OS loyalty = Religion

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I got a kick-ass tablet with a 10" touchscreen that runs Android and does everything an iPad does, and I got it for $220 from Hong Kong on ebay. Yeah, I had to teach myself some chinese on the fly in order to switch the interface to english (it also has a cyrillic setting for russian), but I think that was worth saving $600.

By my math, $499 minus $220 is not even close to $600.

And that sounds awesome! I probably wouldn't be willing to take the risk or put the time into tinkering with it, but it's a good thing that some people are because it keeps the market competitive.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Frankly, I mostly see the "my way is the best and therefore only right way!" posturing as pure insecurity.

[East Coast Hustle]

I got a kick-ass tablet with a 10" touchscreen that runs Android and does everything an iPad does, and I got it for $220 from Hong Kong on ebay. Yeah, I had to teach myself some chinese on the fly in order to switch the interface to english (it also has a cyrillic setting for russian), but I think that was worth saving $600.

By my math, $499 minus $220 is not even close to $600.

And that sounds awesome! I probably wouldn't be willing to take the risk or put the time into tinkering with it, but it's a good thing that some people are because it keeps the market competitive.

the cheapest iPad you can get is $629, and that's only 16GB and wi-fi only, no 3G. The 32GB wi-fi and 3G version (what my tablet has) goes for $799, IIRC.

[East Coast Hustle]

Frankly, I mostly see the "my way is the best and therefore only right way!" posturing as pure insecurity.

I'm not sure who was doing that ITT, but it wasn't me. I just think Apple is a ridiculous company that makes ridiculous products and sells them for ridiculous prices. It has nothing at all to do with my way.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Frankly, I mostly see the "my way is the best and therefore only right way!" posturing as pure insecurity.

Except when it comes to Holy^TM stuff, of course.  Then there's no fucking around.

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

I just don't see where there's an meaningful advantage to using a Mac for the average person that justifies the price.

How about the likelihood of running into malicious code for them and stability issues?

It seems to me that Apple is interested in all the details of experiencing a computer. The location of ports, the magnetically connected power cord, the muted sound of the keyboard, the trackpads with the invisible button, the aesthetics, the ease of cleaning it, simplicity in using their software, et cetera. At some point all these little details become something greater than just a bunch of little niceties and it's less about using a computer and more about the thing you're doing on the computer in the first place.

Windows also doesn't have a stable track record in my experience. They might have recently figured it out, but they still have a significant history of crashing and getting viruses. It's clearly a more serious concern to people who earn their bread on computers, but it's a hassle that people are aware of and are willing to pay a premium to avoid, even if they don't give a flying fuck that their laptop power adapter has a little integrated cord organizer.

[East Coast Hustle]

I just don't see where there's an meaningful advantage to using a Mac for the average person that justifies the price.

How about the likelihood of running into malicious code for them and stability issues?

It seems to me that Apple is interested in all the details of experiencing a computer. The location of ports, the magnetically connected power cord, the muted sound of the keyboard, the trackpads with the invisible button, the aesthetics, the ease of cleaning it, simplicity in using their software, et cetera. At some point all these little details become something greater than just a bunch of little niceties and it's less about using a computer and more about the thing you're doing on the computer in the first place.

Windows also doesn't have a stable track record in my experience. They might have recently figured it out, but they still have a significant history of crashing and getting viruses. It's clearly a more serious concern to people who earn their bread on computers, but it's a hassle that people are aware of and are willing to pay a premium to avoid, even if they don't give a flying fuck that their laptop power adapter has a little integrated cord organizer.

Actually,

http://www.securitynewsdaily.com/era-mac-malware-immunity-over-0791/

and

http://www.securitynewsdaily.com/five-apple-security-myths-hard-truths-0592/

and

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43101276/ns/technology_and_science-security

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

I just don't see where there's an meaningful advantage to using a Mac for the average person that justifies the price.

How about the likelihood of running into malicious code for them and stability issues?

