[mcaswell]

First of all, I am a true Mac enthusiast... I get into the typical arguments with PC people all the time about why Macs are so much better. But at the same time, I do occasionally find myself gazing at the massive selection of games only available for Windows. So, for the past few years, I've toyed with the idea of getting a PC and using a KVM switchbox to add it to my Mac setup.

One of the main things that held me back was my sincere love of the Macintosh platform. I felt that by buying a PC, I'd be "voting" against Mac gaming, just when things seem to be improving quite noticeably for us in terms of games being ported over. If I had a PC, obviously I'd be buying less Mac games. Of course, I could try to discipline myself into only buying a PC game when it seemed safe to assume it would be come to the Mac, but realistically, I knew the temptation would probably be too great.

This weekend I began to consider the issue much more seriously due to an upcoming need to test a large Flash project to be sure it runs ok on Windows. I also thought it would be handy to have around for testing websites when needed. Of course, I could do both of these things with Virtual PC, but I was looking for a good excuse/justification to betray my own pro-Mac principles.

Another one of my reservations was with paying a lot of money for a machine that would get only minimal use. This evening, I ventured over to dell.com (Dell, of all places... OMG, what was I thinking). The machines were dirt cheap, especially if ordered without monitors. I came across their refurb section, and found several choices there in the $400 range that looked like they'd be good for my purposes. I left the page open on my Powerbook for a few hours, as I worked on another Mac, occasionally glancing over, reading over the information there, trying to make a decision.

The temptation was incredible. I even got to the point of adding one of these boxes to the cart... I hadn't quite made up my mind to buy (though I was close), but was curious to see how much shipping would cost. That is when things turned around quite drastically.

I was shocked to be confronted with what was the most outrageous shipping charge I'd ever seen... $105 for GROUND shipping! Next Day Air was $160, plus an extra $45 if you wanted the privilege of having your purchase shipped out that day.

This was a cold shower that immediately snapped me out of my trance, setting off a series of realizations... 1) I don't really need a PC for the work stuff mentioned above, 2) A Dell... my wife would never let me live it down, 3) I don't even have enough time to play all the Mac games I have, much less a plethora of PC games, 4) I'm quite satisfied with the selection of Mac games available lately (SOF2, MOHAA, Nascar, F1, etc.)

But still, the main factor was that obscene shipping cost quoted to me by Dell. Keep in mind, this was just for a CPU, no big 19" CRT monitor or anything like that. I got the distinct impression that this was evidence of a dirty sales tactic used by these scumbags... lure people in with unrealistically low prices, and make your profit when these unsuspecting customers, having gotten their heart set on a particular machine, agree to these 400% marked-up shipping costs (which provides the profit).

In stark contrast, apple.com offers FREE ground shipping. Second Day and Next Day are a reasonable $25 and $55 for CPUs.

As another example, OWC (macsales.com) offers FANTASTIC shipping costs, even for next-day. So, whenever I need memory, Powerbook accessories, hard drive enclosures, etc., this is the first place I look. The low shipping charges make it much more enjoyable to shop there.

Anyway, I think the storm has passed. Whew, thanks Dell... that was a close one. If you had reasonable shipping charges, one of your crappy boxes would be in the queue to be sent to me, and right now I'd be writing a "Oh no, what have I done... I've ordered a PC" post instead of this.

--Mike

[itai195]

Actually Dell usually does have great shipping costs, often free ground shipping. Must just be expensive for those refurbs you were looking at.

[Maflynn]

Glad you werent seduced by the dark side
but the $105 shipping charge is not outrageous even though most computer mfg have had specials.

Remarks
Mike

[sideus]

I shipped a computer from Ohio to Alaska for under $75. Dell's shipping costs are horrible.

[Apple Pro Underwear]

A standard Windows computer should be a essential tool in any web designer/flash designer arsenal.

If you enjoy making one, you should do so because the amount you save is monumental. Or buy one from one of the big retailers. I would wait till Gateway� is in true dire circumstances and buy one in a going out of business sale.

[Todd Madson]

Build your own. I did, was cheap, and works. You have to know
what you're doing but if you do it's much better than spending
600 bucks on a Dell. My 'roll my own' machine was far less than
$300 all told and it's a 2 ghz Athlon box with half a gig of ram
plus some hard drives I had lying around, same with video card.
It's fast, runs RedHat (and Windows when I need it) and is a good
second machine to have around.

[Cipher13]

Dell make great systems, but really, build one yourself.

Faster, cheaper, better. And you learn.

[TheMosco]

a friend paid 150 dollars for ground shipping when he bought his gateway.

the hidden costs of owning a pc i guess

[Eriamjh]

Free shipping kept you from buying a PC? Seems strange. Maybe that's another thing related to the "true cost" of owning a PC versus Mac.

[the weatherman]

Building your own or getting any non-branded machine is the best way to go.

I did for less than 400 bucks. And even looking forward to new hardware, such as a really fast (and cheap) video card (I had a not- so-old one lying around, so used it to save a little). Its an Athlon based system-XP 2000, running Win 2000.

I am using it as a supplementary machine for doing Photoshop work, etc. Its quite fast compared to my upgraded G3 (now a G4 600). And some games for my kids.

But as other have mentioned, it won't/can't replace my beloved mac, but it is nice to have them working together (aside from the fact that I am using the PC as a print server, as my USB laser printer's port is broken, its connected to the PC via it's parallel port then shared).

[Scotttheking]

dell shipping costs don't relate to powermacs.

Moving to the lounge.

[ink]

I've sold 2 macs this month; an iBook and one of the new 12" powerbooks (backordered.. go figure). Both were sold to people who used to use PCs, but loved iPhoto (they couldn't believe that it was so easy to download from the camera, resize, colorize, remove red-eye, print and make web pages). Dell... sheesh, their laptops are HUGE, and sound like jet engines (My cousin has one, and hers has TWO fans on the back!)

[MacGorilla]

When you walk into a computer store and see all these PCs at rock bottom prices, you get tempted. You look around and see all the software and peripherals for it and you get tempted. I know I did.

Then you wake up in a cold sweat, look at your Mac and go back to the sweet bliss of sleep.

[Michael_Jackson]

Originally posted by MacGorilla:
When you walk into a computer store and see all these PCs at rock bottom prices, you get tempted. You look around and see all the software and peripherals for it and you get tempted. I know I did.

Then you wake up in a cold sweat, look at your Mac and go back to the sweet bliss of sleep.

Not thinking about the benefits of a PC is a great way to kill the pain. I've been doing it for a year now with this mother Powerbook.