I think there is a valid question here, it’s just getting lost in the politics.
I think what the OP meant to be asking is: If you have decided you want a machine that runs an Apple OS (which is a reasonable choice you might make aside from, and before hardware), is there then a sufficient range of choice in the hardware on which you will use your Apple OS?
I (not an Apple user, but not a hater either) think there probably is sufficient choice. It’s not massively diverse, and doesn’t include anything wacky, but it doesn’t need to.
The thing is, it sounds a bit the same as saying, ‘Once you have decided to buy a Toyota, is there a sufficient range of choice in the models? Shouldn’t you be able to buy a Toyota built on a Ford platform?’
How many choices do you need? Laptop, or desktop? What size screen? How big a hard drive? How much RAM? What programs do you want? Apple offers all of those.
Not really, because the OS makes a big difference, and people get attached to it, because of the way it works, the various software solutions available for it, etc. The OS is something you could very reasonably choose before even looking at what hardware is available.
Rotating screen, transparent case, wood effect finish, ruggedised form factor. I dunno. It doesn’t matter how many choices I need - it’s just that they abound.
The point is that if your choice of OS goes the other way, you still have a vast range of choice over the hardware, configuration, form factor, etc, whereas if you choose an Apple OS, you have a fairly limited choice of hardware, configuration and form factor.
You’ll note, I’m not saying this is a bad thing, or something to be poo-poohed, but it’s a fact.
If all you have need of is G3 at less than 400MHz, I envy you. You are talking a computer that can barely handle YouTube.
Even eMachines last long enough for them to become obsolete. The idea that longevity is worth anything is laughable. I have a 12 year old PC that still runs perfectly (I even still use the disk drive out of it). But there’s no way I would torture myself using it as my main computer.
(I have an even older computer, but I got it used, so I don’t know how old it is. But it’s processor came out in 1997. And, yes, it still works.)
I didn’t know computers were like brands of toothpaste!
I don’t need “choices”, I have a MacBook and will look no further. After having suffered through four clunky, F’d up PCs in my life and gazed with pity at other people’s inferior Dells and eBooks and whatever, I hope to never have to go through “choices” again, for my simple needs.
I happen to prefer the Mac OS operating system enough that getting my preferred OS is worth potentially not getting my ideal hardware, and the range of hardware available is good enough as far as I’m concerned.
But, more often than not, I actually prefer the Mac hardware. My first Mac laptop, in 2003, was a low-end iBook. It was the mainstream laptop with the longest running time on battery available. My current Mac laptop is a Macbook Air. It’s awesome. If I could run Mac OS on any existing laptop hardware, I’d still choose this one. In between there was an iBook that was not great, and had a number of hardware problems. So, I’m well aware that Apple doesn’t always make perfect machines.
On the other hand, I don’t really like the Mac Mini, but I want a computer to use as a media center. So I have a Windows XP box with components I put together myself. I don’t really care what OS it runs, because all it ever does is run Netflix and Hulu, and play DVDs.
Seems to me like I have as many choices as anyone else, I just usually choose differently then the OP.
I found a computer that fit what I was looking for and it happened to be a MacBook. I prefer the OS system. I had a desktop PC which was fine and I never had much problem with until it got a virus several years ago. Overall, I just find the Mac a better all around computer and more reliable, so I went with it.
Now if you want to talk about few choices, how about cars? In this society you pretty much have to have buy one and deal with insurance, repairs blah blah blah. I’d love to have the option not having to buy one, or renting one occasionally if necessary and depending on my bicycle or public transportation the rest of the time. Unfortunately, where I am that is not going to happen any time soon.
The OP is assuming that everyone who buys a Mac choses the OS first, instead that was only one of many pros and cons I compared when shopping for a new laptop. It was both a pro and a con for me, since I’d never had a Mac and would have to adapt to a new OS.
I actually DO wish there were more choices of hardware to run OS X. I like computers to be boxy and industrial and easy to get inside of, and not so artsy. To my taste, artsy electronic devices suggest money wasted on irrelevance. I like to see plenty of fasteners on the outside - they make me feel like I’ll be welcomed on the inside. I would have chosen something accordingly if I could have.
But the range was “sufficient” for me, yes. I would much rather have this artsy computer that actually functions correctly than to be trying for the umpteenth time to make my antivirus software and my Service Pack updates cooperate with one another.
