Seriously? Apple vs Microsoft vitriol still exists? Folks using XP and / or Vista that haven't used an Apple operating system since the early 90's are still disparaging Macs as overpriced?

Unbelievable. Look - OSX is now a certified Unix distribution. It has the best UI of any Unix / Linux distro ever, plus 95% of any other distro's power (Darwin leaves out some utilities that I'd like to have, but the open source Darwin Ports project has fixed much of that). Since Apple's shift to Intel processors, there is little to nothing that recommends Windows-based personal computers.

They're not great for gaming - ok fine. But with access to posix-compliant command-line utilities, and Darwin Ports to fill in the gaps, I'm a happy camper.

Ad hominem attacks on Apple's user-base won't change the fact that OS X is worth paying a hardware premium to obtain it. That this fact incenses this forum's members is fascinating to me.

I'm really happy with my Macbook -- I run XP all day long on it!
(and OSX? That's another operating system like Vista, right?)

It's called the placebo effect. It has been proven over and over again with different product types, that a higher price tag and a psychotic ad campaign can truly make people believe as well as change their brains' response to the product which again reinforces the belief.

That's something that doesn't affect me however, so I'll keep using my Vista PC happily as a result.

When it comes to "locked down hardware" i say no thanks. Sorry Steve Jobs apple is not my taste of computers. And definitely not worth the price for a locked down hardware.

PC's will always remain open and thats what i like. Especially if you are a PC Gamer.

Again sorry apple i pass. Last time i read is Apple will be moving away from Intel chipsets to either Nvidia or amd or worst to a more proprietary chipsets.

Apparently there aren't enough CS majors and professors here at TR, if you all hate Apple so much. Seriously, my school's CS department has the highest ratio of Macs of any part of the college, and I promise you none of the people involved are stupid.

As for the scores: I've seen this index several times over the last 10 years, and except for Apple and Dell, the scores haven't really changed that much. Dell's taken a big nosedive since ~2004, and Apple's gone up a bit, but I've never seen it with Apple farther down than 2nd and the average has been mid-to-low 70s for years and years.

EDIT : Wrong thread.

Adi

Edit: this was a reply to #4.

Apple offers Intel high end CPU's everywhere except with the mini.

Mac Pro - Dual 3.2GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5400
MacBook Pro - 2.6GHz Core 2 Duo
MacBook - 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo
iMac - 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo

The glaring omission is a Core 2 Quad offering. I am running a Q6600 in my gaming rig and I would love a similar CPU offered by Apple (in the oft wished for xMac).

Apple does not adopt current GPU tech as fast as it should. I wish AMD and Nvidia would do a better job of offering Mac editions of their current products via retail.

Wow. All this fierce commentary over this little bit of not-really-news? Good thing it's on the internet; put all these people in the same room and someone's gonna get killed.

Yeah, going to a TR BBQ is looking better all the time... when did you say the next one was? ;-)

I have an HP Laptop. I love it. I've had zero problems with it. I would love to use OS-X... once it opens up and has much more support for the programs I like to use (not forced to use due to lack of choice) and games I love will run natively on it. My HP laptop is nothing high end, its a dv6700t with a 45nm 2.5ghz core 2 duo, 4gb of g.skill DDR 2 667 ram, 8400m gs with 256mb dedicated ram, a 200gb 7,200 rpm Hitachi HD, wireless N... and so the list goes on.

Well I bought it for under $1000 shipped. I upgraded the ram, and hard drive. $70 for the ram, about $130 or so for the HD on NewEgg. Thats $1200 total. Lets find a compatible Mac... a mac book, the $1300 version comes with a 2.4ghz core 2 duo, no options for any other processor- sweet. I don't like choices anyways. Integrated graphics (Intel GMA X3100 graphics processor using 144 MB of DDR2 SDRAM shared by main memory). Wow multimedia powerhouse here. And lets compare Apples to err apples here and add $200 for the upgraded ram and hard drive. Thats $1500 for a slower processor and integrated graphics. Phenomenal. I'm not going to lie or kid myself though, my HP laptop is not as well built as my friends $2500 MacBook Pro.

I will say this though, if you don't know much about computers and don't know how to install an OS from scratch a Mac may be a better choice. My laptop was significantly faster once I installed Vista Ultimate from scratch with updated drivers. Oh and my friend is jealous of the looks (echo, imprint finish- standard) of my HP, its got a bad ass black design on the cover. Much more interesting then a finger print attracting bland plastic or drab aluminum cases.

I've only had good experiences with Vista and I started using it four months after it came out. On my laptop the difference between Vista and XP is unnoticeable.

Apple does not have vastly superior hardware. Anyone who says other wise is just... ignorant. Hardware is hardware is hardware. The same cpu's and chipsets found in Mac's can also be found in (Gasp!) run of the mill PC's. Unfxckingbelievable!

Last but not least a Mac is a PC. A PC is a personal computer. Macs are personal computers. And guess what? An iPod is an mp3 player...
So don't believe all the marketing B.S. out there. Do your research and decide for yourself. All fanboi's are ignorant jackasses.

This study passes over a great many people. I am dissatisfied with Apple's business practices, and so choose not to own one. I prefer to encourage and promote the competition that exists in the PC hardware industry. I don't have to buy Microsoft hardware to run Windows, but OS X ties me to one company. Of course, I am not counted in these statistics. You have to actually like Apple enough to abandon compatibility with the vast majority of the world and buy a system that is controlled top to bottom by one company before you are asked if you are satisfied with them. Apple purchasers are typically very satisfied with the company before they even receive a system. That's part of why there are so few of them compared to Windows users, and why the numbers in this study are skewed.

