College-bound Kids Don't Plan on Buying Macs

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[citation][nom]jungleboogiemonster[/nom]I work at a university and while I don't spend much time in computer labs these days, I do recall being in a Mac lab a year or two ago. It was filled with a bunch of pissed off students who had an assignment that involved using software only available on Macs. No one could figure out how to use them. They looked at me and I told them I couldn't help and got out of there before things turned ugly. It's more than just cost, it's also what people know how to use. If you're in college time is important and learning a new OS isn't what people want to do, they just want to do their assignments.[/citation]
Which is why Mac will never be the juggernaut people think it will. As long as they are virtually impossible to find in business they won't win a large % of the market. I'm an IT guy and I don't feel like learning a new OS when I get home, at least not one I want to pay for. I've got Ubuntu running as a secondary OS, but that's for fiddling in my spare time. I couldn't imagine coming home and having to answer my wife's questions on how to log into facebook.
 
Meh, I like my Macbook but it's true that during the recession, Apple's gonna hurt because people are now looking more at the sub-$1000 market for their notebooks. Unless you're an artist (of any sort) chances are that you won't be getting a Mac during the recession.

I'm a computer science student, but I took in the Mac just because of its UNIX base and I don't have time at college to maintain a smooth traditional UNIX installation like Linux or FreeBSD, so I just went w/ MacOS X. TBH imo, MacOS X is easier to learn than Windows.
 
[citation][nom]deltatux[/nom]Meh, I like my Macbook but it's true that during the recession, Apple's gonna hurt because people are now looking more at the sub-$1000 market for their notebooks. Unless you're an artist (of any sort) chances are that you won't be getting a Mac during the recession.I'm a computer science student, but I took in the Mac just because of its UNIX base and I don't have time at college to maintain a smooth traditional UNIX installation like Linux or FreeBSD, so I just went w/ MacOS X. TBH imo, MacOS X is easier to learn than Windows.[/citation]

You are a computer science student and can't configure "smoothly" ubuntu(linux base)? Even my mom can do that!!

And who says that you can't run Mac OS on a pc?? You should study hard boy!!
 
Apple makes a big shot in their foot when they change to a Intel based platafform. How justify that they have the same hardware of their competitors and so bigger prices?
In the past MAC's are much more powerfull than competitors but today there is no much diference. The OS is better, but this is not sufficient to justify the prices.
 
College students are poor, and now poorer than ever. I'm glad they're not stupid enough to waste extra money on the apple tax.
 
I graduated this spring... Macs represented approximately 30-40% of student laptops. While that's not a majority, they clearly have a more significant market share among students and young professionals than other areas. Like Jobs keeps saying.. .they dont need volume to make billions--Apple's goal is to be the BMW to Dell's Toyota.
 
Apple computers suck. They need to get with the program. Reduce the cost of the hardware and more people would buy them. I think an ATI HD 3870 graphics card is still going for $200. They're probably down to around $80 or less in the PC world. $30 for a stupid iPod charging cable, $20 for the wall charging unit, and $20 for a stupid DVI cable adapter is just B.S. PC is the way to go.

We were going to buy a dual Xeon Mac Pro for our workplace. That thing was going to cost $5000. A comparable PC workstation would have only been around $2000 max. We ended up getting a Core 2 Duo iMac for around $1400. That thing is slow, and it was spec'd out to do Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop work.
 
if college bound kids are smart enough to not buy an over priced under powered pos, then they will probably be smart enough to get their degree.... good start, get a pc or linux box
 
Apple offered the 1st generation of Ipod Touch or an Ipod Classic last year as well...nothing new about that deal...
 



Numbers from polls are freaking lies, 300 students from completely random sample not taking into account financial status and chosen degree out of just 14 million students alone in the United states or around 300k+ just going into College is nothing but a lie passed off as math or science.

Hell a poll's margin or error from the fed up math with so called 95%"confidence" on an "expected" 50/50 split poll with 5% margin of error only requires around 350 people for any sample size above 3000 or higher, just from that with 350 people i can say with confidence that out of 10 freakin thousand people will follow that pattern, people are not objects that are the same if it was a Test on how bead falls and rolls on the ground I could trust that, but people are like 10923803241 different types of beads each weighing, colored, textured differently, You don't run a test in science and not take into account the make up of what you are testing and it's environment. Polls are bullsh1t they made by people who pull numbers and words out of their a$$es people are not all the same living all in the same environment you can choose a person at near random but what a person answers is not at all close to random.

Hell take a look at frank luntz and what he done for thousands of polls, pollsters and their polls are lies built on top of how numbers can make something look true.

Like it *** ing matters, i would expect the pool to be correct only if they took into account levels of family income and discipline the student will be going into and grouping those students that are similar together, each of those samples should be around say 300 and that is the only freakin way i would trust that poll, along if i knew the questions being asked were worded exactly the same.

Personally i don't trust a so called "random" poll That doesn't ask the same exact question to people and doesn't sample at least 25% of the population. Sure sounds impossible but frankly polls are lies esp polls are large populations from a relatively small sample size.
 
