M$?

Sput2001

superscaper wrote: »

I think all XPS machines are. Remember reading an article last month (I think in Custom PC) where they took a Dell XPS (can't remember which one but it was about £900), built their own equivalent which turned out to perform quite a bit better and it was also well over £200 cheaper.

I got an XPS 420 from the outlet centre for just under £500. I've tweaked it a little since it arrived (extra DVD drive, wireless LAN card, extra USB ports) but none of those were more than £15, iirc.

Performance-wise it walks all over the Mac I use for work from time to time.

superscaper

NickMidgley wrote: »

I got an XPS 420 from the outlet centre for just under £500. I've tweaked it a little since it arrived (extra DVD drive, wireless LAN card, extra USB ports) but none of those were more than £15, iirc.

Not sure what point you're making. The Dell in the article was a £900 XPS, can't remember which one but it wasn't a 420. I do remember looking it up and it was about £900 cheapest. If they'd tried to compare a £500 XPS 420 then maybe they'd have managed to build a better one for £400 or something, following the logic of the article.

Edit: I'd mentioned it in a previous thread, apparently the article one was an XPS 630. My point about them being expensive is that you can build same spec machines for a lot less, that didn't used to be the case.

Sput2001

Not sure what point you're making.

It was mainly that I don't think my XPS was particularly overpriced. I actually reckoned it was pretty good value for a reasonably decently specced machine. Compared to the equivalent iMac it was a steal.

As I said, I did admittedly get it from the Outlet centre.

weegie.geek

I can't stand any fanboy/anti-fanboyism, it does my head in.

It's always been the same, and not just in computers. Insecure childish idiots who feel they have to defend their own choice by rubbishing other people's.

Computers/consoles/cars/televisions are all just a tool you use to get something done. Investing in them emotionally to the point where you feel the need to express the superiority of your choice at every opportunity is pathetic.

There are more important things to deal with in life and really, no one os/company/whatever is 100% the best. Each has good points and bad points.

Microsoft has engaged in some dodgy business practices in the past, but pretty much every big business has. Apple's certainly done some shady things.

Zealotry of any kind baffles me.

superscaper

weegie.geek wrote: »

There are more important things to deal with in life and really, no one os/company/whatever is 100% the best.

Except for RISC OS.

[Deleted User]

superscaper wrote: »

Except for RISC OS.

IRIX for the win!

Marty_J

iviv wrote: »

Macs cost roughly twice as much as a windows PC.

That's like saying a BMW costs roughly twice as much as a car. Meaningless.

JOel_2

weegie.geek wrote: »

I can't stand any fanboy/anti-fanboyism, it does my head in.

It's always been the same, and not just in computers. Insecure childish idiots who feel they have to defend their own choice by rubbishing other people's.

Computers/consoles/cars/televisions are all just a tool you use to get something done. Investing in them emotionally to the point where you feel the need to express the superiority of your choice at every opportunity is pathetic.

There are more important things to deal with in life and really, no one os/company/whatever is 100% the best. Each has good points and bad points.

Microsoft has engaged in some dodgy business practices in the past, but pretty much every big business has. Apple's certainly done some shady things.

Zealotry of any kind baffles me.

I agree wholeheartedly, people use what they use a) Because its what they are used to and b) it gets the job done, when you think about it, cost is not as much as a factor. People who buy apple systems do so because they like the whole package.

I use a wide varity of operating systems both at work and at home. My personal OS of choice is FreeBSD, but I also use Windows AIX, Solaris, Linux, OSX, and occasionally OS/2 (Ok, OS/2 really is pants)

They are all picked for the strengths they have, we use AIX because for our ERP system, it does the best job, and the hardware and software is designed to run the kind of applications we use, you will struggle to find many manufacturers who use full blown ERP systems on windows, with maybe the exception of a few, and chances are those systems were originally UNIX based (Baan for example).

We use windows server 2008 for our domain and enterprise messaging, purely because there is nothing else that integrates, and is as easy to manage and deploy as AD and Exchange are.

I use FreeBSD on all my own computers with the exception of my media center box, which runs linuxMCE. I didn't pick those because they were free, I picked them because I like to use them, and I like the potential that they come with for customisation, and because I like to learn.

Microsoft have made themselves what they are by being hard business people, getting the tools to the market first, and being innovative. Not forgetting they had a huge foothold in the market from a very early stage, and drop a hell of a lot of money into marketing and product development.

I am sure that eventually other OS' will catch up, but a lot of it requires other software houses to invest in developing their products for other platforms. When you have invested millions, possibly billions in developing your program for Windows, what is the point in spending at least half of that again, to satisfy 10% of the market.

At the end of the day, most fanboys / fangirls should realise that as much as they rant about X being better than Y, they are wasting their time, and in some cases are damaging the very thing they are arguing for.

Joel