PC's or Macs? Gates or Jobs? Whattaya think?

[97gs500e]

I recently made the switch to Mac earlier this year.  I've had PC's the last 10+ years and it was time for a new computer, I did some research and decided a mac was the best decision.  

So I bought a Powerbook G4 with 512 megs of ram and a dvd burner.  

It's been better than I expected, since the get-go.  I run OS X Panther and its awesome.  I've liked it so much, I went out and bought another one, a mac mini just last week.

Its great b/c I can still run all of my favorite windows programs with virtual pc and office: mac.  

Goodbye "blue screen of death"
Goodbye crappy PC's  :nana:

[juno]

I am using a PC now after having way too many breakdowns with my macs.  By the way, for some reason, the state of FL does not allow one to purchase "Applecare"  Everyone I know with Ibooks had way too many problems as well.

Having said that, I really loved my macs and miss them.  I don't know if another one is in my  future though.

[Phaedrus]

I am a PC guy. I am a professional technician, and an enthusiast aside. I love Windows 98 and XP. Most of the others are garbage to use and work on. We've got a couple of Macs at work, and I am responsible for their upkeep. iMacs with OS 9 and OS X. They are web surfing only (for staff breaks) so they don't do much but sit there, look pretty and check email and surf. I personally don't like them really. I think of a Mac like a scooter, and a PC like a motorcycle. One is a lot easier to use and less likely to crash..but also seems limited and too confining. I guess I am just too used to PC's.  :dunno:

[goat]

I just switched to a mac about 3 weeks ago. I haven't been using it that long and I haven't upgraded to Tiger so the jury is still out on whether or not I think it's better. So far, I really like it and think it was worth the $ (I found a used powermac g4).

I'm tired of re-installing windows every 6 months when it slows down, scanning for spyware every couple of weeks, viruses every week and having patches rammed down my throat that remove "bad" software. Keep in mind that microsoft considers firefox to be "untrustworthy". I don't like it.

I've tried linux, and its a great idea. However, I don't think that its practical for a desktop yet. I tried gentoo before I realized that I didn't want to spend all my time re-compiling my system. I used ubuntu and mepis for a while, and I got tired of the POS Ati drivers crashing every hour. I'm still planning on using it, just not for my primary desktop and not on a computer that requires proprietary graphics drivers.

I want something that works and stays that way. The only thing that I don't like about my new mac is the lack of good software. Like CD burning apps. I refuse to give Roxio any of my money (too many bad experiences with their software) and I haven't found any reasonable alternatives to Toast so at the moment, I'm kinda SOL until (and if)  k3b and its dependencies get ported to Aqua/OSX. There are other examples, but that is the worst that I have found so far.

[callmelenny]

I've been using computers for various purposes for almost 20 years now (yikes I'm gettin old ). I've had the satisfaction of building a PC for dirt cheap and spent hours searching for drivers and recompiling various flavors of linux.

When I come home in the evening I work on a Mac.  It does everything I normally want to do with none of the PC headaches already mentioned here. Plus it is silent and looks nice enough that the wife allows it to sit in the living room.

I'm always amazed that when I visit my relatives they ask me to fix their computers but they won't take my simple advice to buy a Mac next time :x

Goat: What kind of CD burning do you want to do that you can't do with the OS X?

I agree with  Roadstergal's comments below about servers but I think that it is another discussion. If had to support a bunch of  basic users (which I don't do anymore thank god) I would put them on OSX machines. I'm outta that business now and I agree that XP Pro (constantly updated) is perfectly acceptable.

[Roadstergal]

I have used computers since I could read, put myself through college as an op, and currently work as a contractor supporting a PC/Mac business and 1/4 time as a sysadmin for a mostly-Mac LAN.  I had an Apple II+, a Lisa, built my own PCs, yadda.
I've always liked UNIX and DOS/Win over MacOS as being easier to work with; MacOS has too many buffers between the source and the user.  Win had plenty of problems in its early days; it finally got decent with 98 SP2 (not 98!); ME sucked, but with Win XP Pro, we finally have a really, really good OS that combines ease of use with the ability to actually muck with everything you need to muck with.  
Most of the problems I've come across that make people Buddha Loves You about PCs are user error.
UNIX just doesn't have the hardware support I need.
Mac OS Panther is the best Mac OS I've worked with, but that's damning with faint praise.  I recently upgraded our server (file/FTP/web) from OSX Panther to Tiger, and I've noticed very little real difference.  As a server, OSX sucks ass.

[Phaedrus]

I've heard that in general, Mac servers are more secure than *nix and Windows boxes, which is probably true due to the lack of abundant known exploits available.

