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Old 02-19-2010, 10:56 PM   #48
jibril
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dmaul1114 View Post
True. I only have my work laptop at home and will probably not have a desktop again.

But my point still stands. They won't put out a mid spec'd laptop either. I can buy a windows laptop from Dell, HP or any other number of companies for $500 or so that will do everything I need for 5+ years as I don't need much power.

I can't do that with Apple as they won't put out lower spec'd laptops at lower prices, and I'm not willing to pay a higher price for extra power I don't need, design elegance and build quality that I don't care about etc. Price and performance are all I care about.
Well, Apple is about good profit margins, not chasing marketshare. I think before they do that, they go out and make iPods, Phones, the next thing because they just don't have enough quality engineers to do everything - opportunity cost is the term? Idk, I'm just a programmer, not an economist.

I'm not saying your point isn't worthwhile, just the reality of the company. IIRC, Japanese car manufacturers, back when they were just starting to the 1980s or 1990s, would gladly sacrifice profit for marketshare...

So there are 2 valid points of view on that topic.

I guess most people would like to just play with OSX without getting the Apple hardware. If Apple would license out OSX for a worthwhile fee, that could work, but the first thing Jobs did when he stepped in as iCEO was nix the 3rd party OEMs making Macs since he said it was cannibalizing sales. With lawsuits against anyone trying to make Hackintoshes and selling them commercially up to this day (with legit copies of OSX), I think Apple is deadset against the Microsoft route.

Personally, I can't blame them. IMO, there isn't room for 2 Microsofts, they'll get to commodity status in no time ripping each other a new one. And Linux is waiting in the wings as a 3rd player. OTOH, one doing a Microsoft Model and the other going for software/hardware integration route is nice because I personally like the trends Apple kicks off They weren't the first mp3 player, but just really raised the bar (as well as tying the player to an easy store...). They weren't the first smartphone, but again, just raised the bar with the iPhone.

Without the iPhone, there wouldn't be Android imo, which is pretty neat in itself. I can't wait to see what gadget Apple does next.

I spent the last decade playing with Linux and last 5 years playing with Ubuntu specifically -- but now I'm in a mood where I want to come home and just have things work I'll be back to Ubuntu or some other Linux distro if they really advance one day (what Ubuntu was to Linux, they need for Ubuntu now). Windows 7/OSX ftw atm.
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