Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

So I'm headed off to college, and I'm going to need a laptop. I wanted to buy a high performance/high end laptop and I was wondering if a Mac or a PC is the way to go.

From most of the people I've talked to, I've heard that Macs "are the best" and Macs are "so much better" and that Vista is "horrendous" and can't compare with a Mac. Honestly I think there's a sort of misconception with this since your less expensive laptops will almost inevitably run Vista, and comparing a low end vista with a Mac that has a 9400 nvidia chipset with ddr3 ram isn't really comparable.

I haven't used Vista or Mac enough to be able to get a good feel for which one is better (I'm using XP, which Microsoft is apparently going to stop major support for soon). The price for the hardware is very similar on the laptops (try it yourself).

From what I've gathered, Mac is releasing an OS update, Snow Leopard, around early September and Windows 7 will be released in October (i think? :confused: ). I was hoping I could hold out until Windows 7 released, but school starts in September.

So, can anyone give me some good input on which one to buy? I was leaning towards Mac since they're offering a free itouch. If anyone can give me a comparison between Mac's current OSX Leopard and the Windows 7 Release Candidate, that would be great! (Plus, if I REALLY wanted to, I could use Mac's Bootcamp to make a dual boot system as well...)

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

Hm... I really have to disagree with the people who proclaim that Mac is better, at everything, always, ect. ect. ect. I feel like these people have been brainwashed by Apples genius marketing campaign. Macs ARE NOT better than a PC in every way.

It's well known that a lot of what Apple boasts in its commercials are blatant lies, such as being impenetrable to viruses. They do have some benefits though... Apple is very good at taking complicated software, and dumbing it down to be able to be used by anyone.

Vista... Yes, it IS garbage. Apple has had a couple "crappy" versions aswell, for example when OX X came out, it was slow, buggy and missing essential features like CD burning. What's worse is that they soon updated to OS 10.1, which was a $129 update.

Windows 7... Rocks, probably one of the best operating systems I have ever used. It is everything Vista promised to be but actually working. It also runs GREAT on a laptop. I don't know much about the new MAC os though.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

(puts on his asbestos underpants)

As one of the "brainwashed" (owned 3 Mac laptops, two iPods, an iPhone 3G, and directed the purchase of about six or seven iMacs total), I'll note that I buy Apple because I like how they work. I won't venture to say that they're better than Windows-based PCs in every application, but I feel that they're the best solution for me.

[citation needed]

What you call "dumbing down" I call "making user-friendly". Do you want all your applications looking like this?

Yeah, every major release for Mac OS X has been some $129. They've also had every major release count as an improvement--something that few would claim for Microsoft with Vista. (Or, lest we forget, Windows Me.) That said, Snow Leopard should do plenty of useful things on the back end of the OS, letting developers take advantage of things they haven't been able to get to reliably before, and do so for a measly $29.

---------------

Now, if the question is of hardware, I'm of the opinion that you're not going to find a better deal than a 13" MacBook Pro. The unibody construction is a dream come true--the thing feels rock-solid. The MagSafe connector is exclusive to them, and has saved my butt more times than I care to admit. The new SD card slot on the Pro line should be nice if you're using gear that also uses SD. I'm still not too keen on having my laptop battery integrated like they've started doing, but reports are that the battery life on them is stellar. (And, truth be told, no Apple product has failed me on battery in its lifespan.)

Software is the killer. There may be an instance in school where you absolutely must run Windows. I encountered several, and they're irritating. You'll have to evaluate whether it's worth springing for Windows in some sort of dual-boot or VM setup. (I use VMware Fusion for such applications at work; it's more than fine for what I do, though I also don't really push its limits.) You might find that lab access is easy enough that you don't need it. I can't claim any experience with Windows 7 (we were XP in college and are XP at work), but I much prefer OS X over any flavor of Windows. You may not.

I'd suggest going to an Apple Store or a Best Buy that carries them and giving it a spin. I love mine, you may think differently after using one for a bit. Ultimately, all my ranting and raving and a dollar will buy you a cup of coffee--it's your laptop. Choose well.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

i'll throw out the laptop im getting for college - a Dell Studio 15

also i remember hearing that someone (bestbuy i think) was offering free windows 7 upgrade coupons for people who purchased computers between june and october - something you might want to look into

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

Seeing as a Mac is a PC, I'm not too sure that this statement makes any sense. Please elaborate.


To rebut this, I will use some actual statistics:

All of the "viruses" for Mac OS X have been "proof of concept" devices, and have never been spread to more than 50 computers.

Have fun using another 300-700MB of RAM running your anti-virus app!

With regard to the "dumbing it down" comment - I would like to add that all of the BUILT-IN software provided on your mac is simple enough for ANYONE to use it (not just the snappy-minded people - have you ever TRIED to use Windows Movie Maker? Is it even possible to put text over video?) Regardless, at least a Mac comes WITH some software, as opposed to Windows, which comes with Solitare, Minesweeper, Calculator (ooh fun!), and Windows Movie Maker (the worst video editing software... ever.) Your mac will come with fun and useful things, like, Photo Booth, iChat, Chess, iTunes (runs best on a mac ya know ;) ) Dashboard, etc... And MANY awesome utilities like Time Machine (automatic subversioning and backup), iCal, Grapher, and a bunch of Unix tools (part of that whole no-virus thing ;) )

Hmm... I'm not too sure how strongly I feel about my OPERATING SYSTEM using a gig of my RAM.....

In all honesty, t41w4ne5ef0b, I have used the Windows 7 beta and RC - It's just as bad as Vista, and in many ways, worse. It uses more RAM, has many of the same driver issues, has locked up on me numerous times, and things just.... Fail to work! Applications, hardware, it's a disaster. IF you decide to go with a Windows-based laptop (I hate to call them PCs.... All computers are PCs) please use Windows XP, SP2 (SP3 is garbage, and breaks way more things than it fixes. In my opinion, SP3 is a ploy to get you to upgrade to Vista after your machine stops working from the broken update.)


:p

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

Just curious: Who ever said you have to use Vista or even 7? XP still works great for me even on newer computers, and until Windows 7 can start using less memory and stop freezing up on me, I'm sticking to XP.

One thing these guys kinda failed to ask, what applications are you most likely going to be running?

