IT pros expect Macs to replace PCs at an 'unprecedented rate'

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The article should say in "rich,high income countries". In the vast majority of the world,most companies and governments will not be running Macs anyway - most likely much lower cost PCs running Windows and increasingly Linux.

Edit!!

The hilarious thing is to just look at the marketshare,especially outside the US and maybe UK and a select few high-income European countries,I expect you will find far less penetration of Macs as they are still premium computers.

A lot of third world countries are increasingly trying to go onto cheaper ARM/MIPs based platforms running non-Microsoft or non-Apple OSes too,so forget about a £700 computer - even a £200 Windows device is too expensive.

Second Edit!!

Thats another issue with the article.

It does not take into consideration,I suspect,all the recycled old machines in the third world too.

[GreMMi]

Our household has 4 PCs, 3 laptops, and one ipad, only my musically orientated friends seem to prefer macs.

[abaxas]

The concept of a 'PC' is alien to most deeloping countries. They don't need to bother with legacy systems and everything is mobile.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The concept of a 'PC' is alien to most deeloping countries. They don't need to bother with legacy systems and everything is mobile.

No it isn't - governmental institutions and business still need PCs of some sorts,servers,etc and know people who have worked in those sort of areas in one or two of them.

Take the US and a few rich countries out of the equation,and Macs are not that common at all. Windows PCs are far more common as are an increasing number of Linux based ones. Lots of old PCs also get sent to recycled,ie,reused in the developing world,something I have seen first hand.

I have also worked in quite a few universities here,and Macs are far more common compared to the general populace. Out of the 100s of people I probably have met having PCs of some sort,I met very few outside of academia and progarmmers who have Macs or Linux PCs. Heck,even with schools,90% of the reason they might even have a Mac is to support things like iPads they might use for some aspects of their teaching,but the vast majority of the teachers are still supplied with bog standard laptops running Windows.

Plus the whole article is just a slow news day one:

ZDNet points out that the JAMF survey might not be considered typical for the industry, as JAMF specialises in supporting Apple hardware and software in the enterprise. Thus the vast majority of its 500 IT pro survey respondents worldwide have Macs in their organisations. For that reason I haven't quoted JAMF survey figures for the percentage of enterprises supporting Macs and iOS devices.

So,its not even a proper sample - its a survey drawn from companies which already own Macs and iPads.

Next time I suppose we can have an article talking about the "explosive" growth of Russian indigenous chips. Source:Russian government.

This is the sort of stuff I expect Wccftech to do. Not Hexus.

How many Macs, under what circumstances, and why. Bland statements like that are of little use to anyone. "Working in IT" doesn't really say much.

YOU may find Macs a nightmare, particularly if you have no *nix experience, but rubbish ing an article without specifying why might tend to just cast doubts on your competence.

It isn't as blanket as you think - I don't care either way about PCs,Macs or Linux as long as I can get my job done and would probably have an iMac if I didn't game,but some of my mates who work at schools,kind of echoed some of the sentiment Graywoodford has mentioned.

I don't think just because a computer has a "Apple" label it instantly makes it free of criticism. God forbid its a Dell or a Windoz PC,the sky would be falling when they had any problems.

Heck,you might want to look as far back as the G4 eMac issues too - the "recall" was so quiet ,that many educational institutions/departments/labs in the UK missed it and spend tons of UK taxpayer money replacing them,especially with the fact that unless G5 based Macs could be sourced,it was the software licenses which were made null and void which cost even more.

If I hadn't told a few labs,it might have been a few more £1000 of taxpayer money gone down the drain.

[Ttaskmaster]

When did Hexus become the Daily Mail?

Shortly after foreigners took all their jobs, benefit claimants took all their pension money and Diana died...

For a start, I think that the people who even know anything about "open source" and hold any expectations have more than a passing degree of internet literacy.

Those who do know anything, yes... but many people know nothing and so think it's Geek Speak for 'free'. My manager, for starters.

And if they have to pay, they want more out of their money.. which means less likely to take the Apple route.

Well, yeah. If they pay, they want the same quality and security as the same app natively has on the iOS version. But then, because the iOS version costs, the Dev will take the time to make it worth that cost by putting in the extra quality and security.

If you have a phone that is one of the major, you will probably be well covered, but if you have a lesser used phone with someone a bit out of the ordinary, you may end up with issues.

Choice of handset is the individual's problem. So long as the app is supported by the major versions of Andy, that's all that needs doing.
There are some Mac users whose hardware is so old, they can't actually get the latest OS to run. But that's people in general.

[rainman]

I actually use both these days. Like what seems 90% of Hexus readers I used to be totally Anti-Mac but over the last few years I stopped fighting for the sake of it and starting with the Phone, then the tablet and later the watch started to use their products.

I recently also purchased a MacBook Pro for when I am out and about and for me it's all about the integration. My phone, tablet and laptop all just work together.. and that is just invaluable for me. Say what you will about Apple (and I largely agree, even now) but their stuff just works and integrates.

