The "Get a Mac" Thread (1 Viewer)

[Scott L]

Them's fightin words! Only one way to solve this... PC crew vs Mac crew in a music video similar to Michael Jackson's Beat It.



All I have to say is thank goodness for variety. If we all stuck to one operating system or one hardware configuration the computing world would be a boring place.

 

[Carlo_M]

I'm in!

Don't make me cut you!

Of course, owning 3 XP machines and 1 Mac, I may do more damage to myself than any of you will!

I fully agree that it will be a very interesting 1-2 years for Apple. Actually, being a new Mac owner, I don't have the complex that some older ones do. I actually don't mind if Apple's market share doesn't grow considerably. The bigger you grow, the more of a target you become.

I think the Apple community is near perfect now, especially with all the freeware that is readily available. I wouldn't mind if Apple didn't grow by leaps and bounds with their MacIntel move...but my suspicion is that they will grow by some amount due to the increased hardware compatibility. I wonder if MS will try to lock Bootcamp out of Vista compatibility though.

 

[David Williams]

Vista may make Windows on par with Tiger *technically* but it will never approach the majesty of the Tiger GUI. Vista will already be behind the curve when Leopard appears sometime in the first quarter next year.

I've been a happy and lucky Mac owner my whole life. From my first computer, a SE Classic when I was 14, to my latest, an eMac that I got 9 months ago.

My father bought a Dell 8200 without my knowledge (I would have tried to talk him out of it) after owning a Mac for most of his adult life. He is miserable and can't wait to trade up to a Mac Mini like my brother recently did. My brother used Macs all through school and then had to switch to Windows for his work with the government and never really looked back. He couldn't be happier with his Mini... He couldn't believe everything it could do for it's price and size and how well everything was integrated.

 

[Colin Runner]

Wow, it looks like this thread passed the 20 post mark and hasn't been degraded into a fanboy war (yet).

 

[Ken Chan]

What's worse is they can never admit they're wrong, so they keep repeating the same baloney; misleading the ignorant and compounding the problem.

 

[Bob_Chase]

Really? Maybe you could illustrate this point for us.

And define "a lot"

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

I thought that started with the first post, infact the first two lines: "It seems like lots of people go out and buy expensive PCs and accept the reality that they will have problems. Whether they get infected with spyware, crash frequently, or just plain don't work well, people with PCs have problems."

Speak for yourself.

I always find these threads amusing because no matter what side you lean to, this kind of thread will never make you jump to the 'other side.' If you think the HD DVD and Blu-ray forums get full of FUD, nothing matches that of a good ol PC/MAC thread.

Neither system is perfect and the both have their share of bugs. Some avoidable, some not. But with that out of the way, I would venture to say that 90+% of all problems are because of user error. Included with that would be the PC vendors putting in their bloatware that also tends to cause a number of problems.

I've built my own pc's for well over a decade now and never have the sort of problems people complain about. Do I get the occasional hicup? Of course, who doesn't. Hell give me a mac for 5 minutes and I'll crash it no problem. I've managed that numerous times, and not on purpose either mind you.

We are a video production company and in my office we run both Macs and PCs. I'm the PC guy, obviously, and my partner is the Mac guy. In this field, the rumor goes around that the Mac is the best at it. Pure BS. Does the mac do a good job? Absolutely. Does the pc do a good job. Absolutely as well. Do either do a better job than the other? Depends on the user behind the system and it is my opinion that that is how it will always be. There are times when his G5 hits the dirt and just won't cooperate. There are times when I find myself in a similar situation. I would like to say though that ever since I scrapped our original prebuilt editor, and built my own, I've had a lot fewer downtime moments. But the advantage to having both systems is that we can take anything anyone gives us. I tend to be the one that has the least amount of compatibility issues with projects or formats that people gives us.

