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PC vs Mac
42 replies
pwbbounce said on May 31, 2006 11:29:
A little help please!
My PC seems to be on it’s last legs I think. Sometimes has trouble starting up, and it’s takes years to do stuff on it.
Before just buying a new pc, I’ve been looking at the iMac. Now, they look the dogs b’s, but are they actually any good? I’ve used a mate’s a couple of times and they seem to be cool.
Any thoughts????
Vixzter said on May 31, 2006 16:39:
macs are great just aslong as you can get all the software you want to work with it
ally77 said on May 31, 2006 17:02:
I prefer the PC, but then I’ve only used a mac once or twice....
I’ve been looking for a new PC myself, saw a great one in Currys on Monday... really good price and spec with a 19” screen!
Santi said on May 31, 2006 18:42:
I so hate Mac! They always messed up my presentations at the University of Amsterdam’s Biology Faculty!! :D (They only have Macs there :S)
Mac’s are supposed to have better performance in design, video and image related stuff. At least it was so before all the DirectX improvements in Windows.
I think today’s PCs are better by far even in design (nothing beats Photoshop so far, and it’s available also for Windows...), and there are many more programs available for them. PCs are faster as well.
It is good to note that Apple’s marketing strategy is based upon the loyalty of the users (most Mac users will never buy a computer other than Mac, because there are also some identity issues with it) rather than the better quality of their products.
joyrider said on May 31, 2006 19:23:
I love my Mac and to be honest, I am a real Apple victim ;) It’s a real lovemark like Starbucks, Mini, Moleskine, a.s.o. are – at least for me.
Maybe these spots can help you to make a decision: http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/
Cheers.
Vixzter said on May 31, 2006 19:37:
@ally77: try http://www.dell.co.uk got some very good deals on pc’s and are very good customer service wise
klair said on May 31, 2006 22:15:
When the new update of the Mac OS comes out in the autumn you will be able to run windows as well as the mac OS on the same computer (providing you buy one of the new ones with the dual processor thingys). You can download a beta version of it currently....so you get the best of both worlds.
Macs rock! I’d do a Clarkson on the PC! ;)
roxtexanet said on May 31, 2006 22:41:
I used a PC until about 2003 and now I’m a Mac user and I’ll never go back. Try out both in the store, see what you like... one major advantage of the Mac (for now) is that you don’t have to worry about damned freaking viruses (one of the biggest reasons I made the switch). One drawback is that Microsoft software made for Mac rarely works as well as the version made for PC... I have to use Word, PowerPoint, etc. all the time and there are a few glitches here and there that make it kind of annoying. My Mac almost never crashes, and when it does I can almost always shut down the offending programme without rebooting; my PC crashed several times a day AND forced me to reboot, but of course that was with Windows 98/ME... the newer platforms are probably more stable.
Hope that helps!
roxtexanet said on May 31, 2006 23:05:
Some more thoughts, now that you’ve got me started (-:
I’ve noticed with Macs is that they don’t nag you nearly as often as PCs do (in my experience)... whenever you try to change a setting on the PC you get some uninterpretable warning message with about three options that often don’t even match the question asked (“Are you sure you want to change this setting?” Cancel Reboot Help)... drives me crazy to be asked after every single thing I do! Also, the newer Windows platforms seem to really like limiting your choices... so, in a drop-down menu, you get the most common tasks at the top (or what MS believes are the most common tasks) and you have to click to see more. This just wastes time, in my opinion. I found a lot of variability among the menus and options available in Windows programmes (options vary depending on who made the software) and much more uniformity among the menus in Macs (Preferences, for example, are always easily found in the left-most menu named for the programme you’re using, instead of buried down in “Tools” “Options” etc. (and different for every programme!). One final thing to note is that OSX (the newer Mac platform) is unbelievably better than its predecessor (OS9)... anyone who has only used Macs with the old operating system would probably tell you to stick with Windows! OSX is very esthetically pleasing, very simple to use, remarkably stable, and has some neat features like being able to clear all of your open windows off your desktop with one button press, so you can see what’s on your desktop with ease. Obviously you can tell I love my Mac! I think you will rarely find someone switching back to PC after using a Mac for awhile, which probably speaks to its user-friendliness. I find that as the Mac gets easier to use with each new upgrade to OSX, each new version of Windows gets more and more complicated and moves everything around from wherever it was in the previous version, which is REALLY frustrating if you work with a lot of different computers all running different versions of Windows.
