Ratio of PC to Mac Sales Narrowing to Lowest Level in Over a Decade • Hacker News Board

Re: Ratio of PC to Mac Sales Narrowing to Lowest Level in Over a Decade

#21

Post by freehunter » Tue, Jul 03, 2012, 10:41 PM UTC

grecy wrote: post #16

jsz0 wrote: post #5

Easy to understand why this is happening. When Vista launched you could walk into a store and buy it on a PC that could barely run it. Mostly due to lack of RAM and bloat ware. Sure it was cheap but not a good value. A $350 borderline unusable computer is no bargain. I think people are starting I catch onto this. Things are better now in the PC market bur if you got burnt in the last few years the take away lesson is…

> A $350 borderline unusable computer is no bargain. I think people are starting I catch onto this. I agree 100%. Many friends and family have cheap and crap laptops that continually crash, and last only a year or two before being replaced (for another cheap, crap laptop) As time has gone on, you can see they are slowly realizing this is no bargain, and are starting to look at the expensive end, and towards Apple.

The problem is people buy cheap, crap laptops, notice they are cheap and crap, and hear that the Macs are not cheap but also not crap. They then run out and buy a quality Macbook for $2300, completely ignoring the fact that it's not that Apple makes a better product, it's that Apple makes a product that exists in a market these people have never even considered.

Quality Windows laptops exist. I sold my HP Envy for almost as much as I bought it for after a year of solid use. It cost me $1000 brand new, and there was almost nothing the Macbook could offer besides OSX that could do anything but match it.

Yes, Macbooks are better than $300 laptops. But you know what is also better than a $300 laptop? A $1000 laptop, and the extra $1300 in your pocket. Your Dodge Neon is a piece of junk, true, but before you shell out cash for BMW 5-series, why not take a look at the Ford Fusion?

Re: Ratio of PC to Mac Sales Narrowing to Lowest Level in Over a Decade

#22

Post by Danieru » Tue, Jul 03, 2012, 10:42 PM UTC

dantheman wrote: post #13

olalonde wrote: post #6

It's kind of sad that Apple has virtually no competition for its MacBook Pro and MacBook Air in terms of build quality (last time I checked, I'd be happy to be proved wrong). Nowadays, I barely care about "hard" specs (CPU, memory, etc.) when shopping for a laptop, what I really care about is: low heating, low weight, thinness, long battery life and strong build quality. Although I'd rather use Linux than OS X, it's…

Thinkpads are still quite nice.

Plus no one will ever steal it.

I've had two people say to my face "Wow, that's an old computer".

Which is silly since it is the world's coolest looking laptop.

Re: Ratio of PC to Mac Sales Narrowing to Lowest Level in Over a Decade

#23

Post by taligent » Tue, Jul 03, 2012, 10:43 PM UTC

grecy wrote: post #16

jsz0 wrote: post #5

Easy to understand why this is happening. When Vista launched you could walk into a store and buy it on a PC that could barely run it. Mostly due to lack of RAM and bloat ware. Sure it was cheap but not a good value. A $350 borderline unusable computer is no bargain. I think people are starting I catch onto this. Things are better now in the PC market bur if you got burnt in the last few years the take away lesson is…

> A $350 borderline unusable computer is no bargain. I think people are starting I catch onto this. I agree 100%. Many friends and family have cheap and crap laptops that continually crash, and last only a year or two before being replaced (for another cheap, crap laptop) As time has gone on, you can see they are slowly realizing this is no bargain, and are starting to look at the expensive end, and towards Apple.

And seriously what is going on with the trackpad situation on PCs ?

I am not joking that PowerBooks from 5+ years ago wipe the floor with every single PC laptop I've used so far. Is it really that hard to get the texture and responsiveness right ?

Re: Ratio of PC to Mac Sales Narrowing to Lowest Level in Over a Decade

#24

Post by ladzoppelin » Tue, Jul 03, 2012, 10:52 PM UTC

feralmoan wrote: post #18

AlexMuir wrote: post #10

PCs are now fucked in the moneyed mass market. The 'PC' brand is sunk - PC is to computer what Blackberry is to phone - you'll get one from your company, but you covet an iPhone/Macbook. This is thanks to: a) The sub-par cheap plastic laptops/netbooks that have been thrown out for the last three years at $300. They were barely usable at first, and now the keys have fallen off the keyboard and the speakers don't work.…

I think on the Windows side of things there's been a huge drop in the quality of PC games which is often overlooked, contributing to an overall degradation of the market. I used to only build rigs and run windows for games and dual boot into real work mode (ubuntu), but with such low quality content on PC nowdays its hard to even justify installing windows let alone building a PC. *disclaimer: I'm neither old or jade…

"low quality content on PC" is completely wrong. Some of the best programs around are desktop software. Samplitude, Sublime 2, Studio One 2 are a brief few. What happens in your circle of friends does not represent anything and is one of the reasons why I think Facebook is so unhealthy for the younger generation. BTW if you do real pro audio/video work you are not going to be using Linux simply because most "Pro" audio/video does not come in a Linux version.

