Thinking about buying a MAC

[Lohman446]

Seriously, I use it mostly for browsing the internet, some limited (non-online) gaming, and word processing applications. I use it more to run I-tunes than anything else, some printing of photos. Limited running of web-based applications. Taking the cost factor out...

Why?

Why not?

[teufelhunden]

Why take the cost factor out? You can do that for $400 with a new netbook, perhaps less if you get one with a smaller screen or run Linux.

I guess if you take the cost issue out, there's really no reason not to - no reason to really, either PC or Mac will run what you want, and equally well.

[Lohman446]

Frankly because most MAC fanbois have never run a PC. Most PC fanbois have never run a MAC. I just want to see what using one is like for an extended period

[Mechanic79]

Don't forget the intelli mac's can run OS X and Windows XP/vista! so you get the best of both worlds.

Don't be fooled, you get what you pay for! and no need for virus software on a mac. ease of use and less hassle using the computer is worth A LOT OF TIME!

PC= Problems Compatible. :-P
or
PC = Autococker
Mac = Automag

[Hexis]

Call me a mac fanboy, or not. Despite only running Macs in the house I'm perfectly happy to crap all over Apple when they are dumb (and they often are).

I own a Mac Pro, a MacBook Pro, an Powerbook (wife's) and both the wife and I are super happy iPhone users. So yeah, I drank the koolaid totally.

I'm a photo geek (own a studio and pro level gear) for fun and side money. I'm an Information Security Consultant for my full time gig. I know disturbingly bad things about most computer systems. I can break almost anything in fun and interesting ways. I also know how to secure and fix tons of stuff. I was a PC guy for years and started down the Mac path when OSX got useful (around 10.3).

All that is just so you can understand my history and point of view.

I love Macs. The hardware is second to none. The OS is great for many things. The simple summary is that I don't have to fight with my Macs, I just use them with minimal maintenance. Since I fight computers all day for a living, I hate doing it in my spare time. Those factors more than make up for the extra cost for the hardware.

I also run VMWare on my machines with multiple guest OSes running from time to time (XP, Win Servers, Linux builds for Forensics/Security stuff). If you find a need for Windows VMWare on an Intel mac can save you a ton of headache. Just get an XP copy and build a lil virtual instance. It's trivially easy and since you are not doing much with the system, upkeep is a lot easier. I also have bootcamp on both Intel Macs and reboot from time to time into Windows so I can game (gotta kill those Zombies, er "Infected"). Since I got the MBP I have been rebooting that to game instead of the workstation so I don't have to log out all of the users (me, wife, shared photo user, etc...). The combination of VMWare and OSX gives me the ability to run literally anything I need to. OSX software, Windows software, linux software. Some of the classic OSS stuff complies up on OSX, others I can run in a VM instance.

So yeah, long ramble.

Summary:
Macs: good.
PCs: annoying.
Macs: expensive, but may (or may not) be worth it to you.
PCs: more affordable and vastly more hardware configurations.
Macs: 3d Gaming? Ha, not so much without rebooting.
PCs: L4D goodness!

Drink the koolaid, join the cult.

[Barsse]

DON'T buy it! Get Linux! Seriously, Linux will eventually eradicate mac and especially windows, might as well start learning it and getting used to it.

Linux Pros:
- FREE!!!
- Software for it is FREE!!!
- no crashes, no viruses, no bugs if you use a stable release and don't create bugs.
- fast, not very hardware sensitive - you don't need to spend $$$$ to run it fast.
- let me say again - secure.
- HUGE support community, you can find anything you want, and I mean - anything.
- tons and tons of great software, analogs to almost all major softwares on other operating systems.
- the whole world is using it - why don't you?

If I were you, I'd download CentOS Linux x64, and you'll be all set. I have it on my laptop, and it runs better than a dream.
That i sunless you want really flashy cutting edge stuff over stability, then get Ubuntu. It may no tbe as robust as centos, but it's shiny and still a linux, very user friendly.

[Lohman446]

I want simple, mindless

One of the selling points of a mac is a FAQ I stumbled across

How do I tranfer my files from my PC to my MAC?
Bring it in to an Apple retail store, we'll do it for you.

[Hexis]

Yeah, out of the box OSX can handle all of the Windows filesystems. It's easy to move data over. If you do get a Mac, PM me if you need assistance with something.

[Lohman446]

Ok... let me ask this (and sound stupid)

I get my new computer home.

I want to play Ages of Empires

What do I have to do?

[Hexis]

The easy way: buy the mac version. One of my largest frustrations is that the Mac Versions of Windows Software almost always are a separate purchase.

You could also run it in bootcamp or VMWare, but as those require a XP copy (one will work for both) it will cost more than re-buying a single game. It just becomes a better option if you have a library of games, or have games you want to play that are Windows only (Valve stuff for me).

There is one bit of good news, other than the Mac Mini, every Mac has a good or very good graphics card/chip.

[SCpoloRicker]

Buy a MacBook.

DO IT *SLUR*

/currently running 20" iMac, last gen MacBook Pro, and a HP 15" work machine

[Ebbed]

[Swamp Thing]

I will tell you this

I have been a PC User 100% until the cluster that was windows Vista. After crashes and loseing info and just plain pain in the neck I got a Mac and I love it. Have had it since Jan and Have not had one crash, one blue screen of death, one issue at all.

I love the mac.

Only thing is that even though you can bootcamp and have windows I find it to not be 100% like haveing a computer running window as primary OS.

If you do not play game much MAC is a very good option.

Swamp

[Hexis]

There is a price premium, but it's not 400% When you actually compare the exact same hardware (since it is all Intel gear anyways) the Apple pricing is pretty equivelent to building it yourself. The thing is that you can build a machine that will have 95% of the preformance for significantly less than the similar mac. Take the Mac Pros, they look overpriced when you look at a few details, but when you take the whole machine into account they are pretty similar. Keep in mind that they use Xeon, not Core processors. That makes the chipset, and other things more expensive. It also allows you to have SMP multi-core processors. The base model has 8 cores.

Tell that to my 9600M GT in my laptop. Of the GT 120 in the iMac, or the 9400M in the Mac mini. Maybe the GT 120 or ATI Radeon HD 4870 in the Mac Pro, oh wait also DX10. So that DX10 cards in every mac. Mac suck for gaming for a lot of reasons, but don't just make things up.

Lack of modularity is a big problem on Macs. I despise the iMac series. I see no reason to replace the monitor just because the rest of the machine needs replacing. Not really an issue with laptops.

Thinking that the security issues are completely based on the size of the market-share is a gross over simplification. OSX has a significantly better security model than Windows. Vista and Windows 7 improve the picture from XP a lot. There are still some gaping holes in the Windows security model. One of the major things unix has going for it is sudo, or temporary privilege escalation. Windows still pretty much requires users to have administrative rights, and run in that state all of the time. That alone makes a massive difference.

[teufelhunden]

^ makes a good about Vista. avoid. Windows 7, however, is out.... soonish. Probably October, but any computer that you buy after July will be eligible for a free upgrade to Windows 7. Or, you can run the release candidate now, and it is good. I am running it.