Is there a stigma attached to owning Apple products?

[Gagebuilder]

Originally Posted by Speed

Wait...You have a PC...and NEVER had a problem? Which OS, what do you do with your PC besides turn it on. Never had a Blue Screen of Death? Come on...surely you jest. You don't ever install applications, try to configure with peripherals? Don't play games?

Does a Rolex Submariner tell time TWICE as good as a CASIO G-Shock or Tag? Come on...with Apple, you are paying for design aesthetic, a UI which is more thought out and and beautiful / elegant and FAR LESS PROBLEMATIC THAN A PC.

No one will convince you to buy a Mac if you don't appreciate the thought and nuances put into the design which lead to a better user experience. Much like no one will convince anyone in the myriad of Rolex Vs. Omega threads we see in other sections of this forum.

You ask a lot of questions. No blue screens here. I've played FarCry to Call of Duty to Crysis and others without issue, rarely play anymore. Lost interest. Apps., standard processing stuff, pictures whatever.


"if you don't appreciate the thought and nuances" this is my point. What is so great about it. Or do I need to conduct a $1000+ experiment to find out, because it has to be seen to be believed? I just asked a question, nobody I know has a mac, so, no, I don't know jack about them.

Oh, and I don't own a Sub., but I do own a Casio.I'm more of a GMT guy. Watches aren't the same. I only ever met one person with a "collection" of computers. He was quite strange.Also, if I sold my watches today, I would not lose a nickel. Computers are a throw away item, they cost more to fix than replace.

[daveathall]

You should be complimented about your English, it is very good, if I came across in any other way I apologise, it was not my intent.

Perhaps I misunderstood your meaning with regards to apple products, we should agree to disagree, your bad experience possibly tainted your view.

[speedo]

Absolutely not. In fact i am typing this onmy iphone. I know that most products will definitely break down in a short time. But even if i accept this i can't understand being a fanboy of it. Apple made marketing around a product that in my opinion does not deserv fanatism.

[Gagebuilder]

I don't get it. Why are the superior benefits of Apple so hard to explain?

[CashGap]

Originally Posted by Gagebuilder

I don't get it. Why are the superior benefits of Apple so hard to explain?

No explanations are accepted by folks who have already decided.

You can show them a $999 Macbook Air and a plastic $999 Dell and they'll say "See, Macs are more expensive. People are paying for the name." "But... but... they cost the SAME! And with the Dell you have to use Windows, that's worth $100 at least to avoid! And there's a $500 resale differential in twelve months!".

The response will be a smug "You're overpaying because you are stupid. Plus I heard back in the 90's there wasn't a right click."

That's an unwinnable argument.

[speedo]

Originally Posted by CashGap

No explanations are accepted by folks who have already decided.

You can show them a $999 Macbook Air and a plastic $999 Dell and they'll say "See, Macs are more expensive. People are paying for the name." "But... but... they cost the SAME! And with the Dell you have to use Windows, that's worth $100 at least to avoid! And there's a $500 resale differential in twelve months!".

The response will be a smug "You're overpaying because you are stupid. Plus I heard back in the 90's there wasn't a right click."

That's an unwinnable argument.

it might be the case in the us but here the cheapest mac air (MacBook Air 11" i5 1.6 GHz, 2 GB RAM, 64 GB SSD) is 1.500,-usd, (999,-usd in the states) the most expensive (MacBook Air 13" i5 1.7 GHz, 4 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD) is almost 2.500,-usd (1.600,-usd in the states). and for this you can buy a pc twice as good as the mac.

[Ed Rooney]

Originally Posted by speedo

it might be the case in the us but here the cheapest mac air (MacBook Air 11" i5 1.6 GHz, 2 GB RAM, 64 GB SSD) is 1.500,-usd, (999,-usd in the states) the most expensive (MacBook Air 13" i5 1.7 GHz, 4 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD) is almost 2.500,-usd (1.600,-usd in the states). and for this you can buy a pc twice as good as the mac.

Once you add the ssd to your PC it gets quite expensive. Also you are paying for portability. I can go to Sam's club and get cheap 17" windows laptops all day for $499, but they weigh a ton, have 5400rpm sata drives and are loaded with bloatware. Go price 12" super-thin Sony laptops and you will see the price is much closer.

[speedo]

Originally Posted by Ed Rooney

Once you add the ssd to your PC it gets quite expensive. Also you are paying for portability. I can go to Sam's club and get cheap 17" windows laptops all day for $499, but they weigh a ton, have 5400rpm sata drives and are loaded with bloatware. Go price 12" super-thin Sony laptops and you will see the price is much closer.

i bought a toshiba with the lot and it cost me 1.000,-usd. and it works just fine. and i am very far from being a geek.
have a friend designing shops, interiors. he bought a mac because he had to look trendy and uptodate when going to a presentation at his clients' he likes it and i know that macs are good but this illustrates clearly the "stigma" attached.

[RolexWatcher]

Originally Posted by Gagebuilder

I don't get it. Why are the superior benefits of Apple so hard to explain?

To me, I don't get why Apple is perceived to be superior to other brands. I use Apple products and I really don't see what the fuss is about vs. other products. Their customer service is similar to other products I deal with, maybe the only difference is that they now have stores so you can deal with them physically. As for quality, it is also similar to other products in the same price range.

[subtona]

Originally Posted by Gagebuilder

I don't get it. Why are the superior benefits of Apple so hard to explain?

the apple is intuitive... made by people for people to use.

if you can think it, it has been thunk before and is ready to be done, just find the correct command ... this gets easier after you've been debriefed from windows barbed wire OS.

apple is simpler, the process is often actually pt A to pt B vs the other OS which may entail so much more processing (which has been hidden pretty well over the years, but it takes more effort and slows things down and complicates simple actions to the point of fowling up the simplest process)

for me the $$$ of 1 vs the other was never a thought as they are two entirely different products, the term apples and oranges lives here.
and in this analogy the orange is a square wheel.

