Mac vs PC's - Not a poll

[n00beffect]

I've never actually used a Mac in my life(never had to). But from what I hear it's not that bad. I am using a PC, with a standart Windows XP Professional OS. Nothing special, but the speed I work with on it is quite impressive(at least to my always-changing-their-OS friends). And, indeed, what does it matter? It's an extremelly individual opinion on whether you use Mac or Pc. It depends entirely on the user, not the system. So whatever YOU feel more comfortable with. I personally don't give a damn. My OS may be old, but it certainly gets everything done and when I have a problem with it, I can usually solve it myself, because I've gotten so used to it. I couldn't imagine if I still had my W'98 XD I would've been teh master! And my personal opinion - Linux is just looks, nothing more. Thank you (bows)

 

[oktalist]

I never liked the Mac OS interface, but that's just me. I was using MS-DOS and Windows 3.1 at age 4, and Linux at age 13. (Don't mean to boast

But under the hood, OS/X is much closer to Linux than it is to Windows, and that's a win in my book. Plus you can install Linux on a Mac, though why you would buy a Mac just to install Linux on it when a PC will do fine is anyone's guess. Now, about

vi

vs.

emacs

...

[edit] Also, Apple insist on programming everything in Objective-C, which hurts my eyes. [/edit]

Also, this:
Three Dead Trolls FTW!

 

[twasdfzxcv]

There's no such thing as mac vs pc, since they're both pc. What you're going for is Mac OS vs Microsoft windows, which is for most average user is simply personal preference. Since I don't know the detail behind both operating system, I'm not fit to comment on the implementation and ideas behind both operating system. But I've been using windows and it works fine for me. Mac OS on the other hand just seems too, how you say, unfamiliar.

 

[awesomebillfromdawsonville]

I use both a PC and Mac. I like them both. I'm a simple man, with simple needs, so they both do what I need to get done (though the Mac does load a lot less to do it). At the end of it all, when chicks come over, they like the Macbook Pro sitting on the kitchen counter rather than that strange HP thing I bought a year or so ago. Silly selling point? Maybe, but when it's this close the trivialities become the bullet points.

 

[Jaded Scribe]

First and foremost, the display of colors on a Mac is better, and closer to what you'll see when you print.

Second, is that Mac used a variety of psychologists in the development of features to make working with a mac more intuitive for non-techies to use, particularly for artists.

Adobe and Apple have a love/hate relationship, but the simple matter is that their products (which are at the forefront of the various arts industries) run much better on a Mac.

There is a lot of very good hardware compatibilities and tools not widely available on PC.

That all seems wrong and unsubstantiated.

Colour: http://don.blogs.smugmug.com/2007/02/14/this-is-your-mac-on-drugs/
"Turns out the right sRGB profile isn?t included by default on the Mac"
lol...

"The PC is a soldier. When Direktor Gates demands color #e3823c, PC responds ?Sir, Yes Sir!!? Color #e3823c looks identical on the PC whether it?s in a JPEG, GIF, PNG, CSS, or HTML.

The Mac Thinks Different. Color #e3823c is different on Macs. Except sometimes"
Sounds really reliable and useful for everything...

I think psychologists were more involved in the marketing campaign and product design than interface design and use - I mean, you have a single bar to hold all your program icons otherwise you have to browse through the file structure, and when you mouse over one it goes all big n stuff. Minimised windows go onto the same bar, crammed onto the end beside the bin - Mum couldn't find them whilst she can use a PC just fine. Gogo psychologists.

Photoshop and flash run crap on Macs compared to PCs, I can say from personal experience. I've had state-of-the-art Macs crash repeatedly trying to handle flash videos I've been making whilst my four-year-old desktop had no issues with the same files. And no, the files were started on the Mac, so there's no compatibility issues there. I've found photoshop to run slower, have more crashes and to be unable to handle as large files - that last count probably because I put enough ram into my computer when I built it.

