Community Newsletter: Q&A: MacBook or PC laptop for college?

Metalfan's right, like it or not...

To the person who stated "obviously you do not ... art ..." With respect, you *obviously* don't buy too much professional art / 2-3D design / film production / music production hardware and software nowadays lol. It's all available for Windows both in 32bit and 64bit formats which is more than we can say about OS X which is completely excluded from the long-time benchmark program, (Adobe's) Autodesk CAD. So far as 2 and 3d graphic design, one of the most serious professional programs completely excludes OS X and the most widely used other one, a program called (Adobe's) MAYA that creates most of the amazing graphics we've seen in films and the brilliant Pixar 3D-like cartoons is limited to only the 32 bit program for OS X, whereas MAYA is programmed on and for both the 32 and the 64 bit Windows versions. The list goes on, but my point is ...

... people have the wildest notions about the 21st century Apple computers. The game completely changed when Apple adopted Intel CPU's exclusively and did away with their old PowerPC CPU'S (which were made primarily by IBM). Nowadays the hardware in an Apple box - from the technical viewpoint - is the same as you'll find in a Windows box - CPU's made by Intel and GPU's made by both ATI and nVidia. And I'll support what metalfan said about this hardware - Apple's complete product line falls far short of the cutting-edge, highest level hardware you'll find in Windows boxes. Apple doesn't offer any of the new generation Quad Core AMD and Intel CPU's, nor does it offer any of the higher level new generation GPU's from ATI or nVidia.

The hardware carried is quite abbreviated in the bargin, such that Windows-based hardware offers the full menu from bottom to top from the big players: Intel, AMD, nVidia and ATI, whereas Apple only offers a small slice of this hardware and not nearly the newest and highest quality, most mission-critical for everyone from professionals in architecture and fashion design to 3D graphic design.

Apple boxes are gorgeous to look at and exceptionally well-made - and their monitors just like HP's Dell's Samsung's etc hi-def WUGSX monitors are top-notch - this much is fact. And very few buyers are willing to reach for the WUGSX monitors yet at a premium of $500 over WGSX LCD 19 to 21" monitors. Apple doesn't offer the consumer the choice, so there's a few hundred bucks premium explained right there.

But there's nothing inside those Apple boxes that's any different than Windows-designed boxes, except the range of hardware is far smaller, cutting off both the bottom and top qualities.

But, really, you know who makes the same boxes as Apple nowadays in terms of artistic and forward look, and in terms of premium pricing? Sony's (Windows-based) Vaio line is so similar in looks that it's amazing (and it's equally overpriced for what's inside as Apple's product line is). The only thing that's different are the two operating systems - each has its own costs and benefits.

I sense that the day of reckoning is drawing near. Apple must somehow change its strategy to survive. Whether this means merging with an Asus or a Google, we don't know yet. Otherwise as it stands, they must begin selling lots more boxes into the SMB and enterprise markets where a sharp pencil gets the order - they've reached just about every upper middle class, American spender that exists in their traditional and limited niche catagory. It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out in the coming few years.

I don't mean to close on a dreary note, but as long as we're discussing Apple's big picture future strategies for their computer line, we all expect Steve Jobs to pass sooner than later due to his recurring bout with cancer. He's been such a powerful force in the industry since he and Gates were kids in the 1970's, and the absolute and total driving force behind Apple, no one can replace him - that much is certain, he is one of a kind. His closest colleague in the industry remains the former CTO of Sun Micro who now is of course the current CEO of Google. Those two firms' Boards are cross-pollinated to the maximum and life would be so much easier for Google if they owned their own OEM when the Google Operating System's ready for showtime.

Maybe the merger concept isn't so far off, after all?