Will Apple ever get me to switch to a Mac? I could almost guarantee that to be a no. I like the ability to build my own with any piece of hardware available on the market. In reguards to the earlier post about Apple letting you customize, that's a joke. It's like saying I can customize my Honda at the dealership. I also like the fact that there usually isn't just one program to do a certain job. I have dozens to choose from. I also game. I also prefer the windows interface and underlying functionality over OSX. I can't stand how things are orginized on it, nor do I like the actual interface. It is just annoying, and for my brain, not userfriendly. Just one of those things. And lastly, price (and I'm talking the highend, not the toaster pc's).

But as always, to each their own.

 

[Joe D]

No problem.

Dell XPS 700 - Dual Core 3 GHz CPU
1 GB DDR2 667 Ram
250 GB Hard Drive
512 MB X1900 Ati Graphics Card
20" LCD
$2370
vs.
Apple PowerMac - Dual Core 2.3 GHz CPU
1 GB DDR 2 533 Ram
250 GB Hard Drive
256 MB NVidia 7800 GT Graphics Card
20" LCD
$3748

Or:

Dell XPS 400 Dual Core 2.8 GHz CPU
1 GB Ram 533
250 GB Hard Drive
256 MB Nvidia 7300
No LCD
$1,050

vs.

Apple Power Mac 2 GHz Dual Core
1 GB 533 Ram
Nvidia 256MB 6600
No LCD
$2244

Both Mid-Tower machines, similar configurations in terms of memory, storage, graphics, and monitors.

 

[Kevin Hewell]

Here's a funny take on the Mac commercials running now:

Mac vs. PC

 

[Joe D]

I like it!

 

[Patrick_S]

Jason, great well thought out post.

I agree that both platforms have their pluses and minuses.

The one thing that always amazes me about these threads is how people relay their horror stories about Windows. The only thing I can think of is that there are a lot of users out there who really aren't the power users they think they are.

I've have never had any problems with Windows 98, Windows 2000 or XP. My machines have run flawlessly for years with no problems so I just can't relate to all of the horror stories.

I like Macs but I also like my PCs and would never abandoned them to go Mac exclusive. Besides I really like building my own because of the inner geek in me.

 

[Carlo_M]

And what amazes me is that people who have never had windows problems thinks that they don't really exist for the real world

I have had, in my 12 years of using Windows, exactly one virus. And I knew the minute I clicked on it that I had done something really stupid.

But in the last 8 years I have become the main tech support for 12 staff PCs in my workplace. These are 12 regular, average joes and josephines, between the ages of 35 and 55. We are a Windows shop through and through, with a regular 3 year contract with Dell on their "professional" line (Optiplexes before, Precisions now) and HP. I can tell you that "power" users like me do tend to have very few problems. But the rest of the staff (about 10 of the 12) who aren't power users have had a myriad of problems over the years. Anything from driver conflicts, to spyware/malware, to viruses, to hacked/corrupted registries, etc.

I always wondered to myself "how could these people do it" but after about 8 years on the job (with the third batch of new machines being imaged right now for deployment next month) I've stopped wondering.

Could these 10 people bring down Macs as well? Probably. So I'm not touting Mac supremacy. As I've said, I personally own 3 XP machines, work on one, and only own one Macbook Pro (my first Mac purchase).

But just because you are a power Windows user who has never had a problem doesn't mean that your experience is the de facto standard.

Outside of my personal unit, the organization I work for as a whole (500+ employees) also has similar Windows experiences. I'm part of a small group that meets regularly to discuss IT support issues around the organization, and my group is actually a little better than average. We now have 1 IT support staff for about every 5 employees out of necessity.

 

[Patrick_S]

"Lighten up Francis"' I never said they don't exist.

I have just come to the conclusion that the vast majority of problems occur because of an error on the part of the users.

 

[Carlo_M]

How's that for lightening up?

Seriously though, that's why there's a term known as the PEBCAK error. Problem exists between chair and keyboard.

Now the question becomes which OS protects the "average user prone to PEBCAKs" more from, well, PEBCAK'ing. My initial feeling is OSX, but it certainly is possible to PEBCAK that OS as well.

 

[Rommel_L]

Every computer and OS is suceptible to the PEBCAK virus...

