I couldn't have chosen a more dangerous place to ask this question, but at the same time i'm amongst friends so what harm could it do....i mean really? 
I'm in the market for a laptop for University. From experience, PC laptops haven't stood the test of time. Back in the day, say 2001, I had a Toshiba Satellite which was meant to be a state of the art laptop in its day. Two years later the keys are falling off the keyboard, the performance of the machine is slow and some of my friends who had one reported there were cracks in the screen. I know this sounds crazy, but they took good care of their laptops and didn't mistreat them in any way. There were many complaints about this particular laptop at school as it was on the booklist. So i'm hoping to avoid PC in favour of MAC. MAC seems to be the ultimate laptop. No drivers, steady and stable software and well built with some pretty decent hardware under the hood.
What are your thoughts?
I'm in the market for a laptop for University. From experience, PC laptops haven't stood the test of time. Back in the day, say 2001, I had a Toshiba Satellite which was meant to be a state of the art laptop in its day. Two years later the keys are falling off the keyboard, the performance of the machine is slow and some of my friends who had one reported there were cracks in the screen. I know this sounds crazy, but they took good care of their laptops and didn't mistreat them in any way. There were many complaints about this particular laptop at school as it was on the booklist. So i'm hoping to avoid PC in favour of MAC. MAC seems to be the ultimate laptop. No drivers, steady and stable software and well built with some pretty decent hardware under the hood.
What are your thoughts?
Being an avid PC user, I cannot officially recommend getting a MAC notebook... I can hwoever say that they are very good nowadays and people really rave about them, they look sleek, and you can never really tell that they are failing the test of time becuase they use the world's more intraverted operating system ever conceived. But you can run Windows from them now, so I say if you want one, get one... don't let stupid cross-platform rivalry get in your way!
Just don't expect to be able to do a lot of your "PC-like" tasks with them without a bit fo tweaking. And don't expect to be a gamer anymore... the minute you buy a mac, you leave the gaming world behind and embody a more emo-centric fascade capable of looking like a total geek and still seeming trendy enough to rest your lattes atop of the shiny titanium finish.
Happy notebook hunting!
-Cub. =o)
Just don't expect to be able to do a lot of your "PC-like" tasks with them without a bit fo tweaking. And don't expect to be a gamer anymore... the minute you buy a mac, you leave the gaming world behind and embody a more emo-centric fascade capable of looking like a total geek and still seeming trendy enough to rest your lattes atop of the shiny titanium finish.
Happy notebook hunting!
-Cub. =o)
Just don't expect to be able to do a lot of your "PC-like" tasks with them without a bit fo tweaking. And don't expect to be a gamer anymore... the minute you buy a mac, you leave the gaming world behind and embody a more emo-centric fascade capable of looking like a total geek and still seeming trendy enough to rest your lattes atop of the shiny titanium finish.
Great one! So true! Not always, however, since I do not fit the type, and my PC's problems have driven me into the arms of a Mac. Or at least, by January I hope to have one.~ Member: Tex Murphy's Mutant League, Crazy 888's Chapter~
*Revitalizing Old San Francisco's Chandler Avenue District With Style*
(also known as Steve Douglas, but usually by people less awesome than UTMers)
*Revitalizing Old San Francisco's Chandler Avenue District With Style*
(also known as Steve Douglas, but usually by people less awesome than UTMers)
I'm with Cub on this one but take a bit of a different approach with it. I am also a PC guy. Now don't get me wrong I hate ALL computers equally and unfortunately every friggin thing I do revolves around a computer. Grrrr Feel the anger.
Anyway it all comes down to what you plan to do with it. If you want a "do everything" machine stick with PC, if you want a machine for very specific tasks such as internet, writing and maybe video editing and nothing else I suggest you go Mac. I have fixed enough PC's of stupid people to know that Mac is more "computer dummy" friendly so lately I have been recommending Macs because I am sick of fixing simple stupid problems on PC's.
