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

[Bender Rodriguez]

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Got bluscreens several times while connecting equipment cause of faulty or outdated drivers.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.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

self built windows all the way, i'd like to get into linux someday

macs are nice, sure, but the OS i could care less for, and with how locked down it is and the fiery dislike that i have for steve jobs and (imo) overpriced crap, you will never see me with a mac.

 

[tunderball]

Ok here's one you might not have thought about. I do 3D work at uni so I'm using a lot of programs like 3D Studio Max, Maya. Macs are really rubbish at running these types of programmes which is really odd because Steve Jobs is the main investor in Pixar so you have thought that there would be some kind of link between the two.

 

[Mutie]

I'm not a PC gamer as, I figure, if you want a machine for playing games on you might as well have one specifically designed to that purpose with a far more ergonomically interface. I'm also a film student and have to spend a lot of time writing journals, essays and screenplays as well as editing short exercises. With this in mind, I use a MacBook Pro running Mac OSX along with iWorks and Adobe Premier Pro.

 

[Mister Eff]

I like both. I just got a new top of the range Macbook Pro and I'm loving that more than the Windows 7 computer I had however. I'm a film student, so I need to use it for editing etc, which is one area where Macs dominate.

I DON'T GET IT! People keep saying this without ANY evidence being quoted EVER :/ There's no way a Macbook can perform as well as a decent PC - I mean, those things start at £1000; you can easily build a decent rig for that, one with more than 4Gb of RAM and all that good stuff you need for processing large video files.

Is it the software? Cos both platforms have decent software, and personally I prefer the Adobe suite, so what is it about Macs that make them "soooo much better" for video editing and other creative pursuits? Where's the evidence?!

Calm down buddy. It's just the fact that you can't get some of the editing software (Such as Final Cut Pro/Studio etc) on PCs and those are the top for video editing.

 

[diadia]

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.

 

[Wicky_42]

What's this about "exceptional hardware"?

Personally I just think Macs are stupidly over priced. That's all there is to it for me and all there needs to be.

Oh, that and the gaming thing.

Agreed on the over priced issue. A buddy of mine builds PCs and helped me with mine, and according to him, he can build a PC with identical hardware to a Mac for about half the cost (or better if he gets lucky on a sale).

He's not wrong. Overclockers.co.uk is offering a budget system that's almost identical to an iMac. The former costs £646, the latter £1600 or so. Yeah. The main difference there is the Mac has mouse, keyboard, screen and (crappy) internal speakers, but you can carry those on from your last machine.

That's £1000 for a screen, warranty and branding. I'd take that £1000 and buy a £100-600 screen and pocket the difference. And bear in mind that that's a pre-built box - no self-assembly required!

 

[Jamous]

I usually find Macs are great for creative things, like flash and photoshop sort of stuff and almost everything else. BUT. Most importantly, you cannot game for shit on Macs. Unfortunate as it is. I've been stuck on mine for quite some time, so I've been trying my utmost (and failing) to get my PC back. I have PC games I pre-ordered and haven't played ffs! D;

You can emulate Windows on a section of your hard drive. If you find Bootcamp in your system tools, that will help you partition your hard drive, then you can install windows on a part of it to use for gaming. I'd suggest 100-150GB. After your computer does the trademark "Berrr!" just hold Alt and it will give you the option to boot up in Windows.

That's what my computer does, and it works like a charm ^^

Also, about the gaming thing, I had the same problem. I played the first Assassin's Creed on my Mac partition, and I liked it. I then tried to look for the second one on Mac, and found out it's windows-exclusive. So, I installed windows 7 on a 100GB partition and got it. Haven't turned back

Ok... So could you give me some pointers? I have a Virtual PC (IT DOES NOTHING), not Bootcamp. :S

 

[pwnzerstick]

With a Pc there is a lot more options for hardware and upgrading. With the OS, it really is based on prefferences, or simply what you are used to.

 

[shaboinkin]

Or what you could do is buy Mac OSx, buy Windows 7, download a copy of ubuntu or whatever flavor of linux you want, build a computer of your choosing, and just boot into which ever OS you want.
Or heck, if you have a laptop, just install whatever OS you want along side yours

You save on cost, you know what the hardware can already do and then everyone would be happy!

 

[Wicky_42]

I like both. I just got a new top of the range Macbook Pro and I'm loving that more than the Windows 7 computer I had however. I'm a film student, so I need to use it for editing etc, which is one area where Macs dominate.

I DON'T GET IT! People keep saying this without ANY evidence being quoted EVER :/ There's no way a Macbook can perform as well as a decent PC - I mean, those things start at £1000; you can easily build a decent rig for that, one with more than 4Gb of RAM and all that good stuff you need for processing large video files.

Is it the software? Cos both platforms have decent software, and personally I prefer the Adobe suite, so what is it about Macs that make them "soooo much better" for video editing and other creative pursuits? Where's the evidence?!

Calm down buddy. It's just the fact that you can't get some of the editing software (Such as Final Cut Pro/Studio etc) on PCs and those are the top for video editing.

I had a go on Final Cut Pro earlier - it pales in comparison to Adobe Premiere Pro, lacking so many of the image and animation controls so easily accessible in Premiere. Plus, After Effects; it's Photoshop for videos! So again, it's just the software that makes Macs dominate PCs? Are you sure about that?