Okay, that was hardly impartial but I hope it helps anyway. I should say that you can customize away many of the things I dislike in Windows but because I work on many different computers in my job, I find it extremely frustrating to have to disable warnings, etc. every time I move to a new computer!
pwbbounce (moderator) said on June 1, 2006 07:03:
Thanks for all the comments guys!! Very useful. I’ll have to have a think about it. What about the Mac Mini anyone used one of those?
RobS said on June 1, 2006 10:46:
Mac’s seem to be big in the graphic design and video editing fields (from what i’ve seen/heard).
I’ve been a PC user for years, and i think that you get more for your money with a PC, and they’re easier to upgrade if you want to in the future.
Try Dell, they have some good deals going most of the time, and they’re offer good support.
BTW are Mac’s still using the one-button mouse?
Sascha said on June 1, 2006 11:26:
You can use whatever usb mouse you want with a Mac. Currently they’re shipping with a 3 button plus scroll-ball.
Macs are loved especially in all creative branches because they simply do what you want without fighting against system glitches, viruses, dialers and so on. They are very user-friendly, soft- + hardware work toegther perfectly because they are built for each other – which isn’t possible with any windows system.
Btw. with the new Intel-Macs you can run Windows XP additionally to Mac OS X if you like. I just bought a MacBook and it’s simply fantastic, full of clever details! I love my Mac! ;-)
pwbbounce (moderator) said on June 1, 2006 13:01:
@Robs - Yeah the mice are still one button.
Think I’m gonna end up getting an iMac. Saw one at lunch time, had a bit of a fiddle, and really liked it!
RobS said on June 2, 2006 09:03:
Sascha says “soft- + hardware work toegther perfectly because they are built for each other”
That’s true, but it also limits your ability to upgrade or try different products/devices.
Also with the viruses etc, i only recall having one 6/7yrs ago. Just gotta be careful with what you do :)
Either way Paul, so long as your happy with what you get.
roxtexanet said on June 3, 2006 20:51:
@RobS: Do you run antivirus software on your computer? Because the concept of Mac antivirus software (at this time) is hilarious... I wouldn’t dream of running a PC without antivirus software...
RobS said on June 4, 2006 01:26:
@roxtexanet: I do, but I don’t have it actively running. I just manually do a scan every 1 or 2 months.
rox-kuryliw said on June 4, 2006 15:04:
i never need to run an anti virus on my mac yet as iv not had one problem, i used to get daily probs with my pc and still do , I know im greedy i have a pc and mac next to each other lol
Sascha said on June 6, 2006 12:45:
“Sascha says “soft- + hardware work toegther perfectly because they are built for each other”. That’s true, but it also limits your ability to upgrade or try different products/devices.”
I was talking mainly about the OS and the iLife suite. Of course you can run soft- and hardware of many different companies. And with my new MacBook I could even run Mac OS X, Windows and Linux side by side – if I wanted... ;-)
rox-kuryliw said on June 7, 2006 09:38:
ally i did think the same. but when i was using a mac i was trying toi make anything difficult to do as i was so used to the pc , Im sure i wasnt doing stuff right as it seemed to stright forward and easy.
roxcyn said on June 20, 2006 04:06:
I learnt to use a Mac a the university. I never really used them a lot except the really old ones from 1984 (yea my elementary school had them when I was going to school!) Basically, I think Mac are pretty much PC complaint, photo files, word files, etc can be opened on Mac. It seems very interesting. I don’t have a Mac because of the cost (hey I am going to the university after all!), but when I get more money I will definately buy a Mac, I love them a lot. They seem to last longer than PC, and are more effecient and cutting edge.
