Apple squeezes every nickle out of everyone, part two

[DainBramaged]

Apple has told educational institutions that it will no longer provide software on shiny plastic disks stuffed in boxes—after current limited supplies are gone, it'll be downloads only.

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2011/09/apple-has-told-educational-institutions.ars?comments=1


Amazing. I can buy disc or downloads at large volume discounts from Microsoft, my choice, but Apple, you'd better have a world class network connection.


Meh meh and meh.

[Atman]

1. WHAAAA! Apple Haters sign in here!

Who gives a fuck? You download the software off the disc, then toss it into the landfill. And what the hell is a "world class network connection?" Do you download pictures of your niece's birthday party via e-mail? Do you download porn, music, YouTube videos? But somehow edu software will break the interweb tubes? Come on...do you people just go hunting for reasons to hate on Apple?

.

[johnaries]

32. The problem I have with Apple is their monopolistic policy.

If you want Apple software, you have to buy Apple hardware. I appreciate their innovations, and as a Tech Support Trainer I can also understand how much easier it makes Support if you know what hardware you are dealing with. One of the most time-consuming things we deal with is figuring out whether or not it's a hardware or software problem. Yet, we only use certain hardware and it's STILL an issue!

Oh, and the only reason Apple is more "secure" is that it's not targeted like MS is.

Personally, I prefer an open-source OS. But the closest thing we have to open-source is Linux, and since it doesn't have a huge profit motive behind it there's little innovation happening there.

At least Apple's exclusive contract with ATT finally ended. I have a long history with ATT and they have screwed me twice (only because I wouldn't allow them to do it a 3rd time).

I'm rooting for DROID.

[Logical]

35. Apple cult members sign in here! LOL!

[SomethingFishy]

2. Just had to replace the "mag-safe" power cord

for my sons Mac. They wanted $89.99. 90 bucks for a freakin power cord. I found a cheap knockoff on Amazon for $25..

[idiotgardener]

4. Ooooooh good info

Thanks. I do have lots of trouble with the cords and they are ridiculously expensive. Didn't know there were knockoffs!

[SomethingFishy]

6. There is also a guy on Youtube who shows you

how to reinforce the ends on Mac power cords using an old IDE cable and some zip ties. Wish I had seen it sooner :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu1n-bI2cPo

[tridim]

9. Everything Apple sells is overpriced by at least 200%

Which is the primary reason I will never buy an Apple product.

My brother's charger just broke (the tiny pins got bent), and he was complaining about the same $90 cost. I just shook my head and said "That's why I don't do Apple".

PC parts are practically commodities, they are dirt cheap if you stay one or two steps behind the bleeding edge.

[idiotgardener]

10. Well, I don't really agree...

because I love Apple computers and would never go back to a PC. They are worth the higher price.

The charging cords, however, are not worth the higher price. I'll check the YouTube video and other info for cords later, because I'm on my third in 4 years already.

[Logical]

36. They are not worth the higher price. But they have convinced many people....

they are. I bought two laptops from dell with more features then one mac laptop would cost. When I asked the kid at the apple store why he said "You will not get viruses" LOL.....I think I'll deal with viruses.

[idiotgardener]

41. I guess that's up to the beholder...

The PCs I had always started collecting series of error messages, and it was always hard to install things, everything conflicted with everything, etc. I'm sure if I wanted to learn all about the OS I could have fixed all that stuff but I don't want to be a computer expert, I just wanted to use my computer. Apples don't give you trouble. Things work immediately. If something goes wrong, you throw out the preferences for that program, restart, and voilà, like new. Love it. Except the cords ;-)

[Logical]

42. Ask help desk managers, macs DO give you trouble like any other computer!

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

47. shhh "Those are words not to be spoken"

[Tesha]

49. These would be the same Help Desk managers whose salary depends...

...on there being a steady flow of IT problems for them to solve?

I wouldn't count on them being the most unbiased sources of info
about which computer families offer the least trouble. Also, they
frequently are only really knowledgeable about Windows; Unix,
Linux, and MacOS are mysteries to them.

Tesha

[Logical]

58. Jesus are you clueless....

Most get bonuses for LESS issue becuase it means they SOLVE problems! And you must know very little about the knowledge of most of them. And linux is not a big end user OS.

[Tesha]

59. Ahh, you've switche to personal attacks.

I guess that means you're out of ammo.