(This is why getting a laptop from the college for free is just so much cooler sometimes :rolleyes: )

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

Apparently Windows will stop major support for XP (something along those lines) around the time of Vista's release, so it's still usable

I have noooo clue, but when I visited the college, there were a number of Macs in use, so I'm willing to bet that most applications used there are Mac and Windows compatable

As for the windows 7 upgrade coupon, those start June 26 (yay really soon) or it's said to start around that time. http://www.pcworld.com/article/16656...ml?tk=rss_news

I'm pretty sure both Windows and Mac have "white lies" to some extent in their computers. Mac exaggerates the problems of PC (I'm assuming), and I know theres a comparison issue with Windows. (I recall in one commercial, a lady was like, "This is the best mac available, and it only has 2 GB of RAM" then her face is like :confused: But that's probably because it was DDR3 RAM instead, but she got a free laptop so I wouldn't complain if I was her.

I think it's good that they "dumbed it down" because that allows for a much easier switch from a Windows system to a Mac. I've used the one click mouse, and because I'm so used to using Windows and the left and right click, it feels funny. And I'm pretty sure Windows XP has the rollback option (analogous to the Time Machine on Mac?) but I'm not sure if that's on Vista. I agree that WMM is really bad too.

Apple seems to know what it's doing now. I remember using the old old old Macs, and despising it because it was just so strange (basically un-windows like). I mean, the iPhone is RIDICULOUSLY hyped and just about everyone wants one, but with good reason because it's fun and easy to use with a bunch of downloadable apps and what not. I'm pretty sure that if Vista wasn't so bad and that the iPod and the iPhone (whoah they aren't considered misspelled) Apple wouldn't have as much attention and I wouldn't even be considering this.

Lucky you :T that would make my life so much easier.:(

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

Wow, how about titling the thread Flame War Here?

I recently bought a computer for school and it runs vista. If you are smart (run anti-virus, don't go to virus prone websites, only download programs you trust, etc.) you will be fine. I have yet to have my computer crash.

Macs to me are too much money for what you get. Most time you can get a PC for hundreds less with same memory and hard drive space. It was stated earlier that one person uses XP at work. 98% of businesses use windows, I would think you want to have a background with the OS you would use in work. Macs have their place, they are better for media, but I don't think that is best for a college environment.

Last thing I want need to say is get the computer that fits you. If you want to have music and videos then choose a mac. If you want an industry standard then choose a PC. This is your computer, don't forget that.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

most applications are either made for windows, or made for mac and windows, so a mac with bootcamp or windows would be fine. It comes down to whether you want to play some more $ for the mac interface. Or, if you want flashy features on a windows laptop, you could always dual boot something like ubuntu.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

Can we not do this again.

I'm a Windows user. I have Vista and XP machines. I hate Vista but still use it because my customers do and I need to be familiar with the OS. I have never had problems with viruses on either operating system because I don't do dumb things.

Macs are great. They are simple to use. Hard to go wrong with them. Yes they are overpriced if you are looking for a cheep computer but when you get to the higher end stuff not so much. Their support is great if you have a Mac store in your town but I have heard numerous horror stories about their phone support (but that's not any different than most most PC companies.)

But that plain fact is this is a Windows world. That's why I hate to recommend Macs to students. It good experience to get used to what you are going to use in the work world (including the pain.) Having said that you can't go wrong buying a Mac.

See how simple the choice is?

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

It's not necessarily up to just what you prefer; there are little things that will make your life easy or incredibly frustrating.

Some things to verify:

Where you're going, are they friendly to both Macs and PCs? If they don't support Macs when connecting to basic network stuff, you really don't want one. If they do support/allow Macs, do they REALLY support them, or do they just say they do?

Do they offer any free software to students? They offered a free copy of Windows XP to all students where I go. This is useful either way; if you hate Vista, you've got something to tide you through until 7; if you want to dual-boot, you've got something to install. However, I think this is more of a boon to Mac users, who, if they absolutely need to run a Windows program, can do it. Living with Vista would be far easier, even if you hated it.

Are you open to the idea of Linux? I have many friends who run Ubuntu exclusively, or dual-boot for Windows apps. Linux has advantages and disadvantages compared to Windows and OS X, but I know that, for example, it happens to play nicer with our VPN than either Windows or OS X.

Consider that the most valuable resource is time. How often is a class going to require you to use proprietary software that will only run under Windows? If the majority of work is going to be Windows-only, what's the point of having a Mac? You don't want to be running Parallels/VMware ALL the time, or dual-booting every 5 minutes. On the other hand, if you need to do what I do, which is reboot once a week or so for SolidWorks or the occasional game, it's not so bad. Effectively, what is your major?

In terms of daily-life applications, I actually think there are more of these available for the Mac. Windows VNC and (good) FTP clients are frustrating to find and download. RAR is usually in the form of WinRAR, which is shareware. iTunes runs better on Macs, as does QuickTime Player, which, with a few extra CODECs (Perian, Xvid and DivX), can play a multitude of formats, up to the point where I don't open VLC anymore. I find the Mail e-mail client to be far superior to web-based interfaces. Safari on a Mac is a much nicer experience than Firefox.

Construction-wise, I've heard horror stories on both sides. One of my friends had her MBP overheat and melt. Another had a Dell, and it kept slowing down, which he eventually discovered to be an improperly attached heatsink.


I wish there was a simple, inexpensive way for you to try both for some time before deciding, because it would probably become very apparent which one was right for the way you work. I've always been a Mac guy, but I can't recommend them to all people.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

Whatever fits YOU best.

Neither one is superior to the other. My roommate this past year at school is a CGT major (Computer Graphics Technology) and used a Vista PC to do ALL of his projects and never once had a problem. Likewise, a kid down the hall from me always ran into compatibility issues with some programs he used for class so he had to use a computer lab. But he always ranted and raved about the interface of the OS and how he loved it. Granted Vista had its cons at the beginning, I havent had immense issues with it recently.

Like Akash said, nobody says you have to use Vista. If you are use to XP, get XP on it. From my limited experience with Windows 7 thus far, I think it may be a good mix between Vista and XP so you may look into that down the road.

But, like I said at the beginning, pick the one that fits YOU best, not the one that can trash talk the other best. IN the end, YOU will be the one using it so YOU know what you want it to do/perform like. I would suggest trying to borrow a friends PC and MAC for a night, do the exact same thing on both, and see which you prefer.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

I've used a Mac for 5 years now. Personally, they're not perfect machines, but I've been much less frustrated with machine problems overall as compared to Windows XP. The idea that it's a miracle machine that "just works" is dumb, but I've personally not had more than a handful of frustrating bugs and problems with it.

