Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Shattered Mac illusions
NetworkWorld ^ | 5/23/2005 | By Mark Gibbs

Posted on 05/27/2005 10:53:28 AM PDT by Swordmaker

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-89 next last
To: general_re
Get a clue - it has been a human tendency for time immemorial to use words in multiple ways.

This sort of comment is just terminology snobbery.

41 posted on 05/27/2005 3:59:33 PM PDT by ThePythonicCow (To err is human; to moo is bovine.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: ThePythonicCow

It's also been a human tendency to blame the OS for applications breaking. While you're at the clue store, pick one up for yourself.


42 posted on 05/27/2005 4:04:03 PM PDT by general_re ("Frantic orthodoxy is never rooted in faith, but in doubt." - Reinhold Niebuhr)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: general_re
But they aren't blaming the O.S., at least not what you and I would mean when we say O.S. They may say "Windows" or "Mac OSX" or whatever, but they obviously mean "that computer - hardware/software thingie".

Correcting them serves no one well, other than to put them on notice that you are not in a mood to be sympathetic to non-computer nerds right then.

Now if I could just apply this ability to hear what people mean, not the terms they use imprecisely, when to listening to my wife, I might not be preparing divorce papers ;).

43 posted on 05/27/2005 4:12:19 PM PDT by ThePythonicCow (To err is human; to moo is bovine.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: Swordmaker

IPhoto sucks. Get something like Photo Mechanic or just use the browser in Photoshop CS.

Your files were probably corrupted by your windoze machine anyway.


44 posted on 05/27/2005 4:23:28 PM PDT by mercy (never again a patsy for Bill Gates - spyware and viri free for over a year now)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SolitaryMan
Additionally, Mac has to run dual processors just to keep up with Intel P4.

That's not so. I think you need to do a bit of research before blowing off. it's true that Macs are using dual processors in a number of their high end machines- but that's not to keep up with the Intel P4.

Mac single processor machines do that quite handily.

45 posted on 05/27/2005 4:59:13 PM PDT by John Valentine (Whoop dee doo)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: ElPatriota
Am I wrong? I ask you :)

Yep, you're wrong. And the wrongness comes from your self-satisfied complacency. You are guilty of the same sort of self-absorbtion you seem to accuse Mac owners of. You like PCs? Great. Hang in there, buddy! But don't feel that that complacency empowers you to talk knowingly about that which you clearly know little.

Signed: Proud RIGHT-WING Mac owner....

46 posted on 05/27/2005 5:04:07 PM PDT by John Valentine (Whoop dee doo)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: John Valentine

OK :)


47 posted on 05/27/2005 5:21:19 PM PDT by ElPatriota (Let's not forget, we are all still friends despite our differences)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: John Valentine

Okay then, why is there only ONE single processor Power Mac available on the Apple web site store? Every review that I have read puts a Dual processor power mac against a single processor Pentium 4. Show me one review where a single processor Mac can hold it's own against a Pentium...


48 posted on 05/27/2005 5:35:45 PM PDT by SolitaryMan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: antiRepublicrat
I was just told I was doomed. You're saying...I'm EXPANDABLE???? Holy crap!
49 posted on 05/27/2005 5:38:08 PM PDT by Deb (Beat him, strip him and bring him to my tent!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: BeHoldAPaleHorse
I was wondering, "Why the heck does a computer file have persimmons?"

Welllllllll ... it is an Apple, after all... Apples and persimmons might be very tasty together.

50 posted on 05/27/2005 7:24:42 PM PDT by Swordmaker (tagline now open, please ring bell.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: Deb
As someone who is sitting with an absolutely gorgeous Mac Cube, which cost over $3000. and is now obsolete, discontinued and unexpandable..

How did you pay $3000 for a Mac Cube when the retail price on it at introduction was $1799 (450MHz) to $2299?

As for expansion, you can replace the standard 20 or 40 Gigabyte HD with an up to 200G HD, put in the max 1.5Gbytes of RAM, replace the 450MHz or 500MHz single G4 card with a GigaDesigns Dual 1.6 GHz Cube processor card, and replace the Rage 128 Pro Graphics card with a GeForce3 card... and get a blazing fast G4 that beats the Mac Mini.

If you don't want it... sell it. The current street price for a Mac Cube is between $500 and $700. I sold my old cube to a client where it is now doing service as a file server.

How many five year old Windows PCs can still bring one third of their sales price today?

51 posted on 05/27/2005 7:47:38 PM PDT by Swordmaker (tagline now open, please ring bell.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: Swordmaker
In my experience, iPhoto seems to be quite a memory hog. Could be an application running out of memory. I've never seen iPhoto behave like that but I have seen it run painfully slow on my older hardware.
52 posted on 05/27/2005 8:40:29 PM PDT by Question_Assumptions
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ElPatriota
Just a comment: Why a MAC at all?

The short answer is that it "it just works". Because Apple controls both the hardware and the operating system, a whole class of errors that you have with PCs dealing with badly written drivers or quirky hardware compatibility problems simply doesn't exist. It also means that I have a diagnostic disk for my iBook that can check the hard drive, memory, video card, and logic board if I suspect I'm having a hardware problem. Also, the hardware is also usually (though not always) top notch and looks good.

