Is Apple Now Censoring Tom's Hardware? - Page 2

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Funny thing is M$ own a share of Apple.

So Apple is censoring THG and you guys are screaming bloody murder. Even if this is the case and THG did get censored, I feel no pity. THG should stick to what they know better, writing hardware tests for the only platform they feel comfortable with, which is PC (and maybe sometimes Linux). Is the alleged Apple censorship against THG unethical? Publishing sloppy, biased, amateurish pieces of sensational journalism to sneakily attack Apple and the Apple community just because some early adopters (or early adopter wannabes) started whining about Apple's upgrade/price drop policy isn't ethical either.

I'm tired of this. We (Mac users) critisise Windows for being slow, cumbersome, buggy and at the end of the day impractical, and in return the PC/Windows users (correction: the part of the PC/Windows users that consist of immature, inferiority complex ridden people) attack Mac users for being snobby losers spending a truckload of money for "inferior hardware". Ha!

Why I have a Mac:
* I don't care about bragging at how many GHz my CPU is running, or how many FPS my VGA hits in Crysis. It is doing the jobs I want it to do quite adequately.
* I don't care if Macs might even be more expensive. If I can afford it, I will buy it, because I like using it. Same with "proprietary hardware" that we Mac users are "forced" to buy. Get a grip with reality, people. Would you accuse somebody who drives a BMW or a Jaguar as being a loser for spending lots of money when he could instead buy a cheaper and faster (enter cheap car maker/model here), with a bigger engine etc? Would you accuse them of spending a fortune on genuine BMW spare parts, instead of getting cheap (enter cheap car parts here)? Nobody is accusing people who pays a fortune to buy the latest OC'd VGA, the latest OC'd DDR3, etc. Why? Because you would to the same if you could afford it?
* If I want to play games, I'll get a console or even a Windows PC, and use it for the only thing Windows are good at. For everything else I'll use the Mac, thanks.

I guess this is all a case of "You don't like the stuff I like, so you suck."

I don't wish this to be considered an attack against people who use Windows. People use an operating system for their own reasons. I use Windows too, to perform the 2-3 specific tasks that I can't perform with Windows XP running in a window in Parallels emulator in OS X. I don't blame anyone for using Windows, no matter how buggy or inferior may think they are. I just think that most of the Windows users lives who are not hardcore PC gamers, overclocking enthusiasts, or dedicated business people, would be much easier with a Mac. I guess this is how most Mac users see it too. Our advice is only to get outside your contorted comfort zone and try a Mac. If you end up using the PC more because the Mac can definitely not do what you want it to the way you want it to, then the Mac is not for you. Accept the fact though that there are other people for whom the Mac is absolutely ok, and just because you are not them, it does not mean that they suck.

So back to the point. If you THG people cannot see the Macs for what they really are (tools to do stuff, yet with a different philosophy than the PCs you use at home or you would personally like to own), if you fail to see that there might be people out there that don't fall into the categories I mentioned in the previous paragraph, stop writing sloppy tests about the Macs. If you reckon you'll buy something too early too expensive, then wait and buy it later. If it gets cheaper the next day after you buy it don't whine. If people start whining about such stuff, don't use them as an excuse to attack Apple because you think they suck and they are snobby and they need to be punished for being the Evil Empire ripping loyal Mac users off, thinking that in that way you will discourage people from buying Macs, and thus punish big bad Apple into the oblivion of a non-existing market share. Grow up. Be professional. Don't let sentiment take over the keyboard on your behalf. Or just go wild and change THG to "Robin Hoods Socialist Crusade For Cheaper Hardware And Software For Everyone And Free Unlimited Updates Until Everything Is Free And We All Live Happily Ever After". Amen. (and then, King Arthur built Camelot).

To showing off kids, I'd say, if you want to show off with your computer, get a life. Show off with something else. Start sports. Go to the gym. You'll get more chicks that way, guaranteed. And it will definitely cost less too. If you just like owning a powerful PC as a hobby, fine. Just don't bash other people who don't share your views.

