(OT) Steve Jobs.
 

On Sun, 16 Oct 2011 23:09:38 -0400, "Scout"
wrote:

Face to face contact was good at finding out what my needs and wants
really were. Having a clone shop by mail order is as personalized
as having a big name computer by mail order.

Sorry if you found a bad supplier. Most will build systems to your exact
specifications or tell you the general tradeoffs of different options and
what you really need vs what you think you need.

Such as most people don't need a massive hard drive. Nor do you need a
massive amount of memory for most applications. Depending on what you are
doing you can also save a bunch of money on the video card. That allows you
to put the money were it needs to go, in getting a better motherboard, CPU,
and/or faster memory.

If you know what you want, you can buy it from the big name companies
too. The local make-it-yourself-shop's strength was in helping
people find what they wanted.

--
"In no part of the constitution is more wisdom to be found,
than in the clause which confides the question of war or peace
to the legislature, and not to the executive department."

- James Madison

(OT) Steve Jobs.
 

A Ford will get you anywhere a Rolls Royce/Bentley will, and do it much
better too.
cuhulin

(OT) Steve Jobs.
 

"Howard Brazee" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 16 Oct 2011 14:51:55 -0400, "Scout"
wrote:

Quite a few people make a living supplying people with such systems
customized to their specific desires.

Most of my computers have been those. But the local stores that made
my computers have all closed and not been replaced.

True, it's largely moved to mail order since that way you don't have the
overhead of a store front, or if you do maintain a store front, it's just
to
pick up the occasional sale while you're processing the bulk of your
business through internet orders.

Face to face contact was good at finding out what my needs and wants
really were. Having a clone shop by mail order is as personalized
as having a big name computer by mail order.

Sorry if you found a bad supplier. Most will build systems to your exact
specifications or tell you the general tradeoffs of different options and
what you really need vs what you think you need.

Such as most people don't need a massive hard drive. Nor do you need a
massive amount of memory for most applications. Depending on what you are
doing you can also save a bunch of money on the video card. That allows you
to put the money were it needs to go, in getting a better motherboard, CPU,
and/or faster memory.

(OT) Steve Jobs.
 

On Sun, 16 Oct 2011 22:52:27 -0400, "Scout"
wrote:

Well, let's see....they make more profit from fewer sales than others......

Gee, sounds like overpriced products to me.

Does that same logic apply to restaurants, cars, & concert tickets?

--
"In no part of the constitution is more wisdom to be found,
than in the clause which confides the question of war or peace
to the legislature, and not to the executive department."

- James Madison

(OT) Steve Jobs.
 

"Lloyd E Parsons" wrote in message
...
On 10/16/11 4:16 PM, Howard Brazee wrote:
On Sun, 16 Oct 2011 14:51:55 -0400, "Scout"
wrote:

Quite a few people make a living supplying people with such systems
customized to their specific desires.

Most of my computers have been those. But the local stores that made
my computers have all closed and not been replaced.

True, it's largely moved to mail order since that way you don't have the
overhead of a store front, or if you do maintain a store front, it's
just to
pick up the occasional sale while you're processing the bulk of your
business through internet orders.

Face to face contact was good at finding out what my needs and wants
really were. Having a clone shop by mail order is as personalized
as having a big name computer by mail order.

I'd have to agree. And honestly, if that mail order clone shop is cheaper
on a per configuration basis, than most of the big names, I'd be running
away from them. It just isn't all that much cheaper to buy the parts and
put them together properly than it is to buy ready made, UNLESS the shop
has really cheap labor or doesn't factor that in.

No, actually it is cheaper. It doesn't take very long to assemble a
computer, and properly done you easily undercut the names by selective
buying. Because the names don't get the discounts that arise as the hardware
is superseded by newer tech. A computer they've had sitting in the warehouse
for a year is not worth nearly as much as it was a year ago, but they've
already paid the higher price for the hardware. A local supplier doesn't
have this problem because they have a much quicker supply turnover and thus
they don't lose the value in hardware at nearly the rate as the big players
do. Plus the small supplier can take advantage of price breaks, sales,
discounts, and so on, while the brand guys are limited in their ability to
change the hardware configuration at the drop of a hat.

Nope, small suppliers can generally match much of what a name brand puts out
simply because they aren't having to pay last year's price for hardware they
are going to sell tomorrow. Just watch the price on any hardware. From what
it was a year ago, to today. It generally will drop significantly. So you
can either beat their price or match their price with superior hardware.
However, there is a tradeoff, customer support particularly in driver
updates, software conflicts/errors, and so on is left much more to the
consumer that it might be with the name guys. However, a lot of hardware
drivers now provide automatic updates from the maker as they become
available.

(OT) Steve Jobs.
 

