Skip to main content

Blogs > Nick Spence

Once you go Mac, you never go back?

Wed, 04 Mar 2009

  • Email to a friend
  • Print this article
  • Bookmark this page
  • RSS feed

I don’t have the stats and figures to hand but I suspect yesterday’s announcement of refreshed Mac Pros, iMacs and Mac Minis amongst a number of Apple updates, drove plenty of traffic to Macworld.

Reading the comments below, the news items were an eye opener for anyone who has a fairly blinkered, and possibly rosy view of all things Apple. I for one have evangelised the pros of switching in enough Mac vs. PC debates over recent years to hope that I might have helped shift a few Apple sales.

Our friends at PC Advisor collected a bunch of them that don’t make for great reading unless you’re Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer or the entire staff of Dell.

Amongst the choice quotes are:

David: "After having waited 8 months for an iMac update I am officially pi**ed off. Old Core2 Duo's for just under a £,1000, what planet are they on?!?!? Custom AMD Phenom II for me, should compliment my MacBook nicely."

James: "Wow. All that time and the Mac Mini is still exactly the same form factor, complete with white plastic. Oh Apple, you spoil us."

VJ: "No wonder they are losing so much ground in the desktop market!!"

Tom: "Apple's new pricing works as a new, never before seen marketing strategy - they advertise a Mac mini at £499 and we end up buying a Macbook instead. I bet the new Mac mini doesn't really exist. It's there just to p**s us off and buy something else."

Steve: "Make no mistake. This really is the beginning of the end for Apple. These prices really are back to the bad old days and people simply will not pay the premium. I for one am, for the first time in 15 years going to buy a PC instead of a Mac."

You get the idea.

Some reasoned comments can be found on the Macworld forum from regulars least likely to be PC lovers leaving messages on an essentially Mac Web site for fun or to wind Mac users up.

I’ve no idea why anyone calling themselves “Ex Apple User” would still be reading about Macs, but if only half the comments left are from genuine Mac users, Apple could be in trouble.

Threats of switching to a PC running Windows or Linux aren’t new, but the clear disappointment at Apple’s perceived unfair pricing policy and lack of genuine innovation - for instance , nice new iMacs but same old same Intel Core 2 Duo processors - won’t impress some Mac enthusiasts or those who need persuading why Apple are great in the first place.

One big positive, as a Mac Pro user myself, is the new Mac Pro which runs on Xeon processors from Intel’s Nehalem family and sexy sounding "next-generation system architecture.” If I was in the market for a new premium desktop I’d have my admiring eye on the new Mac Pro.

The new Mac Pro has impressive specs but comes at a price some with struggle to afford in difficult economic times.

Apple's new iMac and Mac mini are less appealing, and while UK pricing is explained in detail here, those figures are unlikely to persuade anyone struggling to make ends meet in difficult economic times to run out and buy a shiny new Mac.

A favourite cousin recently switched from Mac to PC simply because he couldn’t find the kind of deal he could afford, even on eBay, to keep his small photography business afloat during the present economic storm.

Fingers crossed, funds permitting, he hopes to be back on a Mac, next year. For him, the move to PC, even a few short years ago, would have been unthinkable.

The new range of desktop Mac Pros, iMacs and Mac Minis do still mean bargains are to be found online, particularly as older and refurbished models are sold off cheaper. Late last year I managed to find a significant saving on a first generation MacBook Air weeks after a new version was unveiled.

Time will tell if yesterday’s announcement of new Macs will help boost Apple’s flagging desktop sales figures, which compared to healthy laptop sales, have been on the slide.

During Apple’s December quarter, for example, the company sold 728,000 desktops, down from 977,000 from the December 2007 quarter. In that same period, laptop sales increased to nearly 1.8 million units from 1.675 million.

We’ll also have to wait to see if those threatening to boycott or abandon Apple are serious. Having never owned a PC, and only used them at various, occasionally fraught, office jobs over the years, I can’t see myself switching any day soon. Others though just might?

Posted by: Nick Spence

Email A Friend

Email this article to a friend or colleague:



PLEASE NOTE: Your name is used only to let the recipient know who sent the story, and in case of transmission error. Both your name and the recipient's name and address will not be used for any other purpose.

<<newer entry  |  older entry>>

Question of the day!

Mark Hattersley
Editor in Chief

Do you share your creations online?

Question of the day!

Do you share your creations online?

% of Macworld readers agree with you

Yes
TBC
No
TBC

What do you create and how do you share it?

124 characters remaining

Follow the conversation at @TabletChat

paintings & illustrations, mostly, which i upload to flickr.RT @fragmentedm

I draw manga/anime characters. I also do graphic design and photography.RT @spialelo

Yes. I usually put them up on my #deviantart account for feedback on how to improve.RT @spialelo

Comments received


Constable Odo said on Wednesday, 04 March 2009

Did these people lose their jobs or have they taken pay cuts? If they had a steady, well-paying job before the economy downturn and still do, why would they be complaining that Apple is still charging the same prices? I'm told there is a perception of buyers to cut back if they have to worry about losing their jobs but that is only a head play and not immediate reality.

Basically what they're saying is that they want Apple to lower prices to the point of losing profit like many other computer companies are doing.

I swear to you that supermarkets are charging just as much for food now and maybe more since the economy has taken a downturn. Are your friends also giving up decent food and living off of potato chips because they refuse to pay the extra cost of nutritious food?

