Seems odd to me that Apple can dominate sales in MP3 players, smart phones and tablet computers but when it comes to PC sales, they aren't even close. I think price is the main issue. Most people try to go cheap with their computers for some odd reason. Fear of a new OS is probably another which is odd seeing as how these people are using Apple products daily anyways. Thoughts?
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Why don't more people buy Macs?
- Thread starter psychotron
- Start date
I think it's one of the world greatest ironies. Macs don't sell well because people have brand recognition of Windows. They think they need Windows to run anything they need to run. And, depending on your needs, this may actually be correct, but I'd wager that 80% of the PC owning population would be just as fine on a Mac as they would on a Windows machine.
The ironic part is that this is why iPods and the iPhone are so successful today. People think that anything that isn't an iPod or an iPhone is a cheap knock off and can't do what they need to do. So Apple sells a lot of them.
The ironic part is that this is why iPods and the iPhone are so successful today. People think that anything that isn't an iPod or an iPhone is a cheap knock off and can't do what they need to do. So Apple sells a lot of them.
novox77
Leeeroy Jennnkinnns!
cost.
simple fact is a comparably equipped Windows PC is sometimes only half the cost of a Mac. You're paying a premium for the brand. I'm oversimplifying, of course. But I do believe that cost is a big factor. If cell phone companies didn't subsidize iPhones as much as they do, I don't think they'd sell as well as they have.
simple fact is a comparably equipped Windows PC is sometimes only half the cost of a Mac. You're paying a premium for the brand. I'm oversimplifying, of course. But I do believe that cost is a big factor. If cell phone companies didn't subsidize iPhones as much as they do, I don't think they'd sell as well as they have.
B2L
Android Expert
That's exactly why I won't buy one. Why would I spend $2000 on a decent Mac, when I can build an awesome gaming PC for half the price. I have to buy a Mac for my fiancée for her graphic design work, and i'm dreading spending all of that money. :/
Two reasons:
1) Price. When walking though Bestbuy, most people will see Windows laptops that are 2-3 times cheaper than Macbook Pro's.
2) Fear of incompatibility. In a Windows-dominant world, people are uncertain whether their Macs will be able to run the same programs/do the same things as their PC's.
1) Price. When walking though Bestbuy, most people will see Windows laptops that are 2-3 times cheaper than Macbook Pro's.
2) Fear of incompatibility. In a Windows-dominant world, people are uncertain whether their Macs will be able to run the same programs/do the same things as their PC's.
lfc4ever
Android Enthusiast
Tinkerability for us old skoolers.
If I need a new gfx card for my win PC, I just go & buy one & put it in.
New hard disk Sir - not a prob, some shiny new faster memory, for sure - how much do you need?
Software - 90% of what is needed most is PC only, you have to "make do" with mac related software choice.
Software licensing for business, it's a no brainer with Win PC will win this one, and so the work user base becomes the home user base - I use a Win PC at work, so I will get what I know for home - a win PC.
If I need a new gfx card for my win PC, I just go & buy one & put it in.
New hard disk Sir - not a prob, some shiny new faster memory, for sure - how much do you need?
Software - 90% of what is needed most is PC only, you have to "make do" with mac related software choice.
Software licensing for business, it's a no brainer with Win PC will win this one, and so the work user base becomes the home user base - I use a Win PC at work, so I will get what I know for home - a win PC.
Uh, no you don't. Unless there is a Mac-only app that is a dealbreaker, PC's run the same graphic software just fine. The only thing you need to do is get a decent monitor and calibrate it. Of course there is a long standing industry belief that Mac's are for creative people, but that's simply not true.
Don't get me wrong. Mac's are fine machines and will provide all the tools necessary to get the job done, but you don't "have" to have one to be in the graphic design business.
gallandof
Android Expert
didn't it used to be the case that mac's were better for graphics back when they did a lot of in house products and proprietary hardware?
Bob Maxey
Android Expert
I went Winders because I ain't cool enough for a Mac.
