Useability of a Mac?

[A790]

Hey,

I'm looking into buying a Mac and I want to know a couple things since I'm not too familiar with them.

I'm basically looking for a competent machine that can do the internet/e-mail/image editing/web authoring thing. Games and whatever are secondary to capability and reliability.

Would a Mac fit the bill here, or am I better to stick with Windows?

And please, don't do the usual "mac sux lolz" unless you have a reason to back it up.

Thanks!

[MrSector9]

if you want a computer that works, doesnt lock up for no reason, has no spyware, virus's, has programs that just WORK and do what they are supposed to wihtout buying addon software, and that looks dead sexy.......

then buy a mac.


You will never be disapointed with a mac, I still use a G3 600 and a G3 ibook 466.... they work great, not the fastest but for anything above you mentioned they work perfect so a new one would be excellent.

Also only person that says a mac sucks is someone that hasn't used one for a week.

Like stated above though the game selection can be slim so that is really the onlydrawback would be if you were a serious gamer.

[eblend]

mac sux lolz

You can get a mac if you want, but it isn't exactly all that reliable as it was back in the G days. With switch to intel they became more mainstream and more mass produced and quality took a dumb (on laptops at least). With new intel chip you can run windows on it very easily and dual boot to mac if you want to, so it could work for you, but if you never used a mac and just want to get it because its "reliable" then why not just get a good custom machine for cheaper price thats more powerful and load it up with vista and do all you want on it for cheaper.

EDIT: who ever posted a reply just above me (wasn't there when i started my reply) is a true definition of a mac fanboy, with use of every cheap shot against a PC as suggested by those stupid apple commercials. I have a mac at home, a mini to be exact, its alright and usable, but isn't worth my time to convert to using the new operating system. So i loaded up windows on it and thats all i use it for, its small so takes less space.

[Shoebox//Racer]

Originally posted by MrSector9
[B]if you want a computer that works, doesnt lock up for no reason, has no spyware, virus's, has programs that just WORK and do what they are supposed to wihtout buying addon software, and that looks dead sexy.......

then buy a mac.


You could never be more wrong here. I am in my 4th year of Graphic Design at ACAD, and our whole major is "required" to use a Mac because they claim its the industry standard. The reality is some firms use PCs and some firms use Mac. And I have seen Macs just crash straight out of illustrator or photoshop with out giving any reason at all. I have also seen plenty of Macs just give people the beachball of death ( mac loading icon ). There are plenty of things that go wrong with macs... just everyone is led to believe that they are this perfect machine. They are not any more stable then a PC.

I personally feel this is up to personal preference more than any thing. If you dont go around randomly installing free programs you wont have any problems with spyware... oh ... and macs do have spyware that can be installed, and plenty of it. I have seen more than enough of it on all of my colleagues computers.

That being said, i still use a pc laptop for my schooling, and i have had absolutely no problems using the same software as my colleagues on my PC ( Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Indesign, Imageready, Flash etc... )

[natejj]

Mac owns. Fits your needs. Get one.

Enough said.

[Police]

macs only look good haha

[MrSector9]

not really a fanboy since I also use and own PC's.

They each have their drawbacks but I have never had a mac crash for no reason (shoddy software/illegal software yes i have seen them crash) same goes for spyware.

perosnanl experience maybe but I have enver had the problems on a mac that I have had with a PC.

[soupey]

dont u guys remember ever using imacs at school and then getting the notorious "bomb" that locks everything up?

theres no way u can tell me apples dont have stalling problems too.

[Shoebox//Racer]

Originally posted by MrSector9
not really a fanboy since I also use and own PC's.

They each have their drawbacks but I have never had a mac crash for no reason (shoddy software/illegal software yes i have seen them crash) same goes for spyware.

perosnanl experience maybe but I have enver had the problems on a mac that I have had with a PC.

That may be your personal experience, but i've been working with 60 ish other student who all use macs, with legal, purchased software, and many of them have had plenty of troubles with programs crashing, extra long boot up times and other things.

Dont get me wrong, PC's suffer from the same problem. Im just trying making sure you don't get swayed from PCs for the wrong reasons.

[Obscura]

:dunno: I switched to Apple in 1996 and have never regreted my decision. I use Mac's everyday and they have never let me down. The only problem I had with my G4iBook was when a pc user jammed a cd into the optical drive while a cd was in there already.

I'm not sure it's a fair comparison to rate an Apple by the ones people use in school. Anytime you have anything that several people have access to it will fail.

The only thing I don't use my Apple's for is to play games... that's what the Xbox is for.

