While I somewhat disagree with part of this statement, I shall leave it for another day.

 

Notice the whole OP post is based solely on hardware - it misses the point about Macs entirely. People that give them a fair shot know why they are so good, and don't need to explain the benefits to those that don't want to hear it.

 

Ah, yes, now I see on Apple's spec page they do list the W3530 as the standard config processor. Thanks for the info. (I had just searched on Nehalem, which is technically correct nomenclature, but NewEgg has them as Bloomfields which is also correct but more specific. Odd that Apple calls out the Westmere by name, even though it too is part of the Nehalem family. Oh well.)

So yeah, NewEgg has:
2.8GHz W3530 - $320
3.2GHz W3565 - $600 ($280 increase, compared to Apple's $400)
3.33GHz W3680 - $1070 ($750 increase, compared to Apple's $1200)

Similarly, for the 8/12 core machines, from NewEgg:
2 x 2.4GHz E5620 - $780
2 x 2.66GHz X5650 - $2048 ($1268 increase, compared to Apple's $1500)
2 x 2.93 GHz X5670 - $2920 ($2140 increase, compared to Apple's $2700)

But just to get an idea of NewEgg vs system integrator, I looked at Dell's Precision workstation - going from a single E5620 to a single X5670 is a $1450 increase. So I will assume that if they offered two in their box, the cost would be $2900, which is actually $200 more than Apple. And going from two E5620s to two X5670s on the HP z800 workstation is a whopping $3380 extra!

Perhaps instead of saying "Apples are overpriced compared to DIY via NewEgg" people should just say "ALL system integrators (Apple, Dell, HP, IBM) are overpriced compared to DIY via NewEgg." Which has been true from the very beginning, and isn't really news. Certainly nothing worth all the flames, snark, etc.

 

Eh? "Why bother?" Because it's educational. The more we know, the better off we all are.

Anyway, while I do see some articles talking about the Toshiba being 43nm, nowhere can I find any reference to the Kingston SNVP325-S2/512GB's lithography. Not even on Kingston's website. Is there much of a difference between the two? Toshiba is claiming speeds on the THNS512GG8BBAA that are slightly higher than what Kingston claims.

Hmm, just read a review of the Kingston unit, stating that it uses Toshiba TH58NVG7D7EBAK0 memory chips, the same ones used in the 43nm Toshiba THNS256GG8BBAA.
Kingston info - http://www.storagereview.com/kingston_ssdn...eview_snvp325s2
Toshiba info - http://www.thewindowscenter.com/showthread...te-Drive-Review

Looking at the above two reviews - as far as I can tell, the $1400 Kingston unit is a rebranded Toshiba unit (identical componentry except for stickers) - which Apple sells for $1400. Am I missing something?

 

I would like to know why they are better putting costs aside even assuming they are the same price, why are macs better than non-macs? Not being sarcastic, honestly would like to know?

 

You have just seen the face of every butthurt mac fanboy posting in this thread

 

FTW!

Another thing about Apple Fan Bois are they are the same people who will bitch at their children for wanting to wear designer clothes. Hypocritical? But if you dont mind paying way above current market price for 4 yr old technology then by all means!

 

Mac hardware is overpriced.

Mac software is for people who do heavy photo/video editing, have no idea how to do anything technical (they are more simple if you aren't smart enough or don't care to figure out how to operate a PC properly), or want a reason to feel more important than other people.

I give all my friends that are into macs crap about it just because I can. My only big qualm with them is the lack of support for... anything but their stuff. I love my ipod because it syncs with Itunes, which is the best at organizing my music, but I'd never buy an iPhone because Android can do 99% of the same stuff and you don't have to pay for all the apps, and you don't have Steve Jobs looking over your shoulder when you write one to tell you if its ok or not. I'd never buy one of their PCs because they're just too overpriced. Same way I'd never buy an Escalade when I could get a Tahoe/Suburban with almost all the same features for way cheaper.

 

I'd never say macs are "better," they are the same thing running what I would consider more specalized software.

Apples biggest advantage over M$ is that they control the hardware going into their machines thus can write code specifically to that hardware. M$ has to write general code that encompasses a bunch of different items. I'd argue that M$'s job is actually harder than apples but that's another story.

Basically it comes down to OSX being (IMO) much more stable then the windows equivelent. Also, since it runs based on unix, it is inherently more secure (not to say it's unbeatable).


And yes, you do pay for the apple "look and build quality." I'll admit it, I think they make the best laptop hands down. It might not be the most top of the line mobile desktop gamer nerd laptop (yes I fall into the gamer nerd group so don't give me crap about it) in the world, but damn it looks / feels / runs flawlessly. Tell that to the ugly plastic dell laptops that you can bend with your handss.

 

Exactly, and that's what people don't realize or understand.

Compare a Mac Pro to some kind of dell or whoever's server / professional workstation. They will be very similarly priced. Compare it with newegg and of course that will be cheaper -- it doesn't come with any software, depending on the hardware just a 30-60 day warranty (unless it's EVGA with their uber lifetime warranty $$), and no tech support. That stuff might not mean anything to the average user, but for large companies it means everything.

And I'm not sure why no one has brought this up, the average person isn't going to buy a friggen Mac Pro. The average person would buy a mac mini / Imac both of which are MUCH cheaper and are designed for the average user. Lots of bias in this thread.