PC vs MAC

[Acesfull]

Starting this as to not threadjack my brother's thread but it did spark some good conversation.

Originally Posted by mooseyjoe

Forgive the long post, but the Mac vs PC conversation is one that I hear constantly, and I could talk about it all night.

I work with Macs on an almost daily basis, and I still lie firmly in the PC camp. As far as reliability goes, I haven't found one to be any better than the other. Despite the bad name that PCs have aquired, my laptop running xp hasn't crashed or dropped a program in at least two years. On the other hand I have had a macbook pro lock up on me when I tried to play a video on BBC's website. The iMac I'm writing this post from has a habit of crashing programs, but at least the machine itself always seems to keep on chugging.

As far as hardware goes, there is no denying that Apple makes a good machine, but they tend to be a bit pricey in my opinion. For the same amount of cash as a new Mac desktop, you can buy a pc with double the ram, the same processor, and at least 100 gigs more storage, but it wont come with that sleek apple logo. Other things like blue tooth and webcams are all just little extras, and they can be found on both macs and PCs, you just have to look for them.

As far as programs go, they both can do the same things, except for playing certain computer games (which only matters if you want to play those certain games). If you watch the ads, mac will talk about how easy it is to "manage pictures, send videos, check email, organize music, etc" while PCs are great for databases, business computing, etc. The reality is they can both do the same things.

Side note: Many graphic design types seem to navigate towards mac, but most of the high end design programs are available for both OS, or have an equivalent on the other side. I think this happens largely because the mac ad campaign went through a period of targeting the independent artsy types, and as a result all the art and design schools, mine included, got hooked on mac. As for the design students I know, they fall on either side of the divide as to which is better for their video, music, or graphic design.

The best analogy I can think of is to liken computers to cars. Macs are automatic and PCs have a stick shift. They both drive on the same roads, follow the same rules, and will take you to the same places. Mac is just designed to hold your hand a bit more (when I say that I'm talking about things like the lack of a default right click on Imacs or the hoops you have to jump through to access a hidden file). The stick shift requires a bit more care to keep from ruining your car, but potentially offers a bit more control and performance (which is why all the super expensive sports cars are manual). It can also be made a bit cheaper, which is why there are so many PCs that are the equivalent of a Geo Tracker, cheap and easy to roll over.

On the virus topic, get some good antivirus and don't go slumming around too much with your pc. And stay away from limewire. Limewire downloads have killed more computers than anything else I've seen.


Google the "Mojave Experiment" to see an interesting take on Vista and the problems people think it has.


On a personal note the thing that bugs me the most about macs is their habit of creating hidden "trashes" folders on external devices. When I plug in a thumb drive and delete something to free up some space, I don't want my computer to copy it into a hidden little cubbyhole where I can't see it, but it is still weighing me down.

Second little peeve- I just remembered this one while I read over my post. I dislike it when companies sacrifice performance for form, and Apple is notorious or it. Take the old 1 button mouses or the hard edge at the foot of the track pad on the new aluminum macbooks. They are pretty, but they are uncomfortable and dont work well. And glossy screens!!! why did mac switch back to glossy screens? I need to quit thinking about this stuff or I'll get myself all worked up.

Too late, this keyboard I'm using is also awful, not ergonomic at all.





Ok, I did thing of one BIG redeeming product for Apple. The iPhone might be the coolest gadget ever. 'nuff said.

Just went back and saw this post.. very accurate and true. Reason I dont like Mac's is because my HS had the iMac's when they first came out and they were horrible. Locked up all the time etc..

As far as windows and viruses and stability. Well thats all on the user. Smart users update their AV, grab their windows updates and keep their drivers up to date. As being the single helpdesk guy for a company that has roughly 150 user computers I'd say 80% of our users do NOT do this.

XP is awesome, no reason to replace it. Vista had many issues for me but I was running Vista64 when it first came out. Went back to XP. Nothing is better than XP IMO for the standard user.