But what good is it to be secure if it just plain sucks?  :mrgreen:

I kinda like Novell Netware, it seems pretty good for the most part. That is what we use (6.5) with very little problem. Except for BorderManager..what a worthless piece of crap that is.

[97gs500e]

I guess all I am trying to say is that in my experience, and from what I have heard about others using macs is that its easy.

I've never even had the smallest problem with this computer.  I've never even seen popups on it  (although my software does update itself once or twice a month)

It's great because its hassle-free.  It's easier to support and maintain, and there's no dissapointments, like I've had with PCs.  

Theres no "terminal errors" that require a reboot, programs don't freeze up (how often to use ctrl-alt-del?), and macs are significantly less prone to virus attacks.

[Cal Price]

Question, replys, are you speaking english or am I so computer illiterate that I just don't know?..... Think I answered my own question.

[aqxea2500]

I love my pc. I like the fact that I can beat INTEL pc that are clocked way higher than my athlon 64 overclocked to 2.8ghz. GO AMD.

[Roadstergal]

I've heard that in general, Mac servers are more secure than *nix and Windows boxes, which is probably true due to the lack of abundant known exploits available.

Probably due more to
a) vastly more Unix and Windows servers out there, making them a much more compelling target for hackers.
b) Mac being easier to set up securely if you don't want to do much with it (plug and play); i.e. if you have a novice admin, they'll cause less damage with a Mac server.

Mac and PC OSs are both easy to keep updated these days.

[Roadstergal]

I've never even had the smallest problem with this computer.  I've never even seen popups on it  (although my software does update itself once or twice a month)

It's great because its hassle-free.  It's easier to support and maintain, and there's no dissapointments...

Theres no "terminal errors" that require a reboot, programs don't freeze up (how often to use ctrl-alt-del?), and macs are significantly less prone to virus attacks.

That's about my experience with my XP PC boxes... I've never had a virus on any of my personal machines, they don't crash, no popups unless I've specifcally asked (PMs on this page, e.g.).

Macs freeze, crash, and get popups, even with OSX.  You should see the lab machines I support.

I think the user has as much to do with it than the platform, and this user prefers XP.

[roguegeek]

I use to be an IT manager for our company before I moved on from that role. We are a large interactive media studio and most of our workstations are Macs. Personally, I can't live without both my Macs, PCs, and Linux boxes. All have their strengths and weaknesses. There is no reason to confine yourself to any one platform or technology.

I guess if I had to pick one, it would be the Mac. Software/hardware integration is absolutely amazing and easy on the platform. Mac enterprise solutions have come a very long way in the last couple of years. The argument that Macs are limited in any way compared to a PC is just not viable anymore. Mac if I absolutely had to pick, but I seriously need it all.

[Roadstergal]

The argument that Macs are limited in any way compared to a PC is just not viable anymore.

For some of the things I do, it is.

There is one very specific thing, though, where you need a Mac.  If you do flow cytometry, there's a program called Flowjo that is absolutely the best analysis program out there.  They have a Mac and a PC version, and the PC version sucks big hairy donkey balls.  The Mac version is Nirvana after working with the previous offerings.  For that, you really want a Mac off in the cornera...

(Although it does crash if you try to do anything while it's spooling a print job.)  

They charge up the wazoo for it, though.  $1300 academic price for a single license!  There's not enough competition.

[roguegeek]

I could go into specifics too on both sides, but that wasn't the point of my comment.

[cobalt135]

All I can say is if you want to do hardcore photo, graphics, or video editing Mac is the way to go.  I am a PC user though.

[pfb]

hardcore photo

:mrgreen:

[The Buddha]

How about neither .... Unix forever ... Raising right fist to the sky ...
ls -lt ---- forever
ps -ef ---- forever
kill -9 ---- FOREVER
Cool.
Srinath.

[cobalt135]

hardcore photo

:mrgreen:

Was not quite thinking of it that way.....but it would work for that too

[Blueknyt]

"For the last number of years, the only parts of a Mac that are uncontestably not PC have been the CPU and the motherboard."   http://www.overclockers.com/tips00793/

seems more and more Mac is grabbing at 3rd party products which are mainly geared to PC as an industry design standard.  Mac is using more and more "Off the shelf" parts in their box. i guess it helps keep costs down a bit.


while im still trying to learn linux, to get out from under M$ thumb, i find it neat that many flavors of linux are rock solid stable, almost NO virus's to mess with, and will run on Both PC and Mac.  i also like that you can legally tailor the code to suit your needs and wants.