What's with Apple's commercials?

[Herodotus]

I've used Windows all my life, and have never had any major issues at all. I see no reason to switch, and no commercial would ever convince me one way or another anyways, as said commercial is produced by the company trying to sell me a product. I prefer to just look at the stats on the computer, read reviews, and try things out for myself.

As for the OS's themselves, the main problem with any Apple computer is that they are just so expensive it's ridiculous. Main problem with Windows is that any prebuilt computer that has a Windows OS on it will be loaded down in bloatware, and will run ALOT slower than it has the potential to. Luckily, I built my last computer from scratch so it generally runs perfectly (unless I do something stupid like, let's say, not insert the RAM in all the way ) and it was MUCH cheaper.

[Mazin]

Originally Posted by Herodotus

I've used Windows all my life, and have never had any major issues at all. I see no reason to switch, and no commercial would ever convince me one way or another anyways, as said commercial is produced by the company trying to sell me a product. I prefer to just look at the stats on the computer, read reviews, and try things out for myself.

As for the OS's themselves, the main problem with any Apple computer is that they are just so expensive it's ridiculous. Main problem with Windows is that any prebuilt computer that has a Windows OS on it will be loaded down in bloatware, and will run ALOT slower than it has the potential to. Luckily, I built my last computer from scratch so it generally runs perfectly (unless I do something stupid like, let's say, not insert the RAM in all the way ) and it was MUCH cheaper.

OK. Why do you use Windows? Is it its excellent technical merits? Its impeccable security record? Its thoughtful GUI? Its competitive price ($240 for "Home Premium" last I checked)? Or is it because you simply cannot switch?

When you say that Apple computers are expensive, I'm sure you mean that they don't offer much low-end models, rather than they're overpriced.

[NickE]

Originally Posted by Billfred

I won't flame anyone who isn't feeling it, though I will note that 1 GB of RAM is low for an Intel-based Mac. My MacBook has 2 GB; you can now option up a MacBook Pro to four.

Yes, but why should it be neccesary to make such an upgrade on a mac, which is supposed to work fine out of the box. (as per the commercials)

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by NickE

Yes, but why should it be neccesary to make such an upgrade on a mac, which is supposed to work fine out of the box. (as per the commercials)

These days, you don't have to; the new MacBooks come with 2 GB standard. My original iBook had 1 GB of RAM; I upgraded to two, and boy does that make a Mac sing. When I traded up to a MacBook, I made sure to check the extra gig on the options list.

[Thermal]

And PC's come with 3gb standard... but thats not the issue.

That "extra gig" on the options list costs you quite a bit of money. Currently my PC has 2 gigs of ram, but it wasn't always like that. I bought (or more appropriatly, built) my PC with a Patriot 2x512MB CAS5 DDR-667 set of RAM. Cost me about 90 dollars what, 2 years ago. DDR2 ram prices were still pretty high up there so I opted for the 1 gig set. About just under a year later, I decided to throw another gig in there, so I ditched my Patriots and went with a Crucial Ballistix CAS4 DDR2-800 2x1GB set of RAM. Bought it for 90 dollars also. So essentially I doubled my RAM for 2x the price. But that really isn't fair towards this arguement. Nowadays I can buy a new 2 gig set of DDR2 RAM at around 25 dollars. Or I can get a 4 gig set for well, 100% more than that, oh, a whopping gargantuan 55 dollars (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820220335)

But wait, how much would it cost me to upgrade my RAM on a mac? Well, thats a trick question, you don't. You buy a new mac. Okay, well lets set this up a different way. How much more would it cost me to buy a Mac Pro with 4 gigs as compared to a Mac Pro with 2? 500 dollars. Thats a far cry from the 30 dollar markup on a standard PC. Like... thats 20 times more.....

But that really isn't the kicker. 8800GT costs about 80 dollars now, but in a Mac prepare to shove another 150 into the "upgrade" option. God forbid I want to throw something a little med-high end, like lets say 2xATI hd4850's in crossfire. Oh wait, I can't do that. I forgot, can't game on a Mac... High end card is a measly 8800gt, while it was a nice med-end card a year ago, it can't hold its own to even a 140 dollar HD4850. Nowadays.

Of course, then theres just the outright ABSURD markups. +100 dollars for another 16x DVDRW drive, +600 for a glossy 20" monitor, MAC OSX (server) 1000 dollars, (hey, linux is free....).

