Full Version: mac or pc
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i need another pc for home as i want my laptop solely for disco use,and my other home ones are starting to get dated, and im tempted to get a mac of some description is this a good or bad idea and any advice would be welcome.
bad
The smart choice is a Mac, but everyone and their dog will try to put you off. The mac runs on a unix based operating system which means that it is not prone to the 140,000 or so vulnerabilities, virii, trojans etc... that windows is. In short, it works out of the box, does most things windows does, without the overhead of administering anti-virus, anti-spam, etc...
I have had a mac for 5 years now, I got a new one last year, and NOT ONCE have I had any crashing, virus, etc... I have also converted 3 other friends begrugdingly, and ALL of them regret not having taken the brave step of getting a Mac earlier.
Still, everyone running a PC will now say get a PC....
If you are near Sussex one day, come round, I'll show you what you are missing.
I have had a mac for 5 years now, I got a new one last year, and NOT ONCE have I had any crashing, virus, etc... I have also converted 3 other friends begrugdingly, and ALL of them regret not having taken the brave step of getting a Mac earlier.
Still, everyone running a PC will now say get a PC....
If you are near Sussex one day, come round, I'll show you what you are missing.
Mac it is for me 2! I love my mac and would never go back to Windows. I have word on my mac and that is the only microsoft program that I ever need (people send me stuff in word format alot). I have never had a problem with crashing etc either.
Gav
Gav
| QUOTE (brianmole @ Jun 28 2005, 08:59 AM) |
| Still, everyone running a PC will now say get a PC.... |
I use a PC and say "get a Mac" LOL.
Seriously though - what Brian says is correct - Macs have many advantages over PC's as he has stated. I use a mixture at work and the Macs are far less trouble. PCs generally have more software options available but you can get everything you need for the job on a Mac.
Pros and cons on both sides.
Cheers,
Jack.
Its a bit like VHS verus Betamax (we'll explain that to the young'uns).
In the technical specs Betamax won easily in terms of picture quality and sound quality, yet the VHS format won the "whats under the TV" battle. (in a very clever piece of marketing, rather than technical ability)
With standardisations such as USB and IEEE1394 (Firewire) meaning that peripheral firms no longer have to make a PC version and a separate Mac version, there are fewer hurdles today, for people wanting to go down the Mac route.
Software application compatibility/availability would be my remaining concern. eg: A stunning title that comes out on PC, not being available on Mac.
In the technical specs Betamax won easily in terms of picture quality and sound quality, yet the VHS format won the "whats under the TV" battle. (in a very clever piece of marketing, rather than technical ability)
With standardisations such as USB and IEEE1394 (Firewire) meaning that peripheral firms no longer have to make a PC version and a separate Mac version, there are fewer hurdles today, for people wanting to go down the Mac route.
Software application compatibility/availability would be my remaining concern. eg: A stunning title that comes out on PC, not being available on Mac.
What is the difference in price and applications, I presume Ots wouldn't run on a Mac, as all MS applications, I alsi guess instea of MS Outlook/Excel/PPT etc you get the mac equivelant, OK until you need to do something that need MS as it is the standard.
Powerpoint presentatins
Word docs
Excel etc
Powerpoint presentatins
Word docs
Excel etc
| QUOTE |
| What is the difference in price and applications, I presume Ots wouldn't run on a Mac, as all MS applications, I alsi guess instea of MS Outlook/Excel/PPT etc you get the mac equivelant, OK until you need to do something that need MS as it is the standard. Powerpoint presentatins Word docs Excel etc |
I have bought Microsoft Office for OS X (mac os) which has:
Word
Excel
Powerpoint
Entourage (equivalent of outlook)
OTS will run through a windows emulator if you insist on using it, but as centrestage-entertainments said
"Ii need another pc for home as i want my laptop solely for disco use", I assume he will not be using OTSthingy on his home system.
I bought TraktorDJ which runs on OS X and windows, that is an excellent app if you want to DJ on a Mac.
The only downside is you pay a little more for a Mac, but the pricing is getting more and more competitive.
So Brian, if I send you an e.mail from MS Outlook, and it has two attachements, one is a MS Word document, the other is a MS Excel document, you can open as usual in you Mac ?
Also I have 4 OTS licence, one is for my own laptop, I don't use it but it is a back up for my back ups therefore I have a copy on all my laptops, but reading the above I could do this on my Mac
So you are talking me around until.....................
My P4 3.06 has a 60GB Hard drive, 1024RAM Memory, it costs me about £400
I have installed about 10 MS applications, including Antivirus
, Cool Edit Pro, Ots, MS Office (I need Word, Excel Frontpage and PPT), which I guess Mac do the same ?
So if I wanted the same spec Mac as I have now (P4 3.06) how much roughly do I need to spend ?
One last point people don't hire Macs, only PC's.
Also I have 4 OTS licence, one is for my own laptop, I don't use it but it is a back up for my back ups therefore I have a copy on all my laptops, but reading the above I could do this on my Mac
So you are talking me around until.....................
My P4 3.06 has a 60GB Hard drive, 1024RAM Memory, it costs me about £400
I have installed about 10 MS applications, including Antivirus
, Cool Edit Pro, Ots, MS Office (I need Word, Excel Frontpage and PPT), which I guess Mac do the same ?So if I wanted the same spec Mac as I have now (P4 3.06) how much roughly do I need to spend ?
One last point people don't hire Macs, only PC's.
| QUOTE |
| So Brian, if I send you an e.mail from MS Outlook, and it has two attachements, one is a MS Word document, the other is a MS Excel document, you can open as usual in you Mac ? |
Yes, and I can also send you an email with a .doc and a .xls attached which you will be able to open
YIPEE!
| QUOTE |
| Also I have 4 OTS licence, one is for my own laptop, I don't use it but it is a back up for my back ups therefore I have a copy on all my laptops, but reading the above I could do this on my Mac |
There is a PC windows emulator which you can buy to run windows apps on a mac, but it costs.
| QUOTE |
| So you are talking me around until..................... My P4 3.06 has a 60GB Hard drive, 1024RAM Memory, it costs me about £400 I have installed about 10 MS applications, including Antivirus rolleyes.gif , Cool Edit Pro, Ots, MS Office (I need Word, Excel Frontpage and PPT), which I guess Mac do the same ? |
I refer the honourable gent to my previous answers. Don't think there is frontpage for the mac, I use Macromedia Contribute, but there are others. Don't know about Cool edit either, but Garage Band comes on the mac as standard, there are loads of other music editing/creation apps too.
| QUOTE |
| So if I wanted the same spec Mac as I have now (P4 3.06) how much roughly do I need to spend ? |
| QUOTE |
| One last point people don't hire Macs, only PC's. |
Huh? So what? Centrestage wants a home machine. Do you hire your home PC then? I beleive ATS or Hamilton hire out Macs.
If someone wants to hire my PC, it goes out mate !!!
cheers brian,
when i get a spare five minutes later in the week i will go and have a look and a play in the shop then go home and get it online.
when i get a spare five minutes later in the week i will go and have a look and a play in the shop then go home and get it online.
can i add somthing to this debate....
Why would you want to spend EXtra money on PC hardware just becuase its got apple on the BOX....
If you want the UNIX style OS then put SUSE linux on a PC..
A mac is a Power pc but thats all about to end as intel have signed a deal with apple to supply a special version of the x86 style pentium to power the new apple systems...
there is nothing wrong with Windows XP, its used by more people than any other OS....
my back ground means i am able to use mac pc or unix. and i think that as good as the idea of a mac is , its not going to last long and is way too over priced....
Why would you want to spend EXtra money on PC hardware just becuase its got apple on the BOX....
If you want the UNIX style OS then put SUSE linux on a PC..
A mac is a Power pc but thats all about to end as intel have signed a deal with apple to supply a special version of the x86 style pentium to power the new apple systems...
there is nothing wrong with Windows XP, its used by more people than any other OS....
my back ground means i am able to use mac pc or unix. and i think that as good as the idea of a mac is , its not going to last long and is way too over priced....
Looked at Linux awhile back, is it any good, can I put MS application on it like the Mac ?
In general you cant run MS applications on Linux but there are
several different application suites that can be used to edit
MS files.
We start our students off on PC's then force them to use
Linux once they understand the basics.
For home use you're better off using a Mac than Linux unless
you want to learn about systems admin - the Mac provides
support for the MS applications and the BSD Unix underlying
OS X is well hidden.
I dont want to give advice on which one to choose because
it's like comparing apples and oranges. If you just want to
run Office applications on a reliable hardware platform then
Macs are excellent - they're more of an investment and I have
a tendency to use them longer before replacement than with
a PC. But I usually advise people to buy an X Box or other
specialist piece of kit for anything other than office use (eg PC
for DJing etc).
Cheers, Chris.
several different application suites that can be used to edit
MS files.
We start our students off on PC's then force them to use
Linux once they understand the basics.
For home use you're better off using a Mac than Linux unless
you want to learn about systems admin - the Mac provides
support for the MS applications and the BSD Unix underlying
OS X is well hidden.
I dont want to give advice on which one to choose because
it's like comparing apples and oranges. If you just want to
run Office applications on a reliable hardware platform then
Macs are excellent - they're more of an investment and I have
a tendency to use them longer before replacement than with
a PC. But I usually advise people to buy an X Box or other
specialist piece of kit for anything other than office use (eg PC
for DJing etc).
Cheers, Chris.
| QUOTE |
| way too over priced. |
not really, it's like quality DJs - you pay for what you get.
| QUOTE |
| there is nothing wrong with Windows XP |
Pobably not, just the huge amount of virri, vulnerabilities, trojans, etc that mean the average bod (not you Marc) find it difficult to administer and keep on top of.
Perhaps Mr Kidd or Mr Brown would like to share their recent experiences on their windows PCs.
Linux is cool, worth a look at chaps...
Perhaps Mr Kidd or Mr Brown would like to share their recent experiences on their windows PCs.
Linux is cool, worth a look at chaps...
SUSE linux pro 9.2 retail boxed.... everything you will ever need and more
| QUOTE (brianmole @ Jun 28 2005, 11:50 AM) |
| I refer the honourable gent to my previous answers. Don't think there is frontpage for the mac, I use Macromedia Contribute, but there are others. Don't know about Cool edit either, but Garage Band comes on the mac as standard, there are loads of other music editing/creation apps too. |
I'm almost completely certain that Cooledit is a Windows-only package. I also think that it's now an Adobe product (Audition, I think), which is Windows-only too. But there are other packages for the Mac which were already mentioned (like GarageBand, which you get for free with new Macs).
My experience in these sort of questions is that you'll be as confused (or more confused) after getting the answers as you were when you started! I'd really suggest that you go off and get some "hands on" time to see which you prefer. Note that often the high street stores aren't that clued up about Mac's, so perhaps go to a local AppleCentre (if there's one near you) to ask them.
My personal preference is for Mac's, but that's entirely down to my set of requirements. I use it mainly for web development stuff and music (plus a few other things, like organising my digital photos) and it's ideal for me. If I was going to use it for Office-type stuff, I'd install Microsoft Office (or maybe OpenOffice - haven't checked it out recently), but I don't do that at the moment.
If you need to play the latest games, that's an area where there can be quite a delay between a game appearing on the PC and then appearing on the Mac, so that might be an issue for you.
| QUOTE (DJ Marky Marc @ Jun 28 2005, 12:54 PM) |
| If you want the UNIX style OS then put SUSE linux on a PC.. A mac is a Power pc but thats all about to end as intel have signed a deal with apple to supply a special version of the x86 style pentium to power the new apple systems... there is nothing wrong with Windows XP, its used by more people than any other OS.... my back ground means i am able to use mac pc or unix. and i think that as good as the idea of a mac is , its not going to last long and is way too over priced.... |
The point about the Unix side of the Mac, is that it's there but you don't need to know about it unless you really want to. Whereas with a Linux system, you need a lot more understanding, particularly if you are on the Internet (it can be quite easy to leave yourself exposed to attack).
The thing I like is that when I'm working on web sites, I've got the Unix underpinnings, so I can develop on my own machine in an environment pretty similar to my web host's. But at the same time, I've got access to desktop applications like PhotoShop.
The Intel thing isn't planned to ship, I think, until 2007 and I can't see it actually making much difference to most people - Apple will try to keep the "user experience" the same. It might actually have a benefit in bringing games to the Mac faster.
I don't understand what you mean about "not going to last long". Macs have been around for over 20 years and show no signs of disappearing.
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