<p>Apple disgusts me. I unceasingly read and hear about how Macbooks are exceedingly better than PC notebooks, and quite frankly, I'm having trouble accepting the fact that Macs are so much better than PCs that they're worth spending an extra $1,000-1,500 on. I can go to a website like powernotebooks.com or cyberpower.com and custom-build a notebook with an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.53 GHz processor, 4 GB 800/DDR2 RAM, 320 GB 7200 RPM hard drive, an nVIDIA GeForce 9300M GPU, and Windows Vista Premium all for about $1350! A Macbook Pro with nearly identical core components comes out to about $2550! Why? Is it REALLY worth the extra $1200?</p>
<p>not really, specially if ur not common with them</p>
<p>Is a Ferrari really worth more than an Evo if you can soup up the Evo to be faster?</p>
<p>You’re assuming that a Ferrari corresponds to a Mac and that an Evo corresponds to a PC. I want to know why.</p>
<p>You are the one who assumed which car corresponded to which computer ;)</p>
<p>-A Ferrari is generally regarded as more aesthetically pleasing than an Evo
-There are many more Evos and other comparable cars on the road than Ferraris
-The user interface of a Ferrari is much better than a stripped out Evo
-There are more aftermarket parts and vendors for an Evo than for a Ferrari
-A Ferrari costs more than a souped up Evo
-Only the elite own Ferraris 
-Parts for a Ferrari cost more than parts for an Evo
-Would you rather be seen in a Ferrari or Evo?
-A Ferrari badge carries more weight than an Evo badge</p>
<p>Just replace Ferrari with Mac and Evo with PC</p>
<p>obviously, Macs aren’t worth it to you, and no explanation will suffice. there’s nothing wrong with that. quit thinking about it and move on.</p>
<p>To be totally honest, I’m less concerned with the aesthetics and social status associated with each computer and more concerned with their functionality, durability, and dependability. In light of the latter three characteristics, then, I am interested in how exactly Macbooks exceed so much more than Windows in these areas to justify spending an extra $1200 bucks on one.</p>
<p>The same way that abercrombie sells a cotton tshirt for $40 and the dollar store sells one for $5. Are analogies not your strong point? I think skybax summed it up as: they perform the same, one’s more trendy.</p>
<p>For most people, better performance will not come with spending more money on a Mac. However, industries such as:</p>
<p>graphic design
photography
cinema
advertising
web design</p>
<p>often require/do better on Macs. For this reason, the MacBook PRO was developed to suit these PROfessional customers. These customers need the programs and features that only Macs can provide. Apple makes the MacBook for typical consumers (home users, students, etc.) and this gets the job done for the vast majority.</p>
<p>That being said, consider the following:</p>
<p>The 9600M graphics that comes on the Mac you configured (either 256 or 512 MB of GDDR3) are far better than the 9300M that comes on the PC.</p>
<p>Buying RAM directly from Apple is dumb. Get the standard 2 GB and upgrade yourself from crucial.com.</p>
<p>Do you really need a 320 GB, 7200 RPM drive? Why not get a 160/5400 with a large external drive if you want to save money?</p>
<p>A huge portion of what you pay goes into design when you purchase a Mac. It looks ten times better than a Windoze PC because of this.</p>
<p>Apple’s customer service costs a lot of money for the company because it is excellent. Apple will treat you much better than a random website.</p>
<p>Apple computers come with iLife, a fantastic package of software that comes bundled with Macs and integrates amazingly together. PCs come with 10 GB of crapware that slows down your computer and wastes space.</p>
<p>In other words, yes, you will get more RAM, more HDD, etc. for the money with a PC. However, this is not the only thing to consider.</p>
<p>I’m not sure that I would say that they perform the same Steven.</p>
<p>In my experience and opinion, the Mac software is superior to Windows software. Lack of viruses, no need to install drivers, and the plethora of included software is excellent. However, whether this excellence is worth $1,000 is up to you. </p>
