Is it worth it

[mkynut90]

I am looking at getting a new macbook computer. I was wondering if Mac are worth the money?

 

[catycatcat4]

Nooooo

 

[sc9500]

Of course they are.. go to the apple store and kick the tires.. you wont regret it

 

[darrengs]

To me, no way. To Mac enthusiasts (fanboys/girls ) yes.

 

[Sphyrna]

It's really a personal decision. To me, it's not. But at least now is a good time since they just upgraded them.

 

[dpuck1998]

I have both, I often suggest both to people who ask me. If I were paying cash out of pocket I wouldn't have a mac. I don't think they are worth the premium price for similar hardware. I can fix my own computer though if I have software issues.

 

[disneyholic family]

i think it depends what you want to do with it...

DS has a macbook pro which i'm sure he wouldn't trade in for the greatest PC on the planet...but that's because he does a lot of video editing....
apparently, the mac is very useful for that (i wouldn't know as i've never touched a mac...)

i'm not sure if a mac would be good for me, since i mainly use my computer for microsoft office (mainly Word and Excel)...

 

[Golf4food]

i'm not sure if a mac would be good for me, since i mainly use my computer for microsoft office (mainly Word and Excel)...

You can get Office for Mac.

We love our Mac.

 

[skunkvette]

I just switched over from PC to a MacBook Pro a few weeks ago, and I love it.
Great to travel with, smaller - slimmer - great battery life.

Typing this at the Renaissance Hotel with ADB, first road trip!

Still working on all it can do, but so far it seems to be a lot easier and smoother.

 

[cslittle999]

I think they are worth it regardless if you running OS X or running Windows via BootCamp. Apple makes some of the best hardware particularly when it comes to battery life. I know that my MacBook Pro has at least twice the battery life of my co-workers' Dell laptops. As an aside we've had really bad luck with Dell laptops lately. Their quality control is slipping.

Apple laptop are definitely premium machines. The compare very favorably with other company's premium laptops. If you don't need a premium laptop then an Apple laptop becomes questionable. What other electronics you have should be part of the deciding factor too. If you have iPhones and iPad then there are some things that just work better with OS X.

Personally I'm looking at switching my family to Macs. I find personally that I have fewer software problems with my Macs. I must admit that Windows 7 has been a great leap forward for Microsoft in terms of quality.

 

[trivial]

The answer has more to do with your preference of operating system (ie. Mac vs. Windows). If you prefer Mac, it may well be worth it to you. I don't, and so it's not. It's very much a personal preference though, clearly.

 

[Jonereno]

As a former anti-Mac person, and now a Mac convert (4 years running now), I will echo the 'go into the stores and kick the tires' comment above.

For me and my family, the Macs have been a blessing - no downtime, no viruses, and software that 'just works'.

That being said, I will also echo that they Macbooks are premium hardware and demand a premium price. You will need to decide for yourself if they are worth it.

I do run Microsoft Office on OS X, as my company standardized on Office a long time ago. I have no problems with interoperability with my Windows peers.

I also keep a Windows Virtual Machine running under Parallels. I run Outlook (Entourage is a piece of garbage...) as well as Visio and MS Project. This works perfectly for me.

If you do have an iPhone, iPad and love working with Photos and/or Videos, you'll love OS X and the iLife Suite. I'll say it again... it just works.

Jon

 

[iwrbnd]

I do a lot of video editing on my PC. I keep hearing how easy it is on a mac. What am I missing because I find video editing pretty easy already.

 

[izzie-wizzie]

Im not a video editing expert but i know that there are some video edit software only available for the Mac - overall you can a few things at once on a Mac without it freezing or going much slower like a pc, especially with video edit software / photoshop which can usually really slow a pc down.

for me just the piece of mind with no viruses / speed of starting up all the time makes it worth it for me. i also just love how they look but thats just a silly fashion thing i suppose that I am guilty of!

 

[iwrbnd]

Well, since my PC is now in the shop getting fixed maybe I should start looking at macs!

 

[dpuck1998]

I just switched over from PC to a MacBook Pro a few weeks ago, and I love it.
Great to travel with, smaller - slimmer - great battery life.

