PC's you've had, good and bad experience form windows!

[Josias]

I know this thread is under "Macintosh computers", but I wanted to know about your experinces with Windows, and how you would compare it to OS X and OS 8/9.

I have myself had windows form my frist computer. I found out Apple made computers when I got my shuffle. I'm a huge fan, probably bigger than any of you (no offence ), and I wanna Apple next time i get a computer.

So far I've had:

Fujitsu Siemens T-bird desktop:
1 GHz Celeron D
128 MB RAM
20 GB HDD
On-board 16 MB Graphics
CD-drive
XP Home

Used for Photoshop 6.0 and that adobe video thing 6.0 LE. Also office tasks and media player. Lighter gaming, and worked flawlessly, until I installed games that required 256 MB RAM. Good machine for the specs (cost $200 from new, sold it for $150 4 months ago).

Later, I bottowed my dads old compaq laptop for two weeks.

450 MHz Pentium III
28 MB RAM
4 GB HDD
CD-drive
Windows 98

Crappiest machine ever, had one USB 1.0 port, that didn't work.
Glad I onyl borrowed it for 2 weeks. Had 15 minutes of battery when typin in word, and took 1,5 minutes to start up Word 97. ZZZ... We threw it out now.

A year ago I got my dads old Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Pro V1000.

2.4 GHz Celeron D
256 MB RAM
30 GB HDD
Intel GMA/850 16 MB graphics
DVD-drive
Wireless network
XP Professional

Very good computer. Plays Halo CE on highest settings flawlessly. Broke down once. Has everything I need, except everything a mac has . Best computer I ever figured you could get for $350. Posting from it now.

Now I plan on buying whatever 13.3" MacBook (Pro) comes out, totally maxed out! Gangsta!

 

[thegreatluke]

Unfortunately, all I've ever had with Windows have been bad experiences.

I've only had good experiences with the Mac OS, even way back in elementary school, when we played Oregon Trail and Kidpix

Ok, let's go.

Um, can't think of too many details, but we've had a 1.2 GHz Gateway summinorother, that's pretty slow now. It sounds like it's dying too, by the fans. It takes about three minutes to start up into XP and several minutes to open anything. After starting it up, it'll be unresponsive for 1-2 minutes.

Also, a 1.8 GHz HP desktop that's not too bad. It had 256 MB of RAM but we upgraded it to (I believe) 768 MB of RAM, so it runs pretty smoothly now. My mother uses it for her business, and it's hooked up to a Wacom tablet, she does her business stuff and I do her Photoshoppage on it. I'd do my Photoshoppage on here and it would be a lot faster, but PS isn't a universal binary yet, and I'm not paying those prices.

There's also a 1.2 GHz 12" iBook G4. My brother let one of his cats sleep next to it though, and the air intake got clogged with cat hair and the thing overheated. Apple fixed it very well for $98 USD (would you believe that?). It's a good work machine, though he just listens to iTunes and surfs the web with it.

We also have one of those thick angle-y HP laptops. I don't know the specs of it and can't find out right now, but it runs pretty well. Yeah.

And of course, my 1.83 GHz MBP. It needs to be repaired though, the logic board needs to be repaired, according to the hardware test. Otherwise, it's a very good machine.

 

[mad jew]

My problems with PCs are to do with the OS rather than the actual hardware. I find Windows counter-intuitive, bogged down and inherently buggy.

 

[ImNoSuperMan]

Oh well.
I`ve sold my 4 month old iBook in MacBook anticipation and now am using my old compaq laptop.
Celeron 2.4Ghz
128MB
20GB

I dont do anything on it other than opening MR site to check for any sign of MacBooks. And Yahoo messenger. Thats it. Dont even open more than 3 pages in firefox. Still this thing seems slow. Real slow. Many a times I just click a link, go to loo, come back only to find it`s just started to open the page. Man... iBook was so fast n stable. This lappy has already hanged atleast 10 times in last one week. And no. it`s not coz of corrupted windows. As I had a complete fresh install of windooooze xp on it a week ago hoping that it`d perform better. Just want the MacBooks to arrive ASAP. I just cant stand this Compaq any more.

