Apple Vs. PC at RMC

[stefwills]

Yeah I have to agree there, I converted to MAC about a year ago. Once you know how to use it, which isn't very difficult, it is extremely easy and user friendly. I bought a wireless mouse on boxing day, and it is as easy as plug and play. Heck, the mouse was more complicated than actually connecting it to the laptop. I would recommend MAC's to anyone (MacBook).

Cheers,

 

[ChaosTheory]

I use linux but I am in Computing Science so it is almost required for our comp sci assignments.

 

[a_majoor]

We bought a new ACER laptop, and returned it in two days. On the reasons for return box, we wrote "VISTA".

The computer's instructions, ACER tech support and even discussions with knowledgeable people in the IT field revealed the computer (and apparently many other companies as well) are deliberately not backwards compatible with XP (requiring hand loading dozens of obscure drivers and so on to make the change).

The solution? A Powerbook running Leopard. We are quite happy, have almost no issues (although we did buy Office for Mac to transition things between home and work when needed), and don't regret having to pay extra for something that works and works well. I have a few PC's at home that are showing their age, I can see an iMAC in my future as well. (I like LINUX but don't really have the time to climb the learning curve. MAC OS-X is Unix based anyway).

So unless you have very specific soft wear requirements, I would say go for the MAC.

 

[ChaosTheory]

There's a very little learning curve from going to windows to linux.  I did it in a day. 

As for your word documents, just get open office. 

 

[RTaylor]

Buy a DELL laptop. Solid, usually no issues with quality or trouble shooting. Plus if you get Vista you can find someone else with a Dell Windows XP CD and install that instead w/o a key.

I personally love PC's and Vista. Turn off UAC and off you go. And I haven't had an issue getting anything to run

 

[Thorvald]

Oh for goodness sakes, just go buy a Macbook (which are now fully Intel based) and then dual boot into either OS X or Windows XP (or even Vista... Take my advice, buy XP, don't even touch Vista till the service pack comes out at the very least).

Then you get the best of all worlds.  It's a no-brainer to recommend Macs now since they can dual boot and are fully "Intel Inside".

However you can buy a Wintel laptop for about $499 to $599 as compared to $1249 for the base Macbook... if budget is an issue, stick with PC's

Cheers

 

[George Wallace]

Buy a DELL laptop. Solid, usually no issues with quality or trouble shooting. Plus if you get Vista you can find someone else with a Dell Windows XP CD and install that instead w/o a key.

I personally love PC's and Vista. Turn off UAC and off you go. And I haven't had an issue getting anything to run

???

Am I the only one who finds a lot of things "TERRIBLY WRONG" with that post?

 

[Nfld Sapper]

???

Am I the only one who finds a lot of things "TERRIBLY WRONG" with that post?

Nope.

BTW for the record I hate DELL cause you have to use their stuff to upgrade your system.

 

[NL_engineer]

???

Am I the only one who finds a lot of things "TERRIBLY WRONG" with that post?

You don't like vista? Vista Rocks  :

now, if I could only get XP Pro for cheep, I'd be set  ;D.

 

[ChaosTheory]

At this point in time, Vista is a horrible operating system.

As well, you can't just quickly uninstall Vista and put in XP because of the drivers.  The manufactures made it so that there are no XP compatible drivers for the hardware the comes installed with your vista system, so you can't go backwards. 

Now, Linux, there is a good OS, and one that doesn't crash.

 

[MdB]

The manufactures made it so that there are no XP compatible drivers for the hardware the comes installed with your vista system, so you can't go backwards.

Well, I wouldn't say that going from Vista to XP, i.e. less-than-ready OS to a proven one, is going backwards... hehe. That's what I hate with MS OS, they make you pay for their errors and let the users finish the quality control they can't do.

Ever since Mac OS X came on the market, there's been upgrade every couple of months and major upgrade almost every year (10.1 in 2002, 10.2 in 2003, 10.3 in 2004, 10.4 in 2005 and 10.5 in 2007). The trick is that you pay more, but you get more than the price difference.

 

[boxseats]

Apple just announced the MacBook Air.

http://www.apple.com/macbookair/

It's the first time I have looked twice at an Apple.  But it is very expensive.  Something like the ThinkPad X61 is far less expensive, extraordinarily unobtrusive, and very little trouble.  Good reviews and everything runs on it.  I cannot be bothered being bothered by something I use as a tool, like a laptop.  I want to worry about what I am doing, not the technology that got me there.

The reviews on the MacBook Air are still coming in.  While the reviews are mixed, it seems to put the other Macs to shame.  Many of the Lenovo (a subsidiary of IBM) laptop products weigh nearly nothing and have impact resistance features build inside.  This could be good for someone like a student whose laptop is tossed around. 

On the operating system.  I have experience with both VISTA and XP.  Choose XP.  People are fleeing VISTA in such numbers, many purveyors of PCs are now charging extra to install XP. 

For getting a good idea of the best price for all my technology toys or cosmetics.  I start at http://www.google.com/products, and then sort by price.  I know what I want ahead of time.  It's just a matter of making it show up at my door.

my 2-cents. 

 

[ChaosTheory]

The thing with the Mac Air is that they didn’t have room for a replaceable battery or an optical media drive. Or a firewire port. Or an ethernet port. Or more than one USB port. But being that it’s an ultraportable, it’s not the sort of thing that really is supposed to stand alone- it’s a supplementary computer, meant to travel with you and then sync with your home computer. It’s for the type of Apple consumer that doesn’t worry about money- the ultraportable market, really.

The thing is, though, the ultraportable market has just recently been turned completely on it’s head by the Asus Eee PC. For 1/6th of the price of the $1800 Macbook, you can get a tiny Eee PC. It has a small keyboard and a small screen, but thanks to it’s portability and low pricing point, thousands of people are making it their mobile PC. It’s widely considered to be a well-designed little fellow.

 

[niceasdrhuxtable]

I think an important consideration when considering a Mac vs a PC is how much gaming you plan on doing. If you only play more casual flash games or simple card/puzzle games then a Mac will probably be fine if you're willing to pay for it. However, any sort of 3D/modern gaming will definitely require a PC.

 

[boxseats]

It’s widely considered to be a well-designed little fellow.

ooooo!!!!  It is very cute.  Thanks for posting about it.  Does it have a PCMCIA slot, a must-have for cellular broadband wireless card?

 

[retiredgrunt45]

They both have there places and uses. Personally I use a MacBook for work and I use a PC for home. if it's business features your looking for both are good, but Apple is prefered. If its entertainment, gaming etc, PC is the way to go.

If your only going to use your computer to surf, type, research, study or other mundane tasks, why would you pay the extra to buy and apple?

You can pick up a good PC notepad for about 1/3 or less and it still has all the bells and whistles. If your just buying and Apple just for the sake of buying and apple and you plan just to use it for school, work or business, fine. But later if you want to do anything else with it, play the latest games etc. Even though there are games out there available for Mac, the selection is fairly shallow, compared to the PC world.

Oh well it's your money, good luck with what ever you choose.  

 

[Jorkapp]

ooooo!!!!  It is very cute.  Thanks for posting about it.  Does it have a PCMCIA slot, a must-have for cellular broadband wireless card?

No they do not. They have external USB ports, so you might want to consider getting your cellular wireless card in USB instead, or getting a phone with a USB connection and tether it.

 

[edgar]

Take it from an expert... Apple is the 3rd most popular PC after Linux/Intel and Wintel. Linux overtook Apple last year. Ignore Apple

Buy Wintel. the software is cheaper, more recent, easier to get, easier to share, easier to find, more programs. etc. Ignore the small shrieks of "but Apple is better/more efficient, cooler, retro, cooler designs, pretty, fun to own, etc. etc. etc."

For god's sake everyone - Apple is over. It is marginalised, it is gone. It has some cool MP3 players, and interesting ergonomics but that's it. 95 percent of the world uses Wintel platforms. 3 percent uses Linux. The remainder is Apple and others. Forget it. Geez if the apple freaks had their way we'd all still be driving Edsels 'cause they're well designed and built and right pretty to look at

I suspect that I have made my point.

Cheers

Perhaps not the point you intended to make. Look up little dinosaur, look up! Is that a meteor?

Here is your expert:
http://www.paulgraham.com/mac.html

In my experience he is right, all the cool people have macs now. I spent a weeks pay for a macbook and never spent my money more wisely. I found it strange to pay extra in order to not get a bunch of stuff I didn't want (circusware), but it was well worth it. My project to install OpenBSD on my old thinkpad stalled because it is no longer necessary. Everything I need is there and it isn't even a macbook pro. Any well done Linux software will work for you. Mac OS X is UNIX based too eh? I use firefox instead of Safari, not that Safari didn't work, but its just what I'm used to. Installed it in about a minute, no joke. If a piece of software is not available in mac, keep looking, there is a better program out there. 

In my world for example, SPSS is a pretty big deal, there is sort of a lock-in because the whole school uses it for their statistics, but (googles it) hey look, a mac version!
My own school likes JGrasp for Java development and there it is, JGrasp for Mac. I'm not going out on much of a limb when I tell you that you will be able to get your coursework done with mac. Worst-case is your instructor inexplicably has some pet software that requires windows. So get a used emachine for $50 and hold your nose. You will want a spare monitor anyway, because two screens is just too nice. Also, if your school doesn't completely suck, you should be able to get a macbook with a backpack and an ipod for (IIRC) $1100, right at school in their computer store (if the U of S can do it...). If you crave games get a PS2 - tons of games in the bargain bin.

The best part about using a mac though is the feeling of smug superiority you get while using it. It's like being one of those Star Trek aliens all dressed in white whose elegant yet powerful technology is incomprehensibly superior to the pathetic humans.

 

[MdB]

Another option no one mentioned is to install a Windows virtualisation software. Recently discovered Parallels Desktop, but there's also Crossover, VMware and Virtual PC.

I think though that Parallels has the best take on it though (run Windows, Linux, etc). It can run quite a few games, but the video card driver is not up to what it would be in native Windows boot with Boot camp. It also can run many Autodesk software (very useful in engineering field). Take a look at it: http://www.parallels.com/en/products/desktop/.

Another fact to correct is the Mac OS X market share, which is not around 1-2% as believed, but 7,3 ish % compared to 0,63% for Linux users (ref: http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=8). And Mac is on the rise, thanks to iTune, iPod and iPhone. With Intel CPU, I think the market share can only go up from now (much easier to adapt softwares to a common CPU).

 

[bms]

I don't know. I think VMware Fusion is the best thing for Mac users who need Windows programs(http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/). Not only is it seamless integration, but you can use your Boot Camp Windows partition as a Virtual Machine as well. It's a fantastic piece of software.

And for some reassurance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIApJMzGzDQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF_CoXsXtk4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvZWYJBJrq0&feature=related

It's fantastic. As many a review says, VMware Fusion "trounces" Parallels. And give it a few versions, and I can see it having much better support for gaming. Right now, VMware  supports very limited capacities in this regard, but it can play games that don't require pixel shading. But hell, you can just boot into Windows to play games, like Gears of War(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-32E6TMAOYw).