pc-or mac?

gonzo127

unfortunatly not Marty as not many places do the all in one designs (yet?) and will fully agree its not the most fair comparison and it is difficult to find one to compare http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/desktops/357841/samsung-u250-all-in-one-pc is interesting slower CPU but full touch screen

as ever you pay for the style and design aspect over the power

well it is extreamly powerful however also extreamly expensive for the hardware, although as ever the design is good

will try and look into the laptop spec later to see about a comparison there

and to the person who brought this thread back alive

if you are considering a Mac, go and look at them and have a play and try not to believe everything people say about them (good and bad alike)

work out what you ACTUALLY are going to be using your system for
work out if there are any specific programs you need/want to run and see how much these programs cost to get on each platform
try to remember that PC's are not just windows you do have other options such as Ubuntu

each operating systems has good points and bad points and there are reasons why each one is popular

Marty_J

gonzo127 wrote: »

unfortunatly not Marty as not many places do the all in one designs (yet?) and will fully agree its not the most fair comparison and it is difficult to find one to compare http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/desktops/357841/samsung-u250-all-in-one-pc is interesting slower CPU but full touch screen

as ever you pay for the style and design aspect over the power

well it is extreamly powerful however also extreamly expensive for the hardware, although as ever the design is good

Style and design certainly costs extra (and this is true of every computer), but so do things like build quality and component quality; I'd rather have a 500 GB WD drive than a 1 TB off-brand one.

Apple's customer service is also second to none in the computer industry, which is something that's worth paying extra for IMHO. When I got my iMac, I called Apple and told them it was a bit on the noisy side, and they offered to swap it out for a new one, no questions asked. A few weeks later, the supposedly money-grabbing Apple sent me a letter informing me that the price of the iMac had been reduced since I bought it, and here was a cheque for the difference.

Also don't forget about the software that comes with the Mac. You'd spend a not inconsiderable sum putting together something like iLife for Windows, and even then, it wouldn't be integrated as all the iLife apps are. And if I wanted to be really churlish, I could insist that the cost of Windows 7 Ultimate (£150) is factored into any PC price comparisons. Macs come with a full version of Mac OS X, so any PCs you compare them to should come with a full version of Windows.

Now, you could argue that none of the above things matter to you, and that would be a perfectly valid stance to take. However, that just tells us about your needs and priorities, not about the inherent value of one computer over another.

gonzo127

Marty_J wrote: »

Style and design certainly costs extra (and this is true of every computer), but so do things like build quality and component quality; I'd rather have a 500 GB WD drive than a 1 TB off-brand one.

well this is always interesting depending on which side of it you look at it from. i personally would never tell anyone to get the generic parts so this is not something i personally consider

and when looking towards build quality since the majority of components inside a Mac are now created by other companies the build quality is exactly the same as the components you can get in a PC with the same possibility of failure.

Marty_J wrote: »

Now, you could argue that none of the above things matter to you, and that would be a perfectly valid stance to take. However, that just tells us about your needs and priorities, not about the inherent value of one computer over another.

:T
and i think that in its self sums up the entire Mac vs PC arguement in one paragraph, each and every system has a different value to everybody depending on what they need from the system

quick edit - also play nice with the adding the price of windows ultimate in hehe as i am really trying hard to be objective and not to 'Linux spam' at the moment as i am a Ubuntu user 99% of the time only going into windows for some gaming

littlepanther

The price of the Mac may be more expensive, unless you are buying like for like with a good quality PC. However, in my experience the Mac lasts longer. We are still using a Mac that we bought in October 2001 and still going strong. We have added a bit more memory and that is it.

I have since had a Macbook that is now over 3 years old and going strong, sold on to someone I know. For work I have a MacBook Pro which is a year old and an iMac that is two years old. If they were Windows machines they would have slowed down by now. I also run Windows on both the MacBook Pro and iMac when I need it.

Over time value for money for me is the Mac as they last.

BillScarab

I really don't get this idea that Windows machines don't last. I bought a machine runnong XP in 2003, it's still going strong now being used by my cousin. I re-installed Windows when I gave it to her and I think it had a RAM upgrade and I added a bigger hard disk but it's been very reliable.

The obly reason I repalced it was that I play games and it would have needed a lot of money spending on it to keep up with the modern games.

Given that the hardware inside a Mac is the same as Windows PC I don't see why they should last longer from a hardware point of view. Especially if you're comparing devices at the same price point.

The major difference is in the design of the OS. That is an area where Apple seem to be doing well in designing an OS that doesn't get outdated too quickly.

As for Windows slowing down, yes there can be issues with that due to the design of the OS but it's easy enough to fix.

i8change

Originally Posted by BillScarab
I really don't get this idea that Windows machines don't last. I bought a machine runnong XP in 2003, it's still going strong now

Same here, our Dell (the family PC) is the same vintage and it's been hammered. Replaced the HDD for a larger one and upped the RAM to 1GB for performance reasons, but nothing has ever failed on it.

Wish the thing would die to be honest as the other half won't let us replace it with something smaller (I have a PC tower myself) whilst it is working fine! Bet it will be still working years from now if I don't get fed up and kill it.

spud17

My website runs 24/7 with a Gateway PC, from when XP first came out, it belonged to someone who used it for business, then gave it to his kids.
It still has the original 8GB hard drive and psu, put in a 500MHz P3 to replace the 350MHz P2 and upped the ram to a heady 512MB.

ps it's not critical if it blows up.

Imani

This is an interesting thread. After doing so much research I decided that I will replace my defunct laptop (which only lasted 3yrs) with a macbook. I was going to buy the basic white but since the recent upgrades I will be getting the entry level macbook pro and increase the hardrive size to 320gb. I figured configuring this way is cheaper than selecting the next model up that comes with those specs. I have been tweaking specs on the website

A question though, I have been told to purchase from an actual Apple Shop as they tend to throw in extras at no extra cost. Is this true? I would have to travel at least an hour out of town to get to an apple shop. I don't believe it. What do you think

almillar

They most certainly do not throw in extras for free, the opposite is true, that you'd be better going to independent retailers who might sell at the same price and throw in a bag or something. If you want a custom one you may be stuck with going online anyway as the Apple Store certainly won't stock all configurations.

POPPYOSCAR

Imani wrote: »

This is an interesting thread. After doing so much research I decided that I will replace my defunct laptop (which only lasted 3yrs) with a macbook. I was going to buy the basic white but since the recent upgrades I will be getting the entry level macbook pro and increase the hardrive size to 320gb. I figured configuring this way is cheaper than selecting the next model up that comes with those specs. I have been tweaking specs on the website

A question though, I have been told to purchase from an actual Apple Shop as they tend to throw in extras at no extra cost. Is this true? I would have to travel at least an hour out of town to get to an apple shop. I don't believe it. What do you think

Well they did when we bought our IMac we got a free printer free ipod nano
and we got free one to one sessions.we also got a student discount through our son who was at college.My BIL got a 10% discount that he negotiated with the store manager.