Are Apple's computers worth it

[Grin]

No sir. Apple computers are extremely overpriced.
It's also over qualified as well.
Correct me if I'm wrong

[Ⓓⓐⓝ]

I think so, I do not personally own one, because I like the freedom of windows. I think they are great portable machines. I am not a huge fan of using them for desktop computing. More for on the go.

[iRun]

I think so... However I got my mac mini for $160, and I absolutely love it!

[Tricks]

Well that depends what you're doing if you want a fast computer over a better experience, get a Windows machine
At the end it all comes down to what OS you prefer, windows or mac? If you prefer Mac look at the good side and if their isn't enough positive things about the os worthy enough for a expensive upgrade, stay with windows.

[webdev77]

If you want to game go for windows, but if you want style and user friendly-ness go for a mac. Macs do have a better and smaller design for their laptops, but unfortunately they don't have the kind of power that a Windows laptop will. It's easy to get a Windows laptop with a dedicated graphics card (I recommend an nVidia gt555m if you can find a laptop with one). You can also pick up and install some extra ram for ~$30 as well (that's for a single 4gb card, most laptops can go up to 8gb).

[Mordecai]

From everyone on the internet: Macs are overpriced machines.

From people I know IRL: They are amazing and last super long.

I'd say listen to the people on the internet

[Load]

Personally, I prefer Apple's products.

I own both Windows and Mac workstations but over time I have grown to favour my Mac over the Windows machine without a thought. My Apple products have never let me down, and they have always impressed me in terms of reliability and performance. I wish I could say the same for my Windows machine/other Microsoft products but I just can't.

I do a fairly heavy amount of coding/video rendering/graphic design and it seems that theres nothing my Mac can't handle, whereas my Windows machine starts out like a powerhouse, but as the workload increases I can really feel the strain on resources. Maybe I've just been fortunate, but i've never had an Apple machine crash on me and cause me to lose work, needless to say my Windows machine it's a totally different story.

The price of Apple machines is a little higher, and as Fragma pointed out, when you put the spec's side-by-side maybe the hardware doesn't quite add up to the price tag. But I believe that it's more than hardware that makes a good workstation. Granted, if you're a hardcore gamer, by all means go out and buy/build a Windows PC with the best specs you can. But for the reliability, i'm willing to pay the premium price tag.

I hope this helps.

[Fragma]

Personally, I prefer Apple's products.

I own both Windows and Mac workstations but over time I have grown to favour my Mac over the Windows machine without a thought. My Apple products have never let me down, and they have always impressed me in terms of reliability and performance. I wish I could say the same for my Windows machine/other Microsoft products but I just can't.

I do a fairly heavy amount of coding/video rendering/graphic design and it seems that theres nothing my Mac can't handle, whereas my Windows machine starts out like a powerhouse, but as the workload increases I can really feel the strain on resources. Maybe I've just been fortunate, but i've never had an Apple machine crash on me and cause me to lose work, needless to say my Windows machine it's a totally different story.

The price of Apple machines is a little higher, and as Fragma pointed out, when you put the spec's side-by-side maybe the hardware doesn't quite add up to the price tag. But I believe that it's more than hardware that makes a good workstation. Granted, if you're a hardcore gamer, by all means go out and buy/build a Windows PC with the best specs you can. But for the reliability, i'm willing to pay the premium price tag.

I hope this helps.

The thing is, reliability itself, isn't that reliable with a Mac. What I mean by that is, if something does go wrong, then it's going to be a lot harder to correct than if you had Windows, simply because Windows is easier to tweak, and there's more support for it.
You say you own both Windows and Mac workstations. Are they both similar spec'ed? If they are, then perhaps you just don't use your Windows machine as well as you should. As long as you keep your files organised, have good reliable software, and know how to troubleshoot/keep your computer clean & safe, then you shouldn't have any problems what so ever.

You said:
"But for the reliability, i'm willing to pay the premium price tag."

To break that down a bit, you're basically saying you'd rather pay twice the price just for what you think is a more reliable machine, even though side by side with an average Windows PC, the performance wouldn't differ much at all? Maybe you're just extremely rich and can afford to be scammed by Apple.

[Load]

The thing is, reliability itself, isn't that reliable with a Mac. What I mean by that is, if something does go wrong, then it's going to be a lot harder to correct than if you had Windows, simply because Windows is easier to tweak, and there's more support for it.
You say you own both Windows and Mac workstations. Are they both similar spec'ed? If they are, then perhaps you just don't use your Windows machine as well as you should. As long as you keep your files organised, have good reliable software, and know how to troubleshoot/keep your computer clean & safe, then you shouldn't have any problems what so ever.

You said:
"But for the reliability, i'm willing to pay the premium price tag."

To break that down a bit, you're basically saying you'd rather pay twice the price just for what you think is a more reliable machine, even though side by side with an average Windows PC, the performance wouldn't differ much at all? Maybe you're just extremely rich and can afford to be scammed by Apple.

I can't say I agree with you here:

"if something does go wrong, then it's going to be a lot harder to correct than if you had Windows"

If something goes wrong with my Mac hardware, I ring up Apple, go to the store and they give me a brand new replacement there and then. No questions asked, no hassle. If something goes wrong with the software, I can simply restore from an hourly backup using TimeMachine that comes pre-installed with the OS.
Replacing windows hardware isn't that hassle free, and if I want backup's i'd have to install some third party software.

But, let's just say I did agree with you, you said

"if something does go wrong"

The thing is, nothing has gone wrong. That's what I meant by reliability.

I have a few Apple workstations now, but the two I was comparing are similarly spec'ed, and I use similar software on each. I do keep my files organised, and freshly indexed. I also do everything I can to keep the computer safe, but under significant usage, the Windows machine seems to get bogged down a lot more than the Mac. I've not got to the bottom of why this happens, it's just what i've found over time.

For your last point, I don't believe I am getting scammed by Apple. It's not what I 'think' is a more reliable machine, it's proven itself over time for reliability, where windows has fallen at the hurdle. And for this proven reliability, I am willing to pay the premium, even if it's double. Yes, the hardware itself is more expensive but when Apple bring out the next edition of OSX it's only $29.99 (£20) for the full release, where as Windows 7 ultimate is $319.99 (£229.99).
So every year that's a $300 upgrade, oppose to a $30 one, I see that as a little bit of a scam.

Anyway; I'm not starting a Mac vs. PC war, I have both, I just prefer one over the other.
If I was to put myself in your shoes, I'd probably choose Windows over Mac also, as you've built your own PC from scratch, and are obviously very happy with it. Congratulations again on your achievement buddy.

[Alreiger]

A Mac is nothing more then a rich kids way of saying "Look guys, I can throw away money!"-- it's also for people who think they're special because they don't use Windows. If you want that, you can buy a PC and install Ubuntu on it, it's just as good as a Mac and it looks nicer. When you buy an Apple product, depending on what it is, you're also paying for the title; say you bought an iMac Mini, a $650 computer, and you wanted to figure out the price... get a list of the parts used to build it in standards with a PC, and put it together; that'd put you at around $390 to 400. Why am I paying nearly $300 more than it's worth? Because they can charge you that much, it's smart business.

If you really want to use OSX, make your computer into a Hackintosh; if you're looking for it's "flare", install Ubuntu on your PC and enjoy the same useless feeling as you don't even get half of the support that Windows, the market leader does.