And be done with it
July 12, 2006After much thinking, I have decided to not buy a new (Intel) Macintosh. I have my reasons:
First of all, it seems that hardware quality has been steadily declining the past few years. The various problems with the MacBook (Pro), and apparantly also the PowerMac G5, have made me stop and think twice about paying a premium price for supposedly superior hardware– while in fact it seems Apple computers have just as many problems as other computers do.
Secondly, the number of negative reports concerning Apple’s customer service seem to far outweigh the positive reports. This is a major concern for me; when I pay a lot of money for a product, I demand perfect service, and nothing less.
Thirdly, I seem to be able to live without MacOS X just fine. I sold my iBook a while ago already, and a few weeks ago, the MacBook Pro Apple loaned me also went back to Apple NL. And since then, have I missed OSX/iLife/iWork? I’m sorry, but no. SLED 10 seems to do whatever I want it to do, and I have Windows ready in case I need it. iLife is overrated anyway; Picasa2 outshines iPhoto, iTunes was never my favourite music application due to the pointless iTMS being attached to it (I buy my music in real shops, without weird DRM schemes and the fear of losing all my music), Garageband I have no need for, and iWeb cranks out webpages that refused to load. So, no software reasons either to spend money for a Mac.
And lastly, and this is mostly a culmination of the above: I refuse to pay for design. Because without superior quality, superior customer service, and irreplacable software, what’s left in buying a Mac? Linux is just as secure, and since SLED 10, almost just as slick.
So, I will look out for a nice, used PowerMac G4, and be done with it.
>I have decided to not buy a new (Intel) Macintosh
Personally I am waiting for the Core2 Duo Macbooks and then I will shed the money. My Powerbook G4 has its by-design shortcomings, but in 3.5 years now has worked without problems.
>SLED 10 seems to do whatever I want it to do
Yeah, except offering a bloody FTP application that works. :P
Anyways, you might want to try one of these http://www.gnomefiles.org/subcategory.php?sub_cat_id=44 or the built-in Nautilus FTP functionality.
Comment by Eugenia — July 12, 2006 @ 9:00 pm
How about writing a nice column on the subject for next Sunday? :-)
Comment by Colin — July 13, 2006 @ 1:33 am
I completely agree with your concern with Apples hardware quality in the past few years. I want Apple to get back to making hardware I can trust and that I can gladly refer to other people. I cannot do this with Linux because it is beyond what many people can use and I cannot provide casual support for Linux.
There are several problems for me using any Linux. I need many professional design applications that are lacking in Linux. Linux and Windows have both improved in looks, but for me they are butt ugly. Linux pretends to be Windows and I cannot see any pluses to that. I always hoped some version of Linux would drop the Windows mimicry and move on to something with more potential.
You mentioned Apples customer support being less than it could be. Every report I have seen puts Apple at the top of all computer companies in customer reports by some good margin. I suspect that Apple users complain more loudly because they expect more than many other companies customers; They should expect more. They evidently get more.
roger
Comment by roger — July 16, 2006 @ 6:28 pm