Son wants a 2nd hand mac -help!

NeverEnough

Gonzo, I don't believe the "statistics" necessarily compare like with like and they do not take into account the millions of unwarrantied machines of both types, in daily use.

I can only speak as I find from my experience and that of colleagues and friends with Macs- we have all found them significantly more reliable, over long periods of ownership, compared to PC hardware. I have nothing against either of them, except that Macs are ridiculously expensive new - they are great to use and seem to go on forever unlinke some of my long-dead pc laptops. Statistics are often very misleading and do not compare like with like or other variables are not taken into account.

Anyway, I hope the OP finds a suitable Macbook for their lad.

jaydeeuk1

NeverEnough wrote: »

Gonzo, I don't believe the "statistics" necessarily compare like with like and they do not take into account the millions of unwarrantied machines of both types, in daily use.

I can only speak as I find from my experience and that of colleagues and friends with Macs- we have all found them significantly more reliable, over long periods of ownership, compared to PC hardware. I have nothing against either of them, except that Macs are ridiculously expensive new - they are great to use and seem to go on forever unlinke some of my long-dead pc laptops. Statistics are often very misleading and do not compare like with like or other variables are not taken into account.

Anyway, I hope the OP finds a suitable Macbook for their lad.

But the hardware is the EXACT same as found in your £500 windows based PC. In fact, foxconn who make the motherboards are known as a budget brand compared to asus or gigabyte! The one thing that does kill PCs are cheapo powersupplies and lack of decent cooling provided by some of the cheap PC cases. Put in a £60-£100 PSU and a decent case, and your average £700 PC will last at least as long as your £1500 mac.

Tiexen

And don't forget that for "Graphic Design" you also need the software to go with it - that will cost more than your computer

neilwoods

Tiexen wrote: »

And don't forget that for "Graphic Design" you also need the software to go with it - that will cost more than your computer

Thinking the same here. Yes once you have either nice new shiny laptop, PC or Apple product, what is left over for the actual software.

Yes there lots of free alternatives to the Adobe packages costing around £500 - £1000 or corel draw around £350, but not as good. Guess ok for someone starting out to learn.

almillar

Gonzo - it's not all about processors and hard drives. Do you think a plastic laptop will wear and last as well as one cut out of solid metal?
Anyway, OP, your son isn't gonna get a working 17 inch MacBook Pro for £400. Don't fall for the plastic bodied MacBooks either, they haven't got separate graphics, have a low res screen, and have got very old very fast.
Something has to give...

gonzo127

almillar wrote: »

Gonzo - it's not all about processors and hard drives. Do you think a plastic laptop will wear and last as well as one cut out of solid metal?
Anyway, OP, your son isn't gonna get a working 17 inch MacBook Pro for £400. Don't fall for the plastic bodied MacBooks either, they haven't got separate graphics, have a low res screen, and have got very old very fast.
Something has to give...

where have i said anything about processors and hard drives? all i have pointed out is that on the most recent reliability surveys, based on warrenty claims and helpdesk calls, Apple do not come out as the most reliable systems, in the fact they come out in 3rd or 4th place

timmmers

The main problems with Macs are software related.
I've always had Windows machines and a few minths ago won this Macbook Air. I'd never have bought it at 1400 quid but it's a lovely piece of kit in many ways. It runs cooler than my Windows lappie did. My windows lappie got very very hot when doing graphicss and video work which eventually killed it I think I'll find when I get to fixing it.
That wont happen to the Mac, but not because it runs cooler...more due to the lack of software available compared to a windows machine so I'd not be running as many programs at once.

The battery on this is amazing, around 8 to 10 hours ..BUT unlike my windows machine I can't replace it. Nor can I fix a frozen machine by last resort battery removal which can be useful as a last resort.

I recently won a HP Envy and the minute it rocks up I'll be rid of this cute fast Mac...because it's not as useful or adaptable as a Windows machine, and things that inteface well with a PC don't with a Mac sometimes.

The main reason I'd never buy a kid a Mac is much simpler than any of this stuff and much more important though. Schools and offices and anywhere else he's likely to be expected to use a computer they will almost certainly have Windows machines which he wouldn't be familiar with.

Also, an older PC bought second hand can easily and cheaply have a bigger drive whacked in it and some RAM memory added to upgrade it....not so easy with Apple gear.

cabbage

Hi

I inherited my son's old Mac when he bought a new one. I wouldn't go back to a normal pc again. Apple do refurbished macs, search refurbished apple and it will take you to the apple site. I've bought loads off there and they are good.

My son got into Macs when he worked in a photography shop and the owner uses it in his line of business. Our local printer shop also uses Macs and sometimes when they upgrade they want to sell on the old one.

My mac is years old now but is still going strong. If it was a normal pc the software would be unsupported, the hard drive would have had to be formatted to get rid of viruses and a new one would be needed as new software is more memory intense.

DD has a macbook - she had probs when she got her new iphone as the software was out of date. It cost £14 for an updated version on CD (not the latest) and it arrived within 2 days. If she wants the very latest software she needs to have extra memory installed. I think her macbook is about 4 years old and was a refurbished one from Apple. I don't think £14 for 4 years hassle free use is a lot to pay.

Mondez

cabbage wrote: »

Hi

My mac is years old now but is still going strong. If it was a normal pc the software would be unsupported, the hard drive would have had to be formatted to get rid of viruses and a new one would be needed as new software is more memory intense.

All nonsense if you had bought a similarly spec'd system at the same time. For example Windows 7 was released in 2009 along side Snow Leopard, which one is still currently better supported? Hint, its not the apple one and if you wanted to upgrade to the latest OS, apple has a bad habit of arbitrarily cutting off older hardware even if technically it can run the newer software (old core duo mac mini's for example or 32bit EFI systems). The only benefit of running an apple system is if you just like using OS X better, everything else is a fiction of hype and marketing. Also, I've never had to format my windows 7 system for viruses or anything else and I've had it for several years now.

neilwoods

It seems to have turned into the usual old MAC haters v PC haters, which will always happen on any forum.

To the OP, need ask your son what software he wishes to run and then re-look at the budget and then decide.