Mac vs PC's - Not a poll
- Thread starter Fanta Grape
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Until I have huge amounts of money to burn (or Apple changes substancially) I will never own a mac os based computer. They are hugely expensive for what they are, I can see the appeal of having a pretty laptop, but the small eepcs (or comparable) running Linux Ubuntu are just as fast and aesthetically pleasing as a macbook, and are hundreds (in some cases thousands) of dollars cheaper. Sure, if you were particularly naive you could get ripped off worse with a PC, but it's a lot easier not too. I can't comprehend why macbooks need so much power to run such a simple[footnote]I can't think of a better way of putting it, I mean low resource.[/footnote] system, and I also hate that, despite the massive price hikes, the quality and customer service are way below par.
Like every non-steam rabid computer gamer, I use windows (currently windows 7) for gaming, it is, without doubt, the most powerful gaming platform. It has the best support for the most cutting edge software (new tech always makes it's far to Windows well before Mac OS, and while it's usually available on linux as well, there isn't much demand for high end, cutting edge hardware on linux systems). So yeah, I have a gaming laptop running windows 7.
I've recently gone to ubuntu for miscellaneous computer tasks (largely because of how segregated windows has become, I need to install seperate browser, office pack, media players etc) and it just suits my nerdy habits of constantly reformatting and re-allocating systems on my desktop better. Outside of specific things that need windows OS[footnote]the same applies to mac OS, however there are differen't specific tasks.[/footnote] (gaming, solidworks etc), I don't understand why people ever bother(ed) with it. Current builds of Ubuntu are far better suited to email/office work (they don't create new version of software that aren't backwards compatible, they aren't good for gaming[footnote]read distracting for workers.[/footnote], it's less susceptible to viruses[footnote]as the OP said, you have to be somewhat uninformed to get many anyway.[/footnote] and most importantly, it's free![footnote]there's a very real chance I'm overusing these things.[/footnote]
Like every non-steam rabid computer gamer, I use windows (currently windows 7) for gaming, it is, without doubt, the most powerful gaming platform. It has the best support for the most cutting edge software (new tech always makes it's far to Windows well before Mac OS, and while it's usually available on linux as well, there isn't much demand for high end, cutting edge hardware on linux systems). So yeah, I have a gaming laptop running windows 7.
I've recently gone to ubuntu for miscellaneous computer tasks (largely because of how segregated windows has become, I need to install seperate browser, office pack, media players etc) and it just suits my nerdy habits of constantly reformatting and re-allocating systems on my desktop better. Outside of specific things that need windows OS[footnote]the same applies to mac OS, however there are differen't specific tasks.[/footnote] (gaming, solidworks etc), I don't understand why people ever bother(ed) with it. Current builds of Ubuntu are far better suited to email/office work (they don't create new version of software that aren't backwards compatible, they aren't good for gaming[footnote]read distracting for workers.[/footnote], it's less susceptible to viruses[footnote]as the OP said, you have to be somewhat uninformed to get many anyway.[/footnote] and most importantly, it's free![footnote]there's a very real chance I'm overusing these things.[/footnote]
Hrm.
Ok trying to stuff my general hatred for apples motif of "all your paying for is marketing" or the "irony of what apple became since their 1984 commercial" in a box to give honest and fair comparisons here, and thats no easy task personally.
At the end of the day you sit down to two equally built machines sure there will be differences such as price, and thematic stylization differences between the OS (third wheel anyone?) In essence your going to get similar exps out of both machines.
For me, it is PC. the file architecture is more logical and capable of manipulations. Another factor is pervasiveness. The sheer number of PCs vs macs makes sticking with PCs more logical for me. For example I have a PC, everywhere I have worked has had PCs, My school has PCs, Librarys have PCs, so it makes things like moving data via flashdrives and other things easier. For example a nice thing is being able to install a game onto a flash drive, then being able to play that game basically anywhere there is a PC capable of meeting the system specs.
Another issue related to pervasiveness on the software side is like for example school. When submitting work to a class online, professors generally want it in a MS office compatible file. Its not to say it cant be converted to a compatible file, but thats just one less task that has to be completed.
I do conceed that Macs have some advantages too, like having so much support. There are aggravating times trying to track down obscure drivers, that from what I have seen in using Mac you simply dont have to deal with. Along with thing like security updates, fixes, ect it definitely has the potential to make the day to day usage a more streamlined process. Also, Macs do have the potential to actually be very good for gaming simply because of standardization of hardware. Has to be easier for the player to look and see if you can play a game just by checking the series of Mac, which in turn makes it more like a console platform. Opposed to the murky gray area that is PCs in having infinite possibility in infinite variation.
