Why

[Natobasso]

Originally Posted by mindbend

Had Apple chosen to get Macs in as many hands as possible, almost as loss leaders, it would have been interesting.

Note that it's mostly about how the Mac was developed, not so much about their market share and business model.

And Apple failed to license its computers to other manufacturers and retreated with its tail between its legs. This was a drastic departure from their business model and no one was buying.

[rubaiyat]

Originally Posted by Lt Major Burns

i seriuosly don't see why upgradability is such a grievance...

i have a power mac G5, and i've only upgraded as much as i could do on an iMac any way: Ram and hard drive. the video card... works for me. it's two years old and i can play Quake 4 and Call Of Duty 2 on it just fine, with all the details turned on, pretty much. when the porcessors get too slow, it;'s time to get a new computer anyway.

people put far too much importance on upgradablity. only idiots upgrade cars, for example...

There's something to that, I have generally not upgraded most of my Macs but mostly because it was impossible, difficult or too expensive.

When the Mac didn't have a CD burner or a DVD drive or dual monitor support or needed USB 2 or more Firewire ports, it was a real pisser. Even replacing the dead battery on my son's iMac DV 400 was a nightmare and took hours of research and benchtime because of the battery's inaccessibility. We gave up on removing the last 3-4 layers of casing and I juggled the battery roughly into place while my son, with his smaller hand, pushed it gingerly into place. Even then we dropped it into the case several times before we finally succeeded. The current intel iMacs are inaccessible except for RAM.

Mac users are not conscious of how many PC users actually progressively rebuild and replace bits of their computer during its working life. Upgrade kits take the PC case and replace the motherboard whilst retaining the drives etc. This keeps even an older PC well within usability for most of its life. The parts are bought for a pittance and aren't subject to the weird and undocumented incompatibilities that Mac graphics cards, for example, seem to have.

The expensive iMac mini's "marvelous ability" to combine with a PC user's monitor just got strange looks from PC users who for a pittance take a lot more than that from one model to another.

Apple has at most times made it impossible to install their particular OS onto anything but a small range of models. The rest would be incompatible, either too old, or too new, or too slow.

Compare the options for installing current versions of iTunes and Quicktime on anything from Windows 2000 to the latest WXP, with the extremely narrow range versions for each iteration of Mac OSX, or OS 9. It's a protracted google search each time to discover what goes with what.

Apple is not user friendly. Just look at how many expensive upgrades of hardware/software Mac users have been forced into over the last 5-6 years due to Apple's changes in OS, hardware and peripherals. In every case Apple users had to put up with major expense, retraining, incompatibilities, slow downs and screw ups brought on by Apple's changes in direction.

The latest Macs show alternate improvements in compatability and upgradability then take another huge lurch back. All the time dancing all over the place with model names, numbers and identification. The uncertainty of what does or doesn't work is what leaves most users reluctant to even try to upgrade even if it is possible.

[MrTAToad]

i seriuosly don't see why upgradability is such a grievance...

The problem is that with iMacs, if a hard drive goes, you've got to get Apple to fix it, and then you'll get charged a bit (unless its under warrenty). In any case, it would be liable to take a fair few days.

Whereas, with PC's you would take out the offending drive, put a new one in and re-install the operating system. Its quick and cheap...

Because the prices are alright, as a *lot* of people are buying the Macs

And a lot more people are buying PC's

[Natobasso]

I'll take a little update confusion over viruses any day of the week.

I for one am VERY conscious of upgrades on pcs. Apple has made strides to increase their computer's ease of upgrade, but since their market right now is the camera/audio enthusiast, it seems to have taken a backseat to 'out of the box' functionality.

[fryke]

Originally Posted by MrTAToad

And a lot more people are buying PC's

As long as Apple's _winning_ market share, that's simply not true, not in the sense that it matters to Apple in any way. I'm pretty sure that by _giving away_ Mac minis, i.e. selling them for 0.00 USD, they could gather a lot of market share. But it wouldn't do them much good. To interpolate what you're saying.

[MrTAToad]

Whilst you cant give stuff away - you can make this as attractive as possible by finding a price that low enough that people would be willing to pay, and also make a profit.

[fryke]

My point exactly.