There. I've said it.

Have a nice day.

First, Apple sucks, but so does MS. MS did give out the Vistacrap upgrades when they failed to release on time and they don't even get the money on the hardware. All they got was the grief of running an upgrade mill for nothing, only to pump up the PC hardware industry. So kudos to MS for that one.

Apple is very heavy handed in protecting their image and this little bit of censorship is certainly not the first time. It also most certainly won't be the last.

Getting down to the issue of the cheap upgrade. If these MAC buyers did a little research before they bought, and we know they did because they are all very smart, then they would have known that a new OS was being released shortly. So it is incumbent on them to get the upgrade promise in WRITING. Any moron who is saying that the sales puke told him he would get a deal on an upgrade is just that, a moron. Real simple, get the manager and tell him that your purchase is conditional on receiving written acceptance by Apple or himself as their agent, that you would receive the OS upgrade at whatever discount you deem appropriate. If he can't comply then don't buy the MAC.

Problem Solved.

signed, favorited and quoted

dflynchimp:

If this was not already the third or fourth instance in a series of biased Apple bashing articles, I wouldn't have bothered commenting on it. I don't challenge the article itself, but its perceived motive. You yourself say that "trolls and griefers" should be excluded. You can be a troll without saying "you suck", and this is what THG has been doing for some time now. I still believe that if Apple really censored THG, it was a lame an unnecessary thing to do. This just gave THG one more opportunity to cry about evil, dictatorial Apple (as opposed to the freedom loving Microsoft). Apple's censorship sucks only as much as THG's sensational journalism.

And I was probably incorrect in my accusations. It wasn't the last article that was amateurish, it was rather its motives and its intentions. If you want to read a real amateurish article itself, read THGs so called "review" of the new Mac product line.

As for the "I'm a Mac & I'm a PC" advertising campain, it is obvious that they are trying to be humourous by being exaggerated. I reckon it is also obvious that the ads target the everyday user, the people who use the computer to check e-mail, surf, blog, edit their holiday pictures and make holiday movies with their computer, listen to music, create some graphics & music, etc. I guess that describes maybe... how much, 80% of Personal Computer users? Go to your nearest Shopping Mall/Center next Sunday and tell me what percentage of the people you see walking by are the hardcore gamers, the overclockers, the render farmers, etc? Some people take overrated marketing (what am I talking about, marketing and advertising are always overrated) by Apple as a personal attack against their comfort zone of Windows usage, and they translate it as Apple forcing them to buy what they perceive as "sucky, overpriced show-off designer computers". What you call the "Holier than thou" approach. Was it the comparison that annoyed you the most? It just tried to challenge the almost monopoly of Windows platform among people who would probably be better of with a lowly Mac mini or a low-level iMac. As it seems though, it got misunderstood by some people as "Macs are better than PCs" and ultimately "We Mac users are better than you PC users".

As for the "bashing" you accuse Apple of doing against the Windows platform, don't you consider they are legitimate in their strategy to compare Macs with PCs? It's apple that has to gain from drawing people from the Microsoft camp, not vice versa. And generally Apple does not claim to kick Window's butt in areas that Windows have undisputedly the upper hand (games!) or bash PC hardware. Again, the vast majority of Macs out there are most suitable for home use, or light professional use. Alas, people in the "My PC kicks butt" camp, see such claims on Apple's behalf, together with Mac users commenting on how much more they like their sleek, good looking, quiet computers than their generic noisy PC counterparts, and how much more they enjoy the stability of OS X (which is BSD "Unix" based by the way) over the bugginess that Windows platform, they translate it all as "bashing the innocent PC users" on behalf of the snobby "fanboy" Mac users.