Typing this at the Renaissance Hotel with ADB, first road trip!

Still working on all it can do, but so far it seems to be a lot easier and smoother.

you can get a PC in any shape or size or battery life, many equal to and better than the Mac.

Im not a video editing expert but i know that there are some video edit software only available for the Mac - overall you can a few things at once on a Mac without it freezing or going much slower like a pc, especially with video edit software / photoshop which can usually really slow a pc down.

for me just the piece of mind with no viruses / speed of starting up all the time makes it worth it for me. i also just love how they look but thats just a silly fashion thing i suppose that I am guilty of!

Sorry to be argumentative, but PCs are fully capable of doing many things at once. If you need to edit video, photoshop, etc then a high end PC is what you need. I think the issue here is, people get a "home model" PC(laptop) and expect it to run like a 2000 dollar Mac. Get a 2000 laptop and you'll be amazed at what it can do. virus/spyware are another issue, while I agree PCs are on the losing end of this battle, most of it comes down to user error and/or it is usually and easy fix to clean them. That said, I fix them for a living so I don't mind. (BTW, I'm a macbook pro owner, FWIW)

 

[disneyholic family]

you can get a PC in any shape or size or battery life, many equal to and better than the Mac.



Sorry to be argumentative, but PCs are fully capable of doing many things at once. If you need to edit video, photoshop, etc then a high end PC is what you need. I think the issue here is, people get a "home model" PC(laptop) and expect it to run like a 2000 dollar Mac. Get a 2000 laptop and you'll be amazed at what it can do. virus/spyware are another issue, while I agree PCs are on the losing end of this battle, most of it comes down to user error and/or it is usually and easy fix to clean them. That said, I fix them for a living so I don't mind. (BTW, I'm a macbook pro owner, FWIW)

this is kind of off topic, about 6 months ago our pc was killed by a virus....
and just this week, my work laptop was murdered by a virus.....
in both cases, the virus could not be cleaned...

doesn't that also happen with macs? are you telling me that macs are more impervious to viruses than pcs?

 

[dpuck1998]

this is kind of off topic, about 6 months ago our pc was killed by a virus....
and just this week, my work laptop was murdered by a virus.....
in both cases, the virus could not be cleaned...

doesn't that also happen with macs? are you telling me that macs are more impervious to viruses than pcs?

A virus can't KILL your computer. I wipe of the Hard Drive and reinstall of the OS will fix it.

"virus/spyware are another issue, while I agree PCs are on the losing end of this battle,....."

 

[Disney Dad Canada]

this is kind of off topic, about 6 months ago our pc was killed by a virus....
and just this week, my work laptop was murdered by a virus.....
in both cases, the virus could not be cleaned...

doesn't that also happen with macs? are you telling me that macs are more impervious to viruses than pcs?

Asking PC or Mac usually turns out to be like which religion is better. What to buy depends on so many factors. What you are doing with the computer, your computer knowledge (or lack thereof), your budgetary restraints etc.

While technically the Mac OS is slightly less vulnerable to viruses, there is also the philosophy out there that Pcs have more viruses because virus writers want to hit the most computers, and PCs are about 95% of the market.

There's also the fact that you could probably throw out your virus infected PC and buy another one for the cost of one Mac. Sad but true.

So in the end, I would suggest doing some research beforehand, and ask people who are NOT trying to sell you something for advice.

 

[daneenm]

Disclaimer, I have been a loyal Apple employee for 20 years. So, when asked about Macs, rather than rely on my opinion, I always defer to DH.

DH knows all of the ins and out of his PC, he can hunt down and fix any problem. Having said that, when most people ask he recommends Mac. The list of things it does well is out there. However, his argument is on the side of recovering from problems. This is not things like hardware failures, but rather problems that are introduced when software is installed. He often finds himself having to dig in to deeper layers of his configuration to readjust settings that were changed by an app. This is something he feels the casual computer user will find challenging to sort out, causing them to not be as self sufficient as they could be. Having been a tech support guy, he has found this to be the primary source of issues for people calling.

Again, this is for the CASUAL user. If you are a more sophisticated user you may well have this under control.

I suggest you go try one out and see how you like it.