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Stop her buying a mac book pro?

uvula said:
Less "intelligent", or less "obsessed"?

And I guess the best way to educate her would be to steer her towards something "cute", and chalk it up to "awww, she won't know the difference anyway," rather than actually sitting down and going over the variables, thereby allowing her to make an intelligent decision for herself.

I continue to be boggled by this thread.
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He he, you are correct and you brought up very good points. Its not right but I stand behind by explanation.

It is so obvious that the right thing to do at the moment is to wait (at least till april 1st) and see what the new ibook situation is unless there is a specific purpose for a MBP.

That goes for anyone buying a notebook.
 
sintaxi said:
Because girls are generally less intelligent when it come to technical purchases and are notorious for purchasing things just for accessory reasons.

There, I said it.
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OK, that's uncalled for. Whether you say this in ignorance or are just plain insensitive, you're wrong. And who care anyways...its a woman's choice to spend her money on what she wants, regardless of anyone else.
 
uvula said:
Less "intelligent", or less "obsessed"?
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Exactly.

Uvula, you're first thread did an excellent job cataloging several examples of mac discussion that were not based on intellect, but rather emotions. Other examples include:

- I need a MBP!!
- Buy the the Apple Cinema Display, it may be the same as a Dell and more expensive, but the case looks better!
- The widgets design theme is so awesome/crappy!

I can't speak for others, so I'll speak for myself. I'm a man and fairly mac-obsessed. When it was time to buy a laptop I AGONIZED for several months debating between macs and wintels. After that I AGONIZED for several more weeks on how long to wait for the next best thing to arrive. When I finally got one, I realized how silly all that obsession was and finally just used (and enjoyed) the computer.

When it was time for my wife to buy a computer, she bought a computer, started using it, and never looked back.

Now which of us was the more emotional one and which one went about this is a more intelligent way? :)
 
I am happy you guys slammed me for my post. let me tell you a story.

Just before christmas at girl in my school (graphic design) was going to buy her first computer and she had her heart set on a maxed out 14" iBook. For graphic design!!?? We use photoshop daily, final cut pro, after effects ect. I couldnt let her do it. I explained to her that doing this kind of work on an iBook would be a nightmare, the 40gig HD would last her a couple months tops, and would be a terrible purchase.

I recomended the iMac (isight G5 just came out) and I told her that it would be best for her to throw in am extra gig or ram. Well she was wise and took my advice and now for the same price she has a relatively good workstation with a 20" screen tons of resolution, 1.5 gig RAM and a masive HD compared to the iBook. She is very greatful she listened too me. She loves her iMac.

When I asked her why she wanted the iBook her actual answer was "they just look so cool, it would be fun to be able to take it everywhere"
 
sintaxi said:
I am happy you guys slammed me for my post. let me tell you a story.

Just before christmas at girl in my school (graphic design) was going to buy her first computer and she had her heart set on a maxed out 14" iBook. For graphic design!!?? We use photoshop daily, final cut pro, after effects ect. I couldnt let her do it. I explained to her that doing this kind of work on an iBook would be a nightmare, the 40gig HD would last her a couple months tops, and would be a terrible purchase.

I recomended the iMac (isight G5 just came out) and I told her that it would be best for her to throw in am extra gig or ram. Well she was wise and took my advice and now for the same price she has a relatively good workstation with a 20" screen tons of resolution, 1.5 gig RAM and a masive HD compared to the iBook. She is very greatful she listened too me. She loves her iMac.

When I asked her why she wanted the iBook her actual answer was "they just look so cool, it would be fun to be able to take it everywhere"
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I know many women in the IT field who are competent enough to know what they want and need regarding computer equipment. I also know guys who fit the description you posted above.

My wife bought her own laptop without me actively assisting and being physically present at purchase time (she did ask me questions over the phone, though). She bought an HP 2.8GHz 17" laptop to do her work on. She works with spreadsheets and dabbles with digital pictures. She made her own decision based on feedback from me and she happened to make a good purchase. She's not lacking just because she didn't follow my advice or didn't ask the questions a typical (male) geek would ask.

It all comes to how experienced each individual is. On the whole, I'd say that many people do know what they want in a laptop or desktop. There ARE people, men and women, who DO know, though. To generalize a whole population based on one instance of ignorance is ignorance itself. So, one lady wants an iBook because it "looks so cool". You educated her. Now she knows a little more about how to purchase a computer. You did well, but please don't generalize. One instance of one lady wanting to purchase something for reasons you don't agree with doesn't mean women as a whole are "less intelligent".
 
unixfool said:
I know many women in the IT field who are competent enough to know what they want and need regarding computer equipment. I also know guys who fit the description you posted above.

