Apple Myths. Please add yours.

Hey everyone I just wnated to start a thread about apple myths. It seems to me that we are very opinion biased individuals when it comes to our beloved Apple products.

With that said we also have to be realistic and humbled from time to time. I think we should generate a myth list. I will start:

- Apple Hardware is more Advanced and better then other manufacturers.

- False: Apple purchase hardware from the same manufacturers as everyone else. Samsung, LG Atheros etc. Apple has a greater standard in QC/QA but not in it's actual components used.

Diggy Added
- It just works.

FALSE. We've had several MBP's out the box that wouldnt even boot up and had to be sent right back for replacements. And by "we" I mean where I work.

Yuio Added
- That OS X is superior to all other operating systems

FALSE- it all depends what you are using it for.

PhilFlow Added
- OS X never crashes

Xirurg Added
- There are no viruses for macs.

Sam Added
- There is no software or games for Macs.

FALSE - While it is true that the number of applications for Mac OS X is far less than for Windows, there are a lot more applications for Mac OS X out there than one may think. The general major applications that consumers and businesses use have a Mac version or equivalent easily accessible, and in cases of video editing and other entertainment-related applications, some are even Mac OS X-exclusive.

 

tho I think that this is another will-become flame war thread,I would ask you to provide link/source of your "myth"(also,stupid post in /macrumors/ doesn't count)

 

It just works.

FALSE. We've had several MBP's out the box that wouldnt even boot up and had to be sent right back for replacements. And by "we" I mean where I work.

 

again,I don't want to be a fanboy,but I don't think by "It just works" they mean "it won't be defective"...

 

that OS X is superior to all other operating systems

FALSE- it all depends what you are using it for.

 

Totally agree with this one-f.e.,if you are a gamer,MacOS is .... for you

 

Its advertising, dude; the implication/perception is there.

 

This may become a flame war thread, But I hope more people would choose to be helpfull in a thread like this.

Xirurg why do you give us an Apple Myth, and help us out on this one.

 

OS X never crashes

 

"it just works" doesn't mean that there will never be a defect. its just a design philosophy of their software and hardware, that things tend to be designed to work the way you would naturally expect them to. it mostly a user interface concept.

for example, you wouldn't have a user hit the "start" button in order to shut down the machine.

it also means that software has less of a tendency to break the OS. driver conflicts, registry issues, these are things that the user should be abstracted from and never need to deal with. and that design of the UI is consistent and clean.

it doesn't mean that apple achieves all of this all the time, but they do invest their OS development resources into achieving these things.

 

Hm,

There are no viruses for macs.

 

Myth: There is no right click.

Fact: There is.

 

Myth: apple is more expensive than other machine w/ same/better specs
Fact: i think its true

 

not to be an a$$,but "fact" and "I think" words can't belong to same sentence-a fact must be proved.

 

myth: a fact must be "proved" (proven)

fact: a fact must merely be "true". you can attempt to assert its truth through a proof or argument, but its "fact-ness" does not depend on anything except for it being true.

 

Fact: It is true

 

^then prove it!
*started a flame war *

 

Myth: A thread in the Apple forum can remain flameless for more than 2 pages.

False: That's never gonna happen. To many opinions and not enough logic/ reason/facts used.


As for the price thingo. There have been plenty of studies done that analyze this to death. The Tom's hardware one was one of the better ones out there. The results from this study showed that the excess price (Apple Tax) exists but only when you customize with the apple upgrades. If you buy a base model then the price difference to a "comparable" PC is negligible.
Also when you compare two things you have to compare items that are as close to identical as possible. So there is no point comparing a 10 pound 15" laptop made of cheap plastic to a mbp...its not fair to either and will result in nonsense data.
a

 

Myth: Apple has started the personal computing revolution single-handedly. Woz was the single great genius who designed the first integrated home computer. The subsequent history of personal computing is the history of Apple and Microsoft/IBM clones.

Fact: Commodore Business Machines, and Atari are all to often neglected in this equation. The Commodore 64 was a lot cheaper, and a lot more capable than the Apple II, in pretty much every aspect. The Amiga put all existing Macintoshes and PCs to shame up until early-to-mid '90s when Commodore went bankrupt. Jack Tramiel, the founder&ceo of Commodore was sacked from his own company just like Jobs; and he moved on to lead the computer division of Atari, who likewise produced highly capable machines rivalling Macs and PCs in every respect. Besides, these computers sold HUGE amounts; and especially the Amiga had a large following, and it was employed for all sorts of purposes (from special effects in films, to desktop publishing, to everything else). Chuck Peddle the genius CPU designer deserves just as much credit as Woz, in "inventing" the personal computer.

