Vision of the future (By Microsoft not raaaid)

[swiss]

Originally Posted by Sternjaeger II

That is a very sad and narrow view I'm afraid, Apple is used by professionals that work with photography and graphic design, musicians, engineers and even common users, who rely on two things: hassle free and simplicity of use.

No - it's the reality.
If the average Apple owner was pro graphic artist, Apple would be in trouble.
The average PC user uses his machine for same purposes (mail, video, music).
That is, if you don't count in all the enterprise PCs, but we're talking about the privately owned here, right?

Have you ever actually owned and used an Apple computer? They simply work, no matter what you plug to it (unless it's deliberately not supporting Apple, like Dell crap peripherals), it will look for drivers and work in no time, even making up drivers for stuff that is not present! It's less susceptible to viruses, there's less possibility of damaging the OS by installing malicious software, the benchmarks of Apple hardware are superior (Windows XP on my Mac runs and performs better than on the equivalent PC platform!), they look less clunky and above all they receive continuous updates and improve performance and compatibility, introducing revolutionary technology (think of AirPlay for instance) and enlarging the experience like nobody else does.

Yes, they're not always cheap, but you can get stuff at 0% interest rate in 1 year payments and receive 1 year full warranty, which you can extend to 3 years for little money.

All of this pays you back with an incredible longevity.

Yes, they're not the ideal platform to play (although I run IL-2 1946 perfectly on mine), but that's only because most software houses don't bother to develop games for Macs. Fortunately in a few years' time we'll have cloud gaming, and that will put the word end to the Micro$oft dominion in the world of gaming.

Many friends have Macs, they are a bitch to work on when you come from MS, usually get lost within minutes.
Considering the so praised compatibility - W7 does the same thing: It loads and updates all drivers automatically. Unlike apple, where you must by from Apple, you just have to make sure there's W7 sticker on the box.
If you ignore it, your fault.
Nobody expects non Apple HW to work automatically on Macs, right? Same thing.
XP is nowhere close to W7 - xp was somewhat ok, but generally a bitch, especially the x64 version.
Now tell me, have you ever worked on a W7 machine?

Considering benchmarks: I just raced a 2011 iMac with cinebench, that thing was >10% short in all disciplines - And my HW is not that shiny.

Bottom line:
You buy what you want Pears or Apples, but this whole iReligion thing, with arguments which just aren't true, pm off so bad.
Considering design: I think they look friggin ghey, but then again that's just me. De gustibus non est disputandum .


edit: I'm about to read the rest of the posts

You probably never looked into a Mac Pro. That is hardware porn at its finest

2x i930/959, 5770 SLI, 6GB Ram, 1TB HDD for only $7300.

What a bargain.

Apple is a giant, they have more liquidity than the US of A in their bank.

What figures are you using? You can have never more liquidity than a Federal Bank you own, they can press as much money as they want(not in reality as it comes with certain sideffects, but anyway)
Oh and btw, they "only" have $81 Billions in cash and other short term assets.
http://investor.apple.com/common/dow...1_10.26.11.pdf

What do you want to compare it with? The gold reserves?