Many of you have probably seen the commercials. Some young person wants a laptop with a 17” screen, bunch of memory, bunch of power, and they don’t want to spend more than $1,000. They look at the Apple laptops and conclude it is too expensive. So, they go buy some cheap PC for $699 and go skipping down the yellow brick road. Its the stuff dreams are made of.
Here’s the thing: You cannot get such a laptop from Apple for under $1,000. They just don’t build it. So, why make the comparison?
It’d be like Chevy doing a commercial which starts with a person who wants a Lexus with all the bells and whistles for under $15K. Its just not going to happen.
Why? The TARGET MARKETS ARE DIFFERENT.
With the $1,000+ PC market, Apple has a staggering 91% market share, according to an NPD report. Put another way, people looking for “cream of the crop” computers simply don’t buy PCs. 9 out of every 10 dollars goes to Apple. They’re willing to pay.
I have wondered out loud why Apple doesn’t build and offer a mid-grade tower computer, a “Mac Pro Lite”. Since then, however, I realized that Apple just isn’t going to bother any time soon. It isn’t their target market. It would dilute the brand. Lexus and Acura don’t go out and try to compete with Chevy. In the same vein, Apple isn’t going to try to compete with HP and other budget brands of PC.
If Apple ever released such a machine, it would sell like crazy and increase Apple’s overall market share substantially. But, its clear they not only don’t care, they have no need to care. Apple is making gobs of money by targeting high-quality, high-margin machines.
The Laptop Hunter commercials are just pressing market buttons in a down economy. The truth is that people who buy PCs with price as a primary determination are just not going to consider Apple. People who are more willing to pay, however, will flock to Apple. About 91% of them.
If you want a bargain, you’ll use Windows. If you are happy to pay for a premium computer, you’ll be happy to spend more money and buy a Mac.
Again, its a Chevy compared to a Lexus or a Porche. And, yes, a Chevy has pros and cons, as does the Lexus or Porche. Pros and cons aside, they cater to different markets.
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I have a 15″ HP laptop purchased last Aug & a 13″ MacBook purchased in Jan. Of the two, I prefer the Mac. It’s just more fun to use. My daughter who inherited my old 12″ PowerBook, prefers the Mac as well. Sure I wish Macs weren’t so expensive but I’m hooked.
Harold
Ahh, the proverbial 3rd rail of computers has been touched.
I’ve used and serviced both PCs and Macs. Those who would say that Apple charges more only because their customer base is more affluent or because their machines are ‘cooler’ do so out of ignorance. There are very specific reasons why a Mac is worth more.
1. Target disk mode. Effectively turns a Mac into an external hard drive. Usefulness of this are well known and documented. Why PC OEM’s haven’t copied this mystifies me. It’s an incredible service tool.
2. No fricking Registry to hack through. Got a problem with a program? Delete it’s preference file, the OS will regenerate a generic one on reboot. Problem solved.
3. Programs are 99.9% contained in their *.app file. Handy for backups and re-installs.
4. Disk utility- Hard drive and permissions repair solve many problems.
5. Energy settings- Can schedule the machine to turn on/off itself, so you don’t have to wait for boot. Why ‘eco-friendly’ OEMs haven’t copied this simple function, again , mystifies me.
6. Software update- Simply and elegantly updates all Apple programs, not just the OS.
7. Did I say they are terribly reliable? The local school system still has 10 year old imacs and ibooks in the school system still in daily service. No small feat.
Linux?
What a bunch of crap. You say Bargain like it`s a bad thing. Simple fact, You can buy or build better performance for less than a mac. The problem with windows is that admittedly you have to know what you`re doing to do it right. So for those who can`t figure out how to run the thing properly, let them waste money on a BSD rip off in a plastic box. I`d rather not pay for a brand or someone`s advertising budget. Now Falcon northwest etc…those are premium computers.
Okay, I think that I must disagree with the person that wrote this article. I have both a PC and a Mac. I only have a Mac because my schooling requires that I use a Mac, the software needed for some schoolwork is on the Mac.
I cannot use the Mac without getting frustrated. It runs SOOO incredibly slow on a high-speed internet connection. It is not brand new, but it is only a couple of years old. So quality is crap. I have a PC laptop that I have had for four years and it is still in great shape and works perfectly fine.
