Ethan3.14159
Active Member
Of course there aren't many Mac threads on here. Instead of upgrading hardware on a Mac, just buy a new one. Any software is a simplistic version of Windows software with less features.
I hardly see any threads about MACs in here.
- Thread starter PHATSPEED7x
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tlarkin
VIP Member
Apple has way more than a 3% market share, you guys should use google for once to check your statements.
http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.co...ples-us-consumer-market-share-now-21-percent/
They have the fastest growing market share and they also have like a 40% market share in the University level, meaning 40% of college kids own a Mac laptop world wide (or maybe that is nation wide I am not sure).
They are targeted for viruses and spyware, hell you would get so much bragging rights for writing the first self propagating virus for OS X. In fact, they had a contest and invited the smartest and best hackers in the world to remotely exploit a Mac and they even offered a $10,000 prize for the person to do it.
They had to bend the rules and allow software to be installed for it to be exploited and it was, but it was a java security exploit through webkit browsers which technically isn't solely Apple's fault, and has since been patched by Sun and Apple. If you don't use webkit browsers you are fine. So the only way to exploit it that the hackers found was through the user hitting a malicious website and it using a webkit exploit to root the machine.
http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/04/21/mac-hacked-for-10000
OS X is definitely not bullet proof, just read their security update white pages about what the security update fixes. There was a nasty little bug in the ARD client that allowed privilege escalation which has since been patched.
Is it better? Sure in some ways, but most of it is probably preference.
http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.co...ples-us-consumer-market-share-now-21-percent/
They have the fastest growing market share and they also have like a 40% market share in the University level, meaning 40% of college kids own a Mac laptop world wide (or maybe that is nation wide I am not sure).
They are targeted for viruses and spyware, hell you would get so much bragging rights for writing the first self propagating virus for OS X. In fact, they had a contest and invited the smartest and best hackers in the world to remotely exploit a Mac and they even offered a $10,000 prize for the person to do it.
They had to bend the rules and allow software to be installed for it to be exploited and it was, but it was a java security exploit through webkit browsers which technically isn't solely Apple's fault, and has since been patched by Sun and Apple. If you don't use webkit browsers you are fine. So the only way to exploit it that the hackers found was through the user hitting a malicious website and it using a webkit exploit to root the machine.
http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/04/21/mac-hacked-for-10000
OS X is definitely not bullet proof, just read their security update white pages about what the security update fixes. There was a nasty little bug in the ARD client that allowed privilege escalation which has since been patched.
Is it better? Sure in some ways, but most of it is probably preference.
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tlarkin
VIP Member
Here at my college we have 24 Macs......with Windows XP
I have 6,000 Macbooks that dual boot
Ethan3.14159
Active Member
My college is Mac only, so I'm on a Mac just as much as I'm on my PC. There are tons of little things that just annoy me with Macs. I'm sure that works both ways with PCs for Mac users.
Quiltface
Active Member
i thought i had too many computers.
tlarkin
VIP Member
Last I read it was right around 6% world wide if you count all customers from consumer, student/education, enterprise, etc.
Those macbooks aren't mine they are on my network at work, heh like I even have room in my apartment for 6,000 macs.
I said alittle (over) 3% world wide. Not just in the US.
tlarkin
VIP Member
40% of University students in the US now have Mac laptops according to the last statistic I read.
tlarkin
VIP Member
yeah and over in China they have more honor roll students than the US has total students, so it just a drop of water in the Ocean. That doesn't mean it is not significant though. I mean Apple had pretty much 0% market of laptops in Universities 7 or 8 years ago.
gamerman4
Active Member
In America (and most any other place) convenience comes at a premium and iMacs are easily the most convenient computers to set up (regardless of what OS you use.)
I've seen labs that used iMacs because they were easy and I've seen labs that just used really expensive Windows laptops because they are easy. An iMac and a desktop-replacement laptop are roughly the same price ($2000+) and around the same performance.
No one wants to deal with the cords and that is why Macs are chosen in universities and places where they need less clutter.
Mac may be marketed to consumers but it is the bigger places that have a better use for them since consumers like cheap goods and Macs are not cheap.
I've seen labs that used iMacs because they were easy and I've seen labs that just used really expensive Windows laptops because they are easy. An iMac and a desktop-replacement laptop are roughly the same price ($2000+) and around the same performance.
