Posted on 08/20/2008 8:20:08 AM PDT by Swordmaker
Actually, it’s kind of cute how you guys have your own little ‘code words’ for industry standards!
Cost and habit. Windows boxes are cheaper. That used to be much more of a factor than it is today. Also, because IBM made a big splash in the computing world with the original PC. PC/Windows has offered users a gradual, incremental upgrade path that's less scary to many users than switching to an entirely new platform, though it's more costly in the long run.
Google the OSX86 project. It’s a collaborative effort to run OS X on commodity OC hardware. It has quite a few limitations, but I haven’t waded into it, so I don’t have any details.
That’s a taste of MacOS, but it misses a major point of the Mac, which remains unchanged since 1984 — the hardware and software are designed at the same time to work with each other.
Thank you. Exactly what I have been looking for.
And I will keep in mind that it isn’t an ‘official’ product.
I just want to ‘play’ with the interface.
That is the first reasonable explanation I’ve heard, and it makes perfect sense. Nicely summarized!
(although I was wondering if you would clarify the “more costly in the long run”...)
Now here I would say that you are comparing.....Apples to Orange-PCs.
The car analogy isn’t all that good. The macs accelerate better, run at a top speed longer, but nothing breaks like a windows box...
posted from my XP Dell (kids don’t share the macs well...)
The prob is that I have found PC’s mechanics to be much easier to work with than Mac’s.
I haven’t even tried to crack into my mac mini, nor either macbook. Never went into my windows laptops either, except to add ram...
My kids’ older dell boxes were about like minis - the dells had a pci slot, but finding a pci vid card wasn’t easy...Technically, the box was upgradeable. Realistically, not so much...
Did you check your disgronificator?
ALL of that is irrelevant to the pizza box ad campaign.
The ads message is “same as”
Go to mac because it is the “same as” a PC (their word for it) because it runs Microsoft Office.
We are talking marketing to the perception.
Mac vs PC (again apple’s choice of words) is to push the notion that Mac’s are the same as the PC.
There in lies the marketing flaw, if it is “same as” then PC is “same as” Mac. (again apples choice of marketing)
honestly I have been using my PDA’s with CF or SD chips for music for years and have pretty much been able to bypass the whole ipod propritery access scam.
Now if only they would have a 10 megapixel phone and camera with a full laptop expandable monitor with a full on built in laser projecting keyboard so I could not need a laptop...
Theoretically, you could still be using a PC you bought to run DOS in 1981 -- in the sense that the USAF is still flying B-52s from the early 1960s. Replace a case here, a motherboard there, a processor, add a USB card, bigger drives, more RAM, a NIC ... On the software side, upgrade one app and the OS at a time.
But at some point, it makes far more economic sense to replace the whole box. To bite the bullet and do it all at once. My position, and I know there is another side to this argument, is that switching to Mac brings enough gains in TCO and productivity to make it a net gain, even though it means more expense in the short term.
But the Mac doesn't need repairs as often. It's a trade-off.
You're making the mistake of assuming that this one ad encompasses the sum total of Apple's marketing. Most folks, especially younger folks, already see the Mac as "better" or "cooler", however defined. That's a battle Apple is winning, and this ad is not fighting on that front.
A problem for Apple is that a lot of PC users have big buts. You see it on these threads: "I'd love to get a Mac, but ..." Part of what's behind the buts is a long and successful Microsoft campaign to hammer home the "it's not compatible" FUD.
A major hurdle for Apple is to make the case that Macs can do everything PCs can -- open the same documents, go to the same Web sites, watch the same videos, and so on. To get the FUD out and kick buts, to coin a phrase. That's what this ad is there for.
I've opened my Mini a few times. It's a lot like a newer car, in that there is an apparent phobia of exposed screws. You have to pop plastic latches to get into the case. Anyone who has worked on a Mac probably has some sort of tool that's been dubbed a "spudger" -- a wood or plastic prying tool to nudge the case open without scratching stuff.
Once inside, the Mini is a lot like a laptop, in that it has small components with fiddly tiny screws and fragile cables, packed in so tightly that you have to remove everything to get to anything. It's easier to work on than a laptop, but more difficult than any other desktop I've opened.
I haven't played with a MacBook (and wouldn't open one until after the warranty expired), but getting to the RAM on Apple laptops has always been pretty easy. Swapping drives or other components, that's a whole 'nother kettle of fish. Replacing an iBook hard drive is not for the faint of heart.
Ifixit.com has step-by-step guides for Mac repairs and upgrades. cruising through one of those guides is a good way to get a feel for whether it's something you want to tackle as a DIY or not.
no i am only addressing this one commercial. I was addressing the sole issue of this one commercial.
The “cooler” concept is correct to be a different ad.
However when you have student loans up the ying yang. Having the ability to run the system used by the person who signs your paycheck is even cooler.
The problem is one on advertising.
There is no FUD.
There are only three add concepts.
Better than
Same as
cheeper than.
Mac has abandoned the cheeper than position.
It has tried the better than and has failed.
so now it is trying “same as” which will never work alone.
Unfortunalty, the mac aficionados never want to admit that Microsoft does the job just fine.
As you say, “Macs can do everything PCs can — open the same documents, go to the same Web sites, watch the same videos, and so on” then there is no reason to pay more for a machine that is going to do the same thing.
As with computer chips, computers are a fungible comodity.
Giving away free computers to students has not worked for 28 years.
In short, Apple’s marketing needs work.
This one commercial is not aimed at you. From that, you can conclude that you're not the target of that ad.
But you're being disingenuous. in this very post, you go off on why you believe Apple's marketing "needs work."
It has tried the better than and has failed.
False.
so now it is trying “same as” which will never work alone.
It's not alone.
Unfortunalty, the mac aficionados never want to admit that Microsoft does the job just fine.
Well, there's the killer ad strategy for Microsoft. "It's adequate!"
As you say, “Macs can do everything PCs can — open the same documents, go to the same Web sites, watch the same videos, and so on” then there is no reason to pay more for a machine that is going to do the same thing.
... and does more, and does it better.
In short, Apple’s marketing needs work.
44% annual growth in unit sales in a sluggish economy is a pretty clear indicator that they're doing something right.
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