Why is the difference between a mac and a PC?

[master_alexander]

so like... i'm not really that diverse with computers, ive had mine since 03. it's a dell laptop... today me and my girlfriend were having a discussion about mac computers, and our first question is why do they not get viruses?

also what are the differences between a pc and a mac? good points/bad points..

other points to consider is that i'll be needing a computer after highschool for college.. stuffs...

[MANN]

macs are better. Almost all pc programmers use them. They are also less compatible with 90% of software you will need in college. Get a pc.

[personman]

The only reason they don't get viruses is because hackers don't spend the time making them for macs. There are more PC users out there, so thats what viruses are made for. There are a few smaller reasons, but that's the main one.

I am really biased, but...

Macs are PCs with reduced functionality and a higher price tag. Macs can cost up to double the price of a PC with the same hardware on it. You are paying BIG bucks for the Apple logo. OSX is a very clean looking operating system, and more and more things are becoming compatible with it, but in my opinion it is still not very practical.
Many mac users end up installing windows on their mac, which makes the mac just as vulnerable to virus attacks as a PC.

Basically, the success of the Mac is the result of a GREAT marketing department. They've become hip, and that's why they're popular. I'm not saying PCs are perfect, but I would take one over a mac any day.

Take a look in to the HP laptops. I don't own one, but I know many people who do, and they seem to be a great mix between functionality, price, style, and reliability.

/waits for a mac fanboy to flame me

[Papa_Smurf]

Macs do what you tell them to do.

[evil]

ok first off i had to fix more F'd up windows computers than i care to remember. ive seen every platform of windows in every work environment possible. i was a contracted technician for Los Alamos National Labs and Sandia National Labs.

i used to swear by windows a few years back and i was a huge advocate for WIN 2k, it was stable fast and not front loaded at all. any and all games would work and i never ran in to an 3rd party software that didn't want to run. then xp came out, windows took all the good of WIN 2k and pissed on it. now we have Vista, its a rip off; if you don't turn all the security off when you first get it and turn off the GIANT SIZED icons it will be the slowest thing you ever ran!!! I hate it.

now add in the fact that there a bazillion viruses for Windows and a security or back door update every week, but hey at least you can play video games right? oh but lets not mention that Networking protocols were added on after the fact to WIN 95 and still suck in Vista.... god i wish i could take years of my life back from maintaining large Microsoft Networks.


bottom line there isn't always an equivalent program for MAC so you will have to search around on the web but there are alot of free ones if need be. NO VIRUSES ever since like 1983, the system is based on a proprietary version of UNIX and its nearly impossible to mess up. RUN time, this computer i'm typing from is a 10.4.9 OSx box, i haven't rebooted or shut it down in over 3 months and i am constantly downloading and gaming. yes there are games now, with the new Intel chips more and more programs are making there way to MAC.

if you can try a MAC for 1 week and i guaranty you will never go back. it just makes sense when you start to use one.

[MANN]

i haven't rebooted or shut it down in over 3 months

I never turn off my pc. I bet it has been over 2 months since I have. And I only did it back then because I got a new desk. Do most pcs have to be rebooted often?

[wetwrks]

I don't know about PCs but IBM stands for Iwanna Bea Mac.

Macs are holy and PCs are evil. Macs have icons and PCs have cursors.

[maxama10]

The only reason they don't get viruses is because hackers don't spend the time making them for macs. There are more PC users out there, so thats what viruses are made for. There are a few smaller reasons, but that's the main one.

I am really biased, but...

Macs are PCs with reduced functionality and a higher price tag. Macs can cost up to double the price of a PC with the same hardware on it. You are paying BIG bucks for the Apple logo. OSX is a very clean looking operating system, and more and more things are becoming compatible with it, but in my opinion it is still not very practical.
Many mac users end up installing windows on their mac, which makes the mac just as vulnerable to virus attacks as a PC.

Basically, the success of the Mac is the result of a GREAT marketing department. They've become hip, and that's why they're popular. I'm not saying PCs are perfect, but I would take one over a mac any day.

Take a look in to the HP laptops. I don't own one, but I know many people who do, and they seem to be a great mix between functionality, price, style, and reliability.

