Apple's revenue jumped 47% this quarter

[Wrath of Dagon]

Apple products are for cool people.

[Lare Kikkeli]

So, macs are overpriced PCs, iPhones are overpriced, crappy smart phones, and iPods are overpriced, unflexible mp3 players. In general, Apple products are for people who don't know anything about what they're buying and are rich. Did I get all that right?

 

iPods are actually pretty good if a bit overpriced, but they are very inflexible b/c of the coded firmware and iTunes. Can't comment on iPhones since I've never used one and don't know anything about the competition either, but as a long time user of both macs and pcs I'll say yes, machintosh computer are overpriced and people who buy them are either drawn to their design or put image over that the computer can actually do. So essentially they're paying double price for sleek design or "image". That's paying extra (double) for a pink wrench over a regular one. Only that the pink wrench can only half of what the regular one can. So yeah I don't get it.

[vault_overseer]

I've heard people had problems with the email functionality on the iPhone, but maybe that was just at launch. For me, that is the most important aspect of the Blackberry.

No problems whatsoever.

[Pidesco]

I've heard people had problems with the email functionality on the iPhone, but maybe that was just at launch. For me, that is the most important aspect of the Blackberry.

No problems whatsoever.

 

 

Writing e-mails without a keyboard must be fun.

[Gfted1]

^True dat. I have the Android (T-Mobile version of the iPhone) and while it does have a virtual keyboard, its a total pain in the ass and I always just use the slide out QWERTY keyboard.

[vault_overseer]

Writing e-mails without a keyboard must be fun.

 

In landscape mode I'm much faster than I used to be on my E71. But yeah, that was my biggest concern too.

 

EDIT: Just saw the new iMacs. The 27inch looks great, but I really don't see myself spending that much on a computer, sigh...

Edited October 20, 2009 by vault_overseer

[Hurlshort]

I see the appeal though, not everybody is into playing with technology, and macs are geared towards simplicity in almost every aspect. Even their software like iMovie is easy to use, whereas you have more options on the PC but they all have a steeper learning curve.

[vault_overseer]

I see the appeal though, not everybody is into playing with technology, and macs are geared towards simplicity in almost every aspect. Even their software like iMovie is easy to use, whereas you have more options on the PC but they all have a steeper learning curve.

 

OH yeah, that's why I would buy one.

[Humodour]

I think i read somewhere that for every cycle when Microsoft releases a new OS, they will temporarily lose marketshares, while Apple will temporarily gain them.

 

 

And thats with Apple making people pay for service packs. Impressive. Upgrading from MacOS 10.5 to 10.6 is like €30, which is completely insane. Imagine the global ****storm that would hit the fan if Microsoft started charging for windows upgrades.

 

OS X upgrades are not really service packs. This one had fewer new standout features than is typical for an OS X updgrade because they focused on performance and optimisation this time around. Among general service pack optimisations they introduced 3 significant new changes: OpenCL, Grand Central, and 64-bit support. Moreover Mac OS X upgrades never cost $200 or $300 dollars like Microsoft's do; they're a tenth of the price. It's a different business model.

 

As for you ranting about Macs being 'useless', the fact that they're certified Unix is anything but useless to me. Certainly more useful (and powerful) than Windows (though admittedly not Linux). Macs also rival PCs in terms of power and performance on a hardware level. It's no secret they're more expensive though and I'd be lying if I tried to argue otherwise.

 

My next PC will be a custom-built box which I'll put Ubuntu 10.04 on and a dual-boot to Windows for the games that don't run on my current Mac. After that it'll be another Mac Mini (one of the most awesome devices ever).

 

I would like a Mac Pro but I think I'll just spend the money on a trip to Europe instead.

Edited October 20, 2009 by Krezack

[Rostere]

As for you ranting about Macs being 'useless', the fact that they're certified Unix is anything but useless to me. Certainly more useful (and powerful) than Windows (though admittedly not Linux).

 

Then why not dual-boot Windows and [insert Unix-based operative system of choice here] on a PC?

