To mac or not to mac

jeremyshere

I have had Mac's for 9 years, at first i thought it would be a good mental challenge for me, but now its a real mental challenge to use a PC.

Mac's dont crash (you force quit or you just switch them of at the wall) they dont need a new operating system unless you really want to change it.

My MS software for mac I bought 9 years ago is still good today and I have not found a reason to update it.

Everyone I now who has bought a PC has had to renew after 4 or 5 years max, my last mac I had for 7 years and it is still being used on a daily basis. I bought a new one last year and its even better.

Reallly nice key board try all the PC ones then try a Mac, its the same with the mouse, just really smooth and responsive.

Once you have got one and you want to connect it to the internet there are now issues or disks, it just fires straight into it, Safari is a dream to use Firefox is really nice too.

I did not now I had a firewall till last year, but its been there all the time, no dramas no notices it just works.

The mail box is simple and functional it really does work.

Photos are a real dream.

MS has constantly tried to emulate and improve over the last ten years but it is no where near to the quality of OS.

Finally you can buy a good PC which might come close to a mac and it will cost you £600/£800, but you will pay the same amount of money in 4 or 5 years for another one. A Mac will cost you a min of £1000 but it will not need replacing for 8 years plus, and you will still get a return on it of probably £150/200, show me a PC thats worth that sort of money after 8 years.

davidjwest

gadgeteer wrote: »

Hi all

Have always been a PC man. Live them, breathe them. But more recently have been slowly assimilated into the Steve Jobs collective. I now have 2 iphones & an iPad.

I'm now oggling iMac's but really struggling to justify the cost. Worse still, I'd need dual monitor setup to replicate what i currently have.

They look so gorgeous. But aside from looks, what would I want one for???

Any mac converts help me justify it????

If you can't answer that I'd suggest you don't *need* one - why pay more than you need to for something that you don't need to use it for?

I like Macs but wont pay more than I need to as I don't have any specific use for one.

Yes, they are shiny!

[Deleted User]

jeremyshere wrote: »

Mac's dont crash (you force quit or you just switch them of at the wall) they dont need a new operating system unless you really want to change it.

What do you class kernel panics as then?

timbo58

DatabaseError wrote: »

So...is that like vegan sausages...all the great sausage taste, none of the nasty meaty goodness?

Luckily MS allow their operating system to run on a variety of hardware, including macs (as they are just pretty PCs) so this is possible. Sadly an awful lot of work is involved in making an OS that will run reliably on millions of different hardware configurations, Apple make life easy on themselves by limiting it to a handful, while microsoft get flack for the tiny percentage with problems.

It's very, very rare that I see mentioned anywhere "I have a PC and want to run mac software on it", but he reverse is commonplace...I wonder why?

Macs software and OS are their strong point, MS 'allow' their software to work on a variety of platforms because they are primarily a software company, a very clever one that bought and copied software from a variety of sources and rebranded it.
It is hardly seamless or faultless, riddled with bugs and faults and often using their own customers to bug test the first few years at their (the customers) own cost!

Apple built their hardware and software together, one isn't cobbled together to match the other, they are designed to work and it shows!
The only reason Apples now run PC based software is the change to Intel CPU's which allowed Apple to make bootcamp as 'a fop' to those who decided they might find it too much of a wrench to go the whole hog and use Apple hardware and software all at once.

If IBM had patented their 'PC' when it was first made (like Apple did) we would be able to have a true comparison, instead its Apple V the rest of the world who build machines to a similar architecture and the plethora of software written which works pretty well when you consider it is always going to be a compromise to allow it to work with all the nuances and differences of the different PC hardware and OS's.
The only MS software I use on my macs is office, not because I HAVE to, but because I am used to it and I use it everyday at work, if Apple ever made a comparable office suite I would look at changing it completely.

Yes, a PC is better at running games, and many more are written for the PC, just the same argument why there are 99.9% more viruses and malware written for the PC -it's a far bigger market to sell to/infest.
However, using a PC for gaming is a little behind the times, consoles are designed to do the job and are far better at doing it at a fraction of the cost of a gaming PC.

I want to use one piece of software that I can only use on a PC to be fair 'rowpro' to hook up to my rowing machine -although it only runs on Windows XP, I might be tempted to load bootcamp and winxp on my Macbook, but think I'll shell out for an ancient PC laptop instead, with a fresh windows XP install and never connected to the net it might behave itself!

23n1th

timbo58 wrote: »

However, using a PC for gaming is a little behind the times, consoles are designed to do the job and are far better at doing it at a fraction of the cost of a gaming PC.

I think maybe you'll find PC gaming isn't behind the times and PC gaming is much more impressive than consoles graphics wise and the variety of games available. Consoles only have the edge with things like Kinect which apparently will come to the PC anyway.

I want to use one piece of software that I can only use on a PC to be fair 'rowpro' to hook up to my rowing machine -although it only runs on Windows XP, I might be tempted to load bootcamp and winxp on my Macbook, but think I'll shell out for an ancient PC laptop instead, with a fresh windows XP install and never connected to the net it might behave itself!

Like I said before you must be doing something wrong if everytime you put windows on the internet you get viruses. I'm glad you're a mac user, one less "I'm infected I downloaded a virus" thread.

[Deleted User]

Consoles are easier for developers to write for, takes away a lot of the problems of having to test on different combinations of hardware and. It just means the annual instalment of FIFA or Call of Duty can be thrown out quicker. The PC is not behind the times, Consoles just came along and made gaming more accessible to everyone. 10-15 years ago being a gamer was looked down upon, now it's completely the opposite. PC gaming still offers better graphics, sound, games, quicker updates and the Mouse and Keyboard input combination is still far superior to a game pad.

As for the rest; dross.

timbo58

I take your points but to make an issue if the fact that more games are made for pcs and therefore they are better games machines per se is inviting comparison to game consoles.
Anyone who buys a pc primarily for gaming is wasting their money, and would get much better value from a console.
The pcs 'flexibility' in it's range of differently sourced software and differing hardware standards is also it's Achilles heel; it is inherently a compromise.
I built pcs for probably the last major uk business computer company starting at pertec and very early windows systems, so I certainly know the basics.

As for the last post; all of your post is 'dross' a pc will never match a modern console.
Expect people to have different opinions based on their experience, it doesn't make either of us right!

[Deleted User]

timbo58 wrote: »

Anyone who buys a pc primarily for gaming is wasting their money, and would get much better value from a console.

Which is all fine and well unless they want to play titles that are exclusive to the PC.

The pcs 'flexibility' in it's range of differently sourced software and differing hardware standards is also it's Achilles heel; it is inherently a compromise.

You could say the same about consoles because you trade limited hardware and lesser impressive graphical performance for convenience.

I built pcs for probably the last major uk business computer company starting at pertec and very early windows systems, so I certainly know the basics.

Ok..

As for the last post; all of your post is 'dross' a pc will never match a modern console.

In what respect? One problem I constantly find annoying with console gaming is the amount of jagged edges. With my PC I'm able to fine tune my graphic processing settings to eliminate them and within the boundaries of my hardware, chose a resolution and frame rate that suits me.

timbo58

I am afraid a thread that started off with the OP wanting to know why he should buy a mac over a PC or vice versa has provided lots of people stating that PCs are better as macs are overpriced in comparison.
The argument put forward that if you spend enough money AND know what your doing with a PC will make it a better gaming machine are accepted, but tend to destroy the argument then that Macs are overpriced.

My considered opinion is that if you want to play games you choose whether to spend shed loads of cash AND know what youre doing with a PC (and then admittedly have the flexibility of having the PC for net/office work too) OR if you are less knowledgeable buy a cheaper PC and a dedicated games platform console and have the flexibility of both and the ability that two users may use them seperately.
I rarely play games at all so I decided after years of frustration with PCs I'd go along the mac route, I don't get the software mismatch issues and the machine works flawlessly very time, even the ancient emac I have in my home office.

I have an vintage motorcycle if I want to spend time tinkering every journey (which I do enjoy sometimes!) however I will jump into my new Audi if I want to get somewhere quickly without drama, that's my analogy although no doubt it'll be picked apart.

Ocassionally I find something I'd like to do on a mac that only a PC can do but that moment passes......

As for calling your opinion dross, that was a little childish at your comments my post was dross for pointing out the historical and personal reasons why PCs were as they were, it didn't make them of any less value in this thread IMHO.

DatabaseError

timbo58 wrote: »

As for the last post; all of your post is 'dross' a pc will never match a modern console.

I loled
Only advantage I can think of that a console has over a 1/2 decent PC is...er...shiny?
In the non-shiny departments, graphics, sound, processing power, updatability, add-ons, mods the pc kinda wins hands down.
..but it is a lot more expensive, I just threw together a PC capable of playing games but it did cost me ~£400..but that included a 22" monitor