Macs are Cheaper. Yes, they are.
Macs are actually cheaper when it comes to the overall cost of ownership. If your employees are all using Macs, you don’t have to worry as much about viruses, crashing, etc., meaning your employees are spending more time being productive, and less time troubleshooting their computers.
This is exactly my argument when my friends and family say “But Macs are more expensive”. And this argument stands up, based on my experience:
Take my first mac for example. It’s a Powerbook G4, purchased in 2004 (roughly 5 years ago). It still runs smoothly. Sure, it’s not quite as fast as it was in it’s first few years, but its perfectly functional – even for heavy design / coding work. I still bring it with me today on my (rare) on-site jobs.
Six months ago, I bought a PC netbook (the Asus Eee PC), running Windows XP. It’s small and light and gets the job done. But guess what? Within the first 3 months of ownership, the speed was cut in HALF and by 5 months there are numerous errors and bugs that popup on system boot up.
My girlfriend’s Dell desktop running Vista is in even worse conidtion – after only 2 years of ownership. With no other applications running, try launching Internet Explorer. You better go out to lunch because it won’t be ready to serve a web page until you get back. That is if there are no errors between now and then. Know what the problem is? When running the virus protection software, everything (literally everything) else is slowed down drastically, to the point it’s not even worth waiting for. So you have a choice between using a functional computer that’s exposed to all sorts of viruses and spyware, or protecting your computer while rendering it useless. Nice.
Have I ever purchased any type of virus protection software for my Macs? No. They just work.
Sometimes I wonder how these PC machines stand up in the market at all! I mean, if a car slowed down to a creaking halt within the first six months of ownership, it would be the end of that model. Gone.
There’s nothing technical about it. Macs are more efficient, longer lasting, and will cost you less money than a PC. Fact.
Our iMac G5 purchased in 12/2004 still works great, and serves as our main music & pictures machine. The only upkeep time that I’ve had to spend on it has been upgrading to the latest version of OSX. I’ve never had to worry about viruses or ‘wipe’ the operating system. Although, I did upgrade the hard drive, which was very easy!
I should also note that my older mac, the Powerbook G4 is still running OS 10.4. Haven’t upgraded anything, still works great.
I’d keep quiet if I were you. If people start listening to you and everyone goes and buys a Mac, then more viruses will be written for them. And you wouldn’t want that, would you.
Hmm. Interesting point. But something tells me my little blog post won’t be sparking a mass movement of computer hackers to hijack mac computers.
Long: Isn’t this comparing apples to oranges? PC/Mac they’re all just computers. It’s like saying Linux is cheaper than Windows. It is. And it’s cheaper than Macs. There is another argument, that is cost of learning. Most people are familiar with what they’ve been using for years. Personal I mock your Mac argument with “I own a PC + opensource OS of choice” but I’m sure that doesn’t count. People who knows Windows or a Mac or Linux will always be more productive in what they know. It sounds like you want an OS for idiots, and these days people with computers are worse than people who don’t know how to drive a car. They get online and suddenly they’re complaining, after installing alot of crap, why their machine is slow and their credit card details are stolen. It doesn’t matter what OS you’re on, trojans depend on user stupidity.
Short: Computers have operating systems, learn to understand computers and stop evangelizing operating systems.
I guess my response about the OS is the same as the original post: Mac OS is better, more reliable, and more user-friendly than (any version of) Windows. Of course, Apple is different in that they sell their software bundled with their hardware so they’re built to work with eachother, whereas PC’s have different components.
Regarding how users choose to treat their OS, my point remains simply this: Mac OS can handle more apps and more things running than Windows over the LONG TERM. Both of my macs have lots of power software installed (CS4, Pro Audio / Video software) whereas both my PCs basically only run internet browsers and Microsoft Office. The Windows machines choke once you open up a second browser tab, and they’re HALF the age of my Macs, which run 8+ power apps at once.