I can't wait until Macs get targeted with viruses and spyware, probably once they get more market share. "Apple will be like wtf do we do now? People are breaking our OS against our will!" They won't know what to do because "Macs don't get viruses" and we will all stand back and laugh, except maybe Adi.

Why would Apple users be so happy with their machines given that they are basically using the same parts PCs use?
They use generally the lower speed Intel chips and not very high end video cards....is it just OSX that makes for such happy campers?

apple marketing never fails to generate attention, no matter how meta

As far as PC hardware goes #135. There is no such thing "Windows hardware" it is what it is. You can run Linux/Windows/dos/Live CD's, anything you can think of will run.

But i see where you coming from. All this is just marketing to make it seem its "windows hardware" but it is not.

The switch to Mac was "forced" upon me at work about 5 years ago now. I was not one bit happy. Macs are for people that, while maybe not actually having an ounce of artistic talent, want to appear that they have artistic talent, so they by a Mac.

30 minutes into my Mac/OSX experience, I was sold. The use of OSX for the work that I do (Graphic Design) was so much more intuitive and workflow friendly. My wife still gives me grief for the years I spent bad-mouthing Macs (in my young adult years, when I used to know everything).

Vista has sealed the deal for me. I know, I know. Blame Vista. Sure, it could be poor driver support from the hardware manufacturers or maybe after using Windows for 20 years I just suddenly forgot how it works...

But I really would say, to each his own. I know I'm not representative of the computing needs of the masses. For some beginners/novices, Windows is better, for some, OSX. For some pros Windows is better, for some, OSX. I still have a Windows box that I use for gaming and file serving. *shrug*

Attacking a person or a person's character because of the equipment or software they use just seems.....petty...

in other news.. "Hammer" appears to have higher satisfaction than "Toolkit". Sure, hammer is missing all the flexibility of toolkit, however respondents didnt appear to understand this.

"uh, my hammer has never stripped a screw" one male Hammer supporter noted, and giggled a little. "exactly", another stated. "your toolkit is crazy.. its always stripping screws".

One toolkit user attempted to clarify things to the hammer lovers... "actually my toolkit has a hammer also, and it has never stripped a screw. you probably just dont know how to use the screwdriver."

Apple is for people who are a bit too .. er, dumb to use Windows.

Especially when you have people in the Apple camp who claim 'If you don't get a bluescreen every week, you're lying!'

Which is why I wouldn't be surprised that the like Apple products. Dummy proof.

I have had good experiences with their support. I remember one time all I called in for was some information regarding warranty (the laptop I was working on was passed the coverage period according to the site) and after verifying that it was expired he proceeded to help me... I wasn't even interested in help, the problem was hardware and I just needed clarification but he was more than happy to give support on the item to rule out any software issues.

Have you ever had to tell tech support that you don't want help? It just made me feel weird.

For me computer use breaks down like this.

Linux for programming and server tasks.
OSX for web, email, photo editing other misc desktop tasks.
Windows for video games.

I'm very satisfied with all of them for what I use them for.

For a bunch of supposedly-intelligent people, there sure is alot of "APpLE SUX!!!!!!!!111 lolololololol" going on around here.

This phenomenon was heightened by failing geforce laptops.. courtesy of nvidia for that nice work.

"ignorance is bliss"

Does anyone seriously dispute that Dell's home user support services are atrocious? HP isn't as bad, and Lenovo is pretty damn good at a corporate level in my experience, but for home users, is there really any discussion over whether PC providers have given user support a regularly subpar experience?

You can say what you will about the level of knowledge/skill/expectations of Apple users (for which there's always some anecdotal truth), but the fact remains that Apple strives to offer a good experience for consumers and they have largely succeeded. I don't see that transferring to the corporate world, but with Apple's consumer margins (+30%) I don't see them too worried about that.

Jobs' legendary reality distortion field

^_^

i wonder what would happen if you combined steve ballmer and steve jobs.

Here are two sides of a coin that could explain away most of this:

1. When people pay large amounts of money for something, they tend to either research the purchase very carefully first, or do it for some other reason unrelated to the actual product, such as signaling to their social group. These people would naturally be happier with their purchase, since they were either certain it would meet their functional needs, or they obtained status from buying it. Hence, the Mac owner.

2. When people buy some commodity product at a cheaper price, they may not research the purchase as carefully and target price instead, and the resulting product is likely to suffer in performance or quality somewhere, and there are no external benefits to compensate. These people would tend to be less happy overall with the purchase; they wanted a fire-and-forget applicance and instead got a maintenance item with quality issues. Hence, the PC owner.

Apple are in danger of throwing it all away if they keep on releasing beta firmwares for their products though. I think they've been skating on thin ice for a while now, and they should hold back and concentrate on quality for a while.

As for the PC scores, surely that is down to people having to readjust to Vista. It's probably not even the quality of Vista that's to blame, just the readjustment. People don't like learning new things when they weren't expecting it.

I wonder where Lenovo ranks, that seems like a more comparable company to Apple.

I got to wonder about this too.

Higher customer satisfaction is not necessarily the same thing as saying that they have less problems.