Now all of these markups are based already off of a 2,800 dollar pricetag! I can build a skulltrail PC with 4 gigs, and TRIPLE GTX280 SLI and two quadcore processors for that price. What does the mac pro give you instead of the PC? An OS that limitates you in the programs you can use, and an apple logo on a pasty white case.

You cannot tell me a mac is nicer...


How does that little silver and white plastic shelled case offer any more aesthetical purposes than this alu silver Lian Li case?

[artdutra04]

Originally Posted by Thermal

And PC's come with 3gb standard... but thats not the issue.

That "extra gig" on the options list costs you quite a bit of money. Currently my PC has 2 gigs of ram, but it wasn't always like that. I bought (or more appropriatly, built) my PC with a Patriot 2x512MB CAS5 DDR-667 set of RAM. Cost me about 90 dollars what, 2 years ago. DDR2 ram prices were still pretty high up there so I opted for the 1 gig set. About just under a year later, I decided to throw another gig in there, so I ditched my Patriots and went with a Crucial Ballistix CAS4 DDR2-800 2x1GB set of RAM. Bought it for 90 dollars also. So essentially I doubled my RAM for 2x the price. But that really isn't fair towards this arguement. Nowadays I can buy a new 2 gig set of DDR2 RAM at around 25 dollars. Or I can get a 4 gig set for well, 100% more than that, oh, a whopping gargantuan 55 dollars (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820220335)

But wait, how much would it cost me to upgrade my RAM on a mac? Well, thats a trick question, you don't. You buy a new mac. Okay, well lets set this up a different way. How much more would it cost me to buy a Mac Pro with 4 gigs as compared to a Mac Pro with 2? 500 dollars. Thats a far cry from the 30 dollar markup on a standard PC. Like... thats 20 times more.....

But that really isn't the kicker. 8800GT costs about 80 dollars now, but in a Mac prepare to shove another 150 into the "upgrade" option. God forbid I want to throw something a little med-high end, like lets say 2xATI hd4850's in crossfire. Oh wait, I can't do that. I forgot, can't game on a Mac... High end card is a measly 8800gt, while it was a nice med-end card a year ago, it can't hold its own to even a 140 dollar HD4850. Nowadays.

Of course, then theres just the outright ABSURD markups. +100 dollars for another 16x DVDRW drive, +600 for a glossy 20" monitor, MAC OSX (server) 1000 dollars, (hey, linux is free....).

Now all of these markups are based already off of a 2,800 dollar pricetag! I can build a skulltrail PC with 4 gigs, and TRIPLE GTX280 SLI and two quadcore processors for that price. What does the mac pro give you instead of the PC? An OS that limitates you in the programs you can use, and an apple logo on a pasty white case.

You cannot tell me a mac is nicer...


That does not compare to this...



Watercooled skulltrail system with SLI'd topend cards, 4 gigs of ram and 8 cores versus a mac pro with 8 cores, 2 gigs of RAM and a dinky super low end ATI 2600pro (aka a 7600gt, a med end card 2 years ago, now a low end 40 dollar card)

Wow...

What do you gain by bragging about your computer for several paragraphs online while comparing it to a photo that isn't even a real Mac in a thread that was supposed to be about Apple's ads?

[Mazin]

Originally Posted by Billfred

These days, you don't have to; the new MacBooks come with 2 GB standard. My original iBook had 1 GB of RAM; I upgraded to two, and boy does that make a Mac sing. When I traded up to a MacBook, I made sure to check the extra gig on the options list.

Err... what do you do that uses up all that RAM?

[Thermal]

I could think of a million programs that would run better with 2 gigs of ram.

Inventor, any game made after 2006, any person that multi tasks a lot, inventor again just because its that important, and rendering program, any 3d modeling program, ect....

Personally I use windows because.. well... everything uses windows. It isn't that i'm reluctant to switch from Windows to OSX, its the fact that i'm HIGHLY reluctant to have my hardware monopolized and my OS have lacking software support from third parties. Not to mention the extra hit in my wallet for no gain in either speed, or ease of use.

Apple could gain a much larger market share if they would allow OSX to be installed on a "PC". But they keep showing that they have no interest in selling a OS, or allowing it to be used on non Mac hardware, their current lawsuit against Psystar perfectly shows that. If I could go out and purchase OSX at my local computer store, I just MIGHT do it to give it a whiz. Otherwise there is just no reason for me to ever buy a Mac, too big a hit in the wallet for what you get in return. I would not recieve any more security from using OSX than Windows. I run Avast!, Spybot and Adaware, those three programs (along with simply running the windows firewall) has kept me from recieving any high threat malware, as it simply just gets detected on download. (And yes, the only way that I would get infected is if I let it into the system, it's the only way anyone gets infected. They get it without knowing by downloading a file or program they percieve as safe).

