Question for NickFitz et al

[Fred Bloggs]

The thing I've never been able to understand is the evangelical fervor amongst new ex-Wintel Apple converts. I haven't used Apples since the old Apple IIe days! I use XP, Vista and Ubuntu at work and at home. I could (sort of) understand the evangelists better when Apples were a completely different hardware and architecture. I find the evangelism kind of cute when the box is full of the same Intel stuff the evangelist seemingly "rebels" against when he buys an apple machine. Long term, myself, I see Apple becoming just another OS vendor in this market place. Trying to keep a monopoly on the hardware makes no sense to me when it's all Intel type kit inside. The market will ultimately decide their fate.

[realityhack]

Any specific reason she wants a Mac or is it just for the pose value?

What's she reading at Uni. If she's doing anything art/design related then a Mac would be a good choice as it still seems to be what most 'creatives' use.

The Macbook is nice:

http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/hom...ok?mco=MTE3MjE

The Macbook Pro is probably overkill.

You may want to upgrade RAM from the supplied 2Gb but don't buy the memory from Apple - it's a huge ripoff. Buy Kingston memory and fit it yourself for less than half the price.

Add on the cost of MS Office 2008 for Mac Home and Student Edition. There's NeoOffice as a free alternative, but sometimes it just doesn't cut it.

You might want to get an OEM copy of Win XP as well just in case she needs to run some Windows app or other in the future (dual boot or in a VM).

WHS - particularly about the RAM. Get a copy of Parallels while you're at it and she can have the best of both worlds.

[bogeyman]

The thing I've never been able to understand is the evangelical fervor amongst new ex-Wintel Apple converts. I haven't used Apples since the old Apple IIe days! I use XP, Vista and Ubuntu at work and at home. I could (sort of) understand the evangelists better when Apples were a completely different hardware and architecture. I find the evangelism kind of cute when the box is full of the same Intel stuff the evangelist seemingly "rebels" against when he buys an apple machine. Long term, myself, I see Apple becoming just another OS vendor in this market place. Trying to keep a monopoly on the hardware makes no sense to me when it's all Intel type kit inside. The market will ultimately decide their fate.

I'm not a recent convert. I did give up on Macs around the OS 9 era because they were pretty useless for serious work by then. OS X fixed that, so I happily went back to the fold. Always had a Wintel box on the side too until recently, then VMWare Fusion made it redundant.

Apple will always be primarily a hardware vendor. They couldn't be a viable operation just selling an OS, very good OS though it is.

I welcomed Apple's move to Intel for the obvious possibilities of running Win on Mac and OS X on generic PCs. If they'd stuck with IBM's slow, hot PPC chippery, they'd have been on their knees by now with no competitive products to sell.

You're right. The market will judge. But I think Apple have a bright future, even with their occasional skulduggery and inflated prices.

[Jaws]

Given that she is a student, the cost of office can be greatly reduced. http://www.software4students.co.uk/?...FQWR1Qod0UQBQg It looks like it's £35 for the Mac version.

[Fred Bloggs]

I'm not a recent convert.

Sorry, never meant to give the impression you were.

I did give up on Macs around the OS 9 era because they were pretty useless for serious work by then. OS X fixed that, so I happily went back to the fold. Always had a Wintel box on the side too until recently, then VMWare Fusion made it redundant.

Apple will always be primarily a hardware vendor. They couldn't be a viable operation just selling an OS, very good OS though it is.

I welcomed Apple's move to Intel for the obvious possibilities of running Win on Mac and OS X on generic PCs. If they'd stuck with IBM's slow, hot PPC chippery, they'd have been on their knees by now with no competitive products to sell.

You're right. The market will judge. But I think Apple have a bright future, even with their occasional skulduggery and inflated prices.

I agree with you but from a different perspective. Time will tell.

[tay]

Explain to her that her brother is a complete muppet and hence she will get her stupidly priced mac that she cannot afford but wants because it looks 'pretty'. The fact as a student she could get a perfectly good laptop with similar specs for a 1/3 of the price is obviously not something a student needs to be concerned about when her brother is a thieving fool.

Are you going to steal the macbook?

[bogeyman]

Explain to her that her brother is a complete muppet and hence she will get her stupidly priced mac that she cannot afford but wants because it looks 'pretty'. The fact as a student she could get a perfectly good laptop with similar specs for a 1/3 of the price is obviously not something a student needs to be concerned about when her brother is a thieving fool.

Are you going to steal the macbook?

Jesus, you've got a chip on your shoulder old boy!

Sometimes you need a Mac - it's better at some things. It's not a generic PC.

If she's a designer or artist, or in media or music, then Mac is where it's at.

If she's studying accounting then yes, a £399 Dell will do.

[tay]

Jesus, you've got a chip on your shoulder old boy!

Sometimes you need a Mac - it's better at some things. It's not a generic PC.

If she's a designer or artist, or in media or music, then Mac is where it's at.

If she's studying accounting then yes, a £399 Dell will do.

Rubbish you dont NEED a Mac for any uni course. They can all be done on a cheaper laptop.

[bogeyman]

Rubbish you dont NEED a Mac for any uni course. They can all be done on a cheaper laptop.

Erm.. Tay, old boy. Excuse me but your complete and utter ignorance is showing. Tuck it in, there's a good chap.

[EqualOpportunities]

Folks, many thanks indeed for the helpful replies.

She is reading Medicine and clearly wants a Mac 'cause they are 'pretty'.

Tay - many thanks for your insite. How did you know I am a thief?