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Is Apple "Worth It"?


Ongeloof
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In the UK, we pay out of the nose for Apple products and so forth, but when you consider it, is Apple really worth it. Are iPhones all that good, and whats an iPod when you can get something cheaper at CostCo....or WallMart...

I am never leaving Apple, and in my eyes they can do no wrong, but other people, "outsiders" and generally people who have not seen the light, can they really be convinced to pay out of the nose for quality?

 

Think Mark.....

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iPod: Yes, they are great music players. Fairplay DRM sucks, but who buys music anyway? iPod+iTunes= the best portable music ecosystem around (even if the Windows port of iTunes is utter {censored}).

iPhone: It all depends on your service provider, your current service plan, and what you need your phone to do for you.

Macs: God no, they have awful mark up on them. Now that the Hackintosh is essentially equal to a legit Macintosh, there is no reason to buy one unless you need portability (I consider the Macbook to be the best sub 14" laptop available, even if it is overpriced).

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iPod: Yes, they are great music players. Fairplay DRM sucks, but who buys music anyway? iPod+iTunes= the best portable music ecosystem around (even if the Windows port of iTunes is utter {censored}).

iPhone: It all depends on your service provider, your current service plan, and what you need your phone to do for you.

Macs: God no, they have awful mark up on them. Now that the Hackintosh is essentially equal to a legit Macintosh, there is no reason to buy one unless you need portability (I consider the Macbook to be the best sub 14" laptop available, even if it is overpriced).

 

 

No reason to buy a Mac?, are you serious, it's not about whether they have the same parts, it's about the design, space saving build of Mac's. PC's just dont fit into your surroundings like Mac's do, most of them have bad designs, hard to move around flimsy boxes. My mates PC must have cost him thousands to get it how it is, PC users upgrade way more, his motherboard alone cost £220, quadcore 2.4Ghz £480, ram 4Gb £200, 8800GTS £380, case £140, Vista Ultimate £350.

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his motherboard alone cost £220, quadcore 2.4Ghz £480, ram 4Gb £200, 8800GTS £380, case £140, Vista Ultimate £350.

What?! Those prices are insanely high, a Q6600 is like $270, I dont see how it could cost double in pounds (not that you said it was a Q6600) when pounds are worth double what dollars are. If you had replaced all of those '£' with a '$' I might believe you, but thats still very high. What DDR was the ram? It must have been DDR3 1600 or some {censored} to have costed that much. Vista Ultimate OEM is only $170 or so. Your prices are way off, no wonder you think Macs are a deal.

PC users upgrade way more,

Because users of non-Macs have the ability to upgrade..

Edit: Those prices irritated me so badly, I've decided to price up the parts listed:

 

ASUS P5E LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX Intel Motherboard (A $220 mobo, not £220. This is an excellent and top of the line motherboard by the way.)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813131219

$229.99

 

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819115017

$269.99

 

G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820231122

$89.99

 

Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811129021

$109.99

 

PNY VCG88GTS5XPB GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814133215

$349.99

 

Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Ultimate for System Builders Single Pack DVD

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16832116215

$189.99

Total: £630 (assuming you could travel to the US, exchange to dollar, and order from newegg.com)

Your Total: £1770.

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When they first came out, not prices now and our prices are always higher due to VAT, it's funny you picked Vista OEM as if everyone buys OEM when they don't. :unsure:

 

I remember paying £350 for my FX5900 Ultra card, so dont try that go find the cheapest prices {censored}.

 

I noticed you avoided the rest of the of what I said.

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Yes, Apple is worth it. Their stuff is higher quality and supported in America. It's more expensive, and worth every penny to me.

 

People's problem is, they've just lost perspective of what computers cost. They are used to the $300 piece of Chinese junk at Wal-Mart, and think their crappy $50 AMD processors from Newegg are normal prices. Apple doesn't build $300 junkers that exactly meets the minimum system requirements of the Microsoft Windows operating system, they build far and above more computing power than is needed into their devices so as to deliver an operating system as it should run. Everyone seems to have forgotten that computer used to be on the order of $5000+ a piece, and are just used to the cheap garbage that HP sells on the shelves at Best Buy (1.6GHz + 512MB + Intel GMA = Vista Premium Ready? Give me a break :().

 

I remember paying £350 for my FX5900 Ultra card, so dont try that go find the cheapest prices {censored}.

 

You *do* realize you just lost every ounce of credibility right? Please turn in your geek card at the door. :yoji:

 

What?! Those prices are insanely high

 

Not really. America's technology is cheap because we engineer most of it, then get it built cheaply in foreign countries. The rest of the world pays out the butt for computers and gadgets.