Who knows - Apple may make me more aesthetically aware…
If this is indeed the question, then I can answer it. I’m typing this on my latest Mac - a 2011 27" iMac, top of the line… first Mac I bought that fit the description after about 20 years with 'em. But my newest Mac before this wasn’t a Mac - it was a Dell Mini 10v which I turned into a Hackintosh.
Why? Because my options were lugging around either a 17" or 15" MacBook Pro (2006-2007). Those suckers are heavy. I’d be at a conference and have my shoulder go numb. And I don’t consider my iPhone to be a real computing device - I wanted a netbook-type Mac, but Apple didn’t make one. I learned that the Dell Mini 10v was the “ultimate” Hackintosh netbook, and I have to agree with this assessment. I think I had trouble with one upgrade, but other than that, it has worked flawlessly.
With the Office suite being on both the PC and the Mac, the vast majority of what I do could easily be done on a Windows netbook. So why did I want it to run OS X? Because I’ve been using the Mac OS since System 6 - I know it, the keyboard shortcuts, everything. Despite using Windows for years I have a fairly rudimentary understanding of what to do when things go wrong, whereas on the Mac side I am pretty comfortable handling issues, from firing up Disk Utility to using DiskWarrior.
I’ve been buying Macs since 1993, and I am much happier with the Jobs distribution of Macs than when I was trying to decide between a Performa or a Quadra or a Centris back in the day. I resisted buying an iMac for the longest time because I am wary of a machine I can’t open and noodle around with (like my favorite Mac, my 2000 Sawtooth G4 that I pretty much gutted and replaced every component inside). But the iMac is incredible - it has ONE power cable… and that’s it. Well, the audio cable. Nothing else sticks out of the computer. When I have to move my computer to my bedroom after my kid moves in my former office, I’m not going to need any extra space, or outlets. I can pretty much put it anywhere.
I think the folks in Cupertino have a little appreciation for users like me who like to get under the hood a little. The suits at Apple will smack your hand for making a Hackintosh, or jailbreaking your iDevices… but I’ve always used my products in this gray area and have had little problems. In fact, the functionality of the devices depend on this ability (I couldn’t really use my iPhone without it being jailbroken).
Mac Pro? For a hidden server, I re-purposed an old Linux box as a hackintosh just because doing so was dirt cheap. But if I wanted something visible, I’d’ve gone with the Mac Pro.
I’ve used both privately and professional AT THE SAME TIME, since both Macs and PCs were available.
I’ve serviced both as a professional technician about the same length of time. For better than 17 years I’ve worked for dealers that sold Apple, Dell and HP computers and I’ve been responsible for warranty and out of warranty repairs on both.
PCs are cheaper out of the box. Macs are cheaper over the life of the product (total cost of ownership.)
People generally don’t buy the best product or even the best bang for the buck. They buy the cheapest product they’re told will get the job done. Often times when they don’t even know what they will need the computer to do.
I’ve gotten grief back from customers that the computer I recommended (based on their description of their needs) that won’t play the games their kid wants to play on it. Even when I ask them specifically if they or any kids that will use the computer will play games on it.
Nobody has ever forced me to buy a Mac, or prevented me from buying a PC. I have exactly the same choices as everyone else, and I exercise that choice by buying Macs.
I still don’t understand what choices I’m being prevented from making when I buy a Mac. There are a variety of machines available in various configurations, and once I buy one, I can run the OS of my choice on it. Seriously, is this complaint coming from 1995 or something?
I didn’t make any complaint. Let’s take this one step at a time:
When the time comes to replace their computer, what percentage of Mac users do you suppose decide that they definitely want another Mac?
I’m guessing it will be quite a high number. I think there are a lot of quite compelling, valid reasons for someone with experience of using a Mac to want to continue using a Mac - and I think a lot of those reasons are related to the Mac OS.
Yes, actually, I erred in my post. I wish there were more AND CHEAPER options. I would have preferred a Mac Pro, but at desktop PC prices. Somehow this wish took on a simpler guise in my mind in the months since I was doing my choosing, and I misreported my situation. To say it more carefully, then, I wish I could buy the same quality in an industrial looking desktop box at PC prices; however, one of the options that Apple gave me, an artsy looking all-in-one iMac at $1300, appeared at the time to be better than any of the other options, and continues to look that way to me now that I am a year and a half into using it. Apple has made me a fan.
Now, then, if I had way more to spend, I would go for a Mac Pro with as many Apple displays of as large a size as it would support.