Mac versu PC,{snicker,snicker}
 

I know we have hashed this to death and I will get 50% different answers but here goes anyways.

This is the Macs owners chance to speak out. Convince me. :mrgreen:

Still looking at new laptops. Close to the Mac purchase a couple times already. :lol: Yesterday, seen a new Sony with a 16.4in. screen. Back lit keys and a very nice layout. Has the i7 processor. I think 1.8GHz or something similar with a turbo boost to 2.8. Dont have that all figured out yet. :lol: 4g memory and me thinks hard drive was around 640gb.

Looks pretty fast. The Mac book had a 2.3GHz processor, 2g memory and 250 hard drive. But of course Mac owners still say thats as fast because its not loaded with crap. :lol:

Besides posting on Canreef and surfing other boards, I mostly read sports and news, etc. I do a lot of pics between family and reefing. Thus I like the Macs capability here.

So the Sony was $1299, may be on for $100 less this week. Mac is $1099, and pro is same as Sony. Smaller screen on mac is not an issue, as I have a 22in monitor to connect to. Decided either to go smaller like the 13in. for portability and keep my monitor or go larger than 16in. screen and chuck all my previous stuff.

Mac owners, sell me on why for the same price as the Sony I should get the Mac. :mrgreen:

I'd go for whatever's cheaper and does what you want it to do. Macs are great but so are PCs. I will warn that with PC laptops I ALWAYS format them ASAP to get rid of the 'junkware' every manufacturer includes. I'm an avid PC user but I wouldn't hesitate to get a Mac is it was cheaper and ran what I wanted it to (2gig ram not enough for some of the programs I run unfortunately).

I think the Mac has the lesser of the included crap. Sony seems to be not bad, or even Gateway in comparison with HP. They seem to have lots of junkware, perhaps as they are such huge sellers.

Once you go Mac, you never go back:lol:

Seriously though, I have used them all; Windows, Mac, various flavours of Unix and the Mac is the best integrated and user friendly. Also, aside from the lack of included bloatware you get a bunch of really useful free apps.

2 Gigs is no big deal. Memory is cheap and easy to install. Just don't buy it from Apple at their overinflated prices.

I have been running Macs for about 8 years now, I have never run an anti virus, I open any email and go on any sight and have never, not even once had to re-format.

That alone is worth going Mac if you ask me

Also I have never had a Mac "crash" the worst thing that has ever happened to me was it froze (once in 8 years) all I had to do is re-boot and poof, good as new.

I am a PC fan for the simple reason that if you need to repair or upgrade down the road the PC will cost WAY less. Mac has improved in this regard but still has a long way to go. I have yet to crash a PC laptop and do only minor routine maintenance which is all scheduled .....but yeah choose the one that will do the best job of what you want is to do and cost you the least. Either could make you happy

I considered a macbook when I was looking for a more portable notebook, the macbook was nice but for the money it was still missing a few things I wanted and would expect. I ended up getting an acer timeline special addition which not only saved me $400 but does more for me than the mac. Smaller and lighter which was a plus for me, more hard drive, more ram, similar LED monitor but a little slower of a processor which to me didn't seem to relevant since it's just a small portable laptop. However what really sold me was the card reader and the HDMI out with full HD capability. I also prefer the operating system, windows 7 is nice and familiar with equally good features and it's compatible with the rest of my life.

Anyways my point is don't think of mac and pc being so different and just focus on getting a notebook that best fits your needs and wants. I think if people do this 9 times out 10 there coming out with a PC and some extra coin in there pocket.

just buy my asus g2 thats gathering dust :)

One of the things I like most about my MacBook pro is the very solid construction. No creaking plastic or flimsy screens. Made to last. Mine is almost 3 years old and still feels new.

Have thought about a Hackintosh? Mac OS on intel processor or vmware. Fun and challenging project to do. Snow leopard installed on i7 920 overclocked to 4.2 ghz 6gb mem and 1t HD. Also running snow leopard in vmware. Get the best of both worlds. Snow leopard only cost $35 for the os.

I currently run:
2 laptops with Windows XP
2 workstations with Windows XP
~20 Servers running Windows 2003 Server
2 Servers running Windows 2000 Server

I have run every O/S that Microsoft has ever run. Except for Windows 2000 Workstation, I have never had an issue. I have never had any BSOD (Blue Screens of Death) except for the Windows 2000 Workstation. I gotta say that was a bad one, but otherwise never had issues.

Currently my main workstation I use is with Windows XP, probably 4-5 years old and never had to reformat and start over.

So I don't know why others complain so much, I can say both PC and Mac are good. I choose PC because you can do more with it and if you are a gamer, PC will be the only way.

What a Mac?

Mac :thumb:

Thanks for the input so far guys. Appreciated. I see in todays Future shop flyer the Sony is a $100 off, so $1199. But still, for a $100 less the Mac Book or a $100 more for the Pro. Not sure what the pro advantage is besides the back lit keys and the casing?

