I’m starting to rethink this whole Apple’s Cool thing…

I’ve been looking at there stuff more and more lately and have come to some disturbing conclusions.  Where shall I start?

iPhone: Outside of sheer storage space, 16gb on the higher end models, I’ve yet to find anything that makes this phone worth 499.  It makes phone calls, it sends text and picture messages, it surfs the web (although this is shoddy at best on AT&T’s network).  It plays music and video… In short it does the same things that many other phones do on the market… but that cost much less money.

iMac/Book: I used to have this thing with about how great they were, how indispensable they were.  And yet, I have seen several units under repair, I watch one crash earlier this week, and the available things for them are a mixed bag.  While some of them are fantastically designed (Time Machine, iPod integration, built-in iSights on the notebooks and iMacs) some are just downright frustrating. 

A few good examples: 1.) Try finding a webcam for your computer if you have a MacPro.  You can’t.  You have to either find one used (great, hand-me-down crap).  2.) You have to use 3rd party support.  While this may not seem to be a terribly tough thing, in practicality, I watched a Mac Genius fumble around and struggle for almost an hour and half to no avail.

As for iLife, it’s better than nothing, but far from the freeware that I can get for my WinPC.  I will grant the resistance to Viruses and SpyWare.  But here’s the catch, there are still viruses and spyware for mac.  In fact, the amount has grown with the increased popularity of the systems…  And try getting rid of it without redoing the machine.

iPod:  I really don’t have anything against the iPod except there insistance at using a native proprietary format (which makes them no better than their friends to the north).  I tried to transfer my music from one system to another… what a drag.  And what a shame if you have TWO computers (like quite a few households in America).  That fantastic song you just downloaded can only be on one of them (without a stupid amount of effort… and by stupid I mean more than copy/paste.)

I’m gonna simmer on this a while.

-Gr00ve