This about sums it all up for me.
Plus I genuinely like the aesthetics of Apple’s hardware, software and the usability therein. I also like that Apple maintains consistency across its hardware and software. I find value in that.
I also like that I don’t need to install software for every new piece of hardware I hook up. I can plug into any printer and just print. I plug my video camera into the computer and it just uploads the videos and sorts them into clips and dates. My camera just plugs in and goes.
When connecting to a wifi network, I just find it in the list and click it. The amount of frustration I’ve had with windows doing this is unbelievable. After going through a few help windows we get it connected, but for some reason it’s still trying to use the ethernet port which isn’t connected. This has happened multiple times with my wife’s computer and once with my parents. What the hell kind of system tries to use the port that’s not connected, when it is clearly stating that it is connected another way? Why can’t I just find a list of wifi networks and connect?
For me, it’s a combination of two main factors. First, I really like the operating system. It’s UNIX with a good user interface, which is exactly what I’ve wanted from an OS since about 1995. Now, I could also get that from Ubuntu, and save some money from building the computer myself and not paying for an OS, but that brings me to the second point: I don’t want a hassle.
I don’t want to have to go to the trouble of putting the hardware together myself, I don’t want the hassle of configuring settings, I don’t want the hassle of getting my laptop and the projector to recognize each other when I’m giving presentations (in our conference room, there’s a full page of instructions for doing this with a PC, and it doesn’t always work, while with a Mac, it’s plug it in, turn it on, and it always works), I don’t want the hassle of sweeping for malware. As a matter of fact, I can’t think of anything on my Macs that is a hassle.
You’re assuming everyone WANTS to build a computer. I’ve done it before and don’t have any interest in doing it again. I have zero interest in tinkering with my hardware.
That is interesting. We have a full Dell company (~1000 PCs and a crap load of servers) and Dell hardware and support have been totally excellent. Very few hardware failures, usually on some very old PCs, and the Dell support folks have been fast and effective. Add in the fact that going Mac (if we could even do it) would add $350,000 minimum (more likely 500,000) to the hardware costs, it is clear why Apple isn’t making much headway in the corporate world.
Mac’s are nice but they are expensive. Personally the OS drives me a bit nuts but that is probably because I am used to nix and Windows. I live in a mixed PC/Mac world (my GF is a graphic designer and has Macs) and in the 3 + years we’ve been together she has had way more problems than I have. She has had to reload the OS twice on one box. One laptop had a hardware failure, one just plain died. My Dells have sat there and chugged away with no problems other than one viri (which was my own damned fault) and took about 20 minutes to remove.
Slee
*I dowloaded a file that was infected. I know that the person who sent it is likely to send infected crap but I downloaded it anyway. My own damned fault.
I really wonder what sort of computers some people are using, because both of my Windows XP computers deal with all of this stuff without a single problem, and my newer Windows 7 box appears, after a few weeks of use, to be just as good, probably better.
But you can’t really compare Dell’s corporate support with their regular customer support. The level of assistance available for your regular Dell retail customer is, in many instances, nothing short of diabolically bad. For retail buyers, customer service is one area where Apple routinely and consistently kicks the ass of almost every other hardware provider.
My older WinXP desktop is a Dell, and i’ve been very happy with it. It’s almost 6 years old now, has given me no problems, and still runs fine (although it now needs a new CMOS battery). But if you buy a Dell and run into any problems that require calling the company, you will travel through about 7 different circles of hell before making any progress at all.
This. Especially since, with Windows 7, it no longer says “Start” and is just a Windows icon. The only difference is placement.
Hell, on my Windows 7 computer it’s actually in basically the same place as the Apple icon, because i’ve moved my toolbar to the left hand side of my widescreen monitor. I find that doing this allows better use of screen real estate on widescreen monitors which have plenty of horizontal pixels to play with, but not so many vertical ones.
Well the answer really is : “It depends on YOU.”
I’ll use myself as an example.
Hi, I’m User Acid Lamp. I don’t know diddly crap about how computers work, and I don’t care either. I use them to surf the net, do business, and edit my photos, music, and videos. I don’t play games other than freebie online stuff. I DO know just enough about windows to get myself into trouble installing programs, but I don’t know how to fix them if I get myself into a pickle. I can’t be arsed to bother with routine tasks either. I don’t like pull down menus if I can get around them. I hate searching for things, and I have a very low level of patience for technology.
I bought a mac for these reasons.