I'd say get a Mac if you can afford it and dual boot. Best of both and all that.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

The real question should be - What is your major and what programs / applications do you envision using your potential computer for?

Macs are said to be better for graphics applications, I personally don't think this is the case as you can get any Adobe product on a Windows machine as well. If you can work photoshop in Windows you can easily do it on a Mac.

The only reason I would buy an Apple computer is for Final Cut Pro. It's a great piece of video editing software. However, Adobe Premiere will work just as well.

I've gotten a lot more bang for my buck by purchasing a Dell Studio 15" laptop last Christmas. It was several hundred dollars less than buying an 'equal' laptop with the same specs from Apple. Absolutely no problems with viruses and whatever else the mac fanboys above stated.

I'll echo what mostly everyone else has said - Do your research and find what fits you. If you come back with some computers, specs, etc. to this thread, I'm sure people could comment to better help you choose.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

If you do buy a Windows based laptop my recommendation is that you take the time to clean it of all the bloatware the tends to come loaded with pre-built machines. I've had zero problems with either my desktop or laptop as I built the desktop (no bloatware) and I cleaned my laptop when I got it. However I've had tons of problems with stock machines before, which leads me to believe the majority of problems are caused by the programs the computer company loads onto the computer, not Windows.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

I'm dual booting 7 and OSX off of my new MBP 13". Find a machine for the same price and specs, you can't (2.56ghz stock one.) I can run Autocad and Inventor great and fast and boot into OSX for everything else (including webmaster for my fraternity's site, graphic work, to answering emails.) It's thinner than any other machine I'v seen, solid built like crazy, and beautiful. You can't go wrong with it.


As for Chief Pride, yeah, that's good for you. Irrational posts don't deserve rational responses.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

I was going to stay out of this, but....

If you're going to dual boot, I would go with a windows machine. If you buy a mac, then add on a windows OS, you stuck with one of mac users' biggest downfalls- a total inability to upgrade your hardware. Additionally, you can find the same mac specs on a PC for buttloads cheaper. The only advantage to buying mac in this case would be that you get the sleeker design.

Finally, I thought I would add a plug for windows 7. It's awesome. The main point of this, though, was to inform you that starting around June 26th, those who buy a PC with Vista will be eligible for a significantly discounted Win7 upgrade. Current estimates are around $10 to upgrade. It is also good to note that Win7 currently looks to be far cheaper than vista all around, with prices around $75-$100 depending which of the three versions you are buying.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

I suppose the expansion slots on the Mac Pro don't count. I suppose the fact that we're discussing laptops is also moot--Mac or PC, hardly anybody does upgrades to a laptop beyond perhaps RAM or a hard drive. Also note that Apple's EULA for Mac OS X only allows it to run on Apple-branded hardware.

Wanna bet? A Dell Latitude E6500 with education discounts actually costs MORE than a 15" MacBook Pro with similar equipment and discounts ($1633.08 vs. $1599). The price gap has closed for most scenarios short of "What's the cheapest computer a manufacturer makes?"

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

I guess if you want a $300 mac netbook, you get an iphone? too bad it involves paying ATT every month....

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

Or a Dell Mini 9

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

I can personally vouch for the Mini 9, though I also like the Eee PC 901 and 1000. If you just need a way to go online and do some typing these are awesome machines.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

We have an Acer Aspire One, the older version with a 120g hard drive. The newer one with the 160g drive is only $300 at walmart, and looks like they fixed the unusable (for me) touchpad problem.

Best thing is it comes with XP :) :)

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

Something New
How about instead of throwing out individual setups and arguing points that can be found anywhere on the net, why not give some college experience?

For instance, a fourth of my campus is run on mac. At any given time 90% of these are unused. I won't judge why, I'm just making the point that the computers the school has, does not say what computers the school uses.

A second note, some schools give out software for free. If you'd like to see the software available for free(at my school) please go to http://iuware.iu.edu/

Your school may do something similar, and the software they provide might have an impact on your decision.

Lastly, you do not need a computer for the first day of college. I didn't have one my first year, and did not need one. Freshmen courses are generally low tech and pretty laid back so you have time to use a computer lab for the few instances it is needed. If you haven't decided for sure, wait. This advice may be bad, if you go to a school such as Rose Hulman where all the students are expected to have a laptop. I am just stating from mine.

If there are any other college students out there, please continue my line of thought with your experiences(both agree and disagree with mine). As a previous searcher of advice(can't find my old laptop thread), this type of advice just seems more easy to process.(not to mention a bit less biased)

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

On our team, anyone discussing Apple vs. Windows is fined $1, which goes into the year-end party fund. There was a lot of money in it last year.

For what it's worth, I bought a Dell Studio 15 running Vista a while ago, and it has been absolutely bullet-proof and fast the entire time I've owned it. I can't see what all the fuss about Vista was all this time.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

Like people have said before, it depends on what you'll be trying to do with it.


Me, personaly, have both Windows and Mac, as well as running Linux on a few computers. I like to use windows when dealing with games, Mac, when I work with music, photo's, video's, and word processing, and Linux when I'm programming, or looking for raw power from my computer.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

I am a Mac user first. I own a Mac Pro which is not a laptop. I run Vista and OS X on the computer. Call of Duty 4 was recommended as a great 1st party shooter game so I got Vista and use bootcamp when I want to play.

My daughter has a Macbook and just loves it. We have had a few small issues that were easily solved. I would however recommend getting the extended warranty if purchasing a Mac. Get the one from Apple not Futureshop etc. My daughter is not very respectful of laptops so it has gone through a lot. We had one power supply go ($120.00) and a problem with her internal wireless part ( $200.00) and they replaced her keyboard (they noticed the chipped pieces) all under warranty at no cost. When purchasing as a student you get cheaper rates on the warranty.

I use an IBM laptop for work and only have complaints about the speed because of all the Business stuff that the company puts on to keep security at a max. The PC I have at home costs me for spyware and virus protection that if not kept up is a disaster. I am pretty good at working PC's and do most of the troubleshooting in the office and most of the problems are are caused by internet access or adding "questionable" programs.