 

[wonga1127]

My school had a whole fleet of Apple II's. Im actually inquiring on where they put them. At home, my first PC was an old, probably dead PC manuafcturer i can't remember, but it had an Intel 486 and a CD-ROM Drive (!!!). Next was a fleet of random IBMs and Dells, which I used so little, specs are unknown. My last computer was a Dell Dimension 3000 with an Intel Pentium III and 256 MB Ram. Currently Im on a Dell Crapmaster 3000, looking to buy some older Macs to hold me over until MBP.

 

[slick316]

Had too many PC's in the past to recall, but feelings are mixed. Windows XP has been the best OS from MS so far, Win95, Win98, WinME all sucked.
I switched to Apple last year and was very impressed with the OS and hardware, so far, I am hooked. But I find that my only Windows based PC is just as good and stable right now.
I have a self built Media Center PC running since November 2005 and it hasn't missed a beat yet. Its fast enough to record 2 standard def shows and 1 HD show at the same time and has NEVER missed/messed up a recording. Its on almost 24/7 and its always running great.
Other than the Media Center PC, I haven't looked at or considered another Windows based PC (especially now that I can run WinXP on an Intel Mac).

 

[iMetroid]

1. When I was 5 or 6 years old, my Dad built me a PC out of spare parts. Windows 3.1. All I could do was draw. Thinking back, I don't think I really used it that much. Eventually, it broke down.

2. I was 6, maybe 7, when I received another one. It had some parts from the old one. Same monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, case (at first, got a new one after a month or so), and a few other parts. I LOVED that PC. It had Windows 95 when I first got it. I played a bunch of DOS games (Amy 123, Amy ABC, Talking Teacher, those are my childhood). That thing lasted me up until I was 10. The operating system was upgraded to Windows 98. SOMEONE I managed to get some newer games running (Jazz Jackrabbit, baby!). It broke down part by part. Somehow, I still managed to use it. When my fan stopped working, I was forced to stop using it.

It wasn't until I was 11 or 12 that I used a PC again.

3. My Dad built my Mom a PC for the living room. It was a 300 MHz something with 128 MB of RAM. Windows 98. THAT COMPUTER WAS FREAKING HELL! I couldn't highlight TEXT without it crashing! It crashed randomly too. I remember downloading a Linux live-CD and it being FASTER AND MORE STABLE then the actual Windows installation! That computer was bloody awful. Then, Windows XP comes out. Dad upgraded it. Believe it or not, it was faster and more stable then Windows 98! And you know how much of a power hog XP can be.

Had to deal with that POS for 2 years.

4. I was 14. I asked for a computer for Christmas. My Dad builds me this really nice (to me) PC. 700 MHz AMD Duron, 512 MB of RAM, 30 GB hard drive, and the monitor to my first computer (it was still around ). I loved the thing! I had to put up with a POS system for 2 years, and this thing was the end to it! I loved that system so much. To this day, I haven't been able to love a system more. Problem was, eventually I started to get into more power hungry tasks (like installing operating systems).

5. Dad randomly gave me a new computer. AMD Athlon XP 2600+ (2.5 GHz), 512 MB RAM, 160 GB hard drive, nVidia GeForce 5200 FX (128 MB VRAM), LCD monitor, etc. That's what I use now.

So there are my PC experiences.

 

[iPoster]

Computers:

IBM XT -> IBM AT -> 286 ?Mhz -> 486SX 25Mhz -> 486DX 50Mhz Overdrive CPU -> Pentium 90 -> Pentium 233 -> Athlon 1Ghz (big leap there!) -> AMD K6-2 450Mhz (laptop) -> Athlon64 3200+

Operating systems:

DOS, Baby! -> Windows 3.1 -> Windows 95 (still remember the 'DOS is Dead' signs in the store window) -> Windows 98 -> Windows 2000

I haven't had too many problems with x86 hardware, Windows can be relatively stable if you take proper care of it, but if it wasn't for games I would go 100% OSX. Sometimes Windoze does things that are just wrong, like my current PC can run HL2 like a champ, then randomly chokes and hard locks when my kids play Oregon Trail!

