Pleaze edumacate me...mac vs. PC

[batonrougesooner]

There are some mac users I've met who speak so highly of their computers that it almost takes on a religious quality. To be honest, I've never heard any negative things about the mac or any of the recent apple products in general. I for one love the simplicity of my ipod and my wife, who is generally not very technically savy, absolutely adores her iphone.

So then, why should I keep dealing with the constant headaches my pc based laptop and home computers keep dealing me? (not sure if pc based is even the correct term). Both happen to be HP but I suspect the problems are a combination of the hardware, OS, and software. The laptop is running vista.

So please tell me, why shouldn't I scrap what I'm using now and convert completely to mac? What does the pc do for me that the mac can't do as well or better?

TIA

[Lott's Bandana]

There are many, many wise folks on this board that can advise you better than me.

However, as a layman (I'm thinking like you) I have come to loathe my PC and am really, really pleased to be typing this on my new iMac.

My iPhone was my first Apple product and that's when I chugged the kool-aid.

I suppose it makes a difference what you do with your computer. I have a photo biz and the iMac is almost mandatory. However, so many programs are Windows-based that not having a PC is troublesome, unless you run your Apple machine in Parallels, which splits your RAM as I understand. I purchased it but haven't loaded it as my PC is sitting here next to me...crying out for attention and then being a bitch when I do touch it.

[King Crimson]

i grew up a mac guy, true believer, and have used both. i have had a Dell desktop for the last 7 years without problems. i have an old iMac in my office that's always quirky. i've owned 2 mac powerbooks that were complete crap i overpaid for. OS X is great. but is it 500$ extra great when all this stuff is disposable culture?

i won't lie, my approach to info tech is it's disposable junk and save your stuff in multiple drives and don't pay the extra 500$ for the mac name when you can get some screaming shizz on a PC or buy a plane ticket to Playa Azul for a week. iTunes pretends like it invented file sharing and mp3--which is bull****. a lo of us have been trading files for a decade before iTunes. mac has all this vertical integration that makes you a prisoner to overpay for their stuff.

[King Crimson]

and by the solid, wholesome true america profiling of this board (towards driving a volvo and wearing flip-flops)....i'd skew way heavy into the mac fag range by most people's opinion.

all the college kids are buying macs.

[Vaevictis]

Basically, there's little or no difference between the underlying hardware when comparing PC's and Macs -- in fact, by all real measures, Macs ARE PC's these days.

The only difference is that Apple takes the time to tightly integrate everything.

When you buy a PC, what you have is a third party manufacturer handling the hardware plus Microsoft slapping an operating system on top. It's not very tightly integrated, a lot of the software that comes with the computer is cheap third party software that the manufacturer got for free or got paid to include.

Apple manages both the assembly of the computer and the operating system, and makes an effort to ensure that you have highly integrated, high quality software out of the box.

Essentially, what you're paying for with a Mac is this tight integration. The software is usually of higher quality, plays nicer together, etc. The hardware is usually a little nicer looking, and usually has other usability qualities that the PCs won't have.

What it really boils down to is -- either of them can get the job done. The Mac will usually do it with a little more style and with a little less annoyance for most users.

This may or may not be worth it to you.

(* Exception: Some software is Mac only, some software is PC only. If you have specific software you want to run, make sure it'll run on the one you want to buy before you buy it.)

[Veritas]

i grew up a mac guy, true believer, and have used both. i have had a Dell desktop for the last 7 years without problems. i have an old iMac in my office that's always quirky. i've owned 2 mac powerbooks that were complete crap i overpaid for. OS X is great. but is it 500$ extra great when all this stuff is disposable culture?

i won't lie, my approach to info tech is it's disposable junk and save your stuff in multiple drives and don't pay the extra 500$ for the mac name when you can get some screaming shizz on a PC or buy a plane ticket to Playa Azul for a week. iTunes pretends like it invented file sharing and mp3--which is bull****. a lo of us have been trading files for a decade before iTunes. mac has all this vertical integration that makes you a prisoner to overpay for their stuff.
This.

I use both heavily. The whole Mac vs PC thing is for tards. They both have places where they excel.

For example:
I own a software development company. Our office network is all PC. We use Active Directory as a domain controller and all of our computers are PCs. Why? Because I can buy a multi-core firebreathing HP workstation for about $400 off the net. It would cost me LITERALLY 10x or more as much to do that with Macs.

All of my servers are HP Proliant or Lenovos running Windows. Why? Because I can buy a pretty kickass server for about $1K. I can't even sniff a Mac for $4K.

