IOS or Android, what's your choice?

As I've said, you can get a laptop with similar specs for far less money then a macbook would be. Just because a customer can afford it, doesn't make it a better product. They sell hardware at a much higher premium then other vendors do.

I am not a fan of Apple, matter of fact I'm more vocal than the typical person about making jokes of crunchy hippy Apple users with their birkenstock sandals and patchouli body oils.

However...the statement you just made ...I see that throwing people off.
"Spec"..are you just counting processor speed, memory, and HDD spindle speed? Yeah you can configure a $2,000 laptop and a $599 laptop with the same "specs"...if you count that.

But are you looking at the "quality" of the components? Is that $599 dollar laptop using a higher end Intel CPU, or a more budget CPU? A good Intel chipset motherboard? Or a cheaper chipset motherboard? A good 3 year hard drive with lots of cache? Or a cheaper 1 year with less cache? Good Intel Centrino wireless? Or cheaper realsuck...Realtek or atheros?

You can go to Dell.com and configure an Inspiron laptop for $599, against a similar spec Latitude or Precision laptop for over 2 grand. BUT....there's a difference in quality for sure! Apples are like the Latitude/Precisions.
 
YeOldeStonecat said:
You can go to Dell.com and configure an Inspiron laptop for $599, against a similar spec Latitude or Precision laptop for over 2 grand. BUT....there's a difference in quality for sure! Apples are like the Latitude/Precisions.

Thank you! At least someone gets it. There are "high end" products in the PC world as well but no one seems to be complaining about the prices there. Take a look at some of the Dell and Sony ultra books. Their prices are equal to and sometimes exceed the price of the Macbook Air. Same specs.


People who don't like Apple because of some of the users make up reason to hate the product.
 
What I laugh about is when I have customers say "Get a macbook, mine has never had any issues in 2 years and my pc broke after 9 months" I then ask how much they paid for the mac... "Oh I got a good deal, it was only $1450", then I say how much did you pay for the pc "OH well I bought mine on a super good deal on black friday, BestB*Y had it for just $299!!" I then tell them... well it looks like you could buy 5 of those cheap laptops for the same amount as the mac...

My personal laptop is a 6yr old Asus Core 2 Duo w/ 17" Screen, BluRay etc... it was $2,100 new.... replaced the keyboard cause a few keys wore off..... heck my 6 1/2 yr old Asus netbook still runs great too..... if you buy a Kia don't expect Ferari performance.
 
What I laugh about is when I have customers say "Get a macbook, mine has never had any issues in 2 years and my pc broke after 9 months" I then ask how much they paid for the mac... "Oh I got a good deal, it was only $1450", then I say how much did you pay for the pc "OH well I bought mine on a super good deal on black friday, BestB*Y had it for just $299!!" I then tell them... well it looks like you could buy 5 of those cheap laptops for the same amount as the mac...

My personal laptop is a 6yr old Asus Core 2 Duo w/ 17" Screen, BluRay etc... it was $2,100 new.... replaced the keyboard cause a few keys wore off..... heck my 6 1/2 yr old Asus netbook still runs great too..... if you buy a Kia don't expect Ferari performance.

Therefore you get what you pay for.
 
I wonder what Maxwell Smarts shoe phone would have run iOS or android.

I still use the first Samsung Galaxy S android phone and I use a iPad 3rd gen to book jobs with PCRT. I have used Samsung tablets before and in comparison to the Apple iPads there is no contest, it's Apple all the way.

What about the screen size of some these new phones, it is getting incredible, the new LG optimus has 5.7 inch screen, that's not far off the Apple Mini. When will it end?
 
I still use the first Samsung Galaxy S android phone and I use a iPad 3rd gen to book jobs with PCRT. I have used Samsung tablets before and in comparison to the Apple iPads there is no contest, it's Apple all the way

Could you say a bit more about -why- you prefer the ipad to a droid tablet?

Seems the discussion has become kinda interesting in regard to the specifics of why people here prefer one over the other

-especailly for this simple task. I would be interested to know what the pad does well that droid tabs can not

Ta

J
 
-especailly for this simple task. I would be interested to know what the pad does well that droid tabs can not
As gunslinger said, it comes down to the user experience. I would say that the iPads are far more intuitive than the Android OS as a whole. We as technicians may understand it, its what we do, we are good at figuring things out and once we "get" the mindset, we are ok. But you have to remember the general public isnt like us. I have personally tested this myself, where my ex housemates missus sometimes tries to use his Asus Transformer and gets frustrated with it. I was watching her and I could see what was happening, things were happening that werent expected, it wasnt intuitive.
I handed her my iPad to play with for a while and she figured it out so quick (her husband is one of the developers of Swiftkey by the way).