Now if you're like me and want options, Mac is not the way to go. I personally love the fact that PC's have an option for anything. Say I need a program to do such and such well PC will most likely have a program that does it, even if it is homebrew. Mac on the other hand still has a tiny user base and not many people who have em make programs for them. I'll use Winamp as an example. If you're like me and HATE iTunes yet want to put music to an iPod you have Winamp and a plug-in that will let you dump your MP3's to the iPod without bothering with iTunes, however, if you had a Mac in the first place I guess it would be a non-issue and you would use iTunes regardless. What I am getting at is that Winamp has doesn't run well on Mac (if at all I think it's called Macamp) and you would be stuck HAVING to use iTunes.
Okay where was I going with this? Oh right 2 simple factors matter:
- Are you a computer user who likes to do many things including gaming?
- Do you know much about computers?
If you do have the knowledge of how to prevent and/or fix your own problems I definitely recommend PC and if you do not go Mac is it is more "dummy" friendly.
Having said all that I will state that both systems will crash regardless as they are a computer and that's what they do best. Mac I recommend you save more often as PC seems to be more recoverable. I watch a G5's brain fry at the college so I know it's hardware dies as well. Windows has a blue screen of death and Mac has a white screen of death. If the computer is gonna die it's gonna die regardless of what system you get. I will note that I bought a laptop from a company that I never heard of called Averatec and used it for college. I want to note that I went out of my way to beat the living SH*T out of this computer and have never had a problem with it. I got it on a return because someone claimed there was a problem with it. The store I bought if from wanted to install their special garbage and yadda yadda and I told them where to stick it. Once I installed everything myself it did not have a single problem with it in the 3 years that I have had it and I mean I BEAT THE HELL out of this computer. The plastic is cracked all scratched up, I threw it around while in a backpack, dropped it and it is still purring like a kitten and working well. Not too shabby for a company that just started producing computers.
Alright I lost my focus again. I think in closing it will all come down to personal preference. If you're interested in giving Mac a go, then go for it. However if it is your main/only computer you might wanna consider all the things you might have to give up to have it. I have the luxury of having many computers so it's not as big a problem for me and I have to remind myself that people usually only have 1 computer. Oh also the whole virusless debate on Mac is that the people who make viruses don't give a damn about the Mac as most people have PC's so that is the ONLY reason there are no viruses on the Mac. There's not reward in making them for it. However the more that people buy Macs I am sure that will change.
OH one more thing I will add about the Mac. I have almost used Windows exclusively in my many years (not gonna bring up all the computers in the 80's) and have become accustom to the "feel" of the Windows platform. When I started using a Mac I hated how the mouse moved, how it clicked and seemed to be really "floaty" now you do get used to it but it does get annoying for Windows people. Oh also I hate that damn mouse, do yourself a favour and buy a USB mouse to plug in, it will save a million hours of pointless bitching.
There I think that's all I have to say.
Anyway it all comes down to what you plan to do with it. If you want a "do everything" machine stick with PC, if you want a machine for very specific tasks such as internet, writing and maybe video editing and nothing else I suggest you go Mac. I have fixed enough PC's of stupid people to know that Mac is more "computer dummy" friendly so lately I have been recommending Macs because I am sick of fixing simple stupid problems on PC's.
Now if you're like me and want options, Mac is not the way to go. I personally love the fact that PC's have an option for anything. Say I need a program to do such and such well PC will most likely have a program that does it, even if it is homebrew. Mac on the other hand still has a tiny user base and not many people who have em make programs for them. I'll use Winamp as an example. If you're like me and HATE iTunes yet want to put music to an iPod you have Winamp and a plug-in that will let you dump your MP3's to the iPod without bothering with iTunes, however, if you had a Mac in the first place I guess it would be a non-issue and you would use iTunes regardless. What I am getting at is that Winamp has doesn't run well on Mac (if at all I think it's called Macamp) and you would be stuck HAVING to use iTunes.
