These days when you buy an electronic item - a telephone, a TV set, or
even a computer - you expect it to last for a few years and then
die. Once it dies, you go out and buy another one to replace
it.
When I talk about computers, I'm specifically talking about most
of the lower-cost options that are available from PC manufacturers
such as Gateway and Dell. These US$399 boxes are, well, cheap.
They're cheaply made - the power supplies may not last more than a
couple years, for example. However, just like the $24.99 cordless
telephone you bought on sale, they will serve their purpose just
fine for a short amount of time.
The design of Windows PCs is such that industry-standard
components can be packed into a somewhat small box (usually a small
tower). Whether or not it's specifically made to be difficult for
the consumer to upgrade (in some HP PCs the hard drives are almost
impossible to get at), I'm not sure, but it's certain that they
don't make upgrades and repairs easy.
How about the low-end Macs on the market today? The Mac mini isn't terrible - the bottom
can be pried off, if you're careful not to break it, giving you
access to the RAM slot and the hard drive. That's assuming an
average consumer would even want to attempt to replace the hard
drive on their own.
eMacs give easy access
to RAM upgrade slots, much like inexpensive PC's, but the hard
drive and optical drives are more difficult to access.
Ease of access comes at a price, no matter which manufacturer
you're buying from. It's logical, too, because the more you invest
in the system in the first place, the longer you'll want to keep it
for. If a $2,000 computer lasts for six years, a $500 machine
should last for just under two. In most cases.
Without anything but a RAM upgrade, a Mac mini should be able to
remain fairly current for 3-4 years, so you're certainly getting
value for your money, if not the fastest or most upgradeable
machine in the world.
Should you buy something on the high-end, such as my blue Power Mac G3 was in 1999, you get a
very easily upgraded machine. The fold-down side door gives easy
access to RAM slots (more than just one slot), and the two drive
bays are also very easily accessible. It's easy to tell that this
computer was built to last for more than just a couple years.
Unlike many inexpensive PCs, the inexpensive Macs tend to last
for a while. Once it breaks down, a cheap PC just isn't worth
having repaired. Its more cost-effective to replace it
completely.
However, since many older iMacs are still in service, there are
processor upgrades for them (for instance, the Harmoni
G3 upgrade for the tray-loading iMacs) which are aimed to
extend the life of the machine by an additional couple years.
The Bondi blue iMac was definitely a low-end, consumer, "surf
the Internet" machine, but with upgrades it can be made into a bit
more than just that. Since the quality of many of the parts inside
a low-end Mac are higher than those in a low-end PC (for instance,
the power supply), people find ways to extend a Mac's useful
life.
Up until the Mac mini, you generally paid a bit of a premium for
a Macintosh, but at the same time got a machine that would last for
many years if upgraded as needed. It remains to be seen if Apple,
with the Mac mini, has gone the way of the low-end telephones, TV
sets, and PCs, becoming essentially disposable goods.
