I've really wanted a mac, but they're just so damn expensive. Linux can do everything a Mac does without any costs. :)

You mean a hackintosh?

So based off of your analysis that macs are just repackaged PC hardware, where do i get a unibody aircraft aluminum slim case and a board/hardware to make my macbook air? Do you think i'd pay less to get it custom done? You serious? Macs have their place. Get over it. If I had to do a business presentation and i needed to close the deal by 1) Having a badass looking presentation device that doesn't looked taped together 2)know that i'll get 99% uptime due to uniform quality construction/ hardware, and 3)Have 100% compatibility with both PCs, Macs, Unixes, and linux systems through VMware or Parallels, why would i waste my time building a pc? that 3 hours building, loading, and troubleshooting a custom pc just to save a piddling $300-500 is meaningless if I'm going to lose a $100,000- $50,000,000 deal. You crunch the numbers.

@Elorm9 I've been using a PC/Mac for 2 decades learning, DOS, OS/2, Mac 6.0-9.x, OSX, Windows 3.1, 95, 98, 2000, ME, XP, and now ViSta... why would I want to learn KDE, GNome interfaces, and figure how each linux package, like SUSE, Mandrake, etc work? I don't have the time or inclination and neither does 90% of the world users. I don't care if Linux is the most powerful OS in the world. If nobody uses it and it's going to take me 5 hours to learn it only to have to find replacement productivity products or learn how to install WINE, is it worth it?

@thewhoopimen: Makes a good point.

Here's another thing I noticed that is just downright weird. The point of the article is to prove the merits of putting Windows on a Mac, and having the best of both the PC and the Mac worlds.

In the article, he refers to Mac as having "excellent hardware" and Windows as "even better software". From what I remember, PC users use PC's because there are more hardware options, whereas Mac users use Mac because they find OS X to be superbly more stable.

So isn't saying "excellent hardware and even better software" contradicting 99.9% of the mostly solid arguments on both sides of the Mac-vs-Windows war? Isn't it the PC that has better hardware and the Mac that has better software? What exactly is the article author smoking?

you don't get the point.. tbh.. i love mac os x.. its like linux, but in some bits a bit better (tho in some bits less lol).. but the point that you're missing is consumers aren't gonna be loosing 100k to 5mil .. thats fact!! tbh.. i would rather built a PC and have choice of which OS i put on it.. i am currently running 3 OS's, Linux (for everyday computing needs), XP (dx9 games), Vista (dx10 games).. and quite frankly i would probs use MAC OS X as well as linux as my main OS.. but the problem is that apple don't let me because of their arrogance of 'providing more secure desktops' .. i'd rather be able to choose on what hardware i put my OS on.. and not be only limited to one type of hardware which is dirt expensive.. who says i care about have a nice slick looking machine? who says i like the designs of mac (i do like them, but just as an example)?

my final point is that apple should allow mac os x on all hardware.. and not just on mac hardware.. especially since it uses the same type of hardware as windows (which as you know is why windows runs on mac)..

greeetzz

EDIT:
this made me wonder if mac was hacked or something to run it on a PC.. this is what i came up with http://www.windowsdevcenter...
imma try this out later on lol.. soon as xmas holidays start..

thewhoopimen. yes the business world revolves around apple computers then. Nobody has closed a deal with a windows based laptop according to you. Sure.

There is no better hardware available to one side. Apple overprices theirs and people buy it seeing a performance improvement. Well duh, you bought a new computer of course the hardware is going to be faster than your old one.

thewhoopimen do you really think people are going to make deals with your company because you have a shiny Mac that impresses them? That's insulting their intelligence. "Oooh you have a shiny mac. Your so much better than me. Here's a million dollars" No that would never happen.

Did i even say the world should revolve around apple? No. I said there is a time and a place for apple computers and that performance per buck can be a very limited metric. Look at all the computers around you and where they were a decade ago. Why do you think there is more variety than just beige boxes anymore?

@1.10 yeah i really do believe that. Why buy a BMW, a ferrari, or a get a 6 bedroom 3 bath house with a hot tub, a vacation home, a nice office with plush leather office chairs or mesh chair? Why do marketing campaigns with dizzy video ads? Why are there shows of the rich and famous? Because nearly EVERYONE wants to buy into the latest, greatest, and most lavish or deal with someone with "money". Why sport a company car? You think it's just perks? Why do you wear a fvckin suit and carry a briefcase or laptop when you give your presentation to a board? Why not just use posterboards and flyer handouts?

But a Maxed Mac Pro can't be found for under $15 000

Everyone knows the old adage....

I should clear this up, (READ) I like Mac OS X, don't crucify me on that point. I don't like that Apple dictates the hardware that I use by only allowing it to run on their systems. Therefore, I am even more peeved when they think they need to charge an arm and a leg for it. Secondly, I do not deny that Dell, HP, Gateway etc will ask for outrageous prices on their top of the line equipment. Guess what though? I'm not forced to buy their expensive stuff because I build my own computers...

I also should point out that a lot of the MAXED out options on Apple's Mac Pro are aimed at a different sector than those trafficking this site (gamers). These options are garnered towards servers and professional video and image editing. Many of the options would not give the everyday user any real world benefit.

Anyway, my 6 month old system actually can beat or at least come very close to a "Maxed out" mac pro in some areas. Except for CPU, and memory. Anyone who knows anything knows that GPU is more important for gaming than CPU. However, my CPU is not that much weaker than apple's offering(3.0ghz quadcore, which is now overclocked), and I have 6gb of memory. Furthermore, who cares about memory anyway because memory is dirt cheap(in comparison). Don't tell apple though, they want $9,100 to put 32gb in their Mac pro. Yeah, I priced it out at about $2000 from my favorite parts store...

For the same price I would easily have a top of the line Core i7 which would essentially give a faster equivalent to their offering of two 3.2ghz xeons. Yeah, again, this can be had for approximately $1000. This would require DDR3 memory, but again, not going to cost me $9100(memory)+$1600(CPU).

Hard drive space? Again dirt cheap, btw, they only have 4 hard drive bays in the mac pro? wtf.

Now, on to my biggest and primary complaint; why oh why must their video card options be so weak? This is where my PC actually destroys the Mac Pro. Their best option is 4xHD 2600 XT? LOLOLOROFLCOPTER!!! Oh, and if you have a raid card make that 3x. Add their fiber card= 2x. Yeah, the Quadro is expensive, but that is a professional card which carries a commercial price and no use to most of the people on this site.

Apple monitors are nice, but I have a 40" 1080P Sony Bravia as my Monitor which seems to do a fine job of displaying everything I need it to.

Finally, bb-bb-bbuuut what about customer service? I'll give you that, and I'll finish by saying I can do a heck of a lot of customer service or bring it to a local shop for the price difference. Maybe I'm just lucky, but I have built 3 systems for other people and 4 years later they have had no problems with viruses, hardware failures, etc. Of course I specifically chose a combo of virus/adware software that has worked amazingly along with tutoring them about what not to open, etc. Not a single virus has made it's way on to my computers. Also, I have many friends that have had problems with their macbooks, sure they could be isolated instances. However, Apple's are prone to hardware malfunction as well as any other computer. I have seen bad memory, early death of batteries, fried system boards, displays malfunctioning, etc.

Edit: I do like the look of the Macbooks. I just don't care about image so much that it requires that I buy it. If you want to waste your money paying for an image go ahead. I'll head to the gym and work on other aspects of my image. The ladies would rather see me being sleek than the laptop that I carry. Anyway, I use a tablet for my notebook needs, does apple have one of those?