"apple is freakin stupid. i bought a mid line HP laptop about 5 months ago for $450 on sale at best buy (with vista and the full office suite). it's faster and has power than the macbook, which is about $1200."
which part do you doubt? Its certainly true that PC laptops are much less expensive that apple laptops (upon which this comment is being written). And its definitely true that $450 is not an unrealistic price to spend. As for which is 'faster' thats so nebulous that it would require further clarification to establish. PC's are faster for somethings, and Mac's for others. The main reason (for me) to buy a Mac is that I like OSX better than XP or Vista. 7, I haven't tried yet.
Also, I value the build. Those cheap PC laptops don't have a unibody aluminum case or magsafe, and frankly, I don't trust their component choices, or time to research it. I can get full instructions to take apart any Mac at ifixit.com, but for a PC, it's extremely hard to get the service manual.
You just nailed it on the head. The only other PC manufacturer with decent build is Lenovo with the ThinkPads - and those will run you a pretty penny also (well, $1100+ for a decent setup anyway)
Quality stuff costs money, hardly a surprise, but what is surprising is how many people believe there is a free lunch to be had.
You would not believe the number of people I've talked to who insist that BMWs have the same parts as a Toyota, and that it's all just marketing...
It depends on what you value as quality. Many of the things you guys have mentioned is either cosmetic, or used to preserve my computer far past its average lifespan...(with advancements in tech I have to get a new computer at least every 5 yrs. The cheapest PC with non brand hardware will last you that easily...
Cae in point, I bought my cousin an emachines computer for $299 three years ago, and the only problem she's had in all of this time is with trojans (she downloads everything).
I bought my mac in 2005 for 2400 (I loooove my monitor though)and I feel soooooo outdated. So I recently got a MUCH stronger PC for under 600 bucks. I wanted a mac, but the comparable Mac was $1900.
Quality is quality - and much of it is non-functional. The car analogy is really apt here.
I can buy a Toyota for $20K that will get me to work at the same time as I could if driving a BMW. It costs a hell of a lot less for the same functionality, and if we believe the reliability numbers, will last me just as long (if not longer) than the BMW - certainly longer than I plan to own the car anyways.
So why would anyone in their right mind buy a BMW? Or really anything more expensive than a Toyota? User experience. Maybe I like the extra frilly features like dual-zone climate control, power seats, in-dash GPS, projected HUD, or whatever. Or maybe I like the fact that the interior has a lot better fit and finish than the Toyota, and is made from far better materials. Maybe I like the fact that it sits low on the ground and doesn't feel like it's going to float off the ground at anything above 70mph.
These are the factors and the features that people easily discount, but add untold amounts of satisfaction to the user experience. Whether it's worth the extra cash is up to you, but the difference is there, and not always easy to notice if you're only ever looking at the spec sheet.
To bring it back to laptop-land, my old PC was thick, clunky, heavy, had tons of flimsy plastic flaps covering the ports, and the screen hinge was loose and floppy. Was it usable? Of course. Could I get work done on it? Naturally. Did it have similar or better specs than the Macs of its day? Yes. But in the end it was a poor user experience.
Thanks for the hysterical laughter that you just provided me. The only apt analogy here is that the Mac is the taurus, with the price of the BMW. The comparison with the laptops is hardware specs, monitor, functionality, everything. The only differentiating yet irrelevant feature is the appearance, in which they differ. The 'frilly extras' of the BMW simply don't exist on the Mac. Very funny though.
Looks like there's now a timeout before replies, new feature pg?
You should probably stop shedding karma for today - your unsubstantiated, inflammatory Apple-hate has already gotten you modded into oblivion today.
But I'll bite:
- MagSafe. You cannot buy this feature anywhere, and it has saved my laptop on numerous occasions. In fact, in university I knew a guy who fixed out-of-warranty laptops for other students, and "power socket ripped off motherboard" was the most common repair he did. The fact that it snaps into place from a distance also adds that little bit of extra ease (as opposed to hunting for the hole).
- Better monitors. Seriously, do you think a $500 HP laptop can stand up to the monitor on a 15" MacBook Pro? Apple isn't the only ones offering 8-bit panels on a LED backlit screen, but if you look at any other laptops offering this you'll realize they're also in the MBP's price range. You do get what you pay for.
- Form factor and size. Your $500 Dell Inspiron is 2-3 times thicker than my MBP, and weighs 50% more. Is the size and weight savings worth it for you? I don't know, that's for you to decide, but there is a difference.
- Metal vs. plastic construction. The best keyboard I've used on a PC laptop ever is the ThinkPad keyboard (I have one right now, in fact), and even that is no match to the stiffness offered by the new aluminum-framed MacBooks. Go down to a $500 laptop and what you get is mushy crap that will twist and bend as you type. Been there done that, sick of it.
- Touchpad. The multi-touch gestures are an incredible productivity booster - two finger scrolling is the way it is meant to be. Shoving your fingers into the corner of your touchpad just to scroll is counter-productive, annoying, and just plain backwards. Being able to access any open window from a single gesture swipe has also improved my productivity.
I could go on, but go ahead and keep trolling and insisting that the "looks" is all that is different.
Wow, that shot over your head. The comparison is in between laptops with COMPARABLE specs. Good lord. Not a $500 Dell and a $1,000 Macbook. If you'll remember, most commercials weren't too specific, but in most of them at least a thousand dollars was being spent. We're not comparing a low end PC with a high end Mac. I didn't realize I was going to have to hold your hand through that. Man, I guess at least five of you also learned a new word today, 'unsubstantiated'. Congratulations!
OK - but how often do you plan on dropping your laptop? I fixed/maintained hardware for many years, so while I think you are overstating the case a bit I can agree with your basic point.
But if I, say, buy a craptop for $750 that does 90% of what I want from a $1500 Macbook, well I have $750 left over that I can use. I take a 10% productivity hit, but if I can get more than a 10% ROI on my cash (perhaps by buying a better software package or whatever) then I am ahead of the game, at least until such time as my craptop gets damaged and needs replacement.
And I have to say that the failure rates for PC laptops are not as bad as you (appear to) think.
To me, I'd question the 'full suite' of Office that was supposedly included. Even when building through Dell, and packing in the OEM version, I'm pretty sure that alone adds $3-400 to the price.
That said, Office doesn't ship with Macs. I'm pretty sure that Macs don't even ship with the 30- or 60-day evaluation version these days.
The Pro line ships with a trial version of MS Office and Apple iWork. It also includes the Apple iLife suite and several other good "Pro" apps by Omni.
Somehow I doubt that...