Mac loves to posture and talk **** on TV, but the reality is that PCs will always dominate corporate/enterprise environments, if for no other reason than that Mac's prices for hardware are ****ing retarded.

NOW, I also own a few Macs. My designers use Macs. I use a Mac for non-business stuff, like sitting on the couch posting stuff on internet message boards. :) Is my MacBook Pro worth the premium I paid? Nah, but it is a fantastic machine...but if I'd spent $3k on a laptop PC it would be a fantastic machine too.

Get what your budget affords you. If you have $1000+ to blow out the door on a Mac, go for it. If you only want to spend $500, there are some damn nice PCs out there.

[Vaevictis]

And for what it's worth, I don't own any Macs. I like them, but not enough to pay the premium associated with them.

[badger]

The real question is - do you like games?

(the other real question is do you like money more than compy performance)

If you like PC games likethe Orange Box, Bioshock et al, you will need a PC because Mac for some reason doesn't have a lot of games like that.

If you like money, keep in mind that Mac's have so much already on them that it brings up the price a lot and you will likely not find a Mac on the cheap. PC's vary in price, because they vary in what they offer. If you just need a computer to check e-mail and access the Internet for sf.com, you will not need a Mac nor an expensive topadaline PC.

[King Crimson]

The real question is - do you like games?

(the other real question is do you like money more than compy performance)

If you like PC games like World of Warcraft, the Orange Box, Bioshock, Civilization et al, you will need a PC because Mac for some reason doesn't have a lot of games like that.


disagree. i don't play games. i think there is more to it when i say it's disposable culture. compy performance.

mac is great, but if you have the extra 400$ to pay for the name alone....

[badger]

Here you go for more advice,heh:
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[jiminy]

If you just want to feel superior to PC users, go with Linux. It's a lot cheaper.

[jkjsooner]

If you just want to feel superior to PC users, go with Linux. It's a lot cheaper.

Or just go with Mac since it now runs on Unix. I don't have a Mac but the thought of having all the Unix command line tools is intriguing.

[KC//CRIMSON]

You can't click with a Mac touchpad. That's my only gripe.

[jiminy]

Or just go with Mac since it now runs on Unix. I don't have a Mac but the thought of having all the Unix command line tools is intriguing.

This is actually one of my beefs with Apple. They have borrowed a lot of code that is the work of the open source community over many years. The Mac's stability and security owes a lot to that. And they continue to benefit from open source applications shoring up their software offerings. So, when are they gonna give something back, huh? Maybe iphoto for Linux? All take, no give...

[Fraggle145]

You can't click with a Mac touchpad. That's my only gripe.

you can now.

[Fraggle145]

Basically, there's little or no difference between the underlying hardware when comparing PC's and Macs -- in fact, by all real measures, Macs ARE PC's these days.

The only difference is that Apple takes the time to tightly integrate everything.

When you buy a PC, what you have is a third party manufacturer handling the hardware plus Microsoft slapping an operating system on top. It's not very tightly integrated, a lot of the software that comes with the computer is cheap third party software that the manufacturer got for free or got paid to include.

Apple manages both the assembly of the computer and the operating system, and makes an effort to ensure that you have highly integrated, high quality software out of the box.

Essentially, what you're paying for with a Mac is this tight integration. The software is usually of higher quality, plays nicer together, etc. The hardware is usually a little nicer looking, and usually has other usability qualities that the PCs won't have.

What it really boils down to is -- either of them can get the job done. The Mac will usually do it with a little more style and with a little less annoyance for most users.

This may or may not be worth it to you.

(* Exception: Some software is Mac only, some software is PC only. If you have specific software you want to run, make sure it'll run on the one you want to buy before you buy it.)

Yep the integration is what you are paying for and the extras it provides. However this also means you cant upgrade the hardware without getting a new machine. But I have also found that the Macs tend to last longer.

I just got a new mac and I love it. If you want to game etc... just use bootcamp or Parallels. These let you run windows as a seperate partition of the drive or let you run windows and Mac at the same time. PC's as far as I know cant do this yet. This lets me run any programs that are windows only as well as the Mac Programs.