Well back lit keys would be nice but it also has the aluminum body and card reader, I don't think it has much else.

Personally I would recommend a Toshiba for PC, I have had 2 HP's, but had nothing but problems with the mouse pad. I can't comment on Sony as I have never had one, but would say stick to companies that specialize in computer design and manufacturing. Sony, IMO, isn't one of them.

Here is a Toshiba of the same price:
http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/produ...a246e8cabden02

Might be fun but for long term compatibility and stability it is not the best way to go. you have to jump through hoops every time Apple releases a system update (which they do frequently) and there is no guarantee that future updates will be able to be hacked onto non Apple hardware.

As for the difference between the Macbook and the Macbook Pro, the main ones are:

1. Macbook has USB I/O vs. USB + Firewire + SD card slot in the Pro

2. Macbook supports up to 4GB Ram, Pro is up to 8GB

3. Pro can be configured with faster graphics chips and more VRAM and I think has more BTO configurations and options but that may not be important to you.


The other thing to remember is cost of extras you may need such as virus protection software etc. that you have to factor into the Windows PC costs as well. Make a list of total cost rather than just the cost of the machine itself.

Toshiba was my first preference when I first started looking actually but heard some stories about failures??

The one I liked was one step down from that one with the i3 but still 4m ram and 500 harddrive which is more than enough for me, plus I believe it has a 16in. screen and cheaper @ $799

Never write-off the unibody aluminum case like that! Pick one up and then pickup the sony...you'll be sold. Much like I was with my nikon after i held it's canon competition.

Thanks Ron. I have considered those into the mac. But do many not say viris protection will be needed one day? As for pc, I have, what I think is good protection available from my cable service provided. Its F-Secure but it was just to large for my desktop, so had to take it out and just use avg free for now. Thats one reason I need enough speed and memory, is to handle the F-Secure is I go pc.

I was impressed with the Macs photo software, which I would have to purchase for a pc to have the same quality.

Another consideration should be for Asus. I own one of their laptops and it's been good for me. For the money it offered good options. I believe all Asus laptops (excluding their netbooks) include a 2 year warranty on everything but the battery (may include the battery for 6months, I forget) and I think 1 year 'accidental' warranty- spills, drops, power surges, etc..! Most manufacturers only offer 1 year and none of the accidental coverage (or very little). Might be worth looking into if more warranty interests you.

Hmmmmmmmmm Doug just take the money and buy a new skimmer. problem solved

I was looking at one here after someone mentioned the same thing in a previous laptop thread. Then went back and it was sold. No more have come in since. Suppose I can always buy from Future Shop online.

It was equal to the Toshiba I mentioned, in almost everything but $200 cheaper.

Well actually I am. A SWC 160 cone. Should do my 30 sps cube just nicely and still fit in my 20g sump. :mrgreen:

Just a quick note about the Macbook Pros... they are currently overdue for a refresh, so the price/specs right now are pretty poor. I'd imagine the new ones are out in the next couple of months with better specs, making it a better value (although value wise, PC is the way to go).

That is if you are thinking of the macbook route. One thing to think about that made my decision to switch MUCH easier. Bootcamp. I have windows 7 and osx loaded up on my macbook, best of both worlds!

In general if you are looking at buying ANY apple product, check this page out first. Measures the average refresh cycle for all their products.
http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/

i agree 100%
like some aqaurium companies asus is a company that doesn't advetise much in north america, or much at all for that matter, but they are great.
i have played on a few and they are sweet.
everyone i know that has one is happy with it.
now you could look into alienware...but i wont get into that:twised:

Get the computer that will run the software you want it to. Simple as that. A couple of "neat" free programs don't really mean much if the stuff you really want to run is incompatible. Mac has a good OS, so does Microsoft so it should really come down to the programs you want to run.

That's the beauty of the Intel Macs. You can run either Mac OS or Windows. So use mac OS when you want to be productive and Windows if there is some junky piece of software you can't live without :eyebrows:

buy an acer and run Linux mandrake on it much the same as Mac but a bit nicer in my opinion. I have a computer running it and I like it wife has MS and has a hard time learning new things now so she has a windows based system.

Bill

I have been a devoted PC user for years. I always thought that the price of the Mac's was too much to spend. We record with Protools on a PC.......and I have had nothing but problems....(Hardware and software driven issues)I know guys that have been running Mac's for recording and other high end programs and they don't have any of the issues that I run into.

.....soooo I just bit the bullet the other day and ordered a Mac Pro...... and believe me when I say....this is the most I have ever spent on a computer......maybe 3 of them combined!!!

It really depends on your needs. PC's I find I am always re-formating the hard-drive to clean them up and get them running efficiently again after about a year of service.

