Think different? You bet I do!

Alan,

**Mac people don't follow the same rules as Windows people. If we want a 10.6 instead of an OS 16, then we'll have it (and we do), it doesn't mean that 10.6 is not a major upgrade.

If you say so. But pretty much every major review of Snow Leopard tends to agree with me. This, from Engadget, is indicative:

"Snow Leopard. Even the name seems to underpromise -- it's the first "big cat" OS X codename to reference the previous version of the OS, and the list of big-ticket new features is seemingly pretty short for a version-number jump. Maybe that's why Apple's priced the 10.6 upgrade disc at just $29 -- appearances and expectations matter, and there's simply not enough glitz on this kitty to warrant the usual $129."


** Why upgrade your hardware when the software is where it's at? CPUs don't accomplish real, measurable tasks, software does.

This is like saying engine horsepower isn't what makes a car go fast, the driver is. No matter how good that driver may be, he can't go faster than the engine allows. The CPU ALWAYS matters. In everything you do on your computer, it's involved. You are proving my point about most mac users not being power users. If you don't recognize that, you are a casual computer user. There's nothing wrong with that, but it proves my point.

** Another thing about hardware: It's becoming less and less relevant. Notice how CPU core speeds have stayed about the same for the past 3 years?

Wow, you're making this whole 'mac people aren't power users people' argument easy. If you paid ANY attention to the computer industry at all, you'd know that core speeds haven't increased because we hit a wall where it took exponentially more power (and heat dissipation) for the payoff - diminishing returns. The industry HAD to have a paradigm shift to get more speed. Multi core processors were the logical next step. Which leads me to...

** And multi-core CPUs are still pretty irrelevant since very few pieces of software can use the extra horsepower.

LOL! Really? What kind of koolaid does Apple have you drinking? You need facts, man. Go take a look at the CPU charts over at
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2009-desktop-cpu-charts/benchmarks,60.html

Since mac users don't play games, ignore those categories and concentrate on the dozens of others that fall into your 'getting sh*t done' category - Photoshop, Premier, DivX encode, iTunes transcode, PCMark, 3D Mark, 3DSmax, Winzip. Do you see even the fastest $1000 super-clocked extreme edition single core proc anywhere in the top 50 list of ANY benchmark? Even the cheapest $100 entry level quad core will outperform single core cpus in almost every benchmark. You JUST bragged about how much better apple software is, now you're saying it isn't even designed to take advantage of multicore
cpus when the rest of the PC world has been for years now.

I think you're missing the point. Software makes tasks easier to perform, hardware makes tasks faster. I'm not stupid, so I'll take faster (and cheaper) over easier. That's my personal opinion, shared with 91% of all PC users. I understand that there are 9% of PC users out there that choose easier, and that's your choice. But don't scratch your head and wonder why apple doesn't have a bigger marketshare when their OS is so pretty... and cheap. Saving $70 on an OS update isn't exactly an even trade for the extra $1000 you paid for the lackluster hardware.

Please remove the above poster--he's spamming all over the place

In my view. Mac is easy (yet can do professional work). PC (aka Microsoft Windows machine) is professional (and cannot do easy work).

If it is first time for you to touch a computer. I'm sure you'll prefer Mac to PC. You don't have to know the word checkdisk and defragmentation, even antivirus etc. You don't have to know how files and folders work in order to create your music libraries or albums of photos. In fact if you buy them (Macs) at Apple store, there are some people who teach you everything so you don't need a ten-kilogram textbook either.

I couldn't agree more with you in this post. Since switching it's not only a delight to work with computers again, but it has changed my attitude towards software completely.

Before getting a Mac I have never paid for software ever. I thought it was a waste of money. I have pirated a few versions of Windows but would never think of paying for it (you can call me immoral if you like to). But since switching, not only have I started buying software, I even got the Mac Box Set Family pack for my two computers even though I knew I could buy the single version and easily download iLife and iWork for free.

Suddenly I want to do the right thing. I'm willing to pay for this stuff because it's not overpriced and it works great. That is something I like to support.