I think for what you need a computer for an Apple would work great.

[punky]

I own both PC and Mac.
If you're talking about crashes, I don't think one is really superior to another, given that they're specs are comparable. That being said, when i had my ibook, i suffered more crashes on the mac than the pc, but with mac book pro (intel) it's almost non existence.
And if you're comparing hardware, I would definitely stick to mac, since I've never had a hardware problem in the last 3 years i own macs.

When you compare preferences, macs look good, feels nice, easy to use, right out of the box. I mean you could do the same with a pc, just you have to download ThemeXP and stuff. That's one reason why i love using OS X over windows xp.

The new intel mac are very powerful machines, they are by far faster than the old power pc, but they're nothing special to other Duo Core Pc.

As for soupey's comment, it's like comparing the old mac OS with Windows ME, same shit different pile.

My advice, if you're going to buy a mac, your main advantage is the good feel you get using OS X, Reliable hardware, comparable performance to PC. The cons being price is a bit higher, warranty aren't as nice as PC like DELL/HP. Secondly, the software is still a bit incompatible, but not for the things you're doing (ie, web surfing/design, and general computing). The biggest advantage over PC is that you have the option of installing WinXP to dual boot with OS X as well, giving you full flexibility.

[Shoebox//Racer]

Originally posted by Obscura
:dunno: I switched to Apple in 1996 and have never regreted my decision. I use Mac's everyday and they have never let me down. The only problem I had with my G4iBook was when a pc user jammed a cd into the optical drive while a cd was in there already.

I'm not sure it's a fair comparison to rate an Apple by the ones people use in school. Anytime you have anything that several people have access to it will fail.

The only thing I don't use my Apple's for is to play games... that's what the Xbox is for.

I think for what you need a computer for an Apple would work great.

In school these are all personally owned laptops, not ones that multiple people use. Each person has his/her own laptop. And they are of all price ranges from the low end models all the way up to top of the line.

however, there are only a few people who own the new macbooks, I can't really say anything about those models since i've only seen them for half a year.

[kaput]

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[punky]

kaput, your laptop's spec is nothing less than mine, minus the graphic card, and mine is a macpro. I don't see why i dont have any problem you're having? You should get your ram checked, sometimes faulty ram does that to a mac. What other program do you have problems with other than firefox? btw, why firefox? i find safari just as good.

[sabad66]

After the Windows 2000-ish era, the "crashing" argument is retarded. If you've ever used Windows XP on a fast, new machine that has appropriate anti-virus/antispyware software, it just doesn't crash!

[slick2404]

^ But that the point some are making, theres no need for anti virus and anti spyware for macs right...

But anyways, i'm kinda in the same boat as kaput, i bought the black macbook 2gbram 2.0ghz and bigger hd....seemed all good, but i find myself using windows ALOT more than OS X since i learned it could dual boot both operating systems...

alot of the little things annoy me, maybe thats why im mostly in windows...i cant find a good paint program like windows has....( i such at photoshop) i duno how to tile windows in word like windows could, but on the plus side, macs look sexy, run pretty quick, and are straight to the point...i duno, im half n half with my decision to go mac, we'll see how it is in a few months while i get more used to it.

BTW isnt Vista a carbon copy of OS X looks wise, thats the first thing that came to my mind when I saw Vista...

[natejj]

Originally posted by slick2404
^ But that the point some are making, theres no need for anti virus and anti spyware for macs right...

But anyways, i'm kinda in the same boat as kaput, i bought the black macbook 2gbram 2.0ghz and bigger hd....seemed all good, but i find myself using windows ALOT more than OS X since i learned it could dual boot both operating systems...

alot of the little things annoy me, maybe thats why im mostly in windows...i cant find a good paint program like windows has....( i such at photoshop) i duno how to tile windows in word like windows could, but on the plus side, macs look sexy, run pretty quick, and are straight to the point...i duno, im half n half with my decision to go mac, we'll see how it is in a few months while i get more used to it.

BTW isnt Vista a carbon copy of OS X looks wise, thats the first thing that came to my mind when I saw Vista...

I use windows OS more then mac os too on my macbook pro. I use the windows more because I always jump in/out of warcraft 3 and steam, and windows makes the easy. I use the mac for Audio/Video stuff, which i do a lot of.

[kaput]

.

[Shoebox//Racer]

I have no virus protection whatsoever on my PC and i am still virus free... its really not that difficult to keep ur PC safe beyond a router / hardware firewall.

[punky]

^ how do you know if you got a virus, if you dont have a virus scanner?