No one wants to deal with the cords and that is why Macs are chosen in universities and places where they need less clutter.
Mac may be marketed to consumers but it is the bigger places that have a better use for them since consumers like cheap goods and Macs are not cheap.
tlarkin
VIP Member
While I won't disagree with your point that the all-in-one system is easy to deploy, but Apple doesn't consider itself a enterprise level company. So mass deployments are not as common as say, HP business class machines in the enterprise world. Now, that doesn't mean that the "easiness" is over looked in such deployments.
iMacs are not $2,000 either. They start at $1200, and the $2100 model has a 24 inch LED LCD screen so that can not be compared to a laptop. What laptop has a 24" LED LCD screen? Most laptops don't have as high end screen, and people forget that those screens alone probably cost $350 to $400 to upgrade. They are not the same specs, which people seem to conveinently forget to acknowledge. They may have the same processor and RAM and video card, but that is about it. Now when it comes to an all-in-one system Apple does pretty much make the best one in existence. I have worked with many other low profile systems (or all-in-ones) and for the most part they have sucked compared to the iMac.
If you go build a spec for spec desktop compared to an iMac and include the cost of the high end monitor built in, I bet the iMac comes out cheaper almost every time.
Macs are not over priced they are just higher end machines. It would be same thing to call a Porsche over priced, it isn't over priced it is just high end.
gamerman4
Active Member
At the hardware level Macs are overpriced, even my Mac-loving friends will admit that. The entry-level macbook (starting at $1100) doesn't even have 2GB of RAM. My $450 laptop has 3GB of RAM, a 2.0Ghz dual-core cpu, a 200GB HDD, and an 8200M. The only thing that the mac has over it is a better LCD screen and a meager 100Mhz extra CPU. The only way that macs screens can be that much is if they employ Eizo to make them.
I know it isn't enterprise, which is why i specifically did not say "large companies"
Also, I said the $2000 iMac because the $2000 laptops used at a computer lab I worked at, regardless of screen "size" still had 1920x1200 resolution (the same res of a 24" monitor)
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tlarkin
VIP Member
Man I must sound like a broken record. Does your $450 laptop have an LED LCD screen? No it doesn't. Does it have SMS sensor, bluetooth 2.0 EDR, ABGN wireless, media remote, USB, Firewire, DVI video out (HDMI compliant), digital audio out, built in web camera, Gigabit Ethernet, mag safe ac adapter, and a multi touch track pad?
Granted, I am not trying to say your laptop sucks, and I don't care if you like Mac or PC or what you spend your money on. It is your money and your choice to buy whatever you want. I am just pointing out it isn't over priced because you are getting a ton of standard features that sub $1,000 laptops don't have. In fact most PC laptops don't have these features, and LED back lit screens are more expensive than cold cathode ones, and they are also more environment friendly since they don't contain any mercury in them.
If every system were simply judged on processor, RAM, video card, and storage capacity then people wouldn't care about software and other features.
So there is really no way to compare a $450 PC laptop to a Macbook. You must remember that they only use high end parts, while I am sure your $450 laptop was the lowest bid components on your printed circuit boards which make up your hardware. Apple also designs everything from the ground up. Their engineers create the hardware configurations instead of just sending specs to a manufacturing plant and letting them make it as cheap as possible while maintaining your desired specs.
Screen realestate also counts for a lot, and you can't compare a laptop that runs the same resolution as an iMac because it is just resolution. What happens when you need to run 6 desktops and have like 12 active windows on each desktop? The 24" screen is way nicer in that scenario and a laptop screen can't compare. So you can't really compare the two, they are just different things all together.
tlarkin
VIP Member
Yeah outside the US Apple does get quite expensive, I totally agree with you there. I know that Europe and Asia kind of get screwed in that way. Once they get a bigger market share outside the USA I can see them lowering their foreign prices.
Again, Dell doesn't sell a 6" by 4" computer. The mini is a niche market. I think that Apple should sell a mid tower desktop that offers a C2D or C2D quad processor, 2 gigs of RAM, 400gig HD, decent video card, and the ability for the customer to add whatever optical drive they want, some expansion slots and whatever video card they want. However, Apple doesn't make that. The Mac Pro is their only desktop and it is way over kill for any average user, or even a gamer. What in the hell would a gamer want with to quad-core Xeon processors in a desktop?