer’s machines at $100 per hour.
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Tomm Hanson said:
12/29/2007 12:34 pm
Hey, what’s with the appropriating of the —tard suffix? Seems like the PC weenie boys just LUUUUVE using that term. I guess they all were reading the Fake Steve Jobs blog, from which that originated, and have now turned it around against Mac users. Oh well, we all know there’s no originality there. Just look at Windows, or better yet the Dell XPS!
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Suzanne Gruber said:
12/29/2007 12:42 pm
I just gotta say, what a load of crap, referring to the all in one haters. I keep hearing all these fools go on about how they can do all this upgrading, and that’s why the big box is so great, but in fact, nobody (save the ubernerds) really does much of that, simply because it’s cheaper to buy a whole new machine every three or so years, as opposed to nickel and dimeing yourself to death replacing motherboards, hard drives, video boards etc. The average user never even changes the OS that the box originally shipped with! Delude yourselves if you must, but the old three piece clunker is a thing of the past, the all in one computers are today’s machines. They are fast, compact and durable.
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Steve Juniper said:
12/29/2007 12:47 pm
Frankly, Mossberg said it better.
http://ptech.allthingsd.com/
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Jake said:
12/29/2007 2:53 pm
Re the optical drive: I’m trying to find evidence that slot-loaders don’t last as long as tray-loaders. Can you point me to some?
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Matt said:
12/30/2007 6:02 pm
Jeeze Menga, that has got to be the weakest response to criticism I have ever read. When I first read it I thought it was some kid trying to be a smart arse but, I mean bloody hell, from soemone paid to write. man that’s weak.
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Joe Tang said:
12/31/2007 7:49 am
I have to agree with Matt there! A shockingly poor retort from Menga. Im sure he must have paid some school kid to come up with that trot.
Anyway, whoever is reponsible for allowing Menga to publish an article on this site should take a good look at themselves. Terrible usage of some words (”tard”, “retarded” ) by the author really should be looked at by this website’s owners/administrators.
I have nothing to add about the author’s argument, whats the point. Never argue with an idiot people, they will bring you down to their level and beat you with experience everytime.
Joe
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tanstaafl said:
1/4/2008 3:23 pm
Gee, I must be doing something wrong. My sage G3 iMac is running Tiger 4.11 (slowly tho) and still working and the Powerbook G3 Pismo that I recycled is running Tiger 4.11 and is over 7 years old. If you want I can try to break them………
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dvessel said:
1/5/2008 1:38 pm
“Let me pull you up to the tree before you drown..” –the monkey referring to the fish.
Talk about having a narrow perspective mister nerd.
Article has little value.
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Louis said:
1/7/2008 1:52 am
Man you are full of shit. I know HW engineers that have designed all-in-one PCs and many of the parts they choose are of at least as good quality as the desktop parts. This is because the BOM cost of the average AIO or laptop is higher than the average desktop. Therefore they have more freedom to choose parts. The most likely reason that laptops have a lower average life span is because of theft or owner mistreatment and that is the end of the story.
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Rich Menga said:
1/8/2008 8:35 am
I love comment posters that swear like teenagers, say “I know engineers” (yeah, right) and then make a futile attempt to sound intelligent afterwards. Louis, you are an absolute riot. I needed a good laugh this morning and for that I thank you. You rock. Keep up the good work. The next time you post, throw in a few WTFs and LOLs. Always a good crowd pleaser.
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