Okay where was I going with this? Oh right 2 simple factors matter:
- Are you a computer user who likes to do many things including gaming?
- Do you know much about computers?
If you do have the knowledge of how to prevent and/or fix your own problems I definitely recommend PC and if you do not go Mac is it is more "dummy" friendly.
Having said all that I will state that both systems will crash regardless as they are a computer and that's what they do best. Mac I recommend you save more often as PC seems to be more recoverable. I watch a G5's brain fry at the college so I know it's hardware dies as well. Windows has a blue screen of death and Mac has a white screen of death. If the computer is gonna die it's gonna die regardless of what system you get. I will note that I bought a laptop from a company that I never heard of called Averatec and used it for college. I want to note that I went out of my way to beat the living SH*T out of this computer and have never had a problem with it. I got it on a return because someone claimed there was a problem with it. The store I bought if from wanted to install their special garbage and yadda yadda and I told them where to stick it. Once I installed everything myself it did not have a single problem with it in the 3 years that I have had it and I mean I BEAT THE HELL out of this computer. The plastic is cracked all scratched up, I threw it around while in a backpack, dropped it and it is still purring like a kitten and working well. Not too shabby for a company that just started producing computers.
Alright I lost my focus again. I think in closing it will all come down to personal preference. If you're interested in giving Mac a go, then go for it. However if it is your main/only computer you might wanna consider all the things you might have to give up to have it. I have the luxury of having many computers so it's not as big a problem for me and I have to remind myself that people usually only have 1 computer. Oh also the whole virusless debate on Mac is that the people who make viruses don't give a damn about the Mac as most people have PC's so that is the ONLY reason there are no viruses on the Mac. There's not reward in making them for it. However the more that people buy Macs I am sure that will change.
OH one more thing I will add about the Mac. I have almost used Windows exclusively in my many years (not gonna bring up all the computers in the 80's) and have become accustom to the "feel" of the Windows platform. When I started using a Mac I hated how the mouse moved, how it clicked and seemed to be really "floaty" now you do get used to it but it does get annoying for Windows people. Oh also I hate that damn mouse, do yourself a favour and buy a USB mouse to plug in, it will save a million hours of pointless bitching.
There I think that's all I have to say.
I'll provide the counterpoint ...
Get a PC. Because .. um ... just cause.
Actually, seriously, I've never had a Mac. Actually, I've had about five computers in my life, this being my fifth, and I have *NEVER* .. repeat ... *NEVER* had a problem with a PC. I mean an irreversable, never can be fixed problem. I've had a few "Hey tech support, I'm dumb" problems ... but those were few and far between. And being a gamer, I agree. For years I've heard that PCs are gaming machines. Macs just ... aren't.
Get a PC. Because .. um ... just cause.
Actually, seriously, I've never had a Mac. Actually, I've had about five computers in my life, this being my fifth, and I have *NEVER* .. repeat ... *NEVER* had a problem with a PC. I mean an irreversable, never can be fixed problem. I've had a few "Hey tech support, I'm dumb" problems ... but those were few and far between. And being a gamer, I agree. For years I've heard that PCs are gaming machines. Macs just ... aren't.
I'm not fat ... I'm festively plump.
The bottom line is, if you are getting a computer to help you complete a series of tasks and ONLY that series of tasks (and it happens to be multimedia based tasks, like writing, music or video) get your Mac notebook.
but if you are lookign for a dynamic system that can adapt to your changing needs, the Macs can be very unforgiving in that department.
Discover you needs, then discover the solution. Sounds to me that you are ready to hang up the gloves and give in to simplicity... if I am right, then you will be better off with a Mac.
-Cub. =o)
but if you are lookign for a dynamic system that can adapt to your changing needs, the Macs can be very unforgiving in that department.