So to directly answer your questions Mazin in short. I use windows because it is superior in 3rd party support, and OSX offers nothing in return for what I give up by switching. Also it very much is that Macs are overpriced, not in the fact that they have no "low end model". Just because something costs 600 doesnt technically mean its "low end". Considering a 600 dollar PC can perform on par, if not better than a 1100+ dollar Mac, i'd consider the Mac to be overpriced. I'd hate to see how underperforming a 600 dollar Mac would be, i'd probably cry if I had to see some simple processor and RAM benchmarks.

PS: XP 32 bit OEM only cost me 55 dollars when I purchased it two years ago. Microsoft regularly has OS blowout sales where you can get Vista 64 Bit home for 100 dollars. I'd rather drop an extra 100 dollars on an OS when building a computer, than dropping an extra 600 for a Mac. If you buy from Dell, that 550 dollar dell with its q6600 with 3 gigs of RAM comes with Vista anyways, so OS prices are moot in the retail industry. Also they've gotten much much better on the bloatware side of things.

[Bharat Nain]

I agree with Billfred. Plus, I do not think Apple is a computer built for everybody. Some people will use it and see absolutely no difference. Some will see it just does not work for them. For for some of us, it is perfect. I love the simplicity, elegance and thoughtfulness put into it. I love convenience and the little extra features that make life simple. I love the standard hardware that is made to run perfectly with the OS. I love that there aren't 200 applications to do the same thing. It's usually 1 or 2 very good applications. I love that I never have to worry about viruses, trojans, spyware etc as few exist. I am very happy with my mac. I have XP and Vista computers but they are made for different purposes. You are paying for the time and effort it took to give you the comfort with a mac.

This is not to say that I think Microsoft is useless. It has its place. I find it great for developing applications, robotics apps, the ability to expand, customize and build hardware on your own terms. For everyday use, I definitely prefer the mac though. There are just too many little issues with windows that I don't want to deal with. You are very much entitled to whatever makes your life simpler. And yes, you can build cheaper, powerful, better looking, blah blah for 1/2 the price. But some of us prefer the convenience and service.

[MrForbes]

Oh, we're supposed to actually watch commercials? huh....

[Michael Hill]

Also, I hope Apple knows they're shooting themselves in their own feet when it comes to Virus and malware protection. Microsoft's biggest fault, apparently, is it's popularity. So many viruses are written to attack Windows. Now what happens if the Mac somehow reaches, say, 50% of the market share. Are they seriously going to deny that their won't be viruses written to attack it?

[Mazin]

beach ball hates me

[Adam Y.]

Originally Posted by Billfred

Besides, I think you might be missing the point Apple's trying to convey: their product works, Microsoft's doesn't, and now Microsoft's trying to fight back with ads instead of a working product.


Of course, beauty is always in the eye of the beholder.

They generally do have very well working products. The problem is that they've built up such a horrid reputation that everyone ignores that fact. It's their fault for the reputation but I have no idea how they can fix that problem.

Originally Posted by ZakuAce

On the subject of commercials - I really dislike the new Microsoft commercial. I don't understand it. It kind of reminds me of a kid looking for attention. "Hey look over here look over here!" They don't inform me on the OS. And why the heck would they talk about "stereotyping" people as PCs? I just did not understand how this was related in any way of how their computers work. The Apple commercials are more saying "Sup. Dude check this out. Pretty sweet, huh?" When they first started their ad campaign, I was thinking "Wow Mac has ads now?!" followed by "Ooo thats cool." I think that is a better way of getting customers than saying "HEY OVER HERE!"

See above. They are trying to break the reputation that Vista is a horrible operating system.

[Nawaid Ladak]

Who likes Microsoft's ad's striking back at apple?
I personally think their pretty funny. and they put apple in a hotspot, especially this one

[Mazin]

Say what you want, but my polycarbonate MacBook has been the best laptop I have ever used. Considering that it can be had new for $1k and my last laptop was a $700 HP that's given me no end of trouble (not to mention lacking several features), I just can't stand anymore people that complain that Macs are so expensive "when you can get a dell for $x hurhurhur."