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journal: mac
Apple Bobs For Suckers - The Rebuttal
As you can see, it is a PC zealot flame-bait article.
Normally I don’t post a new blog entry the day after wrote one (in the case of my personal blog my entries are usually spaced in months). However, today will be an exception. Due to much nagging from Arden and the pressures burning inside me to rip into ignorance when it slaps me in the face I have decided to write a rebuttal to this string of words randomly pieced together by a certain Jim Louderback (apparently he’s like Dvorak but doesn’t get much attention):
Boot Camp:Apple Bobs for Suckers
For those who aren’t bothered about reading the article, the general gist is this. “Because Apple released Boot Camp, Boot Camp sucks and so do Macs. Windows rules, Bill Gates is my god, hallelujah”. As you can see, it is a PC zealot flame-bait article. Luckily for me Jim split his article up into nice sections to help make my job easy. Thanks Jimmy. 
Design
The underlying assertion embraced here is that Apple machines are just so much cooler than their PC counterparts. Hogwash. There are dozens of better-looking notebooks out there than those tired, industrial-looking iBooks and PowerBooks that dribble out of Infinite Loop. Want silver? Toshiba’s razor-thin Portégé looks better and won’t give you a hernia if you carry it around the corner.
Yes, Toshiba’s Protégé does look very nice, although it doesn’t seem to be very razor thin. The model I looked at was 1.53” thick. I couldn’t tell what material the case was made of, but with PC laptops it’s generally cheap plastic. The case for wanting a silver laptop is pretty pointless. You can get silver-coloured laptops from almost anyone but they are all made of cheap plastic. The difference between these and Apple is that Apple uses metal to achieve the metallic look. I also don’t get what the whole hernia thing is. Is he talking about the Lead Powerbook that was only released to a few? Last time I checked the PowerBooks and MacBook Pros were extremely light compared to lots of other PC laptops.
Performance
Sure, they run a Photoshop benchmark test as fast as or faster than Windows dedicated machines. But throw in anything needing fast graphics and you’re SOL. The dual-core Mac mini uses shared memory for its anemic graphics, which will seriously eat into that default 512MB of RAM. Every time I see Boot Camp benchmark test scores, they come with caveats. Apple apologists give their favorite company more latitude than any other PC company on the planet—I just don’t understand it.
The Mac mini is using the same integrated graphics as many other new PCs. I don’t really see that pointed out anywhere in this article, maybe because it nullifies the point. I don’t really see the whole gripe with how fast Windows runs on a Mac. Sure it’ll run faster than some PCs but slower than others, even with the same processor. Even within PCs using the same processors, there are differences in the speed of the OS. I mean it really is hard to argue this point when there’s not a whole lot to argue against.
Expandability
Sure, a Mac that runs Windows looks good on paper. But how do you know that that expensive scanner, graphics card, or sound device will actually work on a BC system? To be fair, USB and FireWire devices that work in Windows ought to work under BC.
Now this is confusing. “How do we know that your peripherals will work with BC? Well, they probably will”. He takes a dig at Apple and then tries to sound objective by completely nullifying his pervious sentence. +1 for trying to correct yourself Jim, but -10 for lack of knowledge of the delete key.
Got more faith? Go ahead, buy a dual-core Mac. And have fun upgrading it
The general idea with a Mac is that it comes with all the stuff you need built in so you don’t need to upgrade much, and if you do then you can just plug an upgrade into a port. And it’s not that hard to upgrade. Crack open the case of an iMac or Mac Mini and you can just use this argument and almost every time they fail to see that not everyone cares about constantly upgrading your system. Most people will go out and buy a computer and never upgrade it. They might buy extra things to plug in but they very rarely go inside. They’d much rather just go and buy a new computer.
Expandability
So what happens when that critical new part, new application, or new Web site fails to run? Who is going to help? Apple? Hardly. Last I checked, Boot Camp is unsupported. So you’re out of luck. And even when it ends up in OS X, it will probably receive marginal support at best. Don’t expect your garden-variety tech at the Mac store to help out, for instance.
