Interesting, because I went to the Apple store website and put in the same components into the customizer, and got a price $3000 less than that of the infographic.
I’d love to see a longitudinal study done comparing people running macs and PC’s of equivalent specs and see who actually spends the most over a period of four years. I suspect that the mac user would still have spent more overall but that it would be closer than you tend to expect once you take into account money spent on repairs and upgrades, time spent fixing issues, time spent running updates and data allowance downloading patches and security updates.
Oh, and the premium for things like Microsoft office versus apple equivellents and the £120 for updating windows vs £30 for updating mac OSX (and yes we all know that there’s free options out there but most users still equate free with crap).
You get the full operating system, at 99 dollars; not the neutered trash that Microsoft gives you. Compare pricepoints again there, champ. Also, its very rare that you are required to get the latest upgrade for OSX. I’m still running 10.6 without any issues, I installed it about 3 years ago. I expect to use it on this machine till i get a new one, it’s about 4 years old, I’d give it another 3 years before I need to replace it. That’s another thing this misleading graphic seems to miss, who’s going to be running their rig in 6 years just as zippy as they bought it?
Apple Supports it’s operating system years after most people remember it existed. I think they are dropping 10.4 support now.
I’m an IT tech and I can assure you my apple using client keep me very busy with having to repair their machines, whilst my 2xLinux and 1xWindows systems haven’t needed any attention in about 2yrs 🙂
What they forgot to mention, which is a huge omission in my opinion is that you get CHARGED for that big crap called “Windows” to be able to run the shit that is less expensive, for all the trouble it’s gonna get you, you should at least get a 1000$ rebate for it to be worth the trouble and the anxiety and all that time lost when most probably, nothing would have come up if you would have done the same thing on the Mac… Which includes in its price, unbeatable customer service, an incredible OS and multiple software suites that are super intuitive and an incredible home network compatibility… All of that which works worry-free and all… It’s all a matter of what you consider being most valuable in your computer experience
I’m sorry, but why does everyone assume that Windows is some horrible piece of crap OS that always breaks and fails? I measure uptimes for my laptop in months. The last time I shut it down was when I went on a trip and turned it off for the ride when I wasn’t using it. The only time any of my desktop computers shut down or reboot is when the power goes out and I shut them down before the UPS drains.
So lets see here:
1) OS cost. Sure, I’ll give you that one. I can’t argue that. So add in another $100 or so depending on what version you get. Still several thousand dollars cheaper than the Mac.
2) Unbeatable customer service. Hrmmm… I don’t think I’ve needed customer server from Microsoft ever. I’m trying, in fact, to remember the last time I needed to contact a tech support rep for anything on any of my computers. It’s been quite a while. I suppose having great customer service is something to be proud of if your stuff is so problematic you have to have something to stand on. I mean Dell was rated as great customer service too and look how good their computers were.
3) Incredible OS. Compared to? Again, my Windows installs have no issues so I can’t really see where you have this going for you.
4) Multiple Software Suites. Errr, Windows has thousands of available applications and software suites for everything you could imagine from music, graphic and video editing to word processing and office documentation to gaming and anything else. No advantage to Mac there. Usually there’s less available software for the Mac than Windows.
5) Home network compatibility. Multiple versions of windows across close to a dozen computers, multiple tablets of both windows and android OS, smart phones, etc all networked without issues. Again…where is the problem?
So I’m not seeing anywhere where Mac is the clear cut winner here. Sorry.
A lot of people seem to say the same thing about Mac’s for some reason, I had a very long discussion, where someone was under the delusion that Mac’s don’t have any problems, crash etc.
It’s just mental that Mac fans don’t seem to understand it’s a computer, and computers have problems from time to time.
Weird cause you could buy a 27″ iMac and a Cinema display with CLOSE to the same components as the PC and pay less. Just sacrifice a little hard drive space.
This is comparing two high end machines, likely a custom built “PC” (…easy to use term people like to use for a computer that isn’t a Mac or some other proprietary thing, that runs Windows. but really they’re all Personal Computers) to a Mac Pro with the same things in them. an iMac probably could have 16GB of RAM, but most definitely does not have a Xeon processor in it and could not have 8 TB RAID array. At least not inside (not right now). I’m not too knowledgeable about graphics cards but considering the other components I’m sure it’s pretty powerful, or was (someone said this is old) and if it doesn’t meet current needs it can easily be switched to another computer and make someone very happy cause either way it ought to be better than any on-board graphics. Macs need graphics cards made just for them. While iMacs now are pretty nice and do well with graphics and stuff, that’s not even close.
Well, when you put it like that…
the mac has magic fairy dust which is better than anything, right?
I know Macs are expensive, but this just seems inflated to me.
You pay the extra for the huge sense of superiority and smugness.
Interesting, because I went to the Apple store website and put in the same components into the customizer, and got a price $3000 less than that of the infographic.
