"Plus I BUILT my PC, and I am getting close to upgrading a few individual parts. I'll be spending more than a new Dell costs, I'm sure, but, that's because I'm silicone-monkey, I guess. Could I really do that with a Mac, and if so, is it cheaper? I doubt both HIGHLY."

Every time I read this line or versions of it, I'm always left with one question: who cares? I mean, I can go to Radio Shack and get one of those old short-wave radio kits and build my own short-wave radio. Whooppeee! That obviously does more to service the people who want to build radios than it does the people who just want to use a quality short-wave radio. And the chances are that the one built in a factory with QC all along the way is going to be a sturdier radio than the one borne from the kit bought at RS. Not saying one computing tool is better than the other, just saying that this is a red herring.

vishnu13 has obviously been in a cave the last decade. Man, that's just a dumb thing to say. All one has to do is watch the Discovery Channel or any of its offspring to see that there are plenty of Macs used in the service of "moving technology forward". Good lord.

And to the guy who paid $300 for an upgrade to first: I want the name of your travel agent!

Wow. You really are the perfect person to own a Mac. That's not an insult. I'm sure you're now insulted, but what I mean is this:

If you've never built a PC, never even considered it, then you have NO IDEA what you are talking about and you shouldn't even try to make analogies about it.

Now you can be insulted, perhaps.

Look, let's get few things straight so we can all be friends again, ok?

First of all, I'm not trying to convince you that my choosing a PC over a Mac is a superior choice. Instead, that it is a FAR FAR FAR SUPERIOR choice FOR ME AND THE WAY THAT I USE MY COMPUTER. Period. I already told you I'm happy you Mac users have found something you love. Keep on lovin' it!

Secondly, understand that the point of article was to prove that Macs are cheaper than PCs. Something that was not even close to being proven. I've already stated this, and I'll quote myself here:

"There is no way, dollars to dollars and Gigs to Gigs that a Mac would serve my needs better than a PC and certainly not at a better price."

No where in that statement do I say that Macs suck for all people. No where. I say that Macs offer not all what I want in a computer, which, yes, includes the ability to build it from parts.

Based on that theory, my machine costs way more than a Mac (than again, maybe). But, that's because it was built to perform WAY better than a Mac or typical PC. Your radio example is simply unfounded. And if you really want to get into it, an item you put individual attention into will be of far better quality than something with assembly line QC (that QC includes the understanding that some components will simply fail).

Besides, if I were a different person--and there are many, many times more people buying their PCs from places with so-called QC--then maybe I'd be happy with a cheaper machine that meets my needs that I purchased from Dell or something. Again, for most that's NOT a Mac. That is a fact.

So, I think at some point, we diverged into Mac users explaining what you get for the extra dollars and that's ABSOLUTELY FINE for you. Just not the other, what, 85% of us?

Nothing at all will convince me that Mac ownership is cheaper than PC ownership, for on par machines and in the way that you define most people's computer's lifetime. You just simply cannot do it. It doesn't make sense.

Maybe we PC users are being a little to harsh with our opinions of the Mac ads. Certainly you must get what you pay for, and if it's just the OS; or the *perception* that only a Mac could be stable, reliable, and secure; or even your enjoyment of some perceived smugness and coolness; then that is what you paid MORE for. I'm just not interested in it.

jason.

I see your point, jason. But my point is that first class *is* better. You say "people in first class will rate their experiences higher because they felt pampered, while my seat in coach wasn't designed to make me feel like in some elite club so I wouldn't rate it in the same way." I don't see any acknowledgment there that first class has real advantages, just a focus on how it's designed to make you feel.

Let me quickly add that I'm not claiming using a Mac is like flying first class while using a PC is like flying coach--that's not my analogy. But if you're going to go with that analogy, it doesn't work to imply the first class passengers were somehow duped or manipulated into thinking they got a better flight. They really did get a better flight.

"You were sold on a product that supposedly looks nice and behaves with some sort of advanced mind set and you're in some sort of coolness club because you bought a Mac, etc."

Still, no acknowledgment that I might see real advantages to a Mac--that I might have made a rational buying decision. I see in your response to Rayon that you've almost admitted that we Mac owners might perceive real value, worth paying for. My original point was that there are a lot of tools people are willing to pay a little extra for just because they find them more pleasant to use. This is a real value, not an illusion.

If you don't find that to be true of Macs, then don't pay for them. But the fact that you don't see the value TO YOU doesn't mean the value's nonexistent. And that's what I see the PC users here doing--insisting that the Mac's added value is nonexistent and only reflective of some kind of addled thinking.

By the way, I thought Farhad's original point in his column was pretty silly.