Mossberg: ‘Apple’s Mac software and hardware are markedly superior to those of Windows PCs’

Mac Daily News ^ | 03/22/2007

[Swordmaker]

Walt Mossberg's final column claims that Apple's hardware and software are markedly superior to Windows PCs... PING!

If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.

[Swordmaker]

Mossberg's final column can be read in its entirety here.

[martin_fierro]

I believe that in the future the Internet will become more like the electrical grid, a behind-the-scenes platform to which all manner of gadgets will be directly connected, each taking some power and intelligence from the network to perform its task.

I and my Linux toaster are ready for it.

[aft_lizard]

I disagree about the hardware aspect. Let's be honest here Apples are now x86 PC's with a Apple OS. Meaning simply any joe can build a computer with the same guts as an Apple. The OS is a different arena altogether, but I don't want to argue that.

[IslandJeff]

Took the plunge last night. Hopefully I didn't get ripped off. Not a PC gamer, not a graphics person - just wanted a more stable system.

"Apple iMac Desktop with 20" Display MA589LL/A (2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 1 GB RAM, 250 GB Hard Drive, SuperDrive)"
Personal Computers; $1,499.99

Sold by: Amazon.com

Could have gone the used route, I suppose, but I figure this platform will run Leopard and I'm going to have a learning curve, anyway.

[twntaipan]

I bought the misses an Intel iMac last June. I had grown tired of spending so much time keeping her Dell Win XP box up and running. She was constantly frustrated by all of the BSODs and system slowdowns.

She loves the iMac. She never complains, never needs my help, OS X never locks up, and she never reboots. It's a great machine.

[vox_freedom]

It's a good one, beautiful display screen too!
I'm awaiting a MacBook Pro 2.33 but I'm envious of a desktop like you just purchased. Let us know how it goes once it is up and running.

Is Jeff Bezos going to install and plug it in for you?

[Richard Kimball]

FWIW, I'm holding off until July. Some of the iMacs are getting in short supply in Europe, which indicates Apple might be getting ready to upgrade the iMac line.

[tubebender]

My grand daughter entered elementary school in about 1992. They actually had a Mac lab and she learned fairly quickly. I bought them a Performa 6100 or 6200 from Sears to aid her. When her brother school in 1996 he was already a wiz and by the third grade was a tutor for the lab.

Then the family got a Bondi Blue iMac and we got out first puter, the used Performa and "went on line" without a glitch thanks to a local friendly ISP on dialup.

and I could go on about the progression of Macs with the older ones being passed down to other family members. Grandson decided they had to have a PC and in less that six months Cox cable shut them down because their beige box had been hijacked as a Bot.

Grandson still uses the pc for games but his folks and his sister are back to Apple and his grand parents are about to get a 20 iMac...

[IslandJeff]

What I can't get over is WHERE'S THE BOX? A little intimidated, still.

Should be here in a couple days.

I actually gave a pretty nice HP laptop, way more machine than my current PC desktop.

Like they say, "it just works". I'm not abandoning MS at all, just broadening horizons. A home machine is not a work machine, though you need to talk to each other on occasion.

[Swordmaker]

Let's be honest here Apples are now x86 PC's with a Apple OS. Meaning simply any joe can build a computer with the same guts as an Apple.

Not quite true... the optical drives and primary hard drives are Apple certified and marked so on their labels. The Mother Board is also proprietary. Joe can get close to, but not exactly, the same parts.

[Swordmaker]

Took the plunge last night

Congrats... Great. Welcome to the best side of computing.

[aft_lizard]

My point is that you can build a PC with the same guts, not necessarily the same proprietary BIOS, ROMS or what have you which really is the difference in hardware between Apple and PC's.

http://www.osx86project.org/

They play around with OSX on x86 pc's with different hardware.

[IslandJeff]

Please tell me I didn't get ripped off. All I went on were your Mac threads and occasional benchmarks I'd see, as well as my BIL, who told me to wait until Leopard.

I didn't want to wait, because I think prices for their hardware will rise if you want a reasonably current machine.

[Swordmaker]

You didn't get ripped off. ;^)>

I am sure there will be people who will post you could have bought a PC cheaper... ignore them.

[IslandJeff]

For what I spent, I could have built two PC's and had legit copies of XP (Vista, out of the gate, seems like a dog with its lack of existing app support), without monitors.

If need be, I can always go back. Just want a more user-friendly experience. BSD is robust and likely makes better use of the chipsets.

For instance, running a Lin session on a dual-boot PC (with Lin in ultimate charge, of course), your Linux apps are slightly slower, but will seldom, if ever, nuke your system.

[Swordmaker]

My point is that you can build a PC with the same guts, not necessarily the same proprietary BIOS, ROMS or what have you which really is the difference in hardware between Apple and PC's.

They may have similar parts, but not similar engineering... and I will bet that the Mac will still be cheaper than the sum total of the cost of the equivalent parts. This is what Mossberg is referring to... superior hardware.

[aft_lizard]

Apple uses the same panels for there LCD's as Dell. Most of there components are rebranded by them. The motherboards for Macs are made by intel, and you can readily find the equivelant to them for PC'sm exccept some changes are made for Apple like the memory. The video cards are the exact same ones you can buy for PC's, which by the way you as far as I can tell Apple always seems to be a bit behind in having the best video cards available for there desktop PC's and laptops. Like I said the key difference isnt the hardware per se, but the small proprietary differences like the bios and small changes made to the hardware.