Apple's Mac FAQ & Marketing

"Macs don't have problems like PCs do."

Now most of us know how such a statement is based on uninformative Mac commercials and large scale marketing tactics on the part of Apple. Literally brain washing the average consumer that Macs a) "don't get viruses" b) "More secure" "Immune to Spyware" c) "It just effin works."

Most computer savvy folks though will understand these commercials for what they really are, just commercials, marketing tactics--not commercials being informative of their product. So you would guess Apple's website would at least have good  information to not mislead the consumer. Well let's look at a few of the "FAQs" at the Apple website.


"Is Mac safe from PC viruses?"

One does not need much thinking power to realize this question has been legally and strategically devised to include the specific form of viruses, "PC viruses." But Apple takes it further, under the question it says:

"Yes, a Mac is 100 percent safe from viruses designed to attack PCs."

Can anyone say "DUH"? It's like saying, "Is a PC safe from Mac viruses?" And then replying with, "Yes, a PC is 100% safe from viruses designed to attack Macs." One can only correctly assume the nice play of words done here, by using legally protecting sentence structures and the positive sounding "100 percent" catches the consumer off guard and buys into the whole BS that Apple is trying to sell you. Yes I am talking to you. It's okay, it happens. Under the same question Apple goes on and haphazardly "explains" (it's really legally protecting themselves) how all computers on the internet are not immune to viruses or spyware, but that it is based on a "UNIX foundation with security in mind." So if it is UNIX that is at its foundation, why is that relevant to the gist of their point? If anything, saying it is based on UNIX foundation, it makes it all the more so plain to see how vulnerable it can be to many of the same exploits and viruses. After all, in theory, hacking Mac is hacking (an already often exploited UNIX) right? It gets worse, Apple goes on to further add to this apparent disclaimer saying how it has built-in software that "alerts" you when you are downloading applications and how Apple makes "free security updates" for their users. Wow, how revolutionary, don't all Operating Systems do that? My Windows does, and I'm sure that guy's Linux distro over there does too.

The FAQ goes on.


"Will my PC devices (cameras, printers, hard drives) work with a Mac?"

 Mac says an emphatic Yes! But wait, that is not all:

"Mac is smart enough to know what to do when you plug in your digital camera. . ."

What does it do that makes it so smart you might ask? Apple provides the answer, "it opens iPhoto to import your pictures." Can I get a face palm anyone?


"Is Mac Reliable?"

 Apples doesn't really answer the question on that one, rather it makes use of the ad hominem argument in a form of a genetic fallacy (as in most cases). It starts off with, "When you buy a PC. . ." and explains how the hardware may be manufactured from a different company than the software and Mac isn't this way, (this is also a half-truth). It ends the side-stepping with:

"Occasionally an application might quit, but it won’t affect the rest of your system. And Mac OS X resists most viruses, so you can do anything — without worrying about losing everything."

Of course let us call it "quit" and not "crash" or "freeze" as you have just described the process a PC would do with an unresponsive application. However, most Windows PCs do not completely crash your Operating System because of one failed application. In fact, it does the same exact thing Apple is claiming Mac does, it will quit the faulty application and not affect the rest of your system. The last sentence is laughable, no counter argument needed.


"Why should I spend more money on a Mac?"

Good question! In my personal opinion, the only reason you should have to pay more is because it is pretty. I admit, most products from Apple, come out their orifice looking like a gem. But that's just the outside casing only, seriously, if you've seen one hard drive, you've seen them all. I think the word we are looking for here is, aesthetics. But I don't believe you are paying more for the reasons that Apple claims in their FAQ:

"When you compare the cost of a PC and factor in the additional software, memory, and other extras you have to buy to go along with it, the difference in price between a Mac and PC isn’t as great."

False. It is a huge damn difference in price even after I choose supposed "extras" on a new PC. But then again, we are comparing Apple & oranges, (I'm not sure if I intended pun.) Here is what I mean, the hardware is not comparable to begin with! I took some time to investigate their claim and surfed around their website and looked at what products they have available. The only one that didn't look like a flattened toaster (sorry Macmini) and provided scalability and somewhat of a workstation looking case was the Mac Pro. The specs on these beasts are amazing to say the least! We're talking about Quad Xeon cores, tons of memory (6GB+), tons of storage and so on. Well no wonder it is so damn expensive! It has nothing to do with what Apple claims at all. You are getting Workstation-Class power in these machines, power power power. However Apple is not telling the consumer that they don't need all this power. Seriously, a guy at home that checks his email, surfs the internet on Safari, downloads pictures, porn, burns CD/DVDs, watches movies, listens to music and uses Microsoft Office for Mac all on the same computer and even at the same time does not need all the hardware the Mac Pro sells you, period.

Back to the claim that Apple made though about the price difference not being that great after you supposedly add much of the features the Mac has already. I put this claim to the test. I opened up a Dell Workstation page (which I think was a somewhat comparable computer to the Mac Pro) and I opened up the Mac Pro configuration page as well. I based the Dell workstation off the default Mac Pro "8 Core" configuration. By the time I was finished, I saved almost $1,000.00 with the Dell workstation for the same specifications if not better. The Dell workstation has a bigger hard drive, it has a better nVidia video card, 64-bit OS. Additionally, if I wanted to match the Mac Pro price, I could easily include Microsoft Office 2007 Professional, a RAID controller, a second HDD and possibly a second LCD monitor and still be at the same price range as the default configuration of the Mac Pro.

I don't want to drag this particular point on, but we also need to talk about the software. Further under the same question Apple states that the price is also due to the already built-in software that lets you do so much. What applications? It doesn't say, but if it is implying the applications that are often advertised to lure people, those aren't free. They are in fact, add-ons, the very thing Apple attacked the PCs for. So really you aren't getting crap other than an overly powerful computer that you probably don't need as an average consumer.


This brings me to my last point on this portion of the FAQ. There is no variety of desktops or workstations to choose from at Apple. It does allow you to "customize" the configuration as do other PC manufacturers do, however based only off their one model (Mac Pro), where as with PC manufacturers you have a wide selection of PCs to choose from. I already hear Mac lovers saying, "Apple doesn't need to make a bunch of computers, because the Mac Pro can do it all!" Well that's a yes and no statement and equally a catch-22. Let me briefly explain.

You can have a computer that can "do it all" and be stuck with a huge price for something you will be utilizing about very little of. Or you can have a PC that can do what you need for a fraction of the price while you utilize most of its resources. If you later decide you need more power, you can upgrade. Need more memory? No problem, it's cheap nowadays. Need more storage? No problem, hard drives are cheap too, and so are external portable hard drives. Yes they are cheap, not expensive like Mac wants you to believe. The point is, it is an unnecessary waste to have such an extremely powerful computer--it's overkill for most consumers. And remember, CPUs and RAM perform dynamic volatile functions, they don't "fill up." They are used on how much work you are actually doing at any given time.

So why are you paying more? Because someone has to pay Justin Long to act witty and cool in their mass scale marketing. Someone has to pay the design department for their cool looking cases and colorful gadgets. Someone has to pay their adapter department to invent new proprietary connections and cables. Finally, someone is going to pay that much for a Mac. 

Stay tuned for my next post, it will be much shorter, I promise.