"Boater" wrote in message
...
William Andersen wrote:
That's nice, but you pay the price of an Apple and peripherals and
software to get it.
I went to the dark side becuase of the low price for everything
associated with Windows, and the availability of games.
If I was only into the creative stuff, or just email and web-wurfing, I'd
be happy with a Mac, but they still cost a lot.

I was at the Apple store in Annapolis yesterday (Well, I have to hang
out somewhere while my wife shops), and I had a question about my
Macbook laptop.

Probably was the store was jammed worse than usual with holiday
shoppers. The tech line was 10 deep and about an hour long. One of the
guys walking around was asking those of us in line if we had a really
brief question. I did...he wrote a note down, and said someone would
email me the answer. So I went over to the my second-favorite hangout at
Annapolis Mall - the bookstore.

When I got home last night, there was the email answer from Apple in my
in-box. It was the right answer, too.

If you already knew it was the right answer, why'd you have to ask the
question?

The Apple Mac I bought was several hundred dollars less than the IBM
Thinkpad it replaced. There's no question it is a bit more expensive than
an "ordinary" Windows laptop, but it also is a lot less than many Windows
laptops.

I haven't found that Apple software sells for more than the corresponding
Windows software. External peripherals are priced about the same. Apple
does overcharge for upgrades over standard for its hard drives.

You are spot-on regarding the games, though.

I have a cracked screen on my Dell and looking to replace the laptop as a
screen is over $200. Looked at Macbooks. Software is a problem. I use MS
Access. According to the Apple store people the Mac could maybe do it with
File Maker,etc. But not real Access type program. That is a deal killer.