I think it is important to note that a Mac isn't just about the hardware - it includes a suite of programs that work relatively seamlessly with each other. You can mail pictures from iphoto, or upload to your webpage the same way. you can easily edit movies and pictures with your choice of music, then make a dvd complete with menus and chapters and the like. The programs share many common interfaces, so learning one you have a head start in another. That ease of use - the idea that it includes everything needed to do all that most people do with their computers - is a boon to many.
My father had never owned or used a Mac before we gave him our old tower, updated with Leopard and iLife '08; his next computer will be a new Mac because it is so easy for him to do what he wants.
Apple laptop buying help
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pk500
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King:
That was one hell of an informative post. Thanks!
I agree with Vista. It's bloated, like every Microsoft OS, but it's not nearly as bad as people report. The main problem with Vista is that it's a RAM hog, and it was installed upon release on many computers with only 512 MB or 1 GB of RAM. Vista takes nearly that much RAM just to function, let alone function well while multi-tasking.
My experience is that you need at least 3 GB of RAM for Vista to run smoothly and quickly. If you have that kind of horsepower, you're golden with Vista.
Take care,
PK
That was one hell of an informative post. Thanks!
I agree with Vista. It's bloated, like every Microsoft OS, but it's not nearly as bad as people report. The main problem with Vista is that it's a RAM hog, and it was installed upon release on many computers with only 512 MB or 1 GB of RAM. Vista takes nearly that much RAM just to function, let alone function well while multi-tasking.
My experience is that you need at least 3 GB of RAM for Vista to run smoothly and quickly. If you have that kind of horsepower, you're golden with Vista.
Take care,
PK
"You know why I love boxers? I love them because they face fear. And they face it alone." - Nick Charles
"First on the throttle, last on the brakes." - @MotoGP Twitter signature
XBL Gamertag: pk4425
"First on the throttle, last on the brakes." - @MotoGP Twitter signature
XBL Gamertag: pk4425
PK, Vista multitasks extremely well actually better than any previous OS by Microsoft. One reason for the memory bloat is a feature called Superfetch. It's a new MS technology that predetermines based on personal usage what programs you use most. I've warmed up myself to Vista after service pack 1 and it's gotten even better since service pack 2.pk500 wrote:King:
That was one hell of an informative post. Thanks!
I agree with Vista. It's bloated, like every Microsoft OS, but it's not nearly as bad as people report. The main problem with Vista is that it's a RAM hog, and it was installed upon release on many computers with only 512 MB or 1 GB of RAM. Vista takes nearly that much RAM just to function, let alone function well while multi-tasking.
My experience is that you need at least 3 GB of RAM for Vista to run smoothly and quickly. If you have that kind of horsepower, you're golden with Vista.
Take care,
PK
Windows 7 from all the feedback on tech forums seem to indicate it's a stellar, solid OS even though it's built on Vista.
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James_E
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I switched to a Mac almost a full year ago. A 13.3" macbook. I wanted to use Logic as my DAW, that was the main reason for the switch.
It had nothing to do with the Virus issue (it's a non-issue, if you have any capability at all with a Windows PC.)
Positives:
=======
- The general stability is far better compared to the Dell PC, HP work computer and Acer and Asus laptops I have in the house, some running vista, some running XP.
- Mac almost never hangs or requires a reboot (I do occasionally have an issue with trackpad not responding... that requires a reboot... annoying, happens once every couple of months.) The Dell, Acer and especially the horrible HP I have at work require reboots ALL THE FREAKING TIME.
-Wireless Network connection: when I open the mac, it's up within 5 seconds. Open up a PC and it f's around for a while (sometimes up to 1 minute) before it's up and running.
- Multi-touch trackpad is AWESOME. Takes some getting used to though. The way that gestures are integrated into the UI and the browser is very useful.
- Battery life kicks butt.
Negatives:
=======
- Price.
- USB mice: for some reason they just seem sluggish.
- Lack of support for a vast PC software library unless you run bootcamp.
When I went to get a new computer, I was skeptical about switching, but I figured I wouldn't really know until I owned one for a while. Now that I own one, I would suggest everyone go this route unless you are a heavy game player and don't want to run bootcamp. It's very hard to explain many specifics (I tried to above though.)
It's like PVR. Try to convince people to get it...they hum and haugh... then they get it and wonder how they ever lived without it.
It had nothing to do with the Virus issue (it's a non-issue, if you have any capability at all with a Windows PC.)
Positives:
=======
- The general stability is far better compared to the Dell PC, HP work computer and Acer and Asus laptops I have in the house, some