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Why most people should buy a Mac

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Danny Gorog28 May 2007, 1:07 PM

OPINION |For ordinary computer users, deciding between a PC and a Mac is a non-choice. The only decision you need to make is whether to buy a Mac notebook or desktop. It's that simple.

Danny Gorog

Editor's note: welcome to our new Mac blogger Danny Gorog. Danny is a Melbournian who has been opining on Macs some time for Australia's top selling newspaper, the Herald Sun.

We're incredibly pleased to have Danny on board with APCmag.com and hope you'll enjoy his perspective on things as much as we have in talking to him.

Danny launches his online coverage today with guns blazing, posing the question: should you buy a Mac or a PC? Danny is, naturally, arguing that there's only one correct choice there, and it ain't the PC.

Welcome aboard, Danny. I hope you're wearing a thick flameproof suit!

Dan Warne,
Online Editor, APCMag.com

APC readers are not ordinary computer users.

We can swap a hard drive in under three minutes, buy RAM with the right latency instinctively and maintain an updated OS image almost as easily as breathing.

But that's the point -- we're not average computer users.

If you're an 'average' computer user, choosing to buy a Mac is the right decision.

Sure, Macs are not for hardcore gamers who demand to be able to play all the latest game titles. They're not for people who like to tweak every aspect of their computer on a clockspeed level [though that's not to say there's not a very active Mac hardware tweaking community].

But the people described above are not average computer users.

On the whole, the ordinary person needs a computer that lets them email, surf the web, write letters and documents, browse and edit digital photos, rip and listen to music and watch DVDs. They might dabble in P2P and Skype.

For those users, a Mac is absolutely ideal, and the only decision they need to make is whether to by an Apple notebook or desktop.

Admittedly, it hasn't always been an easy choice.

Just 18 months ago, when Apple was stuck in the rut of using underpowered PowerPC processors, it was hard to convince average users of the benefits of a Mac. Anyone who needed to run Windows would have to shell out for the rather costly virtualisation package Virtual PC, and a licence of Windows. It ran unacceptably slowly even on the fastest G5 Macs.

No wonder, then, that people still worried about compatibility between the Mac and Windows versions of Microsoft Office, despite this issue having been resolved over a decade ago.

Since Apple switched to Intel processors, lingering perceptions about compatibility are starting to fade away. It's helped along by the fact that more and more, computers are seen as communication tools, not just gaming and office suite machines. Macs are first class computers when it comes to internet connectivity, with a great default web browser and networking configuration that is dramatically easier than Windows' gordian knot.

"But Macs are so expensive!"

Of course, there's still the lingering chestnut that Macs are still too expensive. My tip to ordinary computer users is not to take the advice from your geek friend who builds his own computer in the back room -- yes, dear APC reader, I'm sort of talking about you.

But don't be offended. I'm trying to save you time in tech support.

Unfortunately, the ordinary computer user doesn't realise that it's necessary to be connected to the net to download virus updates; has no idea of the importance of running Windows Update and doesn't know what the guy from Symantec is on about when they ring to say the subscription's expired.

The ordinary computer user is going to call you for help when they start getting popup ads appearing randomly when they're in the middle of working in Microsoft Word. You will be the one working on the weekend to disinfect their PC from the latest malware installed by your friend's eight year old.

Getting back to the cost, it's true that you won't find a Mac as cheap as cheapest red spot specials from Dell or Acer. But have you actually tried buying one of those $799 laptops recently? By the time you spec them up to a reasonable standard, you'll find you'll have spent half as much again in extra RAM and an upgrade from basic DVD-ROM to DVD writer.

If you're still working on an assumption from a few years ago that Macs are too expensive and a PC is far better value, do yourself a favour and do a feature-by-feature analysis comparing a Macbook to the latest from HP, Toshiba or Dell (they'll be the ones in the Harris Technology catalogue with memorable names like GXA-5456a). I guarantee that you'll find in an even-featured match that the Mac stacks up well.

If it is still a little more expensive, don't forget to factor in your time to help your friend remove all the trialware that comes preinstalled as standard, and the extra cost for your friend to keep their anti-malware subscription up-to-date. Also toss in 3-4 hours of $100 per hour on-site tech-support for the year, for the few weeks you go on holidays to Queensland and your friend desperately needs help. Just in case.

