pc-or mac?

gonzo127

I am just trying to help the OP make a informed choice based on my opinion and knowledge, which if you read my posts would also show you that I have 'played' with Mac's although not used them properly. So any thoughts I have can be wrong as they are only based on a small amount of usage which allows the OP to take what I say with this in mind.

I have not once told the OP not to get a Mac, I have only said that if gaming is a important aspect then a Windows based system would be easier. and that Ubuntu might be worth looking at if they are only going to use the basic tasks of photo, media (watching not creating) and the web.

PLEASE remember this is a advice forum where the OP can take or leave anything they want, to resort to a attack on someone else’s opinion trying to make it sound that anyone who would even consider something other than your own opinion is stupid, only shows you up as a fanboi who hates everything that isn’t from your beloved Apple

I appreciate that Mac's have their plus points however none of the points Mac's have are needed by myself, hence my comment (which is highlighted to try and point it out) that I personally can not justify the price premium of a Mac when I can get 95% of my needs covered by Ubuntu for free, with my remaining needs covered by windows

as to the attack on gamer's, well that’s just not very helpful to anyone, to say that anyone who might play a few games doesn’t work hard, and of course could never be busy, is just ignorant

newfoundglory

I think its a bit unfair to say that Macs are expensive or over priced.

There are discounts to be had... Pretty much anyone can get about 6 or 7% off.

Most can get an educational discount which can be more than double that.

If you take the Mac Pro as an example... Its cheaper than configuring a similar spec machine from Dell.

debitcardmayhem

How iRonic that iRony always surfaces when the PC/Mac debate always comes to the front on all threads about this subject. Everyone has their own iDeas of which is best for what.

Windows are useful to look through to see if I need to wear a Mac when I go to the pub to drink my Apples (preferably scrumpy) and read the posts from MSE'rs on my shiny new HTC desire, which reminds me I need to update my Avatar to include that. Mind you I might change it to have a bottle Wine(respect to Linux users who like running Windows Apps) and as it is almost summer I might have a bottle from Provence-Alps if I can spot one.:beer:

gonzo127

thank you for your apologies Brenda and i am also sorry if you felt my comment about extra cost for gaming was an attack on your opinion.

i was just trying to balance out the ability to play games on a Mac with the extra cost and effort required to do so.

Brenda wrote: »

The OP didn’t include gaming on the list of things he would want to do. Nor was there any mention of interest in Linux or a budget restraint.

i brought gaming into the equation a while back due to the original comment about the use's being 'the usual' as in my expereince this does have the possibility of gaming

for the Linux idea, this is just trying to open the OP's considerations since if they are willing to try a new operating system it would not harm them to have a look into Linux as a possibility, as this might easily have been something they hadnt even thought about before hand as i still find a lot of windows users who have never actually heard of Linux.

and budget restraints, well who doesnt want to save some money if they can?

anyways hope you enjoy your lunch

Marty_J

clivejohnson wrote: »

What are your thoughts/opinions on the mac compared to the pc? Is it better?

I certainly think so, and so does pretty much everyone who uses one (remember that most Mac users were previously Windows users, so they have experience of both platforms).

Whether or not you will prefer it is up to yourself though.

is it more difficult to use?

Personally, I think it's easier to use. I can just drag an application to the Trash if I don't want it while Windows users are still waiting for the Add/Remove programs list to load.

However, there are some things that are different which may take some time to get used to, and it would be dishonest of me to pretend otherwise. Reading a good book introducing the Mac, or reviewing the materials on Apple's support website, will seriously enhance your investment should you decide to make the jump from Redmond to Cupertino.

Perhaps some of you use both?

In addition to the Mac, I have a couple of XP machines, a Windows 7 one, and I'm thinking of adding a Windows Home Server.

What are the main differences? Is it more secure against malware/viruses? Is the mac faster than the PC?

A couple of difference stand out. Your Mac won't come with a bunch of trial software you have to spend hours uninstalling; something I recently went through, and it was literally hours (the PC even came with a trial disk burning program, even though it had no disk drive). I started setting it up at 6pm, and by 8:30pm or so, it was ready to use. In contrast, I took my Mac out of the box, plugged it in, and 5 minutes later I was on the web and downloading my emails.

And while we're talking about software, the applications you get with a Mac blow anything you'll get with a PC out of the water. The whole iLife suite is absolutely brilliant, and I know it would be something I would be unable to replace on a PC.

Also, no need for an anti-virus. Try this: get a PC and uninstall its anti-virus. See how fast it runs? Now install the anti-virus again. It now takes longer to start-up, open files, applications, and even download things. If you get a Mac, that's someone else's problem.

There are various other little software things that make it nice to use also. I've already mentioned uninstalling things by just dragging them to the Trash (and you generally install them by just dragging them to the Applications folder). Opening PDFs out of the box without having to install Acrobat Reader is very nice (a 600MB+ program to open PDFs? No thanks.), as is the ability to open my camera's RAW files. How the Mac implements preferences is also much better than Windows. Instead of having a complex and labyrinthian Registry, the Mac stores the preferences for each Applications in a file in the preferences folder. It makes backing up, moving, and editing preferences very simple.

Time Machine, the incremental back-up software that comes with the Mac is also excellent. Just plug an external HDD in, and the Mac will back-up your whole computer. Then, every hour, it backs up any files that have changed, while keeping the old copies of your files. It basically means you can retrieve any file that has been on your Mac in the past few days, weeks, or even months, regardless of whether or not it has been deleted or edited since. And if you get another Mac, you can plug your Time Machine drive into it and restore from it. Then your new Mac is set up exactly the same as your old one, with all your files, applications and preferences exactly as you left them.

