Cost of switching to the Apple platform

[OldCorpse]

The whole TCO of Mac vs PC aside, there are definitely costs associated for a PC person to switch to the Mac platform.

What were YOUR costs?

Here were mine:

1) Books (D. Pogue) - $60
2) Software (in general there is way, way less freeware and fewer choices when there is freeware for the Mac ) - $400 so far
3) Additional Hardware and gear (outside of the basic unit - laptop, desktop) - $110

Total switching costs outside of basic computing unit: $570. And now I'm good to go.

NOTE: Some of these costs are ONE time costs (like books), and some of those are optional (I mean, you could pretty much learn what's in those books if you checked stuff out of the library or really googled).

 

[mad jew]

My costs are the same. Instead of paying AU$100 per year on antivirus, I now spend it on iLife. Getting an OSX version of Office was probably the single biggest cost though, apart from the actual machine.

 

[excalibur313]

I think it's also important to add in the costs associated with owning a pc though. With virus protection, spyware, as well as the opportunity cost associated with all the wasted time you spend when stuff doesn't work actually means from an economic standpoint you are saving money by purchasing a mac.

 

[OldCorpse]

I think it's also important to add in the costs associated with owning a pc though. With virus protection, spyware, as well as the opportunity cost associated with all the wasted time you spend when stuff doesn't work actually means from an economic standpoint you are saving money by purchasing a mac.

Oh, no quarrel with that. I'm simply interested in just the raw cost of switching to mac (software you need to acquire, hardware and knicknacks), rather than total cost of ownernsip (TCO, which I assume is about equal bet. mac and pc, or slightly more for pc, who knows).

 

[mad jew]

The basic Mac package is pretty complete (is that even possible), especially in terms of software.

 

[YS2003]

Costs will be damned. I have no regret spending so much money on Macs as it has been a pleasure using them. My Windows machines (Dell and Fujitsu Tablet) are for grunt works such as massive e-mail messages, Word/Excel/PowerPoint files, and note taking. My Macs are for creativity and carefree computing.

I usually make a decision on the platform for particular applications (such as Adobe and Macromedia) so that I don't end up buying the same software for the different OS platform.

 

[kwajaln]

Approximate costs for me . . .
*iMac G5 Rev B: $1800
*iBook G4 1.2gHz: $900
*Office for Mac, DVD Studio Pro 4,
Final Cut Express HD, other software: $500 approx
*Various Books: $100

And most importantly:
*the beauty, efficiency, ease of use, capabilities, etc of the Apple platform:
PRICELESS!!!
(or at least worth a lot more than what it cost me to switch)

 

[nutmac]

For most users, Microsoft Office is the only application one would need to buy. Most Macs come with Mac OS X, iLife, and Quicken, which combined with many quality freeware applications, more or less complete general user's needs.

For pro users, things can get much more expensive (e.g., Adobe Creative Suite), however.

 

[GfPQqmcRKUvP]

For most users, Microsoft Office is the only application one would need to buy. Most Macs come with Mac OS X, iLife, and Quicken, which combined with many quality freeware applications, more or less complete general user's needs.

For pro users, things can get much more expensive (e.g., Adobe Creative Suite), however.

Will Microsoft Office be Universal Binary or not?

 

[zap2]

iMac G5-1900 when i had 1Gb RAM added, and AP


but how much i have spent on my Mac 'liv'e is much more

 

[kiwi-in-uk]

ZERO extra.
When I was buying Windows laptops I would buy MS Office Pro with each new laptop. That's what I did when I bought the PB.

However, since I bought the PB I have become much more interested using it for play (much more than I ever did with Windows laptops), so have loaded it up with Comiclife, Rapidweaver, disclabel, iWork, and Motion.

 

[portent]

Some companies will sell you a much cheaper "crossgrade" to the Mac version if you already own a current Windows version. (Of course, they don't advertise this, so you may have to call the company's sales line. This involves using an archaic device called a "Telephone.") They may insist that you destroy the CDs.

 

[mduser63]

2) Software (in general there is way, way less freeware and fewer choices when there is freeware for the Mac ) - $400 so far

I don't know about this one. It's obviously true that by shear numbers, there is less freeware available for the Mac. However, my experience has been that the average quality of freeware on the Mac is much higher than on Windows. On Windows, you download five of the same type of freeware app, and find that maybe one of them was even worth the time it took to download. On the Mac, there may only be one or two options available, but they're often both very good.

My cost to switch ~ $300. I (re)bought Macromedia Studio and Office for Mac (student discounts). The other money I spent was on software that I never had on Windows. Also, I've made more money with both of my Macs than I ever did with my Windows machines, and I'm absolutely 100% pleased with the switch. At this point, switching back to Windows would cost me a LOT more than switching to the Mac did.

