Elitist Fear Shines Through

I just got removed from a forum for spreading my brand of "heresy". The insufferable elitists who try to lord it over the rest of the Mac community can't silence us, though. The genie is out of the bottle now. Mac OSX can run on just about any PC that has the specs to drive it. You can stick your fingers in your ears all you like, denial does you not a bit of good. I started doing this to find a solution for people who want to get the most out of their older Macs. Apple's snubbing us by switching to Intel processors had lead to more than a little resentment. Still, now that we are aware we can build our own machines for far less than Apple offers, not all is gloom and doom.

I will continue to try to push for a median Apple desktop to give us, the die hard Mac users, the means to join the Intel community without resorting to O.P.C.'s. I am still a fan of OSX, whether it likes me or not. Is it simple economics that is driving our Retrolution? Partly. It's also Apple's refusal to offer a computer for the average Joe that has made it come about. None of us wants to build a "Hackintosh", mind you, we just can't afford anything else that will reasonably fit our needs as computer consumers. Apple has become akin to Cadillac in regard to branding. Case in point: You can go to an auto parts store to get an alternator for a Chevy car with a 350 engine and it might cost you thirty dollars. An alternator for a Cadillac sporting the same engine will cost you nearly two hundred dollars. The difference? The cost. People have become accustomed to believing their brand is better than others simply 'because'.

Look beyond the myth people, for it is a lie. Apple buys it's computer components from the same manufacturers as Dell, HP, Gateway, and others. Many times, they use the exact same parts. There is nothing inherently Mac about the processors used in a Mac Pro. They are readily available online from several retailers. Simply put, what Makes a Mac a Mac is the ROM on the logic board....that's the only difference aside from the casing. Don't get me wrong, Apple's engineered an awesome case. I just wish they'd make one toting a souped up Mini brain, 2GHz at least and 8GB RAM with front loading, hot-swappable HD's and a pair of Blu-ray optical drives....all for around nine hundred bucks.

The main problem we, the income challenged face, is there are way too many people out there with more money than common sense who are willing to shell out fortunes for a high end Mac. Apple is comfortable in it's niche and, why shouldn't they be? With the success of the iPod and iPhone, they really don't need to care what modest income people need. I just wish Steve Jobs and company could remember what it was like back when they had nothing but hope, a prayer....and a dream.