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Mac or Windows? what's better? and Why?
- Thread starter clar24
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I find it moderately amusing that the very people that say "one is the same as the other, they are categorically identical" are the same people who won't drive a Ford, or prefer Toyota, or whatever.
Just sayin'. They're two entirely different products - it stands to reason that one would be superior in some way(s) over the other. The odds of the two being the same and having been created by different people with different visions and ambitions is almost impossible. And even if they are the same, I'd pick the one with better customer service
Agree entirely, I use both and I enjoy both but some areas belong to one or the other.
For basic browsing and such(notes for class, typing up a report) I vastly prefer the Mac, the new trackpad(not strictly OS X but not supported well by Windows for sure) makes it so much better.
On the flip side I wouldn't even look at a Mac for games, I have my behemoth for that
(Note: i'm basing this on the laptops more than the desktops)
In a way the arguments for Mac Vs PC are similar to BMW vs Ford.
In a Ford you'll probably get a much more powerful car for the price of the BMW. The BMW will be more refined, comfortable and better thought out. I find the same with mac laptops vs PC laptops.
However some people only care about the power and not about the rest of the package.
Then again sometimes Ford will bring out a car that is so good for the price that it is not worth getting the BMW (take the Award Winning European Mondeo for instance). In this case people are more likely buying the badge (or more succinctly not buying the ford badge) if they go for the BMW.
However you can't categorically say one is better than the other, you can say that in your opinion and for your workflow/usage that the Mac works better for you.
As i said earlier i use both. The mac wins as a laptop for me, whereas the PC wins as a desktop machine.
I have a gaming PC desktop, once i hit the 3 months mark i can feel the PC getting slower. Loading times slows, lunching a programs takes longer and i starting getting unexplained crashs. Two to four months and i can see the difference, i have to reinstall the OS in order to get the full speed again.
I have a LAN in my house with around 10 PC's, i have had the problem with everyone on them even thou i dont use any of them. Right now i dont use a PC except to play games, i have had not reinstalled windows for about 8 months and i dont see the PC slowing down. With my Mac on the other had i have never needed to reinstall the OS even after heavy use. Am i doing something wrong? very unlikely, i am a heavy user and found out the my Mac is better fir everything except gaming.
See - I find my XP64 workstation never needs reinstalling. I did a few weeks ago, because I replaced my 72gb Raptor HDD with a 300gb Velociraptor - but it been fine for >12 months before that.
My mac, however, I'd be looking to do a reinstall every 6 months or so, because it just gets sluggish. Safari gets worse and worse.
My mac, however, I'd be looking to do a reinstall every 6 months or so, because it just gets sluggish. Safari gets worse and worse.
You are on the wrong forum is you are looking for an unbiased comparison of the two machines. Now I can tell you as a guy in the IT field who uses Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux (CentOS 5.2 / Debian / Ubuntu) on a daily basis that you should buy a machine that suits your needs. I will also say that for the majority of people Mac OS X suits their needs for a machine to surf the web, very basic video editing (iMovie), Organizing photos (iPhoto), enjoying tunes (iTunes). Out of the box you get a ready to go system without the fear of malware and viruses. There are a surprising number of games released on the Mac platform, and you can get the full Office suite. With native Exchange support coming in Snow Leopard, if you are a business user you get all the plus sides of having great Apple apps (Mail/iCal) and still be able to interface with Exchange.
Mind you that I have a Windows machine right next to my work Mac. It mostly serves though as a machine to talk to my Linux servers, I can switch between the various VPN connections we have at different locations on the Windows machine and stay on the local private network on the Mac. I do not browse the net with the Windows machine so I don't have to worry about viruses. I use a couple of ham radio logging apps on it sometimes and that is about it.
Bottom line, what do you NEED to do and can you not do it on a Mac? And why not consider Linux?
Because it doesn't run the apps I need. Which falls nicely into that idea of just getting a computer to suit your needs.
