Really, Apple?

I'll not hide the fact that I despise Apple. I despise their nature to litigate instead of innovate.


That said, as an aspiring mobile developer, I embrace anything that will potentially make me money. This includes iOS. I am at the point though that I need to purchase a Mac to be able to do so. The reason? Apple refuses to allow XCode or the iOS SDK run on anything but OS X. I have two perfectly fine development machines here but because they aren't Macs, I can't build iOS apps.

So, I took a look at putting together something that would be the equivalent of my current setup that cost me 1000 (300 of that was in monitors) dollars two years ago.


My requirements?

a fast Core i7
16GB of ram
fast 1TB hard drive
multiple monitors
keyboard
mouse


I figured I would price out a Mac Mini to meet my needs and use my current monitors. Big mistake. After configuring it to be similar to my current system, it was over 1600 bucks! For a Mac Mini and a couple of display adapters! Not even an extended warranty.

This is ridiculous. OS X is nice, but its not that nice. I can get similar looks and performance from GNU/Linux without having to purchase hardware. They aren't upgradeable due to their soldering of parts in. They use the same internals as any other midrange PC (sans the soldered crap) while charging an over the top premium that makes high-end Windows machines look inexpensive.

So annoying.


Yeah, I can go hackintosh, but I refuse to pirate the OS, and I refuse to buy it knowing that it will be a nitemare to keep it updated/working right.



All Apple has to do is allow the iOS SDK to run on other platforms. I don't care if it is Windows or GNU/Linux, but allow SOMETHING.



There is a reason Apple is the most profitable company out there. They screw people over.

 

It is frustrating. The only way I can learn to build iOS apps is to have a Mac. Which means I won't see any return on my investment for at least 6 months to a year, if not longer.

I don't want OS X. I don't want a Mac. I just want to be able to develop iOS apps. 1600 dollars for their budget machine...I can build a beast of a machine for GNU/Linux or Windows at that price...

 

Yeah...and ALL of their machines (sans the 2.4k+ Mac Pro) have the memory soldered in. So you can no longer buy it aftermarket. You are forced to pay the Apple tax on extra ram and it blows the price way out of proportion.

RAM is a big one. You cannot skimp on RAM with OS X.

 

Yeah, I am considering used.

I just like the safety of extended warranties. I looked at Apple's refurbs. My lord, they really gouge you on those.

 

Certain stores that sell Apple refurb/off-lease units (such as MicroCenter) offer a two year extended warranty option.

I've also seen banner ads on eBay promoting sellers that sell refurb Apple products with a full one-year warranty; however I haven't clicked on them for details (I too hate Apple and have no use for one).

Hope this helps.

 

And to think that Microsoft was sued because they bundled Internet Explorer with the OS. How Apple can get away with all of this proprietary stuff is beyond me, apparently the law applies to MS but not Apple.

 

I have seen older mac laptops with very shitty specs, i mean we are talking 233 original clamshell ibook run osx 10.4 with no issues once i added extra memory to bring the clamshell to 256 of ram. It ran well for browsing and internet and word processing. Can you say the same for a p1 233 running a current os? ie vista or seven? Apple can resell stuff for such a high price, because people are willing to pay it, maybe not you, but for final cut and my video editing i love the shit out of my mac, and yes, i paid more money for less hardware then i had i gone windows/pc, but frankly i have no issues ever with my mac, and final cut. My buddy Nick decided he wanted to learn IOS apps and had the same path, bought the basic mac mini, and already had the keyboard/mouse and stuff. Bought the little apple dev kit thats an additional 100 bucks or so, and he has programmed a couple apps with out too much trouble. I know you want the faster stuff, but could you not buy the cheap one, and give it a few years, as if you need better or more hardware, apple stuff does hold its resell value

 

They don't have majority market share. Until they do, they can get away with nonsense.

 

Ever developed for Android? No? Ok then.

16GB of ram is recommended to compile Android and I don't want multiple desktops strewn across the house.

I have a 10.4 G4-667 Powerbook in the closet that came with 256MB of RAM. It ran like garbage. 512MB was only slightly better.