I work in a regular ol’ office and the employees here don’t have to troubleshoot. They call one of us to fix the problem, and it’s pretty infrequent that we get a request. Once or twice a week. Does that merit the cost of more expensive hardware and retraining. What of the fact that Macs simply don’t have Microsoft Great Plains available for them?
To put it short, no, the argument does not stand at all.
I’m not familiar with Microsoft Great Plains. And of course, most office environments are stuck with Windows-based systems for a variety of reasons (many corporate offices are still stuck with IE6!)
I’m just commenting on my personal experience after many years of using both Macs and PCs, both as a power user and casual user. This is also based on my experience as a home-office user and working in a company setting. Both have proven that windows machines get too slow too fast while Macs stand up over the long term.
Regardless of how many troubleshooting requests there are, the PC still needs to be replaced or upgraded sooner than the Mac.
Just a quick battery comparison.
My first laptop was an Acer – the battery wouldn’t even get me halfway through ONE lecture in College..and this was during the first month of ownership. With my Macbook I’m able to watch a 2 hour movie and still have over 50% battery life remaining. Tons of family members that own PC laptops can’t even finish a short movie.
Not only was the battery an issue with my Acer – it was always having problems. Once I got my Macbook I handed the Acer off to my sister. She had to take it in for repair TWICE.
She finally gave up, and bought a Macbook herself.
We sent the Acer to a less fortunate child in Africa who didn’t have the privilege of buying his own computer. Unfortunately, I heard last week that the Acer has crapped out on him, leaving him computer-less. Had it been a Mac (even an old one), I have a feeling it would still be running.
This sort of thing is brought up all the time and it’s ridiculous. “PC’s are more expensive because users are stupid and they get bogged down over time.”
1.) You hand someone who doesn’t know how to use a computer a Mac and they’re going to screw it up, too. There are such things as Mac viruses and Mac spyware. Maybe part of why Macs are ‘so pristine’ when it comes to user experience is a few things:
a. High initial cost is a barrier that keeps out inexperienced computer users or ‘ghetto users’ who need a cheap Windows laptop. When you set the price on something high enough eventually the only people who are going to buy it is the educated upper-crust/upper middle class who already know how to prevent their Mac from going bonkers.
b. The Cult of Apple creates a userbase who is heavily dedicated to their product. Even when your Mac breaks you lug it happily to your Apple store and have them fix it. You don’t sit around and bitch for hours–you’re invested in your Apple fandom, and even when things go horribly wrong you overlook it or don’t care.
c. Windows user base is so much larger, and when combined with ‘ghetto users’ who actually need computers they can afford without being yuppies, you get a large userbase of barely computer literate users and suddenly you got bug reports coming out the wazoo, and angry uneducated people LOVE to complain about things without even understanding that it’s THEIR error and not the computer’s.
2.) I bought a Toshiba laptop w/ Vista on it about 2 years ago now. After an hour or uninstalling Toshiba bloat (which seems absent on my GF’s new Windows 7 toshiba laptop) I’ve never made any other changes to the thing–aside from installing and uninstalling countless things. I routinely run iTunes, create music with Audacity, update my blog, use Twitter apps, download music, etc etc… and I’ve never noticed a degradation in performance. I’ve never ran into a bug or an error. I’ve never lost my work due to a crash.
How much did my Toshiba laptop cost? $400. How much have I spent on it since then? $20 (to add a gig of ram). How much time have I spent on maintaining my laptop or agonizing over why it won’t work right? 0 minutes.
How much would an equivalent Mac have cost at the time? $800? $1,000?
And Toshiba doesn’t release a new expensive model every year with expensive and excessive promotion to feed into their “Cult of Toshiba” (there isn’t one, that’s why) to make people think they have to buy a new laptop/audio player/desktop every single year so they can feel like they belong among their peers. Pretty nice of them, really…
Epic site! I’m totally looking forward to seeing more.