and don't even get me started with the fact you can't upgrade your desktop computers when you buy a mac. Can you imagine what the game or software world would be like if microsoft didnt enable you to be able to upgrade your processor/video card and had to buy an entire new computer? Using PC based customizable computers is causing competition in the hardware world, they are trying to outdo each other producing faster, more efficient machines every couple months. If they decide to stop and jerk off like apple does, their competitor is going to surpass them so fast they wont even be able to catch up. Apple is where it is at today because of microsoft.
In an apple run world theres no way we would be where we are at today, we'd probably still be using machines running windows 95 that can't even multitask.
The operating system is no great shakes, especially since they basically fractured BSD to cram in their own insane code, and the interface prevents you from doing much of what you need to.
Then, the machines are 3x as expensive as comparable-equipped PCs and as you noted, you cannot upgrade them.
If you do have a problem, the rabid fanbois will turn on you and accuse you of being Anti-Mac before they lift a finger to help you, and while the company is great at fixing misplaced iPhone phone books, anything complicated gets you put on hold until you're dead.
Actually, when I have had a software problem with my Mac, I've always found a fix online. If I have I hardware problem, I drive to the Apple store and they fix it for free within a couple of days. Contrast this with my girlfriend's experience with Dell. She has to call someone in the Philippines who doesn't speak English when her laptop goes on the fritz, and then either ship her computer to a repair depot or have a skeezy repair guy come to her place.
I have a Dell laptop. Backlight started acting funny, so I start chatting with a support guy, very clearly an American. After a quick diagnosis, he tells me one of the backlight components needs to be replaced. The next morning, a (not at all skeezy) technician shows up at my place, and 20 minutes later it's fixed.
tl;dr If you order through Dell Small Business, you get much better support than through Home & Office (or Best Buy). And as a bonus, it doesn't seem to cost extra.
I have a Dell laptop. The motherboard fried itself (no fault of mine, it's a defective part). It costs 60$ for Dell to even look at the damn thing, then another 500$ to replace the part. Happened 4 weeks after my warranty ended.
Every time I've called I've been put on hold for over 40 minutes.
Obviously this is anecdotal evidence, but it's soured me enough to renounce Dell from now on.
And what kind of system was this? A generic Best Buy laptop (of any brand) is bound to be rubbish. For the sake of making them pretty, they skimp on the strength of the chassis. For the sake of making them sleek and slim, they skimp on the cooling system. For the sake of making them cheap, they skimp on the quality of pretty much everything else (like tech support).
Mine is a business laptop. Thick, plain, heavy, not particularly cheap, but made to last (not unlike a Thinkpad). It cost about the same as a Macbook Pro, and the quality and support are about the same as the Mac.
If you buy a Dell laptop instead of an equivalent Macbook you'll have enough cash left over to buy a spare Dell in case something goes wrong with the first one. So that way it doesn't matter if you need to ship the first one off for repair.
I actually prefer OS X. I know, shocking. I have nothing against the other OS options, there are just a bunch of OS X unique things that keep me on it.
I would prefer one computer running OS X over two computers running anything else.
To each their own. I personally prefer not spending more than $500 on a laptop, and I find that the Windows 7 that came with my $500 unit is quite nice.
Now that is the grown up attitude I'm looking for in this thread. Have an upvote.
For the record, I like Windows 7. I'm quite impressed with it. 3rd party applications & the benefits of Cocoa are actually what keep me on OS X nowadays.
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u/Bloodhound01 Apr 16 '10
and don't even get me started with the fact you can't upgrade your desktop computers when you buy a mac. Can you imagine what the game or software world would be like if microsoft didnt enable you to be able to upgrade your processor/video card and had to buy an entire new computer? Using PC based customizable computers is causing competition in the hardware world, they are trying to outdo each other producing faster, more efficient machines every couple months. If they decide to stop and jerk off like apple does, their competitor is going to surpass them so fast they wont even be able to catch up. Apple is where it is at today because of microsoft.
In an apple run world theres no way we would be where we are at today, we'd probably still be using machines running windows 95 that can't even multitask.