Poll: My Computer is dying on me....

[AceTrilby]

As a fellow student, I can tell you bluntly that buying a Macbook Pro would be a serious waste of funds. The university I go to has Mac and PC labs and writing is certainly better on a PC. Macs are best for graphics design and making movies - artsy stuff - while PCs have a better 'office' package.

Personally, I find Mac interfaces to be a bit floaty and imprecise, but I used a mouse, and I'm not sure how their trackpads work. Then again, I use a wireless mouse with my PC laptop because I don't like trackpads in general.

 

[Cowabungaa]

Macs are best for graphics design and making movies - artsy stuff - while PCs have a better 'office' package.

I still don't know why, and that's coming from someone who does a course called Communication and Multimedia Design. There are only a few very high-end video-editing and design programs that are Mac exclusive, other than that I have no clue why Macs would be better. I have Illustrator CS5, they have Illustrator CS5, what's the difference?

 

[VladG]

Macbooks are VERY overpriced for the hardware they bring. Sure, they used to be awesome when they rocked their own chipsets and parts years and years ago, but since now they are using the EXACT SAME components you can get on any other laptop, but cost 1.5-2x more all you are really buying is an admittedly elegant and well designed case and a half eaten fruit.

The game argument is mostly invalid now since you can just install windows on your macbook, either as dual boot, single, or as an emulator. Also Diablo 3 is coming out on mac, so what more could you want?

As for the security.. yes OS X is more secure simply because hackers don't bother with it. It's just as crappy as Windows otherwise.

 

[VladG]

Macs are best for graphics design and making movies - artsy stuff - while PCs have a better 'office' package.

I still don't know why, and that's coming from someone who does a course called Communication and Multimedia Design. There are only a few very high-end video-editing and design programs that are Mac exclusive, other than that I have no clue why Macs would be better. I have Illustrator CS5, they have Illustrator CS5, what's the difference?

The difference is Steve Jobs never said PCs are just as good/better.

So yes, since Steve Jobs decreed it must be so, Macs are at least 20% better.

 

[VladG]

If you find yourself a bit of a graphic designer/software artist or all that shazz, get a Mac - but be prepared to burn a lot of money.

If you just want mobile computing power with good user interface, as much as I hate to say it - get an iPad.


Otherwise get a desktop/laptop (but not a gaming laptop).

If you want a rig for gaming, get a desktop/tower PC with Windows 7.

I got an Alienware M15 laptop two years ago...it's dying very quickly and was a pretty bad decision it turns out...Yes, I can play all my high-spec games, but the graphics drivers keep crashing, I get the blue screen of death, my CD drive doesn't work, my mousepad doesn't work...fun times.

Gaming laptop?
Honestly, buying a gaming laptop is like buying a glider that claims it can fly to space. It might make it if you push for it, but in the end it wont be doing you any favours.

Gaming requires a lot of power; and laptops (being supplied by a battery) really struggle to give what gaming needs. It might have the hardware but it ain't got the power to supply it, on top of that the heat generated and lack of sufficient ventilation turns the insides of the laptop into an environment as hostile to hardware as space is to a gliders plain-clothed occupants.

Ohh, I love Gaming Laptops. Best joke ever.

Had a friend buy a very expensive gaming laptop once. It's specs beat the shit out of my desktop gaming rig. Except all components were undercloked by like 50% at least since the laptop couldn't handle the heat dissipation. So his 3x more expensive laptop ended up being half as powerful as my budget gaming rig.

 

[Cowabungaa]

If you couldn't give a flying shit about messing around with the guts of your computer and just want the damn thing to work flawlessly and with minimal effort, definitely get a Mac.

Yeah I'll be the only pro-Mac person on the poll so far.

The problem is, when something does eventually break, which it will, you are screwed. Getting it fixed will be a long, nerve racking and maybe even costly affair.

Extremely costly. A classmate of mine, well her boyfriend, had to pay over ?500,- for a freakin' harddrive.

But you're right. OSX, Windows or Linux, the operating system doesn't matter; computers will be computers, and computers will eventually fuck you over. I hate IT sometimes.

As for the security.. yes OS X is more secure simply because hackers don't bother with it. It's just as crappy as Windows otherwise.