Would I ever ditch my main PC rig... hell no
Would I go back to a windows laptop with an android phone.. not for all the tea in china

Bottom line, Apple have invented the Pencil for the 21st Century... you know it is used for writing on paper and you know that it will always write on said paper..

Integration? When REAL IT pros talk about integration it's not just about the stuff you carry around in your bag. We work from the ground up and engineer a solution to ensure max integration including infrastructure ... and Apple just does not integrate with anything else any further than the contents of your own briefcase, period. Because that is the limit of Apples vision, always has been and always will be.

I've seen Macs start to make appearances with execs in board rooms, but they still tend to be smaller companies (web devs, designers, etc) without larger infrastructure concerns that can't justify their own IT support departments. As soon as you move into larger enterprises that face issues such as BYOD and MDM then this simply cements Apples market position - yes it's grown, but it's grown into the segments with smaller businesses that need to exist almost independently, essentially because there is a lower support cost. It does just work for users with limited requirements, but it won't grow any further. Apple guard their platform to the point that it undermines the support efforts of the boots on the ground within Organisations. The infrastructure support components, the business and management tools, etc, just don't exist in the Apple world, and that is why Apple won't be able to penetrate much more than they do now.

The quote of a $270 per user cost reduction can be thrown in the bin the moment one of your iPhones walks out the door because it's just easier to let former members of staff leave with their device because Apple won't allow your business (the REAL owner of the handset) to reset an iTunes account to recover your companies own data. With proper MDM it just wouldn't be an issue. Android just isn't a consideration given the issues with security and updates, and Windows 10 on mobiles is about to become a very real replacement in that part of the market because of built in MDM and a big focus on infrastructure integration - once that platform starts to gain traction (and it will, because many large enterprises are still looking for their Blackberry replacement and will have significant market influence) then Apple will inevitably stagnate. I've worked with too many IT teams for many different clients that are just lead by the nose because of Apple devices. Go and talk to anyone that works in IT support that has to look after more than 50 staff. There isn't even the desire to support iPhones, sometimes even amongst IT staff that own them. They are a nightmare and ridiculous money at that.

Incidentally, I own three iPhones which I've bought for my family because they do just work, and I've been using them ever since the 3GS came out, but and just recently bought a Lumia 950XL for myself and gave my 6 Plus to my son - Apple have definitely been focussing on the wrong things because IT managers are going to love Windows 10 mobile.

[MrDLips]

I am interested to know where you can buy a Laptop with a Iris CPU, PCI-E SSD, Retina class screen premium build and 11 hours battery life for £500 - £600?

He said 'additional' £500.

In case you need further explanation, he means that for a similarly classed Windows machine, you would have to pay an extra £500 to get the Apple variant.

[Guy]

He said 'additional' £500.

In case you need further explanation, he means that for a similarly classed Windows machine, you would have to pay an extra £500 to get the Apple variant.

No, no he didn't.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

So the malware scene for macs has always been lesser than Windows. Arguably due to the sheer volume of Windows users outweighing the market; It makes financial sense to create malware that will exploit the majority.

If these "Experts" are right.... We will truly, finally get to see just how good macs are as the balance is changed

I hope they crumble. I dislike how a tech company can overcharge so hard, and poor mugs buy into it. It's all about the design though right? £500 additional for design.....I digress.

Maybe they can spend all that cash on some anti malware R&D. Who knows. Rant over.

I am interested to know where you can buy a Laptop with a Iris CPU, PCI-E SSD, Retina class screen premium build and 11 hours battery life for £500 - £600?

He said 'additional' £500.

In case you need further explanation, he means that for a similarly classed Windows machine, you would have to pay an extra £500 to get the Apple variant.

No, no he didn't.

Hmm.

[Guy]

Sorry I was addressing the point of having to spend an additional £500 for the same spec machine, which just isn't the case. Not actual like for like.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Sorry I was addressing the point of having to spend an additional £500 for the same spec machine, which just isn't the case. Not actual like for like.

He might be referring to that PC Specialist laptop for £600,that Hexus reviewed. I tried speccing a similar MacBook Air 13" and it was £1200+ it appears!

Edit!!

The MacBook probably does have a faster SSD and a bit quicker GPU,but the PC Specialist one did have a faster, later generation CPU and a higher resolution IPS panel.

Apple are not doing any favours for themselves,by still sticking with a relatively low resolution TN panel for the MacBook Air TBH!

Second Edit!!

Looking at the Dell XPS13,its not far off a MacBook Air 13" in price but the only real advantage the MacBook again has is a faster IGP,but the XPS13 has more RAM,a faster and newer CPU,similar speed storage,a higher resolution IPS panel and decent battery life,and its really well made after seeing my mate's one.

I do think its time the MacBook Air has more thorough upgrade - they are nice laptops,but not the benchmark they once were.

I get the impression,Apple were concentrating more on the ultra-light MacBook. I don't need one,but would really like one for some strange reason!!

[MercutioUK]

"Company that would see their business improve if companies would switch to apple say mac's are becoming more important in the workplace".

What the hell is this article? It's not even advertising or editorial. It's not clickbait. I genuinely can't see reason or rhyme for it.