Apple vs PC

[chrismiss56]

Thanks for everyones opinions.........you have given me alot to think about. I just know that I will never buy a Dell again. I have had to strip and rebuild them twice taking 12 hours and being bounced around the world, speaking with people who couldn't understand me and I was challenged to understand them.

I will probably give the Mac a chance and see what happens

Have a Magical Disney Day!!

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

Thanks for everyones opinions.........you have given me alot to think about. I just know that I will never buy a Dell again. I have had to strip and rebuild them twice taking 12 hours and being bounced around the world, speaking with people who couldn't understand me and I was challenged to understand them.

I will probably give the Mac a chance and see what happens

Have a Magical Disney Day!!

I'm a former Dell user. I originally started buying them because they were a Texas company. I stopped using them, when my Texas-based computer company's support routed me to Bangladesh. I had one fool tell me I had a virus and had me totally reformat my hard drive, only to find out it was a bad keyboard.

One thing I can say about Apple, is their support team rocks. And they're here in America. That alone is a good reason to with Apple, because I don't care how good your computer is, when something goes wrong and you can't understand a word tech support says, you're SOL.

 

[DISUNC]

Thanks for your detailed response!

disunc (although you lost me at the UNC part. Blue Devil here!) .

UNC is short for Uncle! Neices & Nephews have me 'pegged' for Disney nut!

I only run the programs I actually use on the Mac. No extra firewalls, no big anti virus programs slowing things down. No need to clear out spy ware types of boogers that seemed to always get picked up on pc. I have not needed to buy any software, other than Office because a Mac plugs in out of the box and just works and comes with all the things I needed. No setting up the new computer to our network, it did it itself. (My Mac is one of the gifted children aparantly ).

I do run a free Virus software each day automatically...no slow up whatsoever. Otherwise I have the same experience as you with PC. I will say PC has become MUCH better with all the set up stuff.

If something does get hung up, which is quite infrequent, I push the Apple key and can force quit just that item. No shutting down the computer. If I do ever restart, following an update, the Mac is ready again immediately. PC took forever to restart and reload all the programs. With Mac, everything is there and ready to go--fast.

maybe 3 mins total for my laptop to reset, when needed.

My kids can make dvd movies very easily from our video camera. No new software required. They plug the camera in, grab some music from itunes, edit and burn a dvd movie of a family vacation in no time flat. Great editing features available to make very professional looking things for school..

Ok this is not EZ to do on PC. This is very cumbersome to do pn a PC, depending on which software you use. I never do it. I do send pics through email, that is EZ to do.

Everything works together. I can drag and drop a photo into email, or an email into something else. I can take a quick photo in the photobooth and one click send it to my family without ever getting out of the chair...

See above answer!

PC's can do all that, I'm sure, but even with trying to get music onto an mp3 player seemed a chore. I never figured out how to get a song from one place to another, then on to the player. I got an ipod, the mac, and everything really just works. ...

This is a PAIN to do on PC! However I blame this on the Itunes software. I do find that very "unintuitive" to use on a PC. Mac term of 'Uploading" is what I would call "Downloading"..etc! And to place a song on your Ipod, the DEFAULT set is to wipe everythingelse off! When I first bought a Ipod, it took me & a coworker (about 50 years of total IT experience) about 5 hours to figure out HOW to do this.

I'm sure you were hoping for responses related to how operating systems worked, the technical aspects, or speed and programming kinds of questions. Those, I can't help with. But I do know that the Mac is a lot more stable than any PC I've had, I can call Apple and not talk to someone in India, and they always answer my question right out of the gate. I don't need to call much because everything is so easy and there is a help button at the top that will help on the specific item you are on at the time-no searching for answers through layers of files.

I never had to call Tech Support regarding this $429 Laptop either! Thankfully! The only calls I ever made was to my internet provider.

 

[DISUNC]

Where do you live that you "never seen a mac"? It's a 'gotta be tried' to believe thing.

Since 1990...North East PA! We are just starting now to get National Flagship stores here. They are Building a Best Buy as I type! Very under-developed here...HEY I just got Digital HD connection in February of this year! (and I live in the populated 'urban section" near a college & hospital)

However before 1990 (before PC) I lived in NYC, and have always worked in either NYC or Northern NJ. The closest MAC store is 50 miles from me in a MAll. I very rarely go to Malls....and never drive 50 miles to go to one.

Its funny, I just never ever seen a MAC in use!!!!!!! I work for Financial Houses. Very boring stuff going on there!