[kultschar]

Originally Posted by subtona

the apple is intuitive... made by people for people to use.

apple is simpler, the process is often actually pt A to pt B vs the other OS which may entail so much more processing (which has been hidden pretty well over the years, but it takes more effort and slows things down and complicates simple actions to the point of fowling up the simplest process)

This is as close to the truth as you can get. Take the settings of a Mac vs Control Panel of a PC. The amount of bloated crap that you have to click thru to check something out on a Windows machine is pretty unreal and often hidden to the "average" user. Working in IT support for many years the amount of basic troubleshooting tasks I had for users unable to find this or that was ridiculous.

With a Mac everything is logical, uncluttered and obvious. Although simplified over the last few years setting up a home network on a Windows machine was not a task for the "normal" user and was one of the common call outs I used to have.

[Ed Rooney]

Originally Posted by kultschar

This is as close to the truth as you can get. Take the settings of a Mac vs Control Panel of a PC. The amount of bloated crap that you have to click thru to check something out on a Windows machine is pretty unreal and often hidden to the "average" user. Working in IT support for many years the amount of basic troubleshooting tasks I had for users unable to find this or that was ridiculous.

With a Mac everything is logical, uncluttered and obvious. Although simplified over the last few years setting up a home network on a Windows machine was not a task for the "normal" user and was one of the common call outs I used to have.

I don't know about that. Both Mac and Windows have a "control panel" where one adjust the settings for their network, mouse, printers or whatever.

Windows has "Start" on the taskbar. Mac has "Go" in finder. They both have user folders for docs, music, pics, etc.

I think dealing with drive mappings is more intuitive in Windows. Just go to where the drives are and select map network drive. In Mac, you go to "Go", then mount drives. I'd rather mount drives the Windows way. Neither one is very intuitive because the average computer (mac or pc) just knows how to start their browser and email.

If you want to do any command line stuff it's Dos commands vs unix commands. Nothing intuitive about either one.

You can say Mac is more stable, but I just crashed a macbook air about ten minutes ago, whereas I rarely crash a pc.

The funny part is when mac users feel like they just discovered something different and new and decide to tell the IT department what they are doing wrong.

[CashGap]

Originally Posted by Ed Rooney

If you want to do any command line stuff it's Dos commands vs unix commands. Nothing intuitive about either one.

True. Though the unix commands are LOGICAL, and the DOS commands much less so.

Originally Posted by Ed Rooney

You can say Mac is more stable, but I just crashed a macbook air about ten minutes ago, whereas I rarely crash a pc.

Er... I'll take Fallacy of Hasty Generalization for $500 Alex?

Originally Posted by Ed Rooney

The funny part is when mac users feel like they just discovered something different and new and decide to tell the IT department what they are doing wrong.

Condescending mockery will usually silence them for a while.

[Ed Rooney]

I know a couple who both have iphone4's. They are eligible for upgrade on November 10th. So if they get 64Gig iphone4s' on release date, they pay something like $800. If they wait a month they get them for $399.

Guess when they are getting their iphones.

[subtona]

2 types of people, those that have used and now own an apple computer
and those that have no idea how an actual computer should operate.

there is just no comparison. none!

thank you Steve Jobs.

[kultschar]

Used to work in IT so to be honest I'm a bit of a computer geek, Apple products are pretty damn awesome and I long abandoned windows however use MS Office Mac Version for my work (which is fantastic)

Everything is so simplified, forgot Viruses existed, no searching for settings thru multiple menus etc it really makes it a pleasure to use. Unfortunately on the odd occasion I have to work on a Windows 7 machine in the office, its weird but I actually dread turning that machine on.

Of course visually the product and design is stunning which is prob the first thing you will notice when you buy an Apple product, I guess this is a bit like having a Rolex. My Girlfriend bought me a Macbook Air for my 30th when they first came out many years back now. It was pretty surreal at the time unboxing the worlds thinnest notebook which was a beautiful slab of aluminium compared to my plastic Sony Vaio.

Many of my friends think I'm mad buying Apple desktops and laptops instead of a $300 plastic laptop - maybe they are right however I could never go back.

Maintenance free and a joy to use. If I was a casual web surfer then maybe a PC would be the way, I would never recommend an Apple computer to the casual Facebook / eBayer etc however I spend half my life in front of a computer so I guess it makes sense to buy something good.

Oh yeah - the resale value on Macs are pretty damn good!! My old Macbook Air sold for half what was paid for it 3 years after!!! A PC is worthless after a few years!!!

Its all personal choice at the end of the day - I suppose its a bit like the Omega V Rolex argument however of course there is a stigma attached to Apple products due to the success. I have quite a few friends who have iPhones who has since bought iMacs, MacBooks etc the Halo effect as such however they all complain when they have to work on PCs in an office!!!

[mboverst]

[Gagebuilder]

Thanks for some specific answers, guys.

[Lisa]

I know nothing - techno illiterate. Luckily the man I live with, who I've known since 1981, is a computer guru - computer science major in the 1980s and software analyst for many years after that. When we first met he had an Apple decal on the glove box door of his '65 Skylark. I even remember asking him, "What's with the striped apple?"

He's been a fan ever since. Our home computers are Apple because they don't get eaten up with viruses.

That's about all I know. The comments about fanaticism, trendiness, snobbishness, etc. I noticed while glancing through this thread don't really apply at our house. In a way, we're Old School and Apple products fit the bill.