(In the early days of course, there were even more players in the home computer 'market', of which perhaps the most notable was Radio Shack. But, if I'm not mistaken, by 1984, it was all about Apple and Commodore, and later on Microsoft/IBM/Clones stepped in. You could even say that the PC really caught up only with the i486 processors, multimedia capability, then Windows 95 [which made it possible finally to access the internet, set up a sound card or a cd-rom without expert tweaking-around].)

 

Fact: Even Macs are victimized by Bad-Photoshop-itis, lol.

 

Myth: Only Apple laptops support multi-touch gestures.

Truth: My 3 year old Asus laptop supports several two and three finger gestures. In fact most Synaptics touchpads do.

 

Myth: This thread has a purpose and should remain open.

Truth: This thread is just begging for a flame war and should be closed.

 

It's funny to me that that several people have predicted a flame war, yet sofar I have not seen anything close to flaming.

 

I dont understand ..

 

Phil,you know,I will be more then happy if this stays as civilized as it is now,cos it is very good to have this kind of conversation.
My fav scenario-
people tell you their point,you listen!,agree/disagree and try to prove your point.

look at the logo

 

Right, if it starts to become a flame war we can always close it.

 

The logo is skewed the wrong way in the bottom Mac. It was just copied/pasted form the top Mac.

 

This is false... Macs do have many myths about them perpetuated by people who want their fanbase to remain ignorant of certain things. Learning about them and finding solutions is the method to actually make macs grow.

I'll give an example:
"Macs just work"

The mac fans tout this as one of the highest selling points, but this leads people to realistically assume they can just plug into anything and it will work.

The reality hits home when you bring your new macbook to your place of work intending to use it for something besides home use.

As an IT member at a company that doesn't specifically ban macs, but has no support system for them (they don't need support right? they "just work"?)
I have seen user after user end up giving up on a mac or returning them or retiring them for only home use... Why? because they just DON'T always work. Note we have a mixed Windows/Unix environment and other mac users work just fine in this environment.

Our IT department has a FAQ for mac users and has 2-3 which work swimmingly, we just don't have any mac gurus. I do try to help mac users, (it isn't my job right now, but I try because I am the only one in this department wit any knowledge oin the subject) but ours tend to get impatient quickly when it doesn't "just work" and when I don't have an instant answer for them.

The problem isn't really the Macs... it's the users who believe their mac will "just work" and aren't willing to put in the research to make it work. It's a good computer and OS, but it takes know-how and a support system that isn't always easy to find.

 

Great post thank you.

 

You a a good point,but you have to dig a little further-f.e.,when I just got mac it didn't "just work" for me,I had lots of questions-like why is "this" like "this" in mac,and what is mac's equivalent of some X windows application.BUT my sister,who hadn't owned a pc before,and only used my laptop for email,had no problems with it doing her "text/photo/audio/video "staff",she made her own website using iWeb,and she like drag-and-drop way very much.I think you understood what i mean.

EDIT:yes,I agree that "it just works" is a little "overacted",but it certainly "just work"-s better then windows.

 

Myth: Apple will never make a tablet MacBook.
True: Steve Jobs has made no mention of going the tablet route anytime soon, if ever.

Myth: Apple will never update the Mac Mini. Its left for dead.
True: Apple hasn't updated the mini in ages (I think about 2 years now its gone without any update whatsoever). There are rumors that at MacWorld 2009 would present an update.

Myth: OSX is better than Windows/Windows is better than OSX.
False: Both are great. It's just the intended usage that differentiates them. Both are very flexible. Both are very mature OS's.

Myth: Apple warranty kicks butt over others.
True: How many vendors have actual stores you could walk into, and talk to a tech guy to fix a problem? I've gotten very good quality service twice so far with the Apple gurus.

 

Myth: Buying apple products will turn you into a snobby schmuck.
False: I was a snobby schmuck before I turned to the apple side

Myth: The iphone will attach random naughty pics of yourself to emails of the opposite gender and place them in your sent box.
False: I hope so, but if its true I want to know what kind of bug causes the iphone to take happy snaps of my private moments !
a

 

Myth: Gaming on Mac sucks
Fact: Games for OS X comes later (why people say it sucks), but now bootcamp has allowed us mac users to play games on windows at native speed.

