Poll: Mac versus PC: Let's be nice about it

[thylasos]

2 laptops with windows, an old desktop which doesn't work, but previously ran windows.

They're variously 9, 6, and 3 years old, in reverse order.

I can't afford a mac. I'm not entirely sure I'm sufficiently tempted, in any case.

They're attractive things, but I've not the money or the experience with the OS and its programs to make the change easily, besides having a fondness for windows-based games from the 1990s, which I'm sure there's a way of running, but would nevertheless be less convenient on a mac.

 

[zehydra]

I'd argue that "*One foot ahead
(technologically)" is not true at all.

 

[crazythunder83]

Well, while I try not to succumb to the never ending "PC vs MAC" debate, im my professional opinon (electronics technician and EE in training), the only real difference in value is relevant to the users needs. For my personal needs I find Windows built PCs to be of better value. Food for thought, there is nothing magical or special about a MAC or PC, they are both built around the same concepts internally. That is, for processing of information over a network of transistors and incorporating an internal "broadband operating frequency" carrier to computate this information through a sensory device (monitor, speakers etc...) while allowing data input through another sensory device (keyboard, mic, webcam etc..) There is no REAL difference in terms of hardware between the two manufactures. But that's not exactly true as there is but 1 MAC manufacturer, Apple; and an almost endless list of manufactures for PC parts. That's a definite plus in my book. Thus comes the quality argument. Yes MACs are very expensive, but generally they are well built with quality parts. However, for roughly the same amount of money, one could build an extremely reliable and superior machine for PC Windows inn terms of processing frequency, transfer rate and data storage. Simply put, more options + competition = better deals for hardware equal to or greater than the single brand of Apple's MAC. I.e. GO PC! =P

 

[Wieke]

---Cons---
*Viruses, viruses, viruses!
*Frequent errors and crashes
*Obnoxious security system (Windows 7)
*Vulnerable (non-isolated) core
files
*Comparatively fragile hardware
*Tendency to overheat

None of these cons really apply. In order:

• 
  1: Recently checked my pc for virusses, after running it for half a year with only windows 7 in built security systems to protect it, and it was completly clean (apart from some tracking cookies, but who worries about those).
  2: Ever since windows XP SP2 i haven't got any serious crashes that were due to the operating system. Sure sometimes the drivers suck and software crashes but i can't remember the last time something crashed on my pc (except for programs i wrote myself, damn those segfaults).
  3: Meh, the firewall settings window could be nicer and you need to knock down the UAC a notch (so it won't do the annoying grey-out the screen bit). But security wise UAC is damn essential, you don't want programs messing around with essential bits without requiring authorization.
  4: Only programs with explicit permission get to mess with these. And if you break it yourself by messing about you can't really fault windows for it. Not to mention that windows nowadays warns you if try to mess with it.
  5: Uhm, compared to what? The rugged nature of macbooks? Why the hell would i require non-fragile hardware anyways, it's just going to stand there on my desk.
  6: If you put together a decent rig overheating won't be a problem. Granted a lot of laptop designs are completely idiotic regarding the heat management. That said i've yet to see a pc get broken due to overheating. While my last video card managed to get to 115 degrees celcius on a full load (it still works). And the cooling on my video card before that one actually broke (i had to replace the fan) with me only finding out after repeatedly crashing it while playing games (the card would shut itself down to prevent damage due to heat).

My reasons for going pc are, it's cheap (especially self assembled ones), lot's of software and games and easily upgradeable. My current pc, that runs all current generation games on max to high settings, set me back less than 1000$.

Also my primairy reason for not buying apple (apart from price, style over substance and prohibitively small game collection) are Apple inc's dodgy business practices (Criticism of Apple - Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Apple_Inc.] & 5 Reasons you should be scared of Apple - Cracked [http://www.cracked.com/article_18377_5-reasons-you-should-be-scared-apple.html]).

 

[Wintermoot]

mac technology is,nt more advanced, its the same as PC technology. A 1000$ mac has the same specs as a 600$ PC.
Unless you are crash esting your PC you wouldny have any problems with durability.
Unless you run your PC in the tropics you wouldnt have any overheating issues (my laptop keeps overhoeting due to a terrible placed cooling fan and my PC never overheated yet becuas it has two big fans connected)
Although MAc,s do look nice
my system is partily self built

 

[ShakyFiend]

Kinda interesting thing about this poll; one hell of a lot of people build their own pc's, just under half, thats pretty damn impressive. Anyone willing to give a completely clueless guy help getting started with a desktop build?

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af150/The_FalconO6/CurrentLogicalPCBuyingGuide/Guide.png

Pick the row that fits your budget (as noted by the ***, if you can afford the high end stuff, wait until the problems with the Sandy Bridge motherboards are ironed out in two months, that sort of delay is uncommon but it's what's happening now), buy the stuff, plug it in and boot it up. There isn't much more than that.*

Three years ago when my wife gave me the pc of my choosing for a wedding gift, I picked out the items in a similar fashion from Newegg.com (God bless Newegg), put it together and haven't had a problem since (other than the fact that I put waay too much power in a cheaper case and thus can't keep the lid on it). If you have a question about how to plug the video card in, I guarantee if you search for video card installation on youtube there'll be a video that calms your fears.

