Mike, the statement was that an Apple machine is not much different in cost from an equally spec'd PC. Your example does not refute this by being a substantially cheaper PC that is also substantially different from the Mac you are comparing it to.
Also, I have to dispute most of the implied advantages of the system you outline. Before that though, you are a little dismissive of how your proposed system's screen resolution is smaller, but in fact it is three quarters of the resolution of the MacBook Pro, which is substantially coarser. You say that the i7 is newer than the Core 2 duo, but in what ways is it better computationally than the Core 2 Duo at three fifths the clock speed? I haven't seen benchmarks, but I am suspicious that the i7 can be enough more efficient per clock cycle to overcome that speed difference, or even come close. Looking at what I think your system was, I see that getting a 2 GHz i7 instead of your 1.73 GHz would cost you $594 more, wiping out most of your price difference right there and still falling short of the MacBook's 2.8 GHz. You can get a slower hard drive for the CyberpowerPC laptop, or a faster one for the MacBook. You could have easily done a real direct comparison here if you wanted to. The MacBook has a Mini DisplayPort (newer technology and now VESA approved), and with the appropriate adapter, it can output to HDMI, VGA, DVI, Dual-link DVI or DisplayPort. You can get the HDMI adapter for under $20 if you need it. Things you left out: The CyberpowerPC.com laptop has firewire 400 compared to firewire 800 for the Pro. It is 2.5 times bulkier than the MacBook pro and weighs 11.5 lb., compared to 6.5 lb. for the MacBook. The MacBook has two graphics processors, is much more energy efficient, has much better battery life, and contains much less toxic material. Then there's the multitouch trackpad, the backlit keyboard, the optical audio input/output, the magsafe power cord, most of which can't be had for any price outside Apple. If you go back to Cyberpower and try to match the specs of the 17" MacBook Pro more closely, you'll see that you'll have to settle for the coarser 1680 x 1050 display, but otherwise you can get a good match for the Mac's processor, storage, and the better of its two graphics processors for about $500 less. Of course, the cruder display accounts for a great deal of that price difference, and you are still losing on size, weight, output options, battery, etc. > From: mike <xha...@gmail.com> > Subject: Re: A Tale of Two Hard Drives: Apple's Secret Wea pon? > > More crap from Tom. > > > Top 17" macbook pro runs 2500 dollars > > For under 1800 I can get a system with > > 17" display (1680 x 1050) as opposed to apple's 1920 x 1200 > intel i7 1.73 cpu to apple's older 2.8 core 2 duo > intel mainboard on both machines > 4 gigs ddr3 memory on both machines > geforce 250m with 1 gig of ram to Apples 9600m with 512 > bluetooth, webcam, hdmi out..no hdmi on apple > 500 gig 7200 HD opposed to apple's 500 gig 5400 drive > 8x dvdrw > gigabit network adapter > > So for 700 dollars less I get a smaller resolution for my screen. Much > better graphics, faster HD..HDMI. 1 year warranty on both machines. Apple > has the advantage of stores which may be lcoal to you. > > So in the end it's up to you to decide if the 700 dollar difference is worth > it. But...there is a 700 dollar difference. > > To some of us, 700 dollars is significant. > > I built the system at Cyberpower. > > > On Sat, Nov 28, 2009 at 4:00 PM, tjpa <t...@tjpa.com> wrote: > >> On Nov 28, 2009, at 4:24 PM, mike wrote: >> >>> His point was, that part of the much higher price for Apple products is >>> the >>> built in better warranty support. As in, you get what you pay for. >>> >> >> Fox News says Macs cost more. Reviewers that compare hardware feature for >> feature say Macs cost about the same for equivalent features. >> >> In Mike's world I could sell for $100 an empty cardboard box with a >> computer drawn on it with a crayon and he would say "good deal." > ************************************************************************* ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *************************************************************************
