Buying a Mac

[Yeah_Baby]

I've never actually done it.

[Regorium]

Originally Posted by kermitology

I think it's been relatively proven time and again that the hardware in a Mac is comparable in price to what you'll get from PC configurations, never mind the fact that the Mac is a PC running OS X.

Garbage comments like this are what baits me to come here.

Unfortunately, I've taken the bait again. You win, good sir.

There are many reasons to get a Mac. Price is just not one of them. Accept it and move on so I never have to post here again.

[Russic]

Originally Posted by Regorium

Garbage comments like this are what baits me to come here.

Unfortunately, I've taken the bait again. You win, good sir.

There are many reasons to get a Mac. Price is just not one of them. Accept it and move on so I never have to post here again.

This may rock your world, but nobody forces you to post anything. Free will is crazy that way.

[photon]

Ikea is the PERFECT meal destination for kids, I've taken my son there many times.

Get a cheap meal, drop him off at the play thing and sit on the couches and have a nap.

[FanIn80]

Kids? I'm thinking about going there this morning now... Then, maybe to Costco later for a hotdog and a pop!

[kermitology]

Originally Posted by Regorium

Garbage comments like this are what baits me to come here.

Unfortunately, I've taken the bait again. You win, good sir.

There are many reasons to get a Mac. Price is just not one of them. Accept it and move on so I never have to post here again.

Look, I'm not a fanboy of Apple or Windows, but I've seen people post system configurations for Apple hardware that has a price difference of maybe $100.

The hardware isn't over-priced. It just isn't blazing amazing outdated the moment you click it.

[Burninator]

I don't know much about Mac's, but I thought Apple's base pricing was pretty close to other PC's. But once you start upgrading parts (through Apple) it's starts to move away from PC's quite quickly.

[kermitology]

Originally Posted by Burninator

I don't know much about Mac's, but I thought Apple's base pricing was pretty close to other PC's. But once you start upgrading parts (through Apple) it's starts to move away from PC's quite quickly.

Yep, but you can do memory and hard-drive upgrades pretty easily on a Mac. They have instructions in the manual.

[FanIn80]

Yeah, only crazy people buy their RAM and HD upgrades from Apple. Although, they have lowered the prices quite a bit.

[grambo]

The MBP is comparable in price to higher end notebooks from PC manufacturers, but for desktops it is not even close. The specs of an iMac for $1,300-1,500 are laugable compared to what type of PC you could build (or buy from HP) for that price.

When you purchase Apple it is for:

1) OSX
2) "Contained" system, stuff works without issue (I'd argue with Win7 this isn't as much of an issue as it has been in the past with XP).
3) Beautiful build quality and style

If you are concerned about price you should buy a PC. I'm not anti-Apple, I have an iPhone and the wife will probably pick up a MBP in the next year. They make great products and are a highly successful company, but they do not compete on price especially in the desktop market hardware wise.

[grambo]

Bored and decided to price two systems out.

iMac 21.5inch

Intel C2D 3.06GHz dual core CPU (guessing this is 45nm Penryn, 2+ years old)
4GB DDR3
1TB SATA HDD
ATI 4670 video 256mb
Apple wireless kb/magic mouse
No extra software/warranty

$1,599 + ship

Memory Express

Antec Sonata III case/PSU
Intel Core i7 860 CPU (2.8GHz quad core, newest arcitecture)
Asus P7 MB
6GB DDR3
2x 1TB SATA HDD's
DVDRW
ATI 5770 1gb video
Logitech G7 wireless kb/mouse
Windows 7 Home Premium

$1,225 + ship which leaves $374 to buy a high quality S-IPS/PVA type LCD (the Dell U2410 24inch goes on sale for $399 regularly), or could save money and get a TN panel 23/24inch for $250 or whatever.

The Windows box will destory the iMac in power, and can actually render modern 3D games at an acceptable frame rate, more storage, more memory etc. It's not even close.

