What slots are these?

Kipper said:

Come on guys, be nice. Macs are great, I have a 6 year old 13 inch MacBook that is rock solid and the best thing about it is "bootcamp" so I can run windows on it.

Thanks for proving our point. Why pay the Apple tax to run Windows? I always have to laugh when someone pretends their Mac is more durable. You do know they are built in the same factories as Dell, HP, etc, right? Do you realize that "under the hood", they are identical to a PC laptop, yet can often cost more than double?

When you apply common sense to the situation, you soon realize there's no way to justify an Apple computer purchase, aside from the "image" factor.

Now, in keeping with common sense, a college's job is to prepare students for the business world. Many of these students will often leave these colleges and find a Dell on their desk at their first job.

Mac's really aren't bad. Overpriced, yes... but they do have some nice features. The fact that you have way much less of a chance for a virus is helpful. They're good for editing and web design. It's not good for gaming, but there are some uses to it. The price you have to pay for one is ridiculous though.

Kipper said:

Come on guys, be nice. Macs are great, I have a 6 year old 13 inch MacBook that is rock solid and the best thing about it is "bootcamp" so I can run windows on it.

So you can run windows on it:)

I would say the long black slot is a PCIe (express) x16, usually used for a PCIe video card. The short black slot a PCIe x1, usually used for a PCIe sound card or WIFI card. And the two white slots are for regular PCI interface cards.

UnknownReverent said:

Mac's really aren't bad. Overpriced, yes... but they do have some nice features. The fact that you have way much less of a chance for a virus is helpful. They're good for editing and web design. It's not good for gaming, but there are some uses to it. The price you have to pay for one is ridiculous though.

What features do they have that aren't available on the PC side? All of the same top quality software is available for both platforms, such as Adobe Suites. The fear over malware is very misleading. Most Mac users don't even run AV software, and Apple insists there's no need. So how would a person know they were infected...or even dodged an infection? Now, on the flip side, there are excellent free tools on the PC side that will keep you clean. Add that to common sense usage, and you can nearly guarantee a PC to be virus-free (with proof). It is ridiculously easy to keep a PC malware free. If you don't believe me, start a thread asking people to post how often they get infected, or how long it's been.

As for the cost, that's reason enough to avoid them like the plague. Why anyone would pay extra for identical hardware that's in a 6-9 month old PC blows my mind. Apple doesn't get the high end procs first. They are always lagging behind what's available on the PC side.

My point is, there's no way to actually justify an Apple purchase, aside from admitting your paying more for a status symbol.