Yes, I know it is more expensive. YES, I KNOW.

The BBQ Pit
1

I just had to get this out of my system.

I just bought a new iMac. I just sold my old one (they retain a lot of their value) and sprung for a new one. Woo hoo!

But one of my friends, irked that I am buying Apple products, went on and on about the cost. About how much more this piece of hardware costs on a Mac, how much more he can get for the same amount of money when going with a PC, and on and on. To which I replied, in a bright, happy tone, “I know!”

He just couldn’t get this. He expected me to be sullen, or resentful by his profound truths. So he just kept on telling me how much money I would have saved had I gotten a new PC.

Listen. I KNOW IT COSTS MORE!!! I am getting the bill for it, I KNOW! I saw the prices in the Mac catalog when I placed the order. I KNEW BEFORE I BOUGHT IT! Yeah. Really. I love Macintoshes, and am willing to pay a little extra to have one. It is worth it to me.

I wanted it. I know what I want. It’s my money. I choose certain things for a reason. Especially something as expensive as a computer. Yeah. Amazing as it may seem, I actually know my own mind.

Same goes for lipsticks, jeans, shampoo, or just about anything else. I am not usually extravagant, but once in a while, there are certain items that I allow myself to have. The bath soap specially made in the little town in Ferndale, CA. The $18 lipsticks I occasionally buy. And a few other things.

I am able to afford these nice little things (within reason) and I WILL BUY THEM. I am not hitting you up for money, so why do you care that I spend a little “extra” for something that is important to me? Sure, I understand that if you feel I am paying too much for a certain thing, you want to tell me that. I understand, I appreciate that. I would do the same thing for you. But if it’s obvious that I prefer the more expensive item, and I am not constantly broke, asking you for money, WHY DO YOU BOTHER ME ABOUT IT?!?

I have a feeling that I am not the only person who has encountered this sort of attitude.

2

Yeah but ybabe - you do realise that macs cost more, doncha?

pan

3

“How about you? You could have gone all-out, spent just a litte bit more, and gotten yourself a good computer. You could have gotten a Mac. But no, you had to go el-cheapo and buy a PC. Ya stingy loser.”

:slight_smile:

4

Both you and your friend are incorrect. Macs are cheaper to own than PCs. The cost of a computer is far more than what you paid for the CPU. Many independent analysts have done research on “total lifetime cost of ownership” and the Mac always comes out way ahead of PeeCees. PCs are cheap to buy, but not cheap to own.

5

uh-oh…

6

Chas.E do you have any links to support that. IIRC I have heard quite the opposite a cnet review, unless you count the fact that PC (well their both PC’s but you know what I mean) owners have more stuff available to them so while a Mac owner just sits and sulks because he can’t get Quake 29 while the PC owner goes out right away and pays the $60 when it 1st comes out.
yosemitebabe you go girl! You want a Mac and you have the cash - you go get one - that’s how our free enterprise system works.

7

I’ll bet this guy just loves those KIA ads.

8

Gartner Group publishes annual reports on TCO of computers. I’d give you a link, but they’re paid reports, go buy your own subscription. Note that Gartner Group is an independent analyst, and not a corporation with huge investments by Intel and Microsoft like CNet.
I was really astonished at some of the stuff Gartner digs up. Did you know that a typical corporation will spend over $1000 in support costs just moving a PeeCee from one desk to another? But Macs typically cost about half of that to relocate, since their networking setup is much simpler. I can confirm that, I recently did a gig at a big AS/400 shop, their support staff scheduled an hour to get my “oddball” Mac Powerbook connected to their network. I got it working in about 3 minutes. They were astonished, they said they’ve never gotten a PeeCee up on their network in less than 30 minutes.

9

::pulls up chair, pours large glass of iced tea::

Kabbes, how many pages you think this’ll go?

b.

10

sigh

Chas.E, you never learn, do you? Well, here we go again… :rolleyes:

11

And once more we’re cast into the abyss.

Right, and so is JD Power and associates. Let me give you a clue…I do this sort of ‘survey’ all the time. You know what results I get out of the ‘independent research firms’ I hire? Exactly what I tell them I want to get.

Not to cynically burst your bubble but that’s the way corporate America works.

12

Oh my god - the doorhandle’s broken! Help! Help!

No wait, push not pull.

::kabbes flees into the night::

Billy - I’m only giving 4-1 on for at least 4 pages. I’m no mug.

pan

13

…and sprinkles his de-hijacking dust LIBERALLY around. Now then, Yosemite. Where were you? Ahhh, yes.

I’ve always thought it was a kind a reverse psychology. Think about it- this guy makes disparaging remarks about your choice. He’s jealous. HE wishes that he could adapt to a network in 3 minutes. HE wishes his hardware didn’t crash as much. ( Win xp’ers, hush )

It’s like standing there, eyeing a Maserati, grumbling about the shitty mileage and awfully expensive insurance. What he’s really doing is trying to handle his own insecurities and jealousies by lashing out at your well-thought-out purchase. As you said, you do certain things as an indulgence. I don’t see a computer as an indulgence these days, but I understood your analogies to the other items you listed. You could buy cheap lipstick, or trashy shampoo but you chose not to.