My first laptops were costly and I once bought a new Powerbook because it was cheaper than a Windows machine. Back in the day when a 486 laptop with 4 MB and a 40 MB HDD was really costly compared to today.
I must say the Macbook AIR is a great little machine.
Perhaps it is because there are hundreds of PCs arriving every year or next week at 3:00 PM and only a few Apple computers. Windows can be installed on anything, but Apple/iOS cannot be installed on anything but an Apple computer. (forget the Hackintoshs).
If Apple licensed iOS/Leopard/Lancelot/Gerbil/Smurf or whatever their OS is called, you would see lots of Apple-ish computers at Best Buy. I think the same thing if Apple licensed iOS to other phone manufacturers. You would see many more iPhone-ish smartphones.
Cost is likely an issue for some people. When I go to Best Buy, all I see are PCs and a lone table with three or four Apple Computers. Usually, the table is obscured by excessive smugness. Not a Genius in site. Not really sure if BB really cares about selling Apple computers, so perhaps it is in their best interest to push PCs. I was going with a AIR but I bought a silly little Toshiba Satellite. Less cost and in stock.
Apple, apparently, sells about 4,500,000 computers yearly. Not sure what the numbers are for Windows based systems.
I do know that we built our test computers and they ran Windows test programs as well as modem test programs created in Basic and a few DOS batch files. We would have never gone with Apple. Too costly to change everything over and we ran custom test software, so going Apple was out of the question. Perhaps corporate America buys millions of Windows machines because they are already highly invested in Windows and change would be costly. I was a technical trainer and let me tell you, it takes effort to retrain the troops.
At least we tested the Newton products on Windows systems (HA HA HA, Apple). And some UNIX/HP stuff, to be fair.
That is what I always seemed to hear. Only Apple works for publishing, graphics, etc. In thinking about it, perhaps we only (I only) think that, and it was not actually true. I can run all Adobe applications I need and AFAIK, they are available for Windows as well as Apple.
Perception might be why so many Apple users love their systems. No real technical reason, just hype and silly ideas about which is legitimately better.
I am sure there are some Mac only applications, but I am equally certain that there are alternatives in the Winders World.
My first laptops were costly and I once bought a new Powerbook because it was cheaper than a Windows machine. Back in the day when a 486 laptop with 4 MB and a 40 MB HDD was really costly compared to today.
I must say the Macbook AIR is a great little machine.
Perhaps it is because there are hundreds of PCs arriving every year or next week at 3:00 PM and only a few Apple computers. Windows can be installed on anything, but Apple/iOS cannot be installed on anything but an Apple computer. (forget the Hackintoshs).
If Apple licensed iOS/Leopard/Lancelot/Gerbil/Smurf or whatever their OS is called, you would see lots of Apple-ish computers at Best Buy. I think the same thing if Apple licensed iOS to other phone manufacturers. You would see many more iPhone-ish smartphones.
Cost is likely an issue for some people. When I go to Best Buy, all I see are PCs and a lone table with three or four Apple Computers. Usually, the table is obscured by excessive smugness. Not a Genius in site. Not really sure if BB really cares about selling Apple computers, so perhaps it is in their best interest to push PCs. I was going with a AIR but I bought a silly little Toshiba Satellite. Less cost and in stock.
Apple, apparently, sells about 4,500,000 computers yearly. Not sure what the numbers are for Windows based systems.
I do know that we built our test computers and they ran Windows test programs as well as modem test programs created in Basic and a few DOS batch files. We would have never gone with Apple. Too costly to change everything over and we ran custom test software, so going Apple was out of the question. Perhaps corporate America buys millions of Windows machines because they are already highly invested in Windows and change would be costly. I was a technical trainer and let me tell you, it takes effort to retrain the troops.
At least we tested the Newton products on Windows systems (HA HA HA, Apple). And some UNIX/HP stuff, to be fair.