Generally beta applications are not supported because they are, well. beta. Boot Camp isn’t designed for those doing mission critical work, and anyone who does use beta software for mission critical work is just stupid. As for the support when it is included in Leopard, Apple will support Leopard, therefore they will support Boot Camp. Whether they support Windows itself is another matter. I doubt that they will and instead will leave this up to Microsoft tech support.
Flexibility
Speaking of building computers, if you like building your own computers, you are out of luck again. Apple’s not interested in a DIY Mac, nor is it concerned with the case-mod culture of the PC.
[...]
The really creative computer users are the case modders who build extravagant designs to house their systems. And that’s just not possible if you aspire to run Windows and simultaneously “Think Different.”
Apple isn’t interested in the DIY computer or the case-mod market. Interestingly enough neither are most people. They just want a computer that they can turn on and use. Most people hide their computers under a desk so they’ll never see them and very few people would even consider building their own PC. I also don’t get how these “really creative computer users” that build their own cases to ultimately run Windows are more creative than the company that designs good looking, easy-to-use computers as well as the operating system that runs on them, while offering support for people who need to boot into Windows for a few hours a week.
Price
Apple’s not really known as the low-cost or value leader when it comes to computers. There’s a premium to pay for “Think Different” that has nothing to do with performance or capability
No, Apple doesn’t make cheap budget computers, but it doesn’t make stupidly expensive computers either. If you compare Macs to PCs of a similar spec you’ll see that they are similar in price. If Apple released a Mac Mini with a 1.2GHz Celeron, 256MB of ram, a crap intel integrated graphics card and a 40GB HD and shipped it with a small, low quality monitor, keyboard and mouse for $299 would you see people complaining about the price? No, you’d see them complaining about the spec, despite the fact that to get a computer at that price from anywhere you would have to expect specs along those lines.
Conclusion
Because I’m a firm believer that once you start using a Mac, your IQ begins to creep downwards, inversely proportional to an increase in your AAF (Apple Acceptance Factor).
Right, so because we don’t have to fight with our machine to make it do what we want we’re all stupid… right. I’d love to see what study deduced that by making something simpler and easier to understand you start to lower your IQ.
In fact, I’m blaming the AAF for a wide-range of habits espoused by supposedly “creative people.” I’ll bet it’s responsible for tattoos, piercings, and the wide-spread adoption of the phrase “no worries.” In fact, I believe that most of today’s societal ills can be either indirectly or directly attributed to Apple.
Wait, so Apple is responsible for all the things that scare you in modern society? I’m guessing that Apple is also the cause of terrorism and Steve Jobs eats babies for breakfast as well.
I’ll be smart, fit, and enjoying my real Windows computers, while you ooze slowly into the Pixar-Disney-ABC swamp of mindlessness. Chump.
And I guess I’ll have to just sit here and dumb down as I unleash my creativity on my Mac. I bow down to your extremely high IQ, brought about by how superior your computer is to mine at dealing with spreadsheets. If only all people were as intelligent as you and had your argumentative skills, the world would be a better place.
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thinkback
I believe Louderback thinks he is Leo Laporte and is pretending to be the PC swill version of him.
I’m glad to see to see a rebuttal regarding what he wrote. I’m really unsure as to his whole Windows running or not running faster on a boot camped Mac. So what if some PCs don’t use shared graphics memory, why not compare it to ones that do--isn’t that how you rate machines, especially now that they share the same chipset?
In terms of case mods. GAG. I have never once seen a case mod that didn’t look like fanboy work. Mods and true design are not the same.
Louderback’s article is 1/2 troll, 1/2 satire. No wonder the reactions are so diverse. In the end, it is badly written satire. At least I think it is…
I don’t see anything wrong with the article. He said pretty what I would say about boot camp, interesting concept but hugely unsupported and...why?
If you notice on their forum, the opinions are pretty reasonable (save for the flamers), although I wish some of these people would grow up.
So another PC bigot opens his mouth and displays his fascinatingly-low IQ. Is this news?
