Technosailor - Latest Comments in Even During a Recession, Small Businesses Still Should Consider Macbooks

Re: Even During a Recession, Small Businesses Still Should Consider Macbooks

Sam Levine — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 22:56:28 -0000

TCO can be hard to quantify, but I'm always glad to see people give a it a try.

If you do happen to work in a Windows shop and don't need all of the features of Adobe Acrobat, I'd suggest looking at a lower cost or free solution. One free product someone might want to look at is at http://www.freepdfcreator.org

Re: Even During a Recession, Small Businesses Still Should Consider Macbooks

dcpatton — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 14:09:57 -0000

Interesting article and comments. A couple of things to consider: 1. Open Office 3.0 for the Mac or Google Docs2. The faster startup (boot and hibernating) and lack of crashing OS can really increase productivity over time on the Mac. That can be very important for a small business.

Re: Even During a Recession, Small Businesses Still Should Consider Macbooks

dcpatton — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 10:09:57 -0000

Interesting article and comments. A couple of things to consider:

1. Open Office 3.0 for the Mac or Google Docs
2. The faster startup (boot and hibernating) and lack of crashing OS can really increase productivity over time on the Mac. That can be very important for a small business.

Re: Even During a Recession, Small Businesses Still Should Consider Macbooks

cyberpage — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 05:22:44 -0000

I really like the approach you&#039ve taken into prove the price specifications, cause at the end of the day, it is a yesterdays fact, that Mac is more expensive than PC, nevertheless you have succeeded on proving this concept wrong now a days.Great site by the way, this is my very fisrt time here and I already like it.Iaax Pagehttp://iaaxpage.blogspot.com

Re: Even During a Recession, Small Businesses Still Should Consider Macbooks

Peter Davis — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 04:57:50 -0000

I didn&#039t know you were a fanboy. When did that happen?

Re: Even During a Recession, Small Businesses Still Should Consider Macbooks

Iaax Page — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 01:22:44 -0000

I really like the approach you've taken into prove the price specifications, cause at the end of the day, it is a yesterdays fact, that Mac is more expensive than PC, nevertheless you have succeeded on proving this concept wrong now a days.

Great site by the way, this is my very fisrt time here and I already like it.

Iaax Page
http://iaaxpage.blogspot.com

Re: Even During a Recession, Small Businesses Still Should Consider Macbooks

Peter Davis — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:57:50 -0000

I didn't know you were a fanboy. When did that happen?

Re: Even During a Recession, Small Businesses Still Should Consider Macbooks

thatedeguy — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 20:58:04 -0000

You can create PDFs with a little program called PDF Converter 5 Pro from Buy.com for $99. Throw in a copy of OpenOffice software and the Dell is cheaper than the Apple. I don&#039t buy it.

Re: Even During a Recession, Small Businesses Still Should Consider Macbooks

Aaron Brazell — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 19:20:17 -0000

Totally agree that many companies should not consider the Applesolution. That said, most &#039no&#039 answers are based on the pricepoint ofhardware and in many cases, the TCO is actually cheaper and should beconsidered.

Re: Even During a Recession, Small Businesses Still Should Consider Macbooks

Jared Goralnick — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 18:55:23 -0000

Aaron, can&#039t disagree with you more this time. But I&#039ll first and foremost disagree on your comparisons for software and support.iWork doesn&#039t compare to MS Office 2007 in a business environment. If one were to get a Mac in a corporate environment, they&#039d likely still buy Office for any interoperability with, say, everyone else at the office. So that nixes that software...plus licensing agreements should make the price of Office much lower for a corporate user.Adobe Acrobat. Like everyone said here, on fewer than 1% of PC is the the paid version of Acrobat installed. Microsoft got sued by Adobe for having free (and awesome) PDF creation utilities built into Office in 2007, but they put it in on their anyways with a web download. It has extensibility that&#039s superior to the built in PDF writing on the Mac, too. For advanced PDF manipulation, both PC and Mac users would have to buy the identically priced Acrobat Standard or Professional for the Mac/PC.Also, Dell offers onsite Next Business Day support, but I don&#039t believe Apple does. Correct me if I&#039m wrong. If one doesn&#039t have a support contract for servicing their machines from an outside provider, this is a BIG BIG deal in businesses. I don&#039t want to spend half my day and schedule time with Apple Geniuses onsite...then wait for the part, etc. I&#039ve done this and it&#039s not fun. Dell shows up the next day with the part or ships it, plain and simple.Also, in a corporate environment that already supports PCs, they have standard SLAs with a separate MNS shop or through in-house tech support, which may or may not support Macs. So it should be a negligible cost to add a PC to the network, but may be a significant cost for a Mac if no one else knows how to support it. The support costs of integrating Macs + PCs that is often overlooked can be high. Not a fault of the Mac, but a cost nonetheless.The common argument to this is that one can install both Windows and Mac OS X on a Mac. But now the TCO is no longer an argument.If one buys a Mac it should be because they prefer a Mac or software that&#039s only available on a Mac, plain and simple. But in an environment that&#039s predominantly PC&#039s, it&#039s definitely not a cost saving.

