Most of the people who own Macs got them because of OS X. It helps that the hardware is quite good, all in all, and for that you can also charge a premium. But if Apple stopped developing OS X and just sold MacBooks with Windows preinstalled, I think their sales would decline drastically; if they ported OS X to regular PCs and sold it seperately, their computer business would probably take a large hit, too.
These people would probably be buying macs if they could get more out of the hardware. Macs are losing the power race, which is fine for most people, but not for some.
There’s been constant whining that Apple doesn’t care about the Mac and has abandoned the platform, the line is stagnating and they don’t sell any models anybody wants to buy because they’re all terrible and everybody will buy big ass Windows laptops with proper keyboards, 32GB RAM and an escape key for EMACS.
Except for actual customers that are buying Macs by the truckload, that is.
It’s kind of astonishing that people still have such weird believes about Macs. You can’t be successful to the level Apple is by only selling to rich people. Macs are successful as a mass market product.
Apple has tried to phase out and slowly kill off the Mac for the last 10 years but people kept buying them for school and work so they have begrudgingly updated it alongside the iPad.
Apple was right. Desktop operating systems like MacOS and Windows belong in corporate, not consumers. They are archaic and still use the file system, which is no longer a thing that consumers need or want. Most people use a tablet and smartphone as their primary computer.
It's non-zero, but essentially right next to zero, the number of people buying Macs who do not at all run OS X. So yes, it's bought as a whole, people want the product experience, the integration of hardware and software. That's why they buy it. If they really didn't care about OS X, or really didn't care (a lot) about industrial design they'd buy something else. And on industrial design, Dell's XPS 13 is neck and neck (bit better in some spots and not as good in others) with the Air.
While I agree with you, I don't think 99.5% of the population owns a mac.
There will always be a benefit to being able to choose. I'd rather have to acquire knowledge, and be able to make an informed choice - than have someone else make that decision for me. I know I'm not the only one.
EDIT: Okay - so why the down-vote? Commenting on any Apple-centric post, with any comment that can be considered even slightly disparaging towards Apple is hazardous.
When it comes to Apple, some people seem to end up exchanging their brains for shiny-hardware. Depressing.
Not many people in the tech industry buy Macs because they are expensive, but I'd venture that (like many other trendy products) there are a good number of people who have bought it for the status/trendiness/cost/whatever. Not that it matters really, but it's an odd claim to make that all Mac purchasers were informed consumers. Most consumers are relatively uninformed, regardless of what they're buying, and loads of people buy things for no other reason than that they saw a commercial on TV and can afford it.
This is entirely brand. I went through college where all the cool kids had overpriced shiny aluminum macs and that was the hip thing to own. Having used OSX on laptops in High School and IMacs in college the desktop is awful and I much prefer the diversity of Linux DEs, especially ones like Cinnamon and XFCE.
OSX got its market share off spoiled 20 year old college kids getting their parents to buy them overpriced trendy hardware. I have a 15 year old and 13 year cousin who each have a macbook because its hip.
But besides the hip factor, OSX succeeds because it is the default on Apple products, where Windows succeeds because it is the default on everything else. When average Joe buys a pc, they go to best buy, and every single device has Windows on it, so they use that. They don't know any better and would never fathom installing an OS, and if you show an alternative to them it breaks their minds because it is universe breaking that Windows isn't the computer.
Yes you are right. Long back I asked a lot of people why they use Mac rather than other machines and Most the people said they became productive and more better because of certain features that Mac provides like smoother touchpad and the operating system is more optimised with respect to the hardware,so that the system through put is higher than average when you compare with any product. also Mac won't get old with in couple of years. I know lot of older plastic MacBook still runs and people still trusting the device for their daily use. I am developer converted to designer. And Mac help me in the transition buy providing good and affordable tools and as everyone started I used windows in my begin then switch to Linux and after that to Mac and never went back. I not saying I became a fan boy, but I trusting this product a lot.
Not a lot of people here uses a Mac either. Why spend 1500 euros on a Mac when you can buy a windows laptop for 500-700 that does everything the Mac does.
Exactly. I’m pretty sure the most common Mac OS user is still in media or marketing. People who demand the fanciest, largest displays and printers. They’re not going to tie themselves down to a laptop display unless that’s just how things are done there.
I think this is very apt judgement of Mac consumers. Unfortunately, with their delayed release of new chips in their laptops and lagging software support (why doesn't mac formally support a package manager like Darwin when a large part of their audience use macs for development), their focus seems to be on the non-professional market. And chrome does seem to be a much better OS for them since there is nothing to install or maintain.
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