I need Photoshop, Final Cut, Logic, Left4Dead and Team Fortress 2 so (unfortunately for me
) I need to buy a Mac and PC. Meh!
I'm cool with either of them. Even Linux. As long as it gets the job done for me, then I'm all good.
I'm going to buy a uMBP just because I'm a tech fan, never had a Mac, and want to try something different.
Please not that you may think Windows may suck, and at the very least 85% of the computers are operated under Windows. I wouldn't assume that 85% of computer users suck as well.
I guess like hundreds of posts before me said, it's all about what it does for you.
I'm going to buy a uMBP just because I'm a tech fan, never had a Mac, and want to try something different.
Please not that you may think Windows may suck, and at the very least 85% of the computers are operated under Windows. I wouldn't assume that 85% of computer users suck as well
.I guess like hundreds of posts before me said, it's all about what it does for you.
There were two extensive threads on this in the past week. I must wonder why we start another one when we know they will lead to Tallest Skill and some troll getting into a pissing match leading to yet another thread being locked.
Thread Uno
Thread Two
Thread Uno
Thread Two
I owned an HP desktop for 6 years, and I never reinstalled Windows. Not once. I'm sure it was slower then it was when it was new after 6 years, but I couldn't tell the difference. (These days I reinstall about once a year; because I royally screw something up while messing around, usually.)
Is it really worth the reinstall to shave 5 or 10 seconds off of loading times?
I disagree, while the problems are not the result of MS perse, their design and implementation is what causes issues with the Registry.
Regardless of who's fault it is with reboots, its still an issue I don't deal with in OSX (or Linux for that matter).
Drivers, Yeah because M$ doesn't have one hardware platform but need to support many platforms, problems are bound to crop up. But regardless of why, its still an issue that as an OSX user I've not really had to deal with.
Agreed
I deal with a ton of reboots on Mac OSX updates.
You think Apple wants to make money any less than Microsoft does?
As I do as well but at least I can install (or uninstall) an application in OSX without needing to reboot. As I mentioned I have to reboot windows when installing a text editor - that makes no sense at all. That's not the only example either just my favorite one. Plus I can let OSX run for weeks on end, w/o rebooting. I cannot do that to windows. In fact, we have monthly reboots of window servers where as the Solaris servers we use are never rebooted (unless a hardware failure occurs)
Yes because Microsoft in their zeal to make money has broken the law and continually used monopolistic tactics to crush the competition or keep others out. They're still dealing with the EU on this, so to answer your question yes apple's desire to make money seems to be less then microsoft because they seem to stay within the law and M$ has not.
You DON'T have to reboot after installing Apps on Windows. You clearly didn't read my earlier post. It may ask you to restart - but did you try running it without reinstalling? No. Because you would have discovered you don't need to. You don't need to with a text editor, with the entire CS4 suite, with MS Office..... need I go on.
My XP64 workstation stays up for weeks on end rendering 3D anims w/o rebooting. The XP based file server at work is typically up for several months before reboots.
How is the regular user supposed to figure out that you automagically don't have to restart even though the system tells you to? Especially with Vista's friggn' updates that require about two whole days of dedication to install.. reboot, install, reboot, install, reboot, install AhhhH!
I use Windows 7 just because I don't like going through all those updates.
When you skip rebooting, sometimes its ok, and sometimes its not. I've run into situations where I couldn't uninstall an app because I bypassed a reboot request. The message something along the lines of a pending reboot update blah blah blah.
I seem to need to reboot my XP workstation a few times a week, and if I don't performance drops to a crawl. Not sure why but I seem to run a lot of apps - I typically have 20 to 40 windows open at any given time (multiple spreadsheets, word docs, IE windows and a mixture of other apps). I only reboot my Mac when I apply an update or I reboot into Linux
Mac, because it's more reliable, easy to use and aesthetically pleasing than Windows. Although, I am biased
In my holy opinion, and not in technical terms, it comes down to two things...