Re: Even During a Recession, Small Businesses Still Should Consider Macbooks

Andrew Turner — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 18:30:42 -0000

My Point was that users wouldn&#039t buy the overpriced MS Office Pro for exactly the reasons you pointed out. They would buy the much cheaper Office Home. I am a Mac user - but I think your overall summary is a little skewed.

Re: Even During a Recession, Small Businesses Still Should Consider Macbooks

chrisbachmann — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 18:11:22 -0000

There&#039s a plugin for Office 2007 that will save to a PDF. It&#039s free from Microsoft&#039s site. I&#039m not sure why it wasn&#039t in the official release, but it&#039s easy to get and install.

Re: Even During a Recession, Small Businesses Still Should Consider Macbooks

jjthomas — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 17:58:39 -0000

Actually, lack of true Exchange support--be it small or large business--is the big factor here. Additionally, any smart small business manager has already locked up some sort of licensing agreement for their business to make Office more cost-effective. IMAP capability does not give you fully-featured Exchange features. Exchange is a groupware solution, as you know. Turning on IMAP merely means I can get email, it does not mean I get my calendar and its appointments. In some sense, that&#039s a business FAIL. As Rob said, there are many other free alternative PDF creation products available for Windows--including a fairly well-featured open-source product.

Re: Even During a Recession, Small Businesses Still Should Consider Macbooks

Aaron Brazell — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 17:57:08 -0000

What&#039s the market share? To be fair, I can&#039t answer that either, but my gut instinct, and I think you have to agree, is that companies who do need PDF creation tend to use Adobe Acrobat.

Re: Even During a Recession, Small Businesses Still Should Consider Macbooks

Kevin Dewalt — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 17:53:31 -0000

Sorry Aaron, I have to respectfully agree that this is a straw man as well. Use Google Apps and you don&#039t need most of things on the Dell list. And, yes, I know companies that are using CutePDF. I can&#039t wait until a non-OS laptop comes out with a keyboard, screen, broadband access, and Chrome.

Re: Even During a Recession, Small Businesses Still Should Consider Macbooks

Aaron Brazell — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 17:53:28 -0000

Again, I don&#039t know of any companies who use a free PDF creator over Adboe.Maybe if they are in the non-profit space. But Acrobat is justified as "costof doing business". Plus, it&#039s the geekier who know about those options andthe decision makers are not usually the geeky among us.

Re: Even During a Recession, Small Businesses Still Should Consider Macbooks

Aaron Brazell — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 17:51:19 -0000

Absolutely agreed on the annoyance of Exporting in iWork. But it&#039s justthat, an annoyance. And for me, it&#039s just part of my workflow now. Pass thepost on to any CFOs or IT Managers you can think of who need to have theirthinking changed.

Re: Even During a Recession, Small Businesses Still Should Consider Macbooks

azizhp — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 17:51:17 -0000

many compaies use PDF. In fact, all of them. But few need to buy Adobe to do it. At any rate, the embedded PDF creation functionality in Mac OS X is not equivalent to the total package of functionality you get with Adobe&#039s flagship software, either, so this is another apples-oranges (heh) comparison, in addition to the point I make about Office below.

Re: Even During a Recession, Small Businesses Still Should Consider Macbooks

Aaron Brazell — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 17:50:17 -0000

I use track changes quite effectively with Pages (iWork) in an MS Officeenvironment. And who uses Access? And Quicken exists at the same pricepointson both. Quickbooks exists on both... I don&#039t see your point. :)

Re: Even During a Recession, Small Businesses Still Should Consider Macbooks

Andrew Turner — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 17:49:52 -0000

They frequently use Acrobat reader - but comparatively very few people publish PDF&#039s with Acrobat.

Re: Even During a Recession, Small Businesses Still Should Consider Macbooks

azizhp — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 17:49:43 -0000

doPDF is a freeware application for PDF creation. So that shaves $449 off the estimate right there. And you&#039re comparing iLife to Office Pro? a fair comparison would be Office for Mac instead.

Re: Even During a Recession, Small Businesses Still Should Consider Macbooks

Aaron Brazell — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 17:45:26 -0000

I know of very few companies who don&#039t use Adobe Acrobat. Do you?

Re: Even During a Recession, Small Businesses Still Should Consider Macbooks

Rob Carlson — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 17:42:48 -0000

There are tons of free and open PDF creators for Windows. Assuming you use the free version and an application like CutePDF, your Dell TCO goes down to 1,562. This seems like a $449 straw man to me.

Re: Even During a Recession, Small Businesses Still Should Consider Macbooks

thatedeguy — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 16:58:04 -0000

You can create PDFs with a little program called PDF Converter 5 Pro from Buy.com for $99. Throw in a copy of OpenOffice software and the Dell is cheaper than the Apple.

I don't buy it.

Re: Even During a Recession, Small Businesses Still Should Consider Macbooks

Aaron Brazell — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 15:20:17 -0000

Totally agree that many companies should not consider the Apple
solution. That said, most 'no' answers are based on the pricepoint of
hardware and in many cases, the TCO is actually cheaper and should be
considered.