Why Windows users are sort of into bondage

Users who have done the above analysis and still buy a PC are plain stubborn. The truth is, as much as they don't want to admit it, some people are simply slaves to their PCs and Windows. It's a weird sado-masochistic bondage fetish: they take pride in routinely keeping their security suite up-to-date, installing all the latest Windows patches and religiously staying on the lookout for new vulnerabilities

Oh, and there's no doubt the ordinary computer user will have heard that Macs can't run as much software as PCs. Tell him to give Parallels or Boot Camp a shot (it's real, actual Windows running on a Mac at near full speed under Parallels, or full speed under Boot Camp. Complete with all the malware risks that Windows on any other PC comes with.)

Most Windows users who move over to a Mac quickly discover how much they don't need Windows. A quick look through MacUpdate.com, VersionTracker.com and osx.iusethis.com will unearth numerous excellent freeware and shareware apps for Mac that do the same tasks as well as , or better, than the Windows tools your friend is probably accustomed to.

And, of course, when your friend buys a Mac, they'll also get OS X, clearly the most advanced desktop operating system (still miles ahead of Windows Vista in most areas) plus the iLife suite that will literally transform the way you consume and create your digital media.

And you'll buy in to a community of users who actually care about their platform and are enthusiastic about helping other Mac users.

Finally, if your ordinary computer using friend has given the Mac a go for a month and decides he doesn't like it, he can sell the Mac on eBay for 80% - 90% of the original price tag. It's got to tell you something about Macs that their resale value is so well maintained despite the fact that nowadays, their internal architecture is much like any other well-made PC.

So, after all that, what is your friend ... and what are you ... waiting for?

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raindog:

Welcome aboard Danny from the resident grumpy old bastard.

Shooting up doze is easy.

Can you offer as compelling argument why the masses shouldn't jump straight to open source during the mass bail-out sans vista?

29 February 2008, 8:31 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

userinterface:

Much of the source of OS X *is* available:

http://www.opensource.apple.com/apsl/

But I guess you meant: "Why not run a Linux distro?" I'd think primarily because Danny is writing to non-technical users.

So far as desktop OSes go OS X is far and away the best one out there. Technically speaking, it's got an unrivaled development environment with Objective-C and the Cocoa frameworks. And the frameworks themselves provide system-wide functionality in a way you don't find on other OSes: for example, you don't have to train about four dictionaries; there's one system-wide one. There is also pervasive drag-and-drop such as you can't find elsewhere: if you haven't used OS X, you'd be surprised at just what you can do with drag-and-drop on it.

The way windows are handled by the OS X GUI is also far in advance of anything on Windows/GNOME/KDE. This is worth a read on that:

http://rixstep.com/2/20050529,03.shtml

But I'd say that the important thing from the point of view of the users Danny is speaking of is OS X's high level of usability and easy maintainability.

I think an average home user could get along with Ubuntu (very much the flavour of the month) if it were set up for him by knowledgeable user, who'd enable DVD playback, and get him the codecs, fonts, etc. he needed. That'd be OK if the user mainly just wanted web and email. But if he wanted to do anything much out of the ordinary with it, he'd be stuck with Googling, and finding out the arcana of using package managers and command lines. An average home user would probably like to continue using iTunes, too. That's only available on Mac and Windows. It is possible to sync an iPod or other DAP with third-party software on Linux systems, but it's a very poor compromise compared with Apple's syncing software. And you haven't got the ability to interface with the iTunes Store, which besides the content you can buy, also offers a very good interface for searching for, comparing, and subscribing to a vast number of free podcasts.

On OS X there's really nothing to do, except run Software Update regularly. Programs are actually bundles that contain their own support files. No more files sprayed all over the machine. Therefore, installation is (in most cases) merely a matter of decompressing the application and moving it to the /Applications directory via drag-and-drop. Uninstallation is as easy: you simply delete the application bundle.

