Update 10/16/02: Apple has reduced the price of the lowest end flat-panel iMac to $1199. It is now cheaper than the lowest end Profile 4 equipped with the same HD size, modem, and a CD-RW.

Well, this is my first entry to this blog and I am wondering how to start. I like rants, so I might as well start with one of those short ones.

A lot of schools and the like are making a switch to Windows from the Mac citing silly things like "That's what the business world uses," or "The rest of the world uses Windows, we should too so our students aren't at a disadvantage." What total poppycock.

Let's say some parent has a kid that is graduating from high school soon. This kid is a very good cook and loves cooking. She wants to go to a college that specializes in the culinary arts. Her parents deny her that privilege. Why does she need to go to school and then get a job at a restaurant (or even start her own) when she can just as easily get a job at Taco Bell or McDonalds since that are so many more fast food joints around than there are fine (unfranchised) dining establishments. Do you think the kid will actually accept that?

Others, especially those advising educators, cite cost as a deciding factor. These people have obviously done no research into the educational discounts available to schools. Apple's educational discounts are very competitive and range from 6% (for personal purchases) to 10%-20% for site purchases. This alone can take a massive chunk out of the price, making Macs much cheaper for schools (even when compared to PC makers' 5% discount).

That's another thing that makes me mad. Those lame Gateway Commercials that advertise their profile PC is faster, cheaper, has more storage capacity and can run thousands more applications. The faster thing I will not comment on except to say you can't fairly compare chips of different architectures and Intel is being sued for lying about the performance of the Pentium 4. The price issue is a real beef with me. The profile 4 (at it's cheapest $999 model) comes with a 20gig HD, a CD-ROM Drive, and no modem. At $1299, the base iMac comes with a 40gig HD, a CD-RW drive, and a modem. Adding these items to the Profile 4 brings the price to $1,159.00 (as low as $32.20/mo for 48 months). Gateway also charges for shipping, whereas Apple does not. The total price for the Gateway system is $1219.00. The price for the iMac is $1299.00 ($35/mo for 48 months and $29/mo for 60 months).

If you are going to go with financing, the minimum interest is 14.9% APR for qualified customers. Maximum APR is 27.99% on the Gateway system. Apple has something called the Apple instant loan. The minimum APR for the loan is %9.99 and the maximum is %26.99. If you are taking out a loan for the Gateway, you better purchase a butt plug as well just for the interest.

My only real problem with the more storage issue is that the Profile 4 only has more storage at the $1999 model (120gig vs 80gig) but it should also be noted that, at this price, the iMac comes with a DVD-RW drive. This drive can write 4.7gig DVD-Rs (at $5 a piece in 10 packs) and DVD-RWs. At any price, the Profile 4 doesn't include a DVD-RW drive.

Yeah, Windows may have many, many more applications available, but historically the Macintosh community doesn't tolerate poop software. They always navigate towards the best and stick with their decision on software like with MS Office and BBEdit (Pepper was just axed). You'll often find that the largest part of Windows applications are, sadly, very poorly written and/or implemented and are not ready for prime time. Do you really need 60 text editors that do only half as much (when combined) as BBEdit?

I personally think schools are putting their students to a significant disadvantage by choosing PCs over Macs. I have seen users of both and Mac users deal much better is a lot of situations. They learn to explore and find out stuff about the computer. They aren't afraid (or weren't until OS X) that some little file rename or move may disable the computer or some application they depend on. They were not scared to check out "what this does" or "why that exists". Windows users, however, are scared to death of their computers in most cases (or they use the brute force method in fixing problems). They work for their computers, not the other way around. Mac users gain confidence from using their computers, that is probably why so many mac users are so quick to defend the Mac OS or Apple when lame journalists are so eager to insult either one based on information from 1986 that may or may not have been true. Anyways, when computer users are brought up around Macs, they have absolutely no problem using Windows or the Mac OS. Mac users also seem much more adept at fixing problems on Windows than Windows are at fixing Mac problems. In fact, I have seen many a Windows user disable a Mac completely because they used Windows methods and called themselves computer literate. Anyways, by using just PCs, students won't know what to do with a Mac when they see it. The students will insult it, call it a MAC, and then dismiss it's existence. Not to mention Mac users make more money per capita and are better educated.

Not that any of this matters. The students will most likely use in business whatever they use in school. If it's a mac, they'll use a Mac in business if they have a choice. But it's still a chicken and the egg problem. Chances are whatever they learn in middle school and below won't even be valid when they actually get into the business world. That is, of course, if they don't get into the fast food industry.