I know so many non geeks that RAVE about their iPad, I almost never hear a non-geek rave about their Android tablet. Thats one of the things that the iPad does better than the Android tablets.

Now, I know someone is going to say "Well, I have no trouble using it", or perhaps you might say "My wife has no trouble using it either". The response to the first one is you are a technician, we are good at these things and that is why we are technicians. The response to "My wife has no trouble using it either" is its possible you either taught her how to use it, or she already has the Android mindset from using other things.

Im talking about getting a random non-technical person from the street, tell them to do a task on both devices. I guarantee they'll find the iPad easier.

Now, some techs may see that simplicity as a negative "I want to change the settings, I want to make it my own, I want to hack....etc..". The thing is that the general public doesnt want to do that, they want a device that they can use.
In this forum, most of the responses are definitely going to be Android, it is better... FOR US. But overall better? Well, it depends on what mindset you approach it with.

Back to my personal preference, I like to do what I need to do quickly, trouble free, without installing dependant packages (thinking more the Linux world here). As a tech, of course I know how to do this, but when I am trying to do something else I dont WANT to do it. I want app so polished, so throughly tested (even though it'll cost more where the Android equivalent will be free), that I can do what I need to do quickly and thus make more money. Watch or listen to this article to help understand the "time is valuable, get it done" mindset I approach Apple products with.
 
Im talking about getting a random non-technical person from the street, tell them to do a task on both devices. I guarantee they'll find the iPad easier.

My own personal experience doesn't really back this up. I know non-technical people who very easily work with both iPads and Android tablets. Note that I'm talking high quality Android tablets here; the $99.00 ones are crap, of course.

And this is the problem: we're all talking personal experience. What I would love to see is a proper double-blind test done by a disinterest third party. They have two tablets, and iPad and one of the nicer Android ones, both unbranded. They find non-technical people who have never owned a tablet or smartphone, and have them do a variety of common tasks on each tablet. They then rate which one was easier to use.

Are there any tech reporters reading this? Please do this.
 
Android, no doubt about it.. Just got my new android smartphone and really love it..
 
The argument over which is better for the nebulous "general public" is irrelevant. We ARE Techs and should use the tool that best serves our needs.

So while I might recommend an iPhone for my wife, who does the basics like calls, texts, email and games, or a Cricket for my mother in law so she just has to understand Yes or No, for me, as a tool to make money, Android has proven more flexible and functional for what I need. And once I set it up the way I wanted, I have never messed with it other than plug it in the charger.

I've had an Android since the G1, but I support iPhone and Blackberry users every day for our contracted Tech Support customer, so I am very familiar with how they work, what they do best and what their limitations are. Nothing wrong with any of them, it depends on what you need.
 
Android for the my phone and an iPad, and then an HTC tablet that I dont use.

I thought I'd never say this but my god I love the iPad. SO much easier to use once I got the hang of it.
 
Could you say a bit more about -why- you prefer the ipad to a droid tablet?

Seems the discussion has become kinda interesting in regard to the specifics of why people here prefer one over the other

-especailly for this simple task. I would be interested to know what the pad does well that droid tabs can not

Ta

J

Another aussie on the forums, g'day mate.

For me the I like the iPad's display, 4:3 retina display is the best display out of all of the tablets, the iPad wifi signal seems to be stronger making browsing the internet a joy and it iOS works brilliantly with my PCRT web based software. Overall i think it is 4:3 display that gets me.
 
I am not a fan of Apple, matter of fact I'm more vocal than the typical person about making jokes of crunchy hippy Apple users with their birkenstock sandals and patchouli body oils.

However...the statement you just made ...I see that throwing people off.
"Spec"..are you just counting processor speed, memory, and HDD spindle speed? Yeah you can configure a $2,000 laptop and a $599 laptop with the same "specs"...if you count that.

But are you looking at the "quality" of the components? Is that $599 dollar laptop using a higher end Intel CPU, or a more budget CPU? A good Intel chipset motherboard? Or a cheaper chipset motherboard? A good 3 year hard drive with lots of cache? Or a cheaper 1 year with less cache? Good Intel Centrino wireless? Or cheaper realsuck...Realtek or atheros?

You can go to Dell.com and configure an Inspiron laptop for $599, against a similar spec Latitude or Precision laptop for over 2 grand. BUT....there's a difference in quality for sure! Apples are like the Latitude/Precisions.

