Apple or PC?

[Big Shot Rob]

I was thinking of investing in a new computer this year.

I have never owned a Mac.

Does anyone here have experience with both who would care to tell someone like me--Mr. Tech Challenged--if I should try a Mac? What are the key differences? Would it be hard to adapt?

[bernardos70]

You're a gamer, if I know anything about you........ get a Windows-based PC, based on that alone.

[Murphy3]

I grew up on Mac's....
give me the PC.

[Drbio]

Mac sucks unless you are into the graphics/movies editting thing.

For everything else go PC.

[jacktruth]

I work with and on computers all day all week. My next home PC is a mac because I'm sick to death of diagnosing and fixing crap. Macs are packed full of reliablility and capability features.

[SeattleMavsFan]

I work in the tech industry and get a Mac, unless you play a lot of games. the people who say don't buy a macs have never used them or only used them way back and not recently. They are fantastic computers. If you game, a windows PC is the better route. however, you can install windows on macs now so that's not a big deal. obviously there is a price difference as well so it just depends on how much money you have to spend and/or if you are a heavy gamer. good luck!

[dalmations202]

Originally Posted by jacktruth

I work with and on computers all day all week. My next home PC is a mac because I'm sick to death of diagnosing and fixing crap. Macs are packed full of reliablility and capability features.

Me as well.

I run both M$ boxes, and Linux. For personal use, I use Linux. For the wife and kids, they get M$.

Mine is far more stable, but it is easier to use M$ for them. I have used Mac a little, and was not crazy about it at all till OSX which of course is really just a BSD kernel anyway.

Still depending on what you are doing, M$ ends up making the most sense, most of the time because of the availability of support, software, ease of use and parts.

[dude1394]

Cheapest one. They are commodity items.

[Dirkadirkastan]

[DubOverdose]

I use a Mac and I WON'T go back to PC any time soon. I was a PC guy until 2004 when I got my powerbook. Everything just runs smoothly, no pop ups, no viruses, all programs work together, simply- clutter free computing. Everything is extremely intuitive. I remember days when I'd be frustrated using my PC, but with my Mac it always seems to relax me. If you're looking for a desktop, I'd get an iMac. They are really a great value and space saving. The laptops is more whatever is in your price range, but they're all fast. I used to worry about processing speed between Mac and PC, but I've learned Mac isn't going to sell a product that will let you down. Mac will update their OS pretty soon, so I'd probably wait til they do that to buy one. Soon you will be able to simultaniously run OSX and Windows on a Mac. Right now you'd have to reboot to switch OS's.

[capitalcity]

Lets face facts here -

You ain't gonna ditch the spurts for a quality basketball team.
You ain't gonna ditch your inferior computer for a Macintosh.

[fluid.forty.one]

both

[Usually Lurkin]

I use Windows at home and Macs at work. There's pluses and minuses to both. THere's probably more updating to do with Windows, but Mac is more expensive. I've had 1 virus problem in 10 years with my PC, which was a huge hassle. Without free tech support at work for the Mac, though, I'd have had just as much problems with compatibility issues, system breakdowns, and stuff.

Most annoyingly, lots of things on the web tend to get all jammed up on the mac. Probably something to do with the program that runs animations in advertisements, but it's not as easy to fix as it is with a pc.

If you are a casual user, go with dude's advice and get the cheapest. Home movies, pictures, email, watching dvds, browsing the web, they are just as easy on Mac or Windows. Everything is pretty intuitive and easy these days.

[nashtymavsfan13]

Originally Posted by capitalcity

Lets face facts here -

You ain't gonna ditch the spurts for a quality basketball team.
You ain't gonna ditch your inferior computer for a Macintosh.

Best. Post. Ever.


Give me the Mac.

[Big Shot Rob]

Ditch the Spurs?

Did America quit after the Germans bombed us at Pearl Harbor?!

[bernardos70]

Oh, for whatever reason I thought that was lonestar rob. Nevermind then, give the mac a go.