 

[uicandrew]

luckily, i bought my mac mini used as a whole bundle.

office, toast, books, and even some old macworld magazines, mouse, keyboard, imic were all included. all i needed was a monitor.

but the best money i spent was on a piece of software called outlook to mac. it got my email to Mail.app

 

[wako]

I think it's also important to add in the costs associated with owning a pc though. With virus protection, spyware, as well as the opportunity cost associated with all the wasted time you spend when stuff doesn't work actually means from an economic standpoint you are saving money by purchasing a mac.

I never spent a dollar for virus protection, spyware protection, ever. And I been using a PC for 11 years now.

 

[FFTT]

Upgrading any system regardless of platform always presents the user
with a few extras they weren't counting on.

Imagine what corporate IT will have to spend upgrading to Vista.
With Microsoft's TCM modules many users will be forced to completely
replace most of their current application software along with the extra
cost of faster systems reqiured to run Vista and the expense of downtime
and security issues.

To me it was not so much the cost of buying a new system, but the cost of
all the other gear needed for multi-track audio applications.

I upgraded from my 1998 300 MHz G3 beige mini-tower

It all adds up rather quickly.

G5 dual 2.0 (8DIMM) $1599.00 (after rebate)
Dell 2405 24" display $800 (edu)

ProTools M-Powered $299.00
M-Audio ProjectMix I/O $999.99
Audio Technica AT4050 $399.00 ( ebay )
DAV BG-1 mic pre $690.00
Assorted cables $100.00+

I still need instrument library plugins and so much more stuff!

 

[kwajaln]

I never spent a dollar for virus protection, spyware protection, ever. And I been using a PC for 11 years now.

Congratulations. So why are you here, on an APPLE forum?

 

[Verto]

Congratulations. So why are you here, on an APPLE forum?

Yeah, since owning an Apple and owning a Windows PC are mutually exclusive things.

And I'm in the same boat, I never had to spend a dime on antivirus/etc for my PC - nobody does, except for the not-so-informed consumer who just buys what the salesperson tells him to.

 

[nutmac]

Will Microsoft Office be Universal Binary or not?

According to Microsoft, Office 2006 will be Universal Binary.

 

[MRU]

According to Microsoft, Office 2006 will be Universal Binary.

Office 2004 works fine with Rosetta. It will be interesting to see if Microsoft offer new mac users buying Office 2004 a free ugrade to 2006? I can't imagine it's that far away from release...

Software prices vary and if you can't afford Office you could try iWork 06.. Though it doesn't come with a spreadsheet, somthing I thought they would introduce in 2006 version..

I try and buy all my software with an education discount, it makes a considerable saving all round..

 

[jacg]

ZERO extra.
However, since I bought the PB I have become much more interested using it for play (much more than I ever did with Windows laptops), so have loaded it up with Comiclife, Rapidweaver, disclabel, iWork, and Motion.

ComicLife - what a great app. Crazily unique, yet like so many Mac shareware
applications (that follow the style guidelines) I could find my way around it straight away. It is amazing how many shareware apps behave exactly how you expect after using iLife and iWork. Good job, Apple and good job, developers!

Ooops... off topic.? No, I think not. This 'feature' of Mac ownership saves me time and allows me to enjoy the creative side. That is worth tons.

Unfortunately not all Mac software is so familiar and intuitive. Office 2004? Filemaker Pro? Read Iris Pro? Is it arrogance or ineptitude?

 

[sk1985]

Why do you really care about the additional cost? If you want to own a mac just buy one. If you don't want to spend the extra cash just stick with your windows pc. It's plain and simple.

 

[Eidorian]

$40 on Battlefield 1942 for the Mac

America's Army, FreeSpace 2, and Homeworld 1 are all free and GREAT games.

 

[Daveman Deluxe]

2) Software (in general there is way, way less freeware and fewer choices when there is freeware for the Mac ) - $400 so far

I'm going to have to disagree with this statement. As near as I can tell, Mac OS X has a MUCH healthier independent developer community than Windows does. I have bought two pieces of big commercial software (other than games) for a Mac: Microsoft Office and Photoshop Elements. All of my other software needs are met either by included, freeware, shareware, or open-source apps. You might try checking out http://www.opensourcemac.org or http://www.macupdate.com

 

[mduser63]

I'm going to have to disagree with this statement. As near as I can tell, Mac OS X has a MUCH healthier independent developer community than Windows does. I have bought two pieces of big commercial software (other than games) for a Mac: Microsoft Office and Photoshop Elements. All of my other software needs are met either by included, freeware, shareware, or open-source apps. You might try checking out http://www.opensourcemac.org or http://www.macupdate.com

I wholeheartedly agree. I've bought several software packages for my Mac, but all of them are things that are not free on Windows either (Adobe CS2, Macromedia Studio, MS Office, MATLAB). Otherwise, just about everything I use is freeware, with a little bit of inexpensive shareware. To be honest, when I was a Windows user I didn't buy that much software either, but that was not so much because there was plenty of free stuff available as it was because I was afraid to install too much for fear of messing things up (which did happen a few times).