You're proving the point. The computer you found wins on the specs page for sure. But the proof is in the pudding; Apple makes money hand over fist because they focus on reasonable specs, and quality. The thing that kills a modern laptop is not a slow CPU or RAM on the chip; it's a cheap chassis that breaks. That's what makes people change their computer.

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chocochunks 5 hours ago | parent [-]

Apple wins on the perception of being a luxury brand. That's it.

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janalsncm 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It’s not just about perception. Apple doesn’t load your computer up with crapware and ads from the five different companies in the supply chain.

They got away with it forever because at $600 there was no competition.

I would say it’s more that Microsoft will make your $600 feel cheap, Apple will make it feel respectable.

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autoexec 2 hours ago | parent [-]

> Apple doesn’t load your computer up with crapware and ads from the five different companies in the supply chain.

No apple prefers to have a monopoly on ads and crapware but they're still there. The internet is filled with annoyed apple customers who want to debloat their systems:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/254337272

https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/414682/how-can-i-r...

https://tech.yahoo.com/ai/articles/5gb-pure-bloatware-apple-...

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/macos-debloating-thread...

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kstrauser an hour ago | parent [-]

You didn't read any of those, did you. They're asking about things like, literally: How can I delete the Chess app? How do I disable Spotlight? How do I remove Siri?

Those are not in any way comparable to ads or Candy Crush in the start menu.

	▲	autoexec 36 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		What is the difference between a chess app and a candy crush app exactly? They are both "Games I didn't ask for, but were preinstalled" Ads aren't as intrusive or annoying on a mac yet, but they aren't not intrusive or annoying either (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/256235494)
	▲	fsflover an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams (kirkville.com) 1178 points by cdrnsf 49 days ago \| 564 comments https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46911901 Apple testing new App Store design that blurs the line between ads and results (9to5mac.com) 618 points by ksec 67 days ago \| 514 comments https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46680974 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46463180 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46325114

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gopher_space 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I have thirty years worth of old laptops in a closet. The macs all have hinges that still work.

It’s nice to own things designed to not fall apart after a few years.

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kstrauser 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

That, and having a machine at this price point that people aren’t horrified to use.

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chocochunks 5 hours ago | parent [-]

What makes it horrifying? Plastic? Is the only thing that's important the material it's made out of? I think there's many use cases where the Acer would be less horrifying to use than the Neo. Which device would be better for running a Linux VM for CS class homework for example?

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kotaKat 4 hours ago | parent [-]

Hypervisor.framework on the Mac, personally.

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chocochunks 4 hours ago | parent [-]

With half the RAM?

	▲	ryandrake 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		A vanishingly small number of end users (both PC and Mac) care about how much RAM they have. I'd be willing to bet that at least 75% of PC and Mac laptop owners couldn't even tell you how much RAM they have, or they mistake hard disk storage for RAM or vice versa.