Mac vs PC

[Steve Williams]

We all have computers and some are PC and others are Mac based. I have both in home and office. I never thought that I would ever cozy up to a Mac. My son is all Mac and used to work at Apple in Walnut Creek close by. He familiarized me with Mac until I bought an iMac for my office. It was totally plug and play. Completely intuitive with exceptional graphics.

My son laughs when he talks about PC's ( he calls it a piece of crap) and asks why do you have to push start to stop etc. He also reminds me that there has never been a virus on a Mac.

So who uses one or both and what's your preference and why

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

PRICE!

I love the Mac's, but they're outrageously expensive in comparison.

I think if you have a well-tuned PC, with a good monitor there is not a lot it can't do. Maybe in some applications a Mac does it better, but with a PC I have a lot more choices in terms of software and hardware additions. Regarding viruses...BUNK I say! I haven't had a virus running Vista and now Windows 7 for years.

Hey I love the Apple designs and Steve Jobs et al have done a great job in that regard, but at what price? I like my Dell PC and my sexy Acer Ferrari F-20 monitor!

John

 

[vinylphilemag]

Until very recently, I was a Solaris guy, on Sun hardware. But things have changed so I needed to look at a different platform. Coming from a UNIX background, I expect computers to just work, reliably. I don't want to be concerned about crap like viruses, malware, frequent crashes/freezes/reboots, and poorly written software that eschews industry standards. Consequently, for me, Windows wasn't even an option.

There are a few things I don't like about Apple and MacOS, but the pros far outweigh the cons. Right now we have just a Mac Book Pro, but we'll be adding a 27" iMac to that when funds permit.

 

[Jay_S]

We have computers scattered around the house (probably more than we need) with both operating systems. I have a slight preference for Windows 7 but despite that I just bought the new 13 inch MacBook Pro. I couldn't find a Windows computer with the same combination of screen quality, size, light weight, superb trackpad, and long battery life. Snow Leopard is a nice OS, and I won't bother to load Windows 7 on the MacBook Pro. My daughter has an iMac but uses a Windows 7 laptop. She was brought up on both systems and really has no preference so long as she can run the app that she needs. The Microsoft Office applications are better on a PC and she needs to use them in connection with her school work, so she finds herself switching from machine to machine without giving it a second thought.

I also dual-boot Ubuntu and could easily live with that OS that except that my music collection is in Itunes and I stream wirelessly to an Airport Express connected to my DAC. Surprisingly, Itunes works better with my Windows computers than my MacBook Pro. But this is not typical for most people. I suspect that I will need to upgrade my wireless router to a new model meeting the latest N specification.

 

[audioguy]

Except for some speciality applications like all of my system measuring programs (Tact, SigTech, ETF, RPlusD, etc ) I'm an Apple guy all of the way. I have not used Windows 7 but for every previous version, the Mac ws far more stable so for me it's worth the extra few $ for the added stability.

 

[JackD201]

I switched to Mac back in the day when Protools was available only for Mac. That was when the Power Book was still black and iMacs looked like candy drops. Those were hard times in terms of compatibility. Today those problems are a thing of the past.

I've heard that Windows 7 is very good. I'm not switching back though. These guys at apple have a thing for making stuff intuitive and easy to use. My 2 1/2 year old son can operate and navigate my iPhone then play his kiddie apps all by himself.

I wonder what percentage of net income per unit sold the Mac MS Office version has versus the PC version which has to compete with serial number hacked copies on the black market. I'd venture to guess that even Microsoft loves Apple. They still own a stake in Apple right?

 

[naturephoto1]

I use PCs because I did my Thesis in the mid/late 80's and worked as an environmental consultant on this platform. So that is the platform that I now use. And today, Photoshop is close on both platforms, though I am by far nowhere near an expert. I rely on my printer for printing my Art Work and just work from those files that have been converted. Smaller files I do a minimum amount of work on my PC.

Rich

 

[vinylphilemag]

I wonder what percentage of net income per unit sold the Mac MS Office version has versus the PC version which has to compete with serial number hacked copies on the black market.

Pretty low I hope: I would think that Mac users would be smart enough to use OpenOffice.

 

[FrantzM]

Hi

Mostly a PC user for now ... Mac is a second choice and I like the look , features and stability, lot of Linux at my Office /business. Moving toward Apple ,e ver so slowly .. IPod, iTouch, IPhone, Imac and soon IPad ... so ...
By the way Oprn Office simply makes sense and for the vast Majority of users that is all they need ... Remeber it's free (legally so) and compatible with MS Office ...

Frantz

 

[es347]

I just spent over 6 hours (in 3 sessions) with our friends from India. My dell pc had to be rimaged to rid it of malware and viruses. I'll stick with this pc until the next episode then it's a new iMac. I've had a gutfull of the attacks from pc hackers.

 

[Steve Williams]

IIRC a Mac has never had a virus. Is this true?

 

[amirm]

Pretty low I hope: I would think that Mac users would be smart enough to use OpenOffice.

I think you just called Mac users pretty dumb because Microsoft makes a lot of money from selling Office on the Mac. Old news but some anecdotal data: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-9942251-56.html

"While Apple's market share gains are cause for consternation for many in Redmond, one unit is clearly benefiting.

Microsoft's Mac unit is set to disclose on Tuesday that copies of the new Office for Mac 2008 are flying off the shelves at three times the rate of its predecessor. The company wouldn't disclose sales numbers, but said the sales are the highest in the 19-year history of the unit. That continues a trend that has been going on for some time."

 

[vinylphilemag]

I think you just called Mac users pretty dumb because Microsoft makes a lot of money from selling Office on the Mac. Old news but some anecdotal data: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-9942251-56.html

Touché!

 

[Steve Williams]

Touché!

How does this one grab you Amir?


http://www.comcast.net/articles/finance/20100526/BUSINESS-US-APPLE-STOCK/

 

[amirm]

How does this one grab you Amir?


http://www.comcast.net/articles/finance/20100526/BUSINESS-US-APPLE-STOCK/

It gives me mixed feelings. On one hand, it re-enforces why I left the company. The management changes were long overdue. Robbie and J were very smart and charismatic leaders. But sometimes you need more than Charisma to run a successful business .

On the other hand, this is a company of very smart and capable people who have brought us incredible amount of technology which many of us could not live without. People used to laugh at company old mission statement of a computer on every desk. They got us there, not Apple. And not Google.

In some sense, it is good to be liberated from all Microsoft religion. I am typing this on Google Chrome which in almost every way is better than IE 8. My phone is Android which has a ton of issues but is still a major step up from Windows Mobile. But then again, I created my company's web site with Microsoft Expression Web which was a ton easier to use than Macromedia Dreamweaver which I tried for a month before switching (I don't think anyone with usability skills works at Adobe).

In that sense, I also don't appreciate people thinking an all-Mac religion is a good thing. The only good thing to me is no religion . I would have used an iPhone if it was available on my favorite high quality carrier: Verizon. I am not marrying to iPhone and getting stuck with sub-par carrier and not be able to make a phone call when I need to make.

BTW, I have lived on both sides of the fence over the last 30 years. I started with MS-DOS, went to Windows 3.1, then Mac for many years, and then after frustration with low variety of Mac hardware, came to Windows side and have not looked back. Yes, I cringe at the poor architecture of PC platform. It is a tangled mess that is tamed good enough to use.

OK, I think I am rambling so I will stop here .

 

[Jay_S]

IIRC a Mac has never had a virus. Is this true?

There have been OS X viruses, but none has ever spread widely through the public. Malware and Trojans are more serious concerns but they haven't been a major problem for people who keep their software up-to-date.

 

[ggendel]

I have all sorts of OS in my abode. In order of favorites:

OpenSolaris
Linux
Mac OS/X
Windows

The OpenSolaris machine does all my server work: mail, web, DNS, backup, file sharing, etc. With ZFS, I feel safe that all my treasures will not be lost from bit-rot, power glitches, etc. I have OpenSolaris on my laptops which works great until it's missing something (like Skype). If I need to do these things, I boot into Windows.
The Linux machines I use for program development and test.
The Windows machines (WinXp, Vista, Win7), are mainly relegated to software porting and testing.
I use the Mac OS/X desktop as my main interface. I don't find it as stable as OpenSolaris and programming on it is a bear but it has good third party driver and application support. I mainly use it for porting, test, and bringing up remote desktops to the other machines.

 

[vinylphilemag]

I have all sorts of OS in my abode. In order of favorites:

OpenSolaris
Linux
Mac OS/X
Windows

Another [Open]Solaris user! Well, well, well.

You might recognise my name from that part of my life (I served on the CAB/OGB for a couple of terms, and was one of the early OpenSolaris pilot program members)...

 

[ggendel]

Another [Open]Solaris user! Well, well, well.

You might recognise my name from that part of my life (I served on the CAB/OGB for a couple of terms, and was one of the early OpenSolaris pilot program members)...

Amazing how many of my posts get diverted off topic.

I didn't make the connection until you mentioned it. Now it all comes back to me. I've got a "First 5000" T-shirt. My role has been mostly as tester, since I seem to find the more obscure bugs. I ported the Firefox Weave plugin to OpenSolaris and pushed back the changes. I'm still pushing to get it working on Sparc. I'm also a member of your magazine which is how I found this forum.

 

[vinylphilemag]

Amazing how many of my posts get diverted off topic.

I didn't make the connection until you mentioned it. Now it all comes back to me. I've got a "First 5000" T-shirt. My role has been mostly as tester, since I seem to find the more obscure bugs. I ported the Firefox Weave plugin to OpenSolaris and pushed back the changes. I'm still pushing to get it working on Sparc. I'm also a member of your magazine which is how I found this forum.

Cool! I have one of the ultra-rare "Pilot Member" T-shirts too (only 143 made IIRC), in addition to the "First 5000" T-shirt.

And I'm glad at least two people have found this forum via my mag's web site.