<p>One thing worth noting id the Apple Store. If your computer breaks, you can bring it right in and get it fixed, if not that day then within a couple of days. Compare this to say a Dell, where you must ship the computer off to be repaired, which can take weeks. This alone can be a major selling point for a college student.</p>
<p>imo, buying an Apple isn’t about buying a computer. For me, I bought a Macbook as soon as it was released, which was May 2006 (1.83 Ghz, 80GB, 2GB RAM). The only time I’ve ever sent it in was because there was an announcement about cracks/staining happening near the palm rests. I wanted to make sure that I souped it up. Even then, I received the computer back within two days. Not an exaggeration. I sent it in on a Tuesday morning and received it on a Thursday afternoon.</p>
<p>It’s chugging into its third year flawlessly.</p>
<p>Alot of Mac owners will tell you that the computers just work. And for the most part, when we purchase Apple products that’s what we get. </p>
<p>That’s not to say PCs aren’t doing the same thing though. I’m just recounting my personal experience. I haven’t had to do any restores other than to replace Tiger OS with Leopard OS. I pay for peace of mind. Not to knock anyone who likes digging deep into a PC’s system files, but I don’t. I pay for my computer to work and that’s what it does.</p>
<p>Customer service = great
Durability = awesome</p>
<p>…and before anyone says I’m biased. My first Mac was/is the Macbook. PC user my entire life until that point.</p>
<p>Short answer: No
Long answer: Noooooooooooo</p>
<p>I don’t think they are worth the price.</p>
<p>toxic waste said: obviously, Macs aren’t worth it to you, and no explanation will suffice. there’s nothing wrong with that. quit thinking about it and move on.</p>
<p>Agree.</p>
<p>If you’re more concerned with style and image, buy a Mac. If you want an industry-standard system that can do the same job for far less money, buy a PC.</p>
<p>Don, I refer you to posts #3 and #5.</p>
<p>I just raad them again and they make as little sense the second time around as they did the first. Here’s why: </p>
<p>You didn’t bother saying what Ferrari you mean. I’ll use the F430 at the bottom of the lineup. In case you’re unfamiliar with it, it’s a two-seat, mid-engined sports car with an MSRP of $186,925. The car is a stand-alone model, not based on any other vehicle by Ferrari or its parent, Fiat.</p>
<p>By “Evo”, I’ll assume you mean the Mitsubishi Evolution, a high-performance variant of the Lanser family sedan carrying an MSRP of $32,990 </p>
<p>A Macbook is a laptop computer that is made from, more or less, the same components as any other laptop. It has, however been given an “Apple” brand name and carries a non-standard operating system. The cost is around 33% higher than a standard laptop with comparable hardware, not over three times the cost as shown in the two cars you picked as an analogy. Want to tell me how that holds up?</p>
<p>I used Ferrari as a general term, as I know that everybody knows what a Ferrari is, and what it represents. I didn’t want to confuse anyone with model designations. Also, although a nice 355 will fit the description, in the current market it is only a few days before a nice 430 is in that range :).</p>
<p>The macbook is actually pretty price-competitive with the nicer PC laptops. The macbook pro has a small premium but not $1000</p>
<p>The thing is that when you price compare you have to compare everything and not just the CPU. There are a lot of intangibles that macs have, that are hard to quantify in price.</p>
<p>For example if you do a lot of these cheaper PC builds, they’re likely going to be thicker and/or weigh more (the macbook is relatively thin, and the thinner PC’s cost more )</p>
<p>The magsafe power is also really convenient. It’s ridiculous that PC makers haven’t standardized their power bricks.</p>
<p>Finally there’s all the little features. LED backlighting on the LCD, backlit keyboard, DVI/HDMI output (many budget laptops are still VGA), gigabit ethernet, slot-loading DVD, firewire, etc. These all add up & some are really hard to find on PC’s, let alone budget PC.</p>
<p>And of course there’s OS X, which is frankly miles head of vista in terms of day-to-day usability for me. Maybe Vista works better for you, but I find os X works way better for me.</p>
<p>Don’t forget a couple hundred dollars in software that comes preloaded…</p>
<p>As well as not needing to constantly buy anti-virus subscriptions.</p>