I don’t support many of the conclusions of that article but your post is just as bad. There’s a lot of irony in accusing someone of overgeneralizing about Macs when you do the same thing to PC’s.
Case in point:
Yes, Toshiba’s Protégé does look very nice, although it doesn’t seem to be very razor thin. The model I looked at was 1.53� thick.
So you looked at one Protégé that was 1.53 inches think and assumed they’re all that way? It takes like two minutes to go to the Toshiba site and find “razor-thin” models…
For instance, the R200 is .3 to .78 inches thick and weighs 2.85lbs. The R100 is also .8in at the thickest point and 2.3lbs (note that these laptops are much thicker in teh back than the front). The S100 is 1.23 inches thick in the back and 4.4lbs
I couldn’t tell what material the case was made of, but with PC laptops it’s generally cheap plastic.
You don’t know what it’s made of so you make something up? I don’t know what the MBP is made of but I’m just going to say it’s tin foil… How’s that?
Most PC laptops that use the metal look are made out of magnesium alloy. This is much better than the super thin aluminum used by Apple because it’s more resistant to dents, dings, warping, and discoloration.
FYI, the Toshiba’s above use magnesium alloy.
The case for wanting a silver laptop is pretty pointless. You can get silver-coloured laptops from almost anyone but they are all made of cheap plastic. The difference between these and Apple is that Apple uses metal to achieve the metallic look.
No, Apple gets the metallic look by painting it. Go look at some raw aluminum sometime and you’ll see it looks more like the metal on top of a soda can than it does the casing of the MBP. Apple uses aluminium purely for marketing purposes. That metal is so incredibly thin and flimsy that it does more harm than it does good. All those MBP and AL/TI Powerbook reception problems, heat problems, and dint/ding/scratch problems are all because they choose to use aluminum for marketing. Magnesium, Carbon-Fiber, or a good polycarbonate-plastic would have been a far superior choice in terms of practicality.
The general idea with a Mac is that it comes with all the stuff you need built in so you don’t need to upgrade much, and if you do then you can just plug an upgrade into a port. And it’s not that hard to upgrade. Crack open the case of an iMac or Mac Mini and you can just use this argument and almost every time they fail to see that not everyone cares about constantly upgrading your system. Most people will go out and buy a computer and never upgrade it. They might buy extra things to plug in but they very rarely go inside. They’d much rather just go and buy a new computer.
That doesn’t nullify his point at all. Most people might not care but for those who do this is a problem. To those people the response “but most people don’t...” doesn’t matter at all.
If you compare Macs to PCs of a similar spec you’ll see that they are similar in price.
Why are you speaking in absolutes? Usually, PC’s of similar specs are much cheaper sometimes they are not. You know I could go get a few dozen PC prices to prove that to you but I’ll spare you this for now.
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Please research your articles before you post them because otherwise you are just as nonsensical as the guy you’re replying to.
Ah…
I’ve forgotten how soothing it is to read Informer’s or kuaidang’s posts and just think “These people are probably quite smart, but to me they just sound like idiots.”
But that aside, Kuaidang, Apple doesn’t paint the laptops or any of their computers, also the metal is not flimsy, unless they have thinned it in the last 6 months.
| May. 05, 2006 | |
| 10:40 am |
ou don’t know what it’s made of so you make something up? I
I fell to the floor when I saw you accusing someone of making something up.
| May. 05, 2006 | ||
| 1:26 pm |
No, actually I was just trying to get a straight answer out of you.
Not with rhetorical questions, you weren’t. You were filibustering.
At the least, it’s inferable from Apple’s behavior over the last several years relevant to the security of upcoming product releases
You mean like when Adobe comes on stage and says they have been using a just-announced product for months?
Far too complex to summarize
“Apple has never released operating systems at the end of the year” is not really complex.
In what strange world does projecting “early 2007” when the stated goal is “late 2006 to early 2007” constitute “second-guessing?
