Is buying computers a strange game of screen size and hardware numbers? Or is it about looking for a solution in hardware and software that helps you get things done?
I’ve given up waiting for the next Vista update to finally fix the long pauses on my Dell desktop. I’ve given up flushing away my time on it. These days it’s always booted up in Ubuntu, where it works very well.
I’ve recently had to help a friend downgrade from Vista to Windows XP, so their laptop would “work again”. He was about to buy a new laptop instead!
Another friend just bought a gorgeous Lenovo laptop. Vista is painfully slow to start up! So, he hasn’t even been using it — instead I find him on his old XP desktop. I’ll soon have to help him install XP on the laptop, or it wil continue to be an expensive paper weight.
I’m praying that Windows 7 is good. In the meantime, Microsoft’s Lauren campaign is a great conversation starter to help people solve their computing problems by considering the costs of their frustration, and what their time is worth.
I think most people will be trashing a Windows with their next computer purchase.
Interesting post, although you don’t mention anything about the Apple Tax. I assume you’re talking about why Macs are much more expensive than their PC counterparts. I was just thinking about this last night so I will give my $0.02.
To sum it up as best as possible:
Apple – You pay for the engineering of the hardware, and the software. The drivers to deal with your network, video, mobo, etc.. all coming from the same provider. There’s solid apps bundled in there to do your average every day work.
PC – It’s a total crapshoot as to what hardware works well with other bits of hardware. Your system can easily be screwed up by sloppy 3rd party driver code for a video card or network card, etc.
I’m missing a ton of details here but hopefully my message is clear. That so called “tax” enables you to rely on your purchase (as long as it’s well done). I wouldn’t think of owning a Mac before Tiger or Leopard days, but I’m sold on them now for a personal machine. I don’t have the time to futz with my machines anymore. I want stuff to work well and reliably. Linux/BSD for server, Mac for everything else. Windows for when work calls to pay the bills.
That’s the way I see it until something changes in the PC world.
Windows 7 Beta is pretty zippy.
That’s really funny – I just installed Vista Ultimate on my Thinkpad X61 Tablet and it’s beautiful. The big benefit it has over XP is that it didn’t ship with the confusing mess of crap that IBM pre-load. Vista is fast and slick. After having to use OSX at work it’s a breath of fresh air.
Ian, that is funny! I’ll have to record some video proof
He has the Lenovo W500 model 406226U. What IBM crap was causing the stink?
I’m not looking forward to trying to download all of the XP drivers for him.
I almost fear your answer, but what about Vista and the Windows applications are you finding refreshing? [It is fair to call you a OS X hater
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I have been using Windows 7 beta for about a month now and it isn’t bad. I am still using XP as my default OS, as it works well. I have been tempted to try Ubuntu. I tried Linux Distros in the past, such as Red Hat and Knoppix. I just didn’t like them.