With my Imac, I didn’t have to know anything about computers, their software, networks, drivers, settings or anything. I plugged it in, plugged in the internet cable and was up and running in less than ten minutes. It finds everything it needs by itself, downloads and installs them with a minimum of restarts and user prompts. It found the network and managed that by itself as well. When new updates are available it prompts me with one icon and a user approval, that’s it.
So far, I haven’t been able to bog down the processor even doing some heavy video and music editing. The PC couldn’t handle that well at all. In fact I haven’t been able to bog it down at all. It handles all these tasks with pre-loaded software that is pretty damn powerful for an intermediately skilled user. I haven’t been able to come up with a task for it that I needed another program to accomplish. If you want to do creative stuff without having to bother with the steep learning curve of the PC programs, Apple is your friend.
So far, every free program I’ve downloaded has been exactly as advertised online. No spyware, malware, or malfunctions. While we’re on this topic, no viruses, constant updates, patches, or bug fixes either. There is a LOT less available, but everything that I’ve used has been of good quality and easy to manage.
If you are an intuitive user like myself, you will prefer the icon menu to the windows start system. Windows of course has an option to place icons on the desktop as well, but you can drag and drop almost anything to the menu without losing it or accidently deleting it. While all the tech friendly people are no doubt face-palming in despair right now, I use to do that a lot, being careless. That doesn’t happen anymore, and I didn’t have to adjust my behaviour, the Apple works more naturally for me.
All of this combined is what a lot of Mac users are referring to when you hear “It just works”.
During my 1 year of Apple Desktop Support, I would have agreed. In that entire time, I saw exactly ONE virus on a customer machine, and that guy admitted to spending a lot of time surfing porn. The virus was a simple DNS redirect, changing his DNS server to one beginning with 85 (in Russia).
But back in December, at my job site with several hundred Macs, we found three of them that had virii on them. Of course, those three people were violating company policy by downloading, installing or bringing in a lot of outside software and content, but still. It just went to show that there are getting to be more virii out there that prey on macs.
So now I recommend having some kind of virus scanning software on a Mac.
And as someone mentioned upthread, it’s a politeness to windows users so you don’t accidentally email a virus in an attachment or something.
Do you honestly believe that if you buy a computer from, say, Dell, that it will take you more than ten minutes to plug in two or three cables and get on the Internet?
There are three things that stop me buying a Mac:
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The outrageous cost. They’re vastly more expensive than a PC/Laptop by a significant factor.
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The near-utter lack of games.
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Macs, at least in this part of the world, really are a Lifestyle Choice- specifically, one that says “I’m young and funky and my parents have lots of money!” I might be a writer and a university student but I’m not the quirky, arty Mac-user “type”, basically.
If Macs cost the same as a PC/Laptop and could play the same games (without any of this dual-booting stuff or the invocation of other technical dark arts, thankyouverymuch) as a PC/Laptop, I’d happily buy one. But they don’t, and they don’t, so I won’t.
I buy Macs because I prefer them. I’ve been using Macs since they were a biege box just like a PC. I grew up using Macs, they are what I’m used to, I like the operation system, I can do everything I want to do. End of story.
Yes, as I stated upthread, I have spent over an hour going through set-up wizard trying to connect two different laptops to my wifi network. The problem was always the same. It kept trying to use the ethernet port while ignoring the wifi network.
Maybe 90% of the time Windows works great without complications, but that 10% when it doesn’t will drive you mad trying to find the setting that should be obvious.
I look at a computer screen for a large portion of the day. When I am home, and need/want to look at a computer screen, I’ll pay extra (and do) to look at one that, out of the box, just looks better than the alternative.
(Before windows7 which I haven’t tried yet) OSX simply looked better (to my eyes) than XP. Everything; the fonts, the graphics, websites, the windows, etc. It is pretty simple, if given a pretty thing to look at or a not-so-pretty thing to look at, I’ll choose the pretty thing assuming the consequences aren’t too high for doing so (price, performance, whatever). For me, the downsides to the Mac (price and games) don’t outweigh this. For others, it will…
Heck we’re born with a preference to want to look at the attractive over the less-attractive: link
So what does one do on a Mac then to shut it down? Dramatically stomp away from it or talk sternly to it and send it to it’s room?
It’s two mouse clicks. How much easier than that can it get? You can even set it to shut down on closing the lid on a laptop.
Didn’t read through this entire thread but you do get a lot of software with the MAC compared to a PC. A lot of the i"stuff" software comes bundled while the equivalent needs to be purchased with the PC (usually).
What’s a “priff-roll”
In the UK we got the same ad, different characters, different results 