Jamf data claims most students would use a Mac - if they could afford it [u]

AppleInsider

Most college and university students would choose to use a Mac, but price is a considerable barrier, according to a survey commissioned by Apple-oriented device management firm Jamf. [Updated with revised Jamf data on percent of PC buyers motivated by price]

71% of the students surveyed said they prefer a Mac, even though 60% use a Windows PC, according to research outfit Vanson Bourne. Of the people on a PC, 56% chose price as their central motivation.

The data was collected earlier in 2019 from 2,244 people in five countries.

It also suggests, however, that many Mac and Windows users are firmly entrenched. Only 43% of PC users said that Macs provide the best value, that figure rising to 80% among Mac users.

Mac users typically see the platform as "more intuitive," "longer-lasting," "more secure," and better for productivity, Jamf added.

While Apple regularly runs educational discounts and "Back to School" promotions, Macs are still typically more expensive than equivalent PCs. A minimum-spec Mac mini is $799 before any necessary peripherals like a keyboard, mouse, or monitor -- the MacBook Air, once a budget champion, is now at least $1,199.

lkrupp

On the flip side, most students would NOT want to use a cheap, low-end Mac because it wouldn’t perform like the real thing. They want the quality and design but can’t afford it. In my college days that was known as a "Champagne taste but a Beer pocketbook”. You want the Corvette but you drive a Corvair. You want the Mac but you can afford a Dell. The Mac comes later when you are making some money.

silverwarloc

Most of the Macs I owned were refurbished. Even when purchasing refurbished Macs, they are still good value compared to brand new PCs. The last Mac I bought brand new was for my daughter. I bought her a 15" MBP with retina display. Her med school mostly use Macs. I was so happy about it that I bought with alacrity.

frantisek

I never bought PC for personal usage and I am i "poor" country and never shelled for any Apple product more then say 250 USD. I have 7 of them. Simply buying what I can afford. My Macbook Pro is 2008, with hacked Mojave and is running fine. You must sacrifice something, like battery life, big trackpad, video over Airplay....

1STnTENDERBITS

Hmmm.  A bit torn on this story.  I generally like Jamf and their support of Macs in education.  But this survey they commissioned gets a side eye from me.  Not because of the obvious bias inherent in a survey commissioned by a company that relies on the survey subject for income.  No they get a side eye for hiding access to the survey info behind a blatant marketing scheme designed to harvest potential customer info.  I don't think any sites should be promoting this since it's an obvious tactic to build a sales list for cold calling.  

Here's the link to Jamf's survey:  https://www.jamf.com/resources/e-books/the-influence-of-student-device-choice-on-the-modern-workplace/  Now try to click on the .pdf to download the info.

ravnorodom

I convinced my wife to get a Mac (got her as birthday present forcefully). I can't stand PC's maintenance -- there are always issues: backup, virus, updates, you name it ..... endless.

wood1208

Duh!!! You don't have to go to college to know that. I have been telling for long time that just like iPhone XR vs XS, Apple should create two categories of Macbook Pros. One GOTO MBP with no touchbar,no high end processors,etc and other with all super duper additions for professionals, corporations,etc. Not sure same two categories can be done for Macbook and Macbook Air but worth figuring out price vs performance/features differentiation.

Here is example or representation of students. My daughter is using 2012 13" MBP and still going well. She wants to upgrade but the price is obstale so she kept pushing upgrade further in future. In fact she love her MBP so much that she won't give up MBP to replace with Windows laptop.

flydog

Plenty of used Macs on eBay for the price of a new Windows turd. 

saarek

Apple has essentially exited the lower high end section, and education section of the market, and I think it is a mistake.

For years I have been getting people to switch to the Mac. Yes they were typically 50% more to buy than a comparable PC, but you could point to the superior build quality, operating system, resell price, etc, and make a compelling argument.

But now, now I find that I cannot recommend them. The reliability is simply not there anymore, the Keyboard being the major issue that people talk about, but it is more than that. I myself have already had to have the display replaced on my 2017 MacBook Pro due to an issue with artefacts on the screen when it is open at a certain angle, plus two replacement keyboards and all of this in the space of 9 months. My Brother in law bought a fully decked out MacBook Pro 15" in March last year (£3399 worth!), so far he has had his logic board replaced, one keyboard replacement and an entire upper section replacement to fix his speakers that were broken. These two example MacBook's are not mistreated, they are extremely well looked after, they are just a terrible design.

