>Why do we still insist on playing this price game? This ComputerWorld >article is a good one about the facts and myths about PC and Mac pricing: > ><http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do? >command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9023959>
Thanks for the link to the article. However, I did say "traditionally". That was based on my experience from having bought several older line Apple computers over the years (when they were new - a Performa and an early-ish iMac) as well as working for companies that played the price comparison game and found PCs were the winners when looking at the bottom line. At that point in time, Apples still had the coolness, but at a higher cost factor. I also didn't include in my example the Packard Bell or eMachines systems or anything sub $1,000 >And it was written more than a year ago. Thanks for proving my point. :-) >And it acknowledges this argument has been going on for more than 10 >years and longer. And it acknowledges, "Only a few years ago, it seemed like a no-brainer that Windows hardware was much cheaper. But if you're talking name-brand hardware, that's just no longer the case." >I guess posting this here won't stop it on this list, but one can hope. Actually, it's good that you did. Like I said, I hadn't seen it before. That's also why I said "traditionally". Today's "lower priced Apples" (Mac Mini starting at $599, MacBook starting at $1,099) provide the consumer with more of a choice than they had before. Case in point. When myself and some few hundred other co-workers were told our services would no longer be needed back in 2002, I went looking for a new laptop. My budget was $1200 (including tax). I already had several hundred dollars tied up in Photoshop, PageMaker and Acrobat. So whatever solution I wound up with had to come in at or below $1200, software included. I found myself a nice HP laptop at the local Circuit City for around $1200, with rebates totaling just under $300. I did look at an Apple PowerBook (or whatever the model was called at the time) and from what I recall, it started outside my price range. Even so, I contacted the kind folks at Adobe to see if I could just trade my PC version software for the Apple version and was told to go take a hike. I'm in the market looking again and have similar price constraints, however, I don't have the software issues I did before. I still use Photoshop (now CS3), PageMaker 6.5 (yeah, I haven't made the change to InDesign yet) and Acrobat. The difference is a friend (I've got some of those too) works for Adobe and I can get their software for $49 per package, so cost of software isn't as big an issue for me. Yeah, I could buy the Mac and run parallels, but what's the point. Once again, I'm looking at Macs. I've also got a long history dealing with Dell's various foibles in their laptop (and desktop) lines at work - the Latitude D line is pretty nice, but oy... the problems we've had - so while Dell is in the mix of systems, my negative experiences will actually help Apple in the evaluation. Who knows... I might just go with a Mac.... That'd only give me 2 at home... Larry ************************************************************************* ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *************************************************************************