 

[Faladorian]

I usually find Macs are great for creative things, like flash and photoshop sort of stuff and almost everything else. BUT. Most importantly, you cannot game for shit on Macs. Unfortunate as it is. I've been stuck on mine for quite some time, so I've been trying my utmost (and failing) to get my PC back. I have PC games I pre-ordered and haven't played ffs! D;

-snip-

Ok... So could you give me some pointers? I have a Virtual PC (IT DOES NOTHING), not Bootcamp. :S

Bootcamp is already on Macs. If you look under Applications, then go to Utilities, you should find an icon that's the Windows logo on a Mac computer. That's Bootcamp. If you run that, it'll ask you how many gigabytes you want to devote to the Windows partition of your computer. I'd suggest 150GB or so if you want to play a lot of games and not delete them when you're done.

 

[DeleteThisAcc]

Let's put it this way:

MACs are for doing professional work, like digital graphic design, and programming and stuff like that. They're built to create things, and be serious tools for working.
PCs are for having fun, playing games, and making mods of things.

Neither one is "better" they just focus on different things. It's a preference, and it'd be wrong to state one's preference/opinion as fact.

no... MAC's are not for programing! Windows / Linux is for programing. When will you people learn that?

 

[Jamous]

I usually find Macs are great for creative things, like flash and photoshop sort of stuff and almost everything else. BUT. Most importantly, you cannot game for shit on Macs. Unfortunate as it is. I've been stuck on mine for quite some time, so I've been trying my utmost (and failing) to get my PC back. I have PC games I pre-ordered and haven't played ffs! D;

-snip-

Ok... So could you give me some pointers? I have a Virtual PC (IT DOES NOTHING), not Bootcamp. :S

Bootcamp is already on Macs. If you look under Applications, then go to Utilities, you should find an icon that's the Windows logo on a Mac computer. That's Bootcamp. If you run that, it'll ask you how many gigabytes you want to devote to the Windows partition of your computer. I'd suggest 150GB or so if you want to play a lot of games and not delete them when you're done.

Awesome, thank you very much... Now just to get my dad to actually let me do this. (He's the admin. On my computer. Because he's a twat. >_<) Thanks a bunch Faladorian.

 

[DuctTapeJedi]

I've got one of each. My parents got me a PC when I graduated high school, but it had tons of issues from the start, and is now essentially, a paper-weight.

I bought the Mac I'm typing this on second hand from a friend about a year ago, and have yet to have any real issues with it aside from losing the ability for PC gaming. (I got an Xbox, so it's not a big deal)

 

[Ravek]

I need a Mac for work, and use a Windows pc normally. The Mac hardware is good, although far too expensive. Mac OS is good, but has the occasional very weird design decisions. Windows made some better choices for its shell UI, but is less polished and consistent.

In the end, both operating systems are good enough, at which point the only thing that matters is the applications. The best choice of OS for you will depend on what applications you want to use.

 

[Mister Eff]

I like both. I just got a new top of the range Macbook Pro and I'm loving that more than the Windows 7 computer I had however. I'm a film student, so I need to use it for editing etc, which is one area where Macs dominate.

I DON'T GET IT! People keep saying this without ANY evidence being quoted EVER :/ There's no way a Macbook can perform as well as a decent PC - I mean, those things start at £1000; you can easily build a decent rig for that, one with more than 4Gb of RAM and all that good stuff you need for processing large video files.

Is it the software? Cos both platforms have decent software, and personally I prefer the Adobe suite, so what is it about Macs that make them "soooo much better" for video editing and other creative pursuits? Where's the evidence?!

Calm down buddy. It's just the fact that you can't get some of the editing software (Such as Final Cut Pro/Studio etc) on PCs and those are the top for video editing.

I had a go on Final Cut Pro earlier - it pales in comparison to Adobe Premiere Pro, lacking so many of the image and animation controls so easily accessible in Premiere. Plus, After Effects; it's Photoshop for videos! So again, it's just the software that makes Macs dominate PCs? Are you sure about that?

Point well made man. I've tried both as well and I prefer Final Cut and Macs. And you can't Deny that Macs are used more for editing etc though.

 

[Arehexes]

Let's put it this way:

MACs are for doing professional work, like digital graphic design, and programming and stuff like that. They're built to create things, and be serious tools for working.
PCs are for having fun, playing games, and making mods of things.

Neither one is "better" they just focus on different things. It's a preference, and it'd be wrong to state one's preference/opinion as fact.

Programming...eh no I give that to linux. Macs can program to but linux seems to be the better choice in it.

 

[redisforever]

While I do think Macs are fantastic, I do prefer Windows, because it's a bit more open. I love Linux as well, but it doesn't work on my laptop, and I like the programs currently only available on Windows.

Really, it depends what I want to do. Internet, then probably Linux, as it's small, and fast. Windows for games, and Mac for some more serious stuff. I don't know why I think of Macs as serious, though it may be the serious prices.

 

[Flac00]

With an unlimited budget, the mac is the best computer, period. But, because of budget issues most people aren't willing to go mac. Still, the best gaming computer has got to be the Mac Pro, which is already a beast before any upgrades. It has 16 cores!!!
Here are my pros and cons

Mac
Pros:
-High quality software (built in)
-No viruses
-Upgraded iPhone and iPad support
-High quality build in hardware
-Durable hardware
-Can run Windows in Bootcamp

Cons:
-Expensive
-Less customisable (except on Mini's and Pro's)
-Small game library
-Flash is really screwed up