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What?! Those prices are insanely high, a Q6600 is like $270, I dont see how it could cost double in pounds (not that you said it was a Q6600) when pounds are worth double what dollars are. If you had replaced all of those '£' with a ' I might believe you, but thats still very high. What DDR was the ram? It must have been DDR3 1600 or some {censored} to have costed that much. Vista Ultimate OEM is only $170 or so. Your prices are way off, no wonder you think Macs are a deal.

 

Because users of non-Macs have the ability to upgrade..

Edit: Those prices irritated me so badly, I've decided to price up the parts listed:

 

ASUS P5E LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX Intel Motherboard (A $220 mobo, not £220. This is an excellent and top of the line motherboard by the way.)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813131219

$229.99

 

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819115017

$269.99

 

G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820231122

$89.99

 

Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811129021

$109.99

 

PNY VCG88GTS5XPB GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814133215

$349.99

 

Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Ultimate for System Builders Single Pack DVD

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16832116215

$189.99

Total: £630 (assuming you could travel to the US, exchange to dollar, and order from newegg.com)

Your Total: £1770.

 

Considering the fact that you have to spend time searching these parts, spend money getting them shipped to you, spend time waiting for them to ship, spend your life researching and learning about computer parts and how to build computers, and spend hours putting everything together and installing OS, and considering the fact that there would be no warranty for the entire computer, and no customer support, and a vast amount of hassle getting a dual boot to work, I think that, if given the choice, I would rather buy a Mac.

 

Kindly pardon the above run-on sentence.

 

I believe that the Macbook, iMac, and Mac Pro are "Worth it". The Macbook Pro, unfortunately, is overpriced, and the Mac Mini, unfortunately, is underpowered. I hope Apple updates them soon.

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Here we go again. :D

 

Don't forget to add the mark up that Dell, HP, etc will add to make that system up for you.

Sure Apple prices are higher than others but these comparisons of custom hand picked parts to prebuilt systems are overly dramatic and exaggerated.

 

the Mac Mini, unfortunately, is underpowered. I hope Apple updates them soon.

Underpowered for what?

I think for the target market these little units are perfect. They need a lower price more than a hardware refresh.

(At $400 I could see these moving real well for the email/surfing/apartment crowd.)

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You *do* realize you just lost every ounce of credibility right? Please turn in your geek card at the door. :rolleyes:

 

lol, Yep, but I'm not going to be paying that price for PC hardware anymore, Don't have Windows so no need to shell out on upgrading for games anymore.

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Speaking of Mac Pro, i think Apple worth it! Many peoples thinks they can build a equal Hack for less money, but don't forget that the Real Macs are XEON based dual processor and uses fully buffered ram. So if you gonna go for a real comparison, have to go with xeon CPU(cost more than equivalent) Xeon motherboard ( very expensive too ) and buffered ram,also more expensive! At the end you are almost at the real Macs price. But with the real ones , you got a very high quality case, PCU, coolers,mouse and keyboard! So I am for a REAL MAC! :unsure:

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The Macpro baseline besides the HD2600, to me is worth it. At first the Imac however, I didn't think it was worth it when it was running the x1600,7300g,950. But, when Apple released the Imacs, I thought it was a fair price for them. Yeah, you're getting basically a laptop which a desktop version of the cpus would perform better, BUT you are getting a huge high quality screen with it for the Imac.

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Macs: God no, they have awful mark up on them. Now that the Hackintosh is essentially equal to a legit

 

I strongly disagree. For those of us who don't want to pirate our OS, have dependable hardware, and have Apple's warranty, Apple's Computers are great. Also, having to worry when clicking "Software Update' is something we'll never have to go through.

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When taken purely from a productivity point of view, I'd say true Apple Macs deliver quite a bit of value.

 

In my case, I love to tinker with my computers...I love finding problems and fixing them. And I also love tweaking to squeeze out as much performance out of my hardware as possible. But I also realize that not everyone is like me. Some people just want hassle free computing for basic tasks, as is the case in most of my family.

 

In my family, I'm the designated tech weenie. I get many calls from family members to answer questions or to troubleshoot a computer problem. I often spend time driving to my mom's house to fix something or show her how to accomplish a task. I like tinkering with my own computers, but I hate fixing computers for other people.

 

For Christmas, I purchased an iMac for my Mom. Her first week she spent a lot of time calling me because Leopard is so different from the XP that she is used to, but she's learning fast and now loves her Mac and all the new things she can do with it. I love her Mac because she doesn't call me three times a week now. I love my mom, but I hate talking on the phone with her, because she never shuts up...hehehe. My mom convinced her sister to get a Mac and now I get fewer calls from my aunt, as well.

