Apple has created the newest “world’s fastest personal computer”

again. Leave it to Apple to stretch the truth further than humanly

possible, making wildly ridiculous claims in support of their new

G5 processor. I’m sure all of you aspiring young artists who are

sipping your café lattés will scoff at what I will

tell you in the subsequent paragraphs. Sadly, for Apple, the

ignorance of their customers is bliss. Without it, Apple would

crumble in a heartbeat.

Like all of their previous computer systems, their latest offering

falls on its face when compared to current PCs. Apple tells a

different story, though. The Apple Web site is a propaganda

machine, spewing falsehoods and technical jargon in an effort to

impress those uneducated in the ways of computers. Most of the

innovations claimed to be a product of Apple’s hard work were

actually pioneered by other companies.

The benchmarks Apple published supporting their “world’s fastest”

status are fraught with troubling aspects that cast an enormous

shadow of doubt on their claims. First, there is the fact that the

scores published by Apple for Intel’s processors are drastically

lower than the scores published by the company that makes the

benchmarking software, SPEC. Secondly, it seems Apple ran its

processor tuned to run as fast as possible while running the

benchmark much akin to ATI’s Quake scandal. Even the independent

company hired to do the benchmarks questioned the real-world

implications of the benchmark results. Lastly, Apple’s scores were

compared to a mere two processors; neither of them being 64-bit

like the G5. All signs point to Apple playing some very dirty

pool.

Being almost entirely the creation of IBM, the G5 is not a bad

processor. However, it is not the best. As I mentioned before, many

of the technologies were borrowed from other companies. Does Apple

ever make mention of this fact? Never.

There are countless examples showing Apple’s weaknesses; That was

just the tip of the iceberg. After all, the company nearly went

under a few years ago. Luckily for them, Microsoft tossed them a

life preserver in the form of boatloads of cash. Undoubtedly, that

was a huge blow to Steve Jobs’ ego.

In my mind, Apple has only one advantage in the computer industry

— they make a real pretty computer. The most successful product

release for the company was the iMac. The iMac became the staple

for aesthetically pleasing computing, at least before you turned

the computer on.

For Apple, the equation for a good computer is having a pretty case

design and as many bells and whistles as possible. The new G5

computers have a 64-bit processor, a 1Ghz bus, and up to 8GB of

RAM. Anyone seriously looking to build a computer with 8GB of RAM

will not buy an Apple product. There is a reason why Apple holds

little to no market share — PCs are better, hands down.

What really boils my blood are the people that own Apple’s

overpriced paperweights. If you have ever experienced the joy of

being in an Apple store, you will understand my frustrations. For

those of you wishing to “think different,” this is the place to go.

You can join all of the other haughty people in town wanting a

break from the coffee shop. Did you know that by simply owning an

Apple, your IQ increases tenfold?

It is apparent that Apple tries to appeal to the self-absorbed

sector of society. One of the features of the new Power Mac G5 is

the useful handle on the top of the case. Here’s a direct quote

from their Web site: “The Power Mac G5’s built-in handles will come

in handy the day you need to move all your stuff into that corner

office you’ve always had your eye on.” Once again, Apple

pathetically makes a link between owning a Mac and success.

In the end, the only reason to own an Apple is it’s what you’ve

always used. Macs are slower, more expensive and lack the industry

support to make them great. Think about that before you invest

thousands of dollars into something that will be obsolete the

second time you start it up.