"Face it, Apple = the Bose of computers: cutesy industrial design but hideously overpriced, overhyped, mediocre quality, and geared for folks who are too stupid and/or lazy to learn how to use real equipment.

I totally agree with you there about Bose. So much for so little. As the saying goes, "No highs, no lows, must be Bose" (which is actually the opposite of why Bose sucks - they have no middle, which is where all the energy and life of music exists, and consequently, is the most difficult range to reproduce accurately). Speakers that are 10 times better can be found for less than half the price easily. This same holds true for Monster Cable and everything they make. The have perpetrated a bigger fraud on the electronics-buying public than Bose has for sure. We've tested them all and it's beyond debate - Monster is no better than the stuff you buy at the drug store and is actually worse than the Radio Shack standard fare.

But see, the thing that makes you guys look like fools is when you insinuate that Macs, or any piece of equipment for that matter, are geared solely towards stupid/lazy/incompetent computer users who have trouble flossing their teeth, much less using "real equipment" (whatever the hell that means). I'm not gonna re-hash my credentials as I've posted them earlier, but lets just say that in my line of work, if we have downtime caused by one of our workstations, the potential loss is a billable $650/hour. I have an engineering degree. Everyone in my field has some sort of formal engineering background. Not one of us can afford to use anything but Mac. The PCs we have only run simple automation programs, yet they are the ones that require most of the attention. Not only that, we don't really want to spend the money to have a full-time computer/IT guy on staff, so we don't. We don't need it. Granted, this is way different than general population use, but to insinuate that these machines aren't "real equipment" is just plain stupid.

... (or a BMW) is the fact that Mac owners are compelled to beat back arguments against the One True Computer, and are blind to any possible limitations of the One True Computer. There is a total and complete suspension of all critical judgment.

That's why you don't get a push from Mac users for Apple to sell their OS to run on commodity hardware. Gates didn't make computers cheap; Taiwan and the free market and a huge worldwide PC base did that. They're not permitted to think that Jobs is getting fantastically wealthy charging a 100% markup for the same hardware that everybody else gets a 10% markup on.

To suggest that is to come up against the huge brick wall of Faith. And anybody who's ever tried talking a die-hard Bush supporter down from their weird, fact-free "reasoning" knows how pointless an exercise that can be.

So go on. Give Jobs huge amounts of your money, and I'll choke back my revulsion and give Gates a good deal less. But if you start selling all your other worldly possessions in order to make Jobs happy, you might start to rethink just what the "Mac community" is all about.

Just a suggestion.

BTW, someone a few letters back suggested that Macs are the ONLY computer you can make money owning. That may be the single stupidest sentence I've seen all year, as many of us making our livings on PCs can instantly attest.

It's funny to see that old "Mac is a religion!" canard. It's true that Mac fans will rush to defend their platform against what they see as uninformed attacks. (And most attacks on Macs are uninformed, as we've seen here.) But what I've noticed recently, as Apple's been doing better, is how quickly the anti-Mac crowd reacts to anything suggesting that a Mac might possibly, maybe a little, if you squint, be a really good computer. All the energy and personal investment seems to be on their side these days.

Here's part of what I think it is: Windows users have never understood the way Mac owners actually like their computers. For some, it's because Windows just isn't likable, so they've never had that experience. (Note that I'm not saying Windows is bad; but I've never heard a Windows user say they love their PC.) For others, their relationship with technology doesn't include a likability component. It's just not part of the way they would ever relate to a computer. Which is fine.

The thing is, in any other consumer product, the fact that people actually like using it would be considered a plus. Nobody disses a car for being "fun to drive." But for whatever reason, some people can't stand the idea that a Mac has captured something PCs haven't. And I think on some level, they find that so threatening that they have to deny that something even exists.

so the answer is BUY A NEW COMPUTER??

change your behavior exercise caution and your 600mhz Penitum2 with 256 mb of ram running XP on a 20Gb HD will work just fine.

not flashy enough? sorry a computer is a tool not a lifestyle.

keep wasting your money suckers!

this so called machinist columnist actually suggests that people should give away or sell computers without reformatting or using a free program like DBAN boot&nuke to erase any personal information?

stop downloading porn, stop using shareware, stop looking for song lyrics, stop allowing children to have unfettered access to install or click OK on anything that pops up, stop playing 'games', stop looking for zwinkys or playing dress up avatars, stop looking for chatroom programs, chill out with the joining every flavor of the month networking site,

the real tragedy is not that you should feel bad for trying to re-sell a "gummed' up computer, its that it is no longer worth the cost & effort to employ the services of a computer professional at a range of $25-50 an hour.

why pay $50 an hour to clean up spyware and viruses,

re-install all your program, run security updates,

configure your silly preferences, backup your data, restore your data! connect your ipod ETC ETC..

when you can buy another pos box from Dell for $400 with a free lcd, printer & free shipping!?!??!

(and of course you will need $ later more assistance later because you refuse to change your computing habits)