Even removing the terrible reliability of these machines, the pricing now is not even in the ball park for your average consumer. 3 years or so ago you could talk around someone who was looking at a £500-600 computer and convince them to spend the extra and buy a £800-900 Mac. But whereas very decent Windows machines are still available at £500-600 the MacBook line starts at £1199, 100% more.

Sure, Apple will point to the iPad and say there, there is your computer. But what about those that want a real computer, those that want a proper laptop for school or for home? Apple has just ceded that part of the market to Windows. All those students will now use Windows and not buy Apple in the future, all those kids at home won't learn to use a Mac and they will just buy windows.

The Mac for the masses is dead, and that just makes me sad.

saarek

flydog said:

Plenty of used Macs on eBay for the price of a new Windows turd. 

I think we will find a whole host of MacBooks that will effectively be unsellable once they hit 4 years old. At 4 years old the Apple Keyboard warranty runs out and no one will want a computer that costs more to fix than to buy.

It's a shame, one of the main selling points of a Mac to me was the resell value. When I sold my 6 year old MacBook Pro last year I got back 40% of the initial purchase price, no way that'll happen on the current generation!

franklinjackcon

1STnTENDERBITS said:

Hmmm.  A bit torn on this story.  I generally like Jamf and their support of Macs in education.  But this survey they commissioned gets a side eye from me.  Not because of the obvious bias inherent in a survey commissioned by a company that relies on the survey subject for income.  No they get a side eye for hiding access to the survey info behind a blatant marketing scheme designed to harvest potential customer info.  I don't think any sites should be promoting this since it's an obvious tactic to build a sales list for cold calling.  

Here's the link to Jamf's survey:  https://www.jamf.com/resources/e-books/the-influence-of-student-device-choice-on-the-modern-workplace/  Now try to click on the .pdf to download the info.

That's fairly standard for companies to trade marketing assets for contact details. They aren't a research firm, they sell a product. If they couldn't get any value from the survey they wouldn't run it. If they make it interesting enough, news sites pick up on it.

OutdoorAppDeveloper

Hilarious article. That's the point though, isn't it? Wouldn't most students prefer an iPhone and an Apple Watch too if they could afford it? Why shouldn't Apple make affordable products to go along with its high priced status symbol products? Both categories are valid.

1STnTENDERBITS

franklinjackcon said:

1STnTENDERBITS said:

Hmmm.  A bit torn on this story.  I generally like Jamf and their support of Macs in education.  But this survey they commissioned gets a side eye from me.  Not because of the obvious bias inherent in a survey commissioned by a company that relies on the survey subject for income.  No they get a side eye for hiding access to the survey info behind a blatant marketing scheme designed to harvest potential customer info.  I don't think any sites should be promoting this since it's an obvious tactic to build a sales list for cold calling.  

Here's the link to Jamf's survey:  https://www.jamf.com/resources/e-books/the-influence-of-student-device-choice-on-the-modern-workplace/  Now try to click on the .pdf to download the info.

That's fairly standard for companies to trade marketing assets for contact details. They aren't a research firm, they sell a product. If they couldn't get any value from the survey they wouldn't run it. If they make it interesting enough, news sites pick up on it.

I'm aware of the frequency of use and reasoning behind this tactic.  Understanding the circumstances doesn't make it any more palatable to me.  

mobird

silverwarloc said:

Most of the Macs I owned were refurbished. Even when purchasing refurbished Macs, they are still good value compared to brand new PCs. The last Mac I bought brand new was for my daughter. I bought her a 15" MBP with retina display. Her med school mostly use Macs. I was so happy about it that I bought with alacrity.

Thanks, I learned a new word today. "alacrity".

maciekskontakt

lkrupp said:

On the flip side, most students would NOT want to use a cheap, low-end Mac because it wouldn’t perform like the real thing. They want the quality and design but can’t afford it. In my college days that was known as a "Champagne taste but a Beer pocketbook”. You want the Corvette but you drive a Corvair. You want the Mac but you can afford a Dell. The Mac comes later when you are making some money.

In most competitive market you have a model or two that are affordable. Even BMW realised that in automotive industry. that is also how you build relationship with customers so, when they can afford more they would buy more expensive models.

franklinjackcon

1STnTENDERBITS said:

franklinjackcon said:

1STnTENDERBITS said:

Hmmm.  A bit torn on this story.  I generally like Jamf and their support of Macs in education.  But this survey they commissioned gets a side eye from me.  Not because of the obvious bias inherent in a survey commissioned by a company that relies on the survey subject for income.  No they get a side eye for hiding access to the survey info behind a blatant marketing scheme designed to harvest potential customer info.  I don't think any sites should be promoting this since it's an obvious tactic to build a sales list for cold calling.  

