Author Topic: PC or Mac?  (Read 12823 times)

Pemberley

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PC or Mac?
« on: April 18, 2007, 01:59:48 AM »
The illustrious Mr. Sanderson uses a PC when crafting his fiction.  (Okay, now I've made some reference to Brandon, so I can justify posting this thread in his forums.  :)  I, his schoolteacher wife, have been using a Mac for the last three years.  We are considering buying a laptop for me, as the one I have is actually property of the school district, and will have to be returned when I am no longer teaching.  I was just wondering what all you computer savvy people think about PC's vs. Macs.  I'm not trying to start an argument here, so no insults, please! I'm just curious about what TWG-ers would say are the advantages or disadvantages of owning a PC or a Mac.  Any thoughts?

Spriggan

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Re: PC or Mac?
« Reply #1 on: April 18, 2007, 03:38:45 AM »
I say use what you like and what suits your needs.  The biggest difference is software, if there's something you need/want that's PC only then go that route (yes you can go with bootcamp or parallels but you have to still buy windows for your Mac to do that, we're talking native support here) but there is a better selection of software for the PC.  Cost is another thing, HPs and Dells are both cheaper then Macs are and still offer more/better upgrades hardware wise (HP likes to give away free Lite scribe DVD burners which "print" labels onto the disk while burning them), so I'd look at that if the OS isn't a real big deal for you, but at the high end you're only talking about $300 difference.
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Phaz

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Re: PC or Mac?
« Reply #2 on: April 18, 2007, 04:15:07 AM »
Spriggan has some good advice.

Realistically, for most people, there isn't too much of a difference.  I spend my day working on every kind of computer OS you've heard of, and often ones you haven't.  After a while, none are really absolutely better than any others.

It comes down to what you are doing with it.  If you are just going to surf the web, check email, play a few simple games, store pictures, etc, than it shouldn't really matter.  Both systems have more than enough to do that.  If you like using a Mac and don't see any problems with it, than stick with it.  If you want to try something new and see what all the buzz about Vista is about, then give it a shot.

Even better, for many of those things that most people use a computer for, there are plenty of free software programs that are easy to adapt to and let you do what you need to do just fine.  Many of those programs support both Windows and Mac OSes (as well as Linux).   From that standpoint, it matters even less, because you can get the programs you want to use on both of them.

If you like iPods and are thinking of getting an iPhone or apple tv at some point, than it might be good to go with a Mac (even though both will probably work fine with Windows).

It all comes down to usage.  If you like playing games, most people stick to Windows, though if you only play certain games (WoW comes to mind) than a Mac will work fine.   

All that being said, there are a reason Mac laptops are so popular.  Thus, if you are looking for something portable, and already familiar with Macs, than I would stick with those unless you have a really good reason to change.   There are a reason you see so many Mac laptops around.

The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers

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Re: PC or Mac?
« Reply #3 on: April 18, 2007, 01:21:33 PM »
Last I noticed, PCs were still much more widely used than Macs. I don't say that to slam Mac, just to say that calling popularity into it doesn't make sense.

To reiterate what's been said, one is not necessarily inherently better than the other. It depends on what you're comfortable with and what you like.

iPod/whatever compatibility is a ZERO issue. They had a minor incompatibility with a version of iTunes with Vista, but I believe that's been reconciled. The iPod works with PCs just as well as Macs

If you are used to a Mac and don't have any major gripes about it, I'd stick with it. If there are specific issues you have, then mention them, we can tell you if a PC would be better or if there's a way to correct it within Mac.

vadia

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Re: PC or Mac?
« Reply #4 on: April 19, 2007, 03:40:19 AM »
fewer viruses are made for macs, so they tend to work better in that way.

IBM programs tend to come out sooner -- especially games.

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Spriggan

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Re: PC or Mac?
« Reply #5 on: April 19, 2007, 04:14:34 AM »
The funny thing about this thread is Macs are PCs, a PC isn't just something that runs Windows it's any Personal Computer.  I get a kick out of those apple ads since they're trying to say they're not something they are.  It would be like a white guy and a black guy doing those ads where the white guy says "Hi, I'm a Human" and the other says "And I'm Black".

Oh and Vadia, you actually know someone who still calls Windows machines IMBs?  wow they must be ancient or trying to be hip in a retro way, I think that term fell out of favor like ten years ago.  Even funnier when you consider IBM is the largest maker of non-x86 chips out there and use to make all the processors for apple until a year ago.
« Last Edit: April 19, 2007, 04:16:31 AM by Spriggan »
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MPlease

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Re: PC or Mac?
« Reply #6 on: April 19, 2007, 05:57:14 AM »
Macs are prettier?  ;D Though I can't play Guild Wars on my mac which is a major downside... but it's definately prettier than my husband's computer!
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Faster Master St. Pastor

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Re: PC or Mac?
« Reply #7 on: April 19, 2007, 06:04:11 AM »
fewer viruses are made for macs, so they tend to work better in that way.