On 10/16/2011 9:24 AM, Joe from Kokomo wrote:
On 10/15/2011 6:47 PM, Don Kirkman wrote:
On Mon, 10 Oct 2011 23:04:46 -0700, John
wrote:

The rest of what you had to say, bad decisions, paying too much for a
home, etc. ... well ya', that is covered in "Life 101." If you missed
that class, problems will keep arising until you do take that class! ...
don't make those bad decisions, don't pay too much for over valued
property, don't buy what you can't afford, etc.

You ignore the people who were *told* they could afford the houses
they bought. People with a duty to be diligent--brokers, financiers,
investment houses, all assured them that they deserved a good house
and by heck they could afford one because they were given them a real
bargain.

Basically, it comes down to common sense, if you can't afford the house,
don't buy it... yet ...

But if you're assured that you can afford it, who is the real culprit
here?

Ah yes, the old Liar Loans...

The only "qualification" for the loan was could you fog a mirror? If you
were breathing, you qualified.

Talk about morons!

Most people, when shopping, never get to the checkout with more in their
basket -- quite amazing when you consider the morons who bought homes!

The real question here, is why was there a big bubble of morons
purchasing homes? Is it possible they never heard, "BUYER BEWARE?"

roflol ... you just gotta love morons, it is always someone elses fault
they did something stupid ... next, I expect a cop to walk up to one and
ask them, "Why did u just shoot that person?" And, they reply, "He just
got in the way of my bullet -- it wasn't my fault!"

Regards,
JS

(OT) Steve Jobs.
 

On 10/15/2011 11:39 PM, Don Kirkman wrote:
On Sat, 15 Oct 2011 20:36:06 -0700, John
wrote:

On 10/15/2011 3:47 PM, Don Kirkman wrote:
On Mon, 10 Oct 2011 23:04:46 -0700, John
wrote:

don't make those bad decisions, don't pay too much for over valued
property, don't buy what you can't afford, etc.

You ignore the people who were *told* they could afford the houses
they bought. People with a duty to be diligent--brokers, financiers,
investment houses, all assured them that they deserved a good house
and by heck they could afford one because they were given them a real
bargain.

I guess some missed the basic education of where the teacher asked you,
"If someone told you to jump off a cliff, would you?"

I gather you haven't bought a newspaper or watched TV in the last
couple of years. Or your mind is link a steel trap--rusted shut.

Basically, it comes down to common sense, if you can't afford the house,
don't buy it... yet ...

But if you're assured that you can afford it, who is the real culprit
here?

If you are into trusting, I got something to tell you, "Give me your
money to hold, for five years, I'll give you back double!"

Society is built on trust. Americans' trust in their institutions
has been badly shaken by the scandals and frauds and
profiteering*--and you apparently have no empathy with the financial
situation of millions of families.

* definitely not the same thing as making a profit.

ROFLOL

You were kidding, right?

Are you really a Horvath wannabe?

Yeah, I have made some bad mistakes. One serious mistake is believing
the average American knew if he could afford to purchase something, or
not -- seems you have argued, and quite effectively, you are not, and
that the average person on the street has an approx. equivalent IQ ...
and more to point, that is someone elses fault that this is true!

But, now I have it down, don't let people keep proving me wrong, realize
them for the complete morons they are ... I guess I have to thank you
for that ... chuckle

Regards,
JS

(OT) Steve Jobs.
 

In article ,
"Scout" wrote:

"Alan Baker" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Scout" wrote:

"Alan Baker" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Scout" wrote:

"Lloyd E Parsons" wrote in message
...
On 10/15/11 10:46 AM, John Smith wrote:
On 10/15/2011 8:41 AM, Lloyd E Parsons wrote:

...
I don't think you or I will live long enough to see the 'year of
the
mac' if that is defined as Apple being the dominant tech provider.
Not
going to happen.

But the 'year of the Mac' has already happened in the upscale tech
market with consumers with a few bucks.



Yes, I am sure many are heroes in their own mind, have saved the
world,
dominate the markets ... and it would be evil to destroy their
fantasies
... roflol

Still, one must keep a foot in reality ...

Regards,
JS

In business, the reality is growing your sales and profits. In
that,
it
has been the year of the Mac for quite awhile now. You are free to
talk
about what volumes of sales are out there in wintel/linux world, but
that
is being done at pathetic profit levels.

Overall, desktop sales on all platforms is down as more go to
laptops.
Primarily because laptops now have enough performance for almost all
applications and the prices are down quite a bit. Heck for all the
bitching about Apple's prices, laptops with similar specifications
and
build quality are all pretty much the same in cost.

Apple just doesn't do cheap laptops.

Which is why Apple sells only a small fraction of the number of
laptops
sold. PC dominates over Mac even in the laptop market


But Apple makes most of the profit...

:-)

Shows they overprice their goods....

Since more and more people are buying them, how does it show that?

Well, let's see....they make more profit from fewer sales than others......

Gee, sounds like overpriced products to me.

Not exactly a positive thing from the view point of anyone looking at
buying
their products.