 

[D34th]

Most recent PC was a Dell Dimension 4600.
2.6 GHz
512 RAM
80 GB HD
GeForce FX 5200 w/ 128MB
SoundBlaster 5.1 Sound Card

I never had any real problems until the endish. I played a lot of Counter-Strike *ashamed face* and did a lot of work with Adobe Premier Pro...horrible rendering time. Other than that I had no complaints. Couldn't be happer with my Intel iMac though .

 

[After G]

My non-Macs: (PCs)

Packard Bell - 9 MHz processor. First computer; loved writing stories on it with Story Maker.

Patriot - 20 MHz 286. Had DR-DOS on it! And some weird molecule maker app that I never got the hang of. And some other app that I never knew what it was because I accidentally erased the second install disc (out of three).

NEC Versa (220C)? - 100 MHz. First laptop. Loved that thing. Especially the Hover game.

Compaq desktop - 500 MHz. POS. Had a CD-R though. That was amazing - to make my own CDs of stuff.

HP desktop - 1.5 GHz. First P4. Worked well until Windows got crufty.

Then I was introduced to the awesomeness that is Mac.

 

[Fleetwood Mac]

Acer Travelmate 220 (notebook) various OSs
1.13ghz
128mb ram
Battery doesn't work/no wireless
Worst machine I've ever had.. Dead screen, two batteries, hard drive had to be replaced. Runs well for a 128 though.

Toshiba Satallite m30 (notebook) xp pro sp2
1.5ghz
512ram
GeForce FX Go52000
Wireless/Infered.
Very good computer-No problems.

And then I've got a couple old 98 HP pavillions and a AMD which has been rebuilt a couple times.

Needless to say I love my Mac more.

 

[Peyton]

Oh my word I can't remember all the PCs I've had, I remember several Compaqs, HP (2), a brief stint of making them (Pentium 2 350, whoa I thought it was soo fast!) then dell I suppose. I have a P4 2.66ghz dell now. BUT NOT IN AUGUST!!!

 

[indigoflowAS]

Ive built two AMD boxes and both are essentially expensive gaming machines w/ antivirus software installed.

I must say that I'll never grow attached to my PC boxes since I have to reformat them regularly, while I love my Mac portables so much that they recieve names (Charisma = TiBook, Evangeline = MBP ).

PCs are fun for overclocking and playing games, 'bout it for me really.

 

[Compatiblepoker]

They're not all that bad just plain. I have both a dell and a Mac and I get depressed everytime I look back at the dell. lol. Its just a boring computer.

 

[pknz]

My experiences.

Computer runs fine for a couple of months, then gets bogged down in its own flatulence and becomes horribly slow.

Having to run 3 Spyware removers and have each of them find Spyware that the others didn't.

Unistalling seems to leave folders and files around.

Random folders and apps appearing Programs folder.

The ugliness of unsmoothed text.

The whole 8-bit colours when starting up.

 

[Josias]

Actually, I looked over the shoulder of my bigbrother, while he was building his first computer. It was a 800 MHz Pentium III, 128 MB RAM, 10 GB HDD, 4 MB VRAM and a CD-burner (Windows ME). After it crashed 14 times in 30 days, he borrowed that Compaq laptop I told you about in my first post. He wokrd well with it for a year, thet he got hsi 14" iBook: 1.07 G4, 256 MB DDR, 40 GB HDD, 32 MB VRAM and Combo-drive. It's superfast compared to nay computer anyone in my family has ever owned. Right now my mom has a Fujitsu Siemens desktop, 1 GHz Celeron, 256 MB RAM, 40 GB HDD and 32 MB VRAM (on-board) with Windows ME. Works fine for her, but she wants a MacBook when it comes out. My dad has a Medion dekstop 2.8 GHz P4, 512 MB RAM, 100 GB HDD, 128 MB GeForce 5200 FX and Windows XP Home. It's fine for him, but next time he wants an iMac or MacMini.

 

[disconap]

I've never had a good experience with Windows. In fact, we only have one machine running it; all our other pcs run Linux, and I am so adamant about that that I taught the interns to use Linux merely so we could have next to no Windows machines. No version has ever worked as efficiently or reliably as any Mac OS I've experienced. Granted, I skipped 8, which I head was a nightmare...