Now saying that, is any of the extra power relevant to someone surfing the web, editing/posting personal photography, managing their media collection (if they like iTunes)? Nope, but in that case you could spec out a comparable system to the Apple for well under $1k (with a nice LCD).

[Phaneuf3]

Here we go again.... again....

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by grambo

Bored and decided to price two systems out.

iMac 21.5inch

Intel C2D 3.06GHz dual core CPU (guessing this is 45nm Penryn, 2+ years old)
4GB DDR3
1TB SATA HDD
ATI 4670 video 256mb
Apple wireless kb/magic mouse
No extra software/warranty

$1,599 + ship

Memory Express

Antec Sonata III case/PSU
Intel Core i7 860 CPU (2.8GHz quad core, newest arcitecture)
Asus P7 MB
6GB DDR3
2x 1TB SATA HDD's
DVDRW
ATI 5770 1gb video
Logitech G7 wireless kb/mouse
Windows 7 Home Premium

$1,225 + ship which leaves $374 to buy a high quality S-IPS/PVA type LCD (the Dell U2410 24inch goes on sale for $399 regularly), or could save money and get a TN panel 23/24inch for $250 or whatever.

The Windows box will destory the iMac in power, and can actually render modern 3D games at an acceptable frame rate, more storage, more memory etc. It's not even close.

Now saying that, is any of the extra power relevant to someone surfing the web, editing/posting personal photography, managing their media collection (if they like iTunes)? Nope, but in that case you could spec out a comparable system to the Apple for well under $1k (with a nice LCD).

A lot of people who buy iMacs do it in large part to not have a giant computer case sitting on their desk or on their floor. If you want to make a fair comparison, compare the iMac to an all in one or at least a mini ATX system. I know I did when I bought my iMac a couple of years ago, and the price was basically a wash and the iMac was a better looking and better executed product, not to mention having a superior operating system (IMO at least).

They also hold their value very, very well. I paid $1349 for my computer 2 years ago and I see used ones just like it selling on eBay and Craigslist for about $1000. 15% annual depreciation for a computer is pretty insane.

[MickMcGeough]

Hey guys you won't believe it but I heard that you can get a PC with higher specs than a Mac for cheaper! Is that true??

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by MickMcGeough

Hey guys you won't believe it but I heard that you can get a PC with higher specs than a Mac for cheaper! Is that true??

Lies. All of it.

[Burninator]

Comparing a piece build system with an already assembled system is not a fair comparison considering it's usually cheaper than buying a pre-assembled windows PC. Not that I really care, but to make it fair you would have to compare them against HP, Dell and the like.

[FanIn80]

There's no point in any of this, really.

People who get it, get it. People who don't, don't. The fact that the people who don't think the people who do should also... er... don't... is... err...

Well. You know.

[grambo]

+$40 for Memex to build it or +$75 for build and OS install.

I agree on the points about the hardware footprint (tower versus nice contained unit), build quality, physical appearance/style and OSX for some uses.

My point is that people were talking about the hardware in a Mac being comparable to what you'd get in a PC, and it's not even close in that specific area.

[Hack&Lube]

Yes Apple charges a premium. That is not news to anybody. If you really are concerned about saving money, then build a PC and install OSX on it and hook up an Apple keyboard and mouse. If you want it to be as pretty or prettier or any size you want, this can be done with a little elbow grease and all the modding tools and parts out there. I have bootcamp on my PC based system right now. I might run WinXP, Win7, Windows Server, Linux, and OSX all from the same computer. Everyone can do this.

[kermitology]

Given my day to day activities on computers (Electrical Eng/Software Dev) if I was allowed to connect my MacBook to the normal domain and use it for pretty much everything I do, I would in a heart beat. There's very little that I require Windows to do. For everything I do at home.. OS X in a heartbeat.

If I was recommending a computer to someone though, I'd be suggesting the 15" MBP.