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Mac or PC?

End of Rine said:
That's not really the point, I just don't like how they look. I prefer the cold, sleekness of a case such as this http://www.overclockercafe.com/Reviews/cases/CoolerMaster_Scout/pics/1000.jpg

Rather than a mac. As I've said, it doesn't really influence my decision much but it is in no way a selling point for me.
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Not that it's relevant anymore, but that's a case I find ugly.
I pointed out the non-whiteness because in case you didn't realise the current Macs look different you might unknowingly like them.

Also, since you're posting this in the iMac-section, alot of people like to have an all-in-one. Apple isn't the only one producing all-in-one's anymore, and I don't think this will matter alot to you, but to me having a screen on my desk beats having a screen + a tower.
 
@OP: it sounds like you don't need a Mac. Get a Windows machine. Enjoy.


And it sounds like your mind was made up when you started this thread, too, but whatever.
 
Having been a PC (windows) user pretty much all my life (i'm 30) and now turned to an iMac. I don't ever want to go near a PC again.

Everything seems like it was designed for mac. E.g if you think chrome is good on windows its incredible on osx as goes with other windows based applications. Its as if more effort has been put in. Bit like polishing your car. You will do a good job on your VW but if you had a ferrari you would put in that extra effort that it deserves.

Magic Trackpad also deserves a mention because of the gestures that go with it. its a joy to interact with you PC without having the constant need to move the curser around the screen.

Your main concern should be upgrading. I re-built my windows machine and i know that apart from the ram the rest is pretty much out of my hands. Good thing is, i don't need to as the macs run pretty quick without the need to upgrade.

None of the above is probably helpful but thats why i like my iMac.
 
You have come on a Mac based forum and asked whether to buy a Mac or a PC? :rolleyes:

Buy a PC.
 
End of Rine said:
The thing is, I have worked with one and I personally find a lot of it is exactly that, more work. If anything I find it harder to do anything advanced in OS X. If I want to do anything advanced at all I either have to give up or jump through a tonne of loopholes.
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Such as?

There's nothing wrong with DOS, it was good for it's time and yes, if I wanted to do something within it's capabilities I could do so without complaining.
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There is a lot wrong with DOS. It is not intuitive at all, hence the invention of a GUI. If someone makes a command line OS now, they will fail misserably, and for good reason.

And it is not about just getting things done, it is about getting them done in the best way possible. OS X wins there.

Either way, I think I have made my point. If you do not see it, or do not agree, just go with PC. It seems very clear to us that this is and already was your opinion. The best way to figure out what you want is to work with them yourself. You have, so I have no idea what you expect to hear that will change your mind. Hidden features perhaps? :p
 
End of Rine said:
The thing is, I have worked with one and I personally find a lot of it is exactly that, more work. If anything I find it harder to do anything advanced in OS X. If I want to do anything advanced at all I either have to give up or jump through a tonne of loopholes.
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I'm not really an advanced user as you could've seen from earlier posts, but when I switched I didn't even realise I was learning a new OS. It all felt natural to me. However when I now visit my parents I (shamingly) have to ask THEM how stuff works on occasion.

Also, the mildly editing things that I did do were astoundingly simple, but I might have felt the same on a Windows PC, dunno about that.
 
ShiftyGray said:
There is a lot wrong with DOS. It is not intuitive at all, hence the invention of a GUI. If someone makes a command line OS now, they will fail misserably, and for good reason.
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The reason being that it would be outdated. Back then it was fine.

ShiftyGray said:
And it is not about just getting things done, it is about getting them done in the best way possible. OS X wins there.
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Once again, there's no examples you've given me. If I want to access my downloads folder, I open my computer, click the sidebar named "Downloads" and I'm there. If I want to convert an .mp3 to .wav, I right click on the file and use DBPowerAmp to convert it. If I want to convert a movie file, I open SVP, choose my settings and encode it. So far all I've seen is that OS X offers a different way, not necessarily a better way.

ShiftyGray said:
It seems very clear to us that this is and already was your opinion.
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I find it insulting that you would consider that, especially since I came to a mac forum to ask about a product instead of just going with a PC as you implied.

ShiftyGray said:
The best way to figure out what you want is to work with them yourself.
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I'm not sure if you realise this, but you're saying the only way to learn to like it is to buy it, when the point of me asking is to find out what I should buy, I don't want to blow ~$1,000 on something I end up not liking because of various reasons.
 
End of Rine said:
The reason being that it would be outdated. Back then it was fine.
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Nope, but back then they didn't have anything better.