1) Stable OS
2) Customer Service
.
I wish all replies could be this succinct and factual. Well put mate.
Mac because
1. Customer Service
2. Computer integration (programs all work together seamlessly)
3. Lack of Viruses (I'm not going to argue that there are none, but there are definitely a lot less)
4. Faster Machine (Unlike Vista you can boot in seconds not minutes)
5. Better for multimedia (you can try to argue, but from an ease of use stand point iMovie, iPhoto, iDVD are all pretty easy and powerful)
6. Easier to network (if you have ever done a windows network you would know what i mean...macs just work together much easier)
7. Better engineered (Look at the MBP- they redesigned the battery to make it last longer, they have LED screens, they have great graphics, it is a unibody enclosure, the magnetic power plug, etc)
8. Ability to run both Windows and Mac on the same machine
9. Easier to use (if you were just becoming familiar with a computer the mac interface is very easy to pick up on)
From a personal standpoint, I find that I just get more done on a mac than a PC.
1. Customer Service
2. Computer integration (programs all work together seamlessly)
3. Lack of Viruses (I'm not going to argue that there are none, but there are definitely a lot less)
4. Faster Machine (Unlike Vista you can boot in seconds not minutes)
5. Better for multimedia (you can try to argue, but from an ease of use stand point iMovie, iPhoto, iDVD are all pretty easy and powerful)
6. Easier to network (if you have ever done a windows network you would know what i mean...macs just work together much easier)
7. Better engineered (Look at the MBP- they redesigned the battery to make it last longer, they have LED screens, they have great graphics, it is a unibody enclosure, the magnetic power plug, etc)
8. Ability to run both Windows and Mac on the same machine
9. Easier to use (if you were just becoming familiar with a computer the mac interface is very easy to pick up on)
From a personal standpoint, I find that I just get more done on a mac than a PC.
In my holy opinion, and not in technical terms, it comes down to two things...
1) Stable OS
2) Customer Service
.
My Vista box has been pretty stable, the few times it crashed I caused it and knew exactly why it happened. I wouldn't expect many to like Windows in this forum, just as I wouldn't expect many to like Mac in a Windows user forum.
I have the Vista box below as well as my MBP, a Mac Mini, and an iMac.
As for Customer service, I have had some really bad CS lately from Apple. It is not what it used to be. On the flip side I have had some decent and improved experiences with MS. I needed to move my Vista key to a new machine, it took me 10 minutes on the phone total (even with a slight issue understanding the fellow on the other end).
They all have their benefits as well as their faults in my opinion.
My Vista Box
You forgot Linux
I actually prefer to have a bootcamp partition running Ubuntu over having a windows partition. Mostly for the reasons you posted and others. You gotta love Microsoft and their genuine window's advantage, i.e., the OS phoning home to make sure you're not a thief.
I've also heard of headaches people have when they failed or activation failed, even though they're a legal owner of the license. I prefer Ubuntu on occasions that OSX doesn't quite fit the bill
The main problem with Windows is that it has to be able to run on an infinate combination of hardware environments. Third party drivers are what makes Windows poor in comparison to OS/X.
I'd like to see Microsoft to do a hookup with a premium PC manufacturer and do a version of windows where all the drivers are written in-house and everything is designed to work with each other. You could ditch so much of the crap in Windows if you could specify a smaller hardware set.
It's be interesting to see just how good Windows was when put in a similar situation to that with OS/X enjoys by default because it's designed to work specifically with that hardware.
I'd like to see Microsoft to do a hookup with a premium PC manufacturer and do a version of windows where all the drivers are written in-house and everything is designed to work with each other. You could ditch so much of the crap in Windows if you could specify a smaller hardware set.
It's be interesting to see just how good Windows was when put in a similar situation to that with OS/X enjoys by default because it's designed to work specifically with that hardware.