[alanschu]

He says his plan is to get a dual boot system.

[Lare Kikkeli]

I'm sorry Krezak but Macs don't rival PC in terms of power and performance.

 

Just made some calculations on macstore and a mac with quadcore processor (a bit faster than mine but in the same range), 6 gb of ram and the same gpu as my rig is 3000 €. My PC was a little under a grand. So I'd be paying 2000€ for would be the chance to use OS X and sleek design. Doesn't sound too appealing...

 

I do however understand the appeal of macbooks. They're not as radically overpriced, and if they came with a dedicated gpu I'd be temped to get one at some point. But as a work machine a Mac is for the stupid or ignorant. Or filthy rich I suppose.

Edited October 21, 2009 by Lare Kikkeli

[Humodour]

I'm sorry Krezak but Macs don't rival PC in terms of power and performance.

 

Just made some calculations on macstore and a mac with quadcore processor (a bit faster than mine but in the same range), 6 gb of ram and the same gpu as my rig is 3000

[Lare Kikkeli]

I'm sorry Krezak but Macs don't rival PC in terms of power and performance.

 

Just made some calculations on macstore and a mac with quadcore processor (a bit faster than mine but in the same range), 6 gb of ram and the same gpu as my rig is 3000

[Humodour]

Also, the Mac store has the i5 quad-core iMac 2.66 Ghz with 8gb RAM and a Radeon HD 4850 512MB INCLUDING the 27 inch monitor for $2,200 USD (about 1500 Euro). Where did you get the 3000 Euro figure?

From the Finnish macstore. It's completely irrevelant what kind of sales they have in the US. Even if I imported one I'd have to pay 30% tax, and if I did import I'd just get a similar PC for half the price

 

Yuck at that import tax! But I just checked the Finnish Mac store and it's below 2000 Euros there, still nowhere near the 3000 Euro figure you mentioned.

 

They do come with dedicated GPUs. The higher-end half of the Pro line has two graphics cards: one nVidia 9400 with shared CPU RAM, and one nVidia 9600 with dedicated graphics RAM. The latest OpenCL update to OS X makes full use of these for all sorts of computational tasks, too. The lower-end Macbooks have a dedicated GPU (nVidia 9400) with shared CPU RAM which is a bit slower; it's what I have on my Mac Mini now and it has run every game I've installed fine so far (though admittedly I don't have any 2008 or 2009 games).

I was specifically talking about regular macbooks, not pros. Did they add dedicated GPU's since last summer? Cos that's when I last checked.

 

They used to have ****ty Intel chips but that was updated exactly a year ago. The regular Macbooks have the nVidia 9400 I mentioned with 512 MB shared DDR3 1066 Mhz CPU RAM. It's about 25 times faster than the previous Intel onboard graphics card (no surprise).

 

Edit: messed up quote tags

Edited October 21, 2009 by Krezack

[Walsingham]

Move this to Skeeter's?

[Wrath of Dagon]

More expensive and don't have any games to play. Obviously a win.

[Lare Kikkeli]

Yuck at that import tax! But I just checked the Finnish Mac store and it's below 2000 Euros there, still nowhere near the 3000 Euro figure you mentioned.

 

I redid it and I got 2700, don't know what I did different in the morning. Applecare probably. Still, 2700 for a machine thats about the same as my year-old self assembled PC that cost 1k is pretty damn expensive. I could get a real monster PC for 3k, probably better than any Mac on the market. My point is, if you want a really powerful supermachine for video editing or similar stuff that needs a lot of power you get a PC with linux. A PC can do everything a mac can, better and at a lower cost.

 

 

They used to have ****ty Intel chips but that was updated exactly a year ago. The regular Macbooks have the nVidia 9400 I mentioned with 512 MB shared DDR3 1066 Mhz CPU RAM. It's about 25 times faster than the previous Intel onboard graphics card (no surprise).

 

Edit: messed up quote tags

 

That makes the cheapo macbooks almost worth the money.