Mac vs Pc

[Adam]

Because I am one cheap a$$.

Dude, we know. We've seen your gear....

Oh, wait. That's right - your speakers cost more than my car.

 

[Adam]

Btw, now I want pizza...

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

 

[Adam]

Man, that looks good.

Luckily, Raymond at Dominos began custom making my order one minute ago.

 

[bikdav]

Interesting

I've seen some websites that compare the bits and pieces that make up a mac with a similar build in a pc and the cost difference is minimized once you compare apple to apples (no pun intended, . I've used both extensively and I like macs for a home set-up esp. if you are thinking of using one to stream video and music. They have a lot of built in hardware and software to make those tasks fairly straightforward.

That is just what I've been finding with my iMAC20. It does home entertainment awesomely well. Yet, "office tasks" and third party software have been an issue. I also found that some documents provided on the internet will only open with Windows _ but not MAC. That is weird.

 

[Adam]

I also found that some documents provided on the internet will only open with Windows _ but not MAC. That is weird.

That is weird. What sorts of documents? Office files?

 

[bikdav]

As a happy owner of both a Mac and a PC, I have to say that I while I need a PC for some Microsoft related work activities (Office files, web development in Share Point), there's nothing else in the world that I can't do on my Mac. In fact, a dirty little secret is that all of the web crew where I work keeps a PC for Share Point, but uses a Mac when it's a matter of choice. You can get a good idea by exploring apple.com and google-ing for "open source mac" to see all the software available for free. In addition, on a Mac, you can run Unix software, X-Windows (Unix-based windowed software), DOS programs, old Apple programs as well as have dual-boot ability to run Windows too (I have not tried this because I don't want to "contaminate" my Mac). You can even get emulators that run CPM software.

It's worth checking out the new Mac Mini, which is out for $599 (although you'd probably want an external DVD drive for about $40 extra). Most of what most people will ever do works great on Mini and if you have a monitor, keyboard and mouse already, you just plug them in and you're ready to go. It has the horsepower to do anything short of serious video editing. Most things you do are quite a bit quicker on a Mac. Mine boots up in 15 seconds, and wakes from sleep in about 5 seconds. The only software that seems to be missing is income tax software (why?) and anti-virus software, which most people don't use. The learning curve is easy and there's lots of support available on Apple's discussion area. I'm not any sort of zealot, but I've been gradually won over.

You brought up a very good concern. The tax software people need to get on the stick with this. Also, anti-virus software is available but not plentiful. I'm presently trying out Sophos Anti-Virus. So far, it very quickly and effectively "captured and arrested" two intruders that snuck in.

 

[bikdav]

Lol

Tell me that I didn't witness you stating this. You got me laughing out loud.

 

[bikdav]

Careful, I'm a pizza fan. You are making me very hungry and my mouth water.

 

[bikdav]

That is weird. What sorts of documents? Office files?

It's hard to exactly state. I'd say documents. The last time I ran into this problem was when I was trying to look at a posted schedule. With the MAC, I couldn't open up the schedule that I wanted to see. Yet, with the PC, everything worked fine. There was also an incident where I tried to fill out a questionnaire and it would not display completely on the MAC. I tried several browsers that I had on hand, but to no avail. Yet, when I tried it on my Windows PC, everything was there and I completed the questionnaire without any problems. I don't get it either.

 

[Adam]

I wonder if it was a font issue. Eh, whatever it was - it worked on one and not the other.

 

[tonedeaf]

O.K.,I want to thank everyone for their input.Some very useful information provided.
I will go p.c. for a number of reasons.
Plus,I also am a cheap a@@
Alex,too funny
Again,thanks guys.
Regards,Len

 

[FatmanSize48]

I have a brand new, top of the line, Mac desktop and laptop, as well as top of the line PC counterparts. Note that I am not some idiot bastard-they were all gifts from friends and family. Personally, I like the smoothness of Mac OS X Lion, but I never use it-the computer, keyboard, and mouse just feel awkward. Sure, they're nice, fast $5000 computers, but I have found that my PC is more practical for everyday use and is more reliable. (Did I mention faster, as well?) If you want a shiny piece of aluminum to show off to your hipster friends who don't know $#!T, go with the Mac. However, if you want a computer that you can use everyday for anything and everything, that won't look as sleek as a Mac, but will still not look like a gypsie cursed it, go with the PC.