There's no nightmare database like the Windows Registry to get screwed up. Each application has its own little XML file, which lives in a Preferences directory. Defragging isn't necessary: the filesystem does it on the fly. You don't need anti-virus software. You rarely need to reboot. Most of the time there is literally _nothing_ for a user to do, and OS X systems frequently keep running for years without an install deteriorating.

29 February 2008, 8:42 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

raindog:

I'd always thought of OS X as a lot more than an OS for dummies, but the way you paint it, it's little more than a Kraft Cheese OS for those who want will never dare to explore.

29 February 2008, 8:43 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

oldtimegeek:

Just because you don't NEED to get under the hood, doesn't mean you can't. In fact the Mac is far better suited to the tinkerer. To start with you get XCode for free, a full featured development suite, comparable to Microsoft latest ,.net developer kit you'd pay hundreds of dollars for. A fully visual, object oriented development and debugging environment for java, objective c, unix shell scripts, applescript, perl etc.

On top you get a real unix environment, XWindows, java, perl of course, plus Applescript's ability to pipe data between just about any Mac OSX app like you had the API.

All this is standard, and built into every Mac and OS release.

Once upon a time you could buy a computer and program it, using nearly all of it's functionality, using the tools and documentation that came with the machine. That's how a whole generation of people learned to program.

On a mac, this is still possible. Not so with windows. It's clear where there future lies.

29 February 2008, 8:43 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

FostWare:

"don't forget to factor in your time to help your friend remove all the trialware that comes preinstalled as standard"

This has been solved by the Decrapifier at www.pcdecrapifier.com,

because it's easier to decrapify a laptop, than to reinstall it from scratch these days... (unless you're always up to date with the RyanVM's update integrator and their cousin Driver Packs )

29 February 2008, 8:31 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Dan Warne:

I love the concept of PC Decrapifier but I tried it recently on a friend's new Dell laptop and it didn't remove half the stuff. I guess Dell Australia must load different stuff than what they load on in the States.

29 February 2008, 8:42 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

raindog:

The sad part is we Aussies cop the international crap and the localised variant.

29 February 2008, 8:42 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

sosumi11:

So, in order to remove unwanted software, you have to add another program that will become useless after you use it?

Sort of reminds me of the old Rube Goldberg machines. A complex device that performs a simple task in the most indirect and convoluted way possible.

Well since Dell, HP etc have to make money and they are getting only 4% margins on hardware because of the commodity market that Microsoft created, they do get cash for distributing this software. After all, it is only about making money, and not the end user's experience.

Microsoft has convinced millions that mediocrity is acceptable, viruses are unavoidable, innovation is copying and the user's experience is not their concern

29 February 2008, 8:42 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

FostWare:

I have PC Decrapifier on a USB stick, along with various other utilities like Portable Firefox...

I may use it once on a laptop, however I'll use it a couple of times a month as teachers replace their laptops. I could RIS the thing from scratch, but nuking Norton's, various toolbar, and the games demos (esp HP laptops) is a lot easier and quicker.

29 February 2008, 8:42 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Martin:

sosumi11

Your last paragraph perfectly summarises the Micro$oft "experience" in one neat paragraph to the point where they should seriously consider replacing "Your Potential - Our Passion" with it !

29 February 2008, 8:42 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

McBanjo:

I agree with you whole-heartedly with you on this one. More people should own Macs. PCs should be the minority. This would bring nothing but good. M$ would pick up their game and more companies would write software for Macs.

I would have a sexy Mac on my desk right now, but I would miss my computer building and fixing. And it sucks that it's not a platform for gaming. They could make games similar to the way consoles do. Much better than PC graphics cards and performance tweaking.

Oh and we really need more designs, for personality's sake. But this would happen with an increase in market share anyway.

Congrats on APC job and I look forward to more of your two-sided articles.

29 February 2008, 8:31 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Clay Garland:

Gaming is not an excuse. With the right Disk drivers slipstreamed into a windows install, I use my MacPro for gaming. It's easy as pie to drop an aftermarket card in one of the available slots and set it to 16x. With the exception of SLi, and the fact that XP only recognizes one quarter of my RAM, I get excellent framerates in all my games. Granted, I'm a video editor and I need all the grunt that a MacPro offers, and this solution isn't acceptable for iMac buyers, but you can't use the games excuse any more, unless you just want to be silly and say that you NEED SLi to enjoy your games.