My laptop, yes, did cost only $300 and tax/s&p, but I find that it is a much better quality and has a longer lifespan. Even if I could spend $1-2,000 on any computer, I would choose a PC. Macs are way too hyped up and not worth it.
it is your problem for buying a used one. Macs are more customizable and I have had my PowerBook G4 for 5 years now, it has several dings, but functions like new.
P.S. I would never buy a used computer unless that was my only choice. If I were to choose between a Mac mini basic or a top of the line Dell, I'd choose the Dell, sell it, buy the top of the line Mac Mini
I’ll have to disagree with David on this as well. Particularly the part that says “With the $1,000+ PC market, Apple has a staggering 91% market share, according to an NPD report. Put another way, people looking for ‘cream of the crop’ computers simply don’t buy PCs.”
Just because a product is priced higher than other similar products doesn’t mean that the more expensive one is automatically higher quality. I’ve gone on to apple’s website as well as hp and dell’s, customized their most expensive computers with identical components (or as close to equivalent as I could and staying away from adding any software so I’m only comparing the hardware), and the macs always came out AT LEAST $1000 dollar more (the hp and dells were around $1500 while the mac was $2500). Keep in mind they had almost IDENTICAL hardware. Now what can apple be doing that makes their macs worth a thousand extra dollars? Nothing besides the fact that they stick to proprietary products and justify their higher price by claiming it’s way better than a pc.
Essentially, you’re paying more for brand name. Happens too with brand name PCs, but not nearly as much as with macs. Custom PCs are usually the best option, they are usually way cheaper, under $1000 at times, which contradicts what David is saying. Macs and PCs are nearly synonymous with food you buy at the grocery: you could buy the brand name of this product, or the generic store brand for much less, and you’ll sometimes find that both brands are made from the same factory.
When it comes down to it, it’s your own preference that matters (although I still see no reason to pay $1000 extra). The little differences between Mac and PC are just that, little. James lists reasons he thinks macs are worth more, but they are minor differences. Not worth $1000, at least to me.
1. Target Disk Mode. Cool feature but only really useful if something happens to the OS and you can’t boot it up.
2. .plist files contain the same information as windows registry files. Mac just lacks a “registry editor” though you can still change settings in .plist files if you want to. Which file type is more preferable is, again, debatable since it depends on whether you want to remove the risk of screwing something up (limiting what you can do in the process) or trust yourself not to screw it up (and always BACK UP your registry files) and be able to do plenty extra to programs.
3. Makes backup and reinstall easier, sure, but makes altering or modding harder for the user. Again depends on what you plan on doing with the software (using it as it was programmed for or modding it so it’s more useful to you if the original program isn’t).
4. Disk Utility. Useful, no doubt. But it’s about as useful as power locks and windows when it isn’t standard on a car. You can still do the same thing on a PC, it’s just not all put in one place. Again useful, but a minor difference.
5. This is quite minor. A few moments waiting for a PC or Mac to boot up isn’t that big of a deal. It’s like claiming you hate driving your car because you have to start it up and let it warm up a bit in the morning. The time lost doing so doesn’t amount to much. Having a car that starts and warms up before you head out to the car in the morning is cool, but it’s usefulness ends rather quickly.
6. That only matters if the updates are useful. And how often should a program (OS’s excluded) need to be updated? If they ever do need an update, many programs will let you know that an update/patch is available. But once again, this is a minor difference from PCs
7. Reliability is a dumb point to argue, since both sides have their horror stories. PCs may only have more simply because there are many, MANY more out on the market than macs. But I bet the failure rates are pretty close to each other. They are using the same parts after all (minus anything proprietary to the company, but that’s usually limited).
To sum up my main point against David (the author), macs aren’t better because they’re more expensive, they just sell it that way, custom built computers are much cheaper and loads better than either brand name PCs or macs.
The individual features I enumerated, in and of themselves, would not justify the premium price difference of a Mac. However, taken on the whole, they make a very compelling argument. Keep in mind the many of these features cannot be duplicated on a PC, at any price.