LittleSpooky said on June 20, 2006 05:42:
Macs are very proprietary in terms of software. Years ago, when IBM was first breaking into the market, Apple (Mac) told them basically to go screw themselves and they would not share software with them. The idea IBM had was to basically create a computer compatible with the software out there and eventually build a powerhouse computer that could run all of Apple’s software with very little effort.
Well, that screw you attitude just about wiped Mac clean off the planet. That’s one of the reasons I won’t use their stuff. That, and the fact that there’s more stuff that I use that is almost IBM / IBM clone software that getting a Mac is about as useful as me paying $1500+ for a door stop.
Windows (in any form) is a resource whore if you have a slow processor. My opinion is this:
If you’re going to buy a “prebuilt, pre-software loaded system”, buy Mac and run it. If you want to build your own, build as if you were doing an IBM and then run some form of Linux on there (Puppy, SuSE, RedHat, etc). Linux is open source and you won’t have the hack issues that you do with Winblows. If anyone hacks a Linux, they’re dumber than hell and should be taken out and shot for being so stupid as to hack an open source.
With Linux, you can pretty much “design your own set up” with what you want installed on there. For example: Winblows installs a bunch of extraneous crap that “must be there” in order for the OS to run. Linux don’t do that.
My opinion for Linux OS:
Puppy (found here: http://puppylinux.com/)
There’s an excellent help board (when a few of them can get over their egos), free upgrades, you don’t have to BUY it (like SuSE, RedHat, and others) to download and run the full version, and it’s fairly easy to navigate.
I run Winblows 2KProfessional. Why? Because I have one program I use that says they don’t know if or when they’ll support Linux and that’s a program I bought in hopes of designing screensavers to sell for a buck or two. But I will eventually switch to Puppy Linux.
pwbbounce (moderator) said on June 22, 2006 13:02:
Well, I did it. Went a got mac. After spending 3 hours trying to get the stupid thing to connect to the internet I thought that I’d wasted my money - but it’s all good now. Loving it btw!!
whateveriam said on August 17, 2006 20:00:
I hope no one is using a Dell laptop with Sony battery in atm-especially after what has happened. Have you seen some of the photos out there?
Kathrin said on August 20, 2006 12:46:
I’ve heard that Mac’s OS is supposed to be Like Suse Linux from Unix.
Is that true?
RJ1976 said on August 27, 2006 06:48:
I have a new iMac and a new PC
Annnndddd -> You simply can’t compare it :S
Windows is sooOooOooo unstable - It’s born to crash !!
Anyway my iMac has never crashed ........... NEVER !!!!
SoooOoooo im probaly an Apple fan... As mr. Gessle...
He only uses Mac - Private and in the studio...
Only dumb part ’bout the macs are the price...
KATRIN ::>>> You can take a look on Mac OS X on the
apple homepage... Its noway like Linux... Linux isnt that
good, but its free, and thats good.
Chaghi said on August 27, 2006 13:15:
@Kathrin: The *core* of OSX is based on BSD (a kind of UNIX), which is, in many ways, similar to GNU/Linux (another kind of UNIX).
In fact, “Linux” is just a kernel, and most of the programs you run on it come from the GNU project, and run also on the different “flavors” of BSD: FreeBSD, OpenBSD and so on.
And many of them also run on OSX (in fact, many come preinstalled, specially as regards low level tools and software development tools).
I don’t own a Mac myself, but I got a couple of friends that run many GNU/Linux programs on their Macs.
Take a look here: http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/unix/
Chaghi said on August 27, 2006 13:24:
@RJ1976: If you run any of the newer distributions of Linux that use “Gnome” as the default desktop environment, you will be surprised to see that is is far closer to the MacOS experience that it is to any of the Windows versions.
