So I am sitting here in English 571.02 thinking about life, the ballads along the Scottish and English border that crossed into America (what the lecture was about), and what I was going to be writing for the Wednesdays update. Then, I look around. I am sitting there with my little Acer and everybody else in class has out a Mac of some sort. That is write, an OSX running, white background, glowing apple orb Mac. I realized that Macs are something that REALLY GRINDS MY GIGANTIC NOTCHED WHEELS.
So lets start talking about Macs. I mean, what is the appeal in these systems; they are underpowered, not unupgradable, cost way more, and have the most restrictive end-user agreement of any OS (and most Mac users claim Microsoft is evil and the devil). Really, it boils down to the three following things:
1) Macs are not worth how much they cost
2) Any benefits that OSX had over Microsoft are now no longer applicable
3) There are no benefits in having a Mac over a PC
So, let us start by discussing how much Macs cost compared to a similar PC. I will be using the Macbook Pro (standard) vs a PC (comparable) that I made on Cyberpower. The stats are listed here:
Item Mac PC
Size 15.4 inches 15.4 inches
CPU 2.4GHz with 3Mb Catch 2.4GHz with 3Mb Catch
RAM 2gig 2gig
Video Card 256Mb 8600GT 256Mb 8600GT
HD 200gig 250gig (no 200)
Optical Disc 8X, DVDRW, CDRW 8X, DVDRW, CDRW
Cost $1999.00 (plus shipping and tax) $1115.00 (plus shipping and tax)
Now, it is clear that the Mac is way more expensive then an equal PC. Clearly, there is no argument that you can not get more bang for your buck with a Mac, so there must be something else at play here. So, we must examine if there are any benefits in having OSX over Vista. While one could have made the argument about XP, and especially, ME, there are no real glaring differences in Vista to OSX. In fact, Vista runs better and is very secure. There is a reason that OSX is usually the first system hacked in trials. While Windows does have more viruses written for it (due to the market share) it is more secure. Furthermore, Windows immediately attempts to fix all found flaws, while Mac takes there time. Clearly, there are no benefits on OSX there.
So, what are the benefits of OSX that make it work the 800$? Is it usability? Now with Vista, which took all of OSXs best features and added them. Is it security, well, yes, but not by much, and definitely not 800$ worth. Is it programs? Get real, what is there that is on a Mac that is not on a PC? I can name much better programs that are PC only. According to crave vista wins against OSX in a trial and error. With that knowledge, is there any reason to pony up the extra 800$? This Vista and Ubuntu user says NO.
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