Tesha

[Logical]

63. No, just letting you know you know nothing about Help Desk Managers. But I bet you knew that already

[Tesha]

66. I know plenty about corporate IT departments. And you are in pure attack mode. (NT)

[Name removed]

68. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[DrunkenBoat]

44. jeez, they bust after a year & cost $90 a pop? that's a crap product.

[SomethingFishy]

11. Price is truly against Apple. I have PC and a Mac..

Both have strong points. Mac has a more stable OS and is easier to use than a PC. However if you are a person who's not afraid to get their hands dirty, a good PC can kick the crap out of a Mac.

Personally I'm a gamer and a tinkerer and I'm on a budget so PC is for me. I have a company Mac that I use on the road which works fine but is too damn expensive for me to buy on my own.

[Tesha]

31. There aren't any legal knock-offs for "Mag-Safe" power adapters; Apple has never licensed them.

For a while, a company was building "car cords" using
the Mag-Safe power connector chopped-off from turned-in
power adapters, but Apple put a stop to that. Intellectual
property is valuable property.

Tesha

[DrunkenBoat]

45. in this case "intellectual property" seems to be an excuse for highway robbery.

[Tesha]

48. Then work to get the law changed.

But Apple's Mag-Safe power adapter connector is
a genuine invention that makes a laptop user's life
much less "crash prone" and Apple deserves to profit
from this invention.

Look, we understand that a lot of you "Hate Hate HATE"
Apple with the heat of a thousand suns; that's fine, it's
your money so please, feel free to buy your computerized
equivalent of a Yugo. But some of us appreciate fine design,
good reliability, and cleverness and are willing to pay for it.

And all things considered (such as considering the value of
not having my laptop computer go crashing to the ground
when I inevitably trip over its power cord), I believe Apple
products offer good value for the money you spend.

Tesha

[EOTE]

62. Yugo? The reason I buy PCs is because I want CURRENT technology.

Any Mac is powered by already outdated technology. Take a look at the best GPUs available for Macs. They're already a generation old and they're expensive as hell. If you want a top of the line GPU for a Mac, you're out of luck. If you want to get near top of the line, you're going to spend twice as much for it. The most recent system I put together for about $800 will smoke any Mac out there and is a good deal cheaper. The GPU I bought for my previous build in 2009 I got for $300. Right now there are USED models for Mac selling for more than that on eBay right now, more than two years later! But hey, it's one of the fastest GPUs available for Macs now, so I guess Mac users are happy paying crazy money for outdated technology.

[Tesha]

67. Strangely enough, I don't consider GPU performance the final word in computer evaluations.

But then again, I've never been a gamer.

BTW, the Mac CPUs are entirely up-to-date as is storage
and the external I/O bus, several other rather-important
aspects of machine performance.

Tesha

[EOTE]

73. That's simply not true.

CPU architecture isn't up to date either. The only Sandy Bridge processors you can get are on the Mac Mini line, and those are the lower end Sandy Bridges. Where are the Sandy Bridge Mac Pros? Or Macbooks? You're stuck with generation old CPUs and you're still going to pay out the ass for them. Paying twice as much for generation old technology is nothing approaching "up-to-date"

[Tesha]

74. You seem to be confused; the latest MacBook Airs are Sandy Bridge as well.

http://9to5mac.com/2011/07/20/apple-store-is-back-up-with-new-sandy-bridge-mac-minis-macbook-airs-and-cinema-display/

And the latest MacBook Pros are i7 quad-core.

Tesha

[EOTE]

75. Once again, the bulk of Mac products do not feature up to date tech.

The two low power options offer Sandy Bridge, but only the lower end for power efficiency. The Macbook Pros and Mac Pros are still using years old technology and you're paying a huge premium to buy that outdated tech. If you're going to pay such huge sums, you sure as hell should be getting modern technology. Even Sandy Bridge is more than a year old now and Apple is just beginning to update their low power models with it. The bulk of Macs now are still using Westmeres. It's obvious that Apple isn't serious about performance.

[Tesha]

78. So you were wrong about Sandy Bridge only being available in Mac Mini.

And you're ignoring the i7 Quad-Core being available
in the MacBook Pros and now you're shifting the goal
posts to the Mac Pros (which haven't been refreshed
in quite a while and everyone knows that).

Face it: your argument about CPU power is lost.