[CasperWho]

I have owned both Mac and Windows laptops.
Lets just say im sticking to Windows...

[ZorroAMG]

I have owned both Mac and Windows laptops
Let's just say I'm sticking to Mac...

[Shoebox//Racer]

Originally posted by punky
^ how do you know if you got a virus, if you dont have a virus scanner?

by checking all my processes that are running ??? 0_o not that difficult.

[szdzmtr]

in terms of reliability they are about equal..macs do however require much longer times for repair should something go wrong. the parts always seem so hard to get as opposed to a PC. I work for a school division and we are trying to rid ourselves of our macs..we like the ease of repair of the pc's..macs are great howover at video and that sort of thing..just don't expect it back in 2 days should something go wrong.

just my opinion..cheers

[googe]

A lot of people are basing their arguments on a non-issue. Software crashing has NOTHING to do with the underlying operating system. Its entirely the fault of the programmer for that particular application.

You could write a shit program with bugs and give it to a Mac user and it would crash all the time. Same for Windows. That says nothing about OSX or Windows, it just says that youre using a shit program.

Unless the entire operating system is crashing, which really is very rare for both Windows or OSX, its not really relevant.


Originally posted by Shoebox//Racer


by checking all my processes that are running ??? 0_o not that difficult.

Heh, good job, that tells you nothing ;)

[Shoebox//Racer]

Originally posted by googe
A lot of people are basing their arguments on a non-issue. Software crashing has NOTHING to do with the underlying operating system. Its entirely the fault of the programmer for that particular application.

You could write a shit program with bugs and give it to a Mac user and it would crash all the time. Same for Windows. That says nothing about OSX or Windows, it just says that youre using a shit program.

Unless the entire operating system is crashing, which really is very rare for both Windows or OSX, its not really relevant.



Heh, good job, that tells you nothing ;)

heh. there are other things i use as well such as trendmicro's house call, i just hate using things like norton that just suck resources know what i mean?

either way, im assuming for what he needs the computer for, he will be using adobe products, and from what i've seen they crash alot more on the mac, so regardless of who's fault the crash is caused from, I think it's still valid to point out that it seems from my classmates experiences, that the PC platform of that software is more stable.

[camby]

I have a Macbook and a PC. Windows and OSX have their ups and downs. One thing that Macbook lacks that I need is Matlab. They don't make Matlab for Intel Macs. Like Macs are all fancy and all but without Parallels I don't think its worth it.

[Lexxan]

Mac OSX would be great if it ran on any PC.. but it doesn't. They know if they made this possible noone would purchase their overpriced integrated nonupgradable crap hardware with their ugly cases, mice and monitors...

So all in all if you have cash to blow sure go get a mac.. if not get a PC.

[A790]

I've decided to pass on the Mac simply because I can't stand how they look.

I miss the days oft he G3 desktops...

[googe]

^the mac pro might be an option, its just a tower, but it is pretty overpriced.

[cityhunter2501]

I dont understand the hate with windows tbh..

it all depends on how a person use their pc that keeps it in good condition.

internet - firefox w/ adblock and g.filter
email - outlook express
image editing - Photoshop Element or Photoshop CS2
web authoring - Dreamweaver, Notepad/Wordpad :poosie: or any free web authoring software NVU (http://www.nvu.com/index.php) for example)
antivirus - free AVG

and stay away from free porn :poosie:

[heavyD]

Originally posted by A790
I've decided to pass on the Mac simply because I can't stand how they look.

It's a computer not a car. That's a poor reason to base your desicion on a computer purchase. I can live with it if you don't want to pay the extra money or you don't like OSX, etc, but looks?

Why start a thread like this where people post information for you to aid your decision then end up basing your desicion soley on looks? :thumbsdow

[three.eighteen.]

Originally posted by heavyD


It's a computer not a car. That's a poor reason to base your desicion on a computer purchase. I can live with it if you don't want to pay the extra money or you don't like OSX, etc, but looks?

Why start a thread like this where people post information for you to aid your decision then end up basing your desicion soley on looks? :thumbsdow

big surprise coming from a neon owner


j/k i couldn't resist :rofl:

[heavyD]

Originally posted by three.eighteen.
big surprise coming from a neon owner


j/k i couldn't resist :rofl:

There are lots of haters especially in the import crowd but I get more compliments & people looking at my SRT-4 than even my old 2G Eclipse which was a beautiful car.:dunno:

[ultrimadon]

After using a PC all my life, I decided to give a Mac a try, so I bought a MacBook at the beginning of the semester and needless to say, I'm loving it. Apple pays attention to the details, and really does know how to make an OS. (I don't know how I ever lived without expose!) The learning curve isn't steep at all, and I quickly picked up all the little bits of info I needed.