That argument is pretty outdated as well, with OSX's rise in popularity.

 

[Meight08]

Ninja'd by TheBobmus...

It depends on what you plan on doing with it most of the time. If you plan on making videos for youtube, designing houses, putting together reports and charts. The MacBook is for you. If you want to play games, get a windows based laptop.

I'm not really into PC gaming. I use my current one more for writing, web browsing, movie watching, etc. I'm a student so this would be a big investment for me.

For the price of a macbook you could probably make a good gaming pc desktop for a lower price and considering your a student the steam sales would be a godsend to you.
If you want info on making a gaming pc or choosing a gaming laptop just ask it here alot of people would be glad to help you.

 

[dyre]

I've heard that Mac computers are superior for video/photo editing, though the artists who told me that never explained why. I guess if you're willing to pay an extra 500-1000 dollars for the same hardware as a PC, but superior video/photo editing, go for it. Otherwise, I don't really know why you'd want a Macbook

let me explain it for him, there are, industry specific mac computers that are better for photo-video stuff. these things cost 20.000~euro´s and you wont ever see them on your life.

other mac stuff= the sum of its parts. and apple sells them too expensive.
for the same money you ca nget better, or you can get the same for less.
( do note, macs usual come with SOFTWARE pre installed for video editing etc. and most 'artsy' people are not that techinicly inclined, might make it seem to be 'better' for them. i call this lazy. ( too lazy to aquire software in disc/downloaded form )

Ah, alright, thanks for clearing that up. I was a bit skeptical when the guy I know made that claim, but I'm not a photo editor or anything so I couldn't claim to know better than he did.

 

[Worgen]

I've heard that Mac computers are superior for video/photo editing, though the artists who told me that never explained why. I guess if you're willing to pay an extra 500-1000 dollars for the same hardware as a PC, but superior video/photo editing, go for it. Otherwise, I don't really know why you'd want a Macbook

I think that has to do with the old image of a mac being comp that doesn't get viruses or need anti-spyware stuff and doesn't crash. None of it is true but it still kind of has that image.

 

[DannyBandicoot]

If I were you I'd get the Macbook Pro if you can afford it and then get bootcamp if you want to get seriously into gaming (I consider myself a gamer though and I haven't found a game I want to play that doesn't work on mac.)

Apple's customer support is beyond excellent, you can bring your laptop to and apple store and have a genius look at it there and then or ring them up with people who can actually speak english.

As for why you should get a mac it's all about what you want to do, you don't sound like you are overly technical and that's why I think you will love a Mac because they are so easy to use, it sounds cheesy to say but you really do know how to use it right out of the box. I've had my iMac for four years and I've never froze once or encountered a single problem other than the initial week of getting used to the new commands.

But in the end it comes down to if you can afford it. Quality comes at a price.

My friend bought a refurbished macbook a few years ago and it had a problem with the fan, he took it into the apple store and they fixed it for him completely free right there in the shop, just a first hand example of how good their customer service is.

 

[dyre]

I've heard that Mac computers are superior for video/photo editing, though the artists who told me that never explained why. I guess if you're willing to pay an extra 500-1000 dollars for the same hardware as a PC, but superior video/photo editing, go for it. Otherwise, I don't really know why you'd want a Macbook

I think that has to do with the old image of a mac being comp that doesn't get viruses or need anti-spyware stuff and doesn't crash. None of it is true but it still kind of has that image.

Nah, another user just explained to me that Apple does have some super high-end industry specific computers for superior video/photo editing, so its reputation for that sort of thing might come from there. But normal macs for regular people have no such advantage.

As for the virus thing, wasn't it true at some point that most people didn't bother writing viruses for macs, due to its much smaller userbase? Or was that just a rumor too? Not that it really matters, since most viruses aren't a problem if you don't do anything stupid.

 

[kasperbbs]

I would rather buy a kick ass windows laptop for the same price or less, i just couldn't spend money on a lesser product just because it's popular? (or whatever it is that people buy apple's products for). I just can't help but smile when i compare apple's products to others, those prices are just ridiculous.

