How much is the MacOS worth (how much more than Windows)?

[rz]

As mentioned above, that model Dell can easily be made into a hackintosh.

Oh, and thanks for starting yet another thread where silvarios can (and did) rabidly go on and on with usual his Apple-bashing tirade.

[cbelt3]

Second and third the mention of support. I always like to explain the ONLY Mac support call I've ever gotten from my family :

"Daddy, the computer keeps quacking at me and won't stop !"

"Sweetie, did you put your Ariel dolly on the keyboard again ? "

"Oh. Ok, thank you. The computer stopped quacking. I can play Stella Luna now !"

This was in 1996 on a Performa 5200....

[jdc]

silvarios wrote:
[quote=jdc]
[quote=Buck]
Coworkers are at it again.

The same thing happens here...
Which Mac matches up to that Dell for $675?
No Mac matches it. And none ever will. It wins on *almost* all levels -- price, performance and expandibility.

There's no arguing that.

But it loses on OS.

That's it.

[Article Accelerator]

silvarios wrote:
[quote=RAMd®d]
My experience tells me that even though Macs aren't as perfect as some might think, it's far and away the more trouble-free path. I doubt I'll ever have to use a PC again and would never recommend one to anyone.

If somebody asks me, then doesn't want to use/buy/go Mac, then "…buy whatever you want".

I just had to explain how iTunes worked to a (Mac) user and it was pretty confusing frankly.
You're pretty confused?

…if someone needs a new computer for under $600, what do you suggest to them?

A Mac mini, of course.

[hal]

Article Accelerator wrote:

…if someone needs a new computer for under $600, what do you suggest to them?

A Mac mini, of course.

That's only part of a computer considering that people will also need - a mac mini with keyboard and mouse is $697 - add an apple monitor and the total is now $1700 (interesting that the apple store rounds up to $1700 instead of the actual total of $1696.

Apple clearly is not for consumers on a tight budget...

rz wrote:
As mentioned above, that model Dell can easily be made into a hackintosh.

Oh, and thanks for starting yet another thread where silvarios can (and did) rabidly go on and on with usual his Apple-bashing tirade.

that wasn't apple bashing...

[ztirffritz]

Silvarios wasn't apple bashing. He has valid points. Apple solutions aren't always viable or even the best solutions. It depends on the situation. If a user needs windows applications why would you pay more for a Mac then install windows on it? If a user has a budget they need to stick too, apple is often off the table as an option. If the user is just ignorant about computers by this state in the game you won't be able to help them anyway. Some people can't be helped. An idiot using a Mac is no less of an idiot.

[silvarios]

jdc wrote:
No Mac matches it. And none ever will. It wins on *almost* all levels -- price, performance and expandibility.

There's no arguing that.

But it loses on OS.

That's it.

Sure, a Mac user will want the Mac OS, but say you are a heavy Adobe app user, the switch between OSes isn't so drastic. I guess that was a long way of saying it depends. I know some people who don't actually like the Mac OS, but they like Windows even less.

[Lew Zealand]

hal wrote:
[quote=Article Accelerator]

…if someone needs a new computer for under $600, what do you suggest to them?

A Mac mini, of course.

That's only part of a computer considering that people will also need - a mac mini with keyboard and mouse is $697 - add an apple monitor and the total is now $1700 (interesting that the apple store rounds up to $1700 instead of the actual total of $1696.

Apple clearly is not for consumers on a tight budget...
If you already have a KB&M, which many people have, then the Mini stays at $599. Buy a non-Apple KB&M? Add $30 to get $629. If you don't want an Apple monitor (how many people do?), you can buy anyone's monitor and hook it up to your Mac as easily as to any PC. The price then stays at $599 or $629. Poisoning the well to $1799 is not a very realistic way to present your argument.

You may as well suggest the OP order up a top of the line XPS or Mac Pro and then say "that's crazy, it's too expensive."

[silvarios]

Lew Zealand wrote:
If you already have a KB&M, which many people have, then the Mini stays at $599. Buy a non-Apple KB&M? Add $30 to get $629. If you don't want an Apple monitor (how many people do?), you can buy anyone's monitor and hook it up to your Mac as easily as to any PC. The price then stays at $599 or $629. Poisoning the well to $1799 is not a very realistic way to present your argument.

You may as well suggest the OP order additional tax up a top of the line XPS or Mac Pro and then say "that's crazy, it's too expensive."

In my client's case she could not reuse the keyboard/mouse and her display was an older VGA only affair. Easily another $40 plus and don't forget to add tax for many buyers. I'm not even factoring in a new display, just the VGA adapter, keyboard, and mouse. My budgets are inclusive of any taxes. $599 plus tax isn't under $600.

Bottom line? I'm still over budget for an old Ivy Bridge computer. If Apple would simply update the darn mini it wouldn't seem like such a bad value proposition.

[silvarios]

Article Accelerator wrote:
You're pretty confused?

Me? No. I was able to pretty easily explain the steps required in syncing content to a portable device, but verbalizing the process showed the holes in logic. Much of this is learned behavior, iTunes isn't always the most intuitive app to use, but since I am used to its quirks, I can get through it pretty quickly.

…if someone needs a new computer for under $600, what do you suggest to them?

Article Accelerator wrote: A Mac mini, of course.

A new Mac mini is not under $600 if you need to pay tax. Then there is the possibly of needing a monitor, keyboard, and mouse. If we could go refurb it wouldn't seem so bad; then again outlet refurb/new Lenovo M93p models are generally even cheaper. Although, prices and availability fluctuate quite a bit compared to walking into a store and plunking down full retail.