Once again, there's no examples you've given me.
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I have.

I find it insulting that you would consider that, especially since I came to a mac forum to ask about a product instead of just going with a PC as you implied.
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I am like, soooooo sorry.

I'm not sure if you realise this, but you're saying the only way to learn to like it is to buy it, when the point of me asking is to find out what I should buy, I don't want to blow ~$1,000 on something I end up not liking because of various reasons.
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I am not sure if you realize this, but you already said that you tried it. My point was that if you can't see it, which you don't, go for a PC. OS X's qualities are lost on you.

Besides, for those who do not have access to one, there are the Apple Stores.
 
Benefits over Windows:

Built in Cisco VPN. Windows requires extra software.

Built in Exchange integration. Windows requires Office, which BTW isn't free.

MacPorts package manager available.

Nice Unix terminal, Windows terminal is just plain embarrasing and cygwin is frustating when you're used to it just working seamlessly with the OS.

A non-cluttered System Preferences panel. The Windows Control Panel is hard to find stuff in, but at least they've created a search function in 7. On the other hand, a search function really shouldn' t be necessary.

OS X doesn't treat my like an idiot by telling me everything it's doing with popups or by giving me friendly "suggestions" when I'm trying to work. If OS X wants to make note of some sort of event, it puts it in the log like it's supposed to.

...and of course user friendlyness, looks, trackpad etc. but you don't want to hear about that ;)

For your needs, however, I recommend a PC. I mainly use mine for coding which is a different use case altogether.
 
macsmurf said:
Benefits over Windows:

Built in Cisco VPN. Windows requires extra software.

Built in Exchange integration. Windows requires Office, which BTW isn't free.

MacPorts package manager available.

Nice Unix terminal, Windows terminal is just plain embarrasing and cygwin is frustating when you're used to it just working seamlessly with the OS.

A non-cluttered System Preferences panel. The Windows Control Panel is hard to find stuff in, but at least they've created a search function in 7. On the other hand, a search function really shouldn' t be necessary.

OS X doesn't treat my like an idiot by telling me everything it's doing with popups or by giving me friendly "suggestions" when I'm trying to work. If OS X wants to make note of some sort of event, it puts it in the log like it's supposed to.

...and of course user friendlyness, looks, trackpad etc. but you don't want to hear about that ;)

For your needs, however, I recommend a PC. I mainly use mine for coding which is a different use case altogether.
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Thank you. This is the sort of answer I was looking for.

After considering things, I think I will continue with getting a PC mainly because of raw processing power and cooling and because I don't see a significant benefit in switching, but thank you for the input.

PS: Open Office is essentially a free version of Microsoft Office.
 
End of Rine said:
Thank you. This is the sort of answer I was looking for.

After considering things, I think I will continue with getting a PC, but thank you for the input.

PS: Open Office is essentially a free version of Microsoft Office.
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I would have put my house on it. :p

Next stop the iPhone and why you should get one over any other phone but you're not interested in iOS or the design or the appstore and you don't care about using it as an mp3 player :D
 
MonkeySee.... said:
I would have put my house on it. :p

Next stop the iPhone and why you should get one over any other phone but you're not interested in iOS or the design or the appstore and you don't care about using it as an mp3 player :D
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Hah, I'm already happy with my android. I do have an iPod touch, however. I mainly use it for internet browsing and a little bit of music. Damn shame safari keeps crashing whenever I change tabs in the browser. It works well enough for now, however.
 
End of Rine said:
Thank you. This is the sort of answer I was looking for.

After considering things, I think I will continue with getting a PC mainly because of raw processing power and cooling and because I don't see a significant benefit in switching, but thank you for the input.

PS: Open Office is essentially a free version of Microsoft Office.
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Open Office does not integrate with Microsoft Exchange (mail and calender).
 
End of Rine said:
If you're talking outlook, I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot stick.
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Unfortunately, thats the only way I know of to integrate with Exchange on Windows. It does it poorly but at least it does it. A lot of businesses (most?) use Exchange as an email and calendar system. In other words, I need it for work.

BTW, I find it quite ironic that OS X integrates with Exchange natively, in many respects better than Outlook, whereas Windows doesn't.
 
End of Rine said:
As I've said earlier, "I'd be using the computer for video editing and music editing as a compliment to that, with some gaming and possible photo manipulation thrown in. Of course I'll also be using it for internet usage, but that's a given."
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Ah, I see.

Well, the only Mac I would recommend for you is the 27" quad-core iMac. There's a new model getting released very soon, I'd wait for that if you decide to buy an iMac.