I use a Mac because for many reasons. I used to work with PCs for 15 years until I switched to the Mac platform, thus I know what each platform is good for. I do believe that Macs are expensive, and I do reckon there should be more upgrade options. However, I still appreciate what I have and I consciously choose to give my money in exchange for the combination of hardware and software that a Mac is. Does this make me a fanboy? Why? Because I don't whine about how unfair life is because of evil Apple?

And in the end, do you people care what Apple is doing to its customers? You would never buy a Mac anyway. You don't give a funk about Mac users. Or is it that you would love to buy a Mac but you don't want to give up your quad core CPU and your 8800 Ultra? I don't get it. To me this is just people jumping at the opportunity to bash Apple, for reasons I can only guess (after all I am not a psychologist). I don't see any wish to promote right versus wrong in this outcry against Apple (the iphone price drop, the OS X upgrade "woes"/whines), just shadenfreude.

There is a difference between criticism and bashing, between bias and objectivity, between emotionally charged sensational journalism, and impartial reportage.

Exactly, and all by the same guy, Tony Celeste, and all in the past month.

Yes, but exaggeration is one thing, flat out lying and misleading is another, and it irritates some Mac users as much as Windows users.

Cromatica, have you realized that REPORTING ON TECH NEWS means that you can evaluate Leopard and prove points Pros and Cons on it. And then "mention" the upgrade policy.

But doing a WHOLE article on "I dislike the policy" to start a war. (Biasing users and non-users to be angry at Apple) is another thing?

Yankees always talk about "freedom" (of will of speach, and so on). Well with Apple you have freedom too. To chose another brand, to get a PC with Windoze or Linux. Even freedom to call Apple and yell "you screwed me with the upgrade policy".

But Apple guys are not doing it. And Toms does.

Dangerous... if so, is for Apple, not for the people. So it's up to them if they fall... and I'll love to see them fall, as we saw them already move to Intel, get their OS installed on standard PCs and Sun Microsystems building AMD and Intel PCs as Dell does.

EDIT: AND THE MOST IMPORTANT THING. Apple is NOT "censoring Tomshardware" they are censoring SOMEONE who writes on THEIR forum. Which they have full control over it. Censoring Toms would be forcing them to remove an article from their web page. If I register on their forum and bash them... I'll get "censored" too. You can't come to my house and bash me, because it's my house, and my rules apply.

Isn't it sad that yall complain when apple limits to its forums and yall disable links to x'cp'us'.co'm?

iampowerslave:

If that article was about reviewing Leopard itself then fine, but it wasn't, it was about the upgrade policy. Whether thats newsworthy or not is debatable- you for instance have decided that it only warranted a footnote. I'm not claiming anything, I'm talking about the general publics perception of Apple, their claims about themselves (you can say it was just marketing hooha, but any way you cut it they make some bold claims that should be challenged if we think they're incorrect), and my perceived attitudes of its users in their unwillingness to be critical of their own platform.

It is impossible not to have a bias toward a thing one way or another unless you have 0 knowledge of it. Anybody who says different needs to finish up middle school and then talk. It's simple psychology, non-biased reporting is a pure fiction- does not exist. That said perhaps this guy has something against Apple and wants to stir the pot and perhaps he doesn't and this is all legit. We of course are all professional armchair reporters and thus know what is newsworthy and what isn't. I'm something of a centrist and think that the media has been overly kind to Apple- so a few more stories on them to me is a good thing. Bring things back to the middle. I want Apple to survive, thus they have to be able to deal with things and if they're never exposed they won't learn what the public is ok with and what it isn't. Fine that you think this report was bias, but you have to look past that and decide for yourself whether the matter is of concern or not. News on tv is just as bias if not more so on an everyday basis, you have to do the same thing and take it all with a grain of salt and know that that is the case and try and look past it.

Fine they have freedom to not choose Apple, drr. I'm simply advising against what seems to be the pervasive attitude at this time.

If anyone thinks that not being critical of a product you buy or support is a good thing- please let me know now and I will put you on the long list of people I don't waste time on.

