I'm having trouble reading the title of this article. Maybe RC could help me read it?

Quote

Biff wrote:
I'm having trouble reading the title of this article. Maybe RC could help me read it?

duh? if you express it as a percentage -- e.g., 16 percent -- then number of sales is irrelevant. No?

Quote

Anonymous wrote:
duh? if you express it as a percentage -- e.g., 16 percent -- then number of sales is irrelevant. No?

duh? if you express it as a percentage -- e.g., 16 percent -- then number of sales is irrelevant. Pretty basic.

Looks like the Mac Observer failed to mention that according to Consumer Reports the 4 highest rated (by overall score) desktops and laptops are all PCs. The best the Macs could do was 5th place. Sorry Mac fanboys but you lost again.

As far as reliability, the constantly failing iBook logic boards and the flimsy PowerBook hinges and screen white spots are notorious. The reliability stats are skewed by fanatic Mac Kool-Aid drinkers who underreport problems.

Quote

RealityCheck wrote:
Looks like the Mac Observer failed to mention that according to Consumer Reports the 4 highest rated desktops and laptops are all PCs. The best the Macs could do was 5th place. Sorry Mac fanboys but you lost again.

Quote

RealityCheck wrote:
Looks like the Mac Observer failed to mention that according to Consumer Reports the 4 highest rated (by overall score) desktops and laptops are all PCs. The best the Macs could do was 5th place. Sorry Mac fanboys but you lost again.

Quote

RealityCheck wrote:
As far as reliability, the constantly failing iBook logic boards and the flimsy PowerBook hinges and screen white spots are notorious. The reliability stats are skewed by fanatic Mac Kool-Aid drinkers who underreport problems.

"While good ratings, they were well below cheaper, Pentium 4 systems running at 3.2GHz which all received 'excellent' scores of over 91. The difference: better 'convenience' and 'expansion' ratings than Macs."

Huh? My iBook, iMac and eMac are a hell of a lot more "convenient" than any ol' PC. What's so convenient about cable spaghetti, a virus and spyware-prone OS, and greater downtime? Were those negatives factored into the ratings? Apparently not...

As far as expansion goes, it's never been an issue. I've just "expanded" my daughter's (already G4 upgraded) strawberry iMac with a new 80Gb drive, replacing the original 6Gb drive. It took all of 5 minutes to swap the drives out. It's been pretty simple to expand any of my "limited" Macs with minimal effort and expense... and I enjoy running Panther on them all too!

So HOW exactly are these 4 higher-rated PCs better??!!

-Ken P

Looks like TMO is right on the money if this article prompts three Troll Terms (fanboy, fanatic, Kool-Aid drinker) in RC's response.

Quote

pyxl8 wrote:
What's so convenient about cable spaghetti, a virus and spyware-prone OS, and greater downtime?

Quote

pyxl8 wrote:
The difference: better 'convenience' and 'expansion' ratings than Macs."

"Looks like the Mac Observer failed to mention that according to Consumer Reports the 4 highest rated (by overall score) desktops and laptops are all PCs. Sorry Mac fanboys but you lost again. "

Looks like you fail to realize that's an unrelated fact. Being placed fifth in their overall ratings doesn't mean that Apple laptops suddenly aren't Consumer Reports' highest-rated laptops in tech support and low repairs. Or that Apple doesn't have their highest-rated repair history. Sorry, Reality Check, but your scam fails again.

"As far as reliability, the constantly failing iBook logic boards and the flimsy PowerBook hinges and screen white spots are notorious. The reliability stats are skewed by fanatic Mac Kool-Aid drinkers who underreport problems."

As far as reliability, Consumer Reports gives Apple laptops their highest rating. Since your crusade against Apple isn't based on facts, you have to dismiss the good news by making up bull****.

I wish you'd start trying to defend your "arguments" again, that was funny to watch. But I guess doing that made it too obvious you don't deal in reality.

[edited by Gavin for language]

spxyu02

No flame here - there are a lot more "parts" for the PC world, which is one of their problems. The tighter you control the essential parts the fewer problems you will have.

As for software, one site I go to (http://osx.hyperjeff.net/Apps) has 11,000+ apps for OS X - ranging from freeware to full commercial software. (Purchase the commercial stuff through TMO and it helps pay their bills.) There is actually a lot available. There will be some PC apps that are not available for the Mac and some Mac apps that are not available for PCs. Basically, most Mac users are pretty well covered.

It all gets down to choosing a computer environment that you want to work and play in. I think the macs are miles ahead of PCs, which is why I have moved everything at home and the office to Macs.