I found its performance startling poor. If you found a 233mhz laptop acceptable on 10.4, then you and I have a very different opinion of acceptable performance.

Look at system requirements for current versions.

10.8: 2GB of RAM.

Windows 8: 1GB of RAM.

Also your example is very biased. 10.4 released in 2005. The most current OS at that time was Windows XP:

The minimum hardware requirements for Windows XP Home Edition are:
Pentium 233-megahertz (MHz) processor or faster (300 MHz is recommended)
At least 64 megabytes (MB) of RAM (128 MB is recommended)
At least 1.5 gigabytes (GB) of available space on the hard disk
CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive
Keyboard and a Microsoft Mouse or some other compatible pointing device
Video adapter and monitor with Super VGA (800 x 600)or higher resolution
Sound card
Speakers or headphones

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314865?wa=wsignin1.0


Compare to 10.4:

To use Mac OS X v10.4, your Macintosh needs:

A PowerPC G3, G4, or G5 processor
Built-in FireWire
At least 256 MB of RAM
DVD drive (DVD-ROM), Combo (CD-RW/DVD-ROM) or SuperDrive (DVD-R) for installation
At least 3 GB of free disk space; 4 GB if you install the XCode 2 Developer Tools

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1514


OS X traditionally requires twice as much RAM as Windows machines, and FOUR times as much as GNU/Linux.

OS X is a pig when it comes to RAM.

 

I know it sounds weird, but osx on low end hardware back then felt better then xp did on similar low end stuff. Just my observation.

 

Fair enough. It still doesn't provide a solution or excuse for the Mac Tax. I can just as easily be happy with GNU/Linux. Sadly, that doesn't solve my problem either. I don't care about Windows. I have Windows 8 for WP8 stuff. Otherwise, I would rather use GNU/Linux.

 

Why do I feel like this should go in the "this annoys me"-thread?

Though I do agree with Adryn on every point about Apple. They are as profitable and successful as they are simply because their loyal followers really don't know better, and the ones that do are still too committed to the noble cause to ever leave. As Laura said, the problem is not the product itself, it is the company's attitude and their business practices. And their marketing practices and the obvious hubris that permeates everything they do.

After all, you don't actually need an optical drive in a modern computer, do you? rolleyes

Anytime a computer company deliberately tries to keep its customers ignorant, beware.

 

Agreed. On principle I dislike proprietary software. Having said that it is easy for me to maintain my teenager's MBP and my wife's Win 7 box. My daughter prefers a Mac for her digital art and my wife needs Power Point and Excel for her job.
For me it will always be Gnu/Linux all the way.

 

Oh man! Don't even get me started that on the Optical drive!

It is 79 bucks extra!!!

Luckily I have an external BD Burner, but thats not the point.

 

I'm looking at maybe virtualizing it. It runs like poo, but....

 

the one that always killed me @ work.....want an iPhone? Want to sync contacts with Outlook? Back-up your phone data? You must install iTunes on your PC!! (or work PC since I supported all cell phones for the company). To me that borders on insane........iTunes for a ^&*(* phone??? Not sure it's still like that but it was a few years ago.

 

Last I heard, it still was.

I'm only a handful of classes away from completing a Graphic Design Degree. People keep telling me I should get a Mac. I keep explaining that I'm no where near rich enough to afford even an Apple Sticker to put on the outside of the box.

Besides, there aren't anywhere near the games on Mac as there are on Windows.

 

Especially since Windows machines are on equal ground now with multimedia capability. Its all about software now. If its on a Windows platform, then Apple is redundant, overpriced, and unnecessary.

That whole "Macs are better for multimedia" stems back from the PPC days. You know, back when the air was clean and sex was dirty? Now its all about Intel CPUs, the air is dirty, and sex is clean.

 

This is such awesome signature material....! :-D

 

...and here I am needing one for development on iOS. Completely ridiculous. You would think that Apple would be a little more giving to the other platforms considering:

1. OS X runs off open source BSD. If it was closed source, they would have been screwed. Yet...no BSD OR GNU/Linux software support for SDK.
2. Microsoft saved Apple from bankruptcy years back. You would think that they would allows their SDK to run on Windows.