But what is the microchip good for? - Unnamed IBM suit
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Apple starts to whip up its black shirts
FRUITY TOYMAKER Apple has started whipping up its tame industry press to get all enthusiastic about a rally of blackshirted true believers it is holding on January 27.
Apple is going to release either its Itablet, a touchscreen iMac, or something with an Intel Core i5 chip under the bonnet. There will be nothing to see that has not been done to death for the last six months.
Only Apple expects a frenzy of speculation and discussion for the launches of its products. When the day arrives we will also be treated to the shameful display of US press people standing up and applauding the appearance of Steve Jobs trying to hawk his latest product as if it is the cure for cancer.
In fact Apple has already seeded test gear to a few newspapers and tech magazines but only those who will praise it to the skies. We will not see a balanced review until the machines start to hit the shops in a month's time. By then Apple will have whipped its fanboy base into becoming early adopters and they will queue outside stores to give the impression that there is a movement to buy the product.
Then a month afterwards when the gear starts to crack, or develop faults, Apple will quietly ignore the problems while the tame press bangs on about the "new phenomenon sweeping American".
You might wonder why Apple gear does not sell so well in Europe. It is because the European press generally does not allow itself to be used like a cheap whore by a cynical proprietary company as a tool to screw more cash out of the generally IT illiterate customers. In countries where the media coverage is balanced or, like Russia, anti-Apple, Jobs Mob fails to do so well. It seems to rely on keeping people ignorant and the US tech press does that job for it.
In the days when products were looked at on the basis of merit, a company would have to bribe us with free booze, or perhaps a novelty item or too, before we would even show up at a product launch. Then there would be no guarantee that we would not slam the product, the company, its CEO or the person who came to escort us from the building. Now Apple expects hacks to show up and mingle with salivating fanboys who really do believe that Steve Jobs is God. We are expected to stand and applaud while Apple releases another phone, PDA or PC box at an outrageous price.
Apple is the Liberace of the IT industry. The camp piano player had hardcore of fans, and no doubt could use both hands to play chopsticks. But the act was a show based on syrupy sequins, fake diamonds, and smoke and mirrors where everything was sizzle and there was no steak.
Why the hell should any decent hack want to report anything like that? µ
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You can build a TOWER for less. You can't build an all-in-one for less. Towers are clumsy.
I just spent over $1000 upgrading my tower. I shop New Egg (so don't tell me I'm shopping the wrong place) and I buy high end. All I got for my money was Core i7 cpu, motherboard, some memory, mid-high graphics and a hard drive. I have an S-PVA monitor that was $600. My aluminum case was over $200. With a few other parts (DVD, speakers, keyboard, mouse, etc), I'm easily over $2000 without an operating system and my monitor is still inferior. A similar NEC IPS 26" (still not a 27" like the iMac and native resolution is lower) monitor would run me about $1400, which would have put my build over $2800, still without an operating system.
If you buy PC Chips motherboards, AMD processors, lower end graphics, cheap memory, etc. you can get away with less.
Does my system have a little more raw horsepower than that iMac? Yes. It's a true Core i7 processor and I have an ability to overclock it, which it currently runs at 4 GHz. But, it's a clumsy tower that takes a lot of cooling and a lot of real estate. It's more upgradable, but PC parts are pretty much throw away these days. Older Macs still demand a good price, so chances are I can sell the Mac later for more money and come out ahead.
the thing is though LinuxLover, i can build a similarly specced windows/linux PC for a lot less money than a mac. and yes, that is with an ips display and an aluminum enclosure. if i wanted, i could even buy and install osx on to it. and still have money left over. therefore they are overpriced.
.. more scrubs agreeing to a troll of a journalist because they can't afford or never used a Mac?
The joke is on you.
As Apple gets bigger, Nick's journalism - if you can call it that - gets worse.
I will enjoy the Tablet release and watch more Microshaft 12 year old boys cry how their £400 Dell is better in some perverted way.
It's funny that people just can't get past the price thing with Apple. I have a suspicion that those same people don't even know the difference between a 6 bit TN screen and a 10 bit IPS screen, nor the cost consequences of including them in a system. If you want to buy crappy Dell, HP, Gateway, Acer, or whatever computer you want to sink $700 into junk equipment for, go ahead. Just don't complain about people who like to buy computers with glass IPS screens with aluminum enclosures and are willing to pay for them. Even when I build my Win/Linux towers, I buy premium equipment because they're worth it.
I can't believe all you coming to defend Apple like your mum's been insulted. Way to reveal your platform-based insecurities. At any rate, we all know you're just pissed because you paid a huge price premium for the same hardware and a POS OS. All your comments do is reveal the extent you've been brainwashed by Crapple.
I'm not an Apple fanboy at all, but they make good stuff. I have an iPod Touch and have looked at the Droid only to be disappointed in how absolutely crappy the hardware is compared to my Touch, which is almost identical to my brother's iPhone. I also think the entire PC market is going down the toilet with cheap garbage computers. It's a race to the bottom... Apple, on the other hand, makes a quality product,They include quality IPS screens in the iMacs, more expensive laptop components, aluminum instead of cheap plastic... You've just gotta give it to them. I'm honestly looking at making my next computer a quad core iMac. It will also boot Linux, of course... :o)
Hey Nickie, Apple's shit works and you just can't get past that.
Have a great life!
What a load of Crap.
I've been a PC user since Windows 3.1, until one day I saw the light and moved over to Apple.
PC's are nasty plastic boxes that should be free, they are junk. Macs on the other hand are quality and so is the OS. Macs are not over priced, get over yourself nick and wake up.
Why is it that PC users love it when someone starts up nasty comments about Mac, are they really that shallow? Mac OS is a dream to use and it's fast, lets see a PC open multiple windows and the complete adobe suite and still have loads of power, I think not. Here some advise get a life.
I have been a regular at the Inq for years. But lately the sarcastic/nasty type of journalism is not working for me. I think it’s time for a move to a better general IT news site. Any suggestions of good sites out there?
At the end of the day, this is "the inquirer". You don't read it to learn something you read it to brighten up your day. You read their news with a grain of salt and say lol oh that nick he's so funny etc etc. You just can't take it seriously.
Welcome back from captivity.
Look apple fanbois are going to leave and not come back.
ooooooooooooooooo scary.
I use both Apple and PC(notebooks) and I like both. Really a oversize iphone is not something i am interested in. And as far as Apple themselves, well their hardware is nice, thin sleek and ok. PC manufactures can do it as well. Really I could care less about the hardware, I just like the OS. Sitting on BSD makes it even nicer.
So whatever Jobs offers I tend to agree with this article. Lots of hype for very little. But I have to say it works.
Dont knock em too hard or we would still think the blackberry with the 386 in it was top of the line. You may not like the company, but you all sure as hell enjoy their inventions.
I'm a unix guy and I can admit that Apple made the GUI a norm, made the touch screen acceptable, and has a tendency to shoot over the "back in my day" crowds thick skulls.
When I was a kid, networking was handing out business cards at a party, but I appreciate change when it happens, no matter the inventor.
Either you love Apple or else you love Microsoft is a False dilemma. It's a logical fallacy commonly repeated by Apple fan-boys, but repeating a claim often doesn't make it true.
I like stable computers that don't crash or freeze often. Which is why I stick to running Windows XP. My Mac loving friend running the latest OS X has a crash requiring that he reboot his machine at least once a month, and program freezes at least once a week.
But my XP-SP3 pc stays running 24/7, and I'll only need to reboot it once a month when I want to defragment the hard drive, registry and page file, or else turn it off to clean out the dust.
Sounds like your real point is "In the days when products were looked at on the basis of merit, a company would have to bribe us with free booze, or perhaps a novelty item or too, before we would even show up at a product launch.
Any little jerk with a computer can post garbage and try and pass it off for an article these days.
This "article" says a lot about its author. Fruity indeed.
Grow up. Its a COMPUTER. An overpriced one at that. I never understood the whole emotional attachement to a computer. ITS A COMPUTER. Nothing more. I just love how when anything says something even slightly negative about any Apple product, the loonies come out of the woodwork, all full of bluster and Apple lovin'.
