On 8 Aug 2006 at 15:05, Darcy James Argue wrote: > The comparison is only possible in the first place because you can > build a Dell Precision 490 with almost exactly the same specs as the > new Mac Pros -- same processors, optical drive, memory, hard drive, > video card, etc.
But since the OS's use these differently, you don't *need* to have identical hardware. It's a strange graphics card that supports both Mac and Windows high-end graphics, so you're restricting yourself there. Likewise, on the subject of wireless networking, on Mac, Bluetooth is the standard, on PC, 802.11a/b/g. So, a Mac would have the one and a PC the other, and even though it's not identical, it would be COMPARABLE, because it reflects the standard configuration for that particular OS for providing a FEATURE. > . . . (So obviously the replacement cost for any of these > components is exactly the same.) And, as you know, you can run > Windows XP on the Mac just as easily as you can on the Dell, which > means that Apple is (at least potentially) competing with Windows > machines on price. For instance, even if you had no intention of ever > using Mac OS X, if you wanted a Xeon 5100 series machine right now, > it would be much more cost-effective to get a Mac Pro running Windows > XP instead of a Dell Precision 490. The number of people who need or want such a machine to run Windows today is vanishingly small. There is simply no need for that kind of power (which is extremely excessive) except for a very small segment of extremely demanding applications. > Macs have had a longstanding reputation for being "overpriced" > compared to PC manufacturers like Dell, but back when Apple was using > PowerPC chips, head-to-head comparisons were impossible. Now that > everyone is using Intel chips and you can spec out essentially > identical configurations for both, it turns out that, at least in > this particular case, the Mac is $550 cheaper than the Dell. That's > news to a lot of people. The fact that I could buy a semi tractor trailor truck from Apple for less than I could buy it from Dell is of no interest to me if I don't *need* a semi tractor trailor truck. -- David W. Fenton http://dfenton.com David Fenton Associates http://dfenton.com/DFA/ _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
