Just wondered why people buy macs over conventional pcs/laptops? What’s the attraction and what advantages do they offer?

Wow, what an original question 🙂

I hope you realise what you’ve done

cos they are slick as f@@k

End off

Why not?

I have one because they are loved by Belgians the world over 😉

I made the switch earlier in the year and for me, the big thing is that I don’t have to spend half life virus checking, downloading update, defragging and installing. The MAC just does what its meant to.

Cos I had one at my last job and got used to using one for doing design stuff on them, I find it really easy to swap between lots of programs open at the same time.

And I like writing applescripts to make my life easier.

And I like apple stuff. :-/

Ok then…

Just better, that’s all.

Next.

You won’t regret getting one, nobody ever does 🙂

I love mine for it’s sheer utilitarian beauty. No bolloxing about with form over function.

What Efin said

I recently got a Mac for home, find using work laptop a little frustrating now.

Why do people buy pc’s/laptops over Mac’s is the question. Other than gaming were support seems to be higher from developers and GPU manufactures (I’m sure they are better supported as more people own them) there’s not much a PC/laptop will do better than a Mac.

there’s not much a PC/laptop will do better than a Mac

Accept viruses?

because I can.

Forgot to say: great value for money too.

Macs were always traditionally better for anything creative, so Design work, music etc. And because Apple OSX is based upon UNIX, it is inherently more stable itself than Windows (though beware the same does not apply to all the software you can run on a Mac, most Apple products are very stable but many 3rd party software is not).

Windows Machines were always traditionally more useful for more “office based” work, such as spreadsheets, databases, excel etc…

Of course the lines have significantly blurred over the last few years since Apple switched over to Intel Processors. Now a Mac can do anything a Windows Machine can do (including run Windows, either virtually or booting into it!), but similarly Windows PCs have become more stable (especially true now with Windows 7, but also partly due to the continued development of XP which was always too open to being hacked but in SP3 form is much more stable these days).

You will get better performance specs for you money 9 times out of 10 buying a Windows machine, but these days Apple’s USP is that they are the only “all in one, hardware and software” supplier… And the quality of the hardware really is 2nd to none, I’ve recently fixed up a couple of old G5 Power Mac’s (one for myself, one for a mate, a third was used for spares) and the quality is unreal. MASSIVELY over engineered, but in a good way…

Oh, and for some of us, having a Mac is the only option for some software we want to run (in my case Logic Audio) as it’s not available for the PC… But I also have to run Windows only software too! So in my case, money no option I’d have a massively powerful MacPro, running both OSX and Windows 7 Pro 64bit inside a virtual machine… Possibly Ubuntu Studio on there too for a tri-OS system.

But as it is, I’m not very well off, so I’ve got an ok spec Quad Core desktop PC, a 4 year old MacBookPro, and a 6 year old G5 PowerMac. The MBP was owned from new, but the PC was less than £300 new, and the G5 was £180!!! BARGAIN! 😀

I have one because they are loved by Belgians the world over

iDave, I see what you’ve done….

….and I like it! 🙂

I’ve always referred Macs since using one in college with the original Adobe Photoshop. Always found PCs fiddly and un-intuitive.

Last week I was trying to play a DVD in my PC. Used Windoze Media Player. Woon’t do fullscreen for some reason, and there was no audio. Had to use VLC, a downloaded bit of software.

On the Mac, I bung it in, and DVD Player opens automatically (I can turn this off if I want), and there’s no faffing about.

The PC is forever telling me to ‘download this’ and ‘upgrade that’ and ‘Ooh! Virus check’.

Stuff like setting up Wi-Fi; on the Mac it’s a doddle. On the PC, it took me ages to actually be able to find where the flippin’ Network application setup thingy was, and even then it still took several goes because it’s so shite.

And as for Antivirus…

Everything’s…….running……..sooooooo……..sloooooww…….because………of…….the………antivirus……….

If owt goes wrong on a PC, you really need a fair amount of knowledge of computers to be able to sort it out.

Hardly anything ever goes wrong on my Mac, and even if it does, it’s almost always sortable within seconds. My PC has windows that pop up on startup, alerting me to something, yet I have no idea what the problem actually is. I do know that my Wi-Fi settings need re-doing every time I start the poxy thing up. The Mac does this automatically.

Hardware: My Mac Pro is proper solid, and has top-quality components inside. Nowt’s gone wrong in over 4 years of daily use. That’s around 20,000 hours of use. My old 2000 iMac still works ok, and is far more capable than a PC of similar vintage.