Quote

kenaustus wrote:
spxyu02

No flame here - there are a lot more "parts" for the PC world, which is one of their problems. The tighter you control the essential parts the fewer problems you will have.

As for software, one site I go to (http://osx.hyperjeff.net/Apps) has 11,000+ apps for OS X - ranging from freeware to full commercial software. (Purchase the commercial stuff through TMO and it helps pay their bills.) There is actually a lot available. There will be some PC apps that are not available for the Mac and some Mac apps that are not available for PCs. Basically, most Mac users are pretty well covered.

It all gets down to choosing a computer environment that you want to work and play in. I think the macs are miles ahead of PCs, which is why I have moved everything at home and the office to Macs.

Quote

Guest wrote:
Looks like TMO is right on the money if this article prompts three Troll Terms (fanboy, fanatic, Kool-Aid drinker) in RC's response.

Please don't feed the troll. He's massively overweight as it is...

The topic is: Consumer Reports: Mac Laptops Have Fewest Repairs; Best Tech Support. It's not some plonker who likes to wind people up. He's not important.

The ratings for reliability and quality of service are provided by readers. The judgments and overall ratings for “convenience” and “expandability” are passed by CU’s “technical” staff, who are notoriously clueless about Apple in general and Mac OS X in particular … Like “the” Apple desktop: doesn’t the G5 let you add an internal HD ??? maybe the sample CU bought, I guess … only if their Desktop representative sample was an iMac/eMac … in which case, it seems to me that the convenience of an all-in-one should weigh in fairly heavily in favor of the Mac instead of against !
I never know how to interpret their computer reviews, but their readers seem to have more sense than the tech gurus who write the articles …

Quote

Guest wrote:
duh? if you express it as a percentage -- e.g., 16 percent -- then number of sales is irrelevant. Pretty basic.

Regardless of RC's *yawn* predictable take on it, this is inarguably good news for Apple. Many non-geeks (i.e. the majority of computer buyers) rely on mags like Consumer Reports in their buying decisions, and reliability is obviously a big factor in said buying decision.

So sorry RC, looks like you lose again.

Some big-shot CIO told me that this is just reliability through obscurity, and means nothing about the overall reliability of the system

You see, since so few people use macs, the major PC reliabilty problems don't even bother affecting macs, since their goal is to affect the largest number of laptops out there. It is obious that if more people used mac laptops, reliability problems will start to target Apple laptops as well.

So there. Apple laptops are not more reliable by design.

Like I said, a CIO of some small, PC-centric company (or was it one of those colleges that advertises on late-night TV?) told me this.
So it must be true.

Check out Harry Babad's December 2004 article on hist take and issues with, Consumer reports:

http://www.maccompanion.com/archives/december2004/Columns/Rants.html

Quote

LaurieF wrote:
Please don't feed the troll. He's massively overweight as it is...

Quote

davidneale wrote:


Well, that's pretty obvious, isn't it? The more time the laptop is down, the more time it can be used for other things, like holding the door open, supporting a wonky table...

Windows PCs are extremely versatile beasts, you know.

No sorry Windoze fans you lose again. I am IMMUNE to viruses, trojans, worms, spyware, malware etc... not to mention your horrendous stability issues! You will always lose on that platform.

who the heck is RC? what does it stand for? Why do you all keep referring to "RC"?????

Just your garden variety troll. Look above for (com)posts by someone with those initials making outlandish claims for the virtues of PCs over Macs.

I am an MCSE, however I do have to do hardware repairs as well due to a failing company however with respect to laptops Apple vs PC I am sorry the worst in the bunch is Toshiba. I work on at least 5 a day every day of the working year and this is from a city of less than a million people. The number of MAC's is virtually non existent. Yes there are fewer but they have within the government and government agencies like EDC and CPC there has been less than 1% failure of hardware on MAC's and for some models of Toshiba there has been a 100% failure rate. Models include satellite pro 6000, 6100, TE2100. Of the newer systems I personally replace under warranty on average 3 system boards a week on satellite A70s,A30s, Tecra M1, M2, M3,Protege R200 all in a city that would purchase at most 10K units if they are lucky. We are repairing at least 25% if not more of what they sell every year..this is good???
I am sorry MACs are much better

It's just a big plot to earn money by repairs...

do they get viruses?

Do you want the long answer or the short answer?

Umm - no. And that's the long answer.

They are better machines. They just are.

Hi I'm looking at laptops for college and have read a TON of reviews, and have just gotten more and more confused as to which brand to get. Any honest help would be GREATLY appreciated!!! Thanks!!

Which brand? Apple, of course! That's why you're here, right?