I think people look at what they actually get--a computer that works
better for them--and then they look at what the price represents in
terms of cost per day and they realize that the differential is well
worth it.

:-)\

And then you have a bunch more people that decide, that the extra price
really isn't worth it.


Yup. That's true. But most of them make that decision blindly; never
having actually used a Mac.

I've worked with, supported, sold, worked with, sold, and supported Macs
since about 1985. In all that time, of the people who've switched from
PCs to Macs, only one wanted to go back.

--
Alan Baker
Vancouver, British Columbia
http://gallery.me.com/alangbaker/100008/DSCF0162/web.jpg

(OT) Steve Jobs.
 

On 10/16/11 10:20 PM, Scout wrote:


"Lloyd E Parsons" wrote in message
...
On 10/16/11 4:16 PM, Howard Brazee wrote:
On Sun, 16 Oct 2011 14:51:55 -0400, "Scout"
wrote:

Quite a few people make a living supplying people with such systems
customized to their specific desires.

Most of my computers have been those. But the local stores that made
my computers have all closed and not been replaced.

True, it's largely moved to mail order since that way you don't have
the
overhead of a store front, or if you do maintain a store front, it's
just to
pick up the occasional sale while you're processing the bulk of your
business through internet orders.

Face to face contact was good at finding out what my needs and wants
really were. Having a clone shop by mail order is as personalized
as having a big name computer by mail order.

I'd have to agree. And honestly, if that mail order clone shop is
cheaper on a per configuration basis, than most of the big names, I'd
be running away from them. It just isn't all that much cheaper to buy
the parts and put them together properly than it is to buy ready made,
UNLESS the shop has really cheap labor or doesn't factor that in.

No, actually it is cheaper. It doesn't take very long to assemble a
computer, and properly done you easily undercut the names by selective
buying. Because the names don't get the discounts that arise as the
hardware is superseded by newer tech. A computer they've had sitting in
the warehouse for a year is not worth nearly as much as it was a year
ago, but they've already paid the higher price for the hardware. A local
supplier doesn't have this problem because they have a much quicker
supply turnover and thus they don't lose the value in hardware at nearly
the rate as the big players do. Plus the small supplier can take
advantage of price breaks, sales, discounts, and so on, while the brand
guys are limited in their ability to change the hardware configuration
at the drop of a hat.

Having been in the business for many years, I call bull**** on your
little story here.

The big boys buy in such massive quantities that they can buy current
stuff for what the little guy pays for the last cycle of parts. And
then have them built in factories with such cheap labor that any US
builder can't even come close to matching. Labor far, far less than
minimum wage here.

In the end, they sell for less than the little guy that values his labor
at all.

Nope, small suppliers can generally match much of what a name brand puts
out simply because they aren't having to pay last year's price for
hardware they are going to sell tomorrow. Just watch the price on any
hardware. From what it was a year ago, to today. It generally will drop
significantly. So you can either beat their price or match their price
with superior hardware. However, there is a tradeoff, customer support
particularly in driver updates, software conflicts/errors, and so on is
left much more to the consumer that it might be with the name guys.
However, a lot of hardware drivers now provide automatic updates from
the maker as they become available.


The advantage the small guys have is in custom configurations for
specialty markets. Because of the very low volumes, it is difficult, if
not impossible for the big guys to address that market except for some
generic stuff. And usually for the specialty market, if you buy from
the big boys, you have to overbuy to meet or exceed the spec you're needing.



--
Lloyd

(OT) Steve Jobs.
 

In article ,
"Scout" wrote:

"Alan Baker" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Scout" wrote:

"Alan Baker" wrote in message
...
In article ,
John Smith wrote:

LOL! MS for a non-techie, balanced comparison of the two! Ya
gotta
love it!! :)

But keep in mind, if you buy a Mac you have both a solid OSX
(unix)
machine as well as a great Windows box too! A twofer!

Or you can buy a bare drive PC and load whatever version of Linux
you
want and save a $1000 ...

Or, you can just grap the components, build your own for 400 bucks,
or
under ... building your own, shopping sales, ebay, newegg, etc. you
can
put together a decent gaming computer for a grand!

I realize that the zealot in you will prevent you from grasping
this,
but...

...most people have no interest in building their own computers.


Oh, much worse than that, they don't even wish to own a decent one,
the
ones buying macs are proof enough of that ...

No.

That they are buying Macs is proof they work well for normal people.

Hmmm.... and component built systems work 4 times as well.

No. They do not.

Sure they do, according to the standard you set above. Since at least 4
times as many people have them, then they most work well for four times as
many normal people.

I never set any such standard.




So what's your point?

Most people have neither the interest nor the knowledge to build their
own systems.

yawn

I've already shot that assertion down....so why do you keep repeating it?

Because it's true.


Do you think if you say it enough times, that the facts will suddenly
change?


--
Alan Baker
Vancouver, British Columbia
http://gallery.me.com/alangbaker/100008/DSCF0162/web.jpg