Apple vs PC

wolfman

alexjohnson wrote:

The inside of the new Intel Macs is exactly what PCs are going to start looking like in 2007.

Eh? PC's are ahead of Mac's if anything.

Dual core has been around for a while, and AMD is the better of the two to go for. The Intel Duo may not be available, but they'll be around soon. PCI-E, DDR2, SATA, they've all been about for ages, so if anything mac's are slowly becoming more like pc's.

Plus there isn't much support yet for the Intel based architecture. It's good in once sense to buy something newer, but you may be waiting a while until everything is fully supported. And code will need to be optimized for the new archictecture as code compilers will be different, so performance gains won't be really noticeable straight away. Instead you could pick up a cheaper ibm mac, but at the risk it may be sooner dated. I'm not saying you should, just pointing out the pro's and con's.

With regards to Intel's comments, I kind of agree if he's referring to sending your mac off to Apple for repairs. PC's are a lot more common so repair options are much wider spread, often more competitive, and you have far more users who can offer help.

postingalwaysposting

bit of fun, but this is a video of mac vs pc lol - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6553260189868317794

wolfman

1. Ok you didn't make it clear, you just stated that pc's would look the same by 2007. I was merely disagreeing as pc's generally are further ahead being modular and built to a price, rather than built to a spec. Every example I mentioned was accurate.

2/3. My point was that pc's are more common. There's a lot more support for them, and a lot more issues raised. Like you said Google (groups) is a good example, so many different problems have been experienced due to the large user base that you're more likely to find a solution. And applying this across millions does make a difference. It's basically a bigger community spanning Windows/Linux/BSD.

4. Had a few beers at lunch, too much text to read

firedog_2

wolfman wrote:

2/3. My point was that pc's are more common. There's a lot more support for them, and a lot more issues raised. Like you said Google (groups) is a good example, so many different problems have been experienced due to the large user base that you're more likely to find a solution.

In some ways, yes, but I know that if I have a problem with my PC, there can be a number of potential causes of problems that could be found in software, BIOS, sound card etc. Finding a PC user with an identical setup is a far, far rarer experience, so given so many variables, troubleshooting my PC ends up as a question of trial and error.

I've found that one perceived disadvantage of Macs - their relative lack of configurability - is a positive advantage when it comes to troubleshooting. I'm fairly confident that any problem I've had with my Mac will have been experienced by someone else and that their solution will help me too.

Mac support is generally excellent. Apple's own discussion boards is a good place to start, but the growing number of Apple Stores with their wonderful Genius Bars is an amazing customer support experience that is hard to translate into cash terms.

wolfman

True, very good counterpoint. Although that's beginning to define more between software and hardware between the two.