/waits for a mac fanboy to flame me

Fan boy flaming commence:



No but really. I will agree that part of the reason Macs do not have as many viruses are becuase they are less targeted. That however is changing as Macs catch up with PCs. In all actuality though, OSX is based off of Unix. Which is inherently a more secure platform than windows. Thats unquestionable. This makes OSX a much more secure platform than windows.

Macs do cost more than Windows machines, but in my opinion, you get what you pay for. This is unbiased as I was a windows user up until about 3 years ago when I decided to see what the Mac thing was all about. I bought a Powerbook G4 and haven't looked back. In recent years almost everything has become compatible so its not even an issue anymore unless you are using specialized software.

And yes OSX is very clean, and very friendly and a lot more forgiving than Windows. Not to mention, I don't have half the trouble with my Mac as I did with my windows machines.

Personally, I see no reason to use windows unless you HAVE to...

-Max

Edit: Search the forums here, there are other threads like this with a lot more responses. Macs always win

[CKY_Alliance]

I recently switched from a PC to a MAC, I still have my PC though..

Ive been using the mac for about a month and I like it...sometimes there's movies I can't watch online, but Im pretty sure It can be easily fixed with a 3rd party program..I just don't know which to download...

I mean it's like being on any other computer, minus the having to fight it to open crap all the time...I don't know my way around them completely yet so..im sure there is all kinds of things I havn't even discovered yet..oh and Im not supporting microsoft..so I like that (looks at xbox... )

not a very helpful review,but owell..

[CaptaiN_JacK]

On a Mac, you have to press control+click to do the equivalent of a right click on a PC.

If you love using right click as much as I do, Macs will annoy the hell out of you.

[maxama10]

Yes and No,

If you have a mouse not true...

If youre on a laptop..yeah...

[master_alexander]

On a Mac, you have to press control+click to do the equivalent of a right click on a PC.

If you love using right click as much as I do, Macs will annoy the hell out of you.

haha. that's not that bad to deal with. but it'd annoy me too..

so i see alot of good things about mac's. i know my way around really well on pc's--but if my expierence was with a mac, would i end up liking the mac more?

also, what is UNIX and why is it nearly impossible to mess up? ..i understand most software jargon btw.

//to one of the main questions... i wanted to prove my girlfriend wrong that viruses arent only on mac's because of less users

[teufelhunden]

As long as you don't need a computer for work [not school garbage], you'll probably be fine with a mac. I was looking to buy one, but none of the accounting or tax software I use/use remotely is mac compatible, and I felt it to be retarded to pay double for the hardware to put windows on it.

[d4m4don3]

I actually used to fix apple computers. When they break it's like pulling teeth to get apple to send you parts if it's out of warranty. Even if they were under warranty you would have to be an apple certified service center in order to get parts and get paid to fix the unit under warranty. They got real cheap on paying apple vendors to fix the computers which pretty much sealed the fate for them.

There are few apple authorized service centers now. Most of the time you have to ship your apple out to a service center because there are none nearby you. BestBuy has an apple store, but if you take an apple in to their tech dept. It more than likely gets shipped out if theres a hardware issue nowadays.

I actually don't care for buying apple hardware anymore. Besides since OS X is based on BSD Unix it was fairly easy to convert it to intel hardware. Even before apple announced using Intel hardware a bunch of Hardware and Software geeks had already been running OS X on a pc. It was only a few lines of code because BSD has always able to run on Intel hardware, Apple had to change it so that it would run on their PowerPC architectore.

[CKY_Alliance]

Yes and No,

If you have a mouse not true...

If youre on a laptop..yeah...

Actually if you change a setting all you have to do is place two fingers on the mouse pad and then your button becomes a right click...also with two fingers on the pad it will scroll whichever way you move your fingers...

I always try to do it (the scroll thing) on my PC now and then Im like WTF and I realize why...



Ye Dm4Don, Im right by orlando and even the mac rep that trained us on our computers said it will be faster to send the computer off then it will be to go to the store..mainly because it's in such a tourist area...but then again we have our own line to call so thats always helpful