 

[Fitswimmer]

I just went Mac a couple of months ago, and I'm never going back. I've had Compaq's, I've had HP's and I've had Dells-and I have wanted to throw every single one of them out a window and jump up and down on them repeatedly until they were ground into dust. Since I've had the Mac, working on a computer has been..gasp...FUN! I second everything mentioned above in Green Tea's post, I find the Mac works the way I think. "Gee, I'd like to send these pictures to Mom and Dad and write about my trip to NYC around it"...open Pages, write my description and drag and drop the photos right into the text!! The words just wrap around it!! I'm lousy with birthdays-forget them all the time, so let's put everyone's birthday right in my address book. Put them in my address book and migrate them to my calendar-and I can send both calendar and address book to my iPod so they're both with me at all times and I only had to enter them once. I can even have the iPod and the iMac remind me a month, a week or a day before so I can get a card made!

I've only had it for a couple of months, so I'm barely scratching the surface of what this thing can do and I'm enjoying the heck out of the learning process. I also recommend the One on One classes HIGHLY. It's $99 for a year of personal training and assistance with projects. Very worth the money.

 

[KnJ]

maybe it is the Mac commercials. The only time I stop my DVR during commercials is to watch a Mac advertisement.

 

[Whedonist]

maybe it is the Mac commercials. The only time I stop my DVR during commercials is to watch a Mac advertisement.

Aren't the Mac commercials great? I like the one where they're in therapy. "I think you need to start coming in twice a week."
Apple has always had interesting advertising.

 

[Laura]

Thats what I am talking about!!!!

Maybe its the 'techy" in me but I need to know WHY the Macs are better? This is something that I have never been able to have explained to me.

I agree with the poster above, I rarely ever heard of a MAC person going back to PC. But as I said, I NEVER seen a MAC (other than on their website)...I just dont know why its considered better.

They're not really better or worse, just more expensive and you can't build your own desktop (which is what I have my DH do with my PC). Some people like the interfaces better and it works better for them. Just another option, really.

 

[ChrisnSteph]

Another great reason to go with Mac is if you're a photographer. Aperture and iPhoto are fantastic photo organizing/basic editing programs, and are far superior to anything you can get on a PC. I agree with what others have already said, Macs just make sense! They're just easier and less fussy then PCs. Plus, they're just cool. The following link is a good and easy read on Macs are so freakin' awesome. It answers a lot of common questions (and myths):

http://www.kenrockwell.com/apple/why-pros-use-mac.htm

 

[tropical depression]

 

[dcentity2000]

That about sums it up!

You don't even need the wires to the keyboard and mouse if you go for the bluetooth ones



Rich::

 

[arminnie]

Maybe its the 'techy" in me but I need to know WHY the Macs are better? This is something that I have never been able to have explained to me.

That's the way I feel too. I have a Mac sitting in the den that I rarely use. My dad does use it a lot to play solitaire.

I've used PCs for almost 25 years. Pre and early windows I have to agree that the Apple products were much easier to use. DOS was ridiculous.

Very often "niche" software will only support PCs. For example I use a software program to edit and digitize embroidery designs for a Janome machine - no Mac support offered. Not a big demand for this - probably wouldn't affect many of you, but it affects me a lot.

Another example - Southwest Airlines Ding bargain fare alerts did not support Macs until just a few months ago.

Maybe with special software, OS mode, etc. the Mac could be used. But doesn't that defeat the purpose of how easy the Mac is to use if you have to do cartwheels to maybe get an application to work.

My sister is a total Mac devotee - she is on her 5th or 6th Mac. But she is always having to come over and do something on the PC that she can't do on the Mac. About 18 months ago it was the Ikea kitchen design software that could only be accessed on a PC. (may have been upgraded by now). And she's had so many Macs because something is always going wrong with them.

If I did digital editing for films I'm sure I would use a Mac. But I don't.

 

[Laura]

That's the way I feel too. I have a Mac sitting in the den that I rarely use. My dad does use it a lot to play solitaire.

I've used PCs for almost 25 years. Pre and early windows I have to agree that the Apple products were much easier to use. DOS was ridiculous.

Very often "niche" software will only support PCs. For example I use a software program to edit and digitize embroidery designs for a Janome machine - no Mac support offered. Not a big demand for this - probably wouldn't affect many of you, but it affects me a lot.

Another example - Southwest Airlines Ding bargain fare alerts did not support Macs until just a few months ago.

Maybe with special software, OS mode, etc. the Mac could be used. But doesn't that defeat the purpose of how easy the Mac is to use if you have to do cartwheels to maybe get an application to work.

My sister is a total Mac devotee - she is on her 5th or 6th Mac. But she is always having to come over and do something on the PC that she can't do on the Mac. About 18 months ago it was the Ikea kitchen design software that could only be accessed on a PC. (may have been upgraded by now). And she's had so many Macs because something is always going wrong with them.

If I did digital editing for films I'm sure I would use a Mac. But I don't.

That's a really good perspective on the Mac's downsides for an everyday user. My DH is in IT and has to spend inordinate amounts of time with Macs doing what would be quick fixes for a PC.

And you're absolutely right about film editing. Apparently Final Cut is great. But then, there's Avid too.