Discover you needs, then discover the solution. Sounds to me that you are ready to hang up the gloves and give in to simplicity... if I am right, then you will be better off with a Mac.
-Cub. =o)
Last edited by Joel on September 13, 2007 • 8:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
That's a fair review. I should clarify though that in no way at all do I intend for MAC computers to supercede PC's. I will always be a PC man like the rest of you for one simple reason: gaming. I agree with those of you who state that it is a deadzone for any type of gaming (apart from the occassional ID title like Quake or Doom that appears on the platform).Cubase wrote:Being an avid PC user, I cannot officially recommend getting a MAC notebook... I can hwoever say that they are very good nowadays and people really rave about them, they look sleek, and you can never really tell that they are failing the test of time becuase they use the world's more intraverted operating system ever conceived. But you can run Windows from them now, so I say if you want one, get one... don't let stupid cross-platform rivalry get in your way!
Just don't expect to be able to do a lot of your "PC-like" tasks with them without a bit fo tweaking. And don't expect to be a gamer anymore... the minute you buy a mac, you leave the gaming world behind and embody a more emo-centric fascade capable of looking like a total geek and still seeming trendy enough to rest your lattes atop of the shiny titanium finish.
Happy notebook hunting!
-Cub. =o)
I'm also fairly experienced with computers and don't struggle with any PC faults or anything like that. PC is in my blood, it's what i've been using for the last 11 years which is when I first got a computer. But, in terms of notebooks, i've noticed that MACS come off ahead a little. I've also been told that MS Word documents are now 100% with MACS and vice versa, I wish to investigate this a little further though.
So i'll keep shopping around. You've all raised some really good points which i'll ponder on and even raise with some of the salesman who preach the name Apple and see what their response is. Thanks very much for the feedback. I promise 1 thing: i'll NEVER leave the PC realm
Mac Book FTW! I recommend it. Good for games, can run windows, can run OSX, can run Linux, comes with everything you need. Costs the same as a Dell laptop. and OSX is better than Vista will ever be. XP is better than Vista anyway
MY advice is steer clear of parallels as it causes KPs like crazy and can result in you destroying your computer after a few days of owning it (like I did but I got it back a day later all fixed and was told "DON'T USE THAT CRAP!")
If you can live with it, run everything in its natural platform, however you don't have to worry about Dos games because DosBox works in MacOSX.
But if you frequently upgrade its not a good idea. Not that you should really care given MacOSs tend to work on older hardware anyway. For games though it could be bad.
MY advice is steer clear of parallels as it causes KPs like crazy and can result in you destroying your computer after a few days of owning it (like I did
but I got it back a day later all fixed and was told "DON'T USE THAT CRAP!")If you can live with it, run everything in its natural platform, however you don't have to worry about Dos games because DosBox works in MacOSX.
But if you frequently upgrade its not a good idea. Not that you should really care given MacOSs tend to work on older hardware anyway. For games though it could be bad.
I won't be any help here. I have 17 computers right now. 7 of them are PC-based, none of them are Macs.
I will say, right off the bat, I HATE Windows. I'm an extremely heavy computer user. My Unix boxes (3 Sun Workstations running Solaris) can run 24 hours a day with constant use for years without crashing. When I started using Windows (in order to achieve compatibility with customers) I was re-booting 3 to 5 times a day and banging my head against the wall while cursing MicroSoft.
No version of Windows even remotely approaches the strength and stability of Unix. However, I did come to appreciate Windows for the availability of games. It's also gotten a lot more stable since the 95 days (but still pales compared to Unix.)
Meanwhile, as much as I hated Windows, Mac (the old Mac) was worse. Why? Because Mac would only let you do what you could click on. Nothing else. Mac was for idiots. At least with DOS you could get in there and get your hands dirty. (Maybe why my PCs crashed so much.)
Anyway, along came OSX. Unix based. That is intriguing. I haven't had the opportunity to use one yet, but I've heard that there's even a shell now, so that you can do command line input and scripting on a Mac.