 

^^ heh heh I saw that too.

 

Actually,this soon will change,since apple and EA are investing tons of money into "mac gaming" are.

 

Myth: Unlike Windows, Mac OS X doesn't require maintenance tools like registry cleaners, anti-virus etc.

Fact: It's true.

 

Your taking this out of context. "It just works" doesn't mean everything will work on a Mac, rather it means that things designed to run on a Mac will do so and cause minimal frustration to the user. For example, let's say I want to output video from my MBP to my Sony Bravia TV, something a MBP is meant to do. Under OSX, it is just as simple as connecting both my laptop and the TV with a vga cable and switching the input on the tv to vga. However, on Windows, you have to open control panel, open NVidia's control panel, find the tv out sub tab, run a wizard, make sure you have the right resolution and refresh rate set, etc. Its a much more frustrating process than it would have been under OSX (where I just have to plug in the **** cable, and what do you know, I have a picture!).

 

Truth: Because snobby schmucks like us are attracted to Apple

 

in case u havent see this:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=320668

 

I think this is dependant on who you are and how you process things inside your brain.

I find that a windows vista64 laptop and an Ubuntu workstation "just work"-s best for me, and I can make almost anything work stable. (even Windows ME)

We are different and have dfferent thought processes and different preferences... and honestly, that's how it should be.

The point remains that the concept of a mac "just work"-ing is misleading and worse, encourages a mindset which isn't helpful in overcoming the current weaknesses of the OS.

 

That is funny, I plug my laptop into my TV all the time using Vista 64 and (It Just Works).

 

Well my experience has been different, although I was using Windows XP. Maybe the processed was streamed lined in Vista. Comparing my experiences with OSX vs Windows XP, generally I've found getting things to work less frustrating in OSX than in XP. Also not having to worry about a system registry is also nice.

 

Here's a myth for you:

Where have you seen an Apple user go on a Dell forum a start a "Why Dell Sucks" thread?

 

The ONLY problem I have with the Apple warranty is they dont offer an Accidental damage replacement program. I mean, how easy is it to bang up a MBP (and now even a MB)? We've got 2 MBP's sitting in a cabinet in our office because water was spilled on one, and the screen is cracked on the other. Its shameful that these machine's cost as much as they do, and they dont offer this type of protection (the same protection I can get on a $499 Dell Inspiron)

 

Apple doesn't even tout the "Just Works" logo on their website anymore. However they are advertising the Macintosh properly without ANY misleading advertising. Below I copied this directly from Apple's website. At least they tell the truth so no myth here.


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

A Mac has hundreds of drivers for peripherals preinstalled. Just connect your device and, in most cases, you’re good to go. And a Mac is smart enough to know what to do when you plug in your digital camera: It opens iPhoto and asks if you want to import your recent photos.


There's nothing on Microsoft's website that reveals some of the shortcomings of Windows. Windows Vista is advertised in a misleading manner as to make the buyer feel that it's the "perfect" OS.

 

Windows comes with a huge library of drivers on it too and is about the same. If a manufacturer wants to sell a product it is up to the manufacturer to write a driver and therefore MS does not need to say anything. Not even Apple write all there drivers. One of the bonuses of windows is that after a product is released the manufacturer will release better and optimized drivers over time. Anyhow this was pointless and a little off topic...

 

I was only kidding around.

What I think is a myth as another pointed out, the tablet notebook. There was a patent filed by Apple for it, but I don't think it would come to fruition. I just don't think there's really a market for it, as the market is already crowded as it is. (all my opinion of course ).

 

Your defense for Windows (why you got so defensive I'll never know) has nothing to do with the point was I making. You're missing the point, this is not about drivers. Notice how I put "most cases" in red color. I was stating the fact that Apple's current advertisement about Macs on their website is not misleading, they are letting people know that in most cases it just works.

 

My bad. I have a lot of time at work and like to blog and write stuff. I did not mean anything by it. There are 4 Macs in my house and I am the only one that uses a PC, hehehe. I think both systems are great and both MS and Apple keeps each other on there toes. Long live both.

 

Myth: At least 20% of Apple threads are speculation.

Myth: You can't start an Apple thread that not technical related without having someone saying: Apple rules or the opposite
Fact: True, exept if the thread is well hidden

Myth: OS X is better than Windows
Myth: Windows is better that OS X
Fact: Where is Linux?