Just when we thought we'd heard enough, well, I guess we'll never really hear the end of this one.  But AppleInsider posted a nice rebuttal to some of the Redmond rhetoric with the new "I'm a PC" purchasing ads. 

While we use and support all technologies here at DMVG, we favor the Mac platform for our workstations.  The quality is unparalleled and the ability to run OS X, Linux and/or Windows on any machine we use simply cannot be beat.

Specifically, however the Microsoft PC vs. Mac purchasing ads leave out some interesting points that consumers should consider.

"All that missing software and the extra fees can easily double the cost of the cheap PC hardware. And as the report describes, the bargain basement HP hardware isn't very compelling, with a wimpy battery rated for 2.5 hours compared to the MacBook Pro's eight, an extra 1.2 pounds of weight in a thicker case, and a far lower quality display with much lower resolution, 1440x900 compared to the MacBook Pro's 1920x1200."

Apple responds to Microsoft ads: "a PC is no bargain", Apple Insider

Clearly the ad leaves all of this out.  Not to mention longevity.  Don't underestimate the difference in the screen resolution as well.  This is a huge differentiator between the two machines.

Rarely, do we retire a machine here at DMVG.  But rather than retire workstations, they seem to find their way into the back office.  We have a MacPro Dual G5 with 4.5GB of RAM that we retired from production work to serve as a web server, and it's functioning perfectly.  The only reason we retired the machine was the need to run Microsoft software on a workstation.

On another front, we have Mac Minis that are going strong several years into business service.  We're not talking about a machine just sitting there either.  These Mini's are used daily, all day long for real business purposes.  They can easily take the wear of the everyday business environment.

The AI Author goes on to include:

""PC makers in the Windows camp have done everything possible to make their products progressively worse by cutting corners to save pennies per unit and boost sales volume," he wrote. "There's good reason Apple is seeing healthy profits while grabbing market share. It refuses to budge on quality and so charges a higher price. Rather than running ads that seem clever at first but really aren't, the Windows guys ought to take the hint and just build better computers.""

Buyer beware. 

To further the issue, today Forrester Research released their results from their new customer experience survey.  Needless to say, the news for the PC manufactures was not good.  

"Apple's overall score reached 80 and was not only enough to give it the lead but also leave it as the only company to earn a "good" ranking in Forrester's view. Every other manufacturer in the list scored significantly lower, with Acer's American label Gateway being closest with a score of just 66; the standing is only "okay" in the research group's chart."

Apple trumps Windows PC makers in customer experience study, Apple Insider