Why do people buy Apple / OSX?

[Jay]

My boss is a mac addict, I mean if they made iunderpants he would buy them and put them on over his trousers.

I myself love the mac interface, love how well they are made and ergonomic they are but hate (I mean really HATE) the stupid price!

I setup a laptop with Ubuntu 10.10 compiz and a few other tricks that I have picked up over the years and passed it over to him and although he loves his mac he did have to admit that Ubuntu 10.10 / compiz was pretty bloody amazing and apart from the backup thing apple has (is it time machine?) the linux laptop would do all that the apple would at less than half the price, (I can do full backups pretty easy but none with the fancy GUI) and was a better spec overall with a proper nVidia GPU and a core i5 CPU 4GB RAM and a 400GB SATA HDD. Wine plays games fine and virtuabox and XP make things that you can't do on Linux (not much!) possible.

The config was really easy but I do setup Linux boxes quite often via the command line (although they are normally RH boxes so the command line is differnt)

I just don't get why people pay so much for apple

[DDY]

Apple's marketing.

[Legthigh]

Likewise, Love the OS/Interface, love the build quality, love how it all just works. dislike the price (saying that they are not really any more than any other major brand of laptop of a similar spec)

I got my macbook pro because my job is fixing peoples malware/virus ridden cheaply produced PC's, and when I got home I just wanted something that took no effort on my part, was enjoyable to use and was built well.

Saying that I wouldn't give up my gaming rig for anything.

[Jay]

Apple's marketing.

well yes there is that but is that it, is that the only reason why? are people put of Linux do people not know that OSX is based on BSD Linux?

I got my macbook pro because my job is fixing peoples malware/virus ridden cheaply produced PC's, and when I got home I just wanted something that took no effort on my part, was enjoyable to use and was built well.
.

Are you sure on that?

MacBook Pro
# 2.53GHz Intel Core i5
# 4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2X2GB
# 500GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm
# SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
# MacBook Pro 17-inch Hi-Resolution Glossy Widescreen Display
# None
# Backlit Keyboard (British) & User's Guide (English)

£1,899.00

Dell Studio XPS 16
Powerful performance, with the Core i7 mobile processor!
Intel® Core™ i7 Processor 720QM (1.60Ghz, 6MB cache)
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64bit- English
Black Leather back cover : 41cm (16") Truelife 1080p Full HD RGBLED Edge to Edge Display (Enhanced c
1GB ATI® Radeon™ HD 565v graphics
4096MB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2x2048]
500GB (7,200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive
DVD +/- RW Drive (read/write CD & DVD) with Roxio Easy CD and DVD Burn software
1 year of coverage included with your PC
McAfee® SecurityCenter 30 Day trial version

£879

I got my macbook pro because my job is fixing peoples malware/virus ridden cheaply produced PC's, and when I got home I just wanted something that took no effort on my part, was enjoyable to use and was built well.
.

But I use Linux for the same thing (servers and desktiops alike) OSX is under all that bling just Linux

[burble]

Because I like OS X. I could setup a Linux machine if I wanted but I don't want the hassle. It isn't that I can't do it, I'm very much a Linux guy at work but out of the Corporate environment I don't want to arse about with compiling this, the dependencies of that and so on.

Using Apple stuff carries a large price premium for for me it's worth every penny. I work on average 70-80 hours a week so being able to leave the work rubbish behind is worth £lots.

[Jay]

Because I like OS X. I could setup a Linux machine if I wanted but I don't want the hassle. It isn't that I can't do it, I'm very much a Linux guy at work but out of the Corporate environment I don't want to arse about with compiling this, the dependencies of that and so on.

Using Apple stuff carries a large price premium for for me it's worth every penny. I work on average 70-80 hours a week so being able to leave the work rubbish behind is worth £lots.

to get my Ubuntu 10.10 laptop to a standard with compiz, all the drivers, wireless working, skype intergrated into the OS / mail intergrated into the OS (all using libnotify) offsite backups of OS, ubuntu 1 setup for quick access to files away from my laptop, bling and more bling to show off, and all the other stuff such as DVD playback, full intergration into my home network shares, media playback, wine for games, virtuabox / XP install for testing AV etc took less than a day (less than 3 hours to be honest)

no need to mess about.

Now I am a Linux purist, I run quite a large number of RH / CentOS boxes and installing a GUI feel nasty to me. Infact I haven't used a GUI on Linux (apart from the dell mini 9 that the wife has) since before OpenSUSE 10!

To setup this Ubuntu box I set myself the target of not opening terminal until I was happy the system was working, it wasn't easy for me as I am the type of person who will you command prompt in windows more than the GUI!

I work long hours but I just couldn't face sending £2000 of my cash to apple to give me a intel laptop with Linux on it

[Terbinator]

Because it will get me laid.

