Apple's Leopard Strategy to Kill Microsoft and Dell? 661
RX8 writes "A Digital Trends article suggests that Apple's Leopard agenda is to get Windows users to use Apple hardware then convert them to the Apple camp and that Apple will also be directly targeting Dell by offering a better experience when it comes to media and related tasks. Lastly, they suggest that Steve Jobs held back on showing more Leopard features so people would not get too excited and stop buying in 2006. 'If you get too excited about what is supposed to be an incredibly amazing product you simply won't buy a new Apple this year.'"
The author... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Sounds good until... (Score:5, Informative)
Jaguar?? I presume you meant to say "Leopard"
"I do know watching a 640x480 WMV on OSX is like upsampling a 160x120 video into 1080 high-def- UGLY"
Not at all. A 640x480 wmv file on windows has the same resolution as on OS X. They play fine with the flip4mac [flip4mac.com] plug-in for quicktime. VLC can handle a lot of them too.
Re:Steve, you want my business? (Score:5, Informative)
They already do, Apple's machines are competitive with Dell's offering of the same price (depends of the rebates you grab though, but Apple's price are lower than equivalent Dell machines without rebates), and you get OSX + slick cases (versus ugly dell cases).
They just don't compete on the very low end stuff (dell goes much lower in price/configurations quality)
More nonsense from Enderle (Score:5, Informative)
"However, Steve Jobs is the master of being your best buddy while planning to stab you in the back. His biographies are filled with stories that do more than suggest that if he wants what you have, you'd better grab it and run for the hills."
Please. History is littered with the corpses of companies with which Microsoft formed a "strategic partnership"-- The MS people stick around and play nice for a while, then one day the other company gets notified that Microsoft wants to go in another direction so the partnership is over. Then a couple months later Microsoft unveils a competing product and kills the company with which they partnered.
The best historical example I can think of is Go Corp in the late 80s/early 90s-- Microsoft partnered with them, stole their stuff and created Pen Windows to crush them. You can get accounts of it from both sides if you read these two [amazon.com] books. [amazon.com] However, Microsoft is doing the exact same thing right now: They are desperate to take marketshare from iPod/iTunes. To that end, their partnerships to make portable players and sell music under the "PlaysForSure" moniker have been miserable failures-- so now, they are screwing their partners and rolling their own solution in-house, Zune, which is stated incompatible with all the PlaysForSure stuff.
~Philly
Don't bother reading article - it's by Enderle (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Haven't we heard this before? (Score:3, Informative)
Umm... No. A Dell with the same hardware as a Mac pro is more expensive.
They run the same applications. They run more games.
Um... They can rame the same applications and technically the Mac can run more games because not only can it play Mac OS X only games but it can also boot into WinXp and play any windows game there.
Parent Post Is Pure FUD (Score:5, Informative)
WMV and Real are just as good on the Mac as they are in Windows.
For proof that this post is rubbish, look at the fact that the poster refers to "Jaguar" That was the code name for 10.2. That was many years ago.
Debunked.
Re:Sounds good until... (Score:3, Informative)
Ok, there really is no such thing as a WMV10 file. The codecs used in even the latest Media Player 11 are still based on the Version 9 Codecs, or VC-1.
As for DRM with WMV, it probably doesn't handle it too well, considering most WMV DRM methods used by companies include Windows Based executables.
Apple will eventually 'have' to support WMV natively, or they will not be able to do the HD-DVD or Blu-Ray content, which both require any HD players to support both Mpeg 4 and VC-1.
(VC-1 = WMV)
Re:Missed the Memo (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Missed the Memo (Score:2, Informative)
If you want Quad graphics, the Mac Pro can do it now, just not with 8x/16x PCI-Express. In fact, that's a selling point for the Mac Pro. If you want Dual graphics, again, the Mac Pro can do it now, just not with Crossfire or SLI (multi-monitor support with 3D on each monitor basically). So this makes the Mac Pro pretty bad for Gamers (which will always configure their machines anyways), but it makes it great for professionals who want to run CAD across multiple monitors.
Furthermore, Apple doesn't offer the Core 2 Extreme (as you murdered the name) because instead it offers Woodcrest/Xeon 51xx processors. Woodcrest is a supercharged Core 2 chip, with more cache and a faster clockspeed (3GHz). Also, you get two Core 2 Xeons with the Mac Pro, that's 4 cores if your counting.
"The Best Soundcards" are all PCI/PCI-Express, and they plug into the Mac just as easily as they plug into a PC. Given the right driver, all would be fine. And before you push that argument, you should realize that a great deal of audio producers work on the Mac, which means pro hardware, which means MUCH, MUCH better sound cards than you could even put into a PC are available for the Mac.
Oh, and the RAM: DDR2 FB-DIMMs are faster than DDR2 DIMMs, but are more latent; good for pro applications, bad for games. Once again, score Mac Pro. Hey, it's even named "Pro", think that has anything to do with where Apple targeted the machine?
Re:No, no....not quite yet (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Sounds good until... (Score:5, Informative)
When you assume, you make an ass out of you and me.
Re:Steve, you want my business? (Score:5, Informative)
This is just something that's never going to change with Apple. They have a standard of quality that makes their brand quite valuable, and that's due to not stooping too low and slapping the Apple logo on a piece of crap. If you get their cheapest Mac, you can still rest assured it will be an awesome machine in its own right. You get the cheapest Dell, and you're just in for a poor experience.
Besides, remember the $100 laptop project? Steve Jobs offered OS X for free to run on those things. The project rejected the offer because they wanted it to be open source, then went with Red Hat (who just so happened to have donated to the project). So because of them, the world missed out on having a $100 Mac. Ugh.
Re:Steve, you want my business? (Score:5, Informative)
I thought this was a neat trick, since I wasn't aware that Intel were shipping 2.8GHz Core Duos. The Dell site is a horrible mess, so I wasn't able to find the machine you were looking at. I did find the Dimension 9200. This was $1,574 with a 1.86GHz Core Duo. I also found the Dimension 5150c, starting at $779 with a 2.8GHz Pentium D as an option for $50 more.
The Pentium D is based on the old NetBurst microarchitecture which (in case you missed the last five years) is slower than pretty much anything else clock-for-clock. It's also very high power and hence heat, so needs more cooling, meaning it's likely to be louder.
If you are going to compare like with like, then please do so. Please post links, and please at least try to have slightly more clue than '2.8 is a bigger number than 1.8 so it must be better.'
Re:Missed the Memo (Score:5, Informative)
I take it you've not looked at the specs. Four graphics cards, each with dual-head, is a built-to-order option.
you want the best processor you need go out and buy it because apple does not offer core duo 2 extreme edition like alienware and dell
The Core 2 EE is the top of the consumer line. I don't know how it compares with Woodcrest, but I would be very surprised if it beats it.
the best sound cards are for PCs
The really high-end kit tends to work with OS X. The middle of the range stuff, like Creative Labs' offerings, is often Windows-only though.
things like watercooling or high end psu are only supported by PCs
I take it you missed the PowerMac G5 shipping with watercooling as standard. In fact, I'd be very surprised if you found a PC case with better thermal engineering than a Mac Pro. I've taken a PowerMac G5 apart, and it's quite amazing on the inside. As for PSUs, the one shipped with the Mac Pro can handle 4 hard drives, 4 graphics cards, 4 cores, and still have enough power left over for external FireWire devices. How much more high end do you want?
Re:Why do gamers/DIY'rs always miss the point? (Score:2, Informative)
Plagiarize detection mode on - this sounds a bit familiar [nytimes.com]
, but maybe you forgot to mention that you read it the the New York Times?Confession is good for the soul!
.I call FUD on badasscat (Score:3, Informative)
Configure a Mac Pro and Dell with the same specs including an upgrade to a more expensive Quadro which Apple does provide as an option. Notice the price? The Mac Pro is still cheaper and it includes more media software. Now add three year Apple care or Call Apple up and inquire about Procare. Is the the Dell cheaper? By how much? Is it 50 bucks or less? Is it really cheaper when you consider the bundled software?
The low end quadro is irrelevant and probably no more powerful than the gamer card even with CAD apps. I think you fell for marketing names and buzzwords.
Re:Steve, you want my business? (Score:3, Informative)
Apple competes on price but doesn't go below a certain level of quality. I don't know why this point is difficult to grasp.
Translation: You have no counterargument, so you're going to accuse me of "trolling."
A complete load of crap. It wouldn't be "unsuitable" due to lack of source, and you don't explain why it would have. Someone buying a $100 laptop doesn't care if they don't get the friggin' source tree to Aqua. Besides, Darwin is open source.
The project simply went with Red Hat, because they made a large donation to the project. We could have had a $100 Mac, and they blew it due to unrealistic ideals that everyone in the world wants source code, when they don't.
And I'm the one trolling? Again, you have yet to prove out it would be "useless" without source. OS X is quite useful.
There was no "crack," you made this part up. I suspect the only jealousy here is coming from you.
Next.
Re:Missed the Memo (Score:3, Informative)
I'm sure that's true to an extent. I remember downloading the the then current DirectX SDK 6 or 7 years ago and looking at the sample programs. I randomly picked a couple of them to try running and analyzing. Every one of them I tried failed to compile due to errors in the code. I ended up learning OpenGL instead because of that.
After all, it's up to the OS to decide if a bad driver can bring down the whole system.
Generally speaking, drivers for internal devices need to run in kernel mode. That gives them the ability to do just about anything. They're perfectly free to trample on the kernel, whether it be intentional (DRM schemes) or unintentional (bad pointer). There's just no way around that. There isn't much the OS can do to prevent a crash if the OS itself has been scribbled over by a bad pointer.
Re:Missed the Memo (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Hmm... (Score:4, Informative)
dual 3.0Ghz Xeon woodcrests
1 Gig RAM
4x 500GB SATA
nVidia Quadro FX 4500
23" cinema display
Mac OSX
3-Year AppleCare
$7676
Dell Precision Workstation 690
dual 3.0Ghz Xeon woodcrests
1 Gig RAM
4x 500GB SATA
nVidia Quadro FX 4500
24" widescreen flat panel
Windows XP x64 edition
3-Year Basic onsite
$8546
Dude, just don't buy RAM from Apple.
Re:People on Slashdot are sorely mislead. (Score:3, Informative)