Which is still $3000 more than the listed “PC” price, I assume?
This is a much older comparison. The 5870 isn’t even sold anymore. Although a quick Amazon search revealed an Apple ATI 5870 for $500.
I’d love to see a longitudinal study done comparing people running macs and PC’s of equivalent specs and see who actually spends the most over a period of four years. I suspect that the mac user would still have spent more overall but that it would be closer than you tend to expect once you take into account money spent on repairs and upgrades, time spent fixing issues, time spent running updates and data allowance downloading patches and security updates.
Oh, and the premium for things like Microsoft office versus apple equivellents and the £120 for updating windows vs £30 for updating mac OSX (and yes we all know that there’s free options out there but most users still equate free with crap).
So.. You are saying that its more expensive to pay
£120 for an OS that lasts years, than buy a new OS upgrade every 9-12 months?
You get the full operating system, at 99 dollars; not the neutered trash that Microsoft gives you. Compare pricepoints again there, champ. Also, its very rare that you are required to get the latest upgrade for OSX. I’m still running 10.6 without any issues, I installed it about 3 years ago. I expect to use it on this machine till i get a new one, it’s about 4 years old, I’d give it another 3 years before I need to replace it. That’s another thing this misleading graphic seems to miss, who’s going to be running their rig in 6 years just as zippy as they bought it?
Apple Supports it’s operating system years after most people remember it existed. I think they are dropping 10.4 support now.
I’m an IT tech and I can assure you my apple using client keep me very busy with having to repair their machines, whilst my 2xLinux and 1xWindows systems haven’t needed any attention in about 2yrs 🙂
What they forgot to mention, which is a huge omission in my opinion is that you get CHARGED for that big crap called “Windows” to be able to run the shit that is less expensive, for all the trouble it’s gonna get you, you should at least get a 1000$ rebate for it to be worth the trouble and the anxiety and all that time lost when most probably, nothing would have come up if you would have done the same thing on the Mac… Which includes in its price, unbeatable customer service, an incredible OS and multiple software suites that are super intuitive and an incredible home network compatibility… All of that which works worry-free and all… It’s all a matter of what you consider being most valuable in your computer experience
I’m sorry, but why does everyone assume that Windows is some horrible piece of crap OS that always breaks and fails? I measure uptimes for my laptop in months. The last time I shut it down was when I went on a trip and turned it off for the ride when I wasn’t using it. The only time any of my desktop computers shut down or reboot is when the power goes out and I shut them down before the UPS drains.
So lets see here:
1) OS cost. Sure, I’ll give you that one. I can’t argue that. So add in another $100 or so depending on what version you get. Still several thousand dollars cheaper than the Mac.
2) Unbeatable customer service. Hrmmm… I don’t think I’ve needed customer server from Microsoft ever. I’m trying, in fact, to remember the last time I needed to contact a tech support rep for anything on any of my computers. It’s been quite a while. I suppose having great customer service is something to be proud of if your stuff is so problematic you have to have something to stand on. I mean Dell was rated as great customer service too and look how good their computers were.
3) Incredible OS. Compared to? Again, my Windows installs have no issues so I can’t really see where you have this going for you.
4) Multiple Software Suites. Errr, Windows has thousands of available applications and software suites for everything you could imagine from music, graphic and video editing to word processing and office documentation to gaming and anything else. No advantage to Mac there. Usually there’s less available software for the Mac than Windows.
5) Home network compatibility. Multiple versions of windows across close to a dozen computers, multiple tablets of both windows and android OS, smart phones, etc all networked without issues. Again…where is the problem?
So I’m not seeing anywhere where Mac is the clear cut winner here. Sorry.
A lot of people seem to say the same thing about Mac’s for some reason, I had a very long discussion, where someone was under the delusion that Mac’s don’t have any problems, crash etc.
It’s just mental that Mac fans don’t seem to understand it’s a computer, and computers have problems from time to time.
you sir are my hero
Weird cause you could buy a 27″ iMac and a Cinema display with CLOSE to the same components as the PC and pay less. Just sacrifice a little hard drive space.
This is comparing two high end machines, likely a custom built “PC” (…easy to use term people like to use for a computer that isn’t a Mac or some other proprietary thing, that runs Windows. but really they’re all Personal Computers) to a Mac Pro with the same things in them. an iMac probably could have 16GB of RAM, but most definitely does not have a Xeon processor in it and could not have 8 TB RAID array. At least not inside (not right now). I’m not too knowledgeable about graphics cards but considering the other components I’m sure it’s pretty powerful, or was (someone said this is old) and if it doesn’t meet current needs it can easily be switched to another computer and make someone very happy cause either way it ought to be better than any on-board graphics. Macs need graphics cards made just for them. While iMacs now are pretty nice and do well with graphics and stuff, that’s not even close.
Yah, you can build a ferrari pretty cheap too, if you build it from parts off the shelf. Still won’t be a ferrari though.