I base this mainly on the fact that they are selling the hardware at huge premiums. Look at their 21.7" iMac machines. $200 to upgrade from a 2.7ghz i5 to a 2.9ghz i5. Your talking a MAX of $20 difference between the two processors at newegg. They want $200 for that difference.

I can remember them doing similar for memory upgrades and on down the line.

I can get a comparable machine, in terms of specs and quality, for a lot less then it would cost at apple.

Dell Latitude E5430, Ships Fast FCG3
3rd gen Intel® Core™ i5-3230M Processor (2.6GHz, 3M cache)
Resource DVD - Contains Drivers
4.0GB, DDR3-1600MHz SDRAM, 1 DIMM
500GB 7200rpm Hard Drive
6-cell (60WH) Primary Lithium Ion Battery, (2.8Ah) ExpressCharge Capable
65W A/C Adapter (3-pin)
8X DVD+/-RW
Dell Wireless™ 1504 802.11g/n Single Band Wi-Fi Half Mini Card
Light Sensitive Webcam and Noise Cancelling Digital Array Microphone
Internal English Single Pointing Keyboard
Integrated Touchpad without Fingerprint Reader
14.0" HD (1366x768) Anti Glare LED-backlit
Express Card
Energy Star 5.2 Enabled / EPEAT
No Modem
Broadcom TruManage™
Intel Core i5 Label

Cost of that system: 951.85

Leaves plenty of room for upgrades from the entry level MacBook Pro, has a much better 3 year ProSupport warrant with NDB onsite service from dell and 3 years of accidental damage coverage.

Can upgrade ram to 8GB and pick up a nice targus bag and still be at or cheaper then the apple machine. Maybe even upgrade the hard drive. It's also a 14" screen and not 13".


Just saying that apple really sticks it to people with the hardware costs, in some cases much more then others but they do it.
 
I base this mainly on the fact that they are selling the hardware at huge premiums. Look at their 21.7" iMac machines. $200 to upgrade from a 2.7ghz i5 to a 2.9ghz i5. Your talking a MAX of $20 difference between the two processors at newegg. They want $200 for that difference.

I can remember them doing similar for memory upgrades and on down the line.

I can get a comparable machine, in terms of specs and quality, for a lot less then it would cost at apple.

Dell Latitude E5430, Ships Fast FCG3
3rd gen Intel® Core™ i5-3230M Processor (2.6GHz, 3M cache)
Resource DVD - Contains Drivers
4.0GB, DDR3-1600MHz SDRAM, 1 DIMM
500GB 7200rpm Hard Drive
6-cell (60WH) Primary Lithium Ion Battery, (2.8Ah) ExpressCharge Capable
65W A/C Adapter (3-pin)
8X DVD+/-RW
Dell Wireless™ 1504 802.11g/n Single Band Wi-Fi Half Mini Card
Light Sensitive Webcam and Noise Cancelling Digital Array Microphone
Internal English Single Pointing Keyboard
Integrated Touchpad without Fingerprint Reader
14.0" HD (1366x768) Anti Glare LED-backlit
Express Card
Energy Star 5.2 Enabled / EPEAT
No Modem
Broadcom TruManage™
Intel Core i5 Label

Cost of that system: 951.85

Leaves plenty of room for upgrades from the entry level MacBook Pro, has a much better 3 year ProSupport warrant with NDB onsite service from dell and 3 years of accidental damage coverage.

Can upgrade ram to 8GB and pick up a nice targus bag and still be at or cheaper then the apple machine. Maybe even upgrade the hard drive. It's also a 14" screen and not 13".


Just saying that apple really sticks it to people with the hardware costs, in some cases much more then others but they do it.


Read my post. You completely miss the point. USER EXPERIENCE. You post is a case example of what I'm talking about. All I'm hearing is specs, specs, specs. Gz this and MHz that GB this and TB that. I didn't hear one thing about the build quality, the user experience while using the computer, the OS, the resale value, Where did all these go? They are all just as important as specs and I'd argue even more so. All those specs are completely useless if the end user does not like using the machine. I'm not sure I can make you understand this concept.


Lets do this. I'm going to assume you love Windows 8. Lets take your Dell and install Windows ME on it. No problem you say? Oh wait, you don't want ME on it? Why not? Because no matter how good the specs are the user experience would suck balls and you would never wanna use the machine. Thats the best I can do, if you still don't get the concept I don't know what to tell you.
 
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