[soonerboomer93]

really, I do agree the whole pc vs mac arguement is retarded

oh, and vista as an os, is perfectly stable, other factors have contributed to it's reputation as a bad os. It's not ME, it's better then that (but yeah, it's not quite xp sp2)

[soonerboomer93]

This is actually one of my beefs with Apple. They have borrowed a lot of code that is the work of the open source community over many years. The Mac's stability and security owes a lot to that. And they continue to benefit from open source applications shoring up their software offerings. So, when are they gonna give something back, huh? Maybe iphoto for Linux? All take, no give...

really, I think mac security is over rated.

There's been multiple tests done on mac security, I even remember back when they hacked a MAC osX server faster then the Windows server.

Security is all about market share, and failure to update. Apple releases service patches for the mac, just like microsoft releases ones for windows. Just mac's are 15ish percent of the market and well, not an intriguing target.

[yermom]

i'm a Unix guy. i haven't seen a front end to any *nix system that even comes close to being as usable

right now the 32bit vs the 64bit thing is really becoming an issue with me on Windows with how cheap RAM is

[GrapevineSooner]

My brother in law is a co-owner of a computer support business. 85% of his clients use PCs and 15% use Macs.

By his estimation, he has to resolve the same security issues with Macs that he has to resolve using PCs.

[LosAngelesSooner]

I've always explained it to newer tech users like this:

A Mac is like a brand new 2009 Lexus, fresh off the showroom floor. It's sleek and cool looking and runs like a dream, but if it breaks down you're gonna have to take it in to the shop and pay a ton to fix it...and if you want to soop it up, you're gonna have to take it in to a shop and have a pro work on it.

A PC is like a '67 Mustang. You can take a Corvette engine and drop it in there, some wheels from a Trans-Am, a sweeeet supercharger you picked up at the store...and have it running faster than the Mac EVER would. And if it breaks down, you can pull it apart and fix it in your garage...IF...IF...IF you know what you're doing. It's not gonna be quite as pretty, but you can do a lot more with it if you know how.

But if you don't, then you're better off with a Mac, and taking it in to the pros whenever it does break down.

AND THEY ALL BREAK DOWN EVENTUALLY.

Also, when it comes to PCs I ONLY go with either Dell or Sony Viao.

That's all an oversimplification, but I think it's kinda a good way to describe the differences.

[CrimsonJim]

^^^^^^ This + price comparison = TRUE

[MR2-Sooner86]

Macbook Pro owner right here but I really don't care what anybody buys. I'm into graphics and editing and I just prefer using programs like Photoshop on a Mac over Windows.

The hardware works better with a Mac but when you get down to it I could build a super badass PC that'd blow anything out of the water for pretty cheap. I hear you can build an awesome machine and trick OSX to installing on it but it's a real bitch.

As for software, Windows sucks. Yeah, I may not have games like everybody seems to think makes it better but I have a Xbox 360 and PS3 for that. The only games for the computer I like are from Blizzard and they do duel OS installs on their disks so it doesn't matter.

[jiminy]

Don't forget the part about how Mac/Lexus owners get to look down their noses at us common folk. That's gotta be worth a few bucks, right?

[OU_Sooners75]

Why not use a PC with Linux Ubuntu?

Linux does not begin to use the RAM that Windows or OS/X does.

[King Crimson]

Why not use a PC with Linux Ubuntu?

Linux does not begin to use the RAM that Windows or OS/X does.

see, that's what i don't get. i run Ubuntu on my laptop and it's awesome and easy. but. macsters like to pretend they are all Open Source and radical Richard Stallman,GNU anti-corporate types. when the opposite (iTunes) is true. all proprietary and crap compression rates that makes p2p folks LOL.

[Veritas]

Why not use a PC with Linux Ubuntu?
Because, continuing with the OS-as-car metaphor, Ubuntu is like a kit-car. You have to know WTF you're doing. It IS very easy to use...as long as nothing goes wrong and you don't plan on needing to use most commercially available software.

Successful Linux (including Ubuntu) users only live on both extremes of the knowledge spectrum, with the completely ignorant or the experts.

My grandmother, for example, has a laptop running Ubuntu. All she does is use Firefox to surf the net or read email. Works great, because she doesn't need Quicken or play games or edit photos or do anything, really, beyond use Firefox.

I'm on the other end of the spectrum, and I use Ubuntu for a couple of my Linux/Apache/PHP/MySQL dev servers. It's easy to use, nice UI, but I also know what I'm doing.

[OU_Sooners75]

Because, continuing with the OS-as-car metaphor, Ubuntu is like a kit-car. You have to know WTF you're doing. It IS very easy to use...as long as nothing goes wrong and you don't plan on needing to use most commercially available software.