Most important is what a lot of others have been saying. What programs do you need at school. Both a Mac and Windows based machine will allow access to the network and internet so you need to explore the niche programs that you will be using.

Good luck and remember, I am a Mac user (since the Apple 2).

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

Strange....I've been using PCs for 20 years and haven't had any viruses....and I don't use AV software.

I guess a Mac would be the way to go if your computing habits cause virus problems with a PC.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

Apple doesn't license Mac OS X to other platforms. It's against their EULA to install it on a non-Apple machine, and is thus illegal and very tricky at that. It's not fair, really, but too bad.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

I have a 15 inch MacBook Pro, up until this past year I was a diehard Windows user till I got this Mac and I will never, ever , ever , ever go back to a Windows system. Mac is easier to use, runs smoother I have had ZERO problems with this at all, not a single one I run Windows programs on here all the time but I keep finding the Mac version of Windows is better anyway. If you can afford it try Mac and see how you like it I promise that you won't be disappointed

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

OK! I'm in colllege too! My comments still stand, but to add on what you said....

My college has a free software site with XP, Vista, Vista 64bit, and OSX software, for free, for download. Including OS's, Word, AutoCad, etc. http://software.udayton.edu (pw protected, just want to link it)

I can upgrade my MacBook Pro easier than any PC laptop. RAM, HD, battery (yes I have the new one) can be replaced. The idea Macs are hard to service are from the late 90's early 2000's. The origional 96 iMac you had to remove the logic board to replace both sticks of RAM.

You need a laptop freshman year, and I started freshman year 4 years ago this fall. I wrote, and turned in papers, online, did research, and did model building and created and presented presentations. Yes, you can do this in a lab, but neary ALL of our labs have been removed and replaced with laptop stations (monitors w/ keyboards and mice with an ethernet hook up) or turned into more classrooms.

Finally, Macs are just as good of a value, if not more so than a PC. Notice how I didn't say cheap? They don't participate in the thick, plastic-y, low end laptops. And when you upgrade the higher end Dell, HP, or Lenovo machines to match the Mac's specs and battery life you match or exceed the price of the Mac.

Plus, if you buy a new Mac with eduational discount (between $50-$200 depending on the machine) you get a free iPod touch with the purchase. Which adds another $229 to the value of the machine. So when I got my 13" MBP I got $329 in rebates.

Oh, and to shut up anyone who will bring up the SATA 1.5Gb transfer...

http://support.apple.com/downloads/M...re_Update_1_7_

BOOM. Roasted.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

I'm going derail the thread briefly to point out that an EULA is a contract, not a statute in its own right—so in general, violating it is contrary to civil law, not criminal. (You can do criminal things that happen to violate the EULA, but fundamentally, it's an issue of contract law.) That means they have to sue you for breach of contract to enforce it. In doing that, they risk their EULA being scrutinized by a judge or jury, and perhaps being ruled invalid. Given the defects inherent to many EULAs, this is a big risk for the company.

Possible defects include:

1. You've paid for the software before you have the chance to review the proposed contract, however it is not possible to return the opened software if you decline the terms of the licence. (Better EULAs suggest contacting the manufacturer directly for a refund in this case.)
2. Because the purchaser wasn't presented with the contract prior to sale, it isn't clear that the contract terms were ever seen by the purchaser—only by the person installing the software (so intent to form a contract is in doubt). And if the purchaser asks someone like their minor child to install it, and the child ignores the licence, has a contract been made? (Children don't usually have the legal right to sign contracts on behalf of others.)

So, while violating an EULA may be immoral under many circumstances, it's not necessarily illegal, and the consequences are a roll of the dice rather than a certainty.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

I just got a 15" MacBook Pro for college. There is a link the Apple store to get a product for education, and it'll knock off a couple hundred dollars from the cost. i'm putting open office on mine (which i like much better than the current version of microsoft office *shivers*)

i've had an hp laptop for about 3 years now, running XP. right now it's just sitting on my desk, unused, and even though the hardware was up to date when i got it, even XP was often a pain

i've used mac's as often as i can, and i've always found them more user friendly than windows

all macbook pro's include bootcamp, which makes it extremely easy to set up a dualboot. you need a license for the second os, but since hp gave me a copy of vista for free... :P

and i only ever use the vista boot to play crysis

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

In both cases, Macs and PC's, whatever happened to the saying that "its a user problem?"

I used to have an old iBook and I had 0 problems with it. None at all. My applications were for simple schoolwork.

Current Dell Inspiron= 0 problems. Of course I wiped the drive before using it as to get rid of any and all useless crap.

You've yet to state what applications you would be running.

Having owned both, I would recommend a Mac because of robustness during travel. I treat my laptops well yet the Mac held up A LOT better than the Dell. Then again, its one of those "plasticy" Dells.

eidt: Like people said, def borrow a friend's Mac for the night and see how you like it/react to the interface. I for one got addicted to my friend's new MacBook. Iz naace.

Let us know what your intended major is and at what school. You can find computer requirements on your school's site.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

Why does this discussion always bring out a less then professional atmosphere?

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

Because it's a religious discussion at it's core

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

you tell me:



:D

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

i personally prefer PCs to MACs... but partly becaus I have a PC. and honestly I LOVE it! also I feel like HP is one of the best brands to buy right next to DELL. mostly it depends on what you are going to use your computer for... more entertainment, games, software, school work, etc. ? because PC's and MAC's are both better in some departments than others

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

that's got to be the best statement ever.

Anyways I have no clue what applications I will be required to have. I only know that I'm doing Mechanical Engineering as my major. The college has decided to make freshmen sign up for classes one week before school starts...so I'll know then...after I've bought a laptop (probably). I already use Open Office so word processing won't be an issue. As far as I know, Sony is offering windows 7 upgrades June 26th. Go tohttp://sony.com/windows7 and see for yourself.

Thanks to everyone for their help. I'm probably going to stick with Windows now that the Windows 7 upgrade is coming soon. Although I'm still considering Mac since their hardware actually comes out LESS than an equivalent Sony :(

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

one more thing to keep in mind: macbooks last longer than windows laptops. every dell and hp i've worked with has gotten to be much slower by the end of one year of using it, not because of the software i'm running, but because they use cheap parts that wear out fast. i've never seen that problem on a mac

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

Hardware doesn't get slower.....but software does....or at least software grows, surpassing available resources.

