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Peeve Farm
Breeding peeves for show, not just to keep as pets
  Blog \Blôg\, n. [Jrg, fr. Jrg. "Web-log".
     See {Blogger, BlogSpot, LiveJournal}.]
     A stream-of-consciousness Web journal, containing
     links, commentary, and pointless drivel.


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Tuesday, January 22, 2002
15:05 - Apple "On Trial" for Raising the Price on Vanity
http://www.upside.com/On_Trial/3c475bff1.html

(top) link
Upside.com stages a "trial" of Apple for desiging computers that ... well, I'm not really sure what they're accusing them of. Clearly they're not directly antagonistic toward Macs, especially considering the overwhelmingly pro-Apple verdict from readers that they accept and report with a satisfied flourish.


What are some of the real charges? It seems that one vague one is that Apple's computers are far too expensive; they make cool gear that's better than Wintel stuff but then callously price it higher than the Wintel equivalents. "The new iMacs cost $1299, $1499 and a whopping $1799 for the one with the most bells and whistles," laments the site. Hmm... I don't know, I've tried to stay clear of the Wintel price wars lately, so I don't know what $1000 will buy you in real-world terms. But you know, I don't consider $1800 to be "whopping". I remember paying $2500 for my 386 in 1991 and being happy with the deal, and my G4 cost me over $9000 all told after I included the then-brand-new Cinema Display and the multi-thousand-dollar software packages I got with it. $1800 is less than what I paid for my laptop in May. Is that really so monstrously expensive compared to the Wintel world these days? Apparently not, says one respondent who submits prices of $2,371 (for the comparable Gateway) and $1,900-$2,400 (for the not-so-comparable IBM). "The iMac costs less, does more, and does it with style. What's not to love?"

Other "charges" that aren't spelled out very well are (a) lackluster hardware and (b) a vague sense of "raising the bar of style for no good reason other than to thumb their nose at the Wintel world". Well, guess what: Even if you accept that the G4 in the new iMac isn't in the same ballpark as the latest P4s and Athlons, the fact is that it gets the job done. You'll never feel yourself bogged down. It plays modern games just fine. It zips through iPhoto and burns DVDs in real playback time. Just because you can't get 340 frames per second in Quake doesn't mean the machine is worthless. All the speed in the world will do you no good if the software is crappy or nonexistent, and iTunes and iMovie and their free brethren make for a value proposition that can't be matched by a fired-out-of-the-gate Wintel. We're comparing a Lexus to a salt-flats racer here. The one will do everything 90% well. The other will get you there faster, but in extreme discomfort.

However you slice it, the iMac performs as advertised, and it brings style to the table too. Sure, some people will always sneer at the idea of a computer designed to be pleasing to the senses. The people who run their computer chassis with the sides pulled off because they like to hear the fans running and in order to increase airflow to their overclocked CPUs-- they're not going to be buying Macs anyway, so it's hardly worth bothering to explain the value proposition. But some of us do appreciate all the little details that go into the design of the Mac. We like having all the ports on an accessible CPU base on top of the desk. We like having keyboards we can plug and unplug without having to reboot the darn machine. We like the pulsing purple sleep light and the single power/monitor/USB cable that reduces desk clutter. We appreciate the fact that Apple didn't have to do these things, but they did-- just to make life easier for those of us who like having our lives made easier. And that's their mission in existence.

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© Brian Tiemann