Regular people are probably confused by the re-inflamed Mac vs. PC ad war, which now focuses on price. Never fear, CNBC’s Jim Goldman breaks down the true cost of PCs. Wait, Macs come with Photoshop?
According to CNBC’s Silicon Valley Bureau Chief, PCs need the following things to “perform as well as a Mac”: $US50 a year for anti-virus software, $US104 multimedia software, $US100 music software, $US140 “Photoshop—you get that with Apple” and $US129 for a Geek Squad visit. Over $US600 worth of extra stuff. Oh, and Macs get 4x the battery life, have faster processors and a higher resolution screen.
Um. What? Last time I checked, you can get pretty decent antivirus software for free, my MacBook Pro didn’t come with Photoshop, and iTunes was free on OS X and Windows. For multimedia, you’ve got Windows Media Centre, which is also pretty free. And Picasa—hey, it’s free too—isn’t a bad alternative to iPhoto. Okay, you might have to spend money on video editing software, since MovieMaker ain’t so hot. But you know what? A lot of the stuff MobileMe charges you $100 a year to get, Windows Live provides for free, like SkyDrive’s 25GB of storage. I would also like to meet this mythical Mac with an all-day battery, since we sure haven’t seen it.
Look, there are some valid reasons to pick a Mac over a PC, just like there are valid reasons to pick a PC over a Mac. But you shouldn’t smear blatant horseshit all over them, especially when it’s already confusing enough for regular people, your audience, Mr. CNBC Silicon Valley Bureau Chief. [CNBC - Thanks Jason U.!]
derk
Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 8:59 AMHahaha Stupid media! How can you tell someone they have to pay $100 for music software? And how many people actually want to do video editing? ah, don’t get me wrong i like MAC but it just doesnt do as many things as PC. Stupid MAC guy.
yo 1
Friday, February 26, 2010 at 2:14 PMyeah thats because your nt in a profession where you need that stuff. duh. anybody in any profession that has to work with pics video graphics anything….needs a mac
Imprint
Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 9:50 AMwow last time I checked, a photoshop licence runs about $1300 bucks.
yep
Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 9:51 AMi wanna punch that Jim Goldman
JackAttack
Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 1:55 PMThis is ridiculously misleading.
Dan
Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 2:16 PMWow, i’m a self confessed fanboi but that guy doesn’t have a clue, the article was full of inaccuracies and misleading information. I’m a little pleased at least Australia’s own Peter ‘Gadget Guy’ Blasina isn’t the only tech journalist to know nothing about tech.
Hawkeye
Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 3:58 PMQuantitative:
Anti-virus/Anti-Malware: None needed on Mac.
Photoshop equivalent(for home users): iPhoto (Paintbrush with Windows)
Multimedia Software: iLife(Free on Macs)… no equivalent on Windows.
Video Software: iMovie (WIndows Movie Maker ? you gotta be joking)
Audio Software: Garage Band and iTunes (Windows Media Player (no comparable online store) and “WAV player”… very sophisticated indeed, does it deliver guitar lessons on demand like GarageBand?)
Media Access: Front Row…. you have to buy a ‘special PC’/'media PC’ for this ‘luxury’ on Windows boxes.
Backup: Time Machine on a Mac…. nothing like it bundled with PCs
Development Tools: XCode on Mac (Free download)…. VS2005/2008 along with licensing fees from Microsoft.
Support: Mac Geniuses support for free….
Qualitative:
-Lighter laptops
-Better batteries
-Better resolution screens
-Thinner
-Backlit keyboards
-Display Port for higher resolution output, as opposed to VGA/DVI/HDMI
-generally better looking machines and a better looking,better performing and simpler to use operating system.
Suddenly comparing that 2 year old Toyota to the entry level Mercedes isnt just about price anymore, is it ? But if one can’t afford better, it’s only natural that they ‘defend’ their cheaper(in every sense of the word) purchase.
Cheers
Hawkeye'd
Wednesday, April 22, 2009 at 4:38 AMSince we’re talking Mac vs. PC here, let’s compare OS 10.5 to Vista.
Anti-virus/Anti-Malware: None needed on Mac.
-That’s mostly true, but it’s bad advice. Anti-virus software also includes protection for online scams and malware that relies on social engineering more than security flaws.
Photoshop equivalent(for home users): iPhoto (Paintbrush with Windows)
-Photoshop and iPhoto share some _basic_ functionality, but comparing the two is wrong. iPhoto is part of iLife. iLife comes for ‘free’ with a new Mac. (Which doesn’t mean it’s free, you paid for it when you bought the Mac.) If you want the latest version, its a $99 upgrade from the previous year.
Vista includes Photo Gallery that has the same functionality as iPhoto.
Multimedia Software: iLife(Free on Macs)… no equivalent on Windows.
-See previous comment on iLife.
Video Software: iMovie (Windows Movie Maker ? you gotta be joking)
-iMovie is part of iLife (see previous comments on iLife).
Audio Software: Garage Band and iTunes (Windows Media Player (no comparable online store) and ‘WAV player’… very sophisticated indeed, does it deliver guitar lessons on demand like GarageBand?)
-Garage Band is part of iLife (see previous comments on iLife).
iTunes is available on PC just like it is on the Mac. (Remember we’re comparing platforms here, not individual applications.) Windows Media Player has better support for video in addition to audio than iTunes does. Garage Band is bundled with iLife, but not built-in to the OS, so you must compare it to other 3rd-party software like Sony Acid. (Garage Band started as a copy of Acid (which pre-dates OS X, when it was made by Sonic Foundry), but has evolved into a very nice piece of software.)
Wav player is OLD. What version of Windows did you last use to make all these comparisons?
Media Access: Front Row…. you have to buy a ‘special PC’/'media PC’ for this ‘luxury’ on Windows boxes.
-Front Row is included on Mac the same way Media Center is included on Vista Home Premium/Ultimate. (Discussing why Windows has multiple versions of the OS vs. the one-version Mac OS is not in the scope of this thread.) Now that you have to buy the remote for Front Row separately on the Mac, as you do on Windows for Media Center, the one advantage Front-Row had over Media Center is gone.
Backup: Time Machine on a Mac…. nothing like it bundled with PCs
-Time Machine is genius, Microsoft needs to learn a lesson from this piece of software.