Mac OSX Leopard can now run on your PC and you don't even need a Core 2 Duo CPU. And, Apple's handling of the Leopard upgrade continues to tarnish the company's reputation; latest issue: censorship.

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/2007/1 [...] index.html

Your opinion is yours, but not factual. If you try configuring a spec to spec standard configuration computer from another manufacturer you'll find Apple is actually less expensive than DELL, HP, Alienware, BOXX or anyone else that sells pre-built BTO configurable computers.

Apple are too expensive....their machines cost way too much for what you get, they seem completely against the custom builder or anyone who knows things about computer. Im going to run Mac osx on my spare hdd to try it out at some point, saving costs on an overpriced mac system.

This code is put in as apple know if they dont have it they wont sell any machines.

You're right. I'd like to see a company like Dell selling workstations like Mac Pro at that price... or even an iMac competitor...

These are opinions and reviews from guys who only use ms excel, word, games and overclock pcs... Happy OCing Mr. Reviewer! (at least till you have something important to do in your pc; then in that case, buy a mac)

Knock yourself off
http://forum.osx86scene.com/viewto [...] &sk=t&sd=a

When I bought my new laptop I looked at Macbooks as well as the usual suspects. They most definitely were not the most expensive, nor were they less expensive than comparable systems. They actually were pretty darn close to high end laptops from first tier PC vendors, which I didn't expect (I'd assumed they were more expensive).

I ended up with a Dell Precision M90, which had i gotten the same loadout would have been almost the same price as the comparable Mac (around $2500). It ended up a thousand more after upgrades I wanted (that I couldn't get on the Mac), but the Mac was right in the running.

Isn't it obvious? If OS X could be installed on any PC hardware, people like Dell would step up and make a killing.

Consider the two types of customers Apple has. First, the stereotypical fanboys, who will always buy Apple software and hardware, exclusively. There's just no helping these people--they're willing to pay through the nose for more clean-looking hardware, and that's their right I suppose.

The second type of customer, whom Apple is increasingly trying to appeal to, is the same sort who purchase Dell machines. They simply don't care about "geek stuff". They don't need to know how fast their processor is, they simply need a box that can work. They like Dell because they can get their computers for cheap, and they like Apple because OS X is simpler for them.

If OS X could be installed on any PC, Apple would lose their second customer type. If you can buy a $400 eMachine or Dell with a cheap display, mouse, keyboard, printer and speakers which runs OS X, it should satisfy you in all ways--it's cheap, and it runs OS X, and frankly it's not worth hundreds of dollars more to go over to Apple hardware just so you can look at aluminum rather than painted metal and plastic bezels.

That, and if OS X had to support millions of combinations of CPUs, GPUs, motherboards, and add-in cards, you'd see the same unexpected errors popping up that you do in Windows with its nigh infinite varieties of configurations. Some feature that a motherboard provides would turn out to be incompatible with an SLI-setup using a particular graphics driver, stuff like that--the sort of unfortunate things us Windows users have to deal with, but the ultimate price of having a free computer market. OS X would then lose some of its reputation as being amazingly stable and bug-free... the only way to get the full OS X experience would be to sell your computing soul to the Devil and get Apple's OS and hardware, forgoing choice for convenience.

Yea, there's a huge OS advantage to controlling the hardware permutations the OS will see. I expect once folks start installing OSX on normal PC's they're going to find a LOT of issues that Mac hardware owners will never see.

Apple needs to have a desktop mid-tower with desktop ram. Not just a mini that is a over priced laptop in a small case or a mac pro with FB-DIMMS and 2 server cpus.

I've bought a used G4 for a steal, $200 but after upgrading it with legitimate, which ironically Apple doesn't support, components has cost me the same price as a new iMac! or a very decent PC upgrade! Never again, Apple. I just got Tiger and iLife 'o6 3 months ago thinking iLife '07 won't come and iLife '08 would come in 2008, not this year!! I can't believe Apple is charging a minor update as if it was a new OS after only 2 years, iPhone price drop in only a season, and no upgrade pricing for past hardware and software owners. That 1984 commercial really belongs to Microsoft, they are the ones allowing 3rd party driver developers, licensing hardware manufactures to creatively use their APIs and REAL academic pricing of their products!!!

What do I see in the distance? Look, it's Microsoft swinging the hammer.

Diversity is creativity. Uniformity is isolationistic and downsizing which in business means buy me or my followers will save me (throw money at me).

