Heretical confessions

So I recently reconnected with an old friend of mine, Quinton, online and we've been talking a lot lately. He's an avid Mac lover, and I really can't stand the things. However, this summer especially more than any other time, I've learned that rarely is anything black and white, and that I should give all things a chance before passing quick judgment on them, and that I enjoy keeping people around who have different opinions than I so that they can challenge my most cherished beliefs.


So in this spirit, I took a quick glance at Apple products. Specifically a laptop. Yes, I wandered over to the Apple website and looked through at what they were peddling. Now, I'm not in the market for a new laptop. I love my current one, and I just got it a year ago. But I took a look to see what they were offering, maybe contemplating of getting an Apple next time I need to buy a new laptop for whatever reason.


My initial impression was good. They are pretty looking computers, and they had decent specs, but then I got to the price tag and I physically choked.


I'm a comparison shopper; my mother, the great haggler, instilled this principle in me at an early age. So staring at the hefty price tag for an Apple computer, and then seeing similar computers side by side for a fraction of the price made me cringe. Believe me, I wanted to try it out, wanted to give it a chance maybe sometime in the future. But with my current budget, it's just not possible.


I simply cannot justify it in my mind. I'm not going into media editing or anything of the sort, or any other profession where Apple can supposedly do better in. I write plays, essays, articles, blog entries and emails, surf the web and play a vintage computer game every now and then (switching to an Apple, by the way, would make all my games obsolete). Even aesthetics Apple did not hold a monopoly on - some of the laptops by HP and Dell and Gateway were very pretty as well. I was especially sold on a very nice looking green laptop - it's my favorite color. I actually don't really like Apple's obsession with just the color white. It seems so clinical. And this one seemed just as good as any Macbook they were trying to sell me, even better in some areas. The only real strike it could have against it from Apple lovers is that it has the dreaded Vista on it, but I've never had any serious problems with Vista. And this computer was significantly less expensive. The lowest price for an Apple was somewhere around $1,300 for a laptop (most were much higher; some crossed the $2000 threshold, which made me cringe). A comparable PC laptop was easily $300-$500 lower (or more, depending on which Apple we were comparing). To me personally, the benefits didn't really outweigh the costs.


The sad part is, because of my friend's subtle evangelizing, I really wanted to try it out, give it a chance. But unfortunately, unless Apple is planning on any drastic price cuts, it looks like I won't be drinking from their fountain of youth anytime soon. Unless somebody wants to donate an Apple as a benevolent contribution to help expand someone's world view.


But I seriously doubt that anybody's going to do that any time soon. I'm not holding my breath for it to happen.