Look, if they don't want to pay Apple prices, then that's their tough luck. I can still buy an Apple computer if I have to scrimp on other things.

Harvey said on Wednesday, 04 March 2009

I agree. It's hard to justify buying a new Mac with the relatively minor upgrades, retaining high prices, and keeping the same years-old form factors (the Mac Pro is basically the same as the old PowerMac G5, and the Mac mini has been using the same design since the G4). What is up with Apple? If they expect people to buy premium priced computers, especially in this economic downturn, they should at least be coming out with new desktop computers that will wow us. Expecting Mac users to buy anything that Apple produces, simply because it came from Apple, is a good way to lose all of the market-share increases gained in the past few years.

AdamC said on Wednesday, 04 March 2009

@Harvey

It's the performance and not the design. Besides they hold their value much much better than PCs when you put them on eBay.

Ponter Boddit said on Thursday, 05 March 2009

You buy a new Mac because you need a new machine, not because it's the latest shiny toy. What's with people? I keep a computer until it no longer performs, not because something new came out. As for the never-ending Mac-PC debate, Apple has two reasons to go Mac: 1) Really decent equipment, well designed; 2) OS X, plus several nefty Mac-only applications from various vendors. If you want either the "lickable" toys or OS X (or are hooked on one of those apps), then you're going to buy a Mac box. Period. Price be damned.

Hugh Jarse said on Thursday, 05 March 2009

I think the updates are fine, and if I lived in the US I would be happy as the prices there are the same, but here in the UK the prices have soared. I know it is to do with the economy, but other computer manufacturers have not raised prices ...

I was holding out for a new Mini as a media server, but can now not afford to.

disgruntled said on Thursday, 05 March 2009

Like many, i suspect, i was waiting for the desktop upgrades to come through. I was ready to go out an buy a new spec imac, but the prices are so shocking, they can't tempt me to replace a 5 year old G4 powerbook. I cannot bring myself to go back to the world of windows, the reason people use mac's is down to the OS, yes the hardware matters but it's the undefinable factor the various big cats bring to the experience. I know mac's are initially more expensive but these price hikes are ridiculous, how can a top (baseline) spec imac cost on a monday £1360 (approx) and then after a minor upgrade be £1800 on the tuesday? There's no way the OS experience is worth that much, so i'm sticking with my trusty PB until the specs match the cost.

GFS said on Thursday, 05 March 2009

Yeh ... I'm doing the same thing with my restaurant choice.

I used to go to 3-star Michelin restaurants, but really, until they can get their prices down I'm going back to McDo. Great food. Great Prices.

James said on Friday, 06 March 2009

@Nick:
// "...PC lovers leaving messages on an essentially
// Mac Web site for fun or to wind Mac users up."

Just to be clear, I'm a Mac user and I'm not remotely interested in winding people up. I don't enjoy criticising Apple, but to me it really feels like they've lost focus since branching out. To have the old Mac Mini on the shelves for that long, and so out of date, shows something approaching contempt for the customer. If the delay had been due to them developing something new or altering the form factor, I'd have understood it. The fact that it just appears to have been an "inventory issue" - well yes, that annoys me. The new prices have also jarred, given that other PC manufacturers seem able to avoid this "currency problem". I'd been holding out to upgrade my parent's Mini. Not now though - I'm holding off. I don't want to switch them to a PC but if they need a replacement machine quick, I will most likely choose Windows. (Don't feel comfortable going Hackintosh)

David said on Saturday, 07 March 2009

When I'm in the market for a new Mac I look for value. I look for a machine with enough hardware to last me several years.

I know the PC desktop world moved beyond 2 cores in 2007 even though their most popular operating system still doesn't benefit much from those extra cores. Apple is on the verge of releasing an OS and development tools to fully utilize as many cores as you've got. To release new iMacs shortly before that OS update that still have only two cores and a crippled GPU is, quite frankly, insulting.

I do not buy from a company that insults me.

bilbo said on Saturday, 07 March 2009

it's funny to read some people defending apple to the death with whatever they do, i used to be the same. but, take a step back and compare the whole pc market, apple have become a joke and, sadly, don't seem that bothered about their computers anymore, the iphone is the future for them.
after 15 years of using the mac, i'm genuinely looking at a dell that i can spec up, hide under the desk and have a nice 20" screen on the desk. go and spec up and compare prices for yourself, apple have their head in the clouds.

please stop talking about the exchange rate as an excuse for raising prices, the new imac is simply a rip off.
you can defend apple as long as you like, i've done it myself, but sooner or later the facts speak for themselves.

Thomas said on Saturday, 07 March 2009

Can I just say, one of the most disingenuous things in these discussions is when anyone daring to criticize Apple is dismissed with the implication that they're probably just an anti-Apple troll. I've been using Macs for the best part of 20 years. I greatly dislike Windows. I don't criticize Apple lightly. Perhaps this is unwarranted, but I really do get the impression that the company has become greedy.

Gary said on Saturday, 07 March 2009

It is mind boggling to see the amount of FUD paid for by Balmer. Like Balmer's posturing, though, it never rings true.

RaiulBaztepo said on Saturday, 28 March 2009

Hello!
Very Interesting post! Thank you for such interesting resource!
PS: Sorry for my bad english, I'v just started to learn this language ;)
See you!
Your, Raiul Baztepo

Disclaimer
Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Macworld. Macworld accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content.
Click here to read the house rules.