<p>I'm 18, moving into college a lil under 2 weeks from now. Anyway, it seems like any time i'm on facebook if I see someone updating their status something to the effect of "new laptop!" someone will comment and say "oh yeah? what type?" and then they'll be like... "macc :)" and I wanna throw up. I mean yeah I don't doubt macs are fine laptops, and I don't know a ton about computers... but I just feel like they're overhyped and overpriced.</p>
<p>Discuss.</p>
<p>I agree that they are overhyped and overpriced, but even as a loyal PC user, it’s easy to see that macs do have benefits. So if they have the extra money to burn and they feel that a Mac suits their needs, then go for it. Everyone is a victim of advertising at some point, and even if they aren’t, everyone likes to splurge on something even if it isn’t worth it once in awhile.</p>
<p>Just about anyone who uses a Mac exclusively for a week prefers it. They might not end up switching–Apple doesn’t offer a perfect machine for every user–but the integration of hardware and software really makes a difference. It’s the little things, like a sleep mode that sips power, and quickly wakes up flawlessly. It’s things like the glass trackpad, which is really the best on the market. It’s things like 10 hour battery life–6.5 in the real world while playing video.</p>
<p>I’d estimate that when looking around a lecture hall, about 40% are Mac.</p>
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<p>I agree.</p>
<p>I also estimate that by looking around a lecture hall, about 30% are on FaceBook, 50% are on AIM/Gtalk/Instant Messenging Service, 20% are idle due to their user falling asleep, and 5% actually taking notes. The FaceBook/IMing ones aren’t mutually exclusive either.</p>
<p>We need to start a new thread where users collect these statistics. Could be fun :D</p>
<p>/Off Topic</p>
<p>Your friends are newbs. (To up the nerdy talk in this thread 10 fold)</p>
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<p>Don’t be a fanboy.</p>
<p>Mac is a status symbol nowadays, really.</p>
<p>Here’s a good example of what I’m talking about. It’s not a scientific poll of course, but it’s a good anecdotal article on a Windows developer’s switch to Mac, running Visual Studio through VMWare.</p>
<p>[David</a> Alison’s Blog: Switching from Windows to Mac - One Year Later](<a href=“http://www.davidalison.com/2009/03/switching-from-windows-to-mac-one-year.html]David”>Switching from Windows to Mac - One Year Later)</p>
<p>[David</a> Alison’s Blog: Switching from Windows to Mac - Two Years Later](<a href=“http://www.davidalison.com/2010/02/switching-to-mac-two-years-later.html]David”>Switching to Mac - Two Years Later)</p>
<p>It’s pretty obvious that nick scheu will follow steve job’s balls on a colonization mission on Venus.</p>
<p>Enough mindless debate, lets throw down some benchmarking results.</p>
<p>@xSidx1337
W T F?</p>
<p>Apple had made and does make some ****ty products. Apple TV is one. The old Mighty Mouse is another. Mac mini is about $100 overpriced, even factoring in the higher prices Apple products are worth.</p>
<p>Let’s stop all this name calling and focus on the products in question.</p>
<p>Macs are overrated IMO BUT they’re are nice. I probably would get one somewhere down the line but for now, I’m content with my Gateway Laptop.</p>
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<p>The people that the OP are talking about don’t care or understand the hardware. They buy Macs because they are a status symbol, because they look good, and because Apple products are in. In high school my econ class had to bring in laptops to work on a project. 15 had MBs, 0 of those MB owners knew the slightest bit about computers. One girl actually brought her Macbook Air. I resisted the urge to mock her until she cried.</p>
<p>I also agree that incoming college students do buy macs and on a quite frequent basis, but having purchased a mac myself, i feel that it was a wise investment. I paid about $1300 for a laptop that is made of a solid piece of aluminum and runs incredibly well. I feel like compared to other PCs i could’ve purchased it was a great deal. I mainly wanted a laptop that i knew could last 4 years through college and all i hear about online is how people continue to use their macs well over 4 years and are still happy with the experience. I understand that no computer is future-proof, but I feel like if your main objective is to buy a computer with durability and power, a mac is the way to go.</p>
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<p>I’m well-established as a PC person on here, but even I have to admit I’d go for the MacBook Air if it weren’t so expensive. In fact, if it were at the same price point as the 13" MBP with the student discount, I’d probably be using that right now instead of my Asus UL30A… They should have made a base model with a 32GB SSD to save some money.</p>
<p>For me, thin+light+mobile = <3</p>
<p>I feel like half the people that do get macs get them for no good reason. Let me stop here quickly and say, yes I did purchase one. However, I purchased one not only because I’m going to college in two weeks, but also because I’m going into a major where a lot of the industry uses macs. (Broadcast Journalism/Production). The options and features for video and photos on macs are very good compared to PCs (although PCs are not too bad with them either).</p>
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<p>Truthfully, I never found this to be an issue on the whole Mac/PC thing. When I did Journalism, I did all my work on InDesign and Photoshop, and ignored the standard creative programs of both PCs and Macs The Mac programs are still better than PC, no doubt, but for people like me who edit RAW pictures on a daily basis, let’s face it, both suites are crap compared to Adobe’s Creative Suite.</p>
<p>True. However, right now, I don’t have the money to purchase the entire Adobe creative suite… Granted, I could have used some of the money to buy this computer to buy that, but it still would have been more. So for me, this meets my needs right now.</p>
<p>In addition to marketing:
Macs appeal to the common consumer who know normal computing. Macs require little maintenance and they don’t suffer AS MANY physical problems as PCs. They are willing to pay for a NEAR-perfect machine. (I’m not a fan-boy)</p>
<p>Many people hate PCs because as a standard consumer they bought a $600 Dell or HP which comes with bloatware, low battery life, and physical problems. An example is my dad who had to get 2 new batteries+chargers because the Dell sucked. And my mom recently got a whole LOT of viruses on that Dell which is running like a zombie now.</p>
<p>Now there are good new PC’s but they aren’t as mainstream as the ones you see on TV. When was the last time you saw an Asus or Envy commercial?</p>
<p>And common consumers don’t play video games. Which I do, so I run a PC.</p>
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<p>So true. Ultimately, many of the problems people have with PCs come from lack of common computer knowledge (ie, how to protect oneself from viruses) and overly cheap computers (you can get a decent machine for $600 or $800 or even less on sale, but a $300 computer is going to give someone who knows nothing about computers a lot of problems).</p>