Hardware-wise, I'd direct you to my rant halfway down page 2 about Apples successful attempts to stop me putting a CD onto an iPod. Windows 7 plug and plays with... well, everything. I doubt very much you could plug half as much hardware into a Mac and have it work straight up as you could on my PC.

What hardware tools are you talking about? Screwdrivers? Fan control units?

I've already addressed all of these in my previous posts.

And as for Photoshop and Flash not running, I've done extensive work on both platforms (note: this was about 5 years ago. I was studying Graphic Design, and worked with several active designers) and Mac blew the PC out of the water.(Windows XP, new computer, nothing fancy, but a pretty good model).

And talking about Windows 7 (which is a newly released product) is asinine when you're talking about why the Mac is the standard for many industries, and has been for a long time. Just because Windows finally figured it out doesn't cheapen the Macs dominance in this area.

No, psychologists were involved with the design of the product. I even provided the title of a book in a different post. Just because your mom (who likely has more experience using a PC than a Mac) had difficulties, doesn't negate the benefits to how they are designed.

I use my iPod all the time, and I have never (whether using my iPod with my laptop, or using my husband's iPod on his Mac) had any difficulty grabbing a CD and putting it on the iPod. Yes, iTunes is necessary as an intermediary, but it's what I use anyways because I love the program. I've never had a problem importing CDs, or finding my music, or ANY of the problems you encountered. Same with many of my friends. Sounds to me like you had an isolated issue.

The hardware I was referring to is basic peripherals. I never had an issue changing scanners, printers, mice, keyboards, etc etc on the fly, and out of the box, without having to do massive installations and updates.

 

[oktalist]

And my personal opinion - Linux is just looks, nothing more.

Oh no you di'nt!

(I assume you mean people only use Linux to look cool.) Maybe some people are like that, but I've not knowingly met them. I'm a programmer and so are my Linux-using friends; I use Linux primarily because it's so much easier to program on. But also because it's possible for a mortal to understand what it's doing to my precious data. And because when it breaks it's possible to fix without a complete reinstall. And because it's developed by people who actually care about how good it is as a piece of software, not as a product, and not just because they're being paid to develop it (although many of them are). And because it's possible to read every single line of code that went into making it, even though I would not want to do so, I know many people independently have done so, and I am therefore confident that it's not spying on me for the CIA or targetted advertisement firms (because you never know; see also Facebook). Depending on one single company to run all the computers in the world is not a sound strategy in the long term.

However, I'm writing this on Windows 7, which works fine for day-to-day stuff like web browsing and emails. And games, of course. Although I'm still hoping for Steam on native Linux; Valve have said they're working on it.

 

[Thedayrecker]

Lol.... vs threads....

 

[oktalist]

Palettes: Windows and Mac both use 256 colors as the basis of all colors that they can display. 216 of these are standards (also known as "safe" because they are compatible with browsers and cross-platforms). Mac and Windows do not use the same colors for the last 40 colors. The Mac palette is usually preferred by artists. Mac also allows for the remapping of the color palette, which makes changes to how colors interact. Windows does not allow this functionality.

If you're still using 8-bit colour, then you have more problems than just a Mac vs. PC debate.

 

[Edorf]

Apple products have become a status symbol.

So was owning slaves, back in the day...
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

I think you slightly misunderstood why I'm getting a mac (I guess I didnt really go into detail ) I'm getting the mac because it was a very, VERY good deal (1100 GBP for a macbookPro with i5 processor, including adobe CS5 pack ++++). So I figured I'd might aswell give mac a go, since I'll never get such a bargain again

 

[Thaius]

You're pretty much right, though I would like to point out that the only reason Windows 7 is so good is because it started using original concepts Mac put in their operating system almost a decade ago. Windows 7 was not their idea, it was the combined ideas of Steve Jobs and everything Microsoft was told to fix in Vista (read: dang near everything).

 

[TheSentinel]

Seeing as this thread is just about beyond repair, I'll just throw my two cents in.