[citation][nom]kami3k[/nom]No point in using Linux for most people and maybe the law says you can't use Mac OS on a window's PC? Two things tell me you are a idiot, One, you call a windows system PC when a Mac OS PC is a PC as well. Two, you don't know wtf a EULA is.[/citation]
That also amused/annoyed me as well. Apple pretty much created the first PCs.
 
It's pretty crazy that I can get a 15" laptop for as little as $349 (and probably cheaper if I really looked) but the cheapest 15" Mac laptop is $1699.

For $1,199.99 Best Buy will sell me an 18.1" Sony with Blu-Ray and a 400GB hard drive. The Mac has a normal DVD-RW and a 250GB hard drive.

I also happen to be a fan of Windows 7 and am increasingly getting turned off the MacOS. It was ahead of its time a few years ago but now it's just average.
 
yeah, so this means that college kids have a brain.

If i was given a $1000 budget for computer equipment at college i would buy a $300 netbook for classes and spend the remaining $700 on building a nice gaming rig.
 
[citation][nom]steiner666[/nom]yeah, so this means that college kids have a brain.If i was given a $1000 budget for computer equipment at college i would buy a $300 netbook for classes and spend the remaining $700 on building a nice gaming rig.[/citation]
If they had a brain they wouldn't waste their money on a gaming rig and buy what they need, nothing says sucks to be you like spending long amounts of time on CAD program that just doesn't run fast enough on your comp.
 
[citation][nom]kami3k[/nom]No point in using Linux for most people and maybe the law says you can't use Mac OS on a window's PC? Two things tell me you are a idiot, One, you call a windows system PC when a Mac OS PC is a PC as well. Two, you don't know wtf a EULA is.[/citation]

Hahahah you really make me LOL!!!! "No point in using Linux for most people..." MAC's OS are linux based pretty boy!!! And please if you can't use Ubuntu ask for help!!! You said I call "windows system PC" WTF!!!! Last time I checked my hardware I did not notice any M$oft/Windows symbol anywhere!!! Who says a PC is windows??? OMG!!! I hope you know that OS are independent of a system's hardware!!!!

I'm still LOL!!!
 
Even in peer reviewed research, statistical sloppiness is a problem. Researchers will do "meta-analysis" where they review sometimes hundreds of published articles for accuracy, stat. significance, etc. And that is peer reviewed, not some 300 people were asked a question over the phone or worse, filled out a survey. Maybe it was a great study but there is no supporting information, so you have to assume it was junk. All data is junk....

The apple tax I think everyone knows is something around 20% - so let's drop the hysteria over "$350 buys me a machine equivalent to a Mac Pro". Lots and lots of people are willing to pay the 20% for the simple reason that the computer looks nice on the outside. Most Windows laptops resemble old Buicks in their styling, in my opinion, but you won't catch me buying a Mac anytime soon. Because I'm not in college anymore. When I was, I lusted after, among other things with smooth curves, all things Mac. But we had ample computer labs filled with PCs and Macs so I didn't by a laptop at all. Oh, and I liked Ferraris and big TVs and other nonsense that was overpriced. So what. College kids have tons of disposable income with little financial sense, and are oblivious to recessions for the most part. It's a very isolated environment. remember when Mac lappies were $3500 and there were still tons of them floating around looking cool.

And to you supposed IT professionals who don't want to learn Mac OS - give me a break, it's been around for years mostly unchanged and takes about one minute to learn how to open a web-browser and Microsoft Word, which accounts for 99% of all useful work done on any computer, (I mean outside of professional use). Another 10 minutes will have you mastering the OS. Which is about what it takes someone to learn the basics of Windows 7 or Vista to be honest.

I have two bachelors degrees (woopty-do) and in neither degree did I use a computer for anything other than typing papers. Both were science degrees separated 10 years in time. Well, we did have to use a tiny tiny bit of Unix to run some ancient lab equipment.
 
If you are a designer or going into graphic design or using Adobe products, Mac OS is the way to go. After using CS4 on my PC and using CS4 in the mac lab, for some reason CS4 just runs and flows better on a mac. Sure the PC has a better powerhouse, but when it comes to apps, gotta go mac.

For those running eeepcs and netbooks, those are great for accounting, porn surfing, report typing, and note taking. Which can also be done on a blackberry or iphone.

I would however take a PC laptop to College for theft issue. Hate to say but those macs are high up for their theft because they have such a great resale value vs a PC.

Macs are BMWs, PCs are your kia.
 
[citation][nom]hallic7[/nom]You are a computer science student and can't configure "smoothly" ubuntu(linux base)? Even my mom can do that!!And who says that you can't run Mac OS on a pc?? You should study hard boy!![/citation]

Well, I'm a computer science student as well, but I still don't want to use Linux either. But I don't give a shit about Mac OS X either.
 
Well the ones at my university have a bunch... I'm a CSC major too.

I'm not a mac fan, but I see quite a few of them on campus, including in professors offices. They may not be the dominant force, but they are prevalent.
 
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