It seems to me that Apple is interested in all the details of experiencing a computer. The location of ports, the magnetically connected power cord, the muted sound of the keyboard, the trackpads with the invisible button, the aesthetics, the ease of cleaning it, simplicity in using their software, et cetera. At some point all these little details become something greater than just a bunch of little niceties and it's less about using a computer and more about the thing you're doing on the computer in the first place.

Windows also doesn't have a stable track record in my experience. They might have recently figured it out, but they still have a significant history of crashing and getting viruses. It's clearly a more serious concern to people who earn their bread on computers, but it's a hassle that people are aware of and are willing to pay a premium to avoid, even if they don't give a flying fuck that their laptop power adapter has a little integrated cord organizer.

Actually,

http://www.securitynewsdaily.com/era-mac-malware-immunity-over-0791/

and

http://www.securitynewsdaily.com/five-apple-security-myths-hard-truths-0592/

and

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43101276/ns/technology_and_science-security

I never said Macs were immune, as those links seem to assume, but it still is more likely for your PC to get infected than a Mac.

This is from your own source:

But even though it's true that Macintosh computers, iPhones, iPods and iPads (the latter three of which run Apple's iOS mobile operating system) are subject to far fewer attacks than their Windows (or Android) counterparts, Apple products are definitely not immune to security flaws.

...

"The reality today remains that if I want to write some code that will attempt to control the maximum number of systems, then I need to have that code target the most common systems out there [Windows]. But as the number of Mac system grows, so will the attention of the attackers."

I'd also like to point out that the "MS" in your MSNBC link stands for Microsoft.

[P3nT4gR4m]

It's simple economics - the hackers have to invest time and resources into exploiting security holes, that's why they go for the system that almost everyone is running. This is the only reason Linux and apple are "more secure" if 90% of the hardware on the planet was penguin or apple powered you'd see a complete reverse of this. Still, you can't change the facts - for as long as most of the population of earth are running windows, pretty much any alternative is less likely to suffer from exploits.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I got a kick-ass tablet with a 10" touchscreen that runs Android and does everything an iPad does, and I got it for $220 from Hong Kong on ebay. Yeah, I had to teach myself some chinese on the fly in order to switch the interface to english (it also has a cyrillic setting for russian), but I think that was worth saving $600.

By my math, $499 minus $220 is not even close to $600.

And that sounds awesome! I probably wouldn't be willing to take the risk or put the time into tinkering with it, but it's a good thing that some people are because it keeps the market competitive.

the cheapest iPad you can get is $629, and that's only 16GB and wi-fi only, no 3G. The 32GB wi-fi and 3G version (what my tablet has) goes for $799, IIRC.

http://www.apple.com/ipad/

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Frankly, I mostly see the "my way is the best and therefore only right way!" posturing as pure insecurity.

I'm just going to say this again, because this discussion is rapidly spiraling into "I'm going to justify my choices as a way of pointing out why yours are wrong", and that's really just irredeemably stupid.

Everybody here is capable of researching devices and picking ones that suit them. If different devices didn't suit different people, there wouldn't be so many options.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Frankly, I mostly see the "my way is the best and therefore only right way!" posturing as pure insecurity.

Except when it comes to Holy^TM stuff, of course.  Then there's no fucking around.

Well, if it's Holy^TM stuff, there's just no fucking arguing it. 

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Frankly, I mostly see the "my way is the best and therefore only right way!" posturing as pure insecurity.

I'm not sure who was doing that ITT, but it wasn't me. I just think Apple is a ridiculous company that makes ridiculous products and sells them for ridiculous prices. It has nothing at all to do with my way.

In other words, you're ridiculing the people who make a different choice than you, and justifying your choices.

[Laughin Jude]

I was running Windows 98 on dial-up the last time I had a virus problem on a PC. The security angle really doesn't seem relevant to me. And like I said, I couldn't tell you the last time Windows crashed on me, but it's been years.

If Apple products work for you, that's great, but a lot of the "downsides" to using a Windows-based PC have pretty much become mythological anymore unless you're visiting www.givemeavirusandcrashmycomputer.com

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Except for the spyware. Or if you have kids using your computer... they seem to manage to find viruses quite a bit. Oh and the fucking adware.