My wife bought her own laptop without me actively assisting and being physically present at purchase time (she did ask me questions over the phone, though). She bought an HP 2.8GHz 17" laptop to do her work on. She works with spreadsheets and dabbles with digital pictures. She made her own decision based on feedback from me and she happened to make a good purchase. She's not lacking just because she didn't follow my advice or didn't ask the questions a typical (male) geek would ask.

It all comes to how experienced each individual is. On the whole, I'd say that many people do know what they want in a laptop or desktop. There ARE people, men and women, who DO know, though. To generalize a whole population based on one instance of ignorance is ignorance itself. So, one lady wants an iBook because it "looks so cool". You educated her. Now she knows a little more about how to purchase a computer. You did well, but please don't generalize. One instance of one lady wanting to purchase something for reasons you don't agree with doesn't mean women as a whole are "less intelligent".
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I should have made it clear I was generalizing. The truth is many people out there puchase the computers that dont best meet their needs and pocketbook. I see it with all sorts of people. Everyone does it even myself, get so blinded by one feature that you ignore what is best for you.

Peace;)
 
Wow, this really took off, and I would have loved to have been able to comment throughout, (I only have internet at work at the moment), I do however have a few things to say…

Let me firstly say that I really enjoyed uvula’s insightful post, however I do wish to make clear that at no point did I want to have control over my girlfriends purchase, my point was to try to make sure that her decision was an educated one. My concern was that, after seeing how great my rev D powerbook was, she would rush out and buy a rev A macbook, which could potentially have issues. I didn’t want her to buy something, have to take it back, and then be turned away form the platform!

Secondly, the news…

Later on Friday I received a phone call from her saying that she had just gone out and bought it, and was now waiting for it to charge and was ”stroking it”. This was kind of sudden, but great news, and let me say that she is extremely happy with her macbook pro! In the end she just waked into the apple store, and bought the higher spec’d stock macbook. This makes me wonder three things…

1. how fast (being the top model) is that thing going to be?!!!! (I haven’t see it yet, but she tells me everything is “instant”)

2. how come she could just walk in and buy one, when so many people here are complaining about having to wait for ages (i thought there were waiting lists?)!!!

3. is this the best way to buy things? I deliberated for months about my purchase. In the end it was perfect, but she seems to have reached the same computing nirvana without any thought whatsoever, it is true that she would never have considered macintosh if it wasn’t for my computer (infact she had shock horror said some quite derogatory things about the platform! Based on using OS 9) but she still managed to just go out, buy it, and be happy with it - something that seems to be impossible for most people here (including myself) to do. I therefore concur with discoforce upon the question:

Now which of us was the more emotional one and which one went about this is a more intelligent way?

Thirdly (and lastly)…

Yes, my powerbook is on my floor! But it is in keeping with the uber minimalistic theme of the room in which it resides. There have been no accidents yet, but who knows? Maybe I’ll HAVE to buy a macbook pro soon!!!!!!!!

(I jest I jest, the last thing I need is to jinx myself!)
 
Congrats to her for her MacBook purchase. I'm sure she'll be happy. I gotta say, some of my best purchases are always the ones that are done on the fly. Whenever I agonize over something I always end up making the wrong choice.
 
student_trap said:
3. is this the best way to buy things? I deliberated for months about my purchase. In the end it was perfect, but she seems to have reached the same computing nirvana without any thought whatsoever, it is true that she would never have considered macintosh if it wasn’t for my computer (infact she had shock horror said some quite derogatory things about the platform! Based on using OS 9) but she still managed to just go out, buy it, and be happy with it - something that seems to be impossible for most people here (including myself) to do. I therefore concur with discoforce upon the question:

Now which of us was the more emotional one and which one went about this is a more intelligent way?
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Sounds like you asked and answered this one. :) Personally, my wife has been patiently trying to teach me that when careful research becomes agonizing obsession - it's time to go walk the dog and remember what's important.

"impossible for most people here" ? Yup! It does take a special sort to want to a rumors website for purchase decisions. Not saying it's a bad thing, just that we're a little different ;)

Big congratulations to her for her wonderful (and painless) purchase! I'll bet she's thrilled to move to a much faster laptop running a much better OS. I still remember my glee two years ago when I unpacked my powerbook.
 
sintaxi said:
I should have made it clear I was generalizing. The truth is many people out there puchase the computers that dont best meet their needs and pocketbook. I see it with all sorts of people. Everyone does it even myself, get so blinded by one feature that you ignore what is best for you.

Peace;)
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I think it was very clear that your comment was a stereotypical generalization. That doesn't make it appropriate. This comment talks about "many people" but before you were rather condescending towards women.

Signed,
A female doing a PhD in a science/technology field
 
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