Apple or Windows? Which is better?

[lilbandit]

I prefer os x to windows but I still feel that the majority of problems with Windows are due to reticence from your average user. Not installing patches, downloading and installing anything with a .exe extension, opening every dodgy e-mails, not using adequate anti-virus software. Anybody who comes to me with the stories of woe from XP can usually be traced to e-mails and filesharing. My powerbook hinge broke a month or so ago so I'm in the market for a laptop. I really like those thinkpads...

[Scottfab]

I actually did build my own custom PC. It'd be nice if you could install OSX on something like that, rather than depending on their own PowerMacs.

I actually first noticed the "safely remove" thing when I had to play iPod transfer from my mac to my pc. But its still a bother that if I dont unmount my usb drive, it doesnt work right the next time I plug it in until I restart.

[nixgeek]

Originally Posted by Scottfab

I actually did build my own custom PC. It'd be nice if you could install OSX on something like that, rather than depending on their own PowerMacs.

I actually first noticed the "safely remove" thing when I had to play iPod transfer from my mac to my pc. But its still a bother that if I dont unmount my usb drive, it doesnt work right the next time I plug it in until I restart.

So then you would be better served with a PowerMac system instead of the others. But even with a PowerMac tower, you would barely have the need to upgrade much since everything is already covered. And if there was a Mac OS X for x86, it would be similiary plagued with hardware compatibility issues as Windows is, defeating the purpose of the Macintosh. Besides, you can always download Darwin for x86 and you would have the UNIX available to you in Mac OS X, sans the eye candy.

I love building PCs, but there are times when a Mac would better serve me just to get the job done. This past weekend I had to use Windows Movie Maker on my Athlon system. I have everything configured properly (heck, I do this for a living). Yet Movie Maker kept crashing every 5 minutes, and didn't allow me to do exactly what I wanted, meaning I had to rely on workarounds that sort of did what I wanted. I wouldn't have had to worry about this on a Mac with iMovie. Heck, I'm even using an old Motorola StarMax with Mac OS 9 for my sequencing because the same program that is available for Windows sucks nuts. (I am speaking of an old program called Master Tracks Pro..works beautifully on the Mac, mediocre on Windows). That same Motorola Mac clone has PCI slots and I've got a USB card in there that's detected flawlessly under Linux, as well as a Voodoo3 2000 card that I flashed for use on my Mac.

the problem here is that one has to stop looking as the Mac from a Windows perspective. Otherwise, you'll be disappointed. Same goes for anything else. Open yourself up to the new experience and learn from it. You'll begin to enjoy it for what it is, not for what it's not compared to something else. I've used Mac OS 9, X, Linux, and Windows (all versions), and I have to say that I feel least comfortable with Windows. Not because I thought it should be like something else, but because compared to everything else on its own merit, it couldn't hold a candle.

[Scottfab]

Mac seems designed for graphics, movie, or music professionals. I'm just a casual end user. This is my college laptop. Web browsing, email, word processing, dvd watching, cd burning, chatting, the occasional game-playing, and if I ever get back into doing it, maybe even some photoshop tinkering. I dont seem like the user who needs a mac. It just seemd with my research that the powerbooks were the best notebooks on the market.

[Viro]

No offense, but I think you seem to be missing the point. You don't need a Mac for graphics, design or music production. That's beside the point. What you're using the Mac for at the moment, that's what it's designed for. It's not like you had to perform some great hack just to get it to browse the web, watch DVDs, etc. It did that pretty much out of the box.

This is where the Mac excels at, especially for the casual non-technical user. The computer experience becomes much more enjoyable. They no longer have to worry about spyware or viruses. Macs don't suddenly become slower over time because the proper maintenance tasks weren't run. All their files are usable on the Mac too which eases migration. Things just work out of the box and normally play well together.

But if you want to persist in claiming that the Mac is specifically designed for certain markets, you need to add scientific research and application development to that .

[starfox99]

All I know is, I've been using Macs since '84. We had one in school, early days, and I've been using them since. OS9 was great, but it had it's problems. Only been on OSX for about 6 months now, and IMHO Apple have really reached the top with a beautiful-to-use OS. I'd find it extremely difficult to go back to using OS9 let alone Windows.

I've just bought a G5 20" Imac for home, and have a Dual 2G G5 at work (and yes, okay, I'm a graphic designer for television). Both machines worked straight from the box, I had my Imac out and on my Broadband in about half an hour.
I just recently bought an Airport card for my G5 in work, there was a nice neat little slot in there for the card, it previously wasn't connected to t'internet. I installed it and was connected in about three quarters of an hour. We have a Dell PC and 2 laptops running off the Belkin wireless router, they took about a week to get sorted out on the wireless network.

My work colleague who I've known for 15 years and is an electronic engineer, the same guy who used to slag me off for using Macs, has just bought an Ipod AND a Mac Mini for home. He just had a baby, and wanted to send some DVDs to his family in America. He had the DVDs posted off about 3 days after he got his Mac, and he never shuts up about it now.

I plug my camera in and import all my photos into IPhoto and email to family and friends. I got all my familys old 8mm cine films transferred onto MiniDV, took it into IMovie, then authored it onto DVD with IDVD, as a xmas present for my parents. I listen to the wierdest radio stations on ITunes, and have every CD in the house on my harddisk, which is basically a big jukebox. I have loads of little shareware utilities like 'Name that Itune'. I easily update my software through Software Update. I play Call of Duty and World of Warcraft online. I have a Wireless Gamepad connected to the Imac. I was having problems with some Video Card drivers in work this week, because I installed OS10.3.9 (not Apple's fault, I hasten to add, fault of the third party manufacturers for not updating), so I spent a couple of hours reinstalling my factory disks, then updating back to 10.3.8 and it was so simple. Have you ever tried doing something like that on Windows? Neither have I and the thought makes me shiver!

I could go on... but the main reason I, and I'm speaking solely for myself but I know many will agree with me, use Apple is because it just FEELS right!

That is the end of my sermon!

[fryke]

I'm still unsure whether this discussion is healthy in any way. Should we simply close the thread? Or not? We all know that there are different opinions out there (and in here), we all know that there are points for and against each operating system - and at the end of the day everyone has to choose for themselves, really. I personally wouldn't want to live with all the security issues Windows has been having in the past decade, but if someone else wants to: Why not...

But to jump from one argument to another (games, graphics, OS, look & feel, etc.) doesn't bring this discussion anywhere, I believe. We'll hear more pro-statements and will hear more contra-statements, but is scottfab really willing to change his mind? And are YOU? I don't think so.

So the question, for me, still is: Is this thread in any way worth to stay open for discussion?

[Viro]

Close it. Anything that needs to be said has been said a hundred times over. On this thread, and on the gazillion other similar threads on the Internet.