.

[Jeeti]

Re: MAC or PC?

Jeeti, it absolutely doesnt matter that different parts of the computer are made by different vendors. When Audi makes a car, do they forge the steel for the frame? Do they hand-craft the wiring? Do they raise the cows to make the leather? No, materials are sourced from the companies that do it best. There are special companies for CPUs, GPUs, motherboards, etc (even Apple now is running on Intel CPUs).


There are two advantages in a Mac
- the OS is better than XP/Vista
- build quality is excellent

Security-wise, they are just a smaller target; it's not much more 'secure', just less exploited.

I would recommend going with a top-of-the-line item from a PC maker (i have a dell xps) which gets you excellent build quality on a PC. It's *still* a shitload cheaper than comparable Mac's, there's much more freely-available software, and just general compatibility.

With the superabundance of free security software (Firewalls, AntiVirus, Anti-malware), there's really no excuse to have all that shit on ur computer.

now i feel stupid saleem...hahha...can you clarify further?

what is the biggest advantage? is it a security issue solely? I know that Mac uses an Intel processor...so processing wise, you are looking at the same thing no matter what you run?...this is what I wanna learn..Mac is more stable? Why do you choose your PC > MAC?
Is that the issue? Why are so many people deciding to choose over Mac over PC...that is the heart of my question...because recently I don't think there is any doubt that Mac has become more and more popular....what is it? Is it Vista's failures? Is it a marketing issue? I just don't get it...? I think these are issues that many people, myself included...just don't understand...and will join the Mac revolution solely off of what many Mac users will swwear by....

 

[terabaap]

Re: MAC or PC?

Any apple product is "good" simply because of the amount of money the marketing department has.

 

[Saleem]

Re: MAC or PC?

now i feel stupid saleem...hahha...can you clarify further?

what is the biggest advantage? is it a security issue solely? I know that Mac uses an Intel processor...so processing wise, you are looking at the same thing no matter what you run?...this is what I wanna learn..Mac is more stable? Why do you choose your PC > MAC?
Is that the issue? Why are so many people deciding to choose over Mac over PC...that is the heart of my question...because recently I don't think there is any doubt that Mac has become more and more popular....what is it? Is it Vista's failures? Is it a marketing issue? I just don't get it...? I think these are issues that many people, myself included...just don't understand...and will join the Mac revolution solely off of what many Mac users will swwear by....

Mac OS is supposedly superior to Windows XP/Vista. I havent used it much so I have no idea. Before you go to Mac OS I would give Windows 7 a shot-- it's gotten great reviews.

Mac's are partially a self-created luxury item through their marketing and self-appearance. This also helps them command a HUGE premium over identical PC laptop specs. Like 40% more expensive at normal prices, 60+% if you get a good sale on PCs. Me getting a mac would have been 100% more expensive lol

Secondly, Macs do have great build quality. Compare with something like Dell (i'm most familiar with them).. They have different lines which vary from home-use (not the tighest build quality) to XPS/Precision lines which are excellent. For super casual, never travelling, I'd say just get a cheap laptop and replace it in 2 years when things are faster. If you move around or want somethign to last, get an upgraded version. Slickdeals.net has excellent deals... I got a top-of-the-line Dell notebook for $700, which is half the price of the macbook it seems (not even a macbook pro). There's really no weight to the argument that ur mac will last 5 years, as technology/speed is so outdated 3-5 years later.

Now for security. Mac's Operating System is inherently different than Windows and may be more stable due to it being UNIX-based. 90% of the reason it's seen as more secure, though, is market share. Hackers are making viruses for the system that 4 billion PCs are running, not a small share of Macs. As long as you have Antivirus and Anti-malware programs (all freely available legally), i dont think you have anything to worry about. i can recommend a number of apps to help keep your computer clean, or to speed it up if it's slowed down already.

Lastly, applications. Office, Photoshop, here on BTF everyone's using Acid Pro etc-- a lot of these are (illegally) freely available online, but the availabilty or EXISTENCE of Mac-version software is much much less or Zero.

The most common scenario where I'd definitely recommend a Mac is if you are a professional audio/video designer, as the apps available to artists are superior on Macs.

Sorry, lots of information. Hope that helps. "Flame on!"

 

[terabaap]

Re: MAC or PC?

Question is, can you justify the price?
No.

 

[IshB]

Re: MAC or PC?

My roomate got his brand new dell xps over last summer and i bought my mac at the same time. he bought his for 1000 cuz he upgraded it more memory and faster ram. i paid 1100 wit a 100 discount from my college and i got a free printer and a free ipod touch(which got stolen =[), but yea specs for my laptop and his laptop are exactly the same now except the memory his is a little bit more. he uses his pc for going on fb, limewire and doin hw on it, thats it. i use my mac for making intro videos, photoshop, fb, btf,limewire, office and some other java and c++ stuff. his laptop crashed 2 times. and is currently under some blank screen problem which he cannot recognize. my mac not a single crash and is in perfect condition.
Can you justify the price?
Yes!

