Finally upgrade my years old laptop. Probably a 15 pounder to a 5.5 pound HP 2.4ghz, 15.4 screen, 500GB, 4GB ram running Windows 8.
Did not want to go to Windows 8. They have a start menu system designed to sell videos, music and games that we could do without.
PC works well and cost $379 at Best Buy. Went by the Apple computers that ran $1500-$2000. Just cannot see paying that much. Never could.
Just had this discussion yesterday.
If you were shopping for luxury sedan, you might look at Cadillac, BMW, and Audi. If you are looking for economy car, you might look at Hyundai, Honda, Chevy and Kia. A person who can afford an Audi would not be happy with a Chevy Sonic. A person who can only afford a Sonic will say that Audis are too expensive.
If you have only ever been on the Sonic side of life, you cannot speak with authority and knowledge about the Audi side. The buying experience is VERY different. The driving experience is VERY different. The overall cost of ownership is VERY different.
Same thing with Apple. Buying a Mac (especially in an Apple Store) is a very different experience (usually) than buying a bargain laptop at Best Buy. I have done both. Trust me, Apple is better.
Having a Mac serviced is a very different experience. My son had a minor USB port issue with his one year old Mac Book. They took his computer to the back, pulled his hard drive, put it in a new computer, and sent him on his way in half an hour. While not always perfect, you can see from surveys that Mac users are very happy with the technical support.
Owning and using a Mac is a very different experience. Transitioning to the new operating system is easy and within a week I didn’t even think about it. Not having to mess with registry issues, malware and virus issues, and inconvenient security updates that take your computer offline for hours is wonderful. We have four Macs and one PC at work (for now) and spend far more time maintaining the PC than the four Macs combined.
Are Macs right for everyone? No. If you are a college student on a very tight budget and spend your free time playing computer games, they stay with PCs. If, however, you run a business and want your computers to “just work” consistently, you should do an honest total cost of ownership evaluation and see if Macs might not be just the thing your company needs.
Until I bought a MAC, I couldn’t either. My DH has gone through three PCs vs my plain macbook. Long run costs of PC is higher because I had to take hours to retrieve the data off each PC (and the purchase of 3 PCs)... and store important stuff on MAC. I am looking at the MAC mini for my next purchase, super- versatile. Meanwhile PC 4 is already slowing down. MAC is more cost effective than PC. In the end I want quality. BTW windows 8 is as horrible as Vista. I work too hard for my cash to dump it into a worthless Windows which is always released to the market full of problems. Having used both and having both in my household gives me a good perspective. MAC is not as bright and shiny.. It’s like a Cadillac vs a ford pinto.
I FINALLY bought an Apple MACBOOK in 2010 and will NEVER EVER buy another non Apple ever again. Not one single Virus to date. The non Apple Computers are ridden with Virus’ and what a pain that is to try and clean up and that is including Anti-Virus programs. Forget it. You get what you pay for.