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Why Apple?

Published 14 July 09 09:28 PM | RjBass 

 

Why do people purchase Apples?  Really,  I'm seriously asking?  

A good customer of mine just today told me he was looking for a new laptop.  He told me he wanted an excellent performer with decent battery life.  It also had to have a 17" screen and 1tb of hard drive space.  I raised my eyebrows, not being very sure I could fill his request and told him I would try.  

Not long after he told me he was considering a Mac.  If I am not mistaken I think he even called me right before he walked into the Apple store.  Not wanting to loose a customer to Apple I started configuring his new performance laptop.

Apple offered him a pretty decent machine.  I'm not going to lie, Apple does build some pretty good computers and OS X is a pretty slick operating system.  My only real problem with Apple in the last few years has been their price points.  Why pay that much when you can get better hardware for cheaper?  

I designed for him an excellent laptop that in most regards is better then the MacBook Pro he was considering.  Let's compare the spec's and prices shall we?

First let's start with the Mac.  I am using the Apple website to configure this Mac, and I am going to use the best possible parts that come closest to the custom laptop I designed for him.  

Mac Spec's:

CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo 3.06ghz CPU
Hard Drive - 500gb 7200rpm
Memory - 4gb DDR3 1066
Display - 17" HD Display 1920x1200
Keyboard - Backlit (Apple white)
Graphics - NVidia GeForce 9600m w/512mb memory
8 hour battery life
Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adaptor ($99 extra)
Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adaptor ($29 extra)
Integrated 2.0mp web cam
OS X Leopard

One thing people always talk about with Mac's is the software that comes standard with them.  However, when configuring the Mac, I noticed that most of the good software isn't free, but actually cost money, a lot of money.   Knowing what I pre install for my customers on the systems I sell, I had to include a couple of the programs to ensure that both machines where matched up as much as possible.  Now, if I am mistaken and you can get some decent programs like these that are free, then let me know so I can correct this post.  Anyways, here they are.

iWork 09 Office productivity software - $49
Aperture 2 photo editing software - $199
Final Cut 4 video editing software - $199 

Total cost of the Mac before taxes and shipping (or just taxes if I go to the store to pick it up) - $3445

 

Now let's look at the system I configured for the customer.  This is a custom performance laptop from my company, Rj Systems LLC.  

CPU - Intel Core 2 Quad 2.0 ghz
Hard Drive - 2 x 500gb 7200rpm
Memory - 4gb DDR3 1066
Display - 17" HD display 1920x1200
Keyboard - backlit (blue)
Graphics - ATi Mobility Radeon 3870 w/512mb memory
6 hour battery life
Integrated DVI port
Integrated VGA port
Integrated 2.0mp web cam
Thumb print reader
7 in 1 memory card reader
ESata port
Blue Tooth
Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit with a free upgrade to Windows 7 in October

And for the software, I think by now we all know about OpenOffice.org office productivity software, The Gimp photo editing software and Windows Movie Maker video editing software which are all free.  I also install Avast Anti Virus (free for a PC), Adobe Reader, Malware Bytes, Java and other important software so my machine is ready to hit the web right out of the box.  

Total cost of my computer - $2120.  

Thats a big difference when you don't get as good of a cpu, not as much hard drive space, and a slew of other little things that should make my system cost more. 

However, let just say for the sake of argument that the Mac comes with free comparable software to the PC, and let's say for some reason they throw in the video adaptors, the Mac is still $2849.  Over $700 more expensive.  Why?  

I really want to know why.  Just in case somebody mentions it, they both come with the same standard warranty, 1 year parts, 3 years labor.  Errr well, actually the Mac only comes with a 1 year parts & labor before they start charging you more.  

So give me some good reasons why the Mac is a better purchase.  Don't worry, my customer doesn't read my blog and I really do want to know.  



Comments

# Daemon said on July 23, 2009 11:15 AM:

The OS is faster, safer, and can only be legally run on Apple hardware. The price difference is if you want to pay for it. The hardware isn't comparable; Leopard uses probably 1/3 the system resources as Vista, and Snow Leopard will only cost $29. $29 for a full OS!

# RjBass said on July 27, 2009 9:13 AM:

Snow Leopard amounts to nothing more then a service pack that Windows customers get for free.  

The laptop I sold my customer also comes with a free upgrade coupon for Windows 7, which is more like OS X in the fact that it only uses about a 1/3 of the computers resources when compared to Vista.  

And why is the hardware not comparable?  That was nearly the best you could get from a Mac Book Pro which in my personal opinion, is not as good as the one I sold my customer.  

# Sadodare said on July 30, 2009 8:42 AM:

There are a lot more things you should consider in terms of the specifications you showed...i.e. what Intel Core 2 Duo 3.06ghz CPU....a lot more comes into play than the speed...i.e. cache....Most people don't really benefit to using a slower quad, since most applications are written for dual-core PCs. Don't get me wrong, I would never buy an apple computer...Never, because I like to be able to fix when something goes wrong without practically buying a new one...Should also put into point that the newest apple laptops tend to have a unibody construction....Pass

# MasterKiller32 said on July 30, 2009 11:36 PM:

Well i have a PC desktop and a Macbook and i love both i use my desktop for gaming and when i was looking for a laptop i just think about one thing Apple can run windows too so i can have both OS. That was my push to apple and when it comes to OS Vista can't be compared to Leopard. Lets see what happen in the battle with Windows 7 and Snow Leopard. The only bad thing about apple is the high prices everything else is good for me.

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