Tesha

[EOTE]

79. It's available on two measly models.

And those models are the low power models, all the Sandy Bridge CPUs are the low power ones, none of the top end ones. And I haven't ignored the i7s, i7s are going on 3 years old now. Westmere is old, outdated technology. I never said you couldn't get an i7 on the Macbook and Mac Pros, I said you couldn't get a current CPU in any of them. The whole point is that Mac users need to wait for refreshes to get OLD technology. No PC user needs to do that. Mac users have to pay big money (upwards of twice the cost) for generations old technology. That's a fact. It took a year for two low power models to get Sandy Bridge, the rest of the lineup doesn't have them. That's outdated.

[dixiegrrrrl]

64. I read a neat article on "the most overpriced computer parts"

or something to that effect ( I think CNET was the source) and they mentioned the wnholy cord prices and how you could get much much less "equal or better" ones by shopping around.

[Atman]

5. That was a smart move.

Premium brand parts, be they for a car or a computer, tend to be expensive. Which is why there are so many knock-offs and after market vendors. Explain to me how a Weber grill is any different? Or a BMW, or a Viking range, or a Sub Zero fridge. If you want cheap shit, buy cheap shit. Then pay twice as much as the original purchase price replacing the parts every year.

.

[idiotgardener]

3. What educational institution won't have a high-speed connection?

The less shiny plastic discs in the landfill the better. Plus, you can make your own shiny disc if you really want to.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[BadgerKid]

12. Rural schools.

Some are using slower DSL and/or shared lines.

Evidence for need is given by the Rural Broadband Initiative.

[Bluenorthwest]

51. Many rural areas lack such connections in the US

nt

[idiotgardener]

77. Maybe an exception should be made for places like that...

or the software could be downloaded somewhere else for the school. It shouldn't be a huge inconvenience.

[Nye Bevan]

7. I guess by "world class network connection" you mean a cable modem like I have.

I can't remember the last time I purchased software on physical media. I can see that some people might miss physical CDs for sentimental reasons, just like some people still miss gramophone records.

[tammywammy]

13. I purchased MS Office 2010 last year

Just downloaded it, no disk needed. The less disks the better, mostly they're just trash.

[Warpy]

15. I'm curious

Did they get rid of that goddamned paper clip and does it still reformat everything before it prints, screwing up everything you tried to do?

I've been dumping it for years, Wordpad does everything I want it to without being intrusive.

[tammywammy]

16. I haven't seen that paper clip in years.

I've been using 2007 for a long time and my mini-laptop has 2010. I really liked the change to 2007 and find 2010 just as easy to navigate. The one thing that bothered me with Word was it does automatically single space with a double space between paragraphs. It took me a bit to figure out how to default to just single spaced. Not a big deal though.

[Romulox]

14. Hey DB! Just switched back to PC!

Built myself a screamer based on the i7 2600(k!)/Asus Z68 based board/Nvidia GTX 570/Intel 510 ssd. All in a Thermal Take Level 10 GT case. Win 7 Pro is the OS.

I had NO IDEA we had Microcenter in Michigan, and my wife isn't pleased I found out! :silly: :smoke:

[DainBramaged]

26. If you want to play the best games, Apple OS isn't the way to go

and trying to get video drivers to work with every little Apple upgrade is the reason they get previous generation video cars in their over-priced status symbols......besides, try and find an Apple case that will fit one of these





And for shits and giggles, this is my favorite look, Asus ROG CG6190 but it's an Asus computer so the case isn't available.

[Occulus]

38. .

:cry:....



:D

[Romulox]

55. Skyrim, my brudda. That's what I built this rig for.

Currently playing Freespace 2 at 1920 x 1080. :wow:

[Generic Other]

29. Holy crap!

You could take over a foreign nation with that thing!

[Occulus]

39. I think it's an

[Romulox]

56. It's code name is "SDF-1"

[blogslut]

17. All the software peeps are pushing "teh cloud"

It's been their dream since the 90's. Somewhere there's a old quote by Larry Ellison, wishing for the death of disks. Apple most certainly not the only one. Microsoft is/will do it too.

[Occulus]

40. Clouds can evaporate.

Never forget that.

[blogslut]

46. I'm a hard copy fan

While I don't want the landfills to be overloaded I see the move toward cloud computing as a harmful trend that removes software ownership and control from the user. I still have my 13 Windows 95 floppies, my disk for Windows 2000 and my disk for XP as well as other sundry precious tangible pieces of software. While there are numerous benefits to server-side applications and storage, the idea that in the future, cloud computing will be our only option, chills me to the bone.

[n2doc]

18. A computer is just a tool

If you use it productively/enjoyably than the cost vs. other options is irrelevant.

But people who put down other people's choices ARE tools.