1. Target disk mode: Much more than OS/hard drive repair. If you don’t understand it, you shouldn’t try to dismiss it.
2. when windows registry can spontaneously regenerate a corrupted/deleted software preference entry, then maybe. . maybe it will be as good as Mac .plists.
3. Modding? I thought that went out with Doom WAD files, circa 1995.
4. I call BS on this. Please tell me that you’re not going to compare DU’s repair disk with chkdsk /f? Puleese. Tell me which window’s program repairs permissions. Tell me which windows program can take/apply images of disks and/or folders. 3rd party maybe. additional cost definately.
5. Yes, Mac energy settings are a minor feature. But if you feel it’s necessary to run your computer an extra 16 hours a day just to run a defrag or back up routine that might take 30 minutes, well. . knock yourself out.
6. I’m sure the OEM’s feel every update is useful, else they wouldn’t take the time/expense to publish them. Whether the end user feels that way is not relevant to the discussion. All Apple’s products are updated by clicking one button. A minor convenience sure, over the PC alternative of going to every publisher’s individual site.
7. A ‘dumb’ point? Reliability is a ‘dumb’ criteria by which to base a purchasing decision? I think IT and purchasing professionals would disagree.
I forgot to even mention Apple Remote Desktop, which Windows clumsily copied with Remote Assistance. Again, no comparison.
But you wanna talk ‘dumb’?
Alt-F4: Has anyone used this keystroke since Wordperfect 5.1? Hello, 1991 called and it wants its keystroke back. Apple-Q much better.
3.5″ floppy: Required to run XP’s only clumsy backup function. Ridiculous.
Need I say, you get what you pay for.
Do you know what your talking about? i mean you can say all this stuff about the market but your not looking at actual performance, your looking at how much the computer costs, which is different from the quality. I ABOSOLUTELY guarantee you that every PC I have ever owned, (going from low end dell desktop, to low end laptop, to high end laptop, to ultra high end desktop) can smoke any mac you throw at it. Go ahead, find a benchmarking tool and post it up here, clock your computer and ill clock mine. Go ahead, find something YOU THINK is easier to do on a mac then a PC, and post it up here. The only thing that a mac can do is overcharge you for low end parts, and a low end operating system. The creators and developers of macs honestly think you are all DUMB!
And as for you James,
1. If something stops booting up on your PC just start in safe mode, save all your stuff, and reinstall, less than an hours work (work?)
2.windows registries do repair, its called getting a registry fixing tool, which is better NO MATTER WHAT under the control of the human than the computer, even if you don’t know how to use the tool
3.WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT! I play mods for almost every game I play, I even mod games myself. Mods are sometimes even better than the games themselves because the moders know what games actually like, and its all freeware, something YOU CANT DO ON A MAC.
4.Daemon tools, alcoholll 52%, alcohol 120%, poweISOOO, clonCDDD, magiISOOO, isobusterNerooo, ultrISOOo, disco, imgburnin factct windows even has a utility for image mounting, these are all free by the way
5.do this on a mac, set it to turn off in 30 minutes because you want to listen to music before you fall asleep, while defraging. I know I can and I do, takes me about 7 ½ seconds to do, just going into command prompt and typing “shutdown -s -t 1800” infact you can just get a batch file to do it for you, just type that in a notepad and save it as a batch file. Then you just open it when your going to bed and it’ll do it for you, that’s speed you cant beat on a mac.
6.What are you talking about? For windows I just click the update button and it updates. For everything else I just open driver detective and it does EVERYTHING for me.
7.Macs crash, i’m sorry to tell you this but I have to work on a mac 3 hours a day every day, and they crash all the time. The difference is when a mac crashes it instantly kills the program you were working on and doesn’t save a single thing as a backup, if my PC crashes, (which it doesn’t as often as the mac) my PC still recovers everything I had. And this is supposedly a “good mac” its a iMac running mac OS X leopard.
Let me tell you a story. I have a mac and a PC. The PC may be cheaper to repair, BUT (ehem, Crawler) the break down many times. I am using a PowerBook G4 12″, nothing special, 5 years old, NEVER ONE VIRUS. With a PC, tech support SUCKS, and there is a virus like every other day. Tech support, even out of AppleCare support, on an apple rocks. My foot has more gigahertz than a PC.