29 February 2008, 8:42 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

MAC LOVER:

Mac Is The Best, i've faced it, i've owned cheap windows computers and laptops before but once you try the mac you wont want to go back to any windows operating system. This is my opinion! I spent $6,999.00 just for the 17inch G4 PowerBook laptop 2years ago plus I spent more on having every accessory that I could by for it and I saved every spare dollar i earned. Once you've owned a Mac you fall inlove with it quickly and like a spoilt child not want to share it or let anyone else use it and it has neva crash on me while downloading many files at once and working with many apps open. THIS IS ONLY MY OPINION AS A MAC OWNER.

29 February 2008, 8:31 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Anonymuos:

This article is so desperate to convince the wrong facts. But Danny is cute.

29 February 2008, 8:31 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

coule:

Ok Bill nice try, but give us some arguments next time....

29 February 2008, 8:42 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Steven:

I have, but it's still hard to get through. My brother recently bought a new vista laptop, can't remember the manufacturer, I suppose that says it all.
Anyway I was asking about performance how he liked it etc the best he could do was "Well it's not as bad as I thought it would be"
Hmm..

29 February 2008, 8:31 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

andyw:

I was recently in the market for a new laptop (desktop will not suit). I really wanted to by a mac and had a budget of sub $3000. My needs required large widescreen, discrete graphics, at least a gb of ram and large hard disk.
I went with an HP laptop with very similar spec to macbook pro for $2099. I know it is not all about hardware ratings but macbook was too small with no discrete graphics and macbook pro too expensive despite good build quality. I now have a flexible solution where i can swap out components with ease and have vista which is not as bad as people say it is - and if I get sick of it I can just dual boot with ubuntu.

29 February 2008, 8:31 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Anonymous70:

well, it seems to me that you are exactly not one of those "most people" Danny is talking about.

29 February 2008, 8:43 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

vassillios:

yeah well....for $500 more you could have had a 17" macbook pro that would run vista & os x with the ability to upgrade to 3 gb ram and it would have met your dedicated gpu requirement.

29 February 2008, 8:43 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

tin:

Stop saying PC==Windows dang it.

I also dislike the argument that Macs can run Windows... I've heard that a few times as a reason to buy one lately. The sad fact is you will still need to spend a small fortune on buying Windows to go on there, because it ain't OEM'd with it.

I do agree Windows is a pile of junk, but this 2 sided Mac vs Windows thing is a joke.

29 February 2008, 8:31 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Realisto:

There is a Codeweaver sollution on the Mac that make it possible to run Windos applications without having Windows OS installed. That will spare you a cost and an argument.

29 February 2008, 8:43 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

who is nader:

Macs are such tortured soles who bare the burdens of the world in their crusade to convince the non-believers that their journey is the right path to enlightenment.

At the end of the day, people want choice and compatibility. The average user isn't convinced that a Mac will offer this and most certainly the more advanced users know this.

Let's face it, most Mac owners come from the artistic arena (not all but a strong population) because many moons ago, Macs where the right choice thanks to Quark Express etc.

That is no longer the case and Mac users are bitter about it as they struggle to justify why they still invest in apple.

I remember a time when you could much more easily Hack into Unix using ypcat passwd than you could into Windows NT 3.1 . Yet now we can't stop talking about how secure Unix is. Windows is going through the exact same Program Develop Evolution, hence Windows Vista.

Mac's don't have the user base to Evolve in the same way, hence the lack of Malware etc. Doesn't mean that it is better designed or better tested. Just less exploited due to lack of interest.