 

[yraparla]

Re: MAC or PC?

Can you justify the price?
Yes

Yes*

*if you're an idiot and don't know how to take care of your computer (or if you're smart and too lazy to do it)

Look there is one advantage to a mac. One. The advantage is bundled hardware software. What does this do? This means that developers (including apple) know the exact specs of the computers they'll be working on. That is, there are only 4 or 5 different hardware types that will run OSX.

This makes coding a lot better as you a) don't have to worry about hardware since you KNOW what it is and, b) can basically test the program on every single hardware it might run on. That's why Mac programs are 'so much better'. It's because the developers can focus on the software and not worry about oh, is it a quad processor, are we eating ram, will we collide with something in the OS.

What that means for PC users is that you have to be careful because not every program will work with every other program. If you just download whatever the hell you want and run it, you increase your chances at a crash due to memory violation, or some protocol mismanagement. If you know what you're doing, this is a non-issue. e.g. Limewire. Awful program. Would not run it as it is shown to increase issues in your computer (as well as being a carrier for viruses).

I have worked closely with both macs and pcs (all the video editing stuff provided by our school is on macs). Macs are not better, not more intuitive and not more secure or stable. They are a pc (The parts are the same), wrapped in bubble wrap and handed to you with a eye candy. The mac OS is pretty, it has awesome ideas...but at the end of the day I don't give two shits about 4 finger gestures or having all my screens pop up if I hit a corner. Give me a taskbar and maybe I'll take the macs seriously.

 

[Saleem]

Re: MAC or PC?

The mac OS is pretty, it has awesome ideas...but at the end of the day I don't give two shits about 4 finger gestures or having all my screens pop up if I hit a corner. Give me a taskbar and maybe I'll take the macs seriously.

+5

 

[Basim]

Re: MAC or PC?

Windows 7 will pwn all, just you wait kids Look at benchmarks of the betas if have any doubts.

Core i7 + Windows 7 > anything Apple can put out.

~ Basim

 

[terabaap]

Re: MAC or PC?

IF you want security, switch to ubuntu linux. I use it all the time and it works like a charm AND it has compatible programs with microsoft...

 

[Underground Gabroo]

Re: MAC or PC?

One thing you must note, though, is that mac has less of a market share than PC does... With that said, you hear more problems about PC's than you do with Apple... But, that does not mean that Apple doesn't have their own problems either... When Apple released their most current OS, there was all kinds of compatibility and hardware issues... But, did anyone hear about it? No...

At the end of the day, it's more about personal experience and preference, than anything else... When it comes to "bang for the buck" you can't touch PC, and I believe the recent commercials on TV portray that very well... The Vista OS is pretty damn stable, provided you have the right hardware and enough "juice" to support it... I have tried Mac products but the learning curve is too steep... I'm sure it'll be better the more I play with it, but why fix something that isn't broken? Windows has been around forever, and they will only get better despite what critics may say or predict...

Save yourself the money, and buy a monster PC...

 

[IshB]

Re: MAC or PC?

Can you justify the price?
Yes

Yes*

*if you're an idiot and don't know how to take care of your computer (or if you're smart and too lazy to do it)

okay so now i have to work even harder on the computer to run the antivirus program and anti spyware programs and defrag my computer every week. Mind you while u run those programs, for the most part, ur computer is utterly useless because its so slow. and yet some people still get viruses because by the time the antivrus company even realizes that there is a virus of some sort out there it has already fuked up ur computer.

another thing u were talkin about how macs advantage is that its hardware and software are synced because they are by the same person. i dont no if any one has told u but u can use mac os x on any pc with out the crash =]

and the whole "u should no what ur doing" removes around 50 percent of the pc population because they dont no what the fuk they are doing on computers. they just wanna check there mails listen to songs and thats it. so why is it that they should now learn that they cant use limewire or whatever program it is rather than just use it perfectly on mac. so basically if a pc fails its the persons fault because he didnt no how to use it.

the only thing i will give pc users is the new windows 7. me and my suite mate are programmers and what not and he has it. i would say if microsoft can keep that the way it is so far, future looks good for microsoft then.

another thing on the on the whole macs being more stable. it has to do nothing with the different parts that crash it(minus hardware crash). It has to do with the platform its built on. OS X is built on linux which if people no is the most stable operating system out there. That is why when people say future is more mac thats because pcs will die out because they will be filled wit viruses. i dont want to worry about the 1000 new viruses everyday.

lol ur last statement about 4 fingure gesture and thing didnt make sense to me. because what you are saying is because macs look better and are more convenient and innovative you dont wanna use them? its not like they are forcing the 4 finger gesture or anything its there for ur use and convenience.

anyways for the pcs users hope windows 7 is great and works out much better than vista. for me i cant wait for OS X 6 (snow leopard) comin out in 4 days =D

 

[Saleem]

Re: MAC or PC?