Re: Ratio of PC to Mac Sales Narrowing to Lowest Level in Over a Decade

#25

Post by Variance » Tue, Jul 03, 2012, 10:56 PM UTC

dantheman wrote: post #13

olalonde wrote: post #6

It's kind of sad that Apple has virtually no competition for its MacBook Pro and MacBook Air in terms of build quality (last time I checked, I'd be happy to be proved wrong). Nowadays, I barely care about "hard" specs (CPU, memory, etc.) when shopping for a laptop, what I really care about is: low heating, low weight, thinness, long battery life and strong build quality. Although I'd rather use Linux than OS X, it's…

Thinkpads are still quite nice.

I have a T420s with an SSD, and it's a charm. Light but solid. A refreshingly honest appearance, too, especially if you like the more boxy and somewhat cyber-industrial look that Thinkpads have. A little less gimmicky and passe than minimalism (and not just Apple's minimalism) tends to be.

Re: Ratio of PC to Mac Sales Narrowing to Lowest Level in Over a Decade

#26

Post by Variance » Tue, Jul 03, 2012, 10:58 PM UTC

Danieru wrote: post #22

dantheman wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thinkpads are still quite nice.

Plus no one will ever steal it. I've had two people say to my face "Wow, that's an old computer". Which is silly since it is the world's coolest looking laptop.

Does this mean that Thinkpads are retro now? People always seem surprised that my thinkpad has a trackpoint-nub-thing and yet is less than a year old.

Re: Ratio of PC to Mac Sales Narrowing to Lowest Level in Over a Decade

#27

Post by grecy » Tue, Jul 03, 2012, 11:05 PM UTC

freehunter wrote: post #21

grecy wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A $350 borderline unusable computer is no bargain. I think people are starting I catch onto this. I agree 100%. Many friends and family have cheap and crap laptops that continually crash, and last only a year or two before being replaced (for another cheap, crap laptop) As time has gone on, you can see they are slowly realizing this is no bargain, and are starting to look at the expensive end, and towards Apple.

The problem is people buy cheap, crap laptops, notice they are cheap and crap, and hear that the Macs are not cheap but also not crap. They then run out and buy a quality Macbook for $2300, completely ignoring the fact that it's not that Apple makes a better product, it's that Apple makes a product that exists in a market these people have never even considered. Quality Windows laptops exist. I sold my HP Envy for al…

> Your Dodge Neon is a piece of junk, true, but before you shell out cash for BMW 5-series, why not take a look at the Ford Fusion?

Excellent point.

I'm not saying people that are sick of cheap/crap laptops need or must go and buy an Apple product. I'm saying they start to realize buying something more expensive works out better in the long run.

When looking at something more expensive, Apple's products come into the picture (but are not the whole picture, obviously)

While we're here, lets not exaggerate too much. Apple makes exactly one laptop for $2300, and it's probably the fastest/most feature packed laptop ever made, without a competitor right now. Lots of their laptops are $1200 - $1700, which certainly is more expensive than the competition, but again, we've already decided we're willing to spend a little more for higher quality at this point.

Re: Ratio of PC to Mac Sales Narrowing to Lowest Level in Over a Decade

#28

Post by pooriaazimi » Tue, Jul 03, 2012, 11:06 PM UTC

freehunter wrote: post #21

grecy wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A $350 borderline unusable computer is no bargain. I think people are starting I catch onto this. I agree 100%. Many friends and family have cheap and crap laptops that continually crash, and last only a year or two before being replaced (for another cheap, crap laptop) As time has gone on, you can see they are slowly realizing this is no bargain, and are starting to look at the expensive end, and towards Apple.

The problem is people buy cheap, crap laptops, notice they are cheap and crap, and hear that the Macs are not cheap but also not crap. They then run out and buy a quality Macbook for $2300, completely ignoring the fact that it's not that Apple makes a better product, it's that Apple makes a product that exists in a market these people have never even considered. Quality Windows laptops exist. I sold my HP Envy for al…

I'd pay 400 dollars just for MacBook's lovely, lovely multitouch glass trackpad (I'm not kidding). I can't imagine my life without it (I'm not saying envy your was a bad machine or anything; just saying MacBooks offer more than just OS X).

Re: Ratio of PC to Mac Sales Narrowing to Lowest Level in Over a Decade

#29

Post by cmelbye » Tue, Jul 03, 2012, 11:07 PM UTC

DigitalJack wrote: post #11

cmelbye wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That picture is hilarious, it's literally a clone of Apple's Mac line-up, right down to the wireless keyboard and Magic Trackpad.

When minimalism is a desired trait, it isn't far fetched to see competing firms to come up with similar designs.

I don't understand the belief that minimalist design is obvious and that everyone else totally would've designed it the same way.

It's almost like when someone walks up to a work of art and remarks that they easily could've done it themselves. Yeah, but you didn't.

Minimalist design is hard, and you're kidding yourself if you honestly think that Vizio's line of computers would've looked the same had Apple never existed.

Re: Ratio of PC to Mac Sales Narrowing to Lowest Level in Over a Decade

#30

Post by pooriaazimi » Tue, Jul 03, 2012, 11:09 PM UTC

grecy wrote: post #17

mkaltenecker wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s kind of astonishing that people still have such weird believes about Macs. You can’t be successful to the level Apple is by only selling to rich people. Macs are successful as a mass market product.

> You can’t be successful to the level Apple is by only selling to rich people Porsche and Ferrari come to mind...

I'd guess both of them combined generate less revenue (or profit, for that matter) than just then 11-inch MacBook Air :D