I think the phenomenon only happens to Windows computers simply because there is way way more software available for them

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

well when the computer takes forever just to get the the os's loading screen...

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

{citation needed}
As squirrel said, hardware does not slow down over time. Hard drives can become fragmented making an OS take longer to boot up, etc. but the hardware itself won't change. A completely fresh install on a computer should be as fast as the day it was purchased. However, what tends to happen is that people's perception of what is "fast" shifts over time as they're exposed to newer and faster machines elsewhere.

As for durability, you can't simply do a Windows versus Mac comparison. Consumer-grade Dells are somewhat flimsy in my experience (I owned one for years), while my Lenovo ThinkPad I bought last year is extremely solid (which is why I got it). If you watch for sales you can get the more rugged types of laptops (Lenovo or the business-grade HPs and Dells) for around the same price as the consumer-grade ones. Also, if you really need durability, I think a Windows machine wins hands-down with options like the Motorola ML900 or the Toughbook. As far as I know there is no Mac equivalent to these.

As many other people have pointed out in this thread, the choice of computer is should be based on your needs. I now own a Mac Mini in addition to my Windows machines. I really like the fact that Mac is Unix under-the-hood, and the GUI really is well done. However, there are a lot of programs that I use that simply don't run on a Mac, making a full-time switch to Mac impossible for me (many of these are software development, engineering, and programs I use at work). Also, Macs are more expensive for my needs. My high-end 15" Lenovo that I bought a year ago, which had everything I needed, was under $900 and included an upgraded screen resolution (1680x1050), which is an absolute requirement for me. A quick glance at the Apple website and the only laptop I could find with a resolution equal to or higher than that was the 17" MBP for $2500. There's probably an option for it on one of the less expensive laptops, but given that the lowest price laptop starts at $999, it's obvious that I could not find a Mac that was equal to the cost of my Lenovo.

For a new college student I recommend looking into what software programs you will be using in the next 4 years, and which platforms they run on. In fact, the more I think about it, my recommendation for an incoming freshman might be to buy a cheap machine (low-end or used laptop, or netbook, something less than $3-400) since in your first year or two you're likely to only need Internet and some word processing and other generic tools that will run on any machine. Save the big $$$ you'd spend on a new Mac or Windows laptop and buy that towards the end of your sophomore year, when you have a better understanding of what software tools you'll be using (and when the machines have gotten more powerful for the same cost).

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

The low end machine suggestion is a great idea Dave....and an added bonus is that it won't run good games, so you won't be wasting time gaming when you should be studying!

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

This is an excellent idea. Besides, by the time you get to your junior year, almost any laptop you get will be 'outdated'. I will say there is one tool I've used on my computer for school that has taken decent amount of work and that was to use remote desktop. Our school has these so I can use software on my computer without getting software on my computer. Not sure how much strain that is, but it is convenient.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

My room mate and I both came to the U of A in 2006 and got new laptops at the same time. I got an HP with XP on it, and he got a Macbook. They both do what they need to do, and I can't really say that one works better than the other. He ended up dual booting XP, because Quake 3 is important.

After three years of use, both have already broken and been repaired. My hard drive exploded, and his had a hard drive issue as well (IIRC). Mine was fixed at home, his was mailed off, but they were both repaired without too much hassle.

The only real difference is the software packages available as a college student. My roommate is the only person I know that owns a legal copy of Photoshop, since it was cheap enough after discounts for him to buy it (still expensive though...). There are various other Mac products available at discount, too.

The software that I've put on my laptop includes Inventor, Solidworks, and MATLab. I should mention that all of these are FREE to me as a U of A student... I probably wouldn't have them if I had to pay money (I'm a cheapskate. :) )

If I were going into college now and needed a new laptop* I would almost certainly not buy a Mac. I can't rationalize spending so much on a computer when you can get one with similar hardware for half as much (again, I'm a cheapskate).



*I should also mention that I don't really need a laptop for college, I could get by no problem with a desktop computer to do my assignments on. The only benefit I've seen from bringing a laptop to class is that you can keep yourself entertained during boring classes. ;)

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

100% Agreed. And there is always one playing solitaire.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

I'm entering my 3rd year of college at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.

I purchased a desktop capable of operating Autodesk software and spent around $900 (including OS and monitor). I was told by a college student before my freshman year that a laptop was unnecessary considering the amount of computers on campus (most of which had Autodesk Inventor and AutoCAD).

I ended up switching majors into Communication Technologies (graphic design/mass media). All of my software (Quark and Adobe Suite) classes are taught on Macs. However, all of the software is also available for PC.

For an incoming freshman, I'd have to recommend a PC. It's the safest choice for software compatibility and it's what the majority of your campus will probably be using. Truthfully, you'll probably be just fine with either a PC or a Mac. It's kind of a personal preference thing. I'd bear in mind that there is always a chance that you'll switch majors... so even if your already going into media, a PC would still be a safe choice.

In the end, Dave has the best idea. Buy a cheap PC that will get you through your first couple of years until you have a better idea of what you'll need from your computer. I'd personally recommend a desktop over a laptop. But I'm on a smaller campus which has a lot of labs. Desktops are going to give you more bang for the buck which will ad to both your performance, and your lifespan. But the desktop vs. laptop argument is a pretty dependent on your campus and living arrangements.

I'll tell you right now. On my campus, if you have a computer that can browse the web and do basic word processing, your fine. My school is also heavily geared towards engineering if that makes a difference.

So to sum up that clusterfudge of a rant:

Keep in mind:
• Which programs you'll want to run
• Plans change
• Campus Size
• On-campus computer/software availability
• Which platform you're already familiar with
• Cost

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

A few observations from the parent of a recent WPI grad (Electrical & Biomed Engg):

I offered to buy her the laptop of her choice as a HS graduation present. The WPI ECE department head was adamant that she should get a PC because their labs were run on them and that some of the EE software was "PC only". My daughter had used both in HS, but strongly preferred the Mac and ended up deciding on a Powerbook. I got her the top spec model at the time (1.67 GHz, 2 GB, Radeon 9700 with 128 MB), which continues to perform well.

As far as the "PC only" software, it also runs on a Unix server which she could log onto, so she had little problem running it from the Mac. There was a bonus there, since it forced her to learn Xterminal and Unix commands, which many of her PC-based classmates only touched on.