The OS is far superior. Windoze 7 is finally up to about Mac OSX 10.1. So only about 8 or 9 years behind. Anything good on a PC is a rip-off of Mac technology and design.

Cost? My iMac was good vfm compared with a similarly specced PC at the time. My Mac Pro (custom spec) was over £1000 cheaper than the nearest equivalently specced Dell (still wasn’t quite as good, as the Xeon processors weren’t available for PC custom builds at that time).

So, Mac every time for me. I’m happy to pay the ‘extra’.

Everyone I know who’s switched from PCs to Macs has said Macs are better.

I don’t know anyone who’s done the opposite…

The answer to any computing problem is linux. Windows exists for dull Xfactor viewers, and Apple for extravagant fashion victims.

If you want to use what a computer does, i.e. surf the POrnWeb and do things normal people do without a 5 minute boot up and general fail mode and a safe mode and a crap user interface that makes no sense whatsoever to a human and requires you to bend to the will of the manufacturer who made it for them and not for you then you should consider buying a Mac.

On my second laptop in 8 years from them and it never ever ever doesn’t do what it’s told.

The PC’s i use daily however reduce me to anger with crap software, bugs, security threats, ctrl-alt-del presses, and general ‘CBA’ modes.

Try one out. If like = Yes and cash in bank = Yes then buy. If these rules do not apply then don’t.

The answer to any computing problem is linux. Windows exists for dull Xfactor viewers, and Apple for extravagant fashion victims.

No no no.

Here:

If you just want a computer to do stuff without having to be a complete geek, use a Mac. If you’re a masochist, use Windoze. If you’re a boring geek with no life, use Linux.

Adobe Photoshop on Linux? Nope; thought not.

porn without viruses

Why else?

My only problem with mine is that it means I have something in common with Effinchafing 😐

EDIT: apart from, well, that thing…

Why do people buy pc’s/laptops over Mac’s is the question. Other than gaming were support seems to be higher from developers and GPU manufactures (I’m sure they are better supported as more people own them) there’s not much a PC/laptop will do better than a Mac.

Errrr, why do more people own Fords than Rolls Royces? Sounds like you’ve bought into the Apple doctrine!

Price is the first answer, Macs are closer in price to PC’s now than they’ve ever been (or they have been the last couple of years, recent pricing has crept up again). Macs were always VERY steeply priced, they’ve always appealed to a niche market.

Now before you go ahead and chastise me, I love Macs… I used to hate PCs, until I figured out how to keep them running sweet… Now I love both, they’re tools of the trade to me, Macs more robust and more resilient, PC’s needing more care and careful setup but ultimately cheaper to own and run.

Why do people buy pc’s/laptops over Mac’s is the question. Other than gaming were support seems to be higher from developers and GPU manufactures (I’m sure they are better supported as more people own them) there’s not much a PC/laptop will do better than a Mac.

Accept proprietry hardware and software and just work? I’m pretty sure I’ve got you on that one. And really, that’s what PC’s are good at and it’s the same point people singing the praises of MAC’s miss over and over again. I can pick up a piece of kit in a shop, decide I want to use it in my computer and plug it in, and it’ll work virtually all of the time. Try that with a MAC.

PC’s are cheap, modular, dynamic and will work with just about any piece of hardware of software out there. So I can plug in an anal intruder or a bespoke automatic kettle burnisher and it’ll work. I can install Windows, Ubuntu, Beos, AmigaOS, or a spectrum emulator, it’ll all work. That’s what I like about PC’s.

Yeah, MAC’s are great. But it’s just an expensive, inflexible computer at the end of the day, anyone saying different is only kidding themselves.

edit: I’ll add perhaps what a chap said to me the other day, ‘MAC’s are computers for people who don’t like computers’ and he was pretty much right with a few notable exceptions.

Elfinsafety clearly lives well in the past and is a capitalist luddite.

Try linux again pal.

edit: I’ll add perhaps what a chap said to me the other day

Now there’s a chap what’s talking out of his big hairy nerdy arse 😛

Because, when I’m lounging about at Starbucks in my skinny Levi’s, New Balance trainers and two-tone American Apparel zip-up hoody, flicking through the latest issue of Wire and pretending to be a vegetarian in a doomed effort to pick up an art student, it really blows the whole deal when I pull out a Dell.

Not a Luddite. just someone who wants to drive the car, not spend their life under the flippin’ bonnet…

Capitalist? Me???