29 February 2008, 8:31 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Gonzie:

security through obscurity is a myth and I'll tell you why, before we had Mac os X we had virues not a massive amount but some at least. it can be argued that the "market share" everyone is so fond of refering too is less than it was today. Now and ever since os X we haven't had any and especially no adware, aside from proof of concepts.

now i'm not going to stand on the rooftops and shout that it's completly secure (i do actually run antivirus, firewall etc) but it's a dam sight more secure than windows inc vista, which is already suffering from backward compatible and new virues for all versions, even people hacking into it already and it's only just approaching the marketshare that apple has

now someone care to explain that another way than the blatently obvious "windows has more holes that swiss cheese"?

as for linux for the home user? or for anyone with a resonable IQ don't make me laugh, it's far to complex for it's own good. what happens when it goes wrong? "hello tech support" who's that going to be? the installer or the company supplier not much better off is it? 4 years of using a Mac and never had the os fail on me (yes one particular mac had rev a hardware issues but they were happy to take that back for a nice new core2duo one)

computers as applicances should only mean the work reliably as say your microwave in my eyes

29 February 2008, 8:42 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Spell Checkers are free:

It's spelled souls, not soles. Research is good when you're trying to sell your opinion.

29 February 2008, 8:42 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Me:

Great argument. That wins hands down, I'm convinced.

29 February 2008, 8:43 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Gomphos:

All of your "points" are eloquently and definitively refuted by any number of articles on roughlydrafted.com, so I will not bother to address them here with the exception of one. Windows does offer more software; however, if I had to choose between researching/trying 100 different software programs of wildly varying quality or 10 of competitively high quality, I'd much prefer 10. For anything you want to do, there's a Mac equivalent. And you can always use Boot Camp/Parallels & Windows if you really need to.

Since 2003 MS has been on the slippery slope. There will be a Service Pack for Vista, one big follow-up version of Windows ("Vienna"), and then a brand-new non-Windows OS (either *nix based or, more likely, their fresh code-based "Singularity"). Legacy Windows apps will "safely" run in a sandbox. What this means, of course, is that MS realizes that Windows is a dead-end, much as Mac OS 7-9 was in the late 90's. Without a major overhaul similar to the Mac OSX switch in 2001, MS is doomed. Laugh now, but remember when it comes to pass in ten years.

29 February 2008, 8:42 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Canis:

About time someone has made the simpple distinction between 'tech-savvy' users and 'average' users.
It's amazing how often this is not considered. What is simple for a tech is often considered either too complex of totally unnecessary for the average user.
One of the best litmus tests is 'can your mum use it?' and providing your mum is not a computer scientist this is often a great indication of how intuitive a product can be.
Thank-you Danny and I look forward to your articles.

29 February 2008, 8:31 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Man:

Welcome Danny, great first post. I love reading the bickering between Windows, OsX and Linux.
Reasons to stick with PC (in my opinion):
- Easy upgrades. With the constant growth of hardware, a top-of-the-line computer stays that way for maybe 3 months until something newer and better comes out? You can buy that part, and hooray, top-of-the-line computer again. Macs stay the way they are until you are will to buy a whole new computer.
- Linux. The only reason Mac's are still around is because they boast Itunes, less virus' and can now run windows. PC's run Itunes, can run endless distributions of Linux which have next to 0 virus' and run Windows. Linux can do everything you suggested, so why not suggest that to an average user? Also, Linux can run wine giving gamers and multimedia users an edge.
- Mac's are better for multimedia and fun. Try making a website on a Mac... over 90% of the world use either Firefox, Opera, Netscape or IE. That last one cannot run on a Mac and it happens to be the most popular internet browser.

Whilst you posted some excellent points, and maybe I'm into Windows Bondage haha, I'll be sticking with PC's dual booting Linux and Windows. I do bless Apple for the Ipod and Itunes though. Godsend.

29 February 2008, 8:31 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

raindog:

Man says: "I love reading the bickering between Windows, OsX and Linux". Equally some enjoy pulling the wings of flies, neither however are productive pursuits.

29 February 2008, 8:43 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Anonymous Coward:

"Try making a website on a Mac... over 90% of the world use either Firefox, Opera, Netscape or IE. That last one cannot run on a Mac and it happens to be the most popular internet browser."

If you've tried making a website with iWeb, you'll know it's just as compatible with all the browsers you mention as anything created on Dreamweaver or other professional pieces of software... Only it's easy.

Just the same, it's not safe to say that IE is the "most popular" browser. That's misleading. It's the _most used_ (for now) but that's because it comes preloaded on Windoze machines.

