Personal Computers or Mac

[jayadev]

Actually Mac's are also a PC :) but if we have to decide which one to go for then both Mac and IBM based PC's have a very good maket share in the world. I personally feel Mac's are better due to several factors the prime among them are Ease of use and no crashes. Do you also feel like me?

[keith]

So far, I like threads started by jayadev.
For me, PCs the way to go. Not that I have any bias against Mac, but firstly Mac are more expensive, more costly, and hardly free softwares available for download, particularly open source applications.

For PCs, I can also run both Windows and Linux, easily, without any emulators, whereas Mac has to depend on Boot Camp to run either Windows Mac OS X operating systems.

No hard feelings. But if you'd like to ask, Linux can run continuously without reboot for months and perhaps years, as long as power supply is continuous. I have experimented with Debian, and that's cool.

[jayadev]

Thank you Keith. I should have mentioned Linux. I believe Linux operating system is the future. Already most branded PC's are coming with bundled Linux. Linux is already having the equivalent of most software which are available in Windows. So that changes the equation in favour of IBM based PC.

[palefrost]

I avoid mac since im a gamer. I am worried about compatiblity issues so never investigated fully the mac deal.

[proxops-pete]

I'm a gamer as well and thus am a PC owner... but I also detest Macs for being horrid machines back in mid to late 90's for crashing all the time...

[micsaund]

Detesting OS X Macs because of mid-90's experiences is akin to detesting XP because you tried Win3.1 10 years ago and it sucked. ;)

OS X is a dream come true for a *nix user. You have the GUI and the shell for everything and "it just works". I installed Ubuntu on my Dell laptop and the power management is screwy. Sometimes, it comes out of standby, and other times, not. As such, Linux on this laptop is just not something I would consider a reasonable substitute for OS X on hardware "that just works". As I age, "just working" is more important to me as I hate having to dick with computer problems when I'm trying to get something else that's more important done. I'll gladly pay 20% more for a car, computer, or Tivo that "just works" instead of requiring constant tweaking, dicking, and fiddling.

I'm a gamer (for decades) and have used DOS/Win, C64, Amiga, Atari ST, and countless others. It's true that games are more available and higher-featured on Windows these days. However, for getting true, actual "work" done, I much prefer a full featured Unix style shell and apps (you must realize that my work does not involve just Powerpoint or Word as most workers do).

So, I think that a modern Mac would be a great solution, at least for me. I'd use OS X for work and daily surfing/etc. However, a simple reboot would allow running Winbloze to get a bit of gaming. That does not even account for the virtualization that's being worked-on which will (supposedly) allow Win games to run on OS X with near native speed.

Linux is a great solution as long as your hardware works flawlessly, which most laptops cannot be classified as. I also recommend FreeBSD. However, the "anti-Mac" bias that many PC users have is ludicrous (believe me, I work with lots of them in my engineering field at work). There is never going to be a single solution for everyone and to claim that "Mac suxx0rz" as most PC fanboys do, is ignorant and short-sighted. (Honestly, some Mac guys do the same. We all just need to get along!)

Mike

[Gail]

Mac lover. I'm a designer so it's the only way to go. It's made for creativity and, in my opinion, has a far friendlier/intuitive user space. Yes, they are more expensive but then a Ferrari is more expensive than a Mazda. Not that Windows machines are bad, in fact, they are only getting better and I navigate both between clients. Still, where ownership is concerned there is no question for me. It's Mac.

[Case]

I beg to differ "Designer" is a broad term... Architectural designer? PC autocad ect Interior Designer? that can be debatable... Designer in what field?

But what im going to say as Ive said in every other single MAC vs PC thread ever started on here and there's been a few it comes down purely as the right tool for the job. there is some major FanBoi attitude on both sides that will claim that one is better than the other when pure numbers state differently.

For all major adobe apps and the like PRE Intel processor based Macs PC's benchmarked better in fact Adobe had a notice on their very own site stating this clearly. But that has changed post Intel based Mac systems are available now.

But again it really comes down to the right tool for the job. In some cases you just don't have a choice.

For example I am a 3d guy all my application exist by majority on the Windows platform primarily. So 90% of all 3d work takes place there... When it comes to compositing and dynamic work that actually goes both ways equally until it comes to Shake. Because apple purchased Nothing Real and now owns Shake, apple has decided to cancel off the bat the windows version of shake, charge more for the Linux version and developed and extend the OSX platform version. This is where we just dont have the choice.

But now that OSX does in fact run PC hardware I actually Dual boot on all my systems Windows x64, Gentoo Linux, and OSX for this reason. For me personally it does not make financial sense to maintain a whole platform for 2 or 3 software licenses that I can run on my current infrastructure.

This alone makes the difference. One cant say one is better than the other clear out, its just not a argument that can be argued to a end. What can be argued is "whats the better platform for Jane Doe's needs". That is the bottom line because each platform has its pro's and cons, and each platform is NO WHERE NEAR PERFECT...

