Originally posted by: theblackbox
Originally posted by: AstroManLuca
Oh and I don't like paying 5x market value for RAM and hard drives, some of which can't be upgraded without voiding the warranty.
since when?
you'd have to be a sucker to buy extra ram or a hard drive from them anyway. thats what newegg, crucial, amazon and all are for. thats why they all come with instructions for people not that savvy to change out those things in the whole lap top line and the pro line, the imac being the only exception with the hard drive.
The Mac Mini is difficult (not impossible) to upgrade, even just the RAM. Prying at it with a putty knife? Not too much fun. And I've actually done it before and replaced both the optical drive and the RAM, but like I said, it wasn't something I'd want to do again.
With the iMac, of course, you can't upgrade the hard drive, which kinda sucks.
My PowerBook couldn't have its hard drive upgraded without voiding the warranty either. I know they've changed that since then, but Apple's all over the place when it comes to allowing upgrades. They could remove that capability at any time. They did it with the iMac (early G5 iMacs had an easily removable backplate that let you access all the internals, a feature they removed in later revisions).
The iMac and Mini are both too expensive for what you get. Partly because Apple knows they can charge more and still get plenty of sales, and partly because they use laptop components, which are slower and more expensive than desktop components. Makes for a sleek form factor but at the cost of expandability and power. I know a lot of people don't need expandability but some people like being able to upgrade their computer a little instead of just throwing it out and buying a new one every few years.
Macs are good for some people but not geeks or people with limited budgets who need a powerful, capable machine. They're better for casual home users who can afford the extra cost.