gsxr1100,
I don't think you are going nuts - I think you are like me and a lot of other people who frequent this board, and people generally - you have an opinion. Of course, I do as well. My problem comes about when people start pushing their opinions and stating them as actual fact (something I myself may have been guilty of a time or two /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif), when in fact they are nothing more than opinion. I also have problem with broad, vague generalities, since they are inherently inaccurate.
I apparently misunderstood your previous post about the guy at your work who likes macs. He's not using one at work, the company ain't paying for it, and it's personal hobby thing, apparently. If he's upgrading I'd imagine he's doing it on his own determinisim.
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( It is like to own a Mac must be in a “group” or something. It is like the world is all wrong and Pc are not up to speed. )</font>
I suppose for some it is - just like the opposite is for some PC owners.
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Which I think Windows “bailed” out Mac a few years ago. )</font>
Microsoft iinvested a significant amount of money in Apple a few years back - probably largely as a way to avoid further action by the Department of Justice (they were found to be a monopoly by a Federal Court you know) Apple for quite some time has been in a pretty good position financially - very low amount of debt, lots of good investments, and a lot of cash. Check their SEC filings and financials. The "bailing out" aspect probably comes from the doom and gloom "PC" press which has been predicting Apple's imminent demise now for, oh, about 15 or so years. Just wait a few minutes .... I'm sure there will be a shutdown announcement any second .....
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Are they cheaper now sure, and I remember a few months ago when he needed it fixed (again). The bill was more then what I could build a pc for! )</font>
No real specifics there in your post so I can't comment on the repair but I can tell you that the price point on Apple's top of the line units have ranged from $1500 to $3500 (often less on the high end) for probably the last 5 or 6 years, at least. Is that a premium price ? Well maybe - depends on what specifically you are comparing it to.
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( No one in my eng dept likes Mac and we have zero Mac’s at work. That is none, zero. They looked into it and it was a no go by our IT dept; which I currently know the manager (and going golfing with in 2 days). He ones a Mac and also likes Unix (which is gone by waste side too). )</font>
I'm not really sure what the point is that you are trying to make with this - or how it relates to the original point I was addressing - the statement that Macs are virtually non-upgradable.
While it is true that the original Mac was designed to be a "closed box", that idea went away with the intro of the Mac II in 1987. It was reintroduced with the intro of the iMac in 1998, although these units were more upgradable than the original Mac. Evidently some portion of the market has an interest in this type of system, given Apple's sales numbers on the product. Interestingly the PC manufacturers response was of course to attempt to copy it, which is just good business. Personally I think it's a good thing when a company responds to market demands.
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Are they the mainstream, nope. Will they ever be, nope. )</font>
That is not a claim that I made. BMW's aren't mainstream either - but that doesn't take away anything from them whatsoever in my book. I really don't know what the point of this comment was - other than to somehow minimize Apple and the Mac.
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( They have been around for years, many years at that and they still are behind PC’s )</font>
Behind ? In what way are they behind - in terms of sales numbers ? Yeah, so what ? That doesn't minimize the product, or it's technology, in the least. McDonald's serves alot of fast food ..... it doesn't mean I care to eat there (well, except for the Sausage McMuffin with cheese)
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( We have over 180K people for the corporation I work for and we will never have mac’s and we do lots of 3d, animation too. I do not condone Dell’s either but we have the most ram, most Ghz Dell sells, the top of the line graphics cards, dvd this and that. No Mac here. )</font>
Well, good. Far be it from me to suggest that you, or whoever you work for, should have to adopt a particular platform. Find whatever works best for you and use it.
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Example the Mac G5 has 512 cache, 256 DDR SDRAM, 8X super drive, 3 slots,internal modem, 64MB DDR vid mem, 1.8 GHz, for $1,499! Are they nuts! Upgrade to 512 Ram and you are at $1,545 I can buy a dell for about $400 cheaper with the 95% of the performance. Nevermind building one myself for about $800. )</font>
Yeah - if you are just comparing the cost of hardware it's possible in many cases to buy similar hardware for less $. But you won't be able to run the Mac OS on it either. Then the question becomes what is it worth to be able to do that ? For you, it's apparently not worth a whole lot. For others it just might be worth something.
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Again they are nice but try to fix one cheaply like the rest of the world; you will find yourself spending more in the long run. )</font>
I don't think that's really true - by and large they use standardized components for many things (ram, hard drives, optical drives, video cards, etc., etc.) Of course it depends on what you are trying to fix - and whether you do it yourself or take it someone to fix. A couple of years ago the gigabit port on my G4/450 was blown out by a surge (lightning strike) that came in through power supply of the network switch and went out over the network. I was able to replace the logic board with a brand new service part for $99 .... which I would say is pretty cheap (I think I paid at least twice that for my dual PIII logic when I built it)
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I upgrade my pc every 2 years. Do I need 3.x gHZ pc, 1gb DDR2 SDRAM, 19 LCD or 80 GB space no. But for the price to upgrade it is cheap, big time! )</font>
So let me understand the logic here. You upgrade the PC every two years because it's cheap to do so, even though you don't need to. Someone else buys a Mac for a little more (even say twice as much) and keeps it for four or five or more years ..... who has the bigger outlay over the long haul ?