😆

I wish….

I’ll add perhaps what a chap said to me the other day

A chap said to me the other day that ‘the end is nigh’ – so what?

Chaps sometime talk bollox, in fact some even claim they’re related to Jim Callaghan….

I can pick up a piece of kit in a shop, decide I want to use it in my computer and plug it in, and it’ll work virtually all of the time. Try that with a MAC.

Yup, Mac’s too… I’ve NEVER come across a piece of hardware that I wanted to use that didn’t just plug and play with a Mac, same as it would with a Windows Machine. Only more often than not you’ve got to use the driver CD with a Windows machine, whereas you don’t with a Mac!

Cost? My iMac was good vfm compared with a similarly specced PC at the time. My Mac Pro (custom spec) was over £1000 cheaper than the nearest equivalently specced Dell (still wasn’t quite as good, as the Xeon processors weren’t available for PC custom builds at that time).

Funnily enough, it’s only at the more expensive end that Macs begin to look good VFM. A base Mac Mini is a right rip off compared to a Windows machine, as is a base MacBook. But when you start to look at top spec MacBookPro’s versus a high spec windows laptop, or a dual 6 core MacPro with tonnes of RAM compared to a high end dual Xeon processored server grade PC, you start to see just where Apple VFM lies. Of course, spending £2k on a laptop, or £4k+ on a desktop is not everyone’s normal purchase though! So for the mostpart, ie. the cheaper end of the scale, Apple lose out on VFM. Though the iMac does have a very good quality screen built in that you would pay extra for with a PC.

You haven’t tried linux in years, if ever. No laughing smiley.

I can pick up a piece of kit in a shop, decide I want to use it in my computer and plug it in, and it’ll work virtually all of the time. Try that with a MAC.

PC’s are cheap, modular, dynamic and will work with just about any piece of hardware of software out there. So I can plug in an anal intruder or a bespoke automatic kettle burnisher and it’ll work. I can install Windows, Ubuntu, Beos, AmigaOS, or a spectrum emulator, it’ll all work.

Eh?

Can someone please explain what he’s going on about?

Samuri; I take it you’ve never used a Mac, then… 🙂

But it’s just an expensive, inflexible computer at the end of the day, anyone saying different is only kidding themselves.

These people may disagree….

—————–

What a crap argument this is anyway.

Basically:

Mac = Better.
PC = Not better.

All sorted now? Good.

Night night!

X

Anyone can be convinced anything is good, and then will do their best to prove why theyre right. Be it Mac, PC or otherwise.

I will say that anyone who thinks Linux still needs significant under the hood tinkering is somewhat behind the times. Some distros, yes, but not the major general user distros.

I will say that anyone who thinks Linux still needs significant under the hood tinkering is somewhat behind the times. Some distros, yes, but not the major general user distros.

I’m pretty computer literate, Mac and PC. People bring me their computers to sort out problems with or upgrade etc, both software and hardware. OK, I’m no genius, but I can sort out most things that go wrong or need improving.

I’ve messed about with Ubuntu a bit a year or so ago, it was a NIGHTMARE! Nothing worked with it… The computer would’ve been fine as a standalone, but as I wanted to plug a printer, an external sound card and a few other bits and pieces in, it was useless! Oh, and it wouldn’t update properly, had all sorts of issues with various bits of software, it just isn’t easy to use or intuitive to anyone that can’t seriously tinker about with it behind the scenes. And the problem is they’ll carry on being pretty much useless to all but Mr. Average until there’s more and more developers out there that are developing it for all possibilities and eventualities.

Agree with you about people trying to prove/defend their choice as the correct one though… Apple Vs PC? They each have their merits and detractors… PC’s usually win out on cost grounds though, if nothing else, which is why there’s so many more of them about!

Thanks for the replies lads. Would it be possible to pick up a decent spec used MacBook for around £300? If so what should I be aiming for?

iDave, how can I be expected to lead a normal life when my sides ache as they do…. 😐

I do love the polarised mac/pc arguments.
I use both.. tools for a job at the end of the day. I have some software thats PC only and some things that are a bit easier to do on a Mac

Macs are generally prettier but in my experience not always as reliable as people claim. Having said that my PC isnt always reliable either.. 🙂

End of the day theyre just computers so you all really need to relax a bit… NO DEAR I WONT COME TO BED SOMEONE ON THE INTERNET IS WRONG!! 🙄