beech_35

Hewlett-Packard: Not Just Another Computer Company

I'm not so certain. HPQ has tied its computing future to a dying platform that's not doing well adding to its customer base. Fiorina and now Hurd have gutted entire departments. Experienced talent is long gone, leaving those who can't go anywhere else and question what their experience is worth anyway. HP's computers are doing OK compared to others, but profit margins are slim and under constant pressure to become even slimmer.

As for their other product line mentioned... printers? You're joking, right? HP is no longer recognized for well-engineered products that last for years, preferring to focus on the short term success of cheap disposable junk. They have a lot of competition in that market, leaving consumers to bear the cost of "high-margined recurring profits from the sale of ink." How much are you willing to bet on their loyalty? Decide for yourself: Is HPQ a computer company or an ink vendor?

If HP is to thrive in the long term, they would do well to return to the vision held by its founders - produce high quality, well-engineered products that command a premium and earn them a loyal customer base. There's a huge void in that area today. Unless and until they return to that mission, they'll just languish. Right now, they best they can hope for is to be just another cheap disposable box vendor. Who needs another one of them?

Will Apple's Leopard OS Change the PC Industry?

I added more memory and installed a bigger HD, but I'm still using my eight year old iMac every day. It runs the latest version of OS X Tiger. Remember this is a computer that's older than Windows 2000. I've never had the slightest problem with it. Not one crash or hiccup, ever. No spyware etc. despite the fact it's always on and it's always connected. The only time I reboot is to install an OS update which happens every three or four months. Try that with anything from Dell or HPQ. It's not even true that Macs are more expensive either. Once you configure them feature for feature, they cost exactly the same as anything else.

Study Projects Apple Laptops Top Consumer Choice Next Quarter

This confirms what I've been witnessing as a growing trend that's even accelerated over the past year or so. At least a third of the laptops I see in daily use are Apples, and that number continues to grow. The last reason to buy anything other than an Apple computer ended with their introduction of Intel CPUs. Funny thing is, all the Apple computers I see are running OS X, not Windows. Windows users have been collectively banging their heads against the same wall for way too long. It must feel good to finally STOP!