Macs are too expensive? Make them cheaper more people will Switch

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Apple are still not doing any favours for new switchers.

I am currently using Ubuntu Linux with Crossover office. This is allowing me to use Dreamweaver and Photoshop inside of Linux without any troubles and in some cases is now running quicker than it was in Windows.

I am also free of Viruses and Spyware which is great and is one reason people use Mac. Another reason they dont have to use that Windows **** anymore.

2006 is going to be another good year for Linux what with new versions of KDE which does look stunning and Gnome plus other projects like Plasma , Solid , Mono and Crossover Office 6 for game supprt it makes me wonder if I should really bother switching?

I would get a Mac Mini tommorow but still what puts me off is the performance and price. For £500.00 I would expect to be able to run at least some new games and be able to know that I could easiy work with Photoshop @ 300dpi.

If you make a mistake purchasing a Mac you cant go back on your decision. And what with the change from PPC to Intel it is all up in the air at the moment.

Linux has its problems we know, but the difference is it cost me £0.00 to install.

Everything is running perfectly. It is built on top of Unix just like Apple and will soon be able to share its desktop widgets with Mac so it makes me wonder if switching and paying all this money is worth it?

Please I am not saying Macs are **** far from it, I am just saying they are still too expensive and performance is poor for the money compared to a PC. I was expecting not to be able to work in Photoshop at 300dpi in Crossover Office but I can.
 
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You forgot to mention that Crossover Office starts at $39.
Linux does not come with the same class of software as a Mac.
Linux is free, but you still need to pay for a machine and that $39.

I do agree that the mini will need to get more power. That will happen with its Intel change. As a basic entry level machine it is fine. APhotoshop pro would likely need more. By the way, have you actually tried editing a 300dpi Photoshop document on a mini? Just curious.

I doubt your in Apples target market.

It can and has been argued that the apparent price premium is not real when considering all one gets with a Mac. But I'll let you do your own research.
 
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Ok, first of all, Mini Mac's were not design to run a graphic studio, that's where the powermac's come in play.

My youngest daughter has a Mini Mac and she can run Photoshop on it... it does not perfrom like a higer end G5 would and I do not expect it too.

I will put the Mini Mac up against and PC in the $400-600 range, anytime.

You can have your DELL's and Pavalions... there is a reason why they come so cheap... what is the old clique? ' You get what you pay for!', and it strongly applies to lower end PC's.

Could Apple make a complete package that cheap? Sure they could, but they have a REP to PROTECT!

Games? I love my games too... But, you wouldn't catch me going out and buying a low end PC like 'eMachines' to run Quake, Call of Duty, or NASCAR Racing.

The bottom line is, if you shop for a PC or a MAC, be sure you get what you need and be sure the PC can handle your wishes.

By the way, My daughter loves her new game, Sims 2. Runs great!

As for the poor power that you claim MACS have, all I can say is, bring it on!

OPEN YOUR MIND AND OS X WILL FOLLOW! REALLY!

I am not a PC hater by far, although I really do not like Billy Boy... PC's have their place as well as MACS.

Before you start comparing the 2, please, do your homework.
 
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Everyone has different needs and expectations for a computer. If linux is working for you then thats great, but that doesn't mean macs are too expensive just because you have found a cheaper solution for your specific needs/tasks.

btw when did linux become so great that joe public could install/configure/use it? A lot of people wouldn't want the hassle, they just want a whole computer/OS package that works.

(ps, im not interesting in starting an OS war, linux is great for you, and its great if you have specfic tasks and have the time and inclination to work with the OS, especially since its free, but apple is selling a lot more than an operating system, so you can't compare "linux" to "apple")
 
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adrian29uk said:
Apple are still not doing any favours for new switchers.
I would have to disagree.
Besides, Apple (or any computer manufacturer for the matter) doesn't owe anyone any favors. That is the beauty of choice, my friends.
 
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Please I do not hate Macs and I would get one tommorow if the price is right. The Mac Mini is too expensive. For a top line Mini I am looking at around £500 I could get a fast PC for this money that can easily handle Photoshop @ 300dpi this is what I am saying.

I am looking forward to seeing an Intel Mac Mini and if it can handle the above then Apple have a new customer because to have more space would be amazing. I would then run my Ubuntu as a server.

However my other argumant is that I am using Ubunut Linux and this is improving everyday, if you see what has happend to Linux over the last year and a half you will understand what I mean. You dont need technical savey anymore its all there out of the box.

And secondly if they can get more Windows games running then there would be no need for me to change, becuase part of the reason for using Linux in the first was to

1) Get away from Microsoft

and

2) Spyware, Viruses and other crap.

I think its good that we have both Mac & Linux bighting away at Microsoft. They have producing rubbish for the last 20 years and eventually people tastes change.
 
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adrian29uk said:
Please I do not hate Macs and I would get one tommorow if the price is right. The Mac Mini is too expensive. For a top line Mini I am looking at around £500 I could get a fast PC for this money that can easily handle Photoshop @ 300dpi this is what I am saying.

I am looking forward to seeing an Intel Mac Mini and if it can handle the above then Apple have a new customer because to have more space would be amazing. I would then run my Ubuntu as a server.

However my other argumant is that I am using Ubunut Linux and this is improving everyday, if you see what has happend to Linux over the last year and a half you will understand what I mean. You dont need technical savey anymore its all there out of the box.

And secondly if they can get more Windows games running then there would be no need for me to change, becuase part of the reason for using Linux in the first was to

1) Get away from Microsoft

and

2) Spyware, Viruses and other crap.

Its good to see Mac using open source browsers such as Konquerer and KDE to create Safari read on. Click here
 
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adrian29uk said:
adrian29uk said:
However my other argumant is that I am using Ubunut Linux and this is improving everyday, if you see what has happend to Linux over the last year and a half you will understand what I mean. You dont need technical savey anymore its all there out of the box.
[/URL]

I'll have to check out Ubunut, the last time I tried linux it took me days to sort out experimental drivers for my usb adsl modem lol
 
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I feel that the Mac is much easier for new users than Linux. Also, there is more available for the Mac and more compatibility driver wise etc...

You quoted a price of £500 - you need to take £140 off that price because the mac Mini starts at £359 and that includes a great OS and iLife etc.

Also, if you already have a Windows machine, you do not need to buy a monitor, keyboard or mouse either. Just use a KVM switch and you have the best of both worlds and the only extra space you need is 6 inches square.

I have my mac Mini sitting happily on top of my Windows box and use a KVM without any problems.

Also, the Mac Mini is more than enough to run Photoshop - you have to remember that the pipeline is different so the actual speed is faster than when comparing it to a PC processor of the same Ghz. Even my 1Ghz eMac with the radeon 7200 GPU ran Photoshop!

Also there are more games available for the Mac than you think - much more than are available for Linux!

Take a look through all the games and the categories HERE and you will see what I mean. The action section alone has 82 titles such as Call of Duty range, Dungeon Seige, Medal Of honour, Quake 4 and most of the Star wars range.
 
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I have no problems running photoshop on a 12" iBook G4 1.33. Surprisingly its runs almost as well as on my AMD 2500+. I really don't think the PPC's speed ratings are the same thing as what is found on Windows machines.
 
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"I would expect to be able to run at least some new games and be able to know that I could easiy work with Photoshop @ 300dpi."

I've got photoshop with 2 images @ 300dpi running in the background as I type this and there's absolutely no problem. iTunes is pumping out tunes and I'm checking dashboard for realtime weather radar updates. Just finished playing Sims 2. All this on the lowest specced mini. Price-wise I don't think there's an excuse anymore.
 
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adrian29uk said:
It is built on top of Unix just like Apple and will soon be able to share its desktop widgets with Mac so it makes me wonder if switching and paying all this money is worth it?

Really? Last time I checked, Linux was NOT "built on top of Unix". Linux is a Unix like system with many similarities, but is not Unix.
 
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baggss said:
Really? Last time I checked, Linux was NOT "built on top of Unix". Linux is a Unix like system with many similarities, but is not Unix.
For that matter, neither is Mac OS X.
 
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OSX is built atop a BSD Unix variant core. I believe the Mach Kernal at the heart of OSX is still used in other BSD versions, but I could be wrong. Strictly speaking though, you are correct.
 
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first of all i think the Mac mini is over priced for what it is, also Macs in th US are cheaper then here in Australia and the UK (mostly everywhere in the world).
Im shocked a Mac Mini costs 500 pounds thats like $1200 AUD ($912 US) i think they are $699 in the States.Mac mini;s cost $1099 here in Aus. for the good one i thought the UK would be cheaper.

You have to remember one thing about Apple's they have good resale value so you will make a bit more back when you sell the Mac.

One thing i think is a Rip is the mac book Pro, caus you can get a top of the line Dell 17" with Intel duo. for around the same price as a entry level 15.4" Mac book pro.
Considering they both use near exact hardware thats a bit of a differance.
 
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macanal said:
first of all i think the Mac mini is over priced for what it is, also Macs in th US are cheaper then here in Australia and the UK (mostly everywhere in the world).
Im shocked a Mac Mini costs 500 pounds thats like $1200 AUD ($912 US) i think they are $699 in the States.Mac mini;s cost $1099 here in Aus. for the good one i thought the UK would be cheaper.

You have to remember one thing about Apple's they have good resale value so you will make a bit more back when you sell the Mac.

One thing i think is a Rip is the mac book Pro, caus you can get a top of the line Dell 17" with Intel duo. for around the same price as a entry level 15.4" Mac book pro.
Considering they both use near exact hardware thats a bit of a differance.

But it does not cost £500 in the UK as I mentioned in my previous post. Mac Mini UK prices start at £359 - that is a huge £141 difference and equivalent to $640 :)
 
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macanal said:
One thing i think is a Rip is the mac book Pro, caus you can get a top of the line Dell 17" with Intel duo. for around the same price as a entry level 15.4" Mac book pro.
Considering they both use near exact hardware thats a bit of a differance.

If you want to run Windows, yes, if not, then no. As far as I am concerned, you'd be getting more with the MacBook because it doesn't have Windows on it.
 
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macanal said:
One thing i think is a Rip is the mac book Pro, caus you can get a top of the line Dell 17" with Intel duo. for around the same price as a entry level 15.4" Mac book pro.
Considering they both use near exact hardware thats a bit of a differance.

Let me get this correct. You state that:

Both systems use "near exact hardware"
Both systems are around the same price

So then, why do you consider the MacBookPro to be a rip off against an almost identially priced and almost identically hardware-based system?
 
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Kyomii said:
Let me get this correct. You state that:

Both systems use "near exact hardware"
Both systems are around the same price

So then, why do you consider the MacBookPro to be a rip off against an almost identially priced and almost identically hardware-based system?


Someone has given me a negative rating on this thread stating "don't feed this thread" because I asked a perfectly normal question regarding what someone has said. I have enjoyed my time here, but if people are going to do that it is a bit off is it not? Ridiculous - how anyone can be so immature.
 

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