Sorry Dell, Holiday Shoppers Want a Mac

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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Research firm Parks Associates has announced a bit of a shocker in retail circles recently with its findings on consumer trends this year. Apple has taken over the coveted first place slot as the brand consumers intend to purchase this holiday season.

"Being the 'preferred' brand is certainly an advantage, but consumers can still change their minds."
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I don't know anyone that wants a Mac. What they want are iPhones and iPads, no Macs, and the few people I've talked to that switched end up frustrated and ask me to put Windows 7 on there for them.

Although Microsoft certainly hasn't increased consumer demand with Windows 8, and most people I talk to have no idea what windows 8.1 is or how its different.
 
Sigh...Apple articles are usually written by Apple fans who often have difficulty choosing among light bulbs. Apple doesn't make either a game console or a flat-screen TV (why are those items mentioned? I guess the author just assumes Apple makes these things, too.) Globally, Samsung clobbers Apple in the smart-phone business and the only way Apple can hold its own in the US is by getting Obama to ban some Samsung phones in the US....;) The Mac *still* accounts for ~5% of the consumer desktops sold in the world--but notice that the author actually cannot decide between "Apple electronics" and the "Mac" so they are conveniently commingled.

Worst of all is that this entire article is predicated on future predictions instead of hindsight realities. The only thing the article gets right is that people usually and often do not end up buying what they say they will be buying. IE, the article itself should never have been written because it's meaningless...;) But, hey--it's *Apple* they're talking about, so it's par for the course.
 
Yeah, but the average shopper on Black Friday is a fucking moron.

As evidenced by all the fights, pushy grabfests, knifings, and even stun-gunnings.

So what do idiots want? Macs? Okay, just give the mental defectives their useless crap and the rest of us can continue to ignore them and their irrelevancies.
 
Ducman69 said:
Although Microsoft certainly hasn't increased consumer demand with Windows 8, and most people I talk to have no idea what windows 8.1 is or how its different.
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Dell seems to have a bit of a hit on its hands with it's 8" Windows 8.1 tablet, the Venue 8 Pro. That thing has been on sale for some crazy low prices, a number forum members here have picked one up the feedback has been very positive.

It's this kind of hardware that makes Windows 8 make sense, it's a mini-PC when you need flexibility beyond a mobile OS tablet but works like a mobile OS otherwise. With the solid performance of Bay Trail and good cheap devices like this I think Windows 8 will start to see some traction in 2014 as XP goes away and people look towards moving to 7 and 8. Though most businesses will move to 7, some will go to 8 especially as they need new hardware and the pricing on some of this Windows 8 hardware will be very compelling.
 
I understand this. Apple has huge mainstream popularity among people who don't know much about computers.

I certainly would take a Dell Latitude enterprise class notebook over anything Apple offers, even if they were the same price, and so would most of my geek friends like me, but my girlfriend and all the non-tech savvy people in my family? They'd much rather have Apple products, because they have this perception of being "better".

It's really nothing but savvy industrial design and brilliant marketing (smoke and mirrors) but unfortunately people are sheep, and it works...
 
Zarathustra[H];1040446012 said:
I understand this. Apple has huge mainstream popularity among people who don't know much about computers.

I certainly would take a Dell Latitude enterprise class notebook over anything Apple offers, even if they were the same price, and so would most of my geek friends like me, but my girlfriend and all the non-tech savvy people in my family? They'd much rather have Apple products, because they have this perception of being "better".

It's really nothing but savvy industrial design and brilliant marketing (smoke and mirrors) but unfortunately people are sheep, and it works...
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That being said, I should add that Dell's sub $1000 "home" models I wouldn't touch with a 12 ft pole. They are terrible. But I guess you get what you pay for.

The enterprise level models are brilliant. My Latitude E6430 is an awesome laptop. If it only came equipped with a better GPU than the Nvidia NVS 5200m, it might just be the perfect laptop for me...
 
I hate anything dell that isn't enterprise based. Even them I would rather have an hp elitebook. Went back for my masters this year and holy crap everyone and their mothers have mac book pros. All of my engineering professors have them as well. The rest have some form of a tablet with digitizer.
 
Mac's are fashion accessories. My Lenovo is more powerful than anything Apple puts out, but the reality is that I look a little out of place at the local Starbucks.
 