You are second-guessing the “early 2006” part. Your opinion is they won’t make that date and you aren’t basing that on any new information that has come out since Apple announced that target. So you really have no reason to second-guess that target.
most likely because it would be an utter mess administering the upgrade process for all the holiday machines that went out-of-date between the day they were stashed in the closet and the day they were unboxed
Oh, you should tell them that because it seems they didn’t think of that when they made their end of 2006 target.
And you seem to believe that companies actually don’t want to release new products during Christmas shopping. That’s seriously flawed. It would be a boon to Apple’s bottom line to get 10.5 out before Christmas.
And as I’ve said, I may be wrong; and if I am, oh well. I don’t see what’s so significant about an offhand estimate within the announced releaes window that’s got you all in a tizzy.
You replied to my post first and stated “every version of Mac OS has been seen by a subset of developers privately well before shipment.
No developer outside Apple has seen 10.5 yet at all.”
| May. 05, 2006 | ||
| 2:47 pm |
He said pretty what I would say about boot camp, interesting concept but hugely unsupported and...why?
Because some people would rather not buy a second computer.
Because, well, because you can. 
For instance, the R200 is .3 to .78 inches thick and weighs 2.85lbs. The R100 is also .8in at the thickest point and 2.3lbs (note that these laptops are much thicker in teh back than the front).
Optical drive? Just curious.
BTW, one of my coworkers just bought a ThinkPad X60 with the extended battery (7-10 hours). It’s one sweet little machine!
You don’t know what it’s made of so you make something up? I don’t know what the MBP is made of but I’m just going to say it’s tin foil… How’s that?
I don’t know how much manufacturers spend on plastic for casing, but using plastic to go for the metal look does cheapen the feel IMHO. How about a nice, sleek, solid-black machine instead? Maybe use a nice matte finish?
No, Apple gets the metallic look by painting it.
TiBooks were painted; the AlBooks are anodized. Metal, by nature does dent, but when you buy a laptop you have a choice: do I want it to crack when I drop it (plastic) or do I want it to dent?
Magnesium, Carbon-Fiber, or a good polycarbonate-plastic would have been a far superior choice in terms of practicality.
I love my iBook. 
| Nick | May. 05, 2006 | |
| 5:59 pm |
The more effete among us have embraced BC because now they can run all their favorite Windows apps on a saucy, sexy Mac. The underlying assertion embraced here is that Apple machines are just so much cooler than their PC counterparts. Hogwash. There are dozens of better-looking notebooks out there than those tired, industrial-looking iBooks and PowerBooks that dribble out of Infinite Loop.
PowerBook? Try MacBook Pro.
Annnnnway, he ignores the Mac mini and iMac, which look very cool.
You buy a Mac for OS X and iLife and other applications. You buy an Intel Mac with Boot Camp so you can switch to OS X, but not cold turkey.
Some idiot wrote recently that “Apple now makes the fastest Windows machines on the planet.” What was I thinking? Now that the meds have worn off, let’s take a closer look at how fast these BC machines really are. Sure, they run a Photoshop benchmark test as fast as or faster than Windows dedicated machines.
That comment was made in regards to Windows applications being faster in Windows on the Intel Mac than Windows PCs with similar specs. I don’t want to argue with Kuaidang on the merit of the comment. The point is Jim has the context of that comment wrong. It’s not about Photoshop running in OS X.
The dual-core Mac mini uses shared memory for its anemic graphics, which will seriously eat into that default 512MB of RAM.
Don’t want integrated graphics? Don’t buy a PC or Mac with integrated graphics.
Remember the bad old days of OS/2 and Windows NT, and MIPS- and Alpha-based computers? Fanatics tried to push these supposedly better systems on everyone, touting power, capability, and destiny. It was all bunk
That’s why Windows 2007 steals a feature from OS/2 (side bar with widgets).
But how do you know that that expensiv scanner, graphics card, or sound device will actually work on a BC system? To be fair, USB an FireWire devices that work in Windows ought to work under BC
The Mac mini, iMac and MacBook Pro don’t have slots. The USB and FireWire work.
Windows drivers work in Windows.
That legacy SCSI adapter that you just can’t quit?
Yes, Apple’s worried about the 10 people out there using SCSI2.
Will the high-end video-digitizing Kona card work under Windows?
No, because it’s a Mac-only product, you dope.
So what happens when that critical new part, new application, or new Web site fails to run? Who i going to help? Apple? Hardly
You call the developer of the part, application, Web site...just like Jim does with his Windows PC.
If he has a problem with Windows, call Microsoft. They support Windows.
Apple isn’t interested in the DIY computer or the case-mod market.
Yeah, that Toshiba laptop isn’t a DIY either.
Jim wrote an article called “Death of DIY: Long Live DIY”. Check it out.
By the way, who do you call if a part, application, Web site doesn’t work on a DIY PC?
Apple’s not really known as the low-cost or value leader when it comes to computers.
Seems to me an Intel Mac with Boot Camp and Windows is cheaper than a PowerPC Mac and a Windows PC.
Once you’ve laid out a few kilobucks on your BC system and been frustrated a few times with Windows limitations, what are you going to do? Jobs’s bet: You’ll start spending more and more time in OS X, until you—too—become one of the pod people.
The only people who will buy a Mac are people who realize Windows sucks but can’t quit cold turkey, or want to use both and don’t want to buy two systems.
BTW, Jim doesn’t know what the definition of “lemming” is. The lemmings are the ones who have joined the masses. That would be Windows users.
Chump.
| May. 06, 2006 | ||
| 10:28 am |
I think he’s like Dvorak, just trying to get some attention to be able to make more money on his journalism.
Really, who’s such a chump that he believes that Jim believes that anyone choosing a Mac is a chump? 
I believe Jim got that last part about more Pod people right at least, but it’ll take a few years, accelerate sloooowly in the beginning to get faster after a few years. 
| May. 07, 2006 | |
| 1:30 am |
TiBooks were painted; the AlBooks are anodized. Metal, by nature does dent, but when you buy a laptop you have a choice: do I want it to crack when I drop it (plastic) or do I want it to dent?
I’ve never seen an anodized finish that smugges or scratches as easily as a Powerbook. Don’t assume that a plastic notebook is a cheaply made or weak. Thinkpads use plstic all the time. They use a reinforced plastic composite that is very strong, very lightweight, doesn’t dent, or conduct heat and wifi signals. IMO that’s the way to go. Plastic composite+Magnesium alloy for the crucial parts (back of the screen) and maybe steel for the hinges.
The Mac mini, iMac and MacBook Pro don’t have slots. The USB and FireWire work.
Expresscard in the MBP.
That comment was made in regards to Windows applications being faster in Windows on the Intel Mac than Windows PCs with similar specs. I don’t want to argue with Kuaidang on the merit of the comment.
The funny thing about that comment is that they make the fastest Windows machines on the planet but the test only included 4 or 5 noteboks. IIRC they weren’t even any A64’s or Pentium D’s either.
he funny thing about that comment is that they make the fastest Windows machines on the planet but the test only included 4 or 5 noteboks. IIRC they weren’t even any A64’s or Pentium D’s either.
Again, context. That wasn’t the point. The point wasn’t that the MacBook Pro is the fastest Windows laptop of all Windows laptops. The point being made was that with the same specs, the Apple laptop was the fastest, and I won’t participate in a discussion on whether or not that point is accurate.
Either way, Jim had it way wrong.
| May. 07, 2006 | ||
| 10:19 am |
Again, context. That wasn’t the point. The point wasn’t that the MacBook Pro is the fastest Windows laptop of all Windows laptops. The point being made was that with the same specs, the Apple laptop was the fastest, and I won’t participate in a discussion on whether or not that point is accurate.
Of course, “Fastest in the world” doesn’t say, “fastest in the world… with the same specs… only in photoshop...”
OK, this is making me think that maybe I’m thinking of something else.
What are you referring to? Is it from Apple?
| May. 07, 2006 | ||
| 4:44 pm |
1.
Louderback’s article is either really bad satire or simply really bad. I haven’t decided for certain yet.