[spoon_]

I bought my missus an iMac for Christmas as she already has Mac Mini and iPhone - it was a no-brainer [Mini is going though]

In 2 years she had owned it, the machine was virtually no maintenance, never heard a single complain that something is not working, popping out, erroring - you name it.

In one instance the hard drive completely died, ordered a replacement and restored TimeMachine backup, Mac was backed up and running in 50 minutes as she left it [ok the last 30 minutes wasn't backed up ]

Have you seen iMacs? Beautiful, simply stunning.



I would agree with what was said above - the last thing I want to do after 70 hours a week is to fix my own/my missus machine at home.

[Jay]

I am talking about Mac books, the imac is a fantastic bit of kit and the monitor is amazing (my boss has the 24" one plugged into his macbook pro)

All I am saying is that style apart what does the £2000 for a mac book pro get me that Linux doesn't? All that you have said has been done on your imac is done just as easily on Linux. infact you can make linux look and feel just like OSX and in visual terms and features its a step back from the basic compiz setup. I have to say to me its the "look" of the system and the marketing (as said above) that people are paying for.

Dont get me wrong here OSX as an OS and an iMac or macbook are probably better than a dell XPS ansd ubuntu but are they really worth the extral £1000 +?

[spoon_]

All I am saying is that style apart what does the £2000 for a mac book pro get me that Linux doesn't? All that you have said has been done on your imac is done just as easily on Linux.

I'm confused here - are we comparing OS to hardware/OS to OS or hardware to hardware?

Don't forget that OSX is supplied for free with any Mac - whatever that might be.

[Guy]

Hang on, you keep comparing hardware to software?!

As a piece of engineering the Macbook Pros are something else.
Very robust, very nice to look at, backlight keyboards, much longer battery life than rival laptops, led display, aluminum unibodies and those trackpads.

[Jay]

no I am saying as a package...

if you read what I am saying is that for the outlay of £2000 you can get a dell XPS Ubuntu 10.10 all the features of the Macbook (or the iMac) and even buy yourself a 24" mac monitor and still have money left over. I look at apple products as a package so look at ubunti 10.10 and the dell XPS as a package as well.

[kingpotnoodle]

Because Apple marketing have conned the world into thinking they offer something (no specifics usually, just an air of superiority) more and that this is cool/trendy.

Subconsciously people also like the fact that everyone knows they could afford to spend over the odds on something, it makes them feel better than the crowd... deep down Mac owners you *know* that is true! Same reason I'd consider buying a super-posh lightweight made of exotic materials Windows laptop if I was minted...

Personally I think buying a Mac makes you look like a mug (unless you're filthy rich)... way overpriced, poor value, I don't like OSX, I don't like the designs and the marketing irritates me... Other people have their own opinion though, and I know people who really like OSX and a few hundred £ of the Mac price for them is worth it to get OSX.

I like Windows 7, to me that is easy and just works (because I know what I'm doing, same as anyone with any OS), Linux is a server tool I use at work.

Each to their own and all that

[Jay]

Linux is a server tool I use at work.

OFF TOPIC ALRERT!

and what a tool!

I have an SMTP server just for bouncing outgoing mail and it uses 64mb of ram and 600MB of disk space (most for logs) I looked at its uptime and it past 12 months! its a VM and is fully upto date. Windows is a fantastic server products (2008 R2 is amazing) but MS really need to work on their update reboot requirements

[DDY]

I was in a rush earlier to get my chicken dippers out the oven, now that I’ve eaten them; here is the longer version of my earlier short reply.

I’m a university student and in the three years I’ve been at uni I’ve seen an increase of Mac users from zero to about 70%, they’ve all spent at least £1000 on their machines and apart from a few users, most couldn’t justify their purchase in a conversation apart from the fact it looks pretty and apparently doesn’t crash or get viruses. As an engineering student I can see why someone would want a fast processor and graphics card, CAD for example is much nicer to use when it isn’t being rendered at 3fps by an Intel Atom, but at the time; AutoCAD which is the software package we’re being taught to use and examined on wasn’t on the Mac platform.

Why would someone believe their machine is crash and virus-proof? Maybe because it was insinuated by Apple Mac ad? As well as the ads suggesting those with Windows had inferior social lives, were good at Excel and sucked at – “life things”.

Remember, we’re talking engineering of the likes of Civil, Chemical, Mechanical etc who even though have the gift of MDSNAA don’t know how to install Windows 7 from a downloaded ISO, they say it won’t install when double clicked on. We (engineering students) don’t have a clue on setting up Linux, let alone installing it. I say we, but I really mean everyone else... I have an inferior social life .

While on the subject, sort of - If you’re an engineering student, you may like to know AutoDesk software (e.g. AutoCAD) is free for engineering students on the AutoDesk website.

[Jay]

but I did a masters in Electrical Engineering... I was once an Engineering student (back in the days when SP1 was in Beta) lol