(On the other hand, the kind of service that we have experienced with the local HP support has been nothing short of fantastic.)

The point is Apple is good at marketing its products, and it seems that a lot of people have been willingly blinded by the smoke and mirrors. This isn’t Apple’s fault of course – they are in the business of selling after all. Consumers should be more critical and less fanboy-ish. Of course it may be unfair to assume that Goldman is representative of Mac Fanboys as a whole – but he is pretty representative of the noisy lot that annoyingly grandstand, Just-Get-A-Mac, style on tech communities, as if all non-Apple computers are created equal.

(On the other hand, the kind of service that we have experienced with the local HP support has been nothing short of fantastic.)

The point is Apple is good at marketing its products, and it seems that a lot of people have been willingly blinded by the smoke and mirrors. This isn’t Apple’s fault of course – they are in the business of selling after all. Consumers should be more critical and less fanboy-ish. Of course it may be unfair to assume that Goldman is representative of Mac Fanboys as a whole – but he is pretty representative of the noisy lot that annoyingly grandstand, Just-Get-A-Mac, style on tech communities, as if all non-Apple computers are created equal.

The other concerns that weren’t addressed were that I wonder what he means by “multimedia”, “music” and “video” software. Windows has plenty of “multimedia” software and typically most OEMs provide their own multimedia software. What does Mac have that’s better? iTunes? Secondly, what is “Music” software? If he means editing software, you have to pay quite a pretty penny on iLife (garage band) or Logic to do anything of the sort. Video software? How about movie maker? Sure its not the best software, but Macs don’t come with anything thats any better, you have to buy the software extra.

Also, I work for Geek Squad as a lead technician. Diagnostics cost $69 but if its under MFG warranty, it’s typically covered. Apple warranties are the same as OEM PCs out of box (1 year, manufacturer defects). The hardware is the same, and will die eventually (I’ve seen plenty of Macs come in with dying hard drives). It is only an in-home diagnostic that is $129 and in that case you better expect to pay more anyway.

Finally, faster processor? Take a look at the apple store online. The best processor you can get in a 13.3 inch Macbook is 2.4ghz intel and they don’t tell you what the model of processor it is, so I’m guessing its not 45nm. Go to HP’s website or Dell’s, or an ASUS reseller etc. You can easily get a 13.3 inch computer with 2.66ghz or with some oems, even up to 2.93 ghz 45nm intel processors. You have to pay $2500-$4000 to get a comparable Macbook Pro with that kind of power, and then you are restricted to 15.4 or 17 inch.

There is also the matter of the other hardware. With windows PCs, you can easily get bigger hard drives (up to 500gb or even 2 hard drives vs mac’s 320gb limit), better graphics (Macs best option is an nVidia 9600, pcs can even have 2 graphics cards often for cheaper than a macbook pro), Windows pc screens are actually just as good looking and high resolution as macs now, and finally, what about productivity ports? Macs do not have SD/MMC/etc card slots, they don’t have HDMI, they only have a proprietary Mac monitor port that you have to spend 30 bucks to get an adapter so it will work on a monitor and you have to spend 100 bucks if you want to connect it to Apple’s 30inch monstrousities. How about BlueRay? Sorry, too bad. Not to mention compatibility…

To be fair, Macs are great for a certain audience and the OS is pretty solid. I think macs are great, but I think the average user will be just as well suited with a windows pc. To try to say that Macs are a better value is just plain stupid. People who get Macs know they are paying for a name and an expectation, and that’s how it should be. Besides, the more Apple increases their market share, the more anti-virus protection will be necessary.