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Well the world has chosen the norm, and by the sales through the years and the standard it is not Mac my friend. )</font>
I never said the mac was "the norm" or the "standard" - although you have to admit that Apple has come up with some pretty cool technology, much of which has been ripped off .... oops I mean "adopted" by the PC world - here's a partial list:
1977 - The Apple II was the first mass produced COLOR
computer.
1979 - VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet program, released for the Apple
II
1983 - Lisa (forerunner to Macintosh), first personal computer with a
Graphic User Interface
1984 - Macintosh released. First personal computer with dynamic memory allocation, API programming support (the Toolbox), a graphics API (QuickDraw), a global clipboard, Undo feature, 3.5" floppy disk
1985 - First personal computer with built-in networking (LocalTalk).
Also, the LaserWriter establishes the Mac as the standard for desktop
publishing, revolutionizing the print and publishing industry
1986 - First personal computer with built-in SCSI (Mac Plus)
1987 - Plug-and-play expansion (Nubus in Mac II)
1987 - HyperCard introduces visual programming; MultiFinder brings
multitasking (albeit not preemptive) to the Mac
1988 - Plug and play SCSI CD-ROM
1988 - The first SuperDrive (floppy) is introduced. Read/writes to Mac, DOS, OS/2, and ProDOS floppies
1989 - 32-bit QuickDraw allows Macs to display photo-quality,
true-color images
1991 -The first plug-and-play Ethernet networking cards
1991 - Apple petitions the FCC to allow personal computers to exchange
information via wireless radio
1991 - QuickTime, the first standard for dynamic media
1992 - WorldScript, the first worldwide language support for an
operating system
1992 - The Duo (notebook) is introduced with the DuoDock, code named BOB - best of both worlds
1992 - QuickTime for Windows makes QuickTime the first cross-platform
dynamic media standard
1993 - ColorSync is the first color-matching technology bulit-in to an
operating system
1993 - First personal computers with built-in video digitizers and
speech recognition (Quadra and Performa 660AV and 840AV)
1993 - Newton Message Pad introduced - first handheld full featured
computer (forerunner of the PDA)
1993 - First unified telephony and email architecture for a personal
computer operating system (PowerTalk and PowerShare)
1993 - First personal computer with bulit-in TV and CD stereo system
(Macintosh TV)
1994 - Power Macs debut, become the leading RISC-based personal
computers
1994 - System 7.1 for Power Macs is the first operating system to use
emulation to run parts of itself, as well as legacy application
software (i.e. the backwards-support is done in software)
1994 - First 24-bit color digital camera under $1000 (QuickTake)
1994 - First next-generation typography engine (QuickDraw GX)
1994 - First panoramic virtual reality technology for personal
computers (QuickTime VR)
1995 - PowerBook 5300 was the first PowerPC notebook and the first to
include a sleep-swapable drive bay. Included IR receiver for wireless
networking
1997 - PowerBook 3400 - fastest portable computer in the world also
utilizes the 1MB IrDA Infra-red standard.
1997 - The 20th Anniversary Mac with integrated TV/Radio system, Bose
sound, S-Video input
1997 - Power Mac G3 utilizes the PPC 750 Processor co-designed by IBM
and Motorola, and was the first processor capable of using a "backside"
cache, which could communicate directly with the processor at extremely
high speeds
1998 - The iMac is introduced. Unique in its lack of floppy drive, the
iMac included a 4Mbps IrDA port, and an internal 56Kpbs modem, used two 12 Mbps Universal Serial Ports (USB) as its only means of external
expansion, and included a newly-designed USB keyboard and mouse.
Recent History - AirPort wireless 802.11b was brought to the mass
market, Gigabit ethernet standard on personal computers, FireWire 400
and 800, the second coming of the SuperDrive (CD-RW,DVD-R), iSight,
AirPort Extreme 802.11g and a host of innovative software products
The fact is, whether you care to acknowledge it or not, Apple has been responsible for developing, integrating, and bringing to market alot of technology and "standards" that you may now take for granted.
Whether the Mac is a "standard" or not is largely dependent on who is using it - it is certainly a standard for some. Is it the most widely used operating system ? Definitely not .... and I never said that it was.
And as far as "norms" go ..... well, whatever .... I'm an individual ..... I have no desire whatsoever to be "normal" or "fit in with the crowd" .... it's just not a motivating factor here, except to the extent that it facilitates my ability to communicate with others .... in other words a necessary evil.
