Perpetuating the Myth of Expensive Macs - The Mac Night Owl

Thank you! I keep telling this to my pc weenie friends, but it's like talking to a frakkin' wall.

Great Article! Unfortunately one of the great aspects of Mac's vs. PC's is great design over ho-hum but getting most people to understand (or should that be appreciate?) great design is like trying to get some to see the difference between a 1st graders crayon drawing and the Mona Lisa. A lot of people just won't get it. And I suppose even more can't be educated to see that the great design of a Mac is more than skin deep. Couple this with the few but obvious differences of navigating a different OS throw in a dash of technophobia and you have a recipe for the masses to dig in their heels and to go screaming and kicking into the wonderful land of Apple. But I swear by all that is tech I will win each convert one by one even if I have to visit the dark side to snatch each potential convert from the jaws of the great Satan! Sorry... got a little carried away there!

I actually did this myself: Debunking the price myth: Apple vs. Dell

Test case: 17" notebooks (MacBook Pro vs. 3x a Dell 17")

Result: Apple was cheaper than Dell.

I enjoy watching the Dell Celeron ads on television - $299 for a screaming Dell with.... wait for it.... that fine looking 15" CRT monitor! XT Home of course is installed for you as well.

The user population in the subject heading fall into a couple of well-worn categories:

The Devotees - the ones for whom (pick your camp) Microsoft/Apple/Intel/IBM/Dell/Alienware/AMD can do no wrong - and are not interested in knowing about or understanding any competing technology. These are the acolytes, the religiously intolerant. It does matter what is reported about their platform or technology - if its negative its slanted, erroneous and just plain wrong. If its complimentary it's the classic "I told you so - we're the best!", followed by an cacophony of diatribe against the competitor. A small percentage of any installed population - but usually the loudest and most vociferous.

The Pragmatists - using whatever technology gets the job done. With just enough knowledge to work out the simpler aspects of problem-solving for the technology in order to deliver what they need. They have preferences, usually whatever they're using at the moment, but they also have a pain threshold. If the technology ceases to be convenient, exceeds their pain threshold or makes significantly more work for themselves - they will look around for a better solution. In fact this group is probably the most diverse, from those almost marginalized but still lucky or clueless to those verging on savant (sans idiot). This is the majority of technology users.

The Savants - these are the elite - those who survey the technology landscape with complete Jedi-like detachment, murmuring obscure references internal to their particular order of technology. They use technology arcanely and only incidentally dip into the realm of the mainstream for email or webbing. They disdain the emotional diatribes of the devotees, deftly deflecting flames and shots with sheer logic and a direct link to the heart of technology itself. Once in a while they lurk enticing at the brink of Devotion, lured by the potential of a new technology or design, sometimes they get sucked into the Dark side of Devoteeism, but these are rare failures. This is an even smaller group than the Devotees, but who are secretly worshipped by the Devotees, who at the same time are also insanely jealous of their coolness and detachment.

Computers are much like automobiles in their enablement of access and purpose. You can drive a Yugo, a BMW, a Chevy, a VW, a Lamborghini. I used to work on my '69 Mustang - devoting hours upon hours tuning the engine, modding the exhaust, changing out the transmission and drive train. I don't even change the oil on my Mini Cooper now! The difference? I decided at some point that I would rather spend my time doing something other than work on my car. I still wanted a fun car that would attract attention, hence the Mini.

Same thing with computers. I grew up building computers - first mechanical logic machines and then surfed the development right into the semiconductor age. At some point building computers took more time and effort than I wanted to devote to it. So looked around and made my choice. But I don't tell others that they should buy this or buy that. I tell them - look at what you want to do and how you want to do it. Decide what your time is worth and how you want to spend it. Then look for the computer that best suits your needs.