Right now viruses dont exist for Macs because they arent as popular. Once they do get popular they will exist.

I do hand it to Apple for running a very well planned "Windows smearing campaign". Vista is not bad and as updates come out fixes will be made. Thats one thing MS is good for.

[Iceman]

I am in the PC camp. I wont even consider a Mac until they get more people writing software for them. Tons more software available for PCs, at least for now. Also, speaking from the business side of things, the cost to switch a company from PC to Mac would make it DOA before it ever arrived for consideration.

Just my $.02

[anton]

It's all personal preference. Both have pluses, but neither are perfect.

I'm in the Windows camp for several reasons. The way Vista Ultimate interacts with my Xbox is a huge plus, and a big reason I won't consider switching.

[CRider]

Originally Posted by Anton

The way Vista Ultimate interacts with my Xbox is a huge plus, and a big reason I won't consider switching.

More info please?

[anton]

Originally Posted by CRider

More info please?

Vista Ultimate has Media Center built in and it can be linked to the Xbox. From there you can access media files from your pc or links to the internet. It also supports DVR features if your PC has a video card.

If you have Vista Home Premium or Vista Ultimate it is ready to go out of the box. If not, I recommend downloading a program called TVersity. It does almost the same thing for free.

[CRider]

Ya know...my laptop has XP Media Center on it, and I've never really played around with it much. Guess I oughta

[mooseyjoe]

whenever I saw the "I'm a mac..." commercials where the mac guy talks about how awesome he is and then asks what the pc can do, I always wanted PC to scream "GAMES!" and blast him with a big sci-fi gun.


I got into the mac vs pc discussion with my roommate the other night, and he pointed out that vista is SO bad that they are releasing windows 7 (which runs on the same skeleton as vista) to fix its problems and try to trick the public into buying it because its "new". After that I asked him if the need to replace an old OS with an updated version and name meant the old OS was bad. When he said they wouldn't have to try and sell it as something new if it was worth anything, I pointed out that Mac OS X has been around since 2001, and we are coming up on the seventh re-nameing of the same system with an update (cheetah, puma, jaguar, panther, tiger, leopard, snow leopard).

[Acesfull]

Originally Posted by mooseyjoe

whenever I saw the "I'm a mac..." commercials where the mac guy talks about how awesome he is and then asks what the pc can do, I always wanted PC to scream "GAMES!" and blast him with a big sci-fi gun.

[JTokash]

I'm a grad student, and there isn't one piece of scientific equipment in my lab (or my enitre department for that matter) that will run on a Mac that I'm aware of. I also love going to conference meetings and watching the Mac crowd pull out all their adapters so they can plug in their laptops into a video projector. Makes me laugh everytime.

-JT

[jjmolleck]

for me, the reason i jumped onto the mac bandwaggon was owning a pc was a full time job. the pc worked well as long as you defragged on a monthly basis, check for spyware/adware/viruses on a regular basis. problem is.... i can be negligent and go a couple months and when the computer got bogging down then i would have to catch up and it would take even longer. so the mac compliments MY lifestyle where it is "turn key" and works well as long as you run "disk doctor" every month or so. that and the OS seems more stable. i have no evidence to prove or disprove this. just my personal preference. ive had pc for my first 10 adult years and it has worked fine. at this point for what im doing i like mac better.

its almost like the chevy/ford debate. both of them will get you to work. which one do you like better. and why? (rhetorical question) all this is strictly my preference and opinion. just a side note... macs cost about twice what a pc costs. the only reason i was willing to pay that price... was my brother has a power mac tower for his work that is about 6 years old. and still works like a new pc. now ask yourself... how many pcs are worth using after 6 years? most people do because they have no choice... but a pcs life IMO is about 4 years before you have to start beffing it up to keep up with games/programs/internet.