 

[Worgen]

I've heard that Mac computers are superior for video/photo editing, though the artists who told me that never explained why. I guess if you're willing to pay an extra 500-1000 dollars for the same hardware as a PC, but superior video/photo editing, go for it. Otherwise, I don't really know why you'd want a Macbook

I think that has to do with the old image of a mac being comp that doesn't get viruses or need anti-spyware stuff and doesn't crash. None of it is true but it still kind of has that image.

Nah, another user just explained to me that Apple does have some super high-end industry specific computers for superior video/photo editing, so its reputation for that sort of thing might come from there. But normal macs for regular people have no such advantage.

As for the virus thing, wasn't it true at some point that most people didn't bother writing viruses for macs, due to its much smaller userbase? Or was that just a rumor too? Not that it really matters, since most viruses aren't a problem if you don't do anything stupid.

Might also be because for awhile macs had Photoshop and windows didn't have it or anything quite as good (I don't think, I'm not sure since I don't do much graphical editing)

The virus thing was never really true, it is true that not many got made for macs since they were a much smaller market share but they still had them, I remember hearing stories after apple had been running those ads that said macs didn't get viruses or spyware. Some users would run scans and found lots of stuff on their comps, but most users believed the hype, at least for a while.

 

[Leon Pendragon]

Buy nearly any ASUS with a *edited* )I forgot Asus has shit support for the A6 line ATM) get an i5 and you'll be golden pay 1/2 the money of getting a mac, have 4 times the power, look like a pimp while doing it. http://www.asus.com/Notebooks/

 

[RevRaptor]

Yea Mac's are great, if you don't mind paying twice the price for half the tech.

Then there is the whole human right violations investigations going on in the factories where they are made.
I don't think I could happily own something that has caused so much human misery.

 

[ThePS1Fan]

Up to you really. Th OS works fine and certainly looks very nice. It has very little in the way of gaming and based on the hardware it's over priced. For most practical uses it's perfectly fine though.

 

[MetalMagpie]

I'm a student so this would be a big investment for me.

Then my advice would be to get something fairly cheap! At least in the UK, students suffer more thefts than almost any other portion of the population. I bought a £300 laptop for use when I was at university so that my life wouldn't end if I was mugged, or my house was burgled, or one of my housemates split beer on it, or...

Now that I have a job (and live in an area with far lower crime rates) I'm thinking about splashing out on something nice.

For now, a dual-core will give you more than enough power to run Windows 7 smoothly. If you're not going to game on it, don't worry too much about good graphics or lots of harddrive space. Look for one with a larger screen if you're more concerned about video-watching than portability (and vice versa).

 

[Vardermir]

I bought a macbook pro specifically to code iOS apps on, and honestly, I think its the best laptop I've ever used. Apple knows how to make reliable, aesthetically pleasing hardware, I've put my machine through hell and it still runs just fine. The price thing is kinda a pain, but if you time your purchase right, specifically right before or just after they release new models, they will give you a 25% discount. So I ended up paying only $1500 after all was said and done. Upgrading the RAM and Hard drive is easy if you want to do it, and those are basically the only things you can upgrade on a laptop anyways. Now that Steam is on OS X, you can actually get a pretty large selection of games for it if you ever decide that's what you want to do. Sure, the hardware isn't the fastest, but the Binding of Isaac doesn't really require top notch hardware in the first place .

 

[Substitute Troll]

Are you deadset on buying a laptop? Because if you can consider a desktop, and you have the technical knowhow or connections to assemble it yourself, then that will shave off a lot of money when you get the separate parts.

 

[Username Redacted]

Macs are best for graphics design and making movies - artsy stuff - while PCs have a better 'office' package.

I still don't know why, and that's coming from someone who does a course called Communication and Multimedia Design. There are only a few very high-end video-editing and design programs that are Mac exclusive, other than that I have no clue why Macs would be better. I have Illustrator CS5, they have Illustrator CS5, what's the difference?

As far as I know there isn't one. There probably used to be when the hardware differences between Macs and PCs where more pronounced and when there was Mac exclusive media software. Now, not so much. My experience with Apple products is not exactly positive as for the most part they're equivalent to Nike. Sure their products may be functional but they aren't orders of magnitude better than their competition that is reflected in their costs. It isn't even funny how much better performance-wise an equivalently costed laptop is going to be than a Macbook.