 

[Josias]

I've never had a good experience with Windows. In fact, we only have one machine running it; all our other pcs run Linux, and I am so adamant about that that I taught the interns to use Linux merely so we could have next to no Windows machines. No version has ever worked as efficiently or reliably as any Mac OS I've experienced. Granted, I skipped 8, which I head was a nightmare...

Just gotta ask ya off topic, is your PM G4 1 GHz, 2 GB RAM running panther faster than a 1.07 G4, 256 MB DDR RAM (14" iBook) with panther. Just wanna know if you would notice difference because of the much more ram, but the iBook is newer so...

 

[beatzfreak]

Been a Mac user all my life, but had to get a PC for work a year ago and have had no problems with it. Though, Windoze drives me nuts.

Fujitsu Lifebook S series
Intel Pentium M w/ Centrino
1.6 Ghz processor
80 G hardrive
Combo drive

 

[jefhatfield]

PCs i have used...at DoD, i used a local vender built machine with windows 3.1...it crashed all the time and was terrible

custom built windows 95 PC i originally bought used but working...not workable after a few weeks

custom built windows 98 PC i originally bought used and working, from same user as above,...and the thing still works perfectly and i gave it to a friend

compaq laptop with windows 98...had to reinstall windows once a year

compaq desktop, new from costco, with windows 98...ditto

the last three machines more than exceeded expectations for reliability, but the first two made me think macs were the only true computers out there that could do something

 

[netdog]

Honestly, the difference to me is that there is something a bit more peaceful working in with Mac applications, both because of visual design and sounds. There is something quite harsh about Windows whereas my Macintosh computer is named tao, which says it all really.

As for the difference functionally, I actually think that Windows has better keyboard harnesses and both of the OS's do the same things, both break, and both can bog down. If anything, I am surprised to find that the Mac disk needs a lot of checking and occasional fixing with Disk Utility. None of my Windows machines ever had such a problem. This really surprised me as, with Mac Journaled formatting run by what is essentially UNIX, I expected the opposite to be true.

Still, the bottom line is that I prefer working in the Mac environment, and the creative work I do (writing and making music) just flow better as the Mac keeps me in a more relaxed space.

PS: I think the form of the iMac is perfect, and the Intel architecture is really fast. I only wish they still made the fanless cube - a musician's dream.

 

[Josias]

Honestly, the difference to me is that there is something a bit more peaceful working in with Mac applications, both because of visual design and sounds. There is something quite harsh about Windows whereas my Macintosh computer is named tao, which says it all really.

As for the difference functionally, I actually think that Windows has better keyboard harnesses and both of the OS's do the same things, both break, and both can bog down. If anything, I am surprised to find that the Mac disk needs a lot of checking and occasional fixing with Disk Utility. None of my Windows machines ever had such a problem. This really surprised me as, with Mac Journaled formatting run by what is essentially UNIX, I expected the opposite to be true.

Still, the bottom line is that I prefer working in the Mac environment, and the creative work I do (writing and making music) just flow better as the Mac keeps me in a more relaxed space.

PS: I think the form of the iMac is perfect, and the Intel architecture is really fast. I only wish they still made the fanless cube - a musician's dream.

Amen!

I gotta ask you though, do many people favor naming their macs?

 

[disconap]

Just gotta ask ya off topic, is your PM G4 1 GHz, 2 GB RAM running panther faster than a 1.07 G4, 256 MB DDR RAM (14" iBook) with panther. Just wanna know if you would notice difference because of the much more ram, but the iBook is newer so...

Well, the bus speed on your ibook is going to be higher (and your processor is native, mine is an upgrade ). But I'd say that Panther probably runs better on mine, since Macs love RAM.

On a side note, I upped my ibook from 684 to 1.13 (which I wasn't supposed to be able to do by every spec sheet on the planet except for RAMseeker's), and there is an extremely significant difference. I'd say that my ibook runs everything except Adobe and Quicktime (conversions, not player) as well if not better than my tower.

So my advice? Buy some more RAM. You've got a great machine there.