Personally, I'm also a Unix/Linux person and with OSX, the Mac gives me the best of all worlds. I can run Mac applications, Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer, and I can run a lot of Unix and Linux application and use Unix command-line tools. Basically, I can run a beautiful port of the most important Windows application (Microsoft Office) and get most of the benefits of Linux with a nicer user interface and access to more commercial software. And it's all in a very cost-effective solid-as-a-rock laptop that I don't fear carrying around in a canvas bag with no padding. And, personally, I consider the lack of games a feature given how much time I see my friends wasting on computer games. If I really want to play games, I'll get around to buying a PS2 or a PS3 or that nifty new XBox when it comes out.

As for Macs being liberal, the reality is that Silicon Valley and the entire tech industry is filled with liberals and foreign venders. Unless you build your own PCs from Taiwanese components and run only Linux and Open Source software, you are going to be supporting some company or another that backs liberal causes.

53 posted on 05/27/2005 8:55:51 PM PDT by Question_Assumptions
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: ThePythonicCow
Correcting them serves no one well, other than to put them on notice that you are not in a mood to be sympathetic to non-computer nerds right then.

And when he abandons a perfectly serviceable OS for something else, how does that serve him? After all, any computer thingy that can't import photos is clearly broken, right?

Well, no. Broken apps are not the same as broken OS'es, and it seems to me that it doesn't serve anyone to conflate the two. If iPhoto is giving the poor guy headaches, save him the $500 he'll incur by tossing the machine in the trash, and instead explain the difference by proposing a replacement for iPhoto, rather than the machine. And it's hardly an imaginary problem - I've lost count of how many times I've had someone tell me "Windows is broken", when what they meant was that Word/Outlook/Quicktime/whatever is broken ;)

54 posted on 05/27/2005 9:56:43 PM PDT by general_re ("Frantic orthodoxy is never rooted in faith, but in doubt." - Reinhold Niebuhr)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: Swordmaker

Tried that (with and without one of the d/led utilities.

That doesn't work.


55 posted on 05/28/2005 2:45:58 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (FR profiled updated Tuesday, May 10, 2005. Fewer graphics, faster loading.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: SolitaryMan

Care to try and back that up?


56 posted on 05/28/2005 4:31:47 AM PDT by spower
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Question_Assumptions; All
Thank you for your detailed on convincing explanation. I learned something. And by the let me just say to all my Freeper friends, I was really sort of kidding, but kiddind is difficult when you can not see the other's face expressios or have a quick, "just kidding." So, I won't do it again. Another thing, Mac's have always been good computers, furthermore, the software companies have always been the envy of the Win's. Luckily for us, most of them are now producding applications for the Win's too. A BIGGER point: This is really not an important issue, so accept my apology for calling the Mac, the computer of the LEFT! (Yes, I admit, pretty insulting, although that was not the intention), so there, let's move on. You people are in 'my team,' and we have bigger issues to deal with.

Computers are a lot of fun... let's enjoy them!

57 posted on 05/28/2005 8:03:21 AM PDT by ElPatriota (Let's not forget, we are all still friends despite our differences)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 53 | View Replies]

To: spower
One simple question then, why have only one Power Mac G5 system with a single CPU and offer 3 system with dual CPU's. If a single G5 CPU is so powerful, it seems to me Apple would take the price premium and offer the dual CPU only in the top end machine, just like every other computer maker does. But they have to discount the two CPU's to be competitive with a performance and price of a single CPU Wintel system.

Take the latest Dell XPS system, you can get the complete package, latest of every thing for under $2000. Apples low-end dual CPU similarly configured system (less monitor) is over $600 more. Why would Apple insist on the price hit by adding the second CPU of they didn't have to?

58 posted on 05/28/2005 9:26:01 AM PDT by SolitaryMan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 56 | View Replies]

To: Deb
... Mac Cube, which cost over $3000. and is now obsolete, discontinued and unexpandable ...

What computer isn't obsolete and discontinued five years later? As to "unexpandable", I'm not sure what you mean. The original 20 GB hard drive can be replaced with 128 GB for under $100, and additional storage (terabytes if you want) can be connected via FireWire. The original processor (450-500 MHz) can be upgraded to 1.7 GHz for $400. This won't make your Cube a supercomputer, but it will make it highly useable.

59 posted on 05/28/2005 2:51:51 PM PDT by AZLiberty (WikiWork -- The meme starts here.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: SolitaryMan
ne simple question then, why have only one Power Mac G5 system with a single CPU and offer 3 system with dual CPU's.

Apple has been hot on dual CPUs since the late 90s/early 00s when they needed two to even get close to the performance of your average Wintel. But now you get dual G5s that run slower and cooler than a Wintel, but (depending on the application) give you better performance, for the same or less price.

Take the latest Dell XPS system, you can get the complete package, latest of every thing for under $2000. Apples low-end dual CPU similarly configured system (less monitor) is over $600 more. Why would Apple insist on the price hit by adding the second CPU of they didn't have to?

Let's take that about $2,000 price point. For that in an Apple you get dual 2 GHz PPC970s, 1 GHZ FSB, 512MB RAM, 160GB SATA HDD, Radeon 9600 128MB, excellent audio, and a dual layer DVD writer. A Dell Dimension with approximate specs will cost you about the same. You do get speakers with the Dell but the audio will be inferior. You also won't get Firewire, OS X or all the free applications that come with the Mac, and the Dell is louder (the Mac's temperature management is wonderful).

As you can see, Apple can affordably put dual processors in a system. And if you've ever used dual processors on any OS, they're sweet.

60 posted on 05/28/2005 6:21:04 PM PDT by antiRepublicrat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 58 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-89 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson