TheFeniX wrote:You can get almost any other name brand laptop with equivalent or better hardware and a bigger screen at a retail store (not even custom building one from something like Dell's website which usually save you at least $5-10% and has free shipping) for damn near 1/3 the price of the base price of the 15" Macbook. If money isn't a limiting factor, just buy 3 fucking Dells and throw one away every year.
TheFeniX wrote:Did you just call "ASUS" cheap in reference to quality? I'll let it go because the rest of your post makes it clear the argument would be a waste of time. Instead, I'll put one out there for the ASUS laptop. I got the larger one with a little better hardware for $540 walk-out from Best Buy. I don't usually bother with retail, but that was a pretty damn good deal.
Prove it. Let's focus on the ASUS laptop you linked earlier:
http://www.google.com/search?q=u36jc&hl ... p%3A1&aq=f
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834220988
The cheapest price I can find on a Google shopping search is 830.99 listed on Buy.com, who has decent seller ratings but I've never personally bought from. I do have experience with Newegg however, and their price is 899. That's a far cry from $540 price you
claim to have gotten from a deal at Best Buy. And while it's possible that you may have lucked out on some sort of special deal, that 500 dollar price point is hardly accurate given that Google clearly shows that the price of the laptop varies between 800-1000+ depending on who you buy it from.
Even assuming that the laptop is 800 dollars (and I trust Newegg who has it priced at $900 more than I do buy.com), that's a 400 dollar difference versus the 700 dollar difference you first made it out to be.
And in that difference of price, while that ASUS laptop does have all right specs, it also has a few shortcomings, notably:
1) A 0.3 megapixel camera. Is that a joke? The 13-inch MacBook Pro has a far superior camera quality.
2) A plastic underside compared to the 13-inch MacBook Pro.
3) An outdated processor - it's running an Arrandale processor compared to the 13-inch MacBook Pro's Sandy Bridge processor.
It does have some nice features, like a bigger hard drive, and a discrete graphics card, but it's hardly the pinnacle of value you try to make it out to be.
Furthermore, there's far more to purchasing a computer than a simple specs/price analysis. What kind of software does the ASUS come with? Most likely garbage trial bloatware. What does the Mac come with? Three great software titles that most people who have lives outside of their computer find useful - iPhoto for pictures, iMovie for home movies, and GarageBand for recording music. Is there a Windows equivalent? If so, how does it honestly compare? I doubt nearly as well.
That's not even considering the fact that the operating system upgrades for a Mac are far less expensive than for a Windows user. Leopard to Snow Leopard was a $29 dollar upgrade, Snow Leopard to Lion will be a $29 dollar upgrade as well. Compare that to XP -> Vista -> Windows 7, where the average price is 100-200 per upgrade depending on which version of Windows you chose to go with (that also begs the question, why the fuck are there three different tiers of OS software that carry the same product name?).
Additionally, you also seem to forget that Apple has actual retail stores that provide training for the computer, work shops, and repairs. If you have a warranty issue with your ASUS, Dell, HP, etc. the procedure is to send it off to a depot for repair after wrangling with someone on the phone in the first place.
If you have a warranty issue with a Mac, you can take it to an Apple Store, where repairs can begin on site immediately (most of the time), that cuts down on the transit time for the computer. Not to mention that Apple's customer service is excellent and technicians make an effort to finish repairs as soon as possible. Can you honestly say the same for other computer companies? Doubtful.
TheFeniX wrote:On the Apple front, my sister has used them for years (art major). She had to call Apple support and get transfered around for an hour or so because she couldn't login to any websites that required https or the like. They had her try everything from reinstalling.... what, Opera? Whatever browser they use, to resetting all her security information. Everything else worked fine, it was just her trying to do internet banking and the like.
Oh my, here we go. What an eye opening anecdote about how terrible Apple phone support is. Let's go back to reality here and put some actual evidence on the table.
http://www.macworld.com/article/133293/ ... sumer.html
Consumer Reports ranks Apple's support top in both the laptop and desktop category - easily beating out the likes of Lenovo, Dell, Toshiba, HP, and Gateway. But yeah, don't let actual research stand in your way, bud.
TheFeniX wrote: Two nice things were the screen size and switching applications was generally painless (as it should be considering the hardware). But also, being in the hands of my sister over the course of 2 months before I took a look at it and still running at all, much less running at what I assume is 90%+ speed, is a fucking miracle.
