Why Mac Sucks! A consumers guide.

Personal Computer Timeline
Source: www.answers.com
The industry began in 1977, when Apple, Radio Shack and Commodore introduced the first off-the-shelf computers as consumer products. The Apple II, Atari 500, and Commodore 64 became popular home computers, and Apple was successful in companies after the VisiCalc spreadsheet was introduced. However, the business world was soon dominated by the Z80 processor and CP/M operating system, used by countless vendors in the early 1980s. By 1983, hard disks began to show up, but CP/M was soon to be history.

The IBM PC - Hello DOS
In 1981, IBM introduced the PC, an Intel 8088-based machine, slightly faster than the genre, but with 10 times the memory. It was floppy-based, and its DOS operating system from Microsoft was also available for the clone makers (MS-DOS). The 8088 was cleverly chosen so that CP/M software vendors could convert to it easily.

Early 1980s - dBASE, Lotus and the Clones
dBASE II was introduced in 1981 bringing mainframe database functions to the personal computer level and launching an entire industry of compatible products and add-ons. Lotus 1-2-3 was introduced in 1982, and its refined interface and combined graphics helped spur sales of the new PC standard.
The IBM PC was successfully cloned by Compaq and unsuccessfully by others. However, by the time IBM announced the AT in 1984, vendors were effectively cloning the PC and, as a group, eventually grabbed the majority of the PC market.

Mid-1980s - Apple's Lisa and Mac
In 1983, Apple introduced the Lisa, a graphics-based machine that simulated the user's desktop. Although ahead of its time, Lisa was abandoned for the Macintosh in 1984. The graphics-based desktop environment caught on with the Mac, especially in desktop publishing, and the graphical interface (GUI) worked its way to the PC world with Microsoft Windows as well as Ventura Publisher, which ran under a runtime version of the GEM interface.

Late 1980s - The Mac Gained Ground
In 1986, the Compaq 386 ushered in the first Intel 386-based machine. In 1987, IBM introduced the PS/2, its next generation personal computer, which added improved graphics, 3.5" floppy disks and an incompatible peripheral bus to fend off the cloners. In the same year, OS/2, jointly developed by IBM and Microsoft, was introduced, and more powerful Macintoshes, such as the Mac SE and Mac II, opened new doors for Apple.

The 1990s - The Winner Is Windows

In 1989, the PC makers introduced 486-based computers. In 1990, Microsoft introduced Windows 3.0, which became a huge success within a couple of years. Software vendors developed Windows versions of almost everything. In 1991, Microsoft and IBM decided to go it alone, each working on their own version of the next operating system (IBM's OS/2 and Microsoft's Windows NT). NT gained significant market share, but OS/2 never caught on.

Lower Prices, Faster PCs and Laptops

In the early 1990s, Gateway and other mail-order vendors began to slash prices of their PCs. All the others followed, and the price wars began.

In 1993, Intel introduced its Pentium CPU to provide more speed for graphical interfaces. The once text-based PC became a graphics workstation competing with machines that cost 100 times as much only a few years before. Within a couple of years, the home market would explode with low-cost, high-performance PCs.

Inspired by Radio Shack's Model 100 introduced over a decade before and ignited by companies such as Toshiba and Zenith, the laptop market had explosive growth throughout the 1990s. More circuits were stuffed into less space, providing computing power on the go that few would have imagined back in 1977.

The End of the 1990s - Dot-Com Fever

In 1995, the personal computer became a window into the Internet for global e-mail and access to the fastest growing information bank the world has ever witnessed. Although graphical Web browsers such as Mosaic and Netscape were the catalyst, had the desktop personal computer not been in place, the Web in all of its glory would have never exploded onto the scene.

Summary
The personal computer industry sprang up without any planning. All of a sudden, it was there. Machines were bought to solve individual problems, such as automating a budget or typing a letter.

The personal computer became the desktop appliance in every office throughout the developed world. It has been networked with the organization's mainframes and departmental computers and is an integral part of the technology infrastructure of every company, small, medium and large. Since 1977, no single device has had greater impact on more people and more businesses than the personal computer.


In the mid-1970s, Xerox developed the Alto, the inspiration for Apple's Lisa and Macintosh.

