Mac or Not?

[eoghanacht]

ok hey. Not sure if this has been asked before, but here goes.

I'm trying hard to save up for a Mac (Macbook).
I know that there has been and still is a 'war' of sorts going on, between those who say that a Mac is way way better than a Windows machine, and those on the 'other side' who say that Windows is better or even no different (in terms of power, etc). All I want to know is people's opinions here at SR on this, and why.

Do you use a Mac, and if so, why?.

I've heard a lot of the arguments for and against the Mac, and basically I still can't make my mind up. So I just thought it would be a good Thread as well as a chance to possible get some more info/input on this, before I spend a load of money on my next computer. Thanks.

[yeahgr8]

Going back 8 years and still to some extent today a mac is a designers tool, it has come onto be a more commercial option...for my money and i work in IT, i have a sony vaio and an acer, both laptops...simple to use and i am used to them. If you have a real passion about operating systems and open source applications go for the mac...

[left4lonely]

i have a macbook and i love it....i think its apps are tailored to the user more than microsoft... microsoft doesnt have to care too much about the user because they are dominate. i never get viruses... which may be a thing that happens down the road as market share changes and virus creators get into it. anyway, some people even run windows on their mac using (i think its called fusion, i forget) a vmware so you get the best of both worlds. i have not purchased any vmware so i cant speak to it.

[Bamboozle]

Ah...if I could afford a Mac I would get one for art.


...or maybe not.

The first and only Apple product I bought crapped out after only three months.

That doesn't inspire much confidence in the company, at least for me.



I don't like PCs...but what are my options?

[Mark75]

If you are into pictures, video, music (iTunes)... There is no compare... And I have used both... Alot. Mac is awesome. Also, no virus, Trojans, whatever... Nothing... Nada...

If you are using it for business type apps... PC is more compatible with the business world.

Plus if you are using or thinking of using iPod or iPhone... The mac is sublime... I switched to mac a year ago and haven't missed the PC at all... But if you are a long time windows user, there is a bit of a learning curve with managing files. That's minor.

Mark

[ScaryStory]

I finally broke down and bought a Mac. I was dead against it because I had a Dell and whenever anything went wrong, which a lot did, my daughter would say, "Well, you should have bought a Mac." That used to annoy me to no end. When I was in the market for a new laptop I just said screw it and I bought my MacBook. I am now part of the Mac Cult and I "will never go back."

The operating system is so different. So organized, so user friendly, so much neater than a regular Windows based. I would definitely recommend a Mac. Their technical assistance is awesome. Mac is like the American Express of credit cards! LOL.

[emmanuel2012]

i use a mac. i've always used a mac. even before version 10 of the os.
software is much more cross platform now that mac os x is UFS (unix file system) compliant and has switched over (since 2 years ago) to Intel-based CISC chips (that all windows, unix and linus machines use).

contrary to public knowledge that mac is more for artsy musician designer types (which i am, but also a programmer)

you can use mac os to do even the most nerdy brainy stuff.
you have Terminal(command-line interface) and Developers tools available with OS X
like Xcode if you embark on an ambitious computer science project.
Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Flash, Flex, and any popuar IT developer SDK has mac versions. so its no longer limiting to use a mac only for design.

you can do server admin on macs too. (os x server has more built-in features)
and, since the Intel chips are the same now, you can run a Windows Installation
on a macbook too, or any flavor of Linux.
so, if you really want to, you can have a Windows installation to support
your favorite .exe apps on a macbook. not sure if you can install mac os x on a windows machine (never seen it done).

Any business or office task is just as easy to use on a mac as it is with windows.
(if you are hooked on Excel, **********, Word, etc, you can get
a mac version of Microsoft Office).

one drawback: Microsoft-proprietary Internet Exporer™ (who needs it?)
isnt supported on Mac OS X. Firefox and Opera are much better anyway.


why do macs cost more?
Mac hardware is more reliable, last longer, and of higher quality raw materials.
thats what you pay for - better hardware components.

i'm definately biased, using macs my whole life.
i just wanted to put my two cents to assure that if you are not considering using macintosh because it doesn't have enough features for computer experts. i know a few people MSIE certified microsoft nuts who have made the switch, and they were computer science majors at carnegie mellon university!

[ScaryStory]

This has nothing to do with Mac but what is Linux? I've been hearing about that a lot lately.