I took the bait on the first-generation RMBP when it came out. It was a solid machine, but I don't see myself getting another Mac ever again.
 
Want and Can afford are two entirely different things.

I "Wanted" a Ferrari, I bought a nissan rogue.
 
I'd say 2/3 of people I deal with are using Macs, or switching over to Macs. So yeah, I'm seeing a huge shift in general.
 
I bought a retina MacBook Pro 13 inch for my wife. I just assumed she would hate learning a new Windows 8 interface, so I said to myself "Why not just change OS's?" She already uses an iphone, and I thought the screen, keyboard, and touchpad (the three things most important in a laptop) were the best combo in the industry.

Every time I turn on the TV, every single laptop I see is a Mac laptop being used either in commercials, TV shows, or in the background of news broadcasts.
 
Yakk said:
I'd say 2/3 of people I deal with are using Macs, or switching over to Macs. So yeah, I'm seeing a huge shift in general.
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Overall there is no trend. Mac sales the last year have slipped percentage wise as much as PCs. PCs still outsell Macs still over 15 to 1 and there's been no significant uptick in market share from the major internet usage counters.
 
Did not bother reading the article. But I know of many people who want an Apple computer (just because) yet they end up buying $500-600 laptops at Costco/Best Buy when on sale because they can't afford or don't want to spend $800+ on a laptop.
 
"planned holiday purchases", which doesn't require opening a wallet in the face of desktops and laptops which start at much cheaper prices. (hint: lower prices generally win.) I guess the Dell thing was just an example of how advertising works since several other manufacturers have topped Dell a while ago. Dell wasn't going to "win" this holiday season anyways. HP will most likely take that honor in desktop and laptop sales, at least going by the number of models the company has available at retailers this season.
 
I figured I knew this was a click bait title but it was really close to what the article was really about.

Great, a company did some research and found out that most people WANT to buy a Mac over a Dell. Whoopy! Most people want to buy a Mercedes over a Ford and most people want a house in a nice neighborhood over the slums.

There wasn't anything tangible in this article other then "duh?"
 
Zarathustra[H];1040446012 said:
I understand this. Apple has huge mainstream popularity among people who don't know much about computers.

I certainly would take a Dell Latitude enterprise class notebook over anything Apple offers, even if they were the same price, and so would most of my geek friends like me, but my girlfriend and all the non-tech savvy people in my family? They'd much rather have Apple products, because they have this perception of being "better".

It's really nothing but savvy industrial design and brilliant marketing (smoke and mirrors) but unfortunately people are sheep, and it works...
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I have to say apple does make a solid notebook. My main notebook is a 3rd gen i7 macbook pro 13. Personally I wouldn't buy another now though with the lack up upgradable memory, glued in battery, etc.

The latitude line for dell, probook and elitebook for hp, and panasonic toughbooks are the main notebooks I'd recommend.
 
heatlesssun said:
Overall there is no trend. Mac sales the last year have slipped percentage wise as much as PCs. PCs still outsell Macs still over 15 to 1 and there's been no significant uptick in market share from the major internet usage counters.
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That's fine I'm not arguing that. All I'm saying is right now for me most people want Macs. I don't necessarily like it, but I'm stuck with it.
 
Yakk said:
That's fine I'm not arguing that. All I'm saying is right now for me most people want Macs. I don't necessarily like it, but I'm stuck with it.
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They may want Macs but they are not buying many of them.
 
I'd happily take a Mac, but not at retail prices or even what people think they're worth second hand and a few years old. Now that Apple notebook batteries are a huge pain to replace, even getting one used is sorta meh. I do like Dell's business class stuff though. The Latitudes and Optiplexes have been pretty decent for the past maybe seven or so years, but I've been pretty unimpressed with their home computers. I do think the Windows 8/8.1 train wreck has a lot to do with people wanting something that doesn't have a current Microsoft OS on it.

Whatever though, I don't care what someone else buys with their own money.
 
Chas said:
As evidenced by all the fights, pushy grabfests, knifings, and even stun-gunnings.
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Got a link? We don't have a black friday sale here, but i find it hard to believe people are actually electrocuting each other over coffee makers :confused:

I suppose next year they'll be bringing AR15's? :D
 
The consumer is always retarded.