Quad Core: Up to 3.0Ghz

Suggested configuration
Two 2.66GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon "Woodcrest" processors
1GB memory (667MHz DDR2 fully-buffered DIMM ECC)
NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT graphics with 256MB memory
250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s 7200-rpm hard drive1
16x double-layer SuperDrive

$2,499.00
http://store.apple.com

This is the PIMP of the Mac world, and can be configured to be a kick ass workhorse, if you have the money to upgrade to 16 gigs of RAM, 3 Terabytes of storage, and a couple of work station class graphics cards to power 30-inch Apple Cinema HD displays. (I will talk about why Mac monitors suck in another lens)
Now if you watch those silly Mac vs PC commercials, Apple would have you believe that that scrawny little geek from the movie 'Dodgeball' can recut 'Apocalypse Now' easier than it would be to cut his hair, while the PC would have problems even viewing the DVD. This would be true if my man PC was running a Pentium 2 with 16mb of RAM. But that's not the case, is it. We're running dual and quad core Intel chips baby. As you will see below, PC's also come in every shape and configuration under the sun, and kick Mac's ass in 20 different directions. And they do things Mac couldn't even dream of doing without virtual machine technology. Mac's run Apple OS's, period. And the last time I checked BootCamp can't run Window's server either.
Mac would have you believe they have cornered the market on video editing, music production, digital photo editing etc. Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe premiere work on the PC too kids. It's true we don't have Garage Band, but I prefer to use Propellerhead's Reason, and Steinberg's Cubase anyway. They run on PC too.

If you are still unconvinced after reading all this, go out and buy your Mac. But please quit being so smug, it's just not attractive.

Built around the latest Intel-based 64-bit multi-core processors featuring EMT64 and PCI-Xpress bus architecture, the fully upgradeable, configurable and modularly-designed Darwin MediaTOP brings unmatched world-class 64-bit processing capabilities to a centralized computer machine that acts as a user's main electronic PC hub, with connectivity of up to eight displays out-of-the-box, HDTV Tuner, audio/ video streaming center, DVD/HD-DVD/Blue-Ray player & recorder, TIVO/DirectTV/Dish Network PVR, direct-to-cell-phones administrative messaging and multimedia data distribution, full audio/video digital processing, multi-channel amplification/distribution and more.

Topmost, the all-new Darwin MediaTOP becomes a user's digital life central nervous system that connects in an all-in-one unit all of a home's house electronics and digital controls, personal security, surveillance, remote monitoring, fire alarms, sprinkler management, as well as any network ready devices and appliances.

With multiple industrial strength security architectures and sever-like system backup features for total integrity and data integrity, the L Darwin MediaTOP features an all wireless design, including on Bluetooth, upcoming wireless USB, 802.11n Wireless LAN, Wireless surround audio/multi-keyboard/mice and peripherals connectivity.

Quad-Core Intel Xeon processing collides with four-drive storage capability and incredible memory capacity for unbeatable workstation performance.

$2,499.00
www.alienware.com

Breakthrough Quad-Core Performance, only from Intel®
The Intel® Xeon® 5300 Quad-Core processor is the industry's first Quad-Core standard high volume processor. This new Quad-Core processor will enable workstation customers to turbo boost their general purpose workstations with breakthrough advantages:
Maximum performance/watt energy-efficiency, greater density and fewer cooling challenges. 4.5X more performance per watt than single-core Intel® Xeon processors.

Additional threads from Quad-Core technology and Intel® Virtualization provide hardware assistance for software-based virtual environments. Run multiple operating systems and 64-bit applications simultaneously.

Keeping It Real
Picture this: With the astonishing visual capabilities of the latest NVIDIA® Quadro or ATI FireGL graphics cards loaded onto the MJ-12 8550i, your work takes on a life of its own. The realism will shake you right out of your chair as you fly through galaxy clusters or a microbial genome. No more color gradation issues either. The MJ-12 8550i's graphics superiority will test the human eye's capability to keep up.

Space to Create, Speed to Retrieve
Configurable with up to four hard drives, the MJ-12 8550i makes sure running out of space is never an issue. And if you're looking for speed, you've just hit paydirt: the MJ-12 8550i offers 15,000 RPM drives that deliver lightning-fast access. Storage options include:
RAID 0 for increased performance and nearly double the drive to motherboard bandwidth. Select from our 15,000 RPM Serially attached SCSI (SAS) hard drives for the ultimate in speed.
RAID 1 for added security so all your hard work won't evaporate into the stratosphere. Your data will always have a backup.
Single or dual independent (non-RAID/JBOD) drives for system critical data independence, performance, and the storage topology designed to your requirements.
More Free Time
Multi-threaded applications will never slow down this workstation or eat into your time off. If you're number-crunching or analyzing geographical information, your MJ-12 8550i rises to the occasion by delivering the kind of performance gains that allow you to accomplish more in a lot less time than you expected. Pack it up, you're finishing on time tonight.

17-inch: 2.3Ghz
2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
1680 x 1050 pixels
2GB memory
160GB hard drive1
8x double-layer SuperDrive
ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics with 256MB SDRAM

$2799.00
http://store.apple.com