It'll cost you $1999 and will very likely have these specs:
  • 27" 2560x1440 IPS display
  • Intel Core i5 2500 @ 3.3GHz
  • AMD Radeon HD 6950/70M 1GB/2GB
  • 1TB Hard Drive
  • 4GB 1333MHz RAM
(Assuming Apple uses the same RAM as in the 2010 model iMac, you should be able to pick up 4x4GB 1333MHz modules from OWC for ~$200.)

It's pretty much the same cost to build a machine with those specs (including the screen, of course). It'll obviously have less expandability than a Mac Pro, or a PC. But it's very clean, tidy, and "all-in-one". That's something I like, and is one of the reasons I use Mac.

Whether that appeals to you or not, I don't know. But, there it is. Peace.
 
MythicFrost said:
Ah, I see.

Well, the only Mac I would recommend for you is the 27" quad-core iMac. There's a new model getting released very soon, I'd wait for that if you decide to buy an iMac.

It'll cost you $1999 and will very likely have these specs:
  • 27" 2560x1440 IPS display
  • Intel Core i5 2500 @ 3.3GHz
  • AMD Radeon HD 6950/70M 1GB/2GB
  • 1TB Hard Drive
  • 4GB 1333MHz RAM
(Assuming Apple uses the same RAM as in the 2010 model iMac, you should be able to pick up 4x4GB 1333MHz modules from OWC for ~$200.)

It's pretty much the same cost to build a machine with those specs (including the screen, of course). It'll obviously have less expandability than a Mac Pro, or a PC. But it's very clean, tidy, and "all-in-one". That's something I like, and is one of the reasons I use Mac.

Whether that appeals to you or not, I don't know. But, there it is. Peace.
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Thanks, but as I've said, I'm going with PC. I appreciate your effort though.
 
OP, you came in here very adversarial and putting conditions on how you wanted to see replies.

To be honest. Macs use nearly the same hardware as PCs so there's little reason to select a Mac over PC if you're comparing specs.

The differences are aesthetics.

As for which is is better - neither is "better" in the truest sense. OSX has advantages, and win7 has its own set of advantages. You use the tool that best fits your needs, how you prefer to work and what apps you're going to run. The bottom line is an operating system's role is to run programs. If OSX doesn't have the apps you want. Buy a PC.
 
End of Rine said:
Alright, I'm going to make this short.

I'm buying a new computer, either a Mac or a Windows desktop that I'll build myself.

What are the advantages of buying a Mac over building a Windows computer?

I don't want to hear "It's pretty", that's subjective. Nor do I want to hear "It's more user friendly", I don't think it is nor do I need the extra help. I don't want to hear "It doesn't get viruses" either, because I'm not an idiot who gets viruses.

So, what are the advantages?
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I am in the same boat as you. I have built my own Windows desktop since the early 2000's. I always got what was top of the line parts for not that much money, buying from Newegg, Amazon and online computer stores. I built my last machine 4 years ago and I am in the market for a new computer. I bought my wife an iMac 3 years ago and found it to be very intuitive. If you are buying a computer for gaming, an iMac is not what you want. iMac's are really not great high end gaming devices like you would be able to build with your own Windows PC. For me, I don't need it for gaming, since I have all three gaming consoles (PS3, XBOX 360 and Wii). Also, I injured my back pretty bad, and really don't want to build my own computer anymore. I want something good that I could have the best of both worlds, Mac and Windows together on the same machine.

When deciding on a computer, either MAC or Windows, you have to ask what you are going to use it for? You should list the positive and negatives.

Here are some positives and negatives for the iMac.

1. The iMac is compact and doesn't take up a lot of room.
2. Mac usually don't get virus, but could carry a windows virus that if you transfer back and forth to a windows computer, could infect it.
3. No registry to mess up, like in a windows machine.
4. Mac OS are usually a step ahead of Window's OS, in my opinion.
5. Can run Windows and Mac either virtually or through Bootcamp, like having two computers in one.


Negative:
1. Not easily upgradeable, except the RAM. Can't change out video, HDD very easily.
2. Not great for gaming
3.Can't play Blu Ray movies through a MAC, but can burn blu Ray data.

In the end it is up to you of what you want. If you can, go to an Apple store and try them out first, before you buy, and ask questions at the store to see if an iMac is right for you. For you, maybe the Mac Pro might be better for you, upgradeable parts, tinkering, and it is on par with any Windows PC you would build. It is more expensive, but you would have the best of both worlds

Good luck
 
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