And IE does run on a mac- It's just that Microsoft killed it a while back so it's seen no updates for years. Kind of like Windoze. But who wouldn't use Firefox, if given the chance...

29 February 2008, 8:43 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Paul Dost:

I build web sites for a living and I prefer to do it on the Mac. The workflow is smoother and my productivity is better. Properly developed web sites will work fine on all browsers regardless of platform.

29 February 2008, 8:43 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Anonymous2:

I know a professional graphic designer and webpage designer who uses a Powerbook G4 for mainly PC clients. He has no problems.

29 February 2008, 8:43 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Sky:

I have built websites on both the Mac and Windows PC. Both are fine, especially when using straightforward text editing tools rather than WYSIWYG tools. What roasts me is when my CSS / W3C / XHTML sites run fine on Firefox, Safari, Opera, Camino... everything except IE, due to Microsoft's well documented penchant for playing loose with web standards. So I keep an XP laptop around to make sure my websites run fine in IE. But is this really the best example of Windows being better than Mac OS for certain tasks?

Sky

(Opinions are my own, etc.)

29 February 2008, 8:43 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

paulz76:

I don't have a problem with your Mac propaganda.

What I do have a problem is your "computers should be appliances" philosophy.

You are one of many people trying to dumb down computing to an appliance status.

THEY ARE NOT !

Selling this message is dangerous and irresponsible. Especially when you have ignorant parents that fork out a few grand for a computer and broadband setup and let children/teenagers to their own devices and unsupervised.

The message should be that a computer is not just an appliance and purchasing one should be a informed and thought out descision.

On a different note,

As for users being slaves to windows. In the publishing realm the same could be could be said for mac users.

The main reason being that 20 years ago apple beat the IBM compatibles with VGA graphics and graphical applications.
But that gap has well and truly been closed for a long time.

Well that's my 2 bits worth.

29 February 2008, 8:31 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

raindog:

Paulz says....
You are one of many people trying to dumb down computing to an appliance status. They are not!!

Bad news for you there Paulz, appliance, tool, whatever, a computer is just a means of doing a job.
It is not an object of worship, not some mystical force, just a machine that does SOME jobs quickly and efficiently. Your PC has no life, no soul no real personality, nor the ability to think or reason. Coming to terms with the concepts will ultimately make using a computer a lot more enjoyable.

29 February 2008, 8:43 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Sky:

"I don't have a problem with your Mac propaganda. What I do have a problem is your 'computers should be appliances' philosophy... You are one of many people trying to dumb down computing to an appliance status... THEY ARE NOT !"

Fundamentally, they are.

When you plug in a toaster oven, it simply heats up and does its job. So does a computer. Following this analogy, the difference between Windows and Mac OS is that Windows requires carefully configuring the toaster to work properly, while in Mac OS you just drop in the bread and wait two minutes. Unless being able to customize your toaster includes being able to burn your toast, why would you ever want the former?

You could also compare conputers to cars, which are still appliances at heart and fit your observation that parents are ignorant if they "fork out a few grand... and let children/teenagers to their own devices and unsupervised." I would never buy my kids a car or a computer, hand them the keys and say 'see you later'.

But we're talking adults here. Why should I have to give my mom the lecture about how owning a computer must be a complex, thoughtful, mystical process? She knows what she wants to do: email, surf, write letters and maybe do some creative stuff like digital photography or making fun greeting cards. With a perfect appliance she would open a box, plug it in, turn it on and get her tasks done. Today's Mac platform comes very close to this.

I don't buy the gaming argument either. The average gamer is best served by owning any of the dedicated gaming appliances, except for hardcore gamers who by nature are tweakers. These are the people who'll figure out how to cool their towers with peanut butter if it means a few more MHz, and there are plenty of build-your-own-box shops to serve their needs.

But I ramble. The elegance of Mac OS X versus Windows is as simple as transferring files between computers on a USB drive. How many decision steps does this require on each platform (mounting / copying / unmounting), and which is more likely to present undesired challenges?

Sky

(Opinions are my own, etc.)

