[CS-FSLUG] Macs replace university's Linux desktops

["國產 Wei-Yee Chan (Made in Chinar)"]

I'm somewhat tempted to purchase a Mac mini to see what the fanfare is
all about, but then I'm stuck with a much more powerful PC now (at least
in terms of hardware), so I guess that'd just have to be put on hold. :-)

Timothy Butler wrote:

> More than you'd guess. I believe two system families have become  the
> norm in the U.S., if I recall recent statistics.
>
>     Apple's hardware really isn't expensive. If you compare a Mac 
> mini to a low end PC, it is just a bit more. If you compare a 
> PowerBook to a Pro-sumer or Business line laptop from the leading PC 
> manufacturers, again, you find it is about the same, perhaps even 
> cheaper. This is no small feat, for you are talking about a RISC 
> architecture (which, as you know is more expensive) loaded with 
> features that usually do not come standard. When NASA did 
> benchmarking of the PowerPC G5 vs. Intel chips, they did not even 
> bother to compare functions that could use the PowerPC's AltiVec 
> ("Velocity Engine") extensions, because the 128-bit AltiVec 
> subprocessor just is so much faster it wasn't even worth trying to 
> make the x86 do the job.
>
>     Apple is not going to compete with white box manufacturers, but 
> they are fairly competitive with high quality OEMs. Lots of people 
> like running GNU/Linux on Macs because Apple makes having a RISC 
> workstation affordable. You also have to consider that AppleCare is 
> generally ranked best in service and support by publications, so part 
> of the cost is going toward that too; not to mention that Apple does 
> much of its own R&D.
>
>     Well, the masses don't buy OEM copies beyond the one included 
> with their computer. So, $129 for Tiger (less at Amazon) is roughly 
> comparable with $99 for XP Home edition. And, when you consider that 
> Tiger has all of the extras included in XP Pro edition, you are 
> really saving $70 for the full OS X over the upgrade XP Pro.
>
>     I like the freeness of GNU/Linux too, although I especially 
> prefer the Freeness. My problem is I found I don't have "heaps of 
> time" as you put it. So, I switched to Macs, thereby permitting me to 
> continue to enjoy *nixy goodness without dedicating as much time to 
> the proposition. :-) Someday, I may return to GNU/Linux as my primary 
> system... although I may just run it on a PowerPC rather than an x86 
> (presently, I continue to run Linux on x86's).
>
>     -Tim
>
> ---
> Timothy R. Butler | "Turning and turning in the widening gyre
> tbutler at ofb.biz   |  The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
> timothybutler.us  |  Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
> uninet.info       |  Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world..."
>                                                 -- W. B. Yeats
>