I bill for about 4 hours a day on average, and I charge $70 an hour. I mainly fix computer problems related to corrupt hard drives, RAM installation, CD/DVD ROM repair, internet connectivity issues, printer problems, audio problems, and the like.

I charge $20 just to take a look at your computer. If you decided that you want me to fix it, (after I tell you how long it will probably take) I apply that $20 to your “balance.” Most jobs take about an hour and I bill in 20 minute increments, rounding up. If I have to come to you, there is an additional $30 charge. After hours, holidays, and emergencies have an additional charge of $20 an hour.

In other words, if you want to make a living fixing PCs, you’ll need to take advantage of your potential customers’ limited time, and get paid good money to focus on their problems so they can worry about other things. Here are a few things to expect if you decide to become the neighborhood computer repair technician:

• Expect to be riddled with calls and requests for fixing computers for the rest of your natural life.
• You will get all types of customers… rich little old ladies who pay well… to [those] who will try… to squeeze the most out of you for the least possible amount of money.
• You will get customers who blame you for the remotest computer problem they get even months after you repaired their machines.
• 90% of the problems you fix will be one of these: “My computer is too slow. Please clean it up”, “Help! I got viruses invading my PC!”, “I got blue screens or other funny error message. Fix it or please reinstall Windows.”

So much more useful information available from The PC Guild.

(image from Frank Braski’s Flickr)

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Thanks to Andry for sending this in!

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At least that’s the findings of a study done by BrandIndex, who asked 5,000 people whether or not they believe they get good value for their money from a PC or Mac.

Apple had its highest BrandIndex rating in late winter, according to Ad Age, with a score of 70 on a scale of -100 to 100 (zero means neutral). Apple today sits at a much lower rating of 12.4.

Microsoft sat near zero in early February to a value-perception score of 46.2 presently, noted the report.

However, as noted by Tom’s Hardware, it’s also possible that the PC’s lower prices appeal more to consumers during these relatively hard economic times. Turns out Microsoft’s campaign could’ve made its debut at just the right time.

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The focus of Juan’s article is a Mac OS X trojan that allows its maker to secretly take control of a computer. Estimates place the number of infected Macs at around 20,000, as of last January 21.

To be fair, Juan’s question may have just been a figure of speech, based on the widely-held impression that Apple computers are safer and much more reliable than the PC. As someone who has run pretty demanding applications on a Mac (Premiere and Maya are two examples that come to mind), I can tell you that isn’t always the case.

Ultimately, the Mac is just another computing platform. It has its own share of quirks and limitations, some of which become surprisingly clear when exposed to similar circumstances PCs are used to. I’ve had my share of software failures and random crashes, especially when I’d really push my Mac workstation.

At the same time, while I’ve enjoyed the Mac’s relative freedom from viruses, malware, and all other kinds of virtual badness, I’ve felt constrained by its overall lack of capability compared to a PC. As any avid PC user knows, there are some things you can’t do with a Mac, because the software (or the tool) that does it can’t run on the platform.

You can argue this is also true for the PC, yet I’m hard-pressed to come up with a long list of Mac-only applications that PC users sorely miss. There is a reason why Apple makes Bootcamp available with new Macs: so that its users can run Windows and programs they consider crucial to their operations.

But I digress. Again we return to the Mac’s supposed hassle-free nature, and cite another reason behind this reality: Since they’re not as widespread as the PC, virus and malware makers simply don’t see any incentive to aim for Macs. If you’re a hacker who wanted to gain unauthorized control of as many computers as possible, wouldn’t you orient your attacks toward the PC, which is still a much more popular platform?

The point is this: As more users start using Macs (and I’m sure that this will happen), you can expect more people to program trojans, viruses, and whatever for the Mac OS X. As the user-base grows, so does the incentive to come up with ways to victimize it. More people to abuse means more opportunities for illicit gain.

No matter how supposedly secure a system is, there will always be loopholes that people can exploit to their advantage. And yes, that’s true for even an “invincible” computing platform like a Mac. That’s why I hope that, as Apple serves more customers, it will be ever-vigilant when it comes to resolving any vulnerabilities that become clear. At the same time, I hope future Mac OS X users will practice safe computing, never relying on assumptions that any particular computer is completely safe.

(image from Wikipedia)

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Yes, the MacBook is considerably better looking and it comes with a really nifty assortment of software. But for that $675 difference, you can buy yourself a copy of Microsoft Office Home & Student, a copy of Adobe Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements, and have plenty left over for a nice netbook.

Of course, Mr. Wildstrom was probably being creative, trying to make his point about Apple resisting the downward trend of laptop prices with his little experiment. And kudos to BusinessWeek for moderating the article’s comments.

While you can literally feel the desperation of Apple’s fans as they attempt to explain away the $600 deficit, it’s really hard to find any personal attacks and you-suck statements. Fallacies abound, from both sides, but that’s to be expected from any platform vs. platform conversation.

Let’s end this on a pretty straightforward note:

Nate
January 21, 2009 12:13 PM

AdamC:
“Being virus free is worth much more than the $600 plus price difference.”

And if OSx were virus free, that’d be a valid argument here.

Dun dun dunnnnn!

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