I switched over to Macs about a year ago. Every once in a while I'll come across an app that I need to run in Windows but we no longer have a windows machine in the house. I ended up installing VMWare on our Macs (Parallels does the same thing). Pretty much lets you install full blown windows within your Mac. The integration of windows OS and windows apps running on the Mac is seamless (with either of those mentioned programs). Going the other way around (Running mac stuff on a Windows PC) is much more difficult and painful. :-)

With any computer it all depends on how you treat them I have not turned this computer off for 3 years with the exception of thunder storms. I also have not reformatted or had to reinstall software the only drivers I have reinstalled are network card and printer drivers, thats it. I am starting to run out of room on the hard drive so I have a backpack portable hard drive.

I think part of my success is that I do not go to to many web sites I do not open any email that I do not know the sender of and span just gets deleted on sight. I do all updates that the operating system calls for and no more normally a service pack or some thing like that. I keep my anti-virus up to date check for now definitions every week. when really bad viruses go around I run up to 3 anti-virus programs at a time.

I know a person that records with a PC in Winnipeg in EK that does not have troubles. I don't know the program he is using iether that maybe a contributating factor.

Bill

I run a macbook pro after about 3 months on convincing myself in needing a mac I never looked back never had a freeze up issue. Everyone can tell you how great it is i must say i like all the small details that come with it. Go through some of the tutorials on the righthand side to see them.

http://www.apple.com/startpage/

i believe quality over quantity, one of my friends has a mac and they update (large updates) constantly, so either new computer or price of new op system, and he finds it frustrating (see this in ipods, there pushing to hard for new ones) and i run AVG free and haven't had any problems with updates, have had some errors but i like to fiddle with my computer (user errors)... i run AVG free so i dont pay a whole bunch for a crap nortan or other AV.
IMO AVG is better also... id say PC

I switched from running PCs for the last 20 years over to an iMac last year and the swap was seamless and utterly pain free. The iMac even recognized and runs my ancient Laserjet 4L without any issue.

I'm just a casual computer user and a bit of a closet Luddite so megabytes and gigahertz were actually of little consequence for me. I just wanted a computer that could edit AVCHD video and had a good photo editor out of the box. The Mac did that and seamlessly integrated my iPod Touch as well. Yes, I'm full into the Kool-Aid that Steve's serving up.

Which one did you get? I would love to get the 27 inch iMac but probably end up with the 21 incher. I will also dual boot it with Windows 7 for the best of both worlds :)

Cheers,
Vic

Thanks Murray. I will read that later today.

Although I wanted to get away from a desktop, I do keep looking at the iMac for $1299. 3.06 duel core, 4g memory, 500gb harddrive, good graphics card and best of all, still only one plug in. Seems like everything I need. Just not portable but guess I can steal my wife,s IBM. :mrgreen:

We bought a mac mini this Christmas and I have to say I love my Mac! It is so much more user friendly, I don't know much about computers, so it helps that every app comes with step by step instructions on how to use it. I also find it runs a lot faster. It takes hardly any time at all to boot up/restart it and I find all the web pages load a lot faster then my PC did. Plus I don't have to run anti-virus software, and the programs/apps the Mac come with are really cool.

There is this app that is a picture of a red chair and it's called "front row" I can click on it and it shows me any movie trailer that I'd like to see and it shows me what is playing in the movie theaters close to me. There is also an app called "dashboard" and at any time you can click on it and (I set mine to have) a calender, clock, calculator, and the weather pop up on the screen just over top (sort of see through like) of your current screen.

The mac just makes everything easier for me to use and more convenient too. My name is Laurie and I'm a Mac! :wink: and honestly I'll never go back :mrgreen:

Mac's are over rated now. 5 years ago ya I would have got a mack, but I have two laptops, and one desktop. the old laptop ran XP and I had a few problems but nothing that wasn't my own fault. the new laptop and the desktop run Vista. the desktop is almost 3 years old now, never reloaded, never had a problem. the only time it gets shut off is when I install updates wich is seldom now.

the lap top also runs 24/7 with no problems. one thing I did learn over the years is to stay away from free antivirius/firewall software there is a reason there free... think about it. also stay away from nortons it is a huge power hog. the best thing I have found believe it or not is microsoft one step live. 3 years on it now and never got a virius or any other problem.

now I have played with Mac my aunt gave me her power book for 3 months for me to try. I have always liked the look of mack but I can honestly say I found the operating system a pain in the A$$, the computer its self is slower than my laptop (and the mac cost 300 more) and thewre was a bunch of saoftware that I use that is not made for mack. this may or may not be an issue for most people. now I used the Mac as my only computer for 3 months as I was living in my RV just befor I movedi so it wasn't like I could just go back to my old ones, so I realy did give the mac a honest try.. and for my self I will never buy one.

so I guess.. Hi, My name is Steve and I'm a PC.. and windows 7 was my idea.

Steve