Since she did run some of her labs on the lab PCs, you could argue that she got a more well-rounded education in those applications. Then again, some of her PC-toting classmates probably learned more about the inner workings of the PC than she did, which may help them in a PC-centric workplace.

Before she made her choice I spec'ed out a comparable Dell, and it cost just about the same as the Powerbook, once optioned out to a similar hardware level. From the reviews and articles I've read, this us usually the case.

All that said, your case may be different. One can almost always set up a PC for an application for less than a Mac, and some schools do not provide as much support for Macs as they do PCs (for whatever reason).

I can't resist this closing anecdote: When we moved my daughter into her freshman dorm, we set up her network connection on the Mac and she was on the school network in minutes. A little while later, a student came around through the dorm to help get the freshmen's PCs configured and connected. Apparently the IT group expected that few would be able to make all the changes themselves (probably a correct assessment). He poked his head in my daughter's room saw that she had a Mac, and said "Oh, you've got a Mac. You're okay here, right?" (or something to that effect).

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

Because you can't take it seriously. Ever. The rational response is "whatever works for you, god speed." Any responses to inaccuracies has to be treated with some levity due to the absurdity of the statements to begin with.

Plus BOOM ROASTED is a joke running through my friends right now.

{citation needed}

Also, a MacBook hard drive can be replaced at home. In your roomie's case he had to remove the battery, two screws, and slide the old out out, put the new one in.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

A trip to Best Buy (the only local store that sells Macs)

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

So you've price matched within the past month like I have when shopping for a new computer? Or are you just making noise? Because I go to hp.com, dell.com, etc and do a comparative shopping for their machines and I find that I can't get a 13" MBP for the same price from Dell or HP, and that's just the hardware, lets compare with additional video, audio, web, and dvd creating applications that come with iLife will add at least another $200 to the price of a PC.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

You get what you pay for.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

Last weekend we went to Best Buy, and looked at a nice 15" Sony for well under $1000, and the nearest thing Mac sold was about $1800....maybe Steve can give you a more detailed report.

When we were looking at lower end laptops there was nothing available from Mac for under $1000, and plenty of PC types for $300-500.

If you feel you need Mac software, then you definitely need to spend the extra money and get a Mac. No way would you be happy with MS/open source software.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

With the student discount on Apple's website, the price evens out. Any other time they cost more than PCs.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

hmmmm...I'd say it's more of a sure thing that you won't get what you don't pay for.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

Some people will fight all day long saying their side is better, cheaper, faster, more efficient, etc, or just plainly, "best". They may also use snide comments about the other side, claiming they are buying overpriced gizmos or useless, virus-infested piles of sludge to name a few.

Yet as my favorite example, a Chevy Malibu and a BMW M3 will both get you from point A to point B, just as would a Toyota Camry and a Ford F250. Yet everyone buys different cars for different reasons. Some like really opening up the throttle on the curvy mountain roads when the cops aren't looking, while others just need to commute to work and back, while still others need to haul six cords of firewood every day. No one in their right mind will argue with someone all day long about how their car is superior to someone else's car. Different people have different needs and desires, so they buy different cars. Same goes for computers - there is no overall "best" computer or OS - just what is best for that particular person.

So my advice is that since the majority of people have experience using Windows, go to an Apple Store or Best Buy or borrow a friend's Mac and use it for at least 20-30 hours to really get a feel for the OS. (Why so many hours? Windows, OSX, and Linux are all structured differently. It can take 20-30 hours to really become familiar with how each operating system operates. Put a lifelong Mac user in front of Windows for one hour, and a lifelong Windows user in front of OSX or Linux for an hour, and I guarantee they'll both be equally frustrated and annoyed. Only after you get past the initial getting-familiar-with-the-OS-stage will you be able to fully experience the true OS user environment). Only after you've experienced the all the options, can you decide what is best for you.


One comment I will say though is that you do get what you pay for. On the Windows side, Lenovo Thinkpads and some of the Dell and HP workstation-class notebook and desktop computers are amazing, and of similar quality (and price) as Macs. And for any engineering college work, any computer cheaper than ~$1000 to ~$1200 will really be at a disadvantage. (Trust me, I went through the first two years of college with a $800 Dell Inspiron laptop...) As for engineering work, the Mac to Windows ratio I've seen at WPI seems to range from 1:3 to 1:4 (e.g. much higher than average), with about half of the Windows computers being Lenovo Thinkpads. So chum up the extra bucks and get a quality Thinkpad T400/T500/W500 or Macbook Pro (or a Dell or HP workstation class computer), because once you graduate into an engineering job, you should have no problems with the price.

Also, if you are going for ME, look for models with serious graphics cards, such as the NVIDIA Quadro or ATI FireGL. If you thought SolidWorks or Inventor or Pro|E worked great on your consumer class NVidia Geforce or similar ATI GPUs, prepare to be amazed when using a x64 OS, x64 software, and workstation GPU. :D

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Asus for the PC flavored option, I have two and you seem to get a lot for the price!. My older Asus F3 series I guess has been retired to be my desktop now and my laptop for the road is my newer Asus G50V. What made me look at Asus is because I work in news use and are rapidly expanding the use of live video streaming/encoding and that means graphics and these are laptops geared towards gaming so a bit better resources.

So far so good, physically they are not Thinkpad or toughbook tough but I have had no major problems as all and we who work in news are not always so gentle with equipment.

I "almost" went Mac a few years back but there were a couple of things that even under bootcamp were not guaranteed to work and since I needed those programs for work I couldn't take the chance on.

If I was going into school for video production, graphics, editing then yes I would probably go Mac but one thing about a PC that I like is when something goes wrong you can fix it, working under the hood keeps you're skills current and I kinda like that sometimes.

One thing I try and do if I can afford it at the time is buy they highest end laptop I can just to help future-proof me for a few years to come, for example I have no troubles at all running Vista because of that.

M

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

Mac

Much less hassle

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

Lets not forget Macs you can also put windows on
so win win for mac

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

Aren't there still some things a Mac running windows can't do? I remember looking at this issue when Vista came out and there were problems and I was thinking about it but one of the radio systems programming software from butel.nl that I use to program the scanners we use in news would run but no USB to serial converter would run on a Mac running windows, little things like that can be a deal breaker.