*Well, and the OS, hah.

Thanks a lot Although this guide says nothing about sound cards, and im interested in getting a very good one as id quite like to do some basic recording with this build ?

 

[Dr. Pepper Unlimited]

Self-built desktop/laptop with Windows. I've never really liked the way Mac has their layouts designed. Personally, Microsoft and Apple both annoy me, but both for different reasons. They are, essentially, necessary evils.

 

[TheDandyHighwayman]

In my opinion PCs are cheaper and easier to upgrade when time comes and I've used them most of my life. on the other hand, Macs are hella shiny and that is very important(what I mean to say is they not only look good they look a lot sleeker than PCs)
For now though I'm ok with my PC and I don't think I'll need a mac until Apple makes iPod only compatible with them (which would be bloody stupid, they'd lose half, if not more, of their market)

 

[Cowabungaa]

Kinda interesting thing about this poll; one hell of a lot of people build their own pc's, just under half, thats pretty damn impressive. Anyone willing to give a completely clueless guy help getting started with a desktop build?

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af150/The_FalconO6/CurrentLogicalPCBuyingGuide/Guide.png

Pick the row that fits your budget (as noted by the ***, if you can afford the high end stuff, wait until the problems with the Sandy Bridge motherboards are ironed out in two months, that sort of delay is uncommon but it's what's happening now), buy the stuff, plug it in and boot it up. There isn't much more than that.*

Three years ago when my wife gave me the pc of my choosing for a wedding gift, I picked out the items in a similar fashion from Newegg.com (God bless Newegg), put it together and haven't had a problem since (other than the fact that I put waay too much power in a cheaper case and thus can't keep the lid on it). If you have a question about how to plug the video card in, I guarantee if you search for video card installation on youtube there'll be a video that calms your fears.

*Well, and the OS, hah.

Now that's a nice guide, seems that my PC falls in the Great category, even has the price right. Kinda wish I had gone for that i5 though... I thought they were crappy and all... *sigh* I wonder though, do they update that guide? Is there some website or forum or whatever that I can follow? You know, for whenever I want to buy another computer.

Anyway, lets for shits and giggles put a Mac chart next to it. Mind you, it's hard to read the small letters on it, but it's worth posting in full regardless:

Oh Apple, you so funny.

 

[SpAc3man]

*snip*

Macs have outdated hardware compared to PCs, they are always trying to catch up. If you look at any of the hardware that is inside the latest mac you will see its normally a few revisions behind the latest PC hardware.

A larger proportion of Macs than PCs are infected with viruses these days. All due to the myth that OSX is secure causing dumb users to be careless.

You have to be very careless to get a virus on a PC with Win7 and an updated antivirus program these days.

I hardly ever get errors or crashes and any I do get are normally just unstable freeware programs which is to be expected.

I wouldn't call my PC fragile. Its had beer spilt on it while it was on (the RAM and GPU got hit) everything was fine after it got mopped up and the RAM spent a night on top of the hot water cylinder.

PCs only ever overheat if you block airflow, just like a Mac funnily enough.

EDIT: What the hell does "Master of nanotechnology" mean?

 

[Implying I'm A Troll]

EDIT: This is about which one you prefer, not which one is better!

Okay, so here I'm starting a thread to talk about why people like or dislike either Mac or PC. I'd like everyone to be fair, though. If you have a whole list of things bad about one, fine. post ONE good thing about it.

Side note: I have a Mac Mini that runs Windows on BootCamp, so I'm sort of in a neutral position here. I love my mac, but windows has the versatility that I need.

Here I'll weigh a few pros and cons myself:

Mac:
---Pros---
*Exceptional hardware
*Innovative design
*One foot ahead
(technologically)
*Aesthetics
*Master of nanotechnology
*Low virus charter
*Strong, outlasting shells

---Cons---
*Counter-intuitive OS
*Closed-source OS
*More expensive
*Expensive warranty

PC:
---Pros---
*(usually)Easier to customize
*More affordable
*Open-source
*Wide variety of applications
*Virtual monopoly on video games
*Constantly building upon itself
*Being the most popular, it can also
make things easier (a more pc-oriented
world)

---Cons---
*Viruses, viruses, viruses!
*Frequent errors and crashes
*Obnoxious security system (Windows 7)
*Vulnerable (non-isolated) core
files
*Comparatively fragile hardware
*Tendency to overheat

Now, I'd like to hear what everyone has to say. Oh, and none of that <Mac/PC> SUCKS BECAUSE I SAID SO!

Side Note: A lot of people get their impression of Macs from those crappy eMacs in public schools. Those suck, I agree. I want you to compare current-generation macs to current-generation PCs.


