Re: Mossberg's not only a fan of Macs

On Thu, 27 Dec 2007 12:19:34 -0600, Snit wrote
(in article <C3993AC6.9F2A4%CSMA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>):

"gimme_this_gimme_that@xxxxxxxxx" <gimme_this_gimme_that@xxxxxxxxx> stated
in post b7819667-703d-435e-8428-1fe801674faf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx on
12/27/07 11:04 AM:

Mossberg writes:

I still recommend the iMac over the XPS One for several reasons other
than hardware design. First, there's the software. I believe Apple's
operating system, Leopard, is superior to the new Windows Vista
operating system, the only choice on the XPS One. In my tests, a
reboot of the XPS One took more than twice as long as a reboot of the
iMac.

Yes, but once it finally boots don't the apps launch half a second faster?

Do they? Every Vista system I've used has seemed somewhat
sluggish, especially compared to XP running on the same
hardware. Is there actual data to back this up, or are you
being facetious?

And I regard Apple's built-in software, especially the iLife
multimedia suite, as superior to the Dell's built-in software, which
includes a group of Adobe multimedia programs that are less well
integrated and more complex.

As far as I know there simply is *no* suite on *any* platform that serves
the general user as well as does iLife (for such multi-media needs).

Depends upon the "general user" I suppose. After having iLife
installed on multiple macs for several years now, it's a nice
package, but I very, very rarely use any of it apart from
iTunes, which I suppose technically isn't part of iLife anymore.

I've played with Garage Band, and it was interesting for a brief
while, moreso to the kids actually.

I used iDVD and iMovie for two projects, and only really got the
results I wanted after reading Pogue's "missing manual" book on
them, because some of the dirty little secrets of getting good
quality results, especially for slideshows pressed to DVD are
not covered at all in the pathetically thin docs that come with
them, but pogue explained it all in a couple paragraphs and
saved me tons of hours figuring it out.

iPhoto is pretty much garbage, unless you're a soccer mom that
can't figure out how to turn on redeye reduction on your point &
shoot camera on, and are too stupid to use a real image editing
program. I wound up springing for Photoshop and Lightroom, and
couldn't be happier. For those less willing to spend that much,
or with more modest needs, Pixelmator at $59 is incredibly good,
I have several friends and family members that use it instead,
and no zero people that use iPhoto after the first week of mac
ownership.

iWeb is a joke really, and it's far subpar compared to something
even as basic (yet more functional) as RapidWeaver.

They all make for nice eye-candy to be sure, and certainly help
in making Mac sales. In most cases they are far better than the
crapware bundled with a "Media Center" PC that tries to compete
with it as well.

Yet, for each category that iLife tries to fill, with the
possible exception of GarageBand, where I /think/ there are
competing products but at much higher prices (but I don't fool
with it enough to know one way or the other), Mac users are
blessed with better products across the board, albeit not for
free.

So, if you want to perform very simple tasks in each category
only very rarely, iLife is great, and you can't beat the price
for a "media *** for dummies" package, but for the "general
user" that actually cares about these things on a daily basis,
it's not the bees knees like folks like to claim.

TANSTAAFL still applies.


The XPS One, unlike the iMac, also came with a bunch of craplets --
trial software like Yahoo Music and come-ons for online services like
NetZero.

Second, the iMac, unlike the Dell, is immune to the vast majority of
malicious software floating around, so you don't have to run annoying,
memory-hogging security programs. The first time I turned on the
beautiful Dell I was met with a warning that I had "multiple security
problems," and was led to install a security suite in a complex and
tedious process.

Yup... amazingly annoying.

Yeah, Dell makes too much money from S/W vendors for the mere
act of dropping turds on the hard drive during the factory
install process, clearly. However, if the first thing you do is
wipe the drive clean, have a USB key or other "offline" media
made up in advance with all the updates, virus, spyware, and
ad-blocking/registry watching stuff you need, plus a real web
browser, and you do a fresh install and install them all
/before/ you plug in a network cable or enter a WPA key for
wireless, you can manage to have a moderately decent "out of the
box + brain effort" system in a few hours. That is, if you just
have to run windows.

If you can live with Linux, the wipe/reinstall time is much
shorter, for those configs where you can't convince dell's
website or sales droid to sell you one without windows.


Third, defying popular perception, the iMac costs less than the XPS
One. The base, 20-inch iMac costs $1,199 -- about $300 less. And even
if you double the memory, and add a wireless keyboard and mouse to
match the Dell, it's still $1,399 -- $100 less than the base XPS One
(though Dell is currently running a sale that wipes out the $100 gap).
Even the cheapest iMac has a dedicated video card with its own memory,
something the base XPS One lacks.

Again: the idea Macs cost more than comparable machines simply does not hold
true when you look at the data.

It depends upon what you compare against for "comparable". If
the iMac doesn't do it for you, and you don't want a laptop,
you're pretty much fucked trying to find a Mac for the desktop
with expansion and no integral monitor for a good price, because
the Mac Mini is a piece of *** other than for burying it in a
bookcase for some sort of automation project, and the Mac Pro is
in-fucking-sane priced. 90% of the parts are generic clone
hardware + an Intel mobo over AMD you typically see, and the
markup is like 400%. Yes, other vendors sell "workstation" and
"gaming" systems with similar goodies for similar price points,
but if you don't want all that ***, but the iMac doesn't do it
for you for whatever reason, you're pretty much up *** creek
without a paddle. There is a desktop box missing in the product
line, and it leaves a massive whole which is where all these
"comparable" issues pop up. the existence of this Dell box is a
red herring, and it only solves the trivial price-point dispute
for "all-in-one" PCs, versus iMac.

Plus, while Dell offers only 20-inch screens on the XPS One, Apple has
higher-end iMacs with huge 24-inch screens for the same price, or
less, than the higher-end Dells.

Still, if you want a stylish Windows Vista machine that runs well and
won't cost a fortune, the XPS One fits the bill, despite its unlikely
heritage.

The XPS is good - for a Window machine.

Really? Why? Because Mossberg (who is technically no more
bright than Dvorak, just known for writing heaps of ***, which
may or may not be true, just like Dvorak) spent five minutes
with one?

Dell parts quality has gone to hell in recent years, and it was
never their strong suit. They made up for that in the past by
giving away tech support back when everybody else charged for it
(late 80s), and then offering on-site support for free when
everybody else charged for it. But through all that time, the
quality of the components was never "stellar". Of course today,
everybody uses *** components, so there are no clear winners,
outside of pro-level server hardware, in which Apple isn't
considered a serious player outside of a few "token"
installations Apple butters up to use as examples.

Let's see how the Dell all-in-one holds up over 3 years or so,
or even the first 6 months.

The iMac, however, likely would be
just as good if not better of a Windows machine - and it comes with OS X,
which is labeled, above, as "superior".

If you had to have a box to run Windows and windows only, I'd be
tempted (much as it pains me) to pick the Dell, simply because
Dell will have actually spent more than $50 testing Windows on
the platform, and have a real incentive to fix any windows
related driver/hardware/firmware issues when it hits the field.
Apple on the other hand, has no real incentive to spend a lot of
effort on such things, unless it gets /real/ loud in the tech
press.



--
Lefty
All of God's creatures have a place..........
..........right next to the potatoes and gravy.
See also: http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/images/iProduct.gif

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