[jmowreader]

19. And in six months, no one else will do it either

[brooklynite]

20. Unrec'd

Your title implies this is an effort to collect more revenue from customers. Boxed upgrades were always paid for as well; all this does is change the format of delivery.

[REP]

23. Or that somehow, Apple profits from network use...

... I wish.

[DainBramaged]

25. There there, I understand it escapes you, so sorry......

:eyes:

[brooklynite]

30. The Snow Leopard upgrade on disk cost $29.99. The Lion upgrade by download costs...

$29.99.

Definitely a conspiracy...

[justiceischeap]

21. You know what I find amazing about this post?

That you would somehow find fault with Apple not generating trash by delivering software digitally.

[DainBramaged]

24. Of course you would............if they lower the price further (which they won't) it's a victory

but why should anyone invested in Apple think that their overprices dreck is superior to everything around, and saving a Buck just isn't apple's way....even for school kids....

[REP]

27. Sounds like someone isn't aware of Apple's discounts for schools, students and teachers

That's okay. I know many teachers who ARE aware of them and their opinion matters far more to me, since they're teachers.

[REP]

22. Not adding more plastic crap to landfills is just so fucking wrong

:cry:

Your predictions about the stock losing value were right, too! And by right, I mean so wrong I'm still laughing.

[madrchsod]

28. signing in!

[steve2470]

33. I tried to buy the Apple OS at 3 local retailers the other day (Walmart, Target and Best Buy)

No dice. I can only buy from apple.com or Amazon or some other online retailer.

Draw your own conclusions. I don't mind buying an online download.

[REP]

34. I'm still waiting for the YHBT post

[fascisthunter]

37. step away from windows... it's ok

they don't pay you...

[Ichingcarpenter]

53. Its almost like another constant 'Nader must hate thread"

Maybe the mods should combine those threads.

[fascisthunter]

54. along with the...

...."Chavez is a dictator" threads.

[mwrguy]

43. You only have to download it once.

Not once per install.

Use the same downloaded install files for every computer that needs the software, then you are using a fast local network instead of the internet.

Not a big deal.

[stlsaxman]

50. How long will the 2500 tons of disks thrown away in UK LAST YEAR stay in the landfill...?

forever.

[rdking647]

52. urgrade to lion is 29.99

upgrade to windows 7 199... yep apple sure is crewing people over...

in addition you can buy apple lion on a flash drive for 69.99

[Romulox]

57. I will never install Lion on my Imac. It's going to stay on Snow Leopard for the rest of its life.

My Imac isn't the same thing as an Iphone. :shrug:

[EnviroBat]

60. I just upgraded my 2006 iMac to Snow Leopard.

Installed another Gig of Ram as well bringing the old girl up to 3 gig total. I was worried that Lion won't be compatible with the older iMacs (intel). What is keeping you from doing the upgrade if I might ask?

[Romulox]

65. Mac OSX Lion is Apple's attempt to bring their IOS (Iphone) interface to desktops.

Since my Imac doesn't have a touch screen, it's just not anything I'm interested in.

[Tesha]

71. It will be interesting to see if that attempt succeeds.

Personally, I expect there are some "touchscreen Macs"
in the pipeline and Lion will make a lot more sense once
Apple starts shifting in that direction. Right now, it's
interface changes are mostly just a curiosity.

(Alternatively, maybe there are some ARM-architecture
"really low end Macintoshes" coming our way.)

Tesha

[Tesha]

69. (I'm not Romulux) but what's holding me back are some programs that still depend on Rosetta, ...

...the PowerPC emulation layer. But I'll probably resolve
that soon. Meanwhile, poor old Mr. Tesha is still running
his PowerPC PowerBook G4; maybe *HE* gets the next hardware
upgrade? ;)

Tesha

[EnviroBat]

61. Personally I like having the physical media in my posession.

This is true of any computer. There comes a point in it's life where you simply need to reload the OS. Having that dvd disk on hand is an easy way to do this especially if it is a bootable dvd disk. This is really true with the iMacs. Reloading the OS is a breeze, and you typically don't lose any files or other applications. I'm not sure the digital download solution is very convenient...

[Tesha]

70. In the Apple world, Time Capsule provides an alternative.

Macs can re-install from Time Capsule. But I understand
your point-of-view; I burn a lot of downloads to CD-R
"just in case".

Tesha

[ClarkUSA]

72. Good green move. That should cut down on landfill and desk clutter.

[HipChick]

76. Most software companies are only providing software via download now

I can't blame Apple here