Why buy a Mac?

Swampy · #61 01-21-2008, 08:55 AM

Pixelmonkey & Don... Yeah the old PC vs Mac does tend to get ugly after a while. My post was meant to lighten things up. Didn't you see the smiley face?

I've seen this war rage on and on since the 80's. There is no "winner". You buy what you want or can afford. Once you get inside an application they are pretty much the same. I've had both Mac and PC. (Can you say C:/ ?) I'm not saying that the Mac doesn't have it's gremlins. Heck, right now I'm having a problem printing from Firefox. But from my personal experience, I prefer the Mac. I don't want to tinker with my computer, I want to be productive on it. I have a Dell laptop that drives me up a tree. Seems EVERY time I boot it up there is some problem. Some dll is missing (it was there when I last shut it down), can't fine the WIFI network (I was surfing on it the last time I used the computer) or other glitch. I shudder every time I have to boot the thing. I only use it for one dedicated PC application (work related). I plan to upgrade to an Intel Mac this year and will sell, give away or otherwise get rid of the Dell. I won't necessarily be getting rid of these PC problems if I run Parallels, but at least I'll be able to copy/paste the info I need directly to the Mac.

Okay, I've been a Windows "basher", but it comes with actually having used a PC. What I don't get are folks that bash the Mac without ever having used one. They may have played with one at the Apple store, but I'm saying *used* in a pragmatic sense.

I've helped friends "switch" from PC to Mac. After two weeks they are enthralled with their Mac. They "love" their Mac. They ask themselves, "Why did I wait so long to switch?" They go on to explore things they would never attempt on their PC. They tell me they feel they are "in control". They are "having fun". I can't tell you how much fun it was helping a friend set up iChat so she could video conference with her family up north. Her grand children come home from school, fire up the family Mac, and show grandmama the pictures they drew at school. Not to say it couldn't be done on her PC, but she had constant connection failures, blue screen of death etc. It was so disheartening for her. Now she's on cloud nine because it all "just works" every time.

We have a small Macintosh User Group and every month we get 2 or 3 PC users who come to ask questions or explore the possibility of switching. Since we started our club last October, 6 families have made the switch. One family now has 2 laptops and an iMac and the father has switched his office to all Macs. The father is pretty tech savvy and had always been a PC guy. He said he decided to go Mac in the office because, being his own IT person at work, was taking time away from his medical practice maintaining the office computers and network. He now has more time for his patients.

Okay, so I'm a Mac advocate. But my advocacy is based on experience and first hand knowledge not sour grapes. Okay, so Mac folks are like members of a cult (the PC people's label). But for good reason. They are happy with their purchase, and positive computing experiences. There's no software for a Mac? That's a myth. How many word processors or spread sheet programs do you NEED? I'll give you games, but with an Intel Mac and an upgrade graphics card the Mac is no slouch. Expensive? Perhaps, but you get what you pay for and comparisons have been done that show comparable PC/Macs are within $100-$200 of each other. "I hate Steve Jobs"? Okay, but you have to hand him genius and admit that just about everything good on a PC was developed by Apple (can you say GUI?) and imitated by Microsoft.

I'll get off my soap box.

Markzebra · #62 01-21-2008, 11:50 AM

http://www.uberreview.com/2008/01/25...ple-fanboy.htm

Swampy · #63 01-21-2008, 12:13 PM

You have me cracking up, Mark! Thanks for the link.

TreesOfMyTime · #64 01-21-2008, 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Markzebra

http://www.uberreview.com/2008/01/25...ple-fanboy.htm

Hilarious Mark! Good one!

shaunx · #65 01-23-2008, 12:06 AM

Hey thanks for the link...let me check it out....

Gary Richardson · #66 01-23-2008, 04:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Swampy

Why buy a Mac?

7. No viri, malware or other internet creepy crawlies

Not true, the first Rogue App has already hit the web.

http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/00001362.html

This one's a puppy, but there will be more to come, so be careful what you install, the carefree days of Mac use may not be around for much longer.

Personally I hope I'm wrong, got enough work with all the Windows boxes to clean up, don't need Macs as well.

Swampy · #67 01-23-2008, 08:17 AM

Gary, CNet has found Macsweeper to be a scam. Check it HERE>

There is also a discussion about this on the Apple discussion forum.

