Why Mac if you have PC at home? (Why "Switch"?)

[decelerate]

In Hong Kong, the second hand products do not cost too much. To sell my old PC (Althon 700, Geforce2 MX, Combo drive, 256M Ram) and my new prize (Compaq laptop 1.13G, 14' Mon) is not a way to get a good price. New PC is only cost US$300 with (Althon XP 1.8GHz, 256M DDR, 80 G harddisk, Geforce4), so my old PC... The Compaq laptop would be better but I may get about US$1000. So it is not enough to buy G4 Power Mac. And, more important, I get 70% back if I sell the G4. Therefore, your suggestion is not too good to be applied in Hong Kong.

I can do what I can do in Windows. I am an experienced window user, so I may not realize the productivity gain if I use Mac. I have a friend who is using iMac (old one) with OS9.1. I use his iMac and I found it is not handy as I think and not enough freeware for me to do what I want. E.g. I want to release the IP back to the DHCP server but I can't find any. I have written one in Java and do it. In MS windows, I just type "ipconfig /release". So, it is a bad impression. However, I am attracted by the OS X GUI and Dock. Unix-based adds some points. I think I would try Mac soon but I don't know which one I would buy.

My home lacks of space for new iMac or eMac. It doesn't mean I can put either one at home but it is not as suitable as portable one. I've two laptop, so portable computer is not necessary. I would like to buy iBook because of the affortable price. However, it's a G3 CPU, I think it would fade out soon (January next year but not this month MWNY). Powerbook is out of my budget and it is not worth as my first trial. I decide to wait for MWNY first. I hope I can get one and make me switch. I hope I would be a mac user and never go back to windows. I dream G4 iBook come as soon as possible.

[Annihilatus]

Originally posted by decelerate
I have gave lots of $$ to PC (Software and Hardware). If I switch to Mac, I need to buy a Mac machine (e.g. eMac as a cheap but powerful computer), lots of software that I am using in PC (e.g. Photoshop, Micro$oft office X, JBuilder, Macromedia Flash and Dreamweaver, etc), even some peripherals (e.g. printer because my old printer is using serial port). Is it too EXPENSIVE ? What I gain are somehow productivity, user experience, nice OS, *stability*. Therefore, I am still with my PCs

What do you think?

I think you're absolutely right. I've been looking at the Mac as being my next purchase for a while and have tried very hard to ignore the rants of PC users among me who try to convince me that I'm looking the wrong way.

I don't think anything convinced me to look away from Apple as much as the BeOS article that was posted earlier did. I absolutely agree that there's a lot of power hidden away in our CPU's that is neglected by bloated operating systems. I always wanted BeOS to thrive, I wanted BeOS to replace Windows at the helm. It never did. However, I knew that if BeOS HAD replaced Windows, it would have been because it was a superior operating system.

Imagine that we didn't automatically associate PC vs Mac with Windows vs Mac OS X. Imagine it was BeOS vs Mac OS X. Despite the fact that XP holds its own, BeOS would have outright humiliated OS X.

As such, buying a Mac seems like the decision to migrate from a bad to a mediocre operating system. You're migrating to the lesser of two evils. Nevertheless you're still migrating from steaming shit to dried shit.

I am very disappointed that Palm decided not to continue BeOS. With ex-BeOS heads now controlling Palm, let's hope they retract that decision and give it another go.

Andre

[Annihilatus]

Originally posted by decelerate
I read it all and frequently check the link of "hearing from people who've switched" and "What is the press saying?".

In top 10 reason to switch, I just think the last one "it's beautiful" is the one can convince people. We put our time in the front of the computer, it is very important for its appearance and GUI. Other than that, umm... none of them is not a good reason.

1. The Mac...it just works
With PC and MS windows, it just works too. More important, most of digital devices if not all (iPod) do provides drivers and software for window but may not for Mac. As a general computer, "it just works" is normal.

2. It doesn't crash
Sorry, "it is rarely crashed" maybe better. Even text mode UNIX system would have crashed. I have seen it although it is not frequent. The most importance is that "It" in "It doesnt' crash" is UNIX but not MacOS X. Think about it. Based on UNIX, but it is not only or the same as UNIX.

Well said.

Andre

[symphonix]

I used to spend quite a lot on my PC - regularly upgrading components, replacing parts and so on. Spread out over a year, I was easily spending $100 each month just on hardware for a PC that I already owned.
When I toyed with the idea of switching to mac, the cost was one of my concerns. I have found, though, that this is another area in which Macs are far superior to PCs.
Firstly, they hold their resale value for a much longer period.
Also, they remain useful and productive for many, many years. I've even seen original, 1984 model Macs sell for $300+, and the buyers swear by them, simply because they do their work well, they are perfect for students and non-tech types.
They are reliable and well supported. The quality of manufacture and of the parts used is top-notch.
Macs encourage a different approach to upgrading - instead of spending money on parts, you simply put that money towards more and better equipment and software.

So, I made the switch. My Mac has never crashed in 12 months. Never. Nada. It does everything it is designed to do, and is an absolute pleasure to work with. I would never pay out for another built-from-parts-made-by-the-best-bidder-PC.

[Androo]

I have switched. No, not from Windows to macintosh, but from os 9 to os x. And I am amazed. It hasn't crashed on me once!!!!!!! ok, it did once, but that's because i was screwing around with my mouse, it was broken. All it needed was new batteries. When i went back to os 9 to do a few things (my classic startup is fudged up) it screwed up. I am trying to fix it now. Macintosh is very easy to use, It is affordable, and it uses up NO space on your desk, lap, bed, floor, or wherever you want to put it. Check out the new iMac, it rox!!!!!!!
Well, I hope that you switch, for YOUR sake. For YOU to have a no hassle, fast, affordable, and very satisfying computer.
Later,
"Ziggy".

[MikeMc]

I recently switched, bought a new iBook 700 with 640 MB ram and the 40 Gig harddrive after working with PC's for many years.

I just got tired of the games that MS plays with versions... new version, bloated version, need new hardware, bloat, new, bloat, new, new bloat... Then with XP, and the whole idea of not being in control, I gave up.

I got the ibook, installed Mozilla and I'm through with MS... Appleworks came installed, but once OpenOffice gets stable on OS X platform (under Aqua) I'll upgrade to that, since I'm familiar with it...

So for me it was no more MS, no more MS tax... and no more registering everything, over and over again...

Well, that and the unix core... I love unix, worked on it for the past couple years and run Linux at home as a server on the PC...

[Androo]

listen to this
i installed os x on my computer
i clicked airport and clicked my network
my internet worked

that is sooo much work! hahahaha
i saw my friend hook up the internet on his pc, he spent a few hours on it
it took me less than a second

PCs are just complicated, i don't kno why people use them, it just wastes people's time, they suck for playing games unless you keep buying a new graphics card, more memory, and a bunch of shit, it costs a lot, once again the games suck, once again it costs a lot, it takes forever to get something to work, and they suck.

Macs are really good for games, the best computers for designing says Cnet, stable, fast, affordable, congruent, mistakeless, they recieve intersteller space modules, and they F*cken rock!
Anyone that doesn't like macs are just weird.

[raisinsc]

It would be great if you can switch because I do believe OSX is a better OS w/ its UNIX backbone + stability. But it sounds like you might pay a lot more for software because you use more professional programs.

JBuilder - $300-$3000 (depending on the level)
Photoshop - $600
Dreamweaver - ??
M$ Office - $450

I guess it's up to you since those can be pretty expensive. But it might be worth it if you can get off Windows, and OSX is such a better OS with so much support coming from many commercial companies.