Does the look and design of a Mac affect you?

[Forrest]

I'll take function over beauty every time. Hmm, well when we're talking about computers miley-laughing001:

I really wish Apple would bring back a reasonably priced (under $1000) upgradeable tower. I think I paid $1100 for my G4 Digital Audio when new, and upgraded everything in it (besides the power supply) before it died after 11 years.

I got tired of waiting, and built a i5 Ivybridge hackintosh system 2 1/2 years ago.

[silvarios]

RAMd®d wrote:
Metal, glass, wood… Some medium that someone has crafted into a precision object gets my attention every time.

Don't you still have a plastic MacBook? Did you appreciate the 5c design, or was the return to plastic considered a downgrade?

[ka jowct]

I definitely appreciate the design of Apple hardware. I've seen enough bad computer designs to really enjoy the Apple devices I have owned, with special love for the really friendly interior designs. My brother's crappy windows boxes were an eye opener. All expense spared! I would definitely keep any PC I have seen of out of sight.

Now if only the Mac OS would be as elegant and functional as my 2010 Mac Pro!

[Robert M]

Ka,

That's the funny thing... The only thing that keeps me on Apple made machines is the OS and its integration with the hardware. Other manufacturers make some very nice machines. Even some of the less than stellar designs are good enough.

My wife's HP laptop isn't perfect by any means but it's been a fine machine. It's built reasonably well. It's been reliable. Is it as nice as my Macbook Pro? No. But, as a Windows machine, it's been dandy. If I could've thrown the Mac OS on it, I'd've done so in a heartbeat and it would still be a fine machine. Unfortunately, that's not feasible.

And, that's the thing. There are a tremendous number of nice Windows boxes out there. If it was easy without hacking and such to throw the Mac OS onto a machine made by a different manufacturer, I'd've jumped ship a long time ago. We're talking boot off a drive, run the installer, done kind of simplicity. I've looked at the instructions for creating a hackintosh and it definitely isn't that simple.

Robert

[mrlynn]

Robert M wrote:
. . . And, that's the thing. There are a tremendous number of nice Windows boxes out there. If it was easy without hacking and such to throw the Mac OS onto a machine made by a different manufacturer, I'd've jumped ship a long time ago. We're talking boot off a drive, run the installer, done kind of simplicity. I've looked at the instructions for creating a hackintosh and it definitely isn't that simple.

And that's why Steve killed the Mac clones, like my J700.

/Mr Lynn

[silvarios]

mrlynn wrote:
[quote=Robert M]
. . . And, that's the thing. There are a tremendous number of nice Windows boxes out there. If it was easy without hacking and such to throw the Mac OS onto a machine made by a different manufacturer, I'd've jumped ship a long time ago. We're talking boot off a drive, run the installer, done kind of simplicity. I've looked at the instructions for creating a hackintosh and it definitely isn't that simple.

And that's why Steve killed the Mac clones, like my J700.

/Mr Lynn
Yep. Too bad really. Especially since the Mac is such a small component of Apple's current revenue.

[N-OS X-tasy!]

silvarios wrote:
[quote=mrlynn]
[quote=Robert M]
. . . And, that's the thing. There are a tremendous number of nice Windows boxes out there. If it was easy without hacking and such to throw the Mac OS onto a machine made by a different manufacturer, I'd've jumped ship a long time ago. We're talking boot off a drive, run the installer, done kind of simplicity. I've looked at the instructions for creating a hackintosh and it definitely isn't that simple.

And that's why Steve killed the Mac clones, like my J700.

/Mr Lynn
Yep. Too bad really. Especially since the Mac is such a small component of Apple's current revenue.
At the time when Steve killed the clones, Mac sales were a MUCH bigger component of Apple's revenue. In fact, the iMac saved Apple; if clones had still been in the mix, that might not have happened.

[silvarios]

N-OS X-tasy! wrote:
[quote=silvarios]
[quote=mrlynn]
[quote=Robert M]
. . . And, that's the thing. There are a tremendous number of nice Windows boxes out there. If it was easy without hacking and such to throw the Mac OS onto a machine made by a different manufacturer, I'd've jumped ship a long time ago. We're talking boot off a drive, run the installer, done kind of simplicity. I've looked at the instructions for creating a hackintosh and it definitely isn't that simple.

And that's why Steve killed the Mac clones, like my J700.

/Mr Lynn
Yep. Too bad really. Especially since the Mac is such a small component of Apple's current revenue.
At the time when Steve killed the clones, Mac sales were a MUCH bigger component of Apple's revenue. In fact, the iMac saved Apple; if clones had still been in the mix, that might not have happened.
Given the company now, that doesn't bother me (not in the market for expensive phones, watches, and headphones, and there are increasingly few Mac models that check enough boxes for me). As an aside, portables became the big sellers not many years after the iMac launch and the clone manufacturers were not licensed to make portables. Apple could have done well selling iMacs, PowerBooks, and later, iBooks. Apple thought all the money was in high end desktops when it turns out that was a rapidly shrinking market.

Edit: Given the lack of AIO clones (I can't think of a single model ever shipped), I wonder if the cloners had license to make those either? Given iMacs were wildly successful and Apple portables were increasingly important (roughly even by 2004), I'm still not sure Apple couldn't have figured out an ongoing clone license. Guess we will never know. Great point by the way. Thanks for bringing it up.