All kidding aside: you – and the people who write for this site – really need to learn the difference between presenting a factual statement and presenting an opinion.

That “9 times out of 10″ sentence you wrote? You just pulled that number out of your butt. It does nothing to help your credibility. It just makes you look dumb.

Good luck. :-)

I’m a Mac zealot like everyone else here, but reaching that conclusion “When you really get down to it, Macs end up costing less in the long run” based just on 2 factors is anecdotal at best.

What about warranties?
The Dell probably came with at least a 1 year warranty, right?
Most PC’s come with some sorta warranty that’ll cover the PC. It starts by covering almost nothing but for $250+ more you can get the piece of mind that it’ll cover everything. NOT like Apple’s CRAPPY AppleCare, which won’t cover spills or drops! (I’m a little bitter on this, yes.)
So when you add that you can save the $200 (per trip) you would pay to your local BB Geek.

And I think @Joshua will agree, may non-techie consumers will get the warranty. Those that don’t probably know a “computer” guy who helps them when they need.

Second why pay full price for anything?! Ebay, Google, et al can save you a lot on those software subscriptions.

Anywho, just my 2 cents.

Long live Apple!

It *might* be cheaper for ignorant people to buy a Mac.

“Turn the reality distortion field off and take a look out the window.”

Oh, that’s just beautiful. That sentence is the supernova of irony.

“Thanks for playing.”

Yeah, here’s a game: re-read your post and look at all the statements you present as factual. Then ask yourself, How many of these statements can I back up with, you know, actual evidence?

Have fun. :-)

When Dell doesn’t offer discounts, and
When you can’t be bothered to search for anti-virus rebates, and
When you get a virus, and
When you have to pay someone to remove the virus, and
When you never, ever have a problem with a Mac

…Then it *Will* be cheaper to own a Mac.

Lets call a spade a spade. Savvy technology users will always be able to avoid the things you mention – 9 times out 10. But put frankly, the world isn’t technologically savvy. Pretending they are is a disservice to them. Stop pretending geeks are the key demographic when it comes to technology, because they aren’t.

Turn the reality distortion field off and take a look out the window. Those people out there don’t give a crap about Norton or McAfee, heck, most of them probably couldn’t even tell you what those companies do, or how those companies could help.

So yes, in the long run, it will be cheaper for those people to own a Mac. They just want to turn on a machine and have it do what it should do–work.

Thanks for playing.

PS. I love the youtube video that starts off, “Developers! Developers! Developers!” Can we get more of those?

“you’re probably going to pay annually about $60.00 to $70.00 to protect your Windows computer from being attacked.”

Except you can easily find rebates for anti-virus software which will result in a net cost of $0. Both Norton and McAfee do this every year.

So let’s summarize:

If Dell didn’t constantly offer discounts, and
If you couldn’t be bothered to search for anti-virus rebates, and
If you got a virus, and
If you had to pay someone to remove the virus, and
If you never, ever have a problem with a Mac

…Then it *might* be cheaper to own a Mac.

Great post.

The Apple Store is down and I am sitting here hitting refresh so that I can pre-order an iPad to complement my MacBook and iMac.

A MacBook Pro with a 2.54GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB of RAM, a 15″ widescreen and 250GB HD is $1499.