You agree that it's dangerous for Apple. Ok so its not much of a stretch to say that it would then be bad for those people if their platform went south. Thus making it a very grave concern for them, unless they have no problem whatsoever switching if it does go down- but if I know my Apple friends, they would indeed have problems with that. Thus they have a direct interest in the health of Apple, and should therefore try and make it stronger.

Agreed it's their forum, but just like the reviews on retailers sites- for the most part people rely on them and think them truthful. If that truthfulness is compromised then people should know about it. If reliable information source is not the role that Amazon, Newegg, BestBuy, whomever want to play then fine, but the public SHOULD know what the deal is... which brings us too... NEWS, reporting on these things to let everyone know that maybe going to Apple's site is not going to net you any negative feedback. When I am going to purchase a product I first search for all the negative feedback I can find, if I find very little on a widely used product then that's good. Glowing reports attempting to fellate the products they extol are a dime a dozen. I'd rather hear what didn't go right.

chromaticaberration-

Gee what are you doing here if you feel the only people interested in the author's articles are himself? Doesn't that make you ... *gasp* ... one of them?

And for someone complaining about dissing, you seem to be doing an awful lot of it yourself.

/me stops feeding the troll. Because they just don't get it.

Yes you can, because Macs run Windows.

I've played Oblivion, Half Life 2, Vanguard, World Of Warcraft, Lost Planet, Halo 2, Bioshock, and the Crysis demo on my Macbook Pro. I have a Playstation 3 because all Xbox games will come to the PC anyway.

BURNED!!!!!!!!!!!!! OUCH!!!

can't you guys stop posting about a stupid thing like this?? HELL SCREW APPLE THAT'S ALL

Yeah Macs are behind in the graphics department gaming wise, I think the fastest gaming card is the 1900xtx. You can get Nvidia Quatros for the Mac, but that's a lot to pay to play games.


On my laptop the res is 1680x1050, which is nowhere near 2560x1600. There's a geforce 8600 in it with 256 mb ram. I run Bioshock, Lost Planet, the Crysis demo, and Vanguard on medium settings, but all the other games on high. I play WOW in OSX. I also play Civ4, Medieval: Total War, Warcraft 3, and Diablo2, although not really graphically demanding, they're still fun games. It gets the job done for a laptop.

Very well said.

oooooooookkkkk

After reading all the posts, not wanting to be subjective here, I've noticed a few worrying things.
1) macboi's are fighting windows fanboi's, and a few objective people are caught in the middle.
2) Each and every mac fanboi posting here is a 'newbie' or lower in rank. While I only spottet one windows fanboi lookalike with such a low rank.
3) Tony hasn't responded at all in this thread.
4) Mac fanbois tend to focus on the windows customers instead of the subject of the article, being censorship and unethical practices by apple.
5) Windows fanboi's seem to argue their case by pointing out the superiority in hardware options and gaming (on a pc, or linux as some mac fanboi unprofessionally put it), and completely ignoring the nice looks and user interface on macs.
6) Only a few people actually argued about the real problem here, namely the censoring.

Now that's the facts you can look up yourself by simply reading the thread before posting. Now for my opinion.... well let's start by pointing out that I'm an experienced dos & windows user, and only rarely work with linux or mac os. But I don't deny the usefulnes of a firewall, proxy or esx server running linux, cause I know they do the job faster, and I definetly am not ignorant to the positive sides of apple products, like the nifty magnetic power plug on their laptops or the neat almost-x11-like user interface. Those things definetly beat an acer laptop running windows vista home basic, but that's not at all the point of this article, or the associated thread (where you are now). The point is apple's business practices. It's not a matter of comparing them to microsoft and seeing who's the least honorable, it's looking solely at apple and raising a questionmark with regards to their ethics. Maybe microsoft deceives its customers as much as apple, or maybe not. It doesn't matter to this particular case.

