It comes with a vastly superior OS. It will be interesting to see what those resale values do when people realize that you should be able to take an old windoze box, format the hard drive to get rid of the windoze crap, and mount OS X written for a CISC processor on it. You could, of course, skip Apple's implementation of the BSD version of Unix and go straight to Linux (which I've done) but Linux doesn't have brand recognition that Apple does.

(this was processed by an Apple G5)

I don't have anything against Macs. You prefer Macs, that's fine, you'll get no static from me, they are good computers. But what's with this parallel fantasy land where Macheads seem to live? It's a Mac Utopia where PC's crash twice a day, are constantly jammed with viruses and spyware, and annoy their users with an interface that is terribly counterintuitive and difficult to use. This puzzles me, because I use PC's for many hours every day, and I can testify that they rarely crash, can be kept clean of malware with a few basic precautions, and that Windows is simple to use, provided you know how to look at things and click on them.

Now, supposedly, Macs are even cheaper than PC's when considering resale value. But I see two glaring errors in your analysis, Farhad. The most obvious is that your Mac-PC comparison sets are dishonest -- in both cases, the PC comes with more storage and a ton of extra memory (twice as much in one case, four times as much in the other!). What is the Mac "premium" with truly comparable specs? More than $100, I'd wager.

The other error is that many people -- people like me, for instance, who are not power users -- have no interest in reselling their computers. I've had the same PC for six years. I use it for word processing and internet surfing, and it works fine. If I bought a new computer (Mac or PC), I wouldn't sell it in a year or two; I'd keep it until it's hopelessly obsolete and has no resale value regardless of the logo on the case. For frugal, low-voltage users like me, the PC is still the easy choice.

Peter asks:

... you essentially said that people use PCs because they are lazy, sheep, cheap and/or thieves, are too dumb to keep track of their money, are hypocritical, blind to other points of view, are kids who like to play games, and don't like change.

Yes, but please realize that this is merely trying to articulate identifiable aspects of an otherwise highly complex and multi-dimensional world of motivation. I'm not claiming that all factors are always present, or make any sort of representation as to how they are respectively weighted.

I will, however, dare to generalize that I believe that most of the time, sticking with the Status Quo is frequently due to simple reluctance and resistance to change, so it takes a lot of "trouble" to push them out of their comfort zone.

The good news is that there's probably a reasonably large segment who doesn't have problems with Windows.

The bad news is that for those who do, seemingly half of these consumers are just as likely to throw his problemmatic Dell on the trash pile and replace it with an HP...but still running the same problemmatic OS. This is irrational.

Your remarks bring to mind a post from way back around page five that opined that Mac aficiandos think they know what's best for everybody else.

While you might believe that I'm advocating the Mac OS, I actually don't care what OS people buy or what marketshare the Mac OS has.

My point is that it is currently a viable alternative, and because free and open competition fosters marketplace health which benefits all consumers, it is a good thing to have around. Personally, I support both OS's.

Thus, I'm not trying to dictate to anyone what they should buy, but I'm merely advocating that they should remember to be objective in their decision-making because this will allow competition to work for the consumer's long term benefit.

Nevertheless, I will say that I am particularly astounded at just how much utter nonsense people will tolerate with personal computers in particular, and for some reason they seem resigned that it is their "FATE" to having to suffer with it. Bottom line is that fixed Destinies is an obsolete archaic belief: if the product doesn't work, change!

And while I generally am referring to Windows with my above statement, Apple's products aren't without their warts either. The bottom line is that if a consumer doesn't do his own objective & independent research for his needs, then he can't later complain about what someone else chose for him: people just need to suck it up and take responsibility for their decisions, instead of trying to play being the victim.

-hh

Wy is it that Mac owners spend so much time trying to convinve others macs are so great? Really?

I've worked on both- due to personal preferances, i'll stick with the PC- its a smarter choice no matter how you slice it. The thing is though, i never bother any mac user about their choice. Yet every mac owner i know spends an amazing amount of time telling me how great their life is and how i'm "missing out".

What is up with that?

As for why i would choose a PC over a mac anyday, lets take a look at my application- recording.

If i have a budget of $10,000 for a studio. I can blow my money on a less powerful mac, and have much less left over for much more important purchases- monitors, mics, instruments, software, etc.

I cant tell you how many times a firend on a budget buys a mac and shortchanges himself by buying cheeper equipment that will never sound as good to stay within budget. And what is the end result? Can you tell, listening to a CD what computer it was recorded on? Of course not, but they are mac fanatics, and so pay more, for less power and suffer the consequences. But, oh yeah, it looks really nice.

What dorks.