A few things that I still find annoying though..
-The network options are too simplified. It was easy to connect my computer to my home (Windows) network, but to this day, I cannot install the printer that is connected to my Windows computer on the same printer. I have to use Parallels in order to print at home.
-Compatibility.. You're going to find other programs that aren't compatible with mac osx. I used ws_ftp_le, as my ftp transfer program on windows; I couldn't find a free on for the osx..
-the WMV/WMA files! There's an add-on for quicktime that will let you play these, but when they're embedded into some webpage, it doesn't always work. Especially for sites where an advertisement loads before the video (nhl highlights, ign videos), they will simply not load. Again, you can load of Parallels and view them, but I find that a real pain. Fortunately, a lot of sites are adopting flash video players (youtube, google, yahoo) that will play in the browser, which is good, but wmv's seem to still be very popular.

That being said, Parallels was really easy to install, and I can boot up my "Windows machine" in a separate window in just a few seconds (which will run quickly and smoothly). So if you have the cash and are willing to spend it, there's really no reason to stick with a PC, imo.

Anyways, my advice is.. If you're happy with your Windows machine, stick with Windows. If not, get a Mac. It's that simple.

[kaput]

.

[nos_efx]

Unfortunately viruses/spywares does not require it to be published in the task/processes menu.

There are many ways of masking the process so it doesn't even show. I would recommend you install anti-virus software regardless.



Originally posted by Shoebox//Racer


by checking all my processes that are running ??? 0_o not that difficult.

[VW02]

I think we can come to conclusion that the mac and PC are pretty much the same... all personal preference. And if you agree, then basing it on looks is a perfectly personal decision is it not? Plus PC's are better for gaming.:D

[natejj]

Originally posted by VW02
I think we can come to conclusion that the mac and PC are pretty much the same... all personal preference. And if you agree, then basing it on looks is a perfectly personal decision is it not? Plus PC's are better for gaming.:D

I agree. The only major difference is I cant play my games on Mac OSX. Other then that, Mac is very user friednly when it comes to making websites and stuff.

ALthough speed wise, windows is faster. Such as mouse moves a lot quick (this is all personal preference) folders open faster, I can surf internet quicker....

I am a crazy multitasker, like 9 internet windows open at 1 time while im playing warcraft 3 and counter strike at the same time..... and windows just owns mac at that.

[VW02]

Originally posted by natejj


I am a crazy multitasker, like 9 internet windows open at 1 time while im playing warcraft 3 and counter strike at the same time..... and windows just owns mac at that.

You play DOTA? :D

[bball2]

I have a side by side imac / desktop setup (for web design purposes) and even though I've gotten used to the mac, I just find that windows is more effecient at everything. Depending on what specs you get on each machine my experience is that the windows pc is always faster with the same configuration. That and a mac is usually twice as expensive for the same setup.

[Redlyne_mr2]

Apple's website isnt the best at informing you on what their acronyms mean. Whats the dif between the drive on the 1250 and 1450 ibooks? Does the 1250 machine have a dvd writer or just a dvd reader?
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/canadastore.woa/wo/StoreReentry.wo?family=MacBook

[D'z Nutz]

Originally posted by Redlyne_mr2
Apple's website isnt the best at informing you on what their acronyms mean. Whats the dif between the drive on the 1250 and 1450 ibooks? Does the 1250 machine have a dvd writer or just a dvd reader?
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/canadastore.woa/wo/StoreReentry.wo?family=MacBook

I think this page will work better for you:
http://www.apple.com/ca/macbook/specs.html

[foos_guy]

Originally posted by Redlyne_mr2
Apple's website isnt the best at informing you on what their acronyms mean. Whats the dif between the drive on the 1250 and 1450 ibooks? Does the 1250 machine have a dvd writer or just a dvd reader?
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/canadastore.woa/wo/StoreReentry.wo?family=MacBook

From your link....

The macbook for $1249:

* 1.83GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
* 512MB memory
* 60GB hard drive1
* Combo drive

The macbook for $1449

* 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
* 1GB memory
* 80GB hard drive1
* Double-layer SuperDrive

Seems pretty obvious what the difference are, faster processor (1.83 GHz vs 2.0 GHz), more RAM (512 MB vs 1 GB), bigger HD (60GB vs 80GB)

The only thing that can be confusing would be what the heck is a combo drive and what's a double layer superdrive....

