Mac or PC

[reverie]

BenKenobi88,

First of all congratulations for some smart shopping you did there. I don't know anything about graphics cards, but I take your word that yours is a great gaming card.

Intel processors are currently seen as faster than AMDs, but I don't want to get into details about that because I'm not that knowledgeable. Safe to say that Apple uses nothing but the latest Intel processors.

I also read Tida Lockhart's statement which tells me again that not everybody has the time and technical expertise to buy that cheap. I certainly never had, and actually my frustration with the PC shopping experience led me to try a Mac back in 2005.

Buying a Mac was as simple then as it is now: Do you want a Portable or a Desktop? Do you want the small, medium or big one? That's all you need to know. You have to try to imagine what a big relief Apple's clean product grid is to many shoppers.

Me being a complete stranger, if I came up to you and asked you to buy me a great low-cost gaming PC today, how much would you charge me for the time and effort it would take you?

I'm not trying to argue with you if the Mac OS is better or not. Everybody interested should try it on his/her own and see what he/she can get out of Mac OS. I'm just challenging the statement that it's a bad value, because there's lots of value in Mac hardware.

And you may scoff at people who just buy a Mac to look good with it, but how about seeing a Mac as a beautiful object of design? How about people who like good furniture? Looking at the Mac as a design object for your home it's an absolute bargain compared to the thousands of $ you can spend on a single well-made and -designed piece of designer furniture. Again, if that's not for you try to imagine the way many people feel about ugly electronics in their home.

Also, you can get Macs cheaper on Black Friday. The $1499 model was available for $1354 at one retailer. [1] There are also student discounts of around 7 % all year and students also get a free iPod on top during the summer season. So there's always an MSRP, there's a common street price and there's a special bargain you can sometimes get. It's the same for Macs and PCs.

I also mentioned stereo speakers, Bluetooth 2.0 (For example you can use a WiiMote to control the Mac. [2]), and I mentioned a microphone and a webcam. And I mentioned that there is also a $1200 iMac (which was on sale for $1135 on Black Friday).

And there is the big resale value, a sold Mac will give you back hundreds more than a sold PC that used to be the same price. All this leads me to challenge your statement of a $700 price gap.

[1] http://www.macrumors.com/2007/11/21/apple-and-others-black-friday-2007-sales-prices-and-links/
[2] http://www.iospirit.com/remotebuddy/