PC Sales Are Up, Macs Getting Even More Popular

Americans loves their Macs ? that doesnt surprise me - typical it costs more so must be better.

Macs? I thinl I'll still go with PCs, thank you...

Woot, Asus 5th Place? geez only a few years ago their notebook market was nothing.

Unfortunately for Apple, their real competition is not HP/Dell/Acer/Toshiba. Making progress against those companies is nice, but not very relevant.

People who really know about computers don't buy them from major vendors. They build their own, or have them custom built by small local shops. For example where I live, the same $2000 can buy a much nicer gaming PC that way. Not only you get a more powerful machine for the same money, but you can also make it a lot more upgradable. Major vendors have this nasty habit of cutting corners. For example they save $20 on a MB but that means no PCI-E slot available for Crossfire or SLI later when you need it, or fewer SATA ports or a smaller case (so you can't add more HDDs), etc. I've had my experience with Dell and HP and I'm not going there again.

Macs have become cool, so people buy them. They are ridiculously overpriced... no thanks. I've never recommended a Mac to somebody because it's so expensive, and honestly there's nothing a Mac can do that a PC can't. And viruses, well that's just user error, I haven't had one in many years.

More mac users = more idiots who know nothing about hardware and just trying to look cool.

I have a lot of people tell me they are gonna buy a mac for the old excuse that they don't wanna worry about a virus. I always remind them that its going to be more expensive and they'd be lucky if half the programs they had on their pc will be available on the mac.

Let's watch the same, tired old comments from PC users show up again. Yes, Macs are overpriced, Macs are for stupid people, Steve Jobs is a tool, [insert a "let's face it" comment], Macs are only for those who can't surf the web safely, etc. We've heard it all before, save your keyboard and don't bother posting it all again.

It's so sad that so many on this site can't accept that some people just like Macs. No joke! People have preferences! Who would have guessed? It's kind of like the AMD vs Intel thing, but with whole computers.

Personally I wouldn't buy a Mac. I am not a big fan of excess eye candy. I can barely stomach the Windows 7 UI due to all that glass.

Mac's are getting a increase because Apple has bootcamp that lets its users install Windows on them & since Windows runs 90% of the software & games out there a lot of people are less afraid to make the switch knowing they can just slip a copy of Windows on their shiny over priced MAC.

Which brings up a couple of questions if MAC's & the MAC OS are so good why do people install Windows on them the first chance they get I mean come on if OSX is so much better than Windows according to Mr Jobs then there should be no need for Windows to be installed on a MAC. I mean we know why Mr Jobs & company are allowing it to be done is because it is selling their hardware so in a sense maybe Mr Jobs should be either thanking Microsoft for helping sell their over price hardware or cutting them a big cheque each month for commission cheques. Lets face it if Bootcamp was not their & it was not so easy to install a competitors product on the Mac's they would not be making any head way in the PC market.

This is just my view but I think Microsoft should change their Eula like Apple does to say something like only Windows Certified Computers can have a installed version of Windows installed. I mean Apple gets away with it why can't Microsoft. Sure it would make it a bit harder for the small shops but they would manage fine. This is something MS will have to do if they want to hold on to their OS market share. Oh wait I guess they are because for every MAC sold they have a chance of that user installing a copy of Windows on it so I guess MS is not losing anything they still make the Windows sale but in the process the PC market share takes a little hit each year.

I guess it is up to the User if they want to pay a heavy Apple tax or not but for the love of god use the OS that came with it after all according to Mr jobs it is the best OS ever made & is magical so use it already there should be no need to install a second rate OS if you got such a wonderful OS in OSX.

Sorry for the rant just a die hard PC user & happen to like Windows & Linux. I really have no use for toy OS's like OSX that is based off of tech from the late 90's with a shiny GUI. Yes I have used OSX I see both PC's & MAC's in our shop for repair & yes MAC hardware fails to never let Mr Jobs BS you that they never fail or the OS never crashes the Apple hardware & OS crash or fail just as much as a PC. But most never see the Apple side of hardware failures because most repairs are done by Apple shops themselves it is harder to find a fully Apple certified shop now days like our shop is. I had to learn the Apple OS from the bottom up as well as the hardware & trust me there is nothing special going on there under the Apple logo same crap as a PC just a more uniform hardware platform since Apple controls the process from start to finish.

I'm sure I will be down rated & called a PC fanatic or worse but oh well just had to vent on the subject.

mac = fashionable item like we see in cars some times, ford ka, fiat 500 etc. although I wouldn't buy a mac, i would consider using it if someone paid for me. it has some nice gnu tools that I certainly miss on the pc(windows). although it's an unfair comparison, since mac is hardware + software/OS, and pc is many things(taken the fact that mac is essentially a pc nowadays anyway). a PC the way we know it in this day and age is x86, be it 32bit or 64bit, and an ibm legacy bios design(which definitely is questionable now) and it runs about anything today since everything is more or less designed for that platform. Amiga is dead, atari, spectrum and whatnot. Microsoft is the one we can "thank" for this monopoly in hardware platforms. wintel is still very much the playing field. Sad but true, so ppl buying alternative platforms/OS is certainly nothing I'm against, but apples methods is unfortunately no better than microsofts, and that's a way i won't support. But one man can't make a difference.