I would be very tempted to try a Mac now, simply because of the Unix base in OSX. That's just got to be better than Windows. But I also have a feeling that Mac's Unix is not 'real' Unix. And I don't know exactly what that means.
I have to give Mac a lot of credit for turning to Unix. By that alone, it's got to be better than any Windows based system. But then again, Mac always seems to cater to the artsy, trendy, non-computer-geeky users and that will be the software base you will have to live with.
I don't know how well OSX can emulate Widows or DOS. But if you intend to do a lot of that, you might as well go with Windows. The only advantage I can see with Mac is that it is probably more reliable. But it may only be reliable for running the stuff your not interested in.
As was said by others. What do you plan to use it for? If your expected use is mostly Mac-friendly applications, go for it. If you're gonna be running lots of Windows-friendly applications, get a PC.
I will say, right off the bat, I HATE Windows. I'm an extremely heavy computer user. My Unix boxes (3 Sun Workstations running Solaris) can run 24 hours a day with constant use for years without crashing. When I started using Windows (in order to achieve compatibility with customers) I was re-booting 3 to 5 times a day and banging my head against the wall while cursing MicroSoft.
No version of Windows even remotely approaches the strength and stability of Unix. However, I did come to appreciate Windows for the availability of games. It's also gotten a lot more stable since the 95 days (but still pales compared to Unix.)
Meanwhile, as much as I hated Windows, Mac (the old Mac) was worse. Why? Because Mac would only let you do what you could click on. Nothing else. Mac was for idiots. At least with DOS you could get in there and get your hands dirty. (Maybe why my PCs crashed so much.)
Anyway, along came OSX. Unix based. That is intriguing. I haven't had the opportunity to use one yet, but I've heard that there's even a shell now, so that you can do command line input and scripting on a Mac.
I would be very tempted to try a Mac now, simply because of the Unix base in OSX. That's just got to be better than Windows. But I also have a feeling that Mac's Unix is not 'real' Unix. And I don't know exactly what that means.
I have to give Mac a lot of credit for turning to Unix. By that alone, it's got to be better than any Windows based system. But then again, Mac always seems to cater to the artsy, trendy, non-computer-geeky users and that will be the software base you will have to live with.
I don't know how well OSX can emulate Widows or DOS. But if you intend to do a lot of that, you might as well go with Windows. The only advantage I can see with Mac is that it is probably more reliable. But it may only be reliable for running the stuff your not interested in.
As was said by others. What do you plan to use it for? If your expected use is mostly Mac-friendly applications, go for it. If you're gonna be running lots of Windows-friendly applications, get a PC.
I noticed that too and it's a major stuff up on my part and a careless lack of proof-reading, Cub. I am very sorry about that, i'll fix it right away. What I imagine has happened is that i've started to type my response, read back over your quote and started typing again not realising my cursor had clicked within the "quote" section, i'll fix that right away. Once again, a very sincere sorry, I know how much it bites to be misquoted, especially for things you never said.Cubase wrote:Where did that last paragraph in my quote come from?
-Cub. =o)
Hey don't sweat it.Joel wrote:I noticed that too and it's a major stuff up on my part and a careless lack of proof-reading, Cub. I am very sorry about that, i'll fix it right away. What I imagine has happened is that i've started to type my response, read back over your quote and started typing again not realising my cursor had clicked within the "quote" section, i'll fix that right away. Once again, a very sincere sorry, I know how much it bites to be misquoted, especially for things you never said.Cubase wrote:Where did that last paragraph in my quote come from?
-Cub. =o)
-Cub. =o)
If this is true, then OSX would be able to accomodate simultaneous multiple users. Many users, even hundreds, could log in and use the same computer at the same time. Can OSX do that?Apparently OSX10.5 is 100% unix based this time. That'd make sense because Bootcamp doesn't work properly at present.. I have issues with it.