Aw, poor baby didn't get an invite, eh?
I love reading socialist scum talk about the one truly innovative company in the world as if they were getting forward by hype alone. Yeah, Hype plus %10 market share = world domination!
Your real beef, of course, is that they've actually produced something worth buying, unlike the excrement you give us, for free.
If those discerning europeans would start focusing more on merit and less on socialism, you might have a growing economy again.
I mean, what is this site if not a cheap ripoff of the register. You couldn't even innovate a new color scheme!
Profoundly pathetic. But then, that's to be expected from windows fanboys.
Nick appears to be someone who mistakes snobbery for objectivism. Perhaps if he could give an objective review of a product he might score a few Apple items now and then.....and let's be honest - that is what he is complaining about here. The pretty girl won't give him the time of day (again) so he has to denigrate her. "Fruity toymaker" sounds an awful lot like "I never liked her any way."
Nice to hear one hack tell it like it is. Can't be a U.S. based hack because they all do believe jobs to be God. It will be interesting to see what the new i-product is.
Those who want to leave over Nick's opinion, please go and don't let the iTablet smack you on the ass on the way out. Those who disagree, that's your prerogative but it doesn't make him any less right.
Nick, great article.
JEALOUS. JEALOUS. JEALOUS.
That's why the author has to denigrate.
Nick,
It's hilarious that you condescend to the American press. I'm sure you would fail high school journalism here. The European press, you say? It's no wonder they keep you on that dreary little island.
Biff
ALL GLORY TO THE INQUIR...HYPNOTOAD!
hear hear harumph!
"When the day arrives we will also be treated to the shameful display of US press people standing up and applauding the appearance of Steve Jobs trying to hawk his latest product as if it is the cure for cancer."
Given that the poor sod has had to have his liver replaced (presumably) to treat pancreatic cancer, that simile was perhaps a tad tasteless, don't you think?
And, more importantly, at least SJ understands his products and his market - unlike Steve Balmer, who doesn't seem to understand either, and is therefore far more of a "hawker". methinks...
"Apple is the Liberace of the IT industry"
Excellent! ;)
The only whore here is Nick and his love for the Vole and hatred of Apple. I guess all those IPhone sales in Europe must be killing you Nick. When is the inquirer going to get some real journalist and not just some hack.
Exactly.
The media all run scared of Apple in that they all want a piece of the hype on launch day.
Not to mention the freebies that the biggest grovellers earn?
Of course most journalist are so thick not to realise that much of this Apple technology is now propriety and thus cannot even be called a computer at all.
I love nick's articles, best part of my day, makes me smile with every character he uses in his articles. When will the faithful see MAC's for what they really are. Cheap, overpiced shiny toys. When they break they still think the messiah is gods gift to man. If it were childrens toy that caught fire or broke easily or better yet had complete lack of support they wouldnt be in business.
Nick only a true tech reporter would expose the truths about how dodgy some IT companies and products can be. Keep up the hating of all things dodgy.
I disagree with the author because I think apple products are usually well designed. The sofware matches the hardware.
I agree with the author because, yes, true problems have occured that the company has denied such as stinking mac pros (etc.) . Yep, I got one of them. And they don't care.
Well that was certainly unpredictable. As Ferret only does this kind of crap for attention and advertising clicks I've adblocked all Inquirer content.
The Scandinavian IT press might not be whores to Apple but to Microsoft for sure and since many years.
We can expect the IT press in Scandinavia to report the Apple wonder in a very modest tone.
Lest we forget - the Apple Pippin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Pippin
Which is why we'll probably (thankfully) never see an iConsole........
Theres enough fanboi-ism for 360, Wii and PS3, without adding Apple-fanbois into the mix.
Who knows, mebbe the iGame will be announced - with first working title iFail
I loved my day out a few years ago at the UK Microsoft Office 2007 launch, when hacks practically hounded the MS-spokes drone off the stage with rants/questions about crashes/instability/bloat. I guess this hard-nosed type of questioning isn't allowed at Apple events?