[sub]do they really need to make the captchas THAT illegible...?[/sub]

This whole post is a TROLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

and i would know

 

[Super Toast]

I'm just gonna come out and say it; I think Macs are fucking horrible.

 

[Trolldor]

I prefer PCs for their kick ass video games.

Macs have no appeal to me because they offer nothing I can't get on PC.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Self-built desktop/laptop with Windows.

Self-built laptop? You mean whitebooking/barebones or are you one of those crazy people who build laptops from the ground up?

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

EDIT: What the hell does "Master of nanotechnology" mean?

'Tis a mystery because as far as I'm aware Apple aren't in the nanotech game.

 

[AWC Viper]

*Tendency to overheat

I see people always needing to take a break from playing games, as their computer will overheat. In fact, it burns to touch. My little computer stays cool even during chase scenes in the latest AAA games.

My PC never overheats. because i've made it for gaming.. it has enough fans and enough cooling to keep it fighting in the harsh australian heat..

PC>Mac

 

[kasperbbs]

I never had a MAC ,but i`m quite happy with my PC ,so far i had 2 ,the first one had windows xp ,it crashed or freezed way too frequently for my taste ,video card stopped working for whatever reason (it worked when inserted in other pc's ,go figure.. so i sold it) ,that damned thing burned around 5 power supply units in 3-4 years ,when eventually the motherboard got fried in a power shortage i didn't bother to replace it. My current rig had no problems so far (3 years) ,i don`t recall it ever crashing or freezing on me (using windows 7 ,previously vista) ,as far as viruses go i don't have that problem ,but then again i don`t download suspicious stuff from the internet. Probably the biggest problem i have with a MAC is the lack of games and the price is just not worth it if you can get a top of the line pc for a lower price. If i should choose one for work i would still get a pc/laptop since my rig proved to me that pc's can be stable and reliable.

 

[dogenzakaminion]

Personally I prefer a PC with Windows. I recently built my own and it's pretty great for the price.

I went to American schools growing up, and was actually taught how to use a computer using the old eMacs (the funky colorful ones, yay!). Most people agree that they were crap, and maybe they turned me off Macs, but I had a Macbook for a year and my god did I miss Windows. I didn't game much on computers until now, so the game argument was always irrelevant for me when choosing a computer, but now I wouldn't go back anyway.

Apple is pretty cool though. The design and features are usually pretty good, especially with laptops. Once saw a custom made titanium cased macbook pro with a laser etched motif on the case. Really sweet even though it cost like $250,000.

 

[chris89300]

Mac here, was an advanced PC user up to 4 years ago.
I just got tiered of all the shit, viruses, bluscreen, crapware included etc...

I'd like to go on the statement "Take better care of your computer!"

I've had this thing for YEARS

Only had 2 viruses that caused damage (both my mom's fault- repaired the computer once, took it to a professional once)
And it's only blue-screened once

I looked it up online and it was something to do with my logitech drivers, I fixed the problem in about 2 minutes

I've no idea what you mean by "Crapware" though

I told you i was an advanced user, i did take good care of my machines.
Yet i got infected 2 or three times, my computer randomly crashed once when i was doing a report.
Got bluscreens several times while connecting equipment cause of faulty or outdated drivers.

Now, onto the word crapware.
Its shit installed by the manufacturer - People paid me to clean their computers before using them.
So much shit on there, looking at you in particular Acer.

Sure things have gotten better, and you can avoid the majority by doing clean installs.
I was a PC user ages ago in "computer years"

Don't insult my intelligence m8, respect others opinions.

The Mac is wonderful, tweak-able and very easy to take complete control over - People say its not advanced, its just as advanced as Linux or Windows.
The UI just seems to fool people into thinking its for 40 something parents and hipsters.

Heres a fun fact, my level of stress went down after switching.
I want my system to function without a hitch, lagging while scrolling.
Random hiccups and freezing for 5 seconds for no fucking reason was getting on my nerves.
Thinking of it just got me to swear.

An advanced user never gets BSoDs or crashes or lags OR least of all, malware ...
I've been using Windows for years without any antivirus/firewall/etc. The last BSoD I got was when I was using Windows 98.

 

[chris89300]

I've always been a Windows PC gal myself. I never had all the problems people have mentioned having with Windows PC's, no viruses, no crashes, no flimsiness etc. My father still has the first PC he built for our family in 96/97 and it runs well. The Windows PC my uncle built for me in '99 is still working (I gave it to my aunt). The gateway PC I bought myself in 2000 and the one my mom bought me in 2002 are being used by members of my family too. I currently am using a new HP PC I bought myself last year when there was a really awesome deal going that I couldn't pass up and I haven't had problems either. I think a lot of the problems people have with Windows comes from how they use them and not knowing how to take care of them, sure there can be extenuating circumstances but for the most part I have found Windows to be solid and dependable. In addition to all that I'm a PC gamer so it would be hard for me to switch to mac.

My best bud uses Mac exclusively and we have agreed to disagree on this subject.

Finally, someone that doesn't complain about Windows.

WTG for having a brain and not clicking on every retarded ad.