Why are Apple computers more expensive?

[Andy008]

Why is it that Apple notebooks are so much more expensive than PC's?

[Gromit]

beso,

I was under the impression that Windows3, 95 and 98 would not work in Vista or Windows 7. Are you telling me it does?

OS X is a complete rewrite, as was Vista. In both instances the code on which was based was out of date and bloated. There is a time when it is no longer worth patching up your 15 year old car, and a new one is the way to go.

When OS X came out 8 years ago, as a temporary measure, Apple let you run OS9 in a kind of emulation mode called 'Classic'. This was meant to smooth the transition from the old OS to the new one and was a temporary messure. Apple has long ago dropped the ability to run OS9 you must have a four or five year old version of the software. OS 9 will not run on intel chips which all of the current range use.

The original question was about the current Apple laptops. I did not bother to answer the rest of your gripes because they no longer occur in the current release of the operating system.

I can see why an Apple would not be suitable for you if you want to run 15 year old software.

[Gromit]

ACtheTROLL

I do not accept the Symantec list because they are all PC reported vunerabilities. Non on that list have cause a problem in OS X.

Why keep trying to shift to malware? I said viruses.

I don't know if you will accept wikipedia as a source, but here goes...

"As of 2006, there are relatively few security exploits targeting Mac OS X (with a Unix-based file system and kernel). The number of viruses for the older Apple operating systems, known as Mac OS Classic, varies greatly from source to source, with Apple stating that there are only four known viruses, and independent sources stating there are as many as 63 viruses. In January 2009, Symantec announced discovery of a trojan that targets Macs. This discovery did not gain much coverage until April 2009."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_virus

Sorry about the bold, that was a mistake.

Sorry Andy008 that we have hijacked your thread.

[Gromit]

Sorry about the bold again, that too was

[Gromit]

gromit - methinks you protest too much

Of course I protest, you accuse me of being irresponsible to tell others this sort of rubbish.

It is clear you know your onions on the PC and many people on here are grateful for the help and advice you have given them. However, you are clearly clueless on the Mac platform.

[Gromit]

News report Jan 09:

Symantec researchers have called the first harmful computer program to strike specifically at Mac.

Norton site:

Are Mac users under attack?
The short answer, no. Users of Macintosh computers continue to have little to fear from viruses, trojans and worms so long as they take reasonable precautions.

http://www.symantec.com/norton/theme.jsp?theme id=ibotnet

Again not a virus. So that is the first mac vunerability compared to the hundreds of thousands of PC ones.

[fo3nix]

Wow, lots of FUD here, popular thread!

1) Apple computers are more expensive because they are more powerful and have more features.

For example, price up a Dell or Sony or whatever, with the same spec as the current MacBook. The prices will compare pretty evenly (in fact, Apple is quite competitive, especially if you think about the hardware design and Mac OS X).

Apple's philosophy on hardware is that it should be powerful enough to do anything the software is capable of (including video editing with iMovie), so all their stuff is higher-end. PC manufacturers sell the complete spectrum of stuff, including lots of cheap stuff. While it may come with Windows Movie Maker or whatever, it won't be able to run this well. This is just a difference of viewpoint.

Viruses: a virus is just a program that runs by itself. As such, it's trivial to write a virus for any system, including Mac OS X (terminal -> rm -rf / should do it). The question is, how easy is it to get a virus by just running your computer on a network (like the internet).

With the security system in Mac OS X, anything modifying the base software needs a password from the user. So it's typically up to the user to run this virus or not (and thus, the user's intelligence and ability with a computer).

Windows has far more users than Mac OS X, and thus there are far more stupid people using Windows. That, and the higher target that Windows is than Mac OS X for virus writers, is why Windows has more viruses.

Windows' security is in many ways better than Mac OS X (memory randomisation, etc.), but this is required again to it being higher target.

[johnny7]

It's all about branding and product positioning. Apple have marketed their products, including iPods, to be fashion accessories and therefore charge a generally higher price than similar spec PCs.