From: mike_steiner@qm.claris.com (Mike Steiner)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Re: Macs cost too much (NOT!)
Date: 24 Jul 92 21:01:49 GMT

In article <1992Jul24.131236.4307@nsisrv.gsfc.nasa.gov>, smoon@strfleet.gsfc.nasa.gov (Sang J. Moon) writes:

> I'm happy that you never encountered a need to reinstall System 7, but that
> does not mean someone else did not have to.  I am pretty sure that I am
> not the only one who has had to reinstall system 7 several times if the
> many problem articles I see in the comp.sys.mac hierarchy are legit.  It
> may be that my mac is more subject to problems because I do far more than
> just plug and run software.
> 
> > You also snuck a lie in sideways.  You talk about reinstalling the
> > system and rebuilding the desktop together, as if these are both 
> > jobs of equivalent complexity.  In fact, all you have to do to
> > rebuild the desktop is to hold down a modifier key during startup.
> > Pretty hard, isn't it?
> 
> You have never rebuilt your desktop in system 7 so you don't know
> what you are talking about.  As far as I know, there is no modifier
> key you can hold down in System 7 to rebuild the desktop.  I received
> an extension from someone which allows me to automatically delete
> the desktop FILE on startup.  Since you have never rebuilt a desktop
> file, you do not know how long it takes.  I have 75MB of stuff, and
> it definitely takes a very long time for it to finish.  If you really
> want it, I'll even time it for you.

You must be about the only person on this newsgroup who doesn't know
that to rebuild the desktop, all you need to do is hold down the
command and option keys when you boot the computer.  As soon as the
Finder runs (right after the Inits load), you'll get an alert asking
you to confirm that you want to rebuild the desktop.  BTW, I have about
70 megs on my 76 meg hard drive, and rebuilding the desktop takes only
a few minutes (like one or two).


> > Except that your claim was not that you can't afford a Mac because
> > you don't have enough money.  It was that if you had enough money
> > to afford a Mac, you could get a better PC for the same price.
> 
> No.  My claim has always been that Macintosh cost too much, and I can get
> (and have gotten) an equivalent PC based system to do the same work I do
> on a mac at a significantly lower price.  You have been pushing extras
> that the mac gives like ADB, stereo sound, etc. which I admit are nice to
> have but are meaningless at the price Apple charges.  The macintosh is a
> nicer machine than the PC, but is it worth 2 to 3 times the price of a
> corresponding PC?  In my opinion, no.  But you've got yours, and having
> a larger wallet helps support your opinions.

yes, the Mac is worth 2 to 3 times the price of a corresponding PC (If it
indeed costs that much), because it will save much more than that in labor
costs during the life of the computers.  This has nothing to do with the
sound input our output, ADB, or anything that is hardware related.  It is
simply bottom-line dollars and cents; over the life of the machines, the
Mac will save much more money in labor costs than the difference in the
prices of the computers.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc