I'm not a fan of people saying stupid things.  OK, I enjoy it a little, but that's to hide the crushing depression.  Though, because of a excessive need not to be wrong, I tend to laugh and move on.  However, when you talk moron about tech, as seen in my last rant, I just can't let that slide.


So enter CNBC, who has outdone themselves:

PC vs Mac: The Real Cost


In case you have a strong allergic reaction to BS, I can simplify this down to a single screenshot:




Let's just run through these.

1) Norton Antivirus $50/year

Avast Antivirus - $0/year.  Also unneccessary.  Also not a PC-only issue.

Multimedia Software $80-$104


[citation needed] VLC - $0, Windows Media Player is preinstalled in every system.  So long as you're going to be talking about Apple, QuickTime has a free version on Windows, however crappy.  There's also QuickTime Alternative.

Photoshop $140

What version of Photoshop are you getting for $140?  Also in case you skipped the video, the jackass actually said this exact quote: "Photoshop--you get that with Apple, you don't get that with a PC" In case it's not obvious, that's just flat wrong.

Paint.NET - $0, GIMP - $0

Video Editing $100
Windows Movie Maker is INCLUDED in Windows.  VirtualDUB - $0.

Music Software $100

This guy is the worst shopper ever.

Windows Media Player is preinstalled in every system, Songbird - $0, iTunes - $0 FFS

Geek Squad Visit $129

Oh go to Hell


I know it's gotten bad in the American media, but WTF?  This is from a news channel.  No sources, blatantly factually wrong information.  I'm not sure what is less discomforting to think this is, either an utter and blatant propoganda piece either to manipulate the market or as having been bought off, or complete and total ignorance and incompetence.


Some additional choice quotes,


"Serious problem with viruses that you don't have with a Mac"


Actually, you do have virii on a Mac.  Most notably some trojans traversing bitTorrent.  Macs still do have some security though obscurity to downplay the threat, but it has virtually nothing to do with OSX, and it's not non-existing.  PS: OSX has been the first to fall in Pwn2Own two years running.  The exploit that won?  The programmer already won last year so he had stopped, and saved the exploit for the entire year that it went unpatched and used it to win this year.


"If your PC breaks down--Macs tend not to"


IT'S THE SAME HARDWARE.  PC hardware is heavily standardized, and Apple went to x86 architecture years ago, leaving behind the old hardware incompatibility brought by its use of PowerPC (for better or worse).  It's not impossible that Apple has better manufacturing that most PC manufacturers, but you're going to have to substantiated that claim given all the lies prior.


"If your PC breaks down, you're gonna wanna call the Geek Squad"


No you're not.  Aside from that, if your PC "breaks down" you're not going to have a choice but to bring it into the store, in which case the diagnostic (which is the $129 price he quoted) is actually $69.99.  Similarly, this doesn't take into consideration manufacturer's warranty--same as you'd get from Apple--which would cover you in a hardware failure.  Lastly, if we're talking outside of warranty, somehow I doubt Apple is going to have the better price.


"$699 PC in order to get it to perform like an Apple Mac, you're talkin' about something closer to $1500"


Add up every single thing on his stupid list and you're still only at $1300, and that includes the Geek Squad diagnosis.


"Even if you're looking at a $1500 PC, that's still less expensive than an Apple Mac"


Last I checked, Macbooks start at $1300.  iMacs from $1200.  He has never mentioned specs.


BTW you don't even know your freaking Shakespeare; it's "The lady dost protest too much, methinks"


And finally, let's cap off the stupid with one more list.




You can pretty much sum this entirely up to [citation needed].


If you're going to sink this low, you may as well just get opinions from random celebrities.  At least then there's the off-chance you might get some factual information.

What kinda crap is that?

BTW how much can you get photshop for at home?

You can't even upgrade from a previous version of Photoshop for $140. You won't find a new version of Photoshop for under $1,000 after taxes. Video Editing & Music Software... that's just epic facepalm.

This is actually crammed with so much BS that it shouldn't be constrained only to your blog, you should spread a detailed explaination of why all this is false to as many places as you can. I can't believe this made it onto OTM.

Comparing this PC to this Mac

For $450 less, you get the same processing power, plus...
- 17" screen instead of 13.3"
- 4 GB RAM instead of 2 (Ok, maybe Vista takes up slightly more.)
- Hard drive with additional 280 GB
- 3 more USB ports
- SD slots
- Weight, who gives a fuck. If you want portability, get an EEEPC.

So basically you get everything plus more, with enough money left over to buy 9 PC games or full 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound speakers for your computer. Maybe the Mac has a better video card, I don't know enough about them to make that decision. Please note that Photoshop is explicitly NOT INCLUDED, only iLife, Quicktime, and Time Machine.

I also tried to find the highest end Mac vs PC desktops I could find. See this comparison between a high-end Mac and a high-end gaming PC

PS for $100? Was he calculating the cost of good broadband so that youc an torrent it?