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Ask HN: Do you look down on people who don't use MacBooks?

2 points by jononomo ↗ HN
I have noticed that if I see someone working next to me and they aren't using a MacBook, then my opinion of them goes down a notch. For instance, there is a pretty girl working next to me right now, but she is on a Windows laptop, and I'm just not interested in chatting with her as a result. Do other people also experience this prejudice?

19 comments

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mattl
Where do you have the Dock on your MacBook?
voisin
If it’s not hidden are you really working?
jononomo
I don't use the Dock.
mattl
Wow, how long have you been using Mac OS X?
jononomo
ten years
mattl
Ah, so what did you use before that? I look down on people who haven’t been using NeXTSTEP since the 1980s..
darthrupert
If they are professional software developers, perhaps a Windows laptop would cause me to wonder why. If it's running Linux, they actually get points over Apple in my book, even though I use macs myself.

And jeez, don't diss the opposite sex over their computer taste.

PaulHoule
Until very recently, "develop on neural networks" was a good reason to be on Windows where you could get a non-trash GPU. Until Macs made the transition to arm I'd make the case they were inferior, now I'd say a desktop Windows machine still has advantages but Apple owns the laptop space.
jononomo
I just feel that they must not be competent enough to get a job that permits using a MacBook. Or maybe they're poor.
nateb2022
I can imagine you would have started the conversation, "So, how much did that thing cost?"
PaulHoule
I think Mac-ers have always been accepting of my Windows laptop with the caveat that historically they only had mini-DisplayPort cables so I learned to pack the right adapters in my backpack to plug into monitors, projectors, etc.

Personally I feel smugly superior when I go to a hack-a-thon with a cheap tablet, bluetooth mouse and keyboard and RDP into a cloud server. My client makes any Macbook look clunky and oversized yet behind it could be a cloud server with more RAM than all of those Macbooks put together.

Anyhow you must have a huge surplus of pretty girls in your life if you are going to not chat one up based on the computer they have.

dougmwne
Sounds like my opinion of mac users should be dropping.
h2odragon
We should celebrate diversity.

Except for the WebTV users. Sorry y'all its not worth it get a real computer.

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theGeatZhopa
Yes, that's the problem of Apple users :)

In the end it's the result that counts. This can be achieved in a lot of ways.

And the same discussion with brands & clothes:

If someone is wearing unbranded clothes, does this make he/she/it a human less worth??

Of course: no money, no brand clothes. But, you can't pinpoint "no apple"/"no brands" to "no money". For me, I could afford buying a new apple device every month. I just decided for my self, not to let wallgarden me :)

sebastianconcpt
Before considering to answer your question (not to mention upvote), do you even have a Lamborghini? What about a Bugatti? Wait, you don't even have a castle?

PS: Just a suggestion, your observation is a real phenomenon, personal values self-review is strongly encouraged. Too much utilitarianism and opportunism will invariably lead to some kind of psychopath world-view.

cc101
I don't look down on them. I do wonder about them though.
khedoros1
I've never liked Apple's hardware much. Since I've been paying attention over the past 20 years, it seems like they've dropped ports when I wanted more, skimped on RAM and storage, and moved to soldering everything in when I've never owned a computer that I didn't end up upgrading or repairing at some point in its life.

I don't look down on Mac users, but I recognize them as having preferences that don't match mine.

mindcrime
I look down on people who use MacBooks personally. YMMV. But in the end, "live and let live" ya know? Different strokes for different folks.