[Tokolosh]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

yes macs are nice no doubt, as i said in my post i wanted one-- but i cannot justify the premium. if you can, then it makes sense to you. about apple care-- you had to pay extra for it as well, it doesn't come free. other companies offer paid service plans as well, just cos it's called "apple care" and not "tech support" it doesn't make it better.

I rushed with my last post. Had to catch the ferry to the mainland.

Anyway, I understand what you mean about certain issues concerning Apple. I must be honest with you, they've pissed me off on a number of occasions. Apple Care are very quick and helpful, but only till your account expires, and they make you pay even more. I paid 300 bucks and only needed their help... maybe five times? The 1 year I got(free) with your machine was more than enough. You don't get it with a 1 year garantee?

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

see the problem i have with this thread is that people are carelessly comparing substandard PCs with good quality Macs. you just can't do that. if you want to run a comparison you need similar quality hardware-- and i say a thinkpad runs circles around a macbook, especially for the money, and if we're talking one of the dell business notebooks (business, not consumer notebooks), the value of the dell is superior, you can buy 2 for the price of 1 mac.

I haven't really checked out thinkpads to be honest. Does Adobe Premiere Pro run on them smoothly, without crashing?

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

the other problem i have with this thread is that nobody is offering any good arguments in favor of the mac. it's like "im a mac fanboi you should be too". well there are arguments in favor of it and if we were going just OSX vs. Windows i'd say OSX is better-- however, Mac fucks you in the hardware purchase, that's how they make their money.

Yeah, some use them as fashion accessories. I couldn't care less about the design, as long as it does it's job.

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

now, maybe the productivity issue is a problem with certain applications, i don't know. i have no productivity issues with windows. none. all the updates etc are taken care of in the background. i have free antivirus (avg) and firewall (kerio) and never had a problem. ever. but ever. since the inception of xp pro the so-call "windows troubles" are a thing of the past. xp home = shit, winme= crap, win2k=nice but geeky, win98SE=good enough. however xp pro is as solid and trouble free as any OS. what causes problems is substandard cheap crappy hardware that people buy at walmart for $100 and a "free webcam". well of course.

I'm not using a firewall. Never had a virus either. Apparently, pc's get infected within 12 mins if they don't have one installed.

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

the fact is you pay a hefty premium for the mac. if you have the money and it makes sense to you, i say go for it. but be prepared to lay out the cash. i didn't have $2K for a mac mini-- doesn't make sense to me. but we're still considering the purchase of a mac for video editing. *maybe*. we'll see.

I wouldn't buy the mini. Hell, you don't even get a keyboard and mouse with it. A MacBook comes out cheaper, but I don't think it supports Final Cut Pro HD. You'd need one of the pro versions to be able to handle bigger projects.

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

but when you pay a premium for the machine alone you're shirking other items like additional hardware, software, additional video screens, accessories, etc, that are not a trivial expense.

A lot of internal/external hardware I'm using comes from other manufacturers.
LaCie harddrives, Iiyama screens, Agfa scanner, etc. Apple won't stop trying to suck you dry with the configuration option though.