My family owns a Mac. It was bought several years ago, to replace our ageing Win98 system. It hasn't really been "upgraded" in any way since. My brother built his own PC. A lot of the components are top-of-the-line, and it is one of the finest PCs I have ever seen. It runs StarCraft 2 like a dream.

That said, I still use the Mac more often. For one, each member of my family has a separate profile. In a family of five, this is pretty damn nice, because it keeps all of our private information separate. Also, it runs most programs I regularly use quite nicely, though that is mostly Firefox and iTunes (and occasionally Fallout 2), so take that with a grain of salt.

Still, I use my brothers PC as much as I can for games, so I have to say I like both systems quite well. When I get a PC of my own, it will most likely run Windows, though mostly because I will be the only one using it.

I still don't get why everyone suddenly develops advanced mental retardation when this topic is brought up, though.

 

[SageRuffin]

I use a PC simply because I can upgrade it myself and i don't know a goddamn thing about Macs.

I hear they're fantastic for digital art and the sort, but my laptop and PC can handle all that just fine.

I'm one of the few not knocking Macs at all, just saying that I'm a lot more comfortable with PCs since I've dealt with them longer. Ya feel me?

 

[Jaded Scribe]

Palettes: Windows and Mac both use 256 colors as the basis of all colors that they can display. 216 of these are standards (also known as "safe" because they are compatible with browsers and cross-platforms). Mac and Windows do not use the same colors for the last 40 colors. The Mac palette is usually preferred by artists. Mac also allows for the remapping of the color palette, which makes changes to how colors interact. Windows does not allow this functionality.

If you're still using 8-bit colour, then you have more problems than just a Mac vs. PC debate.

8-bit color still provides the baseline for 24 and 32 bit color.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

First off, THEY ARE BOTH PCs!!! Have people forgot what "PC" stands for?

I prefer Windows because of program support. For example, I use these programs called AVIAddXSubs and Sub2Divx to make .divx files that add subtitles to avi files. And, those .divx files play on the PS3 so I can watch subbed stuff on my PS3 that don't have hardcoded subs. There isn't a program on MACs to do this.

 

[oktalist]

Palettes: Windows and Mac both use 256 colors as the basis of all colors that they can display. 216 of these are standards (also known as "safe" because they are compatible with browsers and cross-platforms). Mac and Windows do not use the same colors for the last 40 colors. The Mac palette is usually preferred by artists. Mac also allows for the remapping of the color palette, which makes changes to how colors interact. Windows does not allow this functionality.

If you're still using 8-bit colour, then you have more problems than just a Mac vs. PC debate.

8-bit color still provides the baseline for 24 and 32 bit color.

What do you mean by that? Of course 24 bits = 3 × 8 bits, but 24 bit colour ("Truecolor") is not paletted like most 8-bit colour systems. The octets in a 24-bit colour directly represent the brightnesses of the red, green and blue channels; they are not indexes into a palette.

And alpha is not a colour so 32-bit doesn't count.

 

[Sebenko]

Palettes: Windows and Mac both use 256 colors as the basis of all colors that they can display. 216 of these are standards (also known as "safe" because they are compatible with browsers and cross-platforms). Mac and Windows do not use the same colors for the last 40 colors. The Mac palette is usually preferred by artists. Mac also allows for the remapping of the color palette, which makes changes to how colors interact. Windows does not allow this functionality.

...

Yes, Windows 7 is bitchin. But Windows is only just now making headway in these areas, when Mac has been doing it all along.

Glad we agree.

That's very nice, but a lot of stuff is online anyway, so people will be viewing it on a Windows PC.

Of course, this is all for naught, as it doesn't change the fact that my dad bought a Mac (Because they were "fashionable"), and, dear god, is it annoying. Every time he has a problem, I have to fix it. And in case you hadn't guessed, I'm a Windows user. I can do stuff with Windows. My Windows PC is a glorious throbbing monolith. But his Mac... Ugh. He manage to break it so much that he had to do a full system wipe. Twice. How do you do that? How? (I mean manage to need a system wipe, now "how do you do that on a Mac?")

