Semantically:
Apple hardware is a generic term. Apple II, iPod, etc are specific products,
as is "Macintosh". Apple II, iPod, Macintosh, Macintosh Plus, Power Macintosh
G5, etc are all examples of Apple products which fall under the generic term
"Apple hardware". Not all Apple hardware is the same, or can run the same
operating system.
No Apple product made since 1986 has been labeled simply "Macintosh".
Everything from that point forward was Macintosh Plus, Macintosh SE,
Macintosh II, etc etc. Mac OS X (NOT "MacOSX") runs on Apple hardware which
generally includes *most* (if not all) of the Apple general purpose
computing hardware with G3 processors and later, if you want to make it more
specific.
So to say that you need to "purchase Macintosh hardware" to run "MacOSX" is
technically incorrect on two counts. Although since I understand exactly what
you're saying, the distinction is moot. ... ;-)
Uncle. My bad. I'll say "Apple hardware to run MacOS" next time.
We used to own a Macintosh once. Even had 2 and external 400K
drive to go along with it!
There is no super-fast Mac hardware when it comes to overall system
performance. Memory bandwidth, chipsets, etc all tend to be a bit slower
than the PC counterparts. Not counting notebooks, I see a G5
dual/dual-dual for between $2000-$3300. Building a PC piece by piece will
get you dual core for $1000 or less.
Calling a G5 2.7Ghz Quad or an Xserve less than "super fast" is a little
absurd to me. But that would drag us down into the horrors of benchmarks and
metrics, component performance vs integrated throughput performance, ad
nauseam, where I'd rather not waste bandwidth.
Don't want to go there. Lies, damn lies, and benchmarks.
A brand-new PowerMac G5 2Ghz DP with 1G RAM and 250G drive, all the wireless
options, keyboard and mouse, operating system and included software (iLife
'06), full development system software, cost me $1700. The monitor was extra,
as was the second 500G drive and 2G more RAM. Overall, since I'm not a
tinkerer, it wasn't a bad price for the performance and quality. I don't know
build-it-yourself pricing very well as it's been years since I was interested
to build a system from parts, but to buy comparable quality and performance
enclosures, motherboards, drives, power supplies, etc etc and add the OS and
other software to it, the value proposition is different by only a slim
margin.
My time is also worth something. I like to do photography ... my work ... not
tinker with computers. I use computers to do my work, and I work to fix other
people's computing problems, that's all. :-)
Godfrey
My my work were photography, I wouldn't use linux for it.... no
question about it. I enjoy the tinkering and photography is yet one more
venue for me. If it were any more than a hobby, I'd likely have a Mac for
photographic stuff.
-Cory
--
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* Cory Papenfuss, Ph.D., PPSEL-IA *
* Electrical Engineering *
* Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University *
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