[Ninkobei]

if you are getting a laptop, go for a mac. if a desktop a PC would be a nice option. you'll be able to use more programs with the pc, but with the way things are going soon everything will run on both systems. i'm not sure if you can overclock on a mac, but an OCed Core2Duo dishes out amazing performance. you might be better off with a custom PC. anyone can build it, just be careful and read the instructions. and dont buy the cheap hardware just because of the price. be sure to get a brand name motherboard and RAM and power supply.

[capitalcity]

Originally Posted by Big Shot Rob

Did America quit after the Germans bombed us at Pearl Harbor?!

Nope. We had shiny new weapons and a the will of a young generation.

The spurs got a deck fire and a breeched hull.

Time to jump ship Marty.

[XERXES]

i love my mac.

[Usually Lurkin]

Originally Posted by Big Shot Rob

Ditch the Spurs?

Did America quit after the Germans bombed us at Pearl Harbor?!

ha ha. this must be what happens to spurs fans after a watching Dirk Nowitski for a couple years. Germans are bombing from everywhere.

[u2sarajevo]

UL... that's a quote from Animal House....

[bernardos70]

Funniest exchange in a long time.

[Ninkobei]

this is interesting. You can now buy Apple computers with Vista pre loaded on it.

http://www.theinq.com/default.aspx?article=37216

[Big Shot Rob]

Originally Posted by Usually Lurkin

ha ha. this must be what happens to spurs fans after a watching Dirk Nowitski for a couple years. Germans are bombing from everywhere.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D-Day: War's over, man. Wormer dropped the big one.
Bluto: Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!
Otter: Germans?
Boon: Forget it, he's rolling.
Bluto: And it ain't over now. 'Cause when the goin' gets tough...
[thinks hard]
Bluto: the tough get goin'! Who's with me? Let's go!
[runs out, alone; then returns]
Bluto: What the fuck happened to the Delta I used to know? Where's the spirit? Where's the guts, huh? "Ooh, we're afraid to go with you Bluto, we might get in trouble." Well just kiss my ass from now on! Not me! I'm not gonna take this. Wormer, he's a dead man! Marmalard, dead! Niedermeyer...
Otter: Dead! Bluto's right. Psychotic, but absolutely right. We gotta take these bastards. Now we could do it with conventional weapons that could take years and cost millions of lives. No, I think we have to go all out. I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody's part.
Bluto: We're just the guys to do it.
D-Day: Let's do it.
Bluto: LET'S DO IT!

[Usually Lurkin]

Originally Posted by u2sarajevo

UL... that's a quote from Animal House....

ack. thank you sir! may I have another?

[jthig32]

I'm a developer at a Microsoft shop, so obviously, I'm biased.

But, all three of my siblings-in-law recently bought Macbooks, two of them the pro kind. They paid significantly more money than they would've for a comparable PC laptop. They use nothing they couldn't have on a PC laptop other than nifty gadets like the widgets. They brag about not getting viruses, then install XP as soon as they need to play games.

My sister-in-law had a problem with her DHCP setup over Christmas. She wasn't getting her info from the router. Now, with windows, I could've manually put in her info in 2 seconds and she would've been up and running. But, with the OS she had running, I couldn't find the advanced network setting. I kept finding wizards and such. So, she had to spend over an hour on the phone with tech support before they finally got her to the window I was looking for, she hung up, and I got her online.

IMO, there are reasons to own a Mac, but they usually don't apply to casual users.

[dude1394]

Jthig32 I think alludes to something that isn't talked about so much, it's sort of like when you have a popular car there are more (and cheaper) parts to repair it with or more people to work on them (again cheaply).

I'm sure PCs are much like that.

[jthig32]

Originally Posted by dude1394

Jthig32 I think alludes to eysomething that isn't talked about so much, it's sort of like when you have a popular car there are more (and cheaper) parts to repair it with or more people to work on them (again cheaply).

I'm sure PCs are much like that.