29 February 2008, 8:43 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

feral:

I've been a PC user since about when they came into existance. I was exposed to the likes of IIe's and Macs. which honestly put me off back then. Anyway I bought a G3 Imac off ebay a short while ago for pocket change. Im viewing this as a cheap way to determine whether or not the platform deserves a spot in the guest room, before it takes up space in the study!

29 February 2008, 8:31 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Paul Klenk:

25 years ago, in college, I cut my teeth on the first Macintosh. Then I entered the business world and used PCs since.

But last August, I purchased my first Mac, a MacBook Pro.

Wow. All of my creative juices started flowing again. My time was so much more productive, with little to no time wasted trouble shooting or rebooting.

People, I cannot stress this enough -- give the Mac a chance, even if you are a skeptic. Your time is better spent working than troubleshooting. Time is money. Remember that.

Paulie in NYC

29 February 2008, 8:31 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Dionysus73:

Being a fromer MAC user myself I'd have to say - yet another MAC article ... more rubbish. MACs are rubbish ... simple. Yes, yes I've heard the oft-trumpeted platitudes about 'MAC design, user friendliness blah, blah, blah! Rubbish all of it. MACs are STILL overpriced and underperforming and though they're not 100% more expensive than a similar specced PC they're still about 75%-50% more expensive. Whilst the switch to INTEL CORE 2 DUO was a very wise move, and has done much to improve the performance of MACs nothing can change the fact that they still cost too much.

Let's also not forget thet the 'ordinary' MAC user really is a compter snob. Yep ... a computer snob. Personally I love getting into discussions with MAC users (you know the ones - they introduce themselves at parties as graphic-designers) who, after reading the latest press-release/advert from APPLE, go forth into the world thinking they're armed with real tech/IT knowledge and proceed to ear-bash anyone who dare challenge the clear superiority of the MAC personal computing platform. I can't believe APC is now paying one of them for their articles!!!!

29 February 2008, 8:31 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

fridgemagnet:

Yes, I'm sure you were a "fromer MAC user", though I'm sure you meant "former Mac user". Am I to understand that you were an extraordinary Mac user and not one of the ordinary ones who are "compter snobs"?

I only ask because I love getting into discussions with uninformed, illiterate tossers.

29 February 2008, 8:43 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

UofM:

I'm currently taking a computer security class and I would say that over 70% of the system administrators in there are using Apple laptops. The class focus is on primarily Windows and Linux (Unix) on dual boot machine in the lab, but the instructor seems to choose an Apple laptop for his weapon of choice.

I know that Mac OSX is not a panacea for security. If I was truly paranoid I would be running OpenBSD without network connection on a full encrypted drive with Smartcard and Biometric protection. OSX is a good mix of pragmatic security features versus usability. Unix security discipline, borrowing from FreeBSD, OpenBSD, TrustedBSD and other GNU projects, easy usability and ability to open, create, edit nearly all Microsoft and Adobe formats. So far a good mix of all worlds.

As for statistics. In the College of Engineering with 14 engineering departments there are 1158 Macs from a total of 5453 machines (just over 20%), which I hope helps debunk the myth that Macs are for creative artsy types, Macs are used by the entire gamut of the society. Windows being 3169. Linux 897 and Unix 229. It's interesting to note that Linux and all the Unixes combined is still less than Macs. The trend is for the Mac population to be growing, Linux is growing quite fast usually replacing the remaining Unix boxes on the engineering campus (which we still have every single flavor of).

The trend towards the incoming student population is different. The growth of Macs there is faster, as more students buy laptops for their own use and gravitate towards MacOSX. I haven't seen many students use Linux as an alternative, but then again my department isn't the electrical engineering and computer science (EECS) department either. You'll find EECS running the most esoteric OSes, but that's what you would expect from the future Linus Torvalds and Bill Joys of the world.

As for your your comments, it clearly shows you're out of touch with the current line of Apple computers and Mac OSX.
P.S. Its "Mac" or "Macintosh" not "MAC" dude. If you really knew what you were talking about you'd know the difference.