He even refuses to work out e-mail, or how to type, or how to install software, or explain what he wants doing when he knows and is just being obtuse (You know, in the sort of way people who know nothing about computers do, that apparently We're all psychic and just use mind control to make the computer work properly)

So yeah, I dislike Macs because a single one has made my life as "family tech support" incredibly frustrating.

 

[Jaded Scribe]

Palettes: Windows and Mac both use 256 colors as the basis of all colors that they can display. 216 of these are standards (also known as "safe" because they are compatible with browsers and cross-platforms). Mac and Windows do not use the same colors for the last 40 colors. The Mac palette is usually preferred by artists. Mac also allows for the remapping of the color palette, which makes changes to how colors interact. Windows does not allow this functionality.

If you're still using 8-bit colour, then you have more problems than just a Mac vs. PC debate.

8-bit color still provides the baseline for 24 and 32 bit color.

What do you mean by that? Of course 24 bits = 3 × 8 bits, but 24 bit colour ("Truecolor") is not paletted like most 8-bit colour systems. The octets in a 24-bit colour directly represent the brightnesses of the red, green and blue channels; they are not indexes into a palette.

And alpha is not a colour so 32-bit doesn't count.

Truecolor between Macs and Windows still holds some variations. While it isn't on a palette, the brightness of the channels still has a basis on the original 8-bit color scheme.

It's less apparent now because with millions of colors, and the few hundred or thousand colors that hold a variation aren't going to be seen as clearly with the variety of colors in a single image. But when you're working at the pixel level (which is not uncommon for print artists) it can make a difference.

And Macs do a better job converting from RGB for display and CMYK for print. It's much easier to see how your image is really going to look.

 

[oktalist]

First off, THEY ARE BOTH PCs!!! Have people forgot what "PC" stands for?

And PS stands for PlayStation, but that doesn't mean that an XBox is a kind of PS just because it's a station that you can play games on.

PC refers to "IBM PC compatible", a standard defined originally by IBM, and now by industry group consensus, which defines things like motherboard form factor, BIOS and data buses. AFAIK Macs do not conform to this standard.

 

[Jaded Scribe]

Palettes: Windows and Mac both use 256 colors as the basis of all colors that they can display. 216 of these are standards (also known as "safe" because they are compatible with browsers and cross-platforms). Mac and Windows do not use the same colors for the last 40 colors. The Mac palette is usually preferred by artists. Mac also allows for the remapping of the color palette, which makes changes to how colors interact. Windows does not allow this functionality.

...

Yes, Windows 7 is bitchin. But Windows is only just now making headway in these areas, when Mac has been doing it all along.

Glad we agree.

That's very nice, but a lot of stuff is online anyway, so people will be viewing it on a Windows PC.

Of course, this is all for naught, as it doesn't change the fact that my dad bought a Mac (Because they were "fashionable"), and, dear god, is it annoying. Every time he has a problem, I have to fix it. And in case you hadn't guessed, I'm a Windows user. I can do stuff with Windows. My Windows PC is a glorious throbbing monolith. But his Mac... Ugh. He manage to break it so much that he had to do a full system wipe. Twice. How do you do that? How?

He even refuses to work out e-mail, or how to type, or how to install software, or explain what he wants doing when he knows and is just being obtuse (You know, in the sort of way people who know nothing about computers do, that apparently We're all psychic and just use mind control to make the computer work properly)

So yeah, I dislike Macs because a single one has made my life as "family tech support" incredibly frustrating.

Ungh. At that point, I'd hate Macs too. I know my husband LOVES his and says he'll never buy a PC again. The only thing he has a problem with is the wireless, and that's because he dropped it.

And yes, the amount of work done/shown online means that most people will be using the more standardized schemes than PC or Mac specific schemes.

 

[johnzaku]

I use both. I gotta say, while I used to be adverse to macs, I love my new macbook, while at home I use my somewhat older PC but I enjoy both.

They both have goods and bads

My 2 cents