“Apple’s well-crafted machines have been gobbling up market share, even though the MacBook and MacBook Pro cost more than many other laptops,” Rob Pegoraro reports for The Washington Post.
MacDailyNews Take: Compare hardware features and you’ll find that similarly-configured Macs are very competitive or less expensive than Windows box assemblers’ offerings that simply cannot compete with the Mac’s included software and operating system. Apple’s refuses to offer junky low-end personal computers that won’t serve the customer well.
Pegoraro continues, “Manufacturers of laptops that run Windows complain about having to compete in a commodity market yet fail to make their machines less of a commodity. They ship machines built from the same components, add the same mediocre programs and hope that some glossy paint will make the results stand out.”
“The most critical number for a laptop is its weight,” Pegoraro writes. “The default batteries on a Dell Inspiron 1520 and an HP Pavilion dv2500t, for example, kept them running for only 2 hours 9 minutes and 1 hour 52 minutes of DVD playback, respectively. Higher-capacity batteries can extend those times but add bulk and weight. A MacBook’s standard battery, meanwhile, lasted 3 hours in the same test, and a Toshiba Satellite U305 ran almost as long.”
“The most important part of any computer can be the software it operates on. But this gets little attention from firms besides Apple: Its Mac OS X and iLife multimedia programs offer an ease of use and elegance absent in Windows,” Pegoraro writes.
Full article here.
This is no news. I thought this site is MacDailyNEWS.
A purely “pat yourself on the back” article.
Duhhhh!
Well, it can be considered news for the simple fact that previously Apple laptops were dismissed as a niche player by computing press because of their OS, and the comparisons of PC laptops focused mostly on their price and performance. The OS didn’t matter.
Now…suddenly Mac OS X has become a selling point even to the mainstream media. Which also allows for a fairer comparison of the Apple hardware advantage against the “commodity” PC makers.
Don’t we all get bored with these new to the mac people?
I have always used a mac
This is absolutely news, much more than a “pat yourself on the back” article. It’s evidence of a trend in laptops and a commentary of the computer business itself (how Windows box makers complain about commodity markets but do little to differentiate themselves).
“If more vendors focused on making money from their real customers — say, by following the example of Dell, which lets buyers decline many of these extra programs — they might find that their customers can tell them apart.”
Because Dell are so individual and make such innovative products.
This type of “old news” to the faithful, is still fresh for those on the “dark side”.
I appreciate any article like this that I can forward to the lost.
MW: Leave… as in leave MDN alone, they know what they’re doing.
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The first 3 posts are from a Microsoft Astroturfer and that was the best he could come up with.
Shows you that this article really hurts.
A nice balanced article, as we have come to expect from Mr. Pegaroro.
The bit about MacBooks being more expensive than many Windows laptops is true but not very informative. It’s like when you buy a single family home in the Washington ‘burbs for just $200,000, and somebody tells you that there are cheaper houses on the market, in Northern Idaho.
He quite rightly slams PC vendors for clogging the harddrives with all the useless junk software, and his comments about the non-existing difference between the commodity vendors is to the point.
All this appears in the Washington Post which is more likely to be taken seriously than CNET or USA Today. Articles like this are partly responsible for the growth rates Apple enjoys.
What is rather different is this, “the most important part of any computer can be the software it operates on. But this gets little attention from firms besides Apple”.
We’ve heard it before but some people haven’t. Many, many people out there believe that Microsoft’s software is the best because that’s what they are told to believe, especially people in Washington where Microsoft has a big presence. People compromise on other ‘features’ because Microsoft is best is so ingrained.
This is another shot across Microsoft’s bows and is welcome.
Amen!
And those cheap Windows boxes can’t compete with Apple’s well-crafted iMacs, PowerMacs and Mac minis!
You get what you pay for, children!
“The most important part of any computer can be the software it operates on. But this gets little attention from firms besides Apple: Its Mac OS X and iLife multimedia programs offer an ease of use and elegance absent in Windows,”
b/c Apple is the only computer maker that actually makes all of it’s own software as well. instead of relying on some archaic, dilapidated OS like windows made by a company that really doesn’t care about their target audience like they probably should.
oh yeah, amen to the absence of elegance in windblows. lol
the real news is that so many people have time to discuss
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a ‘non-starter’. I guess with no girlfriend or job, sitting in your moms basement, eating cheetos, discussing these issues is what makes a geek happy.
More and more are getting it…
Just read the comments on this Google finance thread:
http://finance.google.com/group/google.finance.22144/browse_thread/thread/dd42da61add3e7f9
Not happy reading for Microsoft that’s for sure…
Assuming people truly believe Macs are more expensive, it goes to prove how much people pissed with Windows and really want that Mac experience – price be blowed.
What they find is Macs are much cheaper – assuming anyone values their time above a minus number.
Of course I agree with the article, but a posting like this is just begging for trolls. Get yer cudgels ready…
@macula:
This IS news to the 90+% of WP readers (or any other newspaper) who couldn’t tell the difference between a MacBook and a phone booth.
Scouring around the world for inferior components provided Dell with its current and well-deserved reputation for being a piece of crap.
Now, with shortages of Macs, especially the new iMac, is Apple the next piece of crap?
Let’s hope not. Tell Steve to just be patient, wait for only the best components to get ready. His wealth will continue to grow and grow and grow even if customers are fsturated because their store has no Macs to deliver today.
Manufacturers of laptops that run Windows complain about having to compete in a commodity market yet fail to make their machines less of a commodity. They ship machines built from the same components, add the same mediocre programs and hope that some glossy paint will make the results stand out.
This is classic turd polishing.
And all this glory is the reason why Apple has a market share of
>5% (global sales of laptops)
I mean 20% (selected retail = people who are allowed to choose and included in a NPD survey)
I mean 97% (white laptops = people who were allowed to choose a white laptop)
I mean 100% (laptops with a picture of a fruit = people who are allowed to choose a laptop with a picture of a fruit).
Windows laptops can’t compete with Apple’s well-crafted MacBook, MacBook Pro
Sure they can, just by offering a Matte screen option.
Mind you I won’t switch to ‘Doze just because I can’t get a Matte screen MacBook Pro, I’ll just make the one I have last long enough until Apple realizes the huge amount of sales they are losing because they are not supporting the most wanted screen option.
Matte.
Your vote counts. The polls overwhelingly support matte over glossy. Tell Apple your thoughts. Visit the Apple>feedback links on this page.
http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/14707/
Through consistant persistance we can correct this huge error of judgement by Apple and save our eyesight in the process.
Note to “Glossy= eventual CVS”
While you are correct about the lack of matte screens on MacBooks, the MacBook Pro IS offered with an antiglare screen option-not a glossy screen.
Do they have a key pad?
Tell me when they do….
I agree with your post, but don’t you have a contract with HP?