Did it ever occur to you that maybe that's because Apple designs the operating system and a good majority of the software that runs on it? That there's costs associated with that kind of research and development? There's a reason Apple's Mac business continues to grow quarter after quarter while the PC business declines - because they make a top notch product. And more often than not, you get what you pay for.
TheFeniX wrote:If you can get a MacBook used (or new) for $600-$1000, they are pretty well-made laptops.
You can get a brand new MacBook for 999, 899 with an education discount. Both of those prices are within your range, and not used. You can get a brand new MacBook Pro for 1199, 1099 with an education discount. Those prices are only slightly out of your range.
Thank you for confirming that Apple makes good laptops, although that's already been well established.
TheFenix wrote:The problem with getting them second-hand is that I don't know what it does to the warranty. My personal experience with Apple tech support and what I've read online does not give me much confidence in them.
We've already established that your personal experiences and reality are not in line with one another. Therefore, your confidence on this issue doesn't really matter.
TheFeniX wrote:My sister picked up a used MacBook (about 1.5 years old) from a friend who was told she needed to upgrade (for what reason, I have no idea. I can only assume she was being looked down upon because she didn't have this years Air Jordans.... I mean MacBook). She originally wanted $1,000 for it, but I told my sister I wouldn't pay a dime more than $600. They settled on $700.
Thanks for confirming another good reason to buy a Mac. The fact that Mac's tend to hold their value longer than a PC - your sister paid 700 dollars for a machine that cost 999 when it debuted 1.5 years ago. That means the person she bought it from retained 70% of the value of their investment. Think about it.
Now, of course, it's possible you're confusing MacBook with MacBook Pro because you're not familiar with the proper model names for the computers, and if that's the case, my calculations are certainly off. Not to mention I don't know which model of MacBook your sister has. But even if that's the case, I'm sure if we reassessed things, the point - as it often is - would be proven that the Mac still retained a ton of value.
TheFeniX wrote:Macitosh is the BOSE of computing: decent hardware priced as if the shit was made of solid gold. No matter what you think you're getting, you're paying upwards of 300% markup for the same hardware every other manufacturer is using.
And yet, where is the proof of this? Your earlier example didn't pan out, and I doubt you can show me a comparatively spec'd Dell that is 300% less expensive than an equivalent Mac. Cut the hyperbole, the myth that Mac's are overpriced is just that - a myth.
TheFenix wrote:This is why I made the joke about throwing ACERs at MAc users, it because they are so full of shit. They actually buy into the bullshit, just like fans of BOSE and people who buy Monster cables at 1000% markup, that they're actually getting something better than all us lowly scrubs. It's bullshit and we wish you'd shut the fuck up about it.
Please prove how Mac users are so full of shit. If anything, it's clearly you who are - with your magical 500 dollar ASUS laptops that end up being 800+ when priced online.
Let's say nothing of your bullshit assertion that Mac user's are smug, that's simply not true. There's a reason Apple's Mac business has continually grown year over year (sometimes with double digit numbers), because consumers are buying them (many for the first time), and there's a reason for that. Mac users don't sit around drinking the Apple Kool Aid, and they certainly are not stupid. They realize a quality product for what it is, quality.
There are boons to the PC world - you can configure custom machines with parts from Newegg that are great for gaming, or photoshop. Windows 7 has a very good UI, and Microsoft Security Essentials is a nice add on. There are also manufacturer's with great build quality like Lenovo. Believe me, I'm hardly anti-PC.
But don't come into this thread making up bullshit prices and generally misrepresenting Mac's. Show me some numbers that prove Mac's are overpriced. And make sure you factor in the quality of the display, the level of support, the software included while doing so. I know you can't, but I'll enjoy the attempt.
), so that's not a major concern, but it's nice to be able to play a game in my free time, when I have some.
Wow, were you bullied by a Mac user in school? No, you can't get hardware of the same quality for halve the price. Its bullshitty bullshit thats bullshit. If you buy a cheap laptop - you know, like ASUS - you are going to have the problems you have with cheap stuff. If you want a high quality product you have to pay the price. Apple doesn't sell cheap hardware, so you will invariable have to pay a little more to have the same numbers on the side of the box. 
Sony VAIOs supposedly are also great (they are in the same price class), but I know two people with VAIOs and they both had huge amounts of troble with them. Or can anyone name another 11" laptop that ISN'T a cheap netbook? Also, lets not talk about displays, because once you have used a Mac, everything else will make you cry.