Viruses don't magically appear on systems; users click stupid links to get them. Antivirus is generally chilling in the background and not using CPU usage. Every once in a while I'll boot up full AV scan, anti-malware, CCleaner, and whatever else, and go have lunch. When I'm back it's good to go.

If you wanna spend double on a macbook pro and be stuck with Apple's costly RAM upgrades and whatnot, that's fine.

 

[IshB]

Re: MAC or PC?

virus appear if u download songs if u go to websites which have pop ups(porn) u can get em by just goin there. dont even get me started on the trojans and other spyware crap. but regardless its kind of nice i dont have to worry about em.
why go straight for a macbook pro? stick to the basic. dell xps wit same specs as the cheapest mac out there only have a 100 dollor difference. and u dont really need a ram upgrade will i havnt needed it. anycase if apple is too costly u can easily go down to a computer repair shop or something of that sort and they will do it for the same as the pc. its not like macs are made of magical stuff that only apple can fix.

 

[Vick]

Re: MAC or PC?

Arguably the greatest software every created, "Slingbox", didn't come out for Macs for like 2 years after it did for PC's... That's enough of a reason for me not to own an overpriced chunk of garbage...

 

[IshB]

Re: MAC or PC?

Arguably the greatest software every created, "Slingbox", didn't come out for Macs for like 2 years after it did for PC's... That's enough of a reason for me not to own an overpriced chunk of garbage...

u mean hardware? the tv thing on ur comp? apple has apple tv! which is technically the exact same thing but wit better specs.

 

[Vick]

Re: MAC or PC?

Arguably the greatest software every created, "Slingbox", didn't come out for Macs for like 2 years after it did for PC's... That's enough of a reason for me not to own an overpriced chunk of garbage...

u mean hardware? the tv thing on ur comp? apple has apple tv! which is technically the exact same thing but wit better specs.

The hardware and software obviously came out together... The software was not mac compatible for a long time. Apple tv is a completely different product. The slingbox allows you to view your cable tv through your laptop anywhere in the world. Apple TV allows you to send information from your laptop to your tv... With wifi on airplanes now, I can watch live tv through my sling at 35,000 ft through a little box sitting my room in california... now that is technology at its finest!

 

[terabaap]

Re: MAC or PC?

man ish be drinking the wrong kool aid

 

[Underground Gabroo]

Re: MAC or PC?

Apple TV and Slingbox are 2 completely different products, with 2 completely different purposes... Apple tv has it's quirks, but at the end of the day it's nothing more than a fancy "media extender" device... The slingbox, on the other hand, takes your media to a whole new level... Slingmedia recently was purchased by Echostar, which is Dish Network... Their new vip922 HD DVR allows you to watch anything that is playing on your dvr anywhere in the world via a PC, a blackberry, the google g1, and recently the iPhone... Let me see Apple tv do that... I didn't think so...

And carrying on the discussion about getting viruses from "just going to a site and downloading a song" ... This is far from the truth... Some sites incorporate malware in javascripts and activex controls, but that's also where Microsoft made their controls much stricter... You know have to manually go into IE settings to allow unsigned active x and javascript to run on the system... So you don't just "get a virus from visiting a website" ... Common sense goes a long way... If you use a PC for legitimate reasons and within means, you will be ok... I used to run my PC for years with Anti Virus, and never caught a virus...

Don't get me started on hardware, it's a known fact Apple has PROPRIETARY hardware and charges a premium for it... Example? Changing the iPhone's charge voltage from their generation 1 to generation 2 phones.... Why should you have to buy a new car/home charger? The port/plug is the same? Apple charges a premium for almost anything they produce/resell...

 

[Saleem]

Re: MAC or PC?

it's a known fact Apple has PROPRIETARY hardware and charges a premium for it... Example? Changing the iPhone's charge voltage from their generation 1 to generation 2 phones.... Why should you have to buy a new car/home charger? The port/plug is the same? Apple charges a premium for almost anything they produce/resell...

YESSS This pisses me off so much -- every freakin plug in you gotta see if it's compatible with iPhone or iPhone 3G.. I bet u theyre gonna change it again for the new iPhone this summer!

 

[Underground Gabroo]

Re: MAC or PC?

Well, rumor has it iPhone OS 3.0 may hit this coming monday after the keynote... Along with that, I'm hearing there is a new iPhone, and that there isn't... Time will tell which one is true... To be honest though, I'm very happy with my 3G... I had the first gen phone and it was great, though the edge data and a few speaker volume issue's bent me sideways... They'd really have to change a lot for me to upgrade to a 3rd gen device... I do look forward to positive improvements though! and yes, I am almost positive this will bring new accessories/devices that do/do not work...