Here's the link to Jamf's survey:  https://www.jamf.com/resources/e-books/the-influence-of-student-device-choice-on-the-modern-workplace/  Now try to click on the .pdf to download the info.

That's fairly standard for companies to trade marketing assets for contact details. They aren't a research firm, they sell a product. If they couldn't get any value from the survey they wouldn't run it. If they make it interesting enough, news sites pick up on it.

I'm aware of the frequency of use and reasoning behind this tactic.  Understanding the circumstances doesn't make it any more palatable to me.  

Seems like outrage over nothing

eightzero

Well...I always prefer premium brands over stuff I can afford too. Is there really a debate over whether Apple products are a premium brand?

I do acknowledge there might be a subjective judgment over the value of a premium brand. However, if money is not an object...that value proposition is pretty clear, isn't it? 

king editor the grate

saarek said:

The reliability is simply not there anymore, the Keyboard being the major issue that people talk about, but it is more than that. I myself have already had to have the display replaced on my 2017 MacBook Pro due to an issue with artefacts on the screen when it is open at a certain angle, plus two replacement keyboards and all of this in the space of 9 months. My Brother in law bought a fully decked out MacBook Pro 15" in March last year (£3399 worth!), so far he has had his logic board replaced, one keyboard replacement and an entire upper section replacement to fix his speakers that were broken. These two example MacBook's are not mistreated, they are extremely well looked after, they are just a terrible design.

I procured a G5 iMac in 2004. For 18 months, all was swell. Then, under AppleCare, the hard drive was replaced once or twice, the logic board once or twice, and some other litany of ridiculousness. It was in the shop six to nine times in six months. Then it started sleeping itself; if I let it have a nap, it would run for 10-15 minutes before sleeping again, but if I woke it immediately, it would sleep in 5-10 seconds. Apple's quality control had produced an electronic abacus with narcolepsy.

After repeated hours on the phone with Apple over two nights, I finally talked to someone who agreed to send me a 2006 iMac. (Still in use!) The Chuzzlewit on the first night wanted me to drive a two-hour roundtrip (yet again) to have the back replaced because he thought the switch was making it sleep.

 Lemons suck but are inevitable.

big kc

Besides this company, I've only seen the term "JAMF" used one other time - by Dirty Harry in the movie Sudden Impact, where he calls Horace King a JAMF, prompting Horace to ask "what the hell is a JAMF?", too which Harry responds "jive a__ m__ f___". Horace cuts off the last word with "forget I asked". So of course I see Horace every time I see this company mentioned.

charlesatlas

lkrupp said:

On the flip side, most students would NOT want to use a cheap, low-end Mac because it wouldn’t perform like the real thing. They want the quality and design but can’t afford it. In my college days that was known as a "Champagne taste but a Beer pocketbook”. You want the Corvette but you drive a Corvair. You want the Mac but you can afford a Dell. The Mac comes later when you are making some money.

On my office desk, I'm typing this on a 2012 i7 Macbook running Mojave, with 16GB of RAM and a 2TB hybrid drive. Still works like a charm and only cost me $400 a couple of years ago from eBay. Does everything I need it to do. Don't ask for the moon and you won't have to pay through the nose.

1STnTENDERBITS

franklinjackcon said:

1STnTENDERBITS said:

franklinjackcon said:

1STnTENDERBITS said:

Hmmm.  A bit torn on this story.  I generally like Jamf and their support of Macs in education.  But this survey they commissioned gets a side eye from me.  Not because of the obvious bias inherent in a survey commissioned by a company that relies on the survey subject for income.  No they get a side eye for hiding access to the survey info behind a blatant marketing scheme designed to harvest potential customer info.  I don't think any sites should be promoting this since it's an obvious tactic to build a sales list for cold calling.  

Here's the link to Jamf's survey:  https://www.jamf.com/resources/e-books/the-influence-of-student-device-choice-on-the-modern-workplace/  Now try to click on the .pdf to download the info.

That's fairly standard for companies to trade marketing assets for contact details. They aren't a research firm, they sell a product. If they couldn't get any value from the survey they wouldn't run it. If they make it interesting enough, news sites pick up on it.

I'm aware of the frequency of use and reasoning behind this tactic.  Understanding the circumstances doesn't make it any more palatable to me.  

Seems like outrage over nothing

I say "a bit torn" and you interpret "outrage"?  Are you sure you know what that word means?