In a nut shell, a java script redirects your browser to the "developers" web site, where a java video plays leading you to believe "they" are scanning your system for security problems. It always finds a few (funny how it's always the same set of security problems regardless if you are surfing on a Mac or a PC). Then it says that you have to purchase the software to clean these problems from your system.

Markzebra · #68 01-23-2008, 12:15 PM

Yes since OSX was released I've seen this a few times - all of a sudden the IT man (or PC man) will start running around, saying "Did you hear the first Mac OSX virus .. its out now! Don't open your emails! Don't sneeze near your mac!" then next day they install Sophos WasteofCash on everyones machine.

Every time so far its been a hoax. Someones cashing in on it, wouldn't be surprised if Sophos and Norton haven't got sales people cold-calling. Either that or IT/PC man is trying to justify his 50k a year, hes got jack all else to do lets face it.

ydelle · #69 01-23-2008, 03:01 PM

Since I don't write much I thought I would put in my two cents. When I worked a printer I worked on both and the Mac didn't cause trouble. Now it isn't that I don't like PC I have owned one since Nintendo days, I can't tell you how many times I have had to reinstall all my programs because the PC's crashed. My next computer will be a MAC and I hope the people who have nothing better to do than to design viruses leave the MAC alone. I also wish they weren't so expensive.

T Paul · #70 01-23-2008, 05:08 PM

I've been a PC owner for quite a long time and I've been happy with my machines. I do keep them up to speed with the typical maintenance programs and so far they've done good and the only glitches I have had in all my years is one fan started to die and one hard drive went bad.

I absoultely love the Mac ads though! I have even thought about switching, but converting all my graphic software is just too costly to think about. I know you can run windows on a Mac, but that seems to defeat the purpose of owning a Mac. I did go to the Apple store the other day and was most impressed with the iMac and Leopard. As a graphic designer, the graphics are way sweet! Also love that 24" wide monitor and Spaces...but still have that costly purchasing all new software issue. Still...I'm intrigued.

shaunx · #71 01-23-2008, 06:34 PM

I am searching for the intel mac...i am in doubt that whether it can perform its best in my AMD athlon....

shaunx · #72 01-23-2008, 06:41 PM

The details of my system is
AMD athlon processor 64bit,512ram,2Ghz...

Swampy · #73 01-23-2008, 07:15 PM

T. Paul...

If your major expense would be upgrading Adobe CS, Adobe has a cross grade option whereby you agree to distroy your PC copy and for the cost of shipping they send you the Mac version. It probably assumes you are running CS3.

pixel_monkey · #74 01-23-2008, 08:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shaunx

The details of my system is
AMD athlon processor 64bit,512ram,2Ghz...

No wonder you're having issues with your PC. Your system is built for simple word processing tasks, watch movies, listen to musics, and surf the web...that's all. It can't install Vista. It can't play any decent FPS games. The problem here is not your PC. It just doesn't have enough ram...and i bet it's probably running some economical grade ram. You OS consumes most of the ram if not all just by turning on your computer...and you're trying to run Photoshop and mixing music with it? It gets stuck because all of its available resources get pushed to the roof as soon as you open up Photoshop. You need at least 2 gigs of ram for your purpose. You can get 2 decent gigs of DDR2 ram relatively cheap around $50 these days. Put those 2 gigs of ram in your system and I guarantee you that you're going to see a different in performance. Just make sure you know which type of ram that works with your system.

Gary Richardson · #75 01-24-2008, 03:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Swampy

Gary, CNet has found Macsweeper to be a scam.

Yes, that's exactly what it is, that's what all "rogue apps" are.

However if you're foolish enough to DL it, you'll find they usually come with "extras" you'd rather they didn't.

This method of infection has been used for a long time on PCs, and despite its blatant simplicity you'd be surprised at how many people fall for it.

Don't know whether the Mac one carries a payload or whether they're just trying to hustle the gullible at this stage, but if they're gone as far as to produce a "proof of concept" version (as this seems to be), then it's quite possible that more virulent versions may follow.

Markzebra, if you're happy to stick your head in the sand and say "it's never happened before so it'll never happen in the future" then you're welcome to, personally I've always believed that forewarned is forearmed.