 

That was the best $1600 I've ever spent.

 

BTW, even though my Hackintosh was fairly easy to get working, it still requires quite a bit of tweaking and the persistent worry that something will go wrong when the next update is released.

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iPod: I personally wouldn't buy an MP3 player alone in this day and age, but I think the iPod touch is decent for the money, there's really little else like it available right now. And the shuffle is a good impulse buy or gift now at just $50.

 

iPhone: Very few people need a $400+ phone. But if you're going to buy a $300 ipod anyway and already have a carrier the iPhone can use, why not? For me it would just be the cost of the data plan at that point.

 

Macs: I think they're worthwhile, especially if you don't need the "upgradable desktop" like so many people here seem to. If you just want a basic machine or laptop then a Mac is a good value, especially when you take into account the time you save not fiddling with hardware or kexts like you would on a PC/hackintosh. But some people like paying with their time instead of their money for whatever reason and that's cool too.

 

edit: I should also say that I live in the US, so Apple's pricing is a lot better than most of the world

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iPhone: Very few people need a $400+ phone. But if you're going to buy a $300 ipod anyway and already have a carrier the iPhone can use, why not? For me it would just be the cost of the data plan at that point.

I have to strongly disagree. If one were to purchase everything an iPhone does separately, it would cost well over that of the phone:

 

16GB iPhone - $500

versus

16GB iPod Touch ($300) + Palm/Windows Mobile ($200) + Phone (say $50) = $550

or, if you prefer a smartphone:

16GB iPod Touch ($300) + HTC Mogul ($300) = $600

 

I just can't justify buying everything separately. At a flat $20/month, the data plan on the iPhone is also quite a deal when compared to that of EVDO/CDMA smartphones. My Treo 700w cost me an extra $50/month on top of the normal talking plan back when I had it (and it seriously will work out that expensive, don't believe your carrier's $35/month or whatever marketing {censored}).

 

Macs: I think they're worthwhile, especially if you don't need the "upgradable desktop" like so many people here seem to. If you just want a basic machine or laptop then a Mac is a good value, especially when you take into account the time you save not fiddling with hardware or kexts like you would on a PC/hackintosh. But some people like paying with their time instead of their money for whatever reason and that's cool too.

 

Exactly. As a college student, I've got a lot more time than money to spend, and besides that , I love rolling my sleeves up and diving into the BSD system under Mac OS.

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I have to strongly disagree. If one were to purchase everything an iPhone does separately, it would cost well over that of the phone:

 

16GB iPhone - $500

versus

16GB iPod Touch ($300) + Palm/Windows Mobile ($200) + Phone (say $50) = $550

or, if you prefer a smartphone:

16GB iPod Touch ($300) + HTC Mogul ($300) = $600

 

I just can't justify buying everything separately. At a flat $20/month, the data plan on the iPhone is also quite a deal when compared to that of EVDO/CDMA smartphones. My Treo 700w cost me an extra $50/month on top of the normal talking plan back when I had it (and it seriously will work out that expensive, don't believe your carrier's $35/month or whatever marketing {censored}).

So you're agreeing with me. I was saying that the additional cost of the iphone is no big deal if you're already in the market for a pda or ipod touch like device. An extra $100 over the ipod touch is well worth it for the convenience of carrying one device around instead of 2 or 3. I probably could have worded my original post better :/

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Apple computers are pretty solid, so I would say that they are worth it if you are looking for something trouble-free to do most basic tasks. However, one must not forget that while some money go into quality, a big chunk of it is purely brand and other potentially superfluous things like design (it is not considered essential for EVERYONE, dont forget...). If you dont mind that, go ahead. If however, you are looking for a little more freedom hardware wise, I would recommend a homemade build. Those (for middle/high grade) can also have a better price/performance ratio.

 

If only software is your concern here (wich is usually the tie breaker for most people nowadays), the worth of a Mac depends on your needs pretty much. A Mac, Windows or Linux based PCs are all in a certain way very similar but they all have their pros and cons that you might want to look into to make sure it suits your needs.

 

Dont forget, when you invest in something expansive like a computer, you got to dig deeper than what the marketing teams are throwing at you to make sure you make the best decision for you.

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  • 1 month later...

it depends on what you are doin'.

 

if you own a professional music recording studio than spendin' $3000 on a mac pro is pocket change. the ENTIRE protools hardware for music production will run you $100,000 and more. fyi, protools hd ONLY runs on a mac pro.