You could try it yourself, downloading and burning a “LiveCD”, which you don’t need to install in your PC. It runs enterly from the CD, so you can test it before installing, and see if it’s ok with your hardware and so on. The only drawback if that running and OS entirely from CD is not the fastest thing on earth... ;)
To anyone that wants to test GNU/Linux for the first time, I’d recommend trying “Ubuntu”:
More on Ubuntu: http://www.ubuntu.com/
Desktop CD of the latest version (Ubuntu 6.06 LST, aka “Dapper Drake”):
http://se.releases.ubuntu.com/6.06/
(you have images for PC, Mac and AMD64 systems)
Chaghi said on August 27, 2006 13:41:
As regards virus and instability:
The hardware is not to blame (assuming you are buying a reasonable good hardware).
Computer virus are *NOT* a “PC thing”. They are a Microsoft Windows (any version) thing. You don’t have viruses in Mac not because of the hardware, but because the OS is designed in a way in which is MUCH MORE DIFFICULT (tecnically speaking) to design and install a program that behavies like a virus, and specially, a program that can *spread* itself (which is the main point of viruses – that’s why they are called “a virus” in the first place!–)
But Microsoft Windows is not the only choice you have on a PC... I have a PC, but I didn’t install MS Windows on it. I run Ubuntu, a GNU/Linux system. I don’t have an antivirus program. I just don’t need it. I have mi PC turned on *and* connected to internet 24hs a day, and I have... ZERO virus. I think that says something...
roxtexanet said on August 27, 2006 16:16:
@Chaghi: also, because there are so many more Windows users than users of any other operating system, probabilistically there will be more bad people learning to to programme Windows applications than there will be Mac applications... couple that with the fact that a Windows virus will have far greater impact than a Mac virus and you’re far more likely to see viruses on Windows. As a Mac user, I hope I’m always among a small majority!!
Chaghi said on August 27, 2006 16:41:
@roxtexanet: Yes, that’s true from a statistical point of view. And the Microsoft marketing machinery has made *lots* of efforts to send out the message “oh! we are the pour guys! we are the most targeted platform because we are the most popular!”
But, there are also other things to considers, at least if we talk about free (as in speach) open source software:
- The source code is out there for anyone to see it. So is *very* difficult to slip malicious code in it, because (more sooner than later...) it would be found and removed
- You install most of your software from a couple of trusted “repositories”. You don’t need to dig arround a thousand of –souspicious and unofficial– websites to download and install your software, along with spyware and malware.
- The kernel of a UNIX-like O.S. (like Linux or BSD –and thus MacOS–) is more secure. Period. It has to do with the way it handles process and privileges, and the way things are kept separated and organized in memory. That’s also why it is more stable: A crashing process hardly can crash the complete system
Here is a rather short and pretty stright-forward article that has some more technical details:
http://librenix.com/?inode=21
thenicekai said on August 27, 2006 20:20:
Can someone explain what you do to make a Windows XP PC crash? I really have no idea how to do that. And I do much more than just typing some mails per day.
I guess crashes are mostly caused by cheap hardware, esp. mainboards. If people on the windows side would spend as much money on their hardware as the mac users do no one would ever complain about crashes anymore. Btw, I made a few macs crash just by trying to cut a simple video with FinalCut Pro.
Kathrin said on August 29, 2006 07:50:
Does anybody have the Linux Software called Games Knoppix?
I have it,I think it is cool, it has moving Pictures as Wallpapers(like Santa Claus Flying around on the Desktop with 9 Reindeers,but I can Change it)
ally77 said on September 29, 2006 14:18:
Windows for me! Just upgraded and got a nice new PC today! :) So I might be offline a few days while I change over!
I played with the Macs, but I just can’t get the hang of them, I guess I am so use to windows that I would find it hard to change!
So for now I’ll settle with my new Compaq
ally77 said on September 30, 2006 19:13:
Yes a Compaq.... to actually replace my old compaq that is 4 years old and what has given me no problems whatsoever! ;)
rox-kuryliw said on May 31, 2006 11:46:
i have a I mac, and i have to say i never knew computers could be so great. I always had pc ’s before and my brother does them for a living so he always sorted mine.
BUT my mac OMG its perfect. just a flat screen full of everthing love it. im sticking with macs for the forseeable futrue.
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wo/0.RSL...