 

[RichP]

Duh?

The point you're overlooking is that a secure OS would prevent users from being able to do the damage to their computers that Windows users experience. People shouldn't need to be "power users" to simply use a computer to perform everyday tasks. Windows requires them to be in order to avoid disaster... Macs do not. That is the point.

 

[Scott L]

That seems like a great idea, hopefully MS will adopt that same strategy for Vista.

I have to wonder though, what are the negatives of restricting total access like that? I like being able to customize my OS's look and functionality through registry tweaks and whatnot.

 

[Will_B]

Best fake Mac ad ever (that I've seen, anyway).

 

[Thomas Newton]

Let's try this again. The PowerMac G5 you chose has a 64-bit CPU, a better I/O design than most PCs, PCI Express slots, the ability to use 16 GB of RAM, FireWire (400 and 800?), USB 2.0, dual Gigabit Ethernet, a sturdy aluminum case, multi-zone fans, and an OS that's useful both as a Unix-style OS and for running shrinkwrap software. The XPS 700 has some nice features, but it's clear from Dell's site that they're really pushing it as a gaming machine, rather than as a machine for workstation needs.

Looking at the base model in Dell's workstation line, and trying to configure it to match, I get this:

Dell Precision 380 XP Pro x64-Edition ($1709)
Intel Pentium D 960, 3.60GHz/800MHz/2x2MB L2 cache, Dual-core (+$689) (cheapest dual-core CPU option for this model)
XP Pro, x64 edition, with media (included)
Broadcom PCI Express card to add second Gigabit Ethernet (+$49)
1 GB DDR2 533 MHz RAM (+$100)
Embedded SATA RAID (RAID unused) (included)
250 GB SATA HD w/o RAID (+$71)
256MB PCIe x16 nVidia Quadro FX 3450, Dual DVI or Dual VGA or DVI + VGA (+$115) (one of only two graphics cards that supports Dell's 30-inch LCD; all of Apple's stock PowerMac G5 configs support their 30-inch LCD).
16x DVD+/-RW drive (+$20)
1394a (presumably 400 Mbps) (included)
Dell 20 inch UltraSharp™ 2007FP Widescreen, adjustable stand, VGA/DVI (+$290?)
No Floppy Drive (-$9)
-------------------------
$2939

This is cheaper than the $3748 you quoted for the PowerMac G5. It is also quite a bit more than the $2370 you quote for the XPS 700.

 

[Brian*Rch]

Colin,

Congrats. I hope your new Mac gives you plenty of years of service. I know all my Macs have worked well for me.

I had PCs early in life but switched to Mac about 8 years ago. The switch was work related. Six years ago I bought my first new Mac, a "Pismo" laptop with firewire that I outfitted with Final Cut Pro. It wasn't long before I was doing my offline edits, and eventually I was writing and producing my own content.

I love FCP, as well as Apple's Pro DVD authoring tool. And I'm looking forward to the new Pro desktop stuff for HD editing and production.

Combine the Pro media tools with MS Office and Quickbooks and it's pretty easy to run a business.

I've never, ever suffered from a virus, either.

When I read threads like this the two big reasons I see that are listed for going the Windows route are 1) games and 2) build your own.

Yeah, I've heard 3) more software, but when that's broken down it turns out to be: games again!

To the folks who are gaming and building their own machines, I ask, who are you billing that time to? You're clients? Really? You bill them for wasting time on games? And if you're billing people to build their computers, doesn't that make the Macs a better deal, since I can cut out the builder? I mean who am I going to trust to build my computer, a company that is consistently rated a top brand with a top-rate record for reliability and service, or a guy my sister's brother-in-law knows who swipes parts when the assistant manager at CompUSA ain't looking?

As for computer games, if I had time for games, I'd rather be sailing, or bicycling,or motorcycling, or watching sports or messin' around in the woodshop.

Macs make me money. They last a long time. And in the rare case something doesn't work, Apple is real good about fixing it.

Take care, Colin.

There are still folks who say the world is flat.

Brian Richards