I don't see a problem.
You pay good money for OSX. You run it on a PC which the software is not designed for and it doesn't run well.
As D_Kuhn: said. a non-mac PC will have problems you can't imagine (even if it does work). The OS works on only a small number of video-cards (mostly sucky ones), etc etc,
So, Apple should just let anyone buy the OSX and just not support it on non-macs. Apple will still have a good image of appliance-like computers because no-one will think of putting Vista on a Mac (unless you like throwing money away).

Please...

Why all the complaining??? Apple has ALWAYS done things this way, they are not known for giving much away at all, so why are people now surprised that Leopard has a "small" upgrade window? Furthermore, I work and am friends with people who work for Apple or are Apple fans, and some who also are Apple foes and i can't think of anyone on either side who was surprised at all with the upgrade window, most thought it was to wide.... Yet if you read Tomshardware.com (which i do almost hourly lol) you would think that there is some sort of revolt which is just not true, its sensational journalism, nothing more...

Regarding pricing, Apple commands a premium from some of its hardware that certain groups of people are willing to pay. However, they are also extremely competative within some segments as well. Their clean cut hardware is tough to beat and the machine just works, they also make absolutely awesome monitors as well. The mac pro is geared towards graphics and video production type clients and the hardware software works great together (my company has a number of MacPros) and the people who use them swear by them. The mac pro is not a "home" desktop computer and its not priced to be that either. Back to Leapord again on pricing, 129 is a great price for the ONLY version... Compare that to Microsoft; Leapord is a steal.... And with these individuals who are porting it to "normal" PCs i expect the cost to go up since Apple's profits lie more in the hardware.

I also expect Apple to quickly patch this hole, and besides... Leopard doesn't use BIOS or an MBR disc so how they got this to work.... I smell some pretty big legal rumblings out of Cupertino soon....

Jeff

It's may be true if you look at initial purchase, but even current PC OEMs like DELL and HP and such allows for a certain level of post-sale DIY customization. You can even try and match the specs with online retailers and build your own machines - you might not beat the price, but chances are you will reuse at least the Power Supply and the Case, DVD drives, maybe your HD if you choose to upgrade. A typical low end pricing would be ($50CDN for the PSU and case, $25-40 for the DVD, and $100 for the HD)

If you do look from the first purchase of the computer, and upgrades over the years to somewhat keep pace, you will find that anything below a Mac Pro isn't terribly customizable. The innards of an iMac feels more like a laptop than a desktop to me.

What are you talking about? I went to Apple's site and Dell.com and configured a 2.0ghz laptop w/ 1 GB 667mhz RAM, 80 GB HDD, and DVD ROM/CD-RW drive and the price was $1200 for the Mac, $1000 for the Dell. That's 20% more on my first try. I'd compare the desktops, but Apple doesn't make "normal" desktops, and Dell doesn't make any all in one systems. (Which I find to be con's for both Apple and Dell).

However, if you compare a Macbook Pro or Mac Pro with a similiar Dell, the price is about the same. Unfortunately, the Mac's don't offer many hardware options, so spec for spec the price is similiar, but with a Dell you can get a cheaper and less powerful model if you want (or a better, more expensive one if you wish).

Also, Apple does not even offer a cheap laptop or desktop. So if you don't need a PC with much power (which is most people), then you end up paying a lot more for a Mac simply because you don't have a choice.


Long story short, if you don't need a PC with the power for serious photo/video editing, then a Mac is much more expensive.

I guess people just expect more. Even Microsoft had more than just a few weeks before Vista's release in which they gave away Vista vouchers with new XP computers. I mean, maybe Apple didn't break any promises about updating 10.4 users to Leopard (or maybe they did, I don't know) but they're not even living up to their own standards. Apple tends to do the "complete overhaul" approach, where they periodically put out a number of new hardware features and changes, with simultaneous price cuts and form factor shrinks, and software updates if appropriate... here's a case where they could've easily said "You bought one of the new Fall '07 Macs, and though we would've liked to have Leopard out by now, working on the iPhone delayed it so we couldn't ship the new OS with the new hardware... to make it up to you, we're including free (minus packaging and shipping) upgrade vouchers to everyone who bought one of the new Macs." But... they didn't. Which is even more unacceptable when you consider that a great many OS X "features" are behind-the-scenes OS changes or simple updates to bundled software (DVD player app