Windows vs. Mac

[jefferycarman]

A Mac is much easier to plug in and play. I am not saying you can't get in depth, but they require little to no computer knowledge to get into. If you really want to get into the stuff a PC offers more options and much more variety of those options. I use my Mac. I love it. It is a lot harder to find things for your Mac than it is a PC. Because everything for the most part is PC based. I play around with graphic arts stuff, do my own videos. It's easier for me on the Mac. In general though there is more options for everything on the PC and with the exception of graphics stuff I would bet a PC would be the better route for a person who knows a bit.

Personally, I will stick with the Mac. Mine was cheaper than a relative PC at the time, and it out performs the relative PC I have since kicked to the curb. I do occasionally look at them for the gaming aspect, because yet again, the PC has all the options...

Maybe Mac will make a push again and get a bit more of the market. Who knows.

 

[solarbarack]

I run vista and Ubuntu, and hopefully by tommorow Mac osx86.

 

[beaquel]

This is a very fascinating debate. I am a computer hobbyist. I've built and upgraded my PC's for at least 12 years or so. After struggling for several months with my most recent Windows XP build, I just threw in the towel. I can't imagine how many days of my life have been lost with driver upgrades, security patches, hardware rebuilds, etc. Enough is enough. I grew weary of the constant handholding required to keep a PC running well. I got a 20" iMac the week before Thanksgiving last year and haven't looked back since. There's been a few things that I was scratching my head over. There is a modest learning curve, but once you learn there's no going back. When my wife's XP laptop eventually dies on us, we're going to get her a MacBook. If we can't afford it immediately, we'll just wait until we can. I think they're worth it. Keep in mind, Apple runs about a 30% profit margin. They have a very solid premium pricing policy. It hurts to pay so much for each product, but that way they can afford the customer support you've always expected from a US based company.

 

[jefferycarman]

Bea - good point on the customer service.

My story on that. I bought the 21" iMac when it first came out. After a few months the mouse started acting funny, then the roller in the middle stopped working. When I purchased my Mac I bought the extended cover everything deal through "best buy". I took the mouse back and 3 months later they were still "working" on getting me a new one. This all happened during my move from southern cali back to Oregon. Got to Oregon, and they still hadn't shipped my mouse, I called Apple and they overnighted me one for 1$. That was return postage. Far and away the best service I have gotten.

 

[Sannosuke]

Don't have the time nor patience to get a PC working like a Mac... so I bought a Mac. ;-)

 

[roadthing]

Don't have the time nor patience to get a PC working like a Mac... so I bought a Mac. ;-)

Right on!

 

[beaquel]

I don't think you'll ever meet a person who's made the switch from PC to Mac that wishes they hadn't. You'll only meet people who complain about how expensive they are. That's probably going to be the only complaint you'll hear.

 

[WWJD]

suprisingly, I have a buddy [ a tech] who setup a mac for his wife, started using it and swore off his XP.  a month later he is back.  his wife will use the mac and he has reinstalled XP clean.  he missed all his apps

there is room for both. i wish there were even competition for MS. Linux is there, but know one knows about it. well, not the masses anyway

 

[Sannosuke]

I don't think you'll ever meet a person who's made the switch from PC to Mac that wishes they hadn't.  You'll only meet people who complain about how expensive they are.  That's probably going to be the only complaint you'll hear.

The only people I've ever encountered that complained about the price were those who don't take into consideration all the software that comes with a Mac. Sure, go buy a $499 bargain store special that come with pretty much zilch for apps. and software. Afterwards go and price out all the software/hardware that is standard with a Mac.

Not such a good deal anymore is it? Lets say you don't want all the extra software, your still left with a highly unstable machine... unless your the type that would rather fiddle then do actual computing it doesn't measure up.

 

[WWJD]

two words: Free Ware

Not PIRATE, but Free. PC has loads of high quality freeware available... MAC, not so much. But again, it's not for the everyman. Last few PCs I made were sub $300, run great and the people love them. ALL freeware. internet, media burning and playback, chat, video, audio, Office stuff, etc etc etc all Free

 

[FloydV]

I say that because the PC has GOBS [I mean ton-o-gobs] of software vareity available where as the mac simply does not.
Oh yeah, and VISTA SUCKS. just had to get that in.

Correct. There is no money in writing code for a machine that has 10-20% of the market.

XP sucked when it first came out. Then after service pack two and 5,000 updates it has finally become stable. About the time that Vista becomes reliable, the next Wunderkind OS will be released by Microsh*t. When it comes to MS, we pay to be beta testers.

