PC or Mac

Sput2001

Of course, the Dell might have been faulty, or badly set up, or maybe I was even doing something wrong... but it's far more fun to make sweeping claims based on a personal sample of one isn't it?

It was neither the first nor the last Mac I've used. One client of mine chucks me onto a £1,800 iMac a few times every month. I'd still say my £450 Dell is more reliable, and just as capable of doing its job. Not that I'd want to bust Apple's marketing bubble or anything...

Middlers

I am very grateful to all the replies thus far. My son has a Macbook (recent convert) and so I have had a 'play' and was suitably impressed. I am giving my Windows laptop to daughter for Uni and need a replacement but didn't want to buy an Apple just because it was different. When spending that amount of money I would want more than that. It is interesting that people sell on their Macs - do they remove the HDD first? I have another Windows laptop which no longer works but didn't want to freecycle it with the HDD still intact or wiped as information can still be gleaned from a formatted HDD.

Leopard

Middlers,

It's about the operating system.

Apple computers are well built and nicely featured. So are many other computers. Apple also has good customer support.

The magpie-mentalitied and the emotionally insecure who spend their lives trying to impress other people instead of personally fulfilling themselves are to be found among the buyers of any manufactured device.

But intelligent people who purchase Apple computers, new or used, do so because they prefer to use Mac OS X, instead of Windows or Linux, as their computer operating system. The rest is detail. We pay what it costs to use Mac OS X: the market sets the price for it. That's the way it is. End of story.

From the manner in which you express yourself - which stands out conspicuously from the large majority in this sub-forum - I suspect that you are capable of appreciating what an Apple computer can offer you. Buy one and enjoy it.

asininity

My comment about the Nova was just thrown in to help start what was just starting and seems in full swing, it had started to descend as these discussions do into and argument. Bit like politics and religion.

What it ultimately comes down to is whether you want one or not. In this case for that money try before you buy!

The arguments used to be that macs had better hardware but the now use the same hardware, the argument about the lasting so long is true for PCs as well ( I've mentioned my 8yr old PC before) PCs are more disposable because thats the market they're in. Besides which after 3 yrs use for 300 quid you feel you've had your moneys worth. 900 quid in 9yrs and three different machines with progressively better hardware or one machine same hardware for 9yrs for around the same price.

Really the only argument left is Micro$oft vs Apple which is a software argument. Everyone ignores linux.

Leopard

Middlers,

I neglected to address your question about the hard drive. Sorry; not properly awake yet!

The first thing I do with any new (to me) computer is change its hard drive (and max its RAM, while I've got it open).

If it's purchased from Apple or an Apple dealer, I buy the lowest capacity, slowest speed hard drive and RAM options available because it's cheaper to upgrade them oneself than to buy them custom-upgraded by Apple.

I then install 7,200 rpm hard drives of larger capacity, partition them, and clone the software provided on the original drive back on to the first volume of the partitioned drive.

If it's purchased second-hand (I bought my last four Powerbooks and MacBooks Pro from private sellers on eBay) I am wary about what might be the content and condition of the hard drive that's in it. So, I install a new one. immediately, before using it..

Either way, I am left with a hard drive with no data of mine on it. This I store safely and then put back into the Mac when I eventually sell it.

When I do dispose of a hard drive, after being wiped and heavily hammered, it goes over the side of a yacht or a ferry, in deep water, well out to sea. Naughty - but effective :cool: .

asininity

Leopard

A yacht... no wonder you can afford a mac! I might be wrong but can you open up all mac to do that?

Paul_R

I mentioned three yrs as an example, you don't "need" to replace them in that time frame at all. And your is still ultimately a software issue.

timbim_2

Or, you could run dBAN overnight. Or, take the disk near an MRI scanner in a hospital! I fail to see why nobody would go near the things if they were given their proper names.

On a side note, audacity is good, but not that good. It has some glaring ommisions, which really annoy me, like the lack of set in/out point, which you get in soundbooth.

asininity

timbim wrote: »

On a side note, audacity is good, but not that good. It has some glaring ommisions, which really annoy me, like the lack of set in/out point, which you get in soundbooth.

Yeah but audacity is free, cant complain.

Moneymaker

Middlers wrote: »

It is interesting that people sell on their Macs - do they remove the HDD first? I have another Windows laptop which no longer works but didn't want to freecycle it with the HDD still intact or wiped as information can still be gleaned from a formatted HDD.

I must be lacking the paranoia gene. When it's time to sell on my Macs I simply do a "clean install" of the OS, run the updates then shut it down. If somebody wants to remove and analyse the HDD in an attempt to obtain my bank details, or whatever, I wish them the very best of luck! :cool:

judderman62

RobertoMoir wrote: »

As for security... Well you can get decent enough antivirus for a PC freely now so I'm not sure this (not needing AV on the Mac I mean) is much of a money saver. Could be a very important time and hassle saver though. Having said that, while there are currently no Mac viruses in the wild, you do need to understand that Macs are not magically immune to malware... that situation could change tomorrow. And in any case, you can still delete important work by accident, hard drives can still fail, etc. so you need to do backups (having said that, Time Machine is very nice... advantage Apple for sure).

sorry could you please enlighten me - what is time machine ?

I too am contemplating going for a mac.