But between the money factor, the less restrictive and overprotective nature of the PC, its accessibility due to unbelievable prevalence I personally would have to go with a PC every time over a Mac. Not to say its bad, but for me its all about freedom to do with the box exactly what you want. In my eyes, freedom is good.
Ok trying to stuff my general hatred for apples motif of "all your paying for is marketing" or the "irony of what apple became since their 1984 commercial" in a box to give honest and fair comparisons here, and thats no easy task personally.
At the end of the day you sit down to two equally built machines sure there will be differences such as price, and thematic stylization differences between the OS (third wheel anyone?) In essence your going to get similar exps out of both machines.
For me, it is PC. the file architecture is more logical and capable of manipulations. Another factor is pervasiveness. The sheer number of PCs vs macs makes sticking with PCs more logical for me. For example I have a PC, everywhere I have worked has had PCs, My school has PCs, Librarys have PCs, so it makes things like moving data via flashdrives and other things easier. For example a nice thing is being able to install a game onto a flash drive, then being able to play that game basically anywhere there is a PC capable of meeting the system specs.
Another issue related to pervasiveness on the software side is like for example school. When submitting work to a class online, professors generally want it in a MS office compatible file. Its not to say it cant be converted to a compatible file, but thats just one less task that has to be completed.
I do conceed that Macs have some advantages too, like having so much support. There are aggravating times trying to track down obscure drivers, that from what I have seen in using Mac you simply dont have to deal with. Along with thing like security updates, fixes, ect it definitely has the potential to make the day to day usage a more streamlined process. Also, Macs do have the potential to actually be very good for gaming simply because of standardization of hardware. Has to be easier for the player to look and see if you can play a game just by checking the series of Mac, which in turn makes it more like a console platform. Opposed to the murky gray area that is PCs in having infinite possibility in infinite variation.
But between the money factor, the less restrictive and overprotective nature of the PC, its accessibility due to unbelievable prevalence I personally would have to go with a PC every time over a Mac. Not to say its bad, but for me its all about freedom to do with the box exactly what you want. In my eyes, freedom is good.
I use Windows for two reasons:
1. It does everything I've ever needed and hasn't made me want to switch to Mac OS, and Mac OS hasn't made me want to switch either by having some uber awesome thing that Windows doesn't do.
2. http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac?mco=OTY2ODQxNg Seriously, Apple needs to get over their "our logo on the device means we can charge way more than its worth" phase. Sure it works on people who love Apple to death and will buy anything with that logo on it, but it's not so good for getting new customers.
Also, Apple's advertising campaigns generally just piss me off because they spend more time bashing on Windows than they do actually telling us about their product, and when a company pisses you off you really don't feel like giving them money.
1. It does everything I've ever needed and hasn't made me want to switch to Mac OS, and Mac OS hasn't made me want to switch either by having some uber awesome thing that Windows doesn't do.
2. http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac?mco=OTY2ODQxNg Seriously, Apple needs to get over their "our logo on the device means we can charge way more than its worth" phase. Sure it works on people who love Apple to death and will buy anything with that logo on it, but it's not so good for getting new customers.
Also, Apple's advertising campaigns generally just piss me off because they spend more time bashing on Windows than they do actually telling us about their product, and when a company pisses you off you really don't feel like giving them money.
I got a PC. It does everything I ever want it to do and plays all games I put on it. If I had bought a Mac as good as it, it would have cost probably twice as much. In fact what I wanted was a Laptop with a big screen. 17" is about as big as you'll get. I got a Laptop for about £500. The nearest thing I found for a Mac was a 17" Macbook pro. According to apple it starts at $2299 which is about £1500 so in this case it's actually abut 3 times as much. Regardless what people say about Macs (that they're great, virus free, fast, reliable and even getting some games to play on them) they are always too expensive.
PCs for me, be it *NIX or Windows, Macs are WAY overpriced. Seriously, I just went on the online Apple store and build the most expensive rig I could...comes to about 17k(software not included) and my current 3k PC gaming rig would rip it to shreds in just about any test imaginable ('cept maybe straight-up CPU power, its 2 6-core CPUs vs. my 1 6-core, but let's face it, I could get a xeon compatible board and the two processors and STILL come off way cheaper then a Mac). Also, my case looks WAY better then a Mac
Other than ease of use, I see no reason why anyone should ever buy a Mac, and even that can be avoided by using a decent Linux distro - like Ubuntu.
Also, ease of use is overrated, any time something actually craps out with a Mac, you're pretty much screwed, whether you are just seeing a computer for the first time or an absolute pro. I prefer my computers not just user-friendly, but also professional-friendly
Edit: Also, what the HELL is up with Apples selection of Gfx cards? You get a choice between a 5770 and a 5870? REALLY? Either of my 5970s, which I got for about the same price as the 5870 they're offering, would like a word with Apple in that corner over there.
Just to temper the blow a bit, iPods are great, not iPhones, iPods. Remember the distinction.
iPod touch: Great music player/book reader
iPhone: same as above, only bigger, more expensive and with a phone function that doesn't work right most of the time. For double the price.
Other than ease of use, I see no reason why anyone should ever buy a Mac, and even that can be avoided by using a decent Linux distro - like Ubuntu.
Also, ease of use is overrated, any time something actually craps out with a Mac, you're pretty much screwed, whether you are just seeing a computer for the first time or an absolute pro. I prefer my computers not just user-friendly, but also professional-friendly
Edit: Also, what the HELL is up with Apples selection of Gfx cards? You get a choice between a 5770 and a 5870? REALLY? Either of my 5970s, which I got for about the same price as the 5870 they're offering, would like a word with Apple in that corner over there.
Just to temper the blow a bit, iPods are great, not iPhones, iPods. Remember the distinction.
iPod touch: Great music player/book reader
iPhone: same as above, only bigger, more expensive and with a phone function that doesn't work right most of the time. For double the price.
I'm looking forward to be able to participate more activly in this discussion next week, when I've got my damn mac (ordered it from the school and they're constantly delaying it).
I gotta say though, I'm a PC fan and I always dispised Mac before!
To all you people saying "mac is too expensive" - Well, I agree with you, but that is the point... It's called marketing. Apple wants their products to cost you more money, they want their products to be exclusive. They dont want all the scums to run around with one. Apple products have become a status symbol.
I gotta say though, I'm a PC fan and I always dispised Mac before!
To all you people saying "mac is too expensive" - Well, I agree with you, but that is the point... It's called marketing. Apple wants their products to cost you more money, they want their products to be exclusive. They dont want all the scums to run around with one. Apple products have become a status symbol.
Pcs ahve a wider range of games and they are like the xbox 360 of computers for me.
As it stands why not buy an acer aspire 1?
As it stands why not buy an acer aspire 1?
So was owning slaves, back in the day...Edorf said:
Not a good idea then or now.
Just saying.
Also, only people who own Macs will look at you as anything other then a tool, thus defeating the whole point of a status symbol
And, owning a Mac doesn't get you laid any more than owning a PC.
Buy a PC and spend the rest of the cash on women of ill repute and illegal substances. You'll be much happier overall
Really, it only depends on your ability to operate each computer, and which one you're more familiar with. That is more important, the ability to fix a problem with your computer when it comes up, than any game or software.
I love it when people say macs are so much better than PCs. That is like saying pickup trucks are so much better than vehicles.
Anyway, major difference is Macs are based off Unix and Windows is based off DOS, most everything else comes down to applications. Windows is more open, so more people go to it and make programs for it instead of for Macs. I never used a Mac and never really care to since I mostly like having my awesome computer with a badass case instead of a white block, and can't forget video games.
Macs seem a lot like Alienwares. Paying a ton more for a name. I went on the alienware site and build basically what was my computer (the graphics card was a bit better on it, but mine has more ram and faster processor) and it was over twice as much as I payed for mine.
Anyway, major difference is Macs are based off Unix and Windows is based off DOS, most everything else comes down to applications. Windows is more open, so more people go to it and make programs for it instead of for Macs. I never used a Mac and never really care to since I mostly like having my awesome computer with a badass case instead of a white block, and can't forget video games.
Macs seem a lot like Alienwares. Paying a ton more for a name. I went on the alienware site and build basically what was my computer (the graphics card was a bit better on it, but mine has more ram and faster processor) and it was over twice as much as I payed for mine.
X360s ARE computers, just forced into a much smaller box with the inevitable heat issues. Also RRoD...PCs don't generally do that one.BJ777 said:
As it stands, netbooks are the spawn of devil and should be burned at the stake, along with iPads and other unholy abominations upon nature...ehm, ignore that, pet hatred there
Thing is, if a PC develops a problem, you can probably fix it with some help from your friend google.Singularly Datarific said:
If a Mac develops a problem, unless you can rock that Nix terminal like a pro, you're screwed. Even if you can, it's 50/50 at best.
Also, horses and cars are both modes of transportation. Just because you've been riding horses your whole life doesn't mean learning to drive is a bad idea. Overall, cars are WAY faster
My key problem with Macs is their seeming ethos to make using them a privilege. I'm not talking about the bullshit elitism from both sides, I'm talking about using the machine and its software. Everything about a Mac and Apple products in general seem designed to be proprietary, frustrating and opaque.Fanta Grape said:
For example, iPods only talks to iTunes, which uses its own sound encoding and hides the sound files in archives. There's no 'drag and drop', there's only 'sync', a process that seems to be unnecessarily round-about and complex when all I want to do is put an album onto a glorified MP3 player. I once spent 30 minutes trying to put a CD onto an iPod, first installing iTunes onto a PC (apparently it won't rip CDs on Windows 7...), then using a Mac Book Pro. I had to log into the iPod owner's iTunes account before I could begin transferring any files to the iPod, but even after I had three tracks were still locked and thus prevented ANY files from being transferred. On top of that, when iTunes ripped the CD it ripped each track as a separate album.
After all that, it still wasn't working, so I ripped the damn CD to the PC using media player (which allowed me to set album information before hand, and ripped the CD as a single album) and transfer the files to a normal phone/MP3 player by dragging and dropping them. Easy, straightforward, works. Took 5 mins.
I know that for some reason people who think of themselves as being more 'creative' or who work in 'creative' professions for some reason prefer Macs, bus as you've pointed out the programs available on both Mac and PC are pretty much the same, and have been, generally speaking, for the last few years. Mac's original superiority of using a graphical user interface whilst PC was, I dunno, using command lines or something, is now completely irrelevant.
I honestly feel that people who buy Macs believing them to be superior products are horrendously mislead and gullible, and completely unable to differentiate style from substance. The amount of stress I suffered trying to use freaking iTunes probably took a few hours off my life, no joke, and that's simply the most recent run-in I've had with Macs.
(Others include: Mac Word not wanting to save in a PC-compatible format, when that's the default for the PC version to save in, Mac-only jpeg files(?!), a Mac-formatted external HD that wouldn't talk to Macs and hid most of its files from PCs, quick-time... hell, quick-time deserves its own special place in hell for the hassle it's put me through, with its crappy encoding, bloated file sizes and lack of support in ANY other player in common usage :/)
So yeah, I'm an unabashed Mac-hater, but I like to feel that I'm justified in my opinion, and that I have evidence and experience backing me up, rather than hyperbole, marketing and fanboyism.
I've used both Mac and PC extensively, and honestly I love both of them.
First though, I have to say I get sick of the "Macs are more secure" bullshit. They really aren't. Macs are not inherently more secure. The reason there are less hackings of Mac is that their primary users are hipster/artist types and college students. Hacking you is not going to be worth the time and effort.
But as for functionality and use, it depends on what you're doing. I usually use a PC. I do basic MS Office stuff, programming, and gaming. I find PCs better suited for the task. My husband usually uses a Mac. He does a lot with Photoshop, Final Cut, After Effects and more artsy stuff (Film student). Macs are just better suited to the task.
Basically:
Macs are great for creative work, such as photo-editing, creating computer artwork, music/sound mixing, film editing, etc.
PCs are better for everyday use, like programming, MS Office, gaming, etc.
Both are just tools, like a hammer and screwdriver. Yeah, I can beat a nail with the handle of a screwdriver, and I can use the claw on a hammer to screw in a nail. But one is better suited for each of those tasks than another. It doesn't mean either one is better overall, just depends on the job you need done.
First though, I have to say I get sick of the "Macs are more secure" bullshit. They really aren't. Macs are not inherently more secure. The reason there are less hackings of Mac is that their primary users are hipster/artist types and college students. Hacking you is not going to be worth the time and effort.
But as for functionality and use, it depends on what you're doing. I usually use a PC. I do basic MS Office stuff, programming, and gaming. I find PCs better suited for the task. My husband usually uses a Mac. He does a lot with Photoshop, Final Cut, After Effects and more artsy stuff (Film student). Macs are just better suited to the task.
Basically:
Macs are great for creative work, such as photo-editing, creating computer artwork, music/sound mixing, film editing, etc.
PCs are better for everyday use, like programming, MS Office, gaming, etc.
Both are just tools, like a hammer and screwdriver. Yeah, I can beat a nail with the handle of a screwdriver, and I can use the claw on a hammer to screw in a nail. But one is better suited for each of those tasks than another. It doesn't mean either one is better overall, just depends on the job you need done.
I've rarely used a Mac so I can't really say. To me they've held little appeal as they didn't play that many games, are expensive, there are fewer programs available, a different UI to the one I'm used to (a minor complaint), and don't really look that nice. You know what? Photoshop and sound and video editing software seem to work just fine on my Windows PC.