Correct. There is no money in writing code for a machine that has 10-20% of the market.

XP sucked when it first came out. Then after service pack two and 5,000 updates it has finally become stable. About the time that Vista becomes reliable, the next Wunderkind OS will be released by Microsh*t. When it comes to MS, we pay to be beta testers.

 

[Revlis]

I'm done with the PCs. It makes little sense to have your computer and the software that drives it being built independently. The Notion that you cannot do as much on a Mac is plain silly. Sure there isn't the 10,000 options for crappy software, but the speed and simplicity with which Macs handle business apps, Graphics, photos, and Videos makes it sort of a nul argument now. Besides you can run all PC apps on a Mac, not that hard.

Mac is steam rolling PCs in increased Sales and this is just the beginning of the trend. Put bluntly, you provide customers with an elegant well engineered product they will buy it. You keep rehashing your decades old code, lining up patch after patch and you begin to see more and more aberration and mutation.

I am betting against Microsoft this time. I am willing to bet that the colossus is going to erode, and there will be some major reorganization within 5-7 years. Whenever a Bureaucracy grows and bloats to the point where it can no longer release a functional lead product?

(Ford, GM etc...) You're on a slippery slope and the brakes have probably already fallen off.

 

[Revlis]

Don't have the time nor patience to get a PC working like a Mac... so I bought a Mac. ;-)

Right on!

This reminds me of the "Like a BMW" advertising you see all the time. "Handles Like a BMW." "Accelerates like a BMW." Etc...

There was a line I read awhile back in a Pontiac G5 review (I think it was a G5). It was "BMW beats 'like a BMW' every Time."

I think this sort of holds true in a lot of different ways out in the world. Mac is a great example, Continue with a copycat, Min 2Gig recommended behemoth of an OS in the hopes that it somehow becomes useful and stable, OR simple go ahead and get the thing that works the way it's supposed to.

Meh, I use both, and likely will for quite awhile, but my next personal computer will likely be a Mac.

 

[FloydV]

Uuhm, didn't Mac start offering Pentium processors and MS operating systems?

I think this battle has been lost for a long time. Your internal configuration and peripherals are too limited with a Mac. If you want a RAID 5 killer HD server for your home theater, that is way out of a Mac league. Dual processors (not dual core), multiple HDs, multiple burners, optical drives--won't happen. If you just want to work with Adobe or a word processor, a Mac is fine. If you need to do serious work in 3 dimensions with Autocad, you will need more get up and go. Busa vs. a Honda Rebel. Depends on what you want to do.

 

[WWJD]

It makes little sense to have your computer and the software that drives it being built independently.  

what? that's how major progress is made: competition, experimentation, exploration.

 

[Spudley]

I used to have windows XP, now I have a macintoch.
I dont need any virus software or hacker software on my mac cuz macs dont get viruses like windows.
I actually have a program on my mac where i can get windows, its called "parallels desktop" so i can get windows on my mac.
Macs are more stable than windows and you dont have to worry about virus and hacker programs taking up all your resources and slowing down or crashing your computer because macs dont need virus or hacker programs.

I think Steve Jobs pays hackers to screw with Gates' products, personally, but then again a lot of hackers run Mac.....

Comes down to the binary, a virus bumps into a Mac and says, "What's this

", it runs into a PC and says "What, no virus protection

, YIPPEEEEEE !!!!"

 

[Jester0769]

Ive been running both for a while now and I have to say. I LOVE MY MAC. I wish I could have a mac for every computer I have to use during the day but that would just cost me to much.

as for the "not able to have multi drive" thing, BULL!!! I have seen a buddies power mac with two dvd burners, and a plan cd burner running QUAD (thats right 4) processors, not 2 dual core, but 4 stand alone processors. THAT THING WAS SMOKING!!! was running quad 22 inch flats doing hard core 3d design and having no problems.

I love my mac and will never go back. I just use PC`s when I have too.


Josh


Ryders Conneciton

 

[Revlis]

Uuhm, didn't Mac start offering Pentium processors and MS operating systems?

I think this battle has been lost for a long time. Your internal configuration and peripherals are too limited with a Mac. If you want a RAID 5 killer HD server for your home theater, that is way out of a Mac league. Dual processors (not dual core), multiple HDs, multiple burners, optical drives--won't happen. If you just want to work with Adobe or a word processor, a Mac is fine. If you need to do serious work in 3 dimensions with Autocad, you will need more get up and go. Busa vs. a Honda Rebel. Depends on what you want to do.

Right...