Successful Linux (including Ubuntu) users only live on both extremes of the knowledge spectrum, with the completely ignorant or the experts.

My grandmother, for example, has a laptop running Ubuntu. All she does is use Firefox to surf the net or read email. Works great, because she doesn't need Quicken or play games or edit photos or do anything, really, beyond use Firefox.

I'm on the other end of the spectrum, and I use Ubuntu for a couple of my Linux/Apache/PHP/MySQL dev servers. It's easy to use, nice UI, but I also know what I'm doing.


Veritas...I agree 100%. However, learning how to use any linux operating system (Personally, I think Ubuntu is the best one) is not hard to do.

However, since most people are used to the operating system doing everything for you, they will get easily confused, but there are plenty of resources available to aid them.

;)

I run a parallel. I have Unbuntu and Windows Vista Ultimate (sorriest OS ever made IMHO) on my Harddrive. So I can do virtually anything I want to do.

I am fairly new using Linux, so I will not even pretend to know-it-all..but I freaking love it!

[bluedogok]

I run a parallel. I have Unbuntu and Windows Vista Ultimate (sorriest OS ever made IMHO) on my Harddrive. So I can do virtually anything I want to do.
I guess you never tried to install WindowsME, let alone try and use it.....

Mac is fine if you use software that isn't Windows only, the same applies to any Linux variant. I just built a new computer (Core i7/920, 12GB RAM, ATI FirePro V3750) for half the price of the base MacPro. I really wanted an Intel MacBook when they first came out (never have used a Mac) but I got so much more laptop for the money going with the (then) top end HP. but I don't think I am Apple target audience anyway, I have 6 PC's and 2 laptops and have built all of my desktops, some are over 10 years old.

As far as Linux, I started off on real Unix, SunOS w/BSD extention on a Sun 3/60 workstation before migrating to Sparcs with Solaris. I still wish Sun or SGI would have been able to compete, I also really wanted a NeXT when they first came out but since Autodesk has gone Windows only, it doesn't do me any good to worry about other OS's.

[OU_Sooners75]

I guess you never tried to install WindowsME, let alone try and use it.....

Mac is fine if you use software that isn't Windows only, the same applies to any Linux variant. I just built a new computer (Core i7/920, 12GB RAM, ATI FirePro V3750) for half the price of the base MacPro. I really wanted an Intel MacBook when they first came out (never have used a Mac) but I got so much more laptop for the money going with the (then) top end HP. but I don't think I am Apple target audience anyway, I have 6 PC's and 2 laptops and have built all of my desktops, some are over 10 years old.

As far as Linux, I started off on real Unix, SunOS w/BSD extention on a Sun 3/60 workstation before migrating to Sparcs with Solaris. I still wish Sun or SGI would have been able to compete, I also really wanted a NeXT when they first came out but since Autodesk has gone Windows only, it doesn't do me any good to worry about other OS's.

I have used ME...that is just an updated version of win98.

Vista is the worst by far that Windows has came out with.

I am thinking about trying windows 7 though.

[MR2-Sooner86]

I have used ME...that is just an updated version of win98.

Vista is the worst by far that Windows has came out with.

I am thinking about trying windows 7 though.

I have to disagree. Vista is just bloated with too many bells and whistles. ME is the sorriest piece of **** OS I've ever been on and would rather do DOS than go back to it.

[OU_Sooners75]

I have to disagree. Vista is just bloated with too many bells and whistles. ME is the sorriest piece of **** OS I've ever been on and would rather do DOS than go back to it.


I cant say for sure. I only used it on thanks to a friends PC. Never had it installed on any of my computers.

But what I gathered from it, it was basically a newer version of 98.

[bluedogok]

I cant say for sure. I only used it on thanks to a friends PC. Never had it installed on any of my computers.

But what I gathered from it, it was basically a newer version of 98.
That's all it was, it was a nightmare to get installed and I could never really figure out why. Back then I built computers for people and someone wanted ME because it was the latest, after awhile we reloaded it with 98.

One thing I have learned about OS's is always wait until Service Pack 1 before installing it. I did my first Vista computer a year ago when I built a HTPC (Home Premium) for the media stuff, SP1 was already out. I have since reloaded my laptop (HP), and put Vista Ultimate 64-bit on the new rendering computer. I really haven't had any issues with Vista but then I did wait, I will say that I am not an early adopter.

[badger]

Another humorous Mac commercial parody... and incredibly NSFW... and I'm sorry if you're at work on a Saturday night :(

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