<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Dec 8, 2009 at 11:48 AM, Matthew Nuzum <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:newz@bearfruit.org">newz@bearfruit.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div class="im">On Tue, Dec 8, 2009 at 11:06 AM, Tim Wilson <<a href="mailto:tim_linux@wilson-home.com">tim_linux@wilson-home.com</a>> wrote:<br>
> PC makers such as Dell and<br>
> Gateway just slap in cards from the latest companies to have won the bid.<br>
> That means, 2 PCs coming off the assembly line could have vastly different<br>
> hardware, and vastly different success rates.<br>
<br>
</div><div class="im">> To be fair, the only Apple product I have is an iPhone. I'd love to have a<br>
> Mac, but I can't justify the cost. Although given the problems I've had<br>
> with my HP laptop recently, maybe I should give Mac another look. My HP<br>
> laptop is in the shop for the 3rd time. I bought an extended warranty<br>
> through Best Buy, so it was covered.<br>
<br>
</div>You see, you've pointed out two major mis-conceptions in this email.<br>
<br>
1. Best buy does not sell business-grade computers except the Apple products.<br>
<br>
If you bought an HP computer at Best Buy you bought a toy. It is<br>
cheap, it gets the job done but it does not have the same quality of<br>
build as business grade computers. Just because Apple is the nicest<br>
computer in Best Buy doesn't mean it's alone. Check out the Latitude<br>
series of notebooks and the Lenovo ThinkPad line for comparables (or<br>
if you like HP, the Envy line).<br></blockquote><div><br>When did this turn into a discussion about business grade computers? I was responding to Afan's question about why Apple is so much more expensive than PCs. Apple is targeted towards consumers. So is HP, Compaq, Dell, Gateway, E-Machines, etc. A consumer has to trust that a machine is a quality product. What was quality a year ago, may not be so today. Before I bought my laptop, I had another HP laptop, and my wife has had 2 Compaq laptops, and they worked well. And I asked around who makes a good laptop? Most everyone told me HP. Since then I've heard Toshiba is better, and HP has gone down hill. I've even heard people say Dell is the worst for laptops. So who do you believe? My take on it is if you pay for Apple, you're going to a get a better product. If they're considered business grade, then fine. But the consumer isn't going to know that. How is the consumer supposed to know the difference between one laptop and another? Average Joe Consumer will see what Afan saw, what IS the difference? They'll go for something cheaper, not knowing what the differences are.<br>
<br>And I resent you calling my laptop a "toy". Lower quality, maybe, but a toy, no. HP sells different configurations for different stores. I could have probably bought something similar at Office Depot, Office Max, or Staples. Do they sell toys also?<br>
<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<br>
2. Dell (nor any other major manufacturer) does not just slap parts<br>
into the computer. Having learned a bit about Dell's assembly line,<br>
the process is not anything like this. There's not a bin of parts that<br>
can get mixed up together. Especially in the business lines. Models<br>
are spec'd out and maintained for a considerable amount of time in<br>
some cases</blockquote><div><br>Unless it has changed in the last 3 years, it is exactly like that, for at least consumer models. My wife's brother works there, and he's told us (and shown us the field of trucks), that when one truck is empty, they pull another one up. Sometimes it is from the same manufacturer, sometimes it isn't. So the PC that went just left the same line CAN contain different hardware than the next one. Apple doesn't do that. They have a much tighter control on their hardware. In so doing, they charge a premium.<br>
<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">.<br>
<div class="im"><br>
> I do think it sucks that I can't develop for the iPhone because I don't have<br>
> a Mac. The last time I looked, the iPhone devkit was only available for the<br>
> Mac.<br>
><br>
<br>
</div>This is precisely why I bought the Mac. However, now I know that it<br>
was a bad reasoning. Investing my time into learning Objective C is<br>
investing in Apple's attempt to monopolize the consumer smart phone<br>
space.<br></blockquote><div><br>I just can't justify the extra cost of yet another computer for the one or two apps I might write.<br> <br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div class="im"><br>
--<br>
Matthew Nuzum<br>
newz2000 on freenode, skype, linkedin, <a href="http://identi.ca" target="_blank">identi.ca</a> and twitter<br>
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