First, as others have said Snow Leopard isn't a 'dot.oh' OS release. ANYTHING that begins with OS X is an incremental update. Before that there was OS 7, OS 8, OS 9, etc. When Apple releases an OS 11, THAT will be their first 'dot.oh' release in many many years. NOBODY in the computer industry refers to 10.6.OH as a a dot.oh update. Hell, even the NAME is incremental - Leopard to Snow Leopard. They didn't even try to come up with a new cat name :)

And most Mac users don't think about hardware because they aren't true power users. One of the great benefits of being a PC owner is having the ability to upgrade various parts of my machine as technologies advance and prices come down. I don't have to wait for a big keynote speech to go run to an apple store and drop another couple grand to eek out a bit more power from my now obsolete 1 year old Mac. I can upgrade components as I see fit. I build my own machines and I would pretty much guarantee you that I have WAY more power for half the price of anything Apple offers. And guess what? in a few months, it'll be even more powerful for a very small investment. Can you say that about your mac? If you played Crysis or Far Cry 2, if you cared how fast your machine rips DVDs or transcodes video files, if just about ANY computer benchmark makes any difference to you, you can't in good conscience not care about your hardware. And if you don't, you aren't a power user... you buy a mac and love Steve Jobs for forcing you to pay more for less.

For the guy that claims his PowerPC circa 1999 runs photoshop CS3 better than a brand new PC, you must be high. Even CURRENT high end Mac Pros don't run Photoshop as fast as comparably priced PCs. I don't care how big of a fanboy you are, trying to claim that macs are FASTER than comparable PCs is insane. Macs are prettier, possibly easier to learn and use, but faster they are not.

I know this is coming across as harsh, and I'm not really not an apple basher. They make good computers and good software. They really DO try to deliver the whole experience.. at a price. But the arguments put forth in this article - Mac people not caring about hardware is somehow a Good Thing, the laughable OS version comparison, testing software is scary on PCs therefore nobody does it, and simply OWNING a mac somehow makes you more inclined to write - are all ridiculous.

It's the other way around: which hardware-minded person who doesn't have an unlimited amount of cash to spend on his computer would decently want to buy a Mac ???

Point is that Apple still didn't forget another sentence Steve Jobs said: "Hardware extensibility is a bug".

So people who really disagree with that don't get a Mac... that's it. If tomorrow I want a killer computer, I'll build a PC. If I want it to run Mac OS X... I'll find a way. That's still won't be a Mac: not a laptop-class iMac, not a multi thousand dollars Mac Pro either.

(PS: Mac OS X doesn't use a registry, it puts everything in your "Library" folder. You should check there, if you try a lot of programs it must be full of trash you don't use... Testing software this way is lame whatever O.S you're on, use a specific user account you'll trash/reset regularly for that ).

In my opinion, Apple is not a "hardware" or "software" company, nor are they a "computer" company. They are a mobile technology company that creates tools for people to use on the go. Sure, they make servers, and the iMac and Mac Pro, but that's increasingly moving to the outer regions of their focus.

Over the years, the focus has gone from desktops, to laptops, to iPods, to iPhones, (and maybe tablets). There's definitely a trend there, and even though we are all Mac fans here, I'm guessing that we're in the "old-school" section of Apple customers.

Interesting that you say with the Mac, you're more interested in writing. Unfortunately, the Mac is a platform that has yet to produce even a mediocre blogging platform (the medium through which you're communicating today).

I've tried every blogging software I can find for Mac, and the best solution, without running Windows Live Writer (the *best* blogging software today, for any platform), is Word for Macintosh.

The best screen capture program I've found doesn't come close to what HyperSnap does for Windows. Nor can I find a simple password storage program like Password Keeper for Windows (unless I want to shell out $40 when I already have Access for Mac). Now those last two aren't Microsoft programs, but they are evidence, to me, that there is better software at lower prices for Windows users than for Mac users.

Having been a Windows user since 3.1, having built my own machines for 20 years, and now owning both an iMac and a MacBook Pro, I think my perspective is pretty objective. Both platforms have their advantages. For me, the hardware advantages of the Mac outweighed the software negatives.

See, I do agree that a different system than the registry should be eventually redone... but Macs are not as stable as the Apple community make them seem to be. I experience more crashes on my Mac than my Windows computer even though I do less on my Apple computer.

I don't hate my Apple computer, it's just not good enough to be a mainstream computer for me. It's not customizable enough, it's not as stable as Windows, and you have to take it to a stupid Genius bar to get it fixed when I want to do that myself so I don't have to spend $5,000,000 on a $5,000,000 computer.

Great post!
This was exactly my experience after nerding / working with Windows and PCs for 10 years and was tempted to take a bite of the forbidden Apple.
But seriously kids, don't do religion, it's bad for you ..and everybody.

Peace, and keep it up Kevin :)