Quote:
Originally Posted by Technar
*Ahem!* May I ask what information you are basing your statement on?
-GreenAlge
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Let's start with the fact that there are at LEAST 100 models of motherboard to base your PC system on, all using different combinations of components, available at any point in time to a prospective PC builder.
Now, lets estimate that there may be another 100 or so different models of graphics card available (this is an underestimate IMO). So we now have 100 * 100 = 10,000 combinations of equipment.
Let's look at memory. Most motherboards now support at least 3 different types (PC2100, PC2700, PC3300) and many support a fourth now (PC4000). But I'll be fair and call it 3. Memory these days tends to come in 128, 256, 512 or 1Gb modules - so 4 * 3 = 12 types. Lets pick a number out of the air and say there are 3 memory manufacturers (again, underestimate imo). So that's 3 different companies using different equipment producing modules with different reliability etc. So 3 * 12 types = 36. Note that I've not even taken account of the fact most users install more than one memory module.
So now we have 100 * 100 * 36 = 360,000 combinations of equipment.
Now add in things such as:
Disk drives (speeds, types (UATA,SATA,SCSI), numbers of)
Sound cards
Optical drives (speeds, types (CDROM,DVDROM,CDR,CDRW etc), numbers of)
Expansion cards (hardware RAID, SCSI, even more UATA or SATA ports)
Connectivity cards (Network, USB, Firewire...)
Multimedia cards (TV, radio, video capture, hardware DVD decoders...)
The combinations run to 10s, if not 100s of millions.
Yes, you can probably get all of these things in a Mac.
However, in most cases it's made by one company only, there's one model of it, and you take it or leave it. For everything I've mentioned up there I can find you multiple models made by multiple manufacturers.
Still think Macs have just as many configurations as a PC?
Incidentally (before I get jumped on), this is not necessarily a good thing. The PC architechture is a bloody mess, unsurprisingly since the core hasn't been changed since 1983 or so when it was designed to run with a fixed 640k of ram and no permanent storage, and every advance since then has been bodged on with the micro-engineering equivilant of 3 rolls of gaffer tape and some superglue. This is a large part of the reason PCs are so prone to crashing.
Just because someone makes a statement about a Mac, it doesn't mean they're automatically knocking it.