[Acesfull]

From my experience the only "maintenance" you have to do with PC's is to run windows updates.... which is no big deal since you can set them up to do this automatically. i dont worry about viruses or spyware because i really dont put any suspicious software on my computer.

Hardware wise PC's and MAC's I believe are about the same and you can even overclock PC's to get even better performance out of them (as long as you know what you are doing) but I dont overclock mine.

What I'm curious about is the lifespan of a Mac. The longest you can have a PC run effectively is somewhere between 4-5 years as Microsoft likes to come out with a new OS about that often which becomes a bigger resource hog. Not sure what Mac's are.

[jjmolleck]

Originally Posted by Acesfull

From my experience the only "maintenance" you have to do with PC's is to run windows updates.... which is no big deal since you can set them up to do this automatically. i dont worry about viruses or spyware because i really dont put any suspicious software on my computer.

Hardware wise PC's and MAC's I believe are about the same and you can even overclock PC's to get even better performance out of them (as long as you know what you are doing) but I dont overclock mine.

What I'm curious about is the lifespan of a Mac. The longest you can have a PC run effectively is somewhere between 4-5 years as Microsoft likes to come out with a new OS about that often which becomes a bigger resource hog. Not sure what Mac's are.

since mac uses OS-X and comes out with different variations every year or so (tiger/puma/leopard...etc) its still os-x at the core. maybe that has something to do with it. but i dont have as much computer knowledge as most people here. my brothers computer amazes me for how old it is.

[Acesfull]

Originally Posted by jjmolleck

its almost like the chevy/ford debate. both of them will get you to work. which one do you like better. and why? (rhetorical question) all this is strictly my preference and opinion. just a side note... macs cost about twice what a pc costs. the only reason i was willing to pay that price... was my brother has a power mac tower for his work that is about 6 years old. and still works like a new pc. now ask yourself... how many pcs are worth using after 6 years? most people do because they have no choice... but a pcs life IMO is about 4 years before you have to start beffing it up to keep up with games/programs/internet.

Sounds more like a Ford vs Honda debate. When a Mac part breaks its more expensive to fix but they are less likely to break and generally work better after abuse (Hondas). Fords I would say are like PC's you can get a super performing PC that will last and if it breaks is easy/cheap to fix. You can also have more aftermarket options.

This is why I like PC hardware better. You can supe it up and if you run out of HD space you can always add another one for under $100. Same with video cards, RAM everything is cheaper.

Ask Andy how much it would have cost him to replace the screen on his Mac laptop after it got busted. I recently replaced a laptop screen that was busted at my work for $190.


As far as longevity we have PC's in my company that are up to 8 years old. But still 4-5 years is average for PC's

[jjmolleck]

Originally Posted by Acesfull

Sounds more like a Ford vs Honda debate. When a Mac part breaks its more expensive to fix but they are less likely to break and generally work better after abuse (Hondas). Fords I would say are like PC's you can get a super performing PC that will last and if it breaks is easy/cheap to fix. You can also have more aftermarket options.

This is why I like PC hardware better. You can supe it up and if you run out of HD space you can always add another one for under $100. Same with video cards, RAM everything is cheaper.

Ask Andy how much it would have cost him to replace the screen on his Mac laptop after it got busted. I recently replaced a laptop screen that was busted at my work for $190.


As far as longevity we have PC's in my company that are up to 8 years old. But still 4-5 years is average for PC's

extended waranty here.... beyond that, im sure you're right

[Acesfull]

i dont like warranties. your equipment is down way too long. plus warranties dont cover accidental damage like a laptop screen being broken. thats how most things break, by accident and not manufacturing issues.

PC parts are easily accessable at local stores for decent prices. Mac parts are harder to find and usually cost way too much more.

Plus I dont like people I dont know working on my stuff. I just dont trust them. Thats why I do all my car's maintenance myself such as oil changes, tire rotations etc... only thing I let people do to my car is putting new tires on and recalls from the factory

I dont let anyone else work on my computers.. period