Re: Apple's ways

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

wbdesnoy@acs5.acs.ucalgary.ca (Byron Desnoyers Winmill) wrote:

>Supertimer (supertimer@aol.com) wrote:
>: The only competition they can see...they are ALLOWED to see...is Mac versus
>: the MYTH of Wintel.
>
>Like it or not, a Wintel computer feels like a Wintel whether you are using
>an AMD, IBM, or Intel processor.  A Wintel computer also feels like a Wintel
>computer whether you are running DOS, Geoworks, Linux, OS/2, or Windows.  No,
>this is not an over generalization.  You are always futzing around with the
>same issues (particularly if you are looking for legacy support), and the
>same mentality.  The competition seems to drive the market towards the same
>low quality solutions.

I'll say this: if you like to tinker with hardware (and why wouldn't an
Apple II user want to?) I can't imagine how an AMD and an Intel
computer could be considered the same.  That's like saying a
PowerPC processor and a 68k processor are the same thing.  Like
it or not, the competition between AMD and Intel has driven down
computer prices.  Like it or not, this type of competition which
benefits the end user can't be found in the Apple world.

You can find an 1.3Ghz Athlon CPU/motherboard with a 200 to
266Mhz FSB for less than $200 US today.  How did this happen
when a 500Mhz CPU was the same price in early 2000?  Is there
any question that the price wouldn't have dropped nearly as much
or the performance increased nearly as much if the Athlon did not
exist?  If it were not for AMD, Intel would be selling a lot more
66Mhz bused Celerons today.  But that architecture is being
phased out because of competition and who benefits?  The user.

And that's the problem.  Because Apple refuses to see the
multifaceted PC landscape, its products are not really a direct
competition.  Apple prides itself as being the "think different"
company yet it refuses to challenge the PC world head on.  Apple
could have been AMD.  It could have volume marketed Macs, cut
prices, raised CPU speeds, even put multiple CPUs on lower end
units (if Motorolla couldn't get the clock speed up) to appeal to
the masses.  That's what it has wanted to be all along with those
"smoked-Intel" commercials from early 2000.

>As for the high price of Apple computers, it is a myth too.  If you want a PC
>which is as reliable as an Apple (at least the Apples of times past) you have
>to dump a lot of money into high quality hardware.  Even then, you are going
>to have to wade through a lot of marketing hype, because the computer industry
>seems to equate quality with performance.  Indeed, my reason for dumping my
>486 (about four years back) for an Apple IIe was the cost of replacing a
>failing string of components.  The situation is not uncommon.  I often service
>(Wintel) machine for other people.  Hard drives will fail simply because an
>I/O board pops out of the slot, due to a poorly designed case.  You also have
>to be more careful when servicing the machines, because unsocketed connectors
>and unkeyed cables make it an simple matter to incorrectly connect and mangle
>hardware.  Boards are often poorly labeled and have to be removed to locate
>pin 1.  In comparison, digging inside the Macintosh is a pleasure.

Apples ARE high priced especially today.  Even back in the II
days they were high priced but back then, PCs were poor in
quality.  In my opinion, it wasn't until a little after the 486
before PCs caught up.  But if Mac users think 2001 is the
same as 1991 they are deluding themselves.  Today, I can
build a 1.3Ghz AMD Athlon computer with a 266Mhz FSB for
around $500 that will outperform a 1.7Mhz Pentium 4.  How
much would a Mac with the same performance cost?

Keyed cables and well designed cases?  Not a problem.  Just
select good compenents in the building of your computer.  In
the PC world, we have a choice.

In the Apple world?  God, I miss the days of the Apple II when
we DID have a choice of hardware solutions.  Looking back,
the Apple II series were great machines precisely because
they did have to be configured via their 7 expansion slots plus
a few other specialized ones (depending on model).