Combo Drive: CD-RW/DVD-ROM
Dual layer superdrive: CD-RW/DVD+/-RW, capable of burning dual layer DVD+/- RW

[Redlyne_mr2]

Originally posted by D'z Nutz


I think this page will work better for you:
http://www.apple.com/ca/macbook/specs.html
Thanks D'z thats what I was trying to find

[A790]

Originally posted by heavyD


It's a computer not a car. That's a poor reason to base your desicion on a computer purchase. I can live with it if you don't want to pay the extra money or you don't like OSX, etc, but looks?

Why start a thread like this where people post information for you to aid your decision then end up basing your desicion soley on looks? :thumbsdow

A few things...

1) They aren't as upgradeable and I want that option.
2) I want a bigger monitor than the 24" (which is the max I can get with the Mac)
3) They only have one optical drive and I prefer having two.

So yes, asthetically unpleasing, but it also hurts its functionality for what I need it for. I thought that Mac would still have somethign similar to the old G3 towers, but they don't.

Until they do, I'll stick with PC.

[natejj]

Originally posted by VW02


You play DOTA? :D

Lol..... do I play Dota....my CAL team is only undefeated.....
i'm Hobo[G].

http://www.caleague.com/?page=teams&teamid=122879

[googe]

Originally posted by A790


A few things...

1) They aren't as upgradeable and I want that option.
2) I want a bigger monitor than the 24" (which is the max I can get with the Mac)
3) They only have one optical drive and I prefer having two.

So yes, asthetically unpleasing, but it also hurts its functionality for what I need it for. I thought that Mac would still have somethign similar to the old G3 towers, but they don't.

Until they do, I'll stick with PC.

Did you even look? Its fully upgradeable:

http://a248.e.akamai.net/7/248/2041/1171/store.apple.com/Catalog/regional/amr/macpro/img/overview-hero.jpg

[ZorroAMG]

And there is a 30"HD monitor that pwns....wow..talk about NOT actually doing the research...

Also, I don't get your comment on the aesthetics not being good enough. Maybe you prefer the 2 fast 2 refresh version?

http://intellitech.csnnow.com/images/jilllight2.JPG

[frozenrice]

I'm not sure what Apple products are like now, but I used to be a huge Mac fan. My first two PCs were Motorola CPU Macs and they were great computers for the time. What made me change over to Intel/Windows platform was the fact that there was a lot more affordable and readily available hardware/software upgrades. Support for the Macs at the time was very limited. If you wanted a Mac model that would allow you to do anykind of hardware upgrades, you had to pay through the nose for it. There were less expensive models, but then they didn't allow much room for system expansion. IMO, that was really the major downfall of Mac.

[CivicDXR]

Originally posted by kaput
Is parallels free? Where can I get it?

Parallels is a $70ish program, but they have a beta out right now that works with no issues. I'm using it and it works perfect...

http://forum.parallels.com/thread5997.html

[A790]

Originally posted by googe


Did you even look? Its fully upgradeable:

http://a248.e.akamai.net/7/248/2041/1171/store.apple.com/Catalog/regional/amr/macpro/img/overview-hero.jpg

Yes, and what are they starting at again? $3000-ish?

[eb0i]

I have owned my 12 inch powerbook G4 with 1gb of ram for almost a year now and I have never had it crash on me yet *knock on wood*. The only problems I do encounter is the occasional freezing up of Firefox. But is easily fixed by just force quitting the application and starting up the app again.

Besides from that I love my powerbook! I have it set up at home to a 20" apple cinema display :drool: I use my powerbook 99% of the time now, I barely touch the PC.

[googe]

Originally posted by A790


Yes, and what are they starting at again? $3000-ish?

Yeah, 2799, pretty close. But they come with 2 dual core xeons, quad core.

I agree its dumb that they dont have an offering in that tower for the core 2 duo line. Thats the main reason I dont own a real mac yet. Theyre using low power laptop chips in the imacs. Still good for what they are, but its dumb that they dont bother with a decent desktop offering.

[A790]

Originally posted by googe


Yeah, 2799, pretty close. But they come with 2 dual core xeons, quad core.

I agree its dumb that they dont have an offering in that tower for the core 2 duo line. Thats the main reason I dont own a real mac yet. Theyre using low power laptop chips in the imacs. Still good for what they are, but its dumb that they dont bother with a decent desktop offering.

Pretty much sums up my reasons. If this were 4 years ago you bet I'd have a G3 tower.