The reason for this is that the pool of Mac users is much smaller than that of Windows users, about 5% to 95% of PCs. People who write viruses tend to want to hit as many people as they can because they're sadistic jerks, and thats why they mostly program for Windows PCs. All the talk about Macs getting less viruses is frustrating and funny for me because very few people realize that the smaller number of viruses for Macs has nothing to do with security, and everything to do with numbers of users.

Also, something to consider about Vista if you decide to go with Windows: it'd probably be smarter to go with xp for right now. Vista has dreadful driver support right now, and probably will for about a year, it also eats up system resources while idling (I believe about 700 megs of ram when in full 3-D mode). Another reason to wait on Vista is the fact that security holes are still being discovered, and it'd probably be smarter to wait until a SP1 came out so you aren't a casualty of the first line of hacking.

Anyway, thats my two bits
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Firemeboy

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Re: PC or Mac?
« Reply #8 on: April 19, 2007, 06:08:09 AM »
An extremely large amount of research was conducted, and the following conclusion was reached.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2514730680283477734

It might be a  bit too academic, but if you can wade through the big words, they come to a very clear, and in my opinion, correct conclusion.
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Faster Master St. Pastor

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Re: PC or Mac?
« Reply #9 on: April 19, 2007, 06:18:57 AM »
Lol, nice, very nice. And very enlightening.
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Spriggan

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Re: PC or Mac?
« Reply #10 on: April 19, 2007, 06:28:35 AM »
Macs are prettier?  ;D Though I can't play Guild Wars on my mac which is a major downside... but it's definitely prettier than my husband's computer!

You've never seen one of the new(ish) HPs, those look 10x cooler then the macbooks, but I hate white and pure white things (I think the iPod is ugly--it's so boring and unintresting just like iMacs) and these are black/grey with blue LEDs, you need to see one up close since pics don't do them justice.

Ya Vista uses a lot of ram for Areo, but I was reading somewhere that the jump percentage wise from XP to Vista is around the same as from 2000 to XP which I found interesting.  But Pemberly might be out of luck for an XP machine, it's hard to get that OS from Dell or HP anymore even though you can still get it OEM from other places like Newegg (though that costs you still around $100 compared to the estimated $30-$40 Windows costs you when you buy it from Dell or HP).
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Re: PC or Mac?
« Reply #11 on: April 19, 2007, 06:38:14 AM »
Macs are prettier?  ;D Though I can't play Guild Wars on my mac which is a major downside... but it's definitely prettier than my husband's computer!

Ya Vista uses a lot of ram for Areo, but I was reading somewhere that the jump percentage wise from XP to Vista is around the same as from 2000 to XP which I found interesting.  But Pemberly might be out of luck for an XP machine, it's hard to get that OS from Dell or HP anymore even though you can still get it OEM from other places like Newegg (though that costs you still around $100 compared to the estimated $30-$40 Windows costs you when you buy it from Dell or HP).

I knew that, but right now ram prices aren't so good unless you know where to buy, and considering that most pre-built systems are only just getting to a gig unless they're gaming platforms it makes Vista a rather unattractive option at the moment. XP may be a little more of a hastle to get a hold of right now, but its a much more stable OS then Vista is currently, worth it personally. Then there's the supreme evil that is DRM which has been taken to a new extreme with Vitsa.
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Spriggan

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Re: PC or Mac?
« Reply #12 on: April 19, 2007, 04:52:47 PM »
1 gig is plenty for Areo, it doesn't use 700 mb or anywhere near it, there are several people hwere where I word running it just fine with 1 gig, you need a graphics card with only 64mb of ram to run it but something DX10 compatible will run it better then Dx9.

Good tech write up about the changes in Vista at http://arstechnica.com/reviews/os/pretty-vista.ars/
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Re: PC or Mac?
« Reply #13 on: April 19, 2007, 07:27:21 PM »
my new computer is at a gig of ram and an onboard video card. I've had zero stability problems with Vista.

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Re: PC or Mac?
« Reply #14 on: April 20, 2007, 01:52:43 AM »
1 gig is plenty for Areo, it doesn't use 700 mb or anywhere near it, there are several people hwere where I word running it just fine with 1 gig, you need a graphics card with only 64mb of ram to run it but something DX10 compatible will run it better then Dx9.

Good tech write up about the changes in Vista at http://arstechnica.com/reviews/os/pretty-vista.ars/

I read through the first couple pages of the article, and skimed the rest. No where did I see any benchmarks, so either I missed them or they aren't in there. I'm heard of several cases where Vista did use 700 mb ram while idling in Areo, so either something else was contributing to those things and I was misinformed, or I wasn't and Vista really was using 700 mb while idling.

my new computer is at a gig of ram and an onboard video card. I've had zero stability problems with Vista.

Stability isn't really an issue with only a gig unless you game a lot and crank up the options as high as you can.
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