I stayed PC and now with Windows 7 all is good, my older retired laptop which is my desktop (asus G50v) is running Windows 7 32 bit and my mobile laptop (Asus G51 quad core) is running Windows 7 64 bit and only one bit with Arc 396xt which hangs up in 64 bit OS and won't run but all else is perfect, from programming to video capture and rendering to running Wirecast (telestream) and Streambox for real-time live video encoding and broadcast.

I'm not against Mac's, I am sure they are useful for something but I remember that one little bug back a few years ago had me having second thoughts so thoroughly evaluate everything you think you will possibly use that computer for and find out if everything will work because if the one program that won't work in windows on a Mac is important then you won't be happy.

m

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

And since you can't legally put Mac OS on a non-Apple computer, it's a double win for Mac.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

I honestly think though it would be ideal to be fluent in both Mac and PC as they are both widely used these days and Mac's being used in places they weren't before. For personal use though and if you are only going to have one machine then I would really make sure everything will work on the mac or in windows on a mac. Whatever tool does the job best I say use it.

M

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

Simple request: Can someone list a couple companies that use Mac as their standard computer?(other then Apple) The only places I've seen Mac's use both about equally. I'm sure there are plenty of places that are Mac exclusive and this isn't an argument for or against Mac. Just a curiosity of mine.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

You are likely to run into a media agency ( advertising, graphics, video film, etc ) house that is either an all Mac or all Windows facility.

At one time Mac had a comparative advantage for those types of customers but it doesn't seem to be there any more.

I was talking to some professionals the supply computers for the film and video industry. For example a production house that uses Adobe Premiere Pro Production suit - They said the west coast usually uses Macs, the Atlanta and SE market, Windows. Other than that the editors have the same editing software and production workflows.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

And it most often runs faster on a Mac.
In fact you can run Windows, Mac & Linux all at the same time.

BTW: NI is not supporting anything above XP for this year's FRC.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

Stop and think about what you're saying. Current Macs use essentially the same hardware, and certainly the same (Intel) processors and memory as any other PC. There's no logical reason why they would be any different. On an equal-specification basis, they're identical. (Of course, on an equal-cost basis, Macs are somewhat less successful when measuring raw performance, because of their higher markup and greater emphasis on features that don't directly translate into computational power.)

If that's officially true, it's unfortunate. (Got a link to their statement?) XP is almost nine years old, and two (arguably 1.5) major versions behind. Vista was available for them to evaluate as a release candidate in 2006, and unquestionably mature and stable by SP2, in early 2009.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

Some folks think it's only one version behind.....us folks who bypassed Vista completely. And XP still works. And it's still available on new computers.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

I'm one of the people that have yet to determine if 7 is an upgrade or not. Vista however was definitely a downgrade. I'll still stick with my good old XP for as long as I can.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

I feel that a lot of people have been brainwashed by apple. Mac does have a lot of advantages, like they can't get viruses and the user interface is pretty nice. But I feel that they are very overpriced, especially laptops. And yes, Windows Vista is terrible, but the new Windows 7 is fantastic, speaking on behalf of 4 of my friends who have expressed similar opinions of it.

If you want a nice, inexpensive laptop that is powerful, you should go with a Asus.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

I'm gonna go ahead and say Apple is basically the soviet union brainwashing you with all their propaganda. Just gonna throw that out there.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

MAC DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:P:P:P:P:P

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

Dell Studio XPS series.

I've got the S-XPS 1645 it's sooo awesome! As stylish as a macbook but as powerful as an alienware. And it comes in glossy black... can you really resist that??!

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

Microsoft isn't stupid, though. They offer Windows and Office for Mac because Microsoft is making money on the Operating Systems and Office copies every time they sell one.

If you think about it, Microsoft is genius for making their products cross-platform (if you will). Most companies use Windows and Office so if you could put them on Mac or Mac os, why use the non industry-standard software?

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

It's not that Macs can't get viruses, it's that there aren't many viruses written for Macs because the majority of CEOs and/or business executives run Windows, so it is more worth it to write a virus to extract information from what has a high probability of being a CEO's computer over an Average Joe's (lol...rhyme!) computer.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

The above phrase I've heard dozens of times. However, I've yet to find truth to it. A friend of mine got a virus on a Mac and called Apple for help. They told him that he was wrong and then argued that viruses for Apple don't exist. This went on for 30 minutes and ended abruptly when he proposed a bet. If they were so sure a virus was impossible on Mac, he'd write one and send it to them. If he couldn't do it, he'd agree with them. They got off the phone pretty fast. This story is secondhand given that I wasn't on the phone with my friend. However, it is certainly illustrative of the situation. Mac's don't tend to get viruses only because people tend to not write them for Mac. Mac doesn't have a better security or anything, they just are less popular with the virus programmers.

If anyone can find something in a Mac that prevents it from getting a virus, I'll eat my words. Until then, I await.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

Apple is mostly a hardware company, and Microsoft is mostly a software company.

Microsoft makes operating systems to work on as many computers as they can. As a result they have to deal with making their software work with all kinds of third party stuff. It's a serious challenge, and they do a pretty good job of it.

Apple makes their operating system to work on their hardware only, so they have an easier time of writing drivers, etc.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

Most viruses aren't targeted at CEOs, or anyone in particular.

There are elements of truth to both sides' explanations of why Macs basically don't get viruses.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

This post = WIN :)

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

Macs have always seemed anemic to me, and I'm not even that terribly computer savvy.

I have cousins in the Film and Photo editing industry, and they swear by Mac, but I find that to be the biggest niche for Mac.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

I use my Mac for everything.

Web browsing? Let's see a windows machine beat three browsers open on three different spaces hopping between them with Spaces hotkeys, all while chatting on an IM window that follows me across the spaces, accessed via Expose. Once Windows reaches that usability level, I will return to them.

Word processing? Microsoft Office has yet to beat the UI and usability of Pages or Open Office. No contest there.

Reliability? Don't even need to go into this one...

Battery Life? I get four hours of heavy use with WiFi on, and music playing with the screen on bright. And my computer is over a year old!

System Stability? I haven't even turned off my laptop for 26 days. No crashes, no failures, no problems. Bring it on, Windows. My record on my prior Windows Desktop? 9 days.

Usability? Can't beat Spaces, Expose, Quicksilver and Spotlight. Windows offers no native alternatives to features that I can no longer function without. Without a comparison to this, I won't change back. After becoming hooked on these (and multi touch), I can't even describe Windows as usable anymore.

