> If you see buying a Mac as paying an "OSX tax" then obviously you may > be better served by one of the system76 machines. However, I don't > see buying a Mac and getting OSX as paying a tax, as in the tax levied > by Microsoft on the price of all new PC's. I simply seeing it as > paying for hardware and software that are extremely well suited to > each other.
Well, you are paying for OS:X, but mostly you're just paying inflated prices because Apple can get away with it, being the only vendor providing hardware for their OS. Equivalently spec'ed machines will cost 30-50% more to have the Apple name on them (I did this the other day, the PC branded laptops were ~$1500 compared to a ~$2200 Apple - same processor, memory, video card, hard drive space, screen size). My remaining comments have to do with their desktops, as I have only thus far actually used their desktops. I've heard many people say that Apple uses superior components, but this is debatable if not totally false. Their monitors, for instance, are generally rated much lower than equivalently priced ones from Viewsonic or Samsung. They generally use high-latency memory (or at least don't allow for lower-latency memory). Don't even get me started on how awful their keyboards and mice are. The 'mighty' mouse is pretty much a joke and uncomfortable to use for any decent length of time. The only reason I have seen to buy Apple hardware is if you want OS:X (or if you want to brag about how much more you spent on your machine). Anyway, sorry if I turned this into an Apple flamefest. Greg /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