Exactly. They had someone in the family (me) that could help them with the vast majority of problems or questions they had. Now they're dependant on tech support.

[Drbio]

Originally Posted by jthig32

IMO, there are reasons to own a Mac, but they usually don't apply to casual users.

This is normally the thesis I read from those in the know.

[DubOverdose]

Originally Posted by jthig32

IMO, there are reasons to own a Mac, but they usually don't apply to casual users.

I'd actually argue the benefits are to the casual user. All of the Macs programs run smoothly. When your internet is down, its usually a very easy fix that OSX guides you step by step thru. My parents could easily run OSX and never have to ask me a computer related question again, but my dad is stubborn. The spotlight on OSX is amazing, btw and light years ahead of any PC one I've used. You never have to remember where you put anything. I know I'm rambling, likely because I'm still hungry after eating breakfast, but using a Mac is like watching Dirk drill 3s.

[jthig32]

Originally Posted by DubOverdose

I'd actually argue the benefits are to the casual user. All of the Macs programs run smoothly. When your internet is down, its usually a very easy fix that OSX guides you step by step thru. My parents could easily run OSX and never have to ask me a computer related question again, but my dad is stubborn. The spotlight on OSX is amazing, btw and light years ahead of any PC one I've used. You never have to remember where you put anything. I know I'm rambling, likely because I'm still hungry after eating breakfast, but using a Mac is like watching Dirk drill 3s.

Well, I disagree. I think XP is every bit as easy to use, and it's intuitive to the basic user because most everyone is familiar with windows. And if spotlight is the self-indexing search engine in OSX, then I don't see how it's any better than Google Desktop. Is it nice that's it's included? Sure. Is it worth the extra money? No.

[SeattleMavsFan]

both are easy to USE so that's not the argument. the argument as far as I am concerned is reliability. XP isn't bad but it still has a ton of reliability problems with programs and/or viruses and spyware. eventually, windows just needs to be reformatted and started fresh again because it just gets god awful slow and unreliable. show me a mac that has this problem? you won't find it.

i don't own a mac but i've used them quite a bit. I do want one for my main desktop. someday that will happen. if you game, you have to use windows. that's just how it is. a few games are ported to mac but for the most part they are not. however, the games that do run on mac..they run flawlessly. these days though, the new macs can dual boot with windows. and coming soon, you will be able to run windows applications/games simultaneously inside OSX.

as far as I'm concerned, the main problem people have with Macs are the price. it's just cheaper to get a PC and cost is everything in this country. Why do you think people buy Chevy's for goodness sakes?!

[capitalcity]

I've never encountered a problem downloading porn on my mac.

[u2sarajevo]

As to the widgets.... Vista fixes that....

[jthig32]

Originally Posted by u2sarajevo

As to the widgets.... Vista fixes that....

Yay. Now I can have a flash clock float on my desktop, and a ball I can bounce around...and other fantastic inventions.....

[Drbio]

So to summarize the thread.....Mac sucks.

[u2sarajevo]

Well Mac has it's place in the world..... but for the price I would want sparks flying out of the dang thing.....

And Vista is quite an OS, I'm here to tell you. I can't imagine needing more from an Operating System.

NT has definitely grown up.

[dude1394]

Originally Posted by u2sarajevo

Well Mac has it's place in the world..... but for the price I would want sparks flying out of the dang thing.....

And Vista is quite an OS, I'm here to tell you. I can't imagine needing more from an Operating System.

NT has definitely grown up.

Once they scrapped the old dos device driver model and switched everything over to NT, it got a heck of a lot more stable.

[u2sarajevo]

The catch phrase around Microsoft about Vista is that it's "beautiful".

And they are not lying. It literally is a pretty thing. That's why if you get a PC make sure your graphics card has at least 128MB so you can run Aero.

[Flacolaco]

Originally Posted by capitalcity

I've never encountered a problem downloading porn on my mac.

Should've closed the thread right after this one.....