Fortunately for apple
1) Such people are only small fraction of the category "others" that are shown,
2) Even if somehow this fraction become significant, it is not competition for Apple, but by mentioned by you HP/Dell/Acer/Toshiba. Apple users are somewhat different.

We americans are astoundingly blinded and lack personal independence. We all cater and follow a mirage of status. We are like lemmings running and jumping off a cliff because others are doing so. But only a few of us seem to think independently. Some of us see that cliff and say.."WTF!..I ain't gonna keep running..I'll die if I jump off that cliff!".

Ofcourse, in real life I wish most americans are real lemmings. All the dumb ones can run and jump off a cliff...

The truth is always sad.

There's a reason you can get AV programs for macs.

Btw... HP? What? Where are all these HP PCs? I hardly ever see one, whereas Dells are everywhere (unfortunately).

You can get AV for GNU/Linux as well. You have to be considerate for those Windows PCs that might connect to your network.

Typical ill informed Mac hate on another Tom's news article.

You also get most of the same AV programs on a PC. HP? huh? not sure but I have at this moment 3 HP's & 2 MAC's on my bench waiting for me when I get to work & a bunch more assorted PC's & Mac's out front waiting for me to carry them to my bench in the back for me to look them over & find out why they no longer make their owners smile when they push the power button.

LOL!! I bet the DATA SHEETS were printed and typed on the most expensive Mac at the highest resolution...

Why do people still compare macs to gaming computers? They are not meant to be compared,they are not meant to appeal to the same people,they are meant for non-advanced computer users who want a simple and reliable (yes, they are more stable than windows like it or not) computer.

You're taking this a bit too far. I think people buy Mac's because they're shiny and apparently marketed very well. If people want to spend all that extra money go for it. Not quite the same as lemmings following each other over the edge and, judging by the stats above, by far the greater majority of Americans do not have Mac's.

Just sit back, take a deep breath, and relax.

Macs - 90's software on 5 year old hardware thats 2x-3x the price of current newer hardware.

Yeah....I want that!!! ;-)

2 year old hardware. Priced more than current and better hardware at that.
And where did you get "90's software" from?

I personally agree. But if it were to actually take place I'd lose all the customers at my coffee shop...even though I wouldn't mind not having 50+ customers with Macs asking how to connect to the wireless every day.

I'll never have a pc with a proprietary motherboard and case. Custom is the way to go.

Every tried replacing a motherboard in a dell. You have 3 options, buy the motherboard from dell or shady online vendors: this ins not a very good option because you have to buy a board specific to dell and the model number, which has less features and cost 3 to 4 times as much. Compatible ram is another issue I have had. To get guaranteed compatible ram, it is often much more expensive than ram compatible with third party boards.

The second options which is better, but still a hassle, is to replace the motherboard and case which gets you a better board but requires purchasing a case, because third party boards do not fit dell cases. With the propietary case and motherboard gone, you basically have a custom built pc anyway, so why not just start out with one anyway.

A third option is to buy the expense 3 warranty and then extend it when it runs out, of coarse you will pay as much as you did for the pc, so it isn't viable either.

You may catch a sale and be able to buy low end pc that is just as cheap as you can build it, but if lightning or a surge, ends the life of your board, you will pay more in the long run.

Go Lenovo and ASUS

Because I prefer the Mac OS X consistency and stability and I play games. Since Steam released Mac versions of some games I no longer need to boot into Windows to play those particular games. FPS are more than acceptable on a MacPro with nVidiaGTX285 and Windows 7 Ultimate. Though WIndows 7 is the best WIndows yet (closer to a Mac experience) there are still horrible issues with the System Registry and incompatibilities in general. I'm sick and tired of games crashing in Windows but that is the OS which supports most games. I just wish Devs would drop the flakey DirectX and go straight to OpenGL and multi-platform release, then everyone would be happy. They get more revenue and we all get games for our preferred platform.

I think some of Apple's popularity has to do with iphones. A lot of people are getting into iphone development and you have to have a mac for that.

Why would you think they are overpriced? My Mac and my PC cost almost the exact same amount. (My PC has a quad core processor at 3.4GHz, 4GB of ram, 750GB hard drive. My mac has a dual core processor at 2GHz and 2GB of ram.)

I would like to buy a mac,I have hp laptop and it is bulky and heavy compared to mac. people say many things about mac some of them are true some of them are wrong but I would still buy a mac very soon just because of its sleek design. Don't get me wrong I travel a lot and laptops get heavy.

Well, people who really know about computers are still a minority and those who buy it from apple do it not because it is technologically superior, it is because people buying it think of it as a beautiful accessory. That is how apple markets its products.

why do i waste my time reading this fanboy garbage? i hate myself..

Oh we accept that they like Macs - we also accept what that implies about their decision making power and general persona.

WE also accept that in about 5 years or so, these poeple will finally begin to realize that Apple makes subpar quality products out of subpar materials with above-average failure rates. And about 5 years after that, they'll stop buying Apple products.

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