29 February 2008, 8:43 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Sky:

In my experience, it is the Windows PC users who are the computer snobs, much more so than Mac users. The Mac is all about getting work done. The Windows PC is all about working with the computer. In my snobbish past, I enjoyed working on PCs for the sake of the technology, but these days I prefer the computer to be as transparent as possible so that I can focus on my real work.

And the part about "real tech / IT knowledge". What's that all about? The highest form of snobbery is paying up the nose for someone's technical certification course in the mistaken belief that this in itself makes one qualified to call their knowledge base "real". Any engineer worth a salt knows that acquired knowledge starts to obsolesce within minutes of receiving the certificate. As another poster pointed out, Apple recognizes this and bundles their most current development environment with their most current computers, rather than trying to turn dev tools into a revenue stream. To me, that's quite the opposite of snobbery.

Sky

(Opinions are my own, etc.)

29 February 2008, 8:43 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Hugin777:

I think one important reason to choose Windows is that everyone you know is using it. That makes it easier to share both software, data and experiences. And easier to get help.
Also, many computer magazines exist with tips and tricks for Windows, and maybe a CD with some nifty shareware (for Windows).

I think that's the primary reason many still choose Windows instead of the superior Mac OS X. That, and the possibility to buy a cheap PC and feel that you made a bargain.

Not to mention resenting being a member of the semi-elitist Mac-religion ;-)

29 February 2008, 8:31 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Hutch Meister:

"Also, many computer magazines exist with tips and tricks for Windows, and maybe a CD with some nifty shareware (for Windows)."

I have been a Mac user for a little over two years now and have learned that with the right searches in Google you can find places on the web that offer tips and tricks for OS X. Granted some of the tips are for more advanced users, but for the average Mac user some of the tips are easy to use. Having also worked with Windows PCs over the last 12-15 years I would have to say that some of the tips that are offered for the M$ platform can have some negative side effects on your system if you don't follow the instructions to the letter. And as far as "nifty shareware" is concerned: go to a website that offers commercial, shareware and freeware downloads and you will find many applications for the Mac that, like an earlier poster said, rival or perform better than similar Windows programs.

All I am saying is why buy a magazine for the tips and tricks and the CD with neat shareware for Windows when you could have OS X and find tips and tricks online as well as many shareware and freeware programs? Keep the Windows platform if you want to remain in the Dark Ages, but switch to a Mac if you want to experience a sense of freedom.

29 February 2008, 8:43 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

WinMacLinux:

I like my MacBook Pro. I like my Windows Vista / PCLinuxOS desktop machine. Run what you like. No one OS is better than another. They all have there strenghts and weaknesses.

29 February 2008, 8:43 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

A:

I use a PC and a mac.

I find it a bit easier that way. Some things I like doing on my PC, and some things I like doing on my mac. Both have specific purposes.

Although, I'd have to say, the PC was a bit less expensive, both do what I need of them.

I'm also a Graphic designer, and I like the mac in terms of productivity. I was forced to switch, being mainly a PC user at first. The industry is Mac based, so I got a mac. I like windows as well. I play games on it, and I don't really have an issue with viruses and trojans, and or internet spyware, malware, etc.

It's also nice to be able to steal expensive typefaces off the macs at work and have them on a home machine :D

29 February 2008, 8:43 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Eldernorm:

Hmmmm,
"Not to mention resenting being a member of the semi-elitist Mac-religion ;-)" Why is is being a snob to like Macs and not a snob to have the same feelings about PCs and MS??

"I think ....and the possibility to buy a cheap PC and feel that you made a bargain." Does that always make stuff at the Dollar store a better value?? Is the cheapest thing always the best?? Must mean that BMW and Volvo are crappy cars??

"I think ...Windows is that everyone you know is using it." One sheep hearder and 100 sheep. So its better to be a sheep?? Baaaaaa!!! :-)

"That makes it easier to share both software, data and experiences. And easier to get help." And viruses!! Hmmm, buying hardware with lower reliability and software with more viruses is good cause more people are having problems with it. More is always better!! More body weight, more speed in a school zone, more debt, more political pundits!!

Please understand, if you like fixing things, great. But most of us computer users just want it to work. :-)

elder norm

29 February 2008, 8:43 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend