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The Apple Tax Revisited
Technical Owl ^ | November 26th, 2009 | by Gene Steinberg

Posted on 11/27/2009 7:30:18 PM PST by Swordmaker

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1 posted on 11/27/2009 7:30:18 PM PST by Swordmaker
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To: ~Kim4VRWC's~; 1234; 50mm; 6SJ7; Abundy; Action-America; acoulterfan; Airwinger; Aliska; altair; ...
Is there an "Apple Tax?" Gene Steinberg says "No." PING!


Mac Tax? No! Ping!

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

2 posted on 11/27/2009 7:33:06 PM PST by Swordmaker (Remember, the proper pronunciation of IE is "AAAAIIIIIEEEEEEE!)
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To: Swordmaker

I am okay with Macs, but “Apple just won’t sell stripped machines,” the Mac Mini doesn’t even come with a mouse or keyboard. That is stripped. I’m okay with it, but it is stripped.


3 posted on 11/27/2009 7:33:43 PM PST by Dr. Sivana (There is no salvation in politics.)
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To: Dr. Sivana
I am okay with Macs, but “Apple just won’t sell stripped machines,” the Mac Mini doesn’t even come with a mouse or keyboard. That is stripped. I’m okay with it, but it is stripped.

Not stripped of software...

4 posted on 11/27/2009 7:41:17 PM PST by Swordmaker (Remember, the proper pronunciation of IE is "AAAAIIIIIEEEEEEE!)
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To: Swordmaker

What about the “PC” tax, I was always buying these expensive machines every couple of years and I wound up cursing at them a lot.

3 + years with an iMac and a Macbook and it still runs the way it did out of the box, how is that possible?

To all of you builders and tinkerers I bought the iMac as a refurb and the Macbook for a third off brand new from Craiglist.

I have no interest in learning to build my own powerful PC on the cheap, nor the interest in the maintenance, updating spyware, anti-virus, adware, etc. and running these programs often.

If you’re idea of a swinging Saturday night consists of a defragging of your PC, well I guess you got the better “deal”.


5 posted on 11/27/2009 7:41:42 PM PST by word_warrior_bob (You can now see my amazing doggie and new puppy on my homepage!! Come say hello to Jake & Sonny)
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To: Dr. Sivana

Remember, the Mini is targeted on switchers who already have a monitor, keyboard and mouse. The Mini also is selected as a home media server that does not need the additional peripherals...

Apple is plenty happy with their business plan, and the cash in the bank speaks volumes...


6 posted on 11/27/2009 7:53:08 PM PST by ace2u_in_MD (You missed something...)
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To: Swordmaker

Apple is a hardware company with a software division.

Microsoft is a software company with a hardware division. (they make X-boxes, keyboards, and mice - no computers)

The supposed Mac/PC battle royale is a media concoction.


7 posted on 11/27/2009 8:00:41 PM PST by eclecticEel (The Most High rules in the kingdom of men ... and sets over it the basest of men.)
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To: Swordmaker

Here is how I see it:

How many people do you know whose PC became unusable due to adware, trojans or viruses?

How many people do you know whose Mac became unusable due to adware, trojans or viruses?

I think those people who recognize this difference are very willing to pay the perceived “Apple Tax”. I know I am. And this is not to denigrate Windows, I use Windows XP at work, and in a controlled environment with strict controls and constantly updated virus definitions and patch applications, it works fine and is useful for me.

But for home use, I enjoy using a Mac. Just my choice...others may choose differently, and I respect that.


8 posted on 11/27/2009 8:04:56 PM PST by rlmorel (We are traveling "The Road to Serfdom".)
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To: eclecticEel

It is a distinction lost on many. It is important to understand.


9 posted on 11/27/2009 8:06:09 PM PST by rlmorel (We are traveling "The Road to Serfdom".)
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To: eclecticEel
The supposed Mac/PC battle royale is a media concoction.

LOL, maybe you're right, but some Freepers like to spend their time beating their keyboards into swords.

10 posted on 11/27/2009 8:12:03 PM PST by Col Freeper (FR is a smorgasbord of Conservative thoughts and ideas - dig in and enjoy it to its fullest!)
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To: Swordmaker

The key word here is “retail”. Retail Apple stores sell as many iPods and iPhones as anything else. There are millions of those in use. To say Apple has anything near 48% of the computer market is just hype, even of the consumer home use computer market.


11 posted on 11/27/2009 8:12:46 PM PST by CodeToad (If it weren't for physics and law enforcement I'd be unstoppable!)
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To: Dr. Sivana

Mac Mini is what it’s advertised to be. If you have a monitor, keyboard & mouse, you can buy a Mini and do pretty much anything you want in a rock solid OS right out of the box. It’s got a lot of punch to come in such a small little, box.


12 posted on 11/27/2009 9:00:46 PM PST by TheStickman
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To: Dr. Sivana

Mac Mini is what it’s advertised to be. If you have a monitor, keyboard & mouse, you can buy a Mini and do pretty much anything you want in a rock solid OS right out of the box. It’s got a lot of punch to come in such a small little, box.


13 posted on 11/27/2009 9:00:49 PM PST by TheStickman
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To: Swordmaker
All right, a new report from the NPD Group says that 48% of the retail dollars spent on personal computers in the U.S. now goes to Apple. However, that doesn't add up to a 48% market share by any means, because of the price of admission... Apple won't play in the cheap PC playground, because they don't think it's worth it... Despite the fact that such industry giants as Dell and HP sell way more units than Apple, the latter makes higher profits and has loads of cash in the bank... More to the point, with the great popularity of netbooks, it's clear that millions of buyers are struggling to compute on the cheap. With products selling for less than $300, including a basic Windows OS license, it's clear that the PC makers who sell such gear aren't making a whole lot of money from each sale... Contrast this to Apple, which basically sells fully-outfitted Macs with very limited, carefully defined configurations.
The ordinary PC has a markup similar to supermarket bananas, or somethin'.
14 posted on 11/27/2009 9:02:33 PM PST by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/__Since Jan 3, 2004__Profile updated Monday, January 12, 2009)
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To: CodeToad
The key word here is “retail”. Retail Apple stores sell as many iPods and iPhones as anything else. There are millions of those in use. To say Apple has anything near 48% of the computer market is just hype, even of the consumer home use computer market.

Sheesh. Your Apple Derangement Syndrome is showing.

It does not say that. READ THE ARTICLE before you comment, Toad. Try reading for comprehension. This has NOTHING to do with iPods or iPhones revenues.

What it says is that Apple gets 48% of all REVENUE—the MONEY—from the sales of desktop computer sales in the US, not that they have 48% of the market of personal computers... just 48% of the money... with only 10% of the units sold.

Here is the article on the NPD report.

15 posted on 11/27/2009 9:05:38 PM PST by Swordmaker (Remember, the proper pronunciation of IE is "AAAAIIIIIEEEEEEE!)
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To: CodeToad

My first home computer was a Mac. Since then, I went through two of them and a few pc based systems. I switched because of software availability, which has always been one of the primary selling points. I’ve watched Apple move up from near bankruptcy to the present day. They do not account for 48% of computer sales, even to home, but they nailed the internet image processing market. If you want digital video, get an Apple system to do it. This is now a huge sector.

I think the iPod and the iPhone drew a lot of customers back to Apple machines. It drew people to the company and into the stores. It seems to have helped them sell a large number of machines.


16 posted on 11/27/2009 9:15:01 PM PST by sig226 (Bring back Jimmy Carter!)
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To: Swordmaker
"Apple won’t play in the cheap PC playground, because they don’t think it’s worth it."

They also decline to subsidize their machines with gigabytes of performance-sapping crapware, too. You'll spend hours getting rid of that stuff, and some just plain won't leave your machine unscathed (cough McAfee cough).
17 posted on 11/27/2009 9:35:06 PM PST by RightOnTheLeftCoast (Obama: running for re-election in '12 or running for Mahdi now? [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahdi])
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To: sig226
They do not account for 48% of computer sales, even to home, but they nailed the internet image processing market.

Sig, Apple accounts for 48% of the MONEY spent on retail sales of desktop computers and 33% of the money spent on retail sales of notebook computers sold at retail in the United States in October. They account for only 9.4 % of the total number of personal computers sold in the US during the same month. Essentially, the portion of those 9.4% that were desktop computer accounted for 48% of all the money spent at retail on desktop computers in the US.

In other words, 90.6% of computers sold with Windows and Linux installed on them, whether desktops, notebooks, or netbooks, account for the other 52% of the money. That is a fact.

18 posted on 11/27/2009 11:29:48 PM PST by Swordmaker (Remember, the proper pronunciation of IE is "AAAAIIIIIEEEEEEE!)
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To: Swordmaker
Also consider the plight of the PC user with Windows XP installed. If they want to upgrade to Windows 7, which is actually a pretty decent operating system despite still being saddled with such land mines as the dreaded Registry, they are forced to do a clean install. By clean, I mean wiping the hard drive after backing up your stuff to an external drive. Microsoft’s migration utility is limited to your own documents, not applications, such it’s of little help in dealing with the real issues, which involve reinstalling all your apps and hoping all your settings will still work even if they are restored to the same location on your PC’s drive. Yes, that’s not a given

Clean installs were never very difficult. But with the advent of external hard drives there is no excuse and you don't have to be that smart. 
I can think of one legitimate excuse
Many computers today are sold with huge hard drives that are un-partitioned except for a recovery partition
Therefore if someone fills up a 500gb-1000gb hard drive I can see where it can be an imposition to back up all that data without making mistakes onto an external. Then putting all or most back on the hard drive after the re-format or upgrade

The obvious solution is to have a partition for your operating system. For Vista/Windows 7 I allow 40-50gb on a 500gb or larger hard drive. Less on a smaller one

19 posted on 11/27/2009 11:49:48 PM PST by dennisw (Obama -- our very own loopy, leftist god-thing.)
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To: Dr. Sivana
That is stripped. I’m okay with it, but it is stripped.

No, it's not stripped. The core components are there. The specs are equivalent to the MacBook, maybe a little better. All the software's there. Having to bring your own monitor, keyboard, and mouse to the party does not constitute a stripped product.
20 posted on 11/28/2009 12:01:29 AM PST by Terpfen (FR is being Alinskied. Remember, you only take flak when you're over the target.)
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