Wouldn't it be fun to see a summary of what's left if all 'newbie/stranger' posts were gone? I mean all of them, not just the macboi ones. All of a sudden there'd be a lot less unprofessionalism in here, which one of the macbois like to criticise thg for (without actually stating any facts that would support his case).

Most macboi's seem to bash tony for a biased article, and those two of them who devulge the most time writing in this thread seem to express a desire to make out the tony character as a fanatic who's sole mission is to break apple. Maybe he is biased, I don't agree, but I'm not objective on that matter myself, so I can't tell. But what I noticed is the complete absense of Tony in the thread. If he was so damn dead set on taking down apple I'd be expecting him to defend himself, and his views here. This is not the case, and I dare conclude that he may be professional enough to not enter a flamewar with fanbois of either camp. That in itself is a silent claim of professionalism on his part.

In short, those macboi's in here aren't truely credible in my book, cause they merely try to take the focus away from the matter at hand, and windows fanboi's are sadly not much better, as they willingly, and almost eagerly jump into the fight comparing dick sizes of their belowed os, or its features or mac os's lack of such.

I don't like sony for their marketing practices and I don't like apple for their dishonest ethics, but neither do I like microsoft's monopoly play. But nontheless, only the apple problem is being processed here, therefore only that should be debated ; and objectively if possible.

Regards,
Neiro

I have been going to this site for a long time reading HW reviews that have been helpful in buying decisions for me. I am no blind follower here... I have been a MS developer using .NET , VB.net, C#, SQL 2000 and 2005 for seven years and I must say Windows XP/Vista have been such disasters concerning costs for CALS, licensing and security. Things have not improved even though we have had countless patches all this time.

I brought a white Imac 20" first generation Intel for home use, just for the sole purpose of being sick as tired of wasting my time with virus scanning, malware and spyware. I locked down my PC and no matter what over time i would be infected in some way. Did any PC user ever bother to see how much drive space is wasted in patches and Service packs? It's inexcusable... OSX is not perfect, but I will attest that it is a pleasure to work with in every way. There is no excuse not to switch to OSX at all and Apples computer sales are proof of this.

I balked at the Vista Ultimate price of $399.00 that is extortion in my book. I upgraded to Leopard with no issues and it costed me $129.99 for a full blown (only one to choose from) OS. There were some issues with some firewall ports being shut off by default, but that is nothing compared to any Windows OS. MS just lost it with Vista and as far as I am concerned it is ME redux... I will never buy a PC for home use running any version of Vista (XP SP3 coming right up), I beta tested Vista for months and it did not even work with SQL 2005 studio manager after the Vista release and this is a MS enterprise product, Outrageous! The few issues with Leopard are laughable compared to what MS has put the world threw and I would have weeks of work compiling a list of every screw up MS did. I have also worked with UNIX from Sun and Red Hat Linux, they are also masterful OS's that have minimal security issues along with costs that are nominal compared to MS.

I thought as many in the beginning that OSX did not get many virus’s because there market share is so small... Well I no longer believe this to be true. Why? Because Windows has over 120k documented viruses versus a handful for OSX and there has hardly been an increase when Apples market share is now at seven percent (I predict minimum 10-12% by 2009)... now statistically if OSX was just as bad with security as Windows it should have at least the equivalent amount relative to it market share which should be at 7000-10k by now. This has not happened. Why? UNIX is inherently secure (since the early 90’s), the admin account in OSX requires a admin password every time you install an app and that does not include system files. Windows is inherently in secure and MS made us pay premium prices for a inferior OS for too long. Apples hardware is excellent and PC users can keep there cheap room heaters, when I want my room warmed up I go to my thermostat. Peace out… Yeah I code at work on a heater, but I come home to my Mac and i am at peace and lovein life.

Give me a break...you are taking a snap shot of the moment in time you took that. Please keep a history of that PC in a real server envoriment and average in your restarts for patch updates or service outages. Your outage time will always be higher on a windows server, that is defacto truth.