I realise that musicans and graphic designers use them, so they will be biased to some degree, but I want it for home use i.e the usual things web, email, photos etc...

All things the Mac excels at.

I went into the apple store in salisbury and noticed that the 21.5 IMac didnt maximise webpages to fullscreen and there was a white border to the left and right. is this normal??

The screen on a 21.5 inch iMac is 1920 pixels wide (and on a 27-inch model, it's 2560 pixels wide). That white border is because there's no webpage to display - there aren't any that are that wide (or at least, if there are, I don't come across them).

I always know when a PC user has been using my Mac (or indeed, any Mac), because they blindly stretch out every window so it fills the screen, regardless of whether or not there's something to display in that window. For some reason, PC users would rather look at a bunch of blank empty space rather than see their desktop, applications, files, etc.

Perhaps PC users are just more Zen?

Any opinions, please feel free to post them here, and help me choose! :-)

We can't help you choose unfortunately. All we can really do (if past experience is any indication) is bicker endlessly about which is best. It all comes down to which one you prefer. Just don't listen to the "you can buy a PC that's just as good for cheaper" smokescreen. I've been asking PC users for years to show me a machine that has all the same features as the Mac for less money, and they've been unable to produce. That's not going to change for one simple reason: businesses want to make money. If a company makes a computer similar to a Mac (and some do), they'll charge accordingly.

That someone is prepared to use a cheap computer (regardless of whether it's a Mac or PC) doesn't tell you much unfortunately.

If someone buys beer and insists it's as good as champagne, that says more about their tastes than it does about champagne.

Marty_J

Brenda wrote: »

If, however, somebody buys good beer and insists that it's better than poor champagne, that says quite a lot about their taste, too...

True, but the 50p per can stuff from Tesco ain't good beer. :cool:

gonzo127

wow Marty that was a very good post with lots of points to consider for the OP, however i have a quick question based on the quote below (and because you appear to be a reasonable poster with thought out answers)

Marty_J wrote: »

In addition to the Mac, I have a couple of XP machines, a Windows 7 one, and I'm thinking of adding a Windows Home Server.

now in a lot of the Mac vs PC threads accross the internet you come accross so many people who have a simular statement about having a windows system as well as a Mac and then go down the line of prefering the Mac. which is fine and i have no problem with this at all

my question comes from the fact that why do so many people who own Macs also own a windows PC?

is there something specific that you have to have Windows for in this situation and that if you only owned a Mac you would have difficulty doing, and if so what is it?

as i have previously stated all my computing needs are covered by Ubuntu and gaming on my windows system, it is mainly out of my own curiosity why it seems the majority of Mac owners also have a Windows system as well (just thought this might also be something the OP might find helpful)

BillScarab

Perosnally I can't stand any champagne but I do like a good pint.

Marty makes some good points but I would like to point out a couple of things.

Not all Windows machiens come laden with crappy trial versions of software, unfortunately the ones fromt he big manufacturere do still seem to. Ones aimed at business users are often better in this respect.

It's an excellent feature to have native support for PDFs but no sensible Windows user will install Actobat when you can install Foxit which is only a 7MB download.

Essentially only you can decide which is best. Decide what you want ot use it for and if the required software is available. Then look at what meets your needs and is within your budget. If it's Windows, fine. If it's a Mac fine.

debitcardmayhem

Brenda wrote: »

If, however, somebody buys good beer and insists that it's better than poor champagne, that says quite a lot about their taste, too...

Taste is paramount I am drinking aspall's at the moment and trying to reply for the 1st time from the desire so the spelling mistakes are all down to the cidre

Marty_J

gonzo127 wrote: »

wow Marty that was a very good post with lots of points to consider for the OP, however i have a quick question based on the quote below (and because you appear to be a reasonable poster with thought out answers)

now in a lot of the Mac vs PC threads accross the internet you come accross so many people who have a simular statement about having a windows system as well as a Mac and then go down the line of prefering the Mac. which is fine and i have no problem with this at all

my question comes from the fact that why do so many people who own Macs also own a windows PC?

is there something specific that you have to have Windows for in this situation and that if you only owned a Mac you would have difficulty doing, and if so what is it?

as i have previously stated all my computing needs are covered by Ubuntu and gaming on my windows system, it is mainly out of my own curiosity why it seems the majority of Mac owners also have a Windows system as well (just thought this might also be something the OP might find helpful)

That's a perfectly valid series of questions, and I'm more than happy to answer them.

Most of the PCs I inherited when I got married. I purchased a Windows 7 nettop last week to put under the TV for the sole purpose of watching online video (Hulu, Netflix, BBC iPlayer, etc). Much as I love watching QI, I can't quite justify spending $600 on a Mac Mini at present, though I may get one in future if finances permit (my daughter can then have the nettop in her room).

So, price is a determining factor. You can find PCs for cheaper than you can find Macs for. This doesn't mean however, that the $300 nettop is a better computer than a Mac Mini would be. If I wanted a TV-friendly PC similar to the Mac Mini, a Dell Studio Hybrid will cost the same as the Mac Mini, and not be as well spec'd. Anyone who suggests that a similar PC would be cheaper, or the nettop just as good, needs their head examined.

I'm thinking about getting Windows Home Server because its an excellent product, it'll play nice with my Macs, and I can repurpose an old PC I have lying around by turning it into a server and putting it in a cupboard someplace.

In short, the PC was good enough (and cheap enough) for what I wanted to do with it at present, though I'll probably end up putting a Mac Mini in its place eventually.