Comments on: Report: Apple's market share of PCs over $1,000 hits 66%

By: Dan, Puyallup, WA

Dan, Puyallup, WA — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 21:09:58 +0000

Lies, dang lies, and statistics. Those numbers are skewed to appease the writer. The fact is, Apple still has less than 10% of ALL computer sales. The only numbers that really matter. http://www.pcworld.com/article/152366/apple_market_share.html?tk=rss_news This is what happens when you compare Apples to orang..er…PCs…

By: Josh Danby, Darlington, UK

Josh Danby, Darlington, UK — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 13:19:31 +0000

Bit of a problem with those figures there is that a large proportion of high end PC users build their machines from scratch. Since there's no easy way to tell how many >$1000 PCs have been built from components rather than bought as a package deal the figures are largely irrelevant. The majority of family PC owners buy a cheap deal because they don't need anything flashier, whereas a lot of PC gamers as well as people who work in design or like myself, sound production build their machines as it's a lot cheaper and they get the balance of their machine just right for their purposes.

By: Techdude, Encinitas California

Techdude, Encinitas California — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 05:48:58 +0000

Lets get right to the bottom line here from someone who has spent 18 years supporting both platforms in many environments including business, home and government.

YOU GET MORE DONE ON A MAC

PERIOD

By: Lee, Newbury Park, CA

Lee, Newbury Park, CA — Wed, 28 May 2008 19:03:53 +0000

Hehe… This sort of article always re-starts the PC VS Mac debate. The reality is that if you're a tinkerer and enjoy "tweaking" and care-and-feeding your computer (just as some enjoy caring for their yard), then a PC is fopr you. If you just want an "appliance" to get your work and play done, then a mac is for you. When all the non-tinkerers have switched over to macs, a sort of "equillibrium" will be reached and Apple's market share will stop growing so fast.

By: Randy, Live Oak, CA

Randy, Live Oak, CA — Wed, 28 May 2008 02:46:42 +0000

Since I use both Macs and PC's I know where a lot of those sub 500 dollars PC's wind up. Either on a desk, never used, dead with viri or in the closet.

As far as a trashed OS X computer and a trashed XP computer I can get the OS X machine up and going with most information intact much faster than I can an XP machine and I am a MCSE!

By: Solomon, Harrisburg PA

Solomon, Harrisburg PA — Sun, 25 May 2008 14:01:19 +0000

Comparing an Apple to a PC is like comparing a Cadillac to a Dodge. Yes, the Dodge may serve your purposes, but anyone who is looking in the $12,000-20,000 price range for a vehicle is not someone Cadillac is interested in targeting from the outset. If you want a $15,000 car, you have choices, but Cadillac is not one of them.

By: David. Amherst, NY

David. Amherst, NY — Sat, 24 May 2008 03:30:13 +0000

Reading what everyone stated. Let's be clear. Part for part, Apple is not better than PC parts. Rather that the parts are limited to Apple Specifications and re available in most Win-Tel machines. So you DO pay more for the parts!

Now, there is a difference between value compare to part costs…. Why do Apple charge you a premium is the integration and optimization for those parts to the OS X. They guarantee the parts and application (as well as OS) will work very efficiently and helps to curb/eliminate known issues with Wintel (like viruses, crashes with parts, etc.) That is the premium that all Apple users are talking and stating in terms of ease of usage, etc.

So saving $200 bucks to work with Wintel better than paying premium for a MAC? For me, NO WAY! All my applications needed are Windows based (like most business applications) and I know how to fix my part and optimize it. It does not take much time to resolve most issues! (Now, there are many cases of issue that could be long but if you ever destroyed a OS X, try reinstalling back.. You will see the OS X is sturdy but IF it breaks, you will spend a bit of time to reinstall or fix it)..

If I was a novice user who walks to use Internet and fear about viruses, etc as well as for graphic designers…. Well, MAC is not a bad but a good choice.

At the end, both will survive and like it or not… Both are good and needed either way. If Microsoft became hardware and software company (like they did with Media Center Extender and XBox), they could probably do the same thing like Apple (the assumption is strategy and management were even for both companies). Since Microsoft on-purposely went Software and hold all hardware/OS Support to its vendors are the major issues with Win-tel (since so many vendors to support with hardware), lack of support from Microsoft directly (Fee-basd for direct technical support), and OS market leader (with lots of history)…

At the end, MAC will continue to take market share until Microsoft start changing their business model plan (especially they are burning money to compete with Google and Yahoo and their core business is impacted).

What I do agree with some who wrote is MAC offers many good software for free (they had to since there are not many OS X software vendors in comparison to Wintel as well as compete head to head with Wintel software for acceptance and growth). So everything has a purpose and I would not be surprised that Apple will start the similar model of Microsoft and I hope they do not go through the exclusive IBM model of the past (and their own past of not being open)

By: jason from wisconsin

jason from wisconsin — Fri, 23 May 2008 02:35:45 +0000

"If what you need is to look at porn and play computer games, and your time is worth nothing, and you are interested in knowing what can go wrong with computers…… a PC is for you. Hell, you’ll save 200 bucks until it breaks, and seeing as your time is worth nothing, that 200 bucks is worth a lot of your time!"

DURRR!!

that explains why i work at a fortune 500 company and we all use pcs.

btw, when a pc 'breaks' it's quite easy to fix. not the same with apple computers.

By: cynik, zurich, switzerland

cynik, zurich, switzerland — Thu, 22 May 2008 00:03:45 +0000

If what you need is to look at porn and play computer games, and your time is worth nothing, and you are interested in knowing what can go wrong with computers…… a PC is for you. Hell, you'll save 200 bucks until it breaks, and seeing as your time is worth nothing, that 200 bucks is worth a lot of your time!

These folks are a large part of the market. In the final breakdown, all computers can do is process information fast, and most people do not have information that needs to be processed reliably or sensibly. Hence, PC's do the job.

By: G - Mesa, az

G - Mesa, az — Wed, 21 May 2008 18:38:33 +0000

@Todd from Escondito:

The MacBook Pro starts at $2000, why you chose to arbitrarily compare the model that is $500 more expensive than the lowest cost one, I don't understand.

So now the cost difference is $700 not $1100 as you stated.

I can't locate the configuration you mentioned from Toshiba's website, the 15.4" screens that support two drives don't seem to take 3GB of memory or the 3650 graphics chip.

The systems that take 3GB with a 15" screen don't support dual drives.

Am I just clueless or does Toshiba's web store suck?

My guess is that the stated system doesn't exist since he didn't mention any part/model numbers.

And yes, that a MBP is about 1" thick closed is valuable to me, most of Toshiba's notebooks are bulky and heavy.

As to the article in general:

This is what I, and many others, have been saying for some time. When you exclude the embedded systems and corporate bulk purchases and look at just systems sold at retail to people who have a choice, Apple's share numbers are much larger than generally reported in "market share".

As consumers catch on the other markets will start to understand the benefits and the general market share numbers will catch up to the retail numbers.

IT can't bury their heads in the sand forever, at some point XP will no longer be available for new installs and their choices will be Vista, Windows 7, or OS X. They obviously don't want Vista and W7 looks to continue the issues with Vista.