-Stay Fat My Friends, Stay Fat
(I'm not fat)

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Dude, we know. We've seen your gear....

Oh, wait. That's right - your speakers cost more than my car.

Those gear pictures aren't real. They are all Photoshop gears.

Would you like me to Photoshop your gears so that it looks like you have a $7 million budget?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

OMG. That looks soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good!

And it's not even lunch time.

Oh, wait, it is lunch time.

Man, I swear this forum somehow speeds up time or something.

 

[bikdav]

I wonder if it was a font issue. Eh, whatever it was - it worked on one and not the other.

I don't know. All, I know is that I still run into this problem on occasion. It's weird.

 

[bikdav]

Lol

I have a brand new, top of the line, Mac desktop and laptop, as well as top of the line PC counterparts. Note that I am not some idiot bastard-they were all gifts from friends and family. Personally, I like the smoothness of Mac OS X Lion, but I never use it-the computer, keyboard, and mouse just feel awkward. Sure, they're nice, fast $5000 computers, but I have found that my PC is more practical for everyday use and is more reliable. (Did I mention faster, as well?) If you want a shiny piece of aluminum to show off to your hipster friends who don't know $#!T, go with the Mac. However, if you want a computer that you can use everyday for anything and everything, that won't look as sleek as a Mac, but will still not look like a gypsie cursed it, go with the PC.

-Stay Fat My Friends, Stay Fat
(I'm not fat)

That was funny. But, you made your point.

 

[bikdav]

True

OMG. That looks soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good!

And it's not even lunch time.

Oh, wait, it is lunch time.

Man, I swear this forum somehow speeds up time or something.

I wish I had the recipe. I'd probably try making one of these.

 

[jeffsg4mac]

Huh, bet you guys are wondering why I stayed out of this one eh? Get yourself a mac. If you need windows on it for some god awful reason you just make your mac a dual boot easy enough. 99.9 percent of things you will do will be easier and less of a headache on a mac. OS X is a far superior to any Windows OS, and 10.7 Lion is light years ahead of win 7. As an EX IT guy I have used them all from DOS to AIX. I use macs and OS X at home for a reason.

As a side note I am typing this from a 2.1 core 2 duo iMac that I just got from a buddy of mine who upgraded to a quad core iMac. He sold me this thing for the unheard of price of 100 bucks and it is like brand new. In a few months when I get a quad core iMac this will go to my son. My wife has her macbook back and she is happy now!

I am going to throw a hybrid drive into it this week and that will perk it up even more.

 

[Speculant]

The three most common arguments (in my experience) are software availability, virus protection, and price.

- Very stable versions of most major software are now available on both Windows 7 and Mac OSX 10.7 ("major software" being Microsoft Office, all Adobe products, Firefox, etc.).

- Viruses are a non-issue. I have run AVG Free Edition on my Windows 7 computer from day one, and I have never had any viruses, ever (and I quite frequently visit "shady" sites, if you know what I mean). The reason Mac OSX is touted as more secure is because much more people use Windows, so there is a larger target for any potential viruses.

- One company builds Macs. A hundred companies build Windows PCs. There are a few PC companies that make computers as nice as Macs, but "The PC" gets a bad rep from the all companies that build shitty low-end PCs. I find that in almost all cases you get what you pay for, and computers are no exception.

Most Macs use $100 parts, and a lot of lower-priced PCs with similar specs use $30 parts. Even though the part specs appear to be the same (or even better) there IS a difference.

Feel free to correct me if I am wrong on any of this.

(I just had a total flashback to 9th grade where my Art teacher used to spend the entire class period arguing the whole "Mac vs. PC" thing with various students. Made me el oh el.)