Multi-Touch? Yeah. Can't live without this, too.

Nice quality screen? Yes please.

Power user tools? I have 96 distinct shell scripts that do different jobs for me. Windows is not Unix based. I use AppleScript on almost a daily basis for automated and bulk tasks. Windows has no alternative. I run Solidworks inside of a Virtual Machine for work, and all is lightning fast.

Windows cannot offer solutions for usability problems that I require. Until it can, I will not use Windows. That's all there is to it.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

I'll politely disagree. Apple is really (or is becoming) a 'media' company.

The O/S and hardware becomes a second tier product. It's there to support the media.

There is a revolution in the distribution and management of media content. Audio and video in your pocket. The media giants tremble.

Which BTW has implications for how we at FIRST get our message out.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

I think you're right. Things are changing.

But in the context of the attributes of the computer operating systems, Apple has traditionally been all about making their own hardware work well, and they have not had any interest in selling operating systems for off-brand computers.

Microsoft is the opposite.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

I'll second the motion on Asus! I work in news and lately we got into live high end video streaming and encoding and when I looked around for something powerful I looked at what the gamers use and Asus came onto the radar and now my "desktop" is my older Asus G50v and my laptop is my new Asus G51 quad core.

Ok, maybe not as tough as a Thinkpad or Toughbook so you have to handle them with care but for what you get in terms of resources for the money Asus is awesome.

Only negative is the battery life but I really shouldn't even say that since I have only tested in performance power mode and 60 min is about what I get.

I looked at MAC but there were some things that may still not work like USB to serial programming cables for programming some radios that I use to monitor emergency services and scanners and that one thing is critical for me, even running windows on the mac there was some doubt this USB to serial interface would work.

I looked at the specs on the Asus and was blown away and when it came time for the new machine it was Asus all the way.

A lot of future proofing in these machines, I run windows 7 on them and as long as I don't drop one hard I probably will get 5-7 years out of them if I want to.

mark

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

My one problem with the mac is parts and service if you need it, with a PC I can buy parts anywhere but not the same with apple.

Macs sure have their advantages in certain things like video and photo editing and I know of news papers and graphics departments who use Mac while the rest of the newsroom is on PC.

Also I am not such a computer expert myself and am trying to learn as much as I can and having to get in behind the scenes and under the hood on a PC helps me learn and keep my skills up, with the mac you can't really do much of that stuff, so having to do a bit extra maintenance on the PC I think is actually a good thing.

mark

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

I use Avira premium on both my PC's as recommended by someone here on CD and I've never once had any kind of virus or security problem. Once installed and configured Avira works in the background, auto-updates and keeps things safe. Perhaps the people who get all these viruses on PC's and via email don't have basic protection turned on? Ever since I owned my first computer which I think was a 486? I have never got a virus, not once.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

OSX is a UNIX based operating system. This allows far more customization and "under the hood" work to be done by the average user. Windows is not.

Plus, why would you need to have parts for a mac? Mine's never broken... Heck, even if you do, just drop by an Apple store and they'll swap out the part in a day or three.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

I guess you don't get the whole "playing with your computer hardware" thing.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

I completely understand the joys of playing around with it, but here's my point: Take a car metaphor. Do you really want to spend time rooting under the hood of your daily driver? What if you break something? Why not have a nice reliable car, and spend time under the hood of the weekend mobile?

Computers are like cars for me. The mac is some shiny european car: Harder to work on the hardware, don't break down too often, and a bit more expensive as a result. But boy oh boy do they drive nicely.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

I guess you don't get the whole "build your car thing" either :)

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

Oh, I've built three autocross cars and one drag car. Nothing as fast as that though!

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

I drove it up to Phx a couple months ago (500 mile round trip) and ran 11.25 at 122. Then drove it home.

I get to work on all the late model junk that my wife owns...two of them are over 10 years old now, and yeah, they're kind of a pain. The old stuff is fun though.

and my desktop computer is pretty modern (core 2 duo) stuff in a 1998 vintage IBM case.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

Man, fastest older model car I've ridden in was a blown 69 Charger than ran the standing quarter in 12.5, and that was fun times. Then I rode a Koenigsegg CCXR in a standing 9, and all concepts of speed were shattered. That car wasn't even any fun.

But anyway, back to the topic. PC v Mac all comes down to one thing: Are the usability features in a mac worth the extra cost to you? If so, go for Mac. If not, go for PC.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

I seem to be able to do all I need with a PC, there is some video stuff I could use a mac for, but my brother says that there's video stuff he can't do on his mac that he needs a PC for! so it's probably a matter of whether you want to pay for the perceived value. I don't, about 10% of computer users do. I admit that I'm a cheapskate.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

I sort of agree with this point to some extent, especially when things get super busy and I'm doing the 15-18 hour days, you just want the truck and then computer to just work.

I guess the thing with me is I want "one laptop" to do everything for me, so while a Mac would do everything I need from live video to everything else there was one problem even in running windows on a Mac and that was my radio systems programming software, this would mean two computers with one just for the radio stuff. with PC I have everything on one machine.

I was an a scene today and one of the camera guys from another station had an ipod touch, it blew me away! and it scared the heck out of my blackberry. No doubt Apple makes some nice stuff and I'm sure the ipad will be good as well.

A bit expensive though when compared to an Asus and Mac's are not as durable as a Thinkpad or toughbook as well.

I still for some reason and maybe it's just the nerd in me but I am hooked on PC.

mark

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

The new Unibody Macbooks are milled out of a single block of 6061-T6. They're far stronger than any windows running computer on the market (except for the mil-spec ones).

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

Having owned many Macs and PCs, including the Macbooks machined from solid, the AL cases are generally stronger than plastic ones, but the case is rarely the part that fails when I break my computers. Normally the hard drive goes first, or LCD screen.

I'm seriously considering buying a Toughbook or other milspec computer next time I purchase one. I am rough on my electronics.

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

Are there any Toughbook's or other milspec pc laptops that have the high end resources like let's say my Asus G51, I do video rendering which is CPU/GPU intensive and last time I checked the Toughbook didn't even come close and was very expensive.

I am very happy with the Asus but the toughbook toughness would be nice to have as working in news the equipment can get bumped around a bit at times.

Any thoughts?

Re: Should I buy a Mac or a PC?
 

You need this pc!



Unfortunately it's a 80386 processor hiding in there....