I also slam Smackintosh, as I call it, but it has nothing to do with his arguments. I would just go insane if I bought a machine and could not buy software for it. It’s better now, but ten years ago that was a significant problem.

My next machine may yet be an iMac. And, for what it’s worth Yosemite?? I’d sort of love to see you in cheap jeans, yucky lipstick and over-waxey shampoo, climbing out of the front seat of your 1979 Sebring. But that’s just me, we all have our little fantasies. :smiley:

Cartooniverse

14

I know how you feel, Yose. Years ago a friend of mine and I got into a similar argument when we were shopping for a video player. I kept saying, “Yes it is more expensive, but this beta player is clearly superior!”

He wouldn’t listen, the idiot.

15

A thousand dollars to move a PC? To move a PC. From one desk to another?

Sure, that’s possible, if you factor in lost time caused by waiting for someone show up. I could even understand why it might cost twice as much for a PC to be moved… you have to move a monitor, too!

There’s the re-selecting the default printer too. And… no, I guess that’s about it, as long as you’re on the same network segment.

iMacs are very good computers, for what they do. Simple word processing and internet appliances. The processor is slow, and they tend to lack memory, but that’s okay, really. You’re not going to play video games on them much.

And as long as that’s all you intend to do, they’re fine. Just don’t try to use one in a business environment… no, e-mailing me your resume in .sit (StuffIt) format will not impress me.

Macs in general make good graphics platforms, too, though the PC is catching up, heck, has caught up, and OS X (pronounced ten) made them lose some of the advantage, as Adobe didn’t program directly for the custom chipset or whatever, that they usually have in the past.

And OS X looks very impressive, too.

But they’re slower than your average PC being sold, more expensive by about a thousand dollars, and have fewer current products in software and hardware.

This is not a bad thing, as long as you intend, as ninety percent of all people do, to use it for the net and word processing.

As far as networking, though… They may have a simpler setup, but they’re a bit less adaptable. The lovely thing about standards is that there are so many of them to choose from. With a PC, eventually, you can coax something to work. With a mac… not always.

Then again, I’m sitting in front of a linux box, swearing at how Red Hat has decided to kill linuxconf while referring to it in the documentation, how all the howtos refer to inetd.conf while 7.x uses the newer xinetd.conf, with incompatable formats, and discovering my own stupidity in selecting high security firewall settings is what’s been making the box invisible on the network.

Different computers are good for different tasks. If people disagree with your decision, tell them that it does what you need. And then shrug if they go further. What, is it their money?

16

:: rubs hands together and grins a goofy grin ::

Oh, Boy, this is gonna be great!!!

17

It’s boring.

Nobody cares what sort of box you’re hooked up to, see. Why don’t some people get that?

Nobody cares.

Regarding the OP, here is a partial list of other things that it doesn’t pay to skimp on:

  1. Ice cream
  2. Razor blades
  3. Stereo speakers
18

I think you have a different definition for “great” than the one I normally use.

19

Chas.E., is there a subject under the sun that you are NOT an expert on, privy to some special knowledge that for some reason you can’t share with the rest of us? Could you perhaps move yourself to quote the paragraph from the relevant Garrett report to us?

I’m not saying that I don’t believe your stats - I’ve worked as a PC helpdesk/network person setting up a new account or computer on the system can take an long-ass time. I use a Mac at home and at my current job, and I think they are great - I can do everything that I would do on a P.C. plus all the pretty graphics stuff I enjoy. Sometimes my Mac crashes and dealing with it takes a long-ass time.

Can we get it into our heads that platform arguments are for losers? Those of you dissing the Mac at the expense of the P.C. and vice versa are exhibiting the same asinine behavior as yosemitebabe’s asinine friend. Yosemitebabe likes her computer. Any attempt to convince her that she shouldn’t, or that your computer is better, or that her friend is right, is pointless. People who tell you what to do with your own money or who keep offering “advice” long after someone has said “yes, thank you, I am going to do what I want anyway” are assholes.

-magdalene
(longing for the days when guys just compared dick sizes)

20

Things it doesn’t pay to skimp on:

Modems. A controller-based modem is worth the extra fifty bucks.

Shoes. Not sneakers. Good pair of shoes is a joy for years. I favor Ecco.

Glasses. Get the lighter lenses, get rid of headaches. Get the scratch resistant bits, save money over the long run.

Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detectors.

When something has to be done, do it once, and do it right. Saves having to do it again and again later.

On the other hand, just because something is rarer and more expensive, buying a cheaper and more common thing doesn’t mean you’re skimping.

Do you really want jeans with rhinestones embedded in the seams as your daily wear?