 

http://aes.harmony-central.com/119AES/Cont...l-Surround.html

http://www.sweetwater.com/shop/pro-tools/

 

Digidesign has introduced six new ICON D-Control Integrated Console configurations, optimized for mixing and surround workflows. These new configurations combine essential ICON system components, the ICON Surround Panner option, modular Pro Tools|HD interfaces and peripherals, a set of plug-ins, and a DigiDelivery file exchange system server that will enable music and post production professionals to quickly attain end-to-end control over projects while enjoying the tremendous value of pre-configured offerings.

 

The six new configurations are:

 

* D-Control|16 SURROUND MUSIC (List Price: US $76,995)

* D-Control|16 SURROUND POST (List Price: US $76,995)

* D-Control|32 SURROUND MUSIC (List Price: US $101,995)

* D-Control|32 SURROUND POST (List Price: US $101,995)

* D-Control|48 SURROUND MUSIC (List Price: US $124,995)

* D-Control|48 SURROUND POST (List Price: US $124,995)

 

Each ICON Integrated Console includes:

 

* ICON D-Control worksurface

* Surround Panner option

* Pro Tools|HD 3 Accel system

* Modular Pro Tools|HD I/O interfaces and peripherals

* DigiDelivery Serv|LT network file exchange appliance

* HDpack 3 (v6) effects plug-in bundle

* Several plug-ins

so $3000 for a mac pro is cheap when compared to the rest of the professional music recording studio.

 

now, mac's for home use is a different topic and i'll won't even express my opinion on that.

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Macs: God no, they have awful mark up on them. Now that the Hackintosh is essentially equal to a legit Macintosh, there is no reason to buy one unless you need portability (I consider the Macbook to be the best sub 14" laptop available, even if it is overpriced).

 

Overpriced as in "they really do cost too much" or overpriced as in "I'm getting the milk for free, so why get the cow"? Given the hack systems people use, it seems to be the latter choice.

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  • 1 month later...

If you want 100% support by a company that builds the hardware and writes the software? Yes, it's absolutely worth it. If you want to struggle with different vendors, dozens of support numbers, and a geeky looking guy who loves pie running your life while some company in China runs your computer, Windows is the answer.

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I get a kick when I read comments like methamp's. Chances are that if you're building a hack then chances are that you're that geeky looking guy (don't know if you like pie or not but ya...). I see it all too often, usually from Apple fanboys, and while it may hold some truth it seems more opinion/reiteration than fact.

 

Here if I go with a Apple rig I have to go to an "Authorized Dealer" and deal with a middle man. Ya that's fun... :( Then if I have a repair issue I have to go to an "Authorized Dealer" once again and have that middle man either send it to a repair centre or be lucky enough to be dealing with a "Authorized Sales and Service Centre" (and not have a big problem that would need for it to be sent directly to Apple) ;)

 

With Apple I'd have to either jump through hoops or fix it myself. That may prove to be just a bit to much aggravation for most around here (and it has to a few people I know) but thankfully I can simply fix my Mac should anything go wrong software wise.

 

On the other hand there is the fact that it is a package deal. You're not only buying the core components but also the aesthetics of the package (ok, and the name somewhat). If you like the design I guess you could just buy a Mac Pro case and fill it yourself, but if you want all the work done for you then yes it is worth it. Because it is a set of specific hardware it will also hold its value but that strict list can also be a draw back.

 

You can upgrade and modify the PC (notice I said PC and not Windows?) and build it to your specific needs, even right down to the OS (ok, this is where the Windows part comes in I guess). There is also the available programs to consider, sure they could be run under emulation but we all know that may not be quite fast enough depending on the program. Still you can just run Windows OS on the Apple rig so this isn't about OS's but rather hardware.

 

That said I can run Sli/crossfire, higher levels of RAM, and swap components of a PC to meet my needs and update with the times whereas with a Mac I'd be SOL for the most part.

 

The question unfortunately needs to be personalized and will reflect each individuals needs/wants. Mac's are a great package and if you want something that is plug and play while retaining its value, yes it is worth it. On the other hand if you want to be kept up to date with technology or simply want to be able to customize your rig to suit your own needs (especially if they surpass or fall in the middle of the current Apple lineup) then no an Apple isn't worth it.

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Yes Apple MAC Leopard is better than Windows Vista x32 or x64 Operating system .. MAC has very unique features and wonderfully Made by APPLE INC. I am literally not happy with the WINDOWS VISTA x32 containing winsxs folder (Windows Side by SIde ) Folder .. Its the DLL hell from MICROSOFT .. but on the contrary MAC does not have any thing like that. :spam::(:P

 

Even though MAC has Time Machine I dont use. I use the Norton ghost To back up the CORE Operating system ....

 

I will say only this LONG LIVE APPLE Operating systems :yoji:;)

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