Note to Morons: Injecting Lubricant into your Face is Fucking Stupid
It’s pretty stupid to fork over wads of cash to have some doctor inject deadly toxins into your face. What’s even more stupid however, is deciding that the foolish part of the previous equation is the doctor part and proceeding with an entirely DIY home cosmetic procedure. “Its very frightening, its very embarrassing having to be in public”, I agree, it’s frightening and embarrassing the level of idiocy one finds walking around in public.
Investigating the Apple Tax: Part I – The iMac
Apple earlier this week refreshed their desktops across the board. The all in one iMac, the spartan Mini and the workstation Mac Pro all got some new hardware. Does this hardware come at a premium? Is there an Apple Tax, a premium charged on hardware, unavoidable due to Apple’s closed platform? Consider the iMac, Apple’s flagship desktop line, available in all inclusive package with either a 20″ or 24″ LCD.
Base 20″ iMac
Processor: 2.66Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory: 2GB 1066 DDR3
Video: Integrated GeForce 9400M
Hard Drive: 320GB SATA
Monitor: Integrated 20″ LCD
Other features: Keyboard, Mouse, DVD Burner, Mac OS 10.5
Price: $1199
Fully Loaded 24″ iMac
Processor: 3.06Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory: 8GB 1066 DDR3
Video: ATi Radeon 4850 512MB
Hard Drive: 1TB SATA
Monitor: Integrated 24″ LCD
Other features: Keyboard, Mouse, DVD Burner, Mac OS 10.5
Price: $3249
Now, Mac OS 10.5 retails for $129, the Mighty Mouse and Apple Keyboard retail for $49 each. So we’ll round this up to $230 and credit each iMac. This gives us adjusted prices of
Base 20″ iMac
Original Price: $1199
OS/Accessory Credit: $230
Adjusted Price: $969
Fully Loaded 24″ iMac
Original Price: $3249
OS/Accessory Credit: $230
Adjusted Price: $3119
Now, for comparision, I’ve composed 2 systems from parts at Newegg.com. For each I’ve tried for a rough approximation of the hardware in the iMac. I’ve created “Wish Lists” for each to share them.
20″ dwotMock
Processor: 2.8Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory: 2GB 1066 DDR3
Video: GeForce 9400 GT 512MB*
Hard Drive: 320GB SATA
Monitor: Acer 20″ Widescreen LCD
Other features: DVD Burner, MicroATX Motherboard, MicroATX Case, 500W Power Supply, no OS
Price: $629.91
24″ dwotMock
Processor: 3.06 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory: 8GB 1066 DDR3
Video: ATI Radeon 4850 512MB
Hard Drive: 1TB SATA
Monitor: Acer 24″ Widescreen LCD
Other features: DVD Burner, MicroATX Motherboard, MicroATX Case, 500W Power Supply, no OS
Price: $1005.90
Savings over Adjusted Price
20″ dwotMock vs 20″ iMac
$339.09
24″ dwotMock vs 24″ iMac
$2113.10
Verdict? Well there’s certain concessions to be made, for certain. System building may not be for everyone, though it is certainly more simple that most would imagine. It’s not without it’s challenges, no one enjoys DOA parts and not everyone can troubleshoot a build gone bad. Off the shelf systems like the Mac often come with support, which I suppose someone has found useful sometime, though I couldn’t provide any evidence to support that conjecture.
There’s also the issue of Mac OS. No Apple Hardware, no Mac OS, right? Not quite. While Apple has certainly made their position clear with litigation, Macs run on standard hardware and there is an active underground scene dedicated to running Mac OS on non Apple hardware. It may not be for the Technophobe, but it’s certainly not impossible. Check out Lifehacker’s amazing Hackintosh guides.
That said, the 20″ dwotMock / iMac showdown gives the dwotMock a $339 edge, or 35% of the adjusted price. System building certainly has some financial benefit.
The 24″ dwotMock / iMac matchup, however, is a blow out. The dwotMock’s $2,113.10 edge is 68% of the loaded iMac’s price. For the cost of a loaded iMac you could build 3 equally spec’d PCs.
Check back later this week for our Mac Mini comparison.
AT-AT Boom Box
The awesome of AT-AT Imperial Walkers and the retro cool of boom boxes combined into a Voltron of win.
Bioshock Little Sister ADAM Syringe
That’s one hell of a DIY ADAM Syringe, but I guess you gotta be ready if you’re taking a trip into Andrew Ryan’s failed Rapture.
Thundercats Movie Fan Trailer
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb50GMmY5nk[/youtube]
Tremendously done, I can’t begin to fathom how much time and effort went into this.
How to Take a Sick Day When You’re Not Sick
So maybe a little time wasting isn’t quite enough for you. Maybe you need an entire delicious day off to do with as you please. Asylum has you covered with a handy guide to taking a sick day when you’re not exactly under the weather.
With their six simple tips, you’ll be enjoying a little personal time on the company dime. So start working on your most sickly and pathetic voice acting and book yourself a little faux-cation for next week. Just remember, miles don’t come off the odometer by simply driving in reverse, and watch out for that vindictive sibling.
Tech Habits to Improve Your Life
PC World has put together an excellent list of Tech Habits to Improve Your Life, including maintaining “Inbox Zero” and “Getting TV and Music from the Net”. Some you probably already are doing, some you may not have thought of. I’ve used most of these and continue to use quite a few. Certainly worthy of a little time, perhaps time not wasted?
Hacking Remote Desktop into Crippled Vista Versions
Vista isn’t perfect, there’s a lot it does wrong and not much it’s truly gotten right. One of the most annoying and confusing things Microsoft has done with Vista is release a multitude of variants. Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Ultimate all different variants with different “feature-sets” at scaling prices. Opt for a version other than the pricey “Ultimate” and you may find yourself lacking some key features, like Remote Desktop. Sure, there’s VNC, but it’s not quite the same and can be a bit confusing to get up and running reliably. Microsoft will gladly ransom the locked features back to you for a stiff upgrade fee or you could always do a little tweaking and unlock the functionality yourself. After a quick search, I located the following sites. Follow the instructions here and you should be up and running. If you happen to be running Vista 64, as I am, you’ll need to get the 64 bit version of the termsrv.dll, which I found here. Happy hacking!