Detesting OS X Macs because of mid-90's experiences is akin to detesting XP because you tried Win3.1 10 years ago and it sucked. ;)

OS X is a dream come true for a *nix user. You have the GUI and the shell for everything and "it just works". I installed Ubuntu on my Dell laptop and the power management is screwy. Sometimes, it comes out of standby, and other times, not. As such, Linux on this laptop is just not something I would consider a reasonable substitute for OS X on hardware "that just works". As I age, "just working" is more important to me as I hate having to dick with computer problems when I'm trying to get something else that's more important done. I'll gladly pay 20% more for a car, computer, or Tivo that "just works" instead of requiring constant tweaking, dicking, and fiddling.

I'm a gamer (for decades) and have used DOS/Win, C64, Amiga, Atari ST, and countless others. It's true that games are more available and higher-featured on Windows these days. However, for getting true, actual "work" done, I much prefer a full featured Unix style shell and apps (you must realize that my work does not involve just Powerpoint or Word as most workers do).

So, I think that a modern Mac would be a great solution, at least for me. I'd use OS X for work and daily surfing/etc. However, a simple reboot would allow running Winbloze to get a bit of gaming. That does not even account for the virtualization that's being worked-on which will (supposedly) allow Win games to run on OS X with near native speed.

Linux is a great solution as long as your hardware works flawlessly, which most laptops cannot be classified as. I also recommend FreeBSD. However, the "anti-Mac" bias that many PC users have is ludicrous (believe me, I work with lots of them in my engineering field at work). There is never going to be a single solution for everyone and to claim that "Mac suxx0rz" as most PC fanboys do, is ignorant and short-sighted. (Honestly, some Mac guys do the same. We all just need to get along!)

Mike

In this situation i think you are wrong as well.. First let me address the statement you make that OSX is a dream come true for nix users... actually no it isn't. If you know any thing about true *nix users its all about the ability to delve into the kernel, customization, and choices... Lets start with choices... Apple is far from choices... in fact they say your stuck with our hardware and thats final... can you sell our hardware with out being licensed? NO. Can i go do a full custom compile of the OS to my liking? No i cant... I get none of the flexibility i would if i was to go install compile gentoo.. Every GUI feature that exist in OSX i can replicate in any *nix build. This alone makes *nix platform more powerful. But what makes it even better is the kernels super small footprint... Thats what makes *NIX truly a chameleon among OS's and loved by the *nix community.

Yes every one ha their preference and yes i love open office on my gentoo system, in fact im writing this reply in my OpenOffice plug for Mozilla in Gentoo right now. For daily surfing id take *nix any day. Two lines of code i can gank all the photos on a page posted at XXX. Im in a directory with no HTML with a long list of Jpegs i want to browse... again 2 lines of code and im looking at thumbnails in the browser instantly in 2 seconds. Im on amazon.com and on my start page... well i have it rigged so that it pulls from my account and shows current shipments and tracking with my suggested products that amazon suggests for me... completely customized... If i wanted to do this on either Windows OS or OSX OS id have to jump trough several hoops and install several bloat ware programs to get it to work that most likely have a bad memory leak.

And some mac guys do the same? Thats a laugh... because IMO Apple users are worse when it comes to being a fanboi than PC users that i can prove. Ive had people get violent when i did three steps on a PC worked as expected did same three steps on a MAC and worked unpredictably in a single application.

Now as far as gaming goes... well Windows has OSX beat in every shape and form... This was Pre Intel chip based Macs because of mostly hardware why the developers are thin. Very little support 3d Wise and what was there was nothing to be proud about. But now that thats changing more developers are likely to make cross platform games... As far as DirectX 10 based games goes I don't know how that will fair cross platform such as the new unreal but only time will tell.

So far, I like threads started by jayadev.
For me, PCs the way to go. Not that I have any bias against Mac, but firstly Mac are more expensive, more costly, and hardly free softwares available for download, particularly open source applications.

For PCs, I can also run both Windows and Linux, easily, without any emulators, whereas Mac has to depend on Boot Camp to run either Windows Mac OS X operating systems.

No hard feelings. But if you'd like to ask, Linux can run continuously without reboot for months and perhaps years, as long as power supply is continuous. I have experimented with Debian, and that's cool.

I own both but understand... I run OSX on my PC's you can do the same why would you run Windows on a Apple? Makes no sense to me...

[boyzntoyz]

i boot windows from my macbook pro when i need to play games, when i edit my videos its all about my mac

[Case]

the only problem with running win from a mac is that it just don't run memory and processor intensive apps that well like i just said in another thread... gamings one thing but there are other things that make it a bad idea

[thitipong]

for multimedia & vido production, mac is better

[bigbang]

As a designer I'd prefer a mac when using photo editors and design programs. But as a gamer I'd go for a power rig PC. It depends on what you're going to use it for. :cool:

[tomjennings83]

macs are way better for big buisiness stuff and digital animation/creation software development and stuff like that. PC is more small buisiness, home use, and best of all GAMES.

[stocky]

Apple Macbook looks good for me...

[itrush07]

Whatever!!!, Mac or PC its all the same thing!!!! they crushed every now and then because of some kind of software issues!!

[carlosbrolotobar]

PC with UBUNTU and a virtualization of XP and virtualization of MAC :-P

[addyisback]

Well i can say a simple pc with windows .... not mac , there are lots of softwares available for windows like xp,vista but a few for mac....