4 ms·

I've ranted about this previously (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1419896 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1419896). Most manufacturers have vast and b

by SandB0x 15y ago

I've ranted about this previously (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1419896 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1419896). Most manufacturers have vast and bewildering product lines. Treat yourself to the Asus line-up: http://www.asus.com/Notebooks/AllProducts/ http://www.asus.com/Notebooks/AllProducts/ Most manufacturers have half-hearted and short lived attempts at introducing premium lines or models (e.g. Dell's Adamo). Buying an expensive product only to have the manufacturer discontinue the line soon after destroys faith in consumers. Most manufacturers have terribly designed products: hinges that wear out after a few months, useless trimmings that simply fall off, air vents that are blocked when the screen is open (yes, this actually was the case on my old Dell).

protomyth 15y ago
The worst thing is talking to your sale rep (looking at you HP) and them having no real clue what system you should buy. I am convinced that the only reason CDW is still in business is the complications of the PC company's product lines and CDW's skill at navigating them.
mgkimsal 15y ago
I ranted about this too recently here - Apple's biggest business advantage is the trust/faith people have in the brand to remain consistent, probably even moreso than innovative. People will always come up with new stuff - other pc manufacturers do it all the time. However, there's not a long term vision of consistency to the other manufacturers, possibly because they are, in fact manufacturers, not end to end designers, developers, manufacturers and retailers. Buying something from Apple, you have a strong case that it'll be supported for at least a few years, the model likely won't go away entirely, and you'll be able to get good support from them via phone, mail or in-store. Other brands may offer some or all of those aspects, sometime, for some models, but few have a multi-year history of providing all of those consistently. Apple's advantage is the decade of experience they have in building trust with consumers.
- jseliger 15y ago
  Yeah. Elsewhere I posted this comment: All three Macs I've owned were ready to use out of the box. No stickers, no crapware, no nothing. Contrast this with a recent Anandtech review of a recent Sony Vaio that, hardware-wise, is quite nice, but: Because of that initial bloat I have a hard time recommending the VAIO S to any end user that can't fix it (including but not limited to just plain physically upgrading the hard drive) or doesn't know someone who can. This is an otherwise fantastic notebook with a lot of potential just looking for the right user, but if you're not comfortable getting elbow deep in cleaning it out (or preferably doing a clean Windows 7 installation), it's not going to be the notebook for you. For those of you who are willing and able to put in the time, though, you'll likely be very well served by the Sony VAIO S. (http://www.anandtech.com/show/4748/sony-vaio-sb-all-day-consumer-computing/7 http://www.anandtech.com/show/4748/sony-vaio-sb-all-day-cons...) I read something like that and think, "Where's the MacBook Air link again..."
- rsynnott 15y ago
  While this is becoming the case, it's fairly new. Back in the day, it was well-known that buying a first-gen Apple product was extremely risky; note the problems with the original while iBook (the G3 one), the original Macbook Air, and so forth.

by SandB0x 15y ago

protomyth 15y ago

The worst thing is talking to your sale rep (looking at you HP) and them having no real clue what system you should buy. I am convinced that the only reason CDW is still in business is the complications of the PC company's product lines and CDW's skill at navigating them.

mgkimsal 15y ago

I ranted about this too recently here - Apple's biggest business advantage is the trust/faith people have in the brand to remain consistent, probably even moreso than innovative. People will always come up with new stuff - other pc manufacturers do it all the time. However, there's not a long term vision of consistency to the other manufacturers, possibly because they are, in fact manufacturers, not end to end designers, developers, manufacturers and retailers. Buying something from Apple, you have a strong case that it'll be supported for at least a few years, the model likely won't go away entirely, and you'll be able to get good support from them via phone, mail or in-store. Other brands may offer some or all of those aspects, sometime, for some models, but few have a multi-year history of providing all of those consistently. Apple's advantage is the decade of experience they have in building trust with consumers.

jseliger 15y ago
Yeah. Elsewhere I posted this comment: All three Macs I've owned were ready to use out of the box. No stickers, no crapware, no nothing. Contrast this with a recent Anandtech review of a recent Sony Vaio that, hardware-wise, is quite nice, but: Because of that initial bloat I have a hard time recommending the VAIO S to any end user that can't fix it (including but not limited to just plain physically upgrading the hard drive) or doesn't know someone who can. This is an otherwise fantastic notebook with a lot of potential just looking for the right user, but if you're not comfortable getting elbow deep in cleaning it out (or preferably doing a clean Windows 7 installation), it's not going to be the notebook for you. For those of you who are willing and able to put in the time, though, you'll likely be very well served by the Sony VAIO S. (http://www.anandtech.com/show/4748/sony-vaio-sb-all-day-consumer-computing/7 http://www.anandtech.com/show/4748/sony-vaio-sb-all-day-cons...) I read something like that and think, "Where's the MacBook Air link again..."
rsynnott 15y ago
While this is becoming the case, it's fairly new. Back in the day, it was well-known that buying a first-gen Apple product was extremely risky; note the problems with the original while iBook (the G3 one), the original Macbook Air, and so forth.