SOS have you got your new laptop yet?

SOS - I am - Fanboys trying to upset a perfectly happy Windows 7 user.

You've got to admire Steve Jobs. This is the part Microsoft forgot last decade.

Pity they don't always put this into practice

Apple are notorious for giving their customers what Apple wants and not the other way round - a 'we know better' mentality

A by-product of prioritizing the "Customer Experience". When you design it from the Customer down, sometimes the technology just doesn't fit. Therefore you are left with less features and less interoperability.

That's why Microsoft are now in the box seat. The tech was and is already there. You just need someone with the same attitude as Steve Jobs to align it to the customer experience. ..... which is what seems to be happening.

Yes, 20+ years of using, designing, coding, supporting and discussing windows software. A few years of using apple kit and software at home. I find the built-in features, and interoperability of my apple kit and software far superior to my windows setup. Of course this may and probably will change in the future but now that I know both well I feel in a good position to compare current stuff.

Buy laptop with AMD processor. AMD based are cheaper than INtel. And performance wise AMD is good as intel.

Using the mac air I quoted even if you wanted to send stuff to your telly from day dot and stream music to an extra room it would only total around $1090.

Macbook Air I linked: $899

Apple TV: $98 (if you want to send music to your TV Room, mirror your screen, skype, movies on your telly, stream media to your telly etc)

Refurb Airport Express: $89 (if you want music in an extra room)

Total: $1090


What brings it to $5000 ?

I'm sure you wouldn't add the mention of "if you have an iPhone you can make calls from your computer" into the ecosystem purchase cost ?

Really ..... you call Apple interoperable. ie it can operate outside its own ecosystem and allow others to operate with its. Seriously?

Mate, you've got to have the iphone, the ipad, the itunes + plus all the music you paid above the odds for + the movies you paid among the odds for on the Apple TV. That's just for beginners. It grows exponentially from there.

You know what, For TV I just plug either my Lenovo or Surface into the HDMI cable and I'm away. For music I bought a Nude bluetooth speaker box so I have music anywhere in or out of the house on from any device. The tunes from Windows Music (its new on W8 check it out just like Spotify without cost) just pass to that. Why complicate it with Apple TV (just because they won't do an HDMI port) and a Airport Express (WTF)

Ignoring your strawman, Apple kit had led to far more connections between things in my house than my windows kit.

This has come from a combination of a better home OS that has high support for inbuilt interoperability without tinkering, many available accessories that seamlessly work together, a whole variety of apple kit that works together really well and the ability to connect to non apple stuff/apple compat stuff wherever I have wanted it to.

Windows kits has some advantages but the overall outcome was always less for me. That is my real life experience of using hardware and software made for each other vs open hardware and open software.

Of course you don't need the iPad or iPhone to do what I said. Saying my list was $5000 was just silly.

You don't have to pay over the odds for any music, movies...we stream our own music and movies mostly or whatever streaming service you want to use. You can buy your music wherever you want. I mainly scan iTunes stores for podcasts and the great iTunes university courses, all free.

A lot of internet bollocks about apple written by fandroids floating around internet about what apple kit does/has etc so can understand the confusion. There is a total lack of knowledge of what apple kit can do. I remember being in the same position when I started looking.

If I look on the side of my Macbook the letters HDMI are staring at me

Apple TV is because everything is wireless with Apple wherever possible and I absolutely detest wires in my living areas...I would hate having to plug my computer into the TV to shows photos, mirror my screen, send a movie. If I want to sit in one room and send a movie to the telly for someone else, I can just play it on the telly in the other room while carrying on with what I am doing on my laptop in the other room at the same time, for one of many examples.

Airport express is just a cost effective way of using any amp or speakers you have lying around, uses the long range wifi rather than shorter range bluetooth, lets you control the volume of the speaker(s) itself from your computer, has a range of controls built into the OS of all apple devices and uses lossless compression rather than bluetooth lossy compression...of course purchasing a totally new airplay or bluetooth system is an option as well.


I am not saying the apple stuff is the best at everything, and the best for everyone, but the constant overreaction whenever apple is mentioned as an option rather than rational comparison seems like playing into the hands of the fanboys...

Hmm massive lack of understanding of Apple devices. Also, streaming movies to a TV is mostly done wirelessly these days. Of course the MacBook Air can do it via cable as well. Your gripe might be the required adapter for this but these thunderbolt ports are far more versatile, not to mention super fast, than a HDMI port. Apple TV is not required to stream either. An such as plex is mac compatible and free. It can stream to any DLNA device, even tv's directly. I'm currently watching Noah this way to my Bravia.

I work in IT and have supported Windows OS's for far too long. OSX as a consumer platform is as good as anything Microsoft have ever released. Many people are opposed to Apple products because they see the trap of their ecosystem and would rather a much wider scope of options. Well, I really don't know what is missing as, from a Mac perspective, most peripherals are Mac compatible, it's easy to dual boot a Mac and OSX is just simply nicer to use than Windows 8 which just seems to me like its. Tablet OS that's just awkward to use as a laptop/desktop. Unless you're ok with constant finger prints over your screen.

I don't really understand the gripe on Apple devices working together. They do it as good if not better than other vendors do it. Samsung devices working with their tv's is a scam. They can't compete with Apple in this regard. Neither can Sony. So
If it works so well, what's the problem? It's not like anyone's holding a gun to your head when you go to buy an iPhone and so you walk out with the works.

I never said it didn't work together will. That was Steve's ethos. But you said it yourself above. That Apple TV. Did you really need to spend $99 on an HDMI cable?

Honestly a cable ? Really ? I want to run a cable from my lounge to my TV to flick a few photos onto the telly to show the relies ? Or mirror my screen to the telly to quickly share a youtube I'm watching ? Or flick a movie I happen to have on the laptop onto the telly for the kids while I'm working somewhere in the house on my laptop ? Or like this morning transfer a Skype call from canada onto the tv for all to see while still browsing on the computer ? Streaming something from my own iTunes library of movies, music, podcasts etc from across the house from my iMac or PC? I would "hate" to have a massive long cable involved in any of that.

That's without mentioning wireless phone and tablet support for all the same things, numerous streaming apps in the apple tv, direct internet streaming support with no computer involved, full photo stream support, flickr, youtube, full radio streaming support, NBA, NHL, movie trailers, vimeo, direct podcasts, veto, crackle, crunchyroll, home movie trailer support etc. Oh ok, I did mention it