To them Mac = iPad, iPhone.

The people that buy $400 PC's, don't just turn around and buy $1200 Mac's.
They SAY they do, but they don't. The #'s don't lie, but their lips sure do.
 
Sly said:
Got a link? We don't have a black friday sale here, but i find it hard to believe people are actually electrocuting each other over coffee makers :confused:

I suppose next year they'll be bringing AR15's? :D
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Google "Porter Ranch pepper spray"
 
My wife bought a 13" refurb Haswell macbook air in November. It's light, pretty, has a dang good ssd and trackpad, and the battery lasts for ages. Not bad for $1k in the laptop department imo.
 
I WANT a 70" 1080p lcd tv instead of a 24" 1080p lcd monitor for my pc but I got the 24".
I would rather have a Klipsch 1000 watt 5.1 surround sound speaker setup for my pc but I have Bose 2.1 instead.
I'd rather have a Tesla Model S but I've got a Suburban instead.
Need I continue?
 
Now if only the details of this survey/study wasn't hidden behind a $5,000 price tag to actually read their process and procedure.

Regardless, it's not very surprising. Apple's refresh cycle for their products generally precedes the holidays, so most people wait until the holidays (and holiday discounts) to buy new Apple products. Most PC or non-Apple hardware (tablets, phones, etc.) is on a much faster refresh cycle with new devices consistently available before the holidays, not as many people wait until the holidays to buy them, so holiday purchases are understandably-biased toward Apple hardware for those factors. Not like this is anything new.

Though as PCmag went on to say, these predictions haven't always been very accurate in the past.
 
heatlesssun said:
For scientific, technical and artistic disciplines, pen input would seem to be a must or at least highly desirable.
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went back for my engineering degree this year and picked up the surface pro 2 for exactly this reason. It is perfect. I can hook up measurement and automation instruments, run labview, and take detailed notes with the stylus. Best decision I've made in a while my iPad 3 and android tablet are just gathering dust.
 
Yakk said:
I'd say 2/3 of people I deal with are using Macs, or switching over to Macs. So yeah, I'm seeing a huge shift in general.
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Same here. Most of the people I work with (we all get work laptops) want a Mac and you can see the difference in frustration- PC folks who didn't know enough to request a Mac are pulling their hair out, meanwhile Mac folks don't know what the fuss is all about.
If a family member or friend asks me what laptop to buy (knowing they will require my help to set it up and rectify problems), I say get a Mac even though I use Linux.
 
aquabusa said:
Same here. Most of the people I work with (we all get work laptops) want a Mac and you can see the difference in frustration- PC folks who didn't know enough to request a Mac are pulling their hair out, meanwhile Mac folks don't know what the fuss is all about.
If a family member or friend asks me what laptop to buy (knowing they will require my help to set it up and rectify problems), I say get a Mac even though I use Linux.
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The funny thing is the majority of the so called power users that confine themselves to one OS (usually Windows) Wouldn't be able to navigate via Terminal or console even if their life was at stake. Even if you go OSX, you still have the option of going Windows on a separate partition. Not the other way around if you were to choose a Windows based laptop (under normal circumstances)
 
SilverSliver said:
I would take a Yoga 2 Pro over anything Apple makes at this point.
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i have a MBA 13" but wife really liked the ultrabook style and wanted something for christmas. I took a LONG hard look at the haswell MBA 13" and its ridiculously long battery life, but opted for the Yoga 2 pro 13" for her even tho it gets about 4 hrs less battery. And honestly, i enjoy my MBA a ton, but i know ima be jelly as hell when im watching her play with the new Yoga 2 pro on xmas.
 
4saken said:
i have a MBA 13" but wife really liked the ultrabook style and wanted something for christmas. I took a LONG hard look at the haswell MBA 13" and its ridiculously long battery life, but opted for the Yoga 2 pro 13" for her even tho it gets about 4 hrs less battery. And honestly, i enjoy my MBA a ton, but i know ima be jelly as hell when im watching her play with the new Yoga 2 pro on xmas.
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For all of Apple's retina display prowess, the MBAs haven't received that love just yet. The Yoga 2 Pro is driving 4 times the pixels of the MBA 13 in almost the same weight along with a convertible touch screen, so the battery life difference is a tradeoff.
 
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