That is what I always seemed to hear. Only Apple works for publishing, graphics, etc. In thinking about it, perhaps we only (I only) think that, and it was not actually true. I can run all Adobe applications I need and AFAIK, they are available for Windows as well as Apple.
Perception might be why so many Apple users love their systems. No real technical reason, just hype and silly ideas about which is legitimately better.
I am sure there are some Mac only applications, but I am equally certain that there are alternatives in the Winders World.
Nope. I cut my teeth in the industry as an ad agency art director in the '80s before art departments went digital. When the spit hit the spam as it were, all the things we take for granted were nonexistent. No networks. The "internet" consisted of usenet, BBS and CompuServe. Laser Printers were $5000 behemoths. with a 300 dpi resolution. A megabyte (yes, MEGAbyte) of ram cost $400... hard disk capacity was approaching 20 MB and removable media was a 3.5" floppy ... you get the picture.
The thing was Mac's cam as a package and PC's of the time had to be put together piecemeal and configured individually. It was much easier for budding IT department to plop down a few grand in capital expenses and less IT work for something they didn't understand in the first place. But in terms of ability, all the major graphic software was released for both platforms within months of each other. In the 90's there were several occasions when PC's got the release first (mostly because of all the changes needed to recode and recompile for OS X). Anyway, all the functionality and ability was there in both platforms from the very beginning, with few exceptions.
Back when I had been promoted to Creative Director for the agency, I used to say that PC's crashed more often but Mac's crashed more fatally. And it never failed that everybody was rebooting at 4:00. Something about the memory management of both systems couldn't hack 8 strait hours of intense use.
Ahh, the good old days.
A.Nonymous
Extreme Android User
If Apple licensed their OS I think they'd actually sell fewer computers as fewer people would pay the premium pricing and would buy the cheaper clones. The cheaper clones would not have the quality of hardware that Apple makes and I think the OS's reputation would be severely tarnished. Apple successfully pushes their products as premium products and if you buy one it means you are someone who values premium products. Whether that is accurate or not is another question, but that is their marketing spiel and that's what people buy.
Bob Maxey
Android Expert
God, I feel so old. Be lucky you had a computer. Before your day, I had my day, a far more complicated day indeed. What you posted does make sense.
The company I once worked for started building Turbo Switches. A socket, a faster Intel Chip, and a Crystal embedded in polymer. Sold them through ads in Computer Shopper Magazine when it was a great magazine.
Faster meant finding compatible this and that from vendors all over the place.
I could go on, too, but I fear we are straying too far off topic.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.
Mac's are also a one size fit's all (or more one model) type of device. Right now you have the Mac mini, the iMac and MacPro, a workstation class machine, with very little in between. Granted, most of what people use their PC's for (on a consumer level) can be done with one of those models, but the perception is there that selection is very limited.
If you are talking about the enterprise, however, Apple has never been able to figure it out ... or more like it, they want to redefine the enterprise in their paradigm, which ain't happening.
B2L
Android Expert
The main reason I "have" to buy her a Mac is because both her school and work use them. With illustrator and photoshop it's much easier to use a lot of the key shortcuts, so getting used to two different sets of commands seems like to much of a hassle to her. I would much rather build her a nice PC.
It's better to just listen, and get what she wants in this situation. Then I won't have to deal with the aftermath.
zuben el genub
Extreme Android User
I was one of the only ones in Photoshop, Freehand and Pagemaker to cross platform.
Managed just fine. Monitor is calibrated. Printer is calibrated.
Kept losing files on the school Macs. I finally started using profanity for file names so I could find the damn files. Macs also crashed more, and when they did ----
Now I prefer Ubuntu, and am keeping 2 XP boxes offline for special software. One is for Adobe products, the other for machine embroidery.
I rarely use keyboard shortcuts. The keyboard is on a tray under the desk and usually shut. I can navigate anything with a tablet anyway. I've had Wacom since the Art ZII.
Managed just fine. Monitor is calibrated. Printer is calibrated.
Kept losing files on the school Macs. I finally started using profanity for file names so I could find the damn files. Macs also crashed more, and when they did ----
Now I prefer Ubuntu, and am keeping 2 XP boxes offline for special software. One is for Adobe products, the other for machine embroidery.
I rarely use keyboard shortcuts. The keyboard is on a tray under the desk and usually shut. I can navigate anything with a tablet anyway. I've had Wacom since the Art ZII.
A.Nonymous
Extreme Android User
We once had a client at work who wanted to convert their entire network to Apple. Apparently the guy at the top was an Apple fanboy. They honestly had no other reason to do it than that. They had a standard Windows network with an SBS box doing file/print/email and they used Office on all their workstations to work. They wanted to replace their entire network with an Apple server (which does exist apparently) and all of their workstations with Apple products. Our company owner turned them down. He didn't want the headaches of dealing with all the users who would have no clue how to use a Mac, the headaches of getting an Apple server to work and the headaches of migrating everything from a Windows environment. MS rules enterprise and likely will for a long, long time to come.
zuben el genub
Extreme Android User
As for all of Apple's other stuff - Palm impressed me more. I had wifi. I also would never buy a device that didn't have some kind of memory card. By using the card and the computer, I never had to install crappy software. I have a Sandisk Sansa, which is now replaced by a Coby tablet.
Joe Public can be as cheap as they can on many things, not just computers, e.g. food, clothes.
Sometimes it can be a false economy. Then they wonder why that cheap plastic
Vihzel
Destroying Balls Everyday
I think the biggest single factor that influences all decisions is PRICE.
In terms of regular consumers (excludes school institutions and businesses who always has a ton of PCs), if you give them all $3,000 to spend on a computer, I'm sure the market share would swing wildly towards Mac. Now if you give 50% of those people with a limit of $1,000, PC is the only option. I'm quite sure the vast majority of regular people have a certain limit that they can't go above for a computer and often it excludes a lot of Apple's offerings.
In terms of regular consumers (excludes school institutions and businesses who always has a ton of PCs), if you give them all $3,000 to spend on a computer, I'm sure the market share would swing wildly towards Mac. Now if you give 50% of those people with a limit of $1,000, PC is the only option. I'm quite sure the vast majority of regular people have a certain limit that they can't go above for a computer and often it excludes a lot of Apple's offerings.
Pitamakan
Android Enthusiast
Apple announced their quarterly results today, and they said they sold 4,890,000 Macs in the last three months. That's in addition to 17 million iPhones, and 11 million iPads.
As for the broader question, I think there are lots of reasons ... many based more on perception than anything else. But probably the largest reason is that Apple has chosen not to compete in the low-end market. They're sticking to the higher-end products, where the profit margins are.
A.Nonymous
Extreme Android User
IME most people balk at spending more than $1k on a computer.
You mean I can't upgrade my hard drive on my Macbook? Crap. I wonder how this 500GB 7200 drive got in here and replaced the 320GB 5400 drive then, elves?
Every program I need (and there are quite a few) are now Mac compatible. If I can't find a program that is, no problem, I can easily run Windows on my Mac although I dread doing so since it opens it up to all the viruses and crap on Windows. Those two arguments went out the "window" awhile back 
When I went to buy a laptop almost 4 years ago, price was a consideration but so was the quality and if the thing will last. In the end I bought a 15inch Macbook Pro, so far it's lasting very well, especially with extensive use and travel around China. I've had to replace the battery, upgraded the HDD once, and open it up to clean the fans out. Apart from that I think it's actually done very well, and should go on for another couple of years.
If I had bought a cheap own brand thing or a plastic HP or Acer or something, I'd probably have needed to replace the thing by now.
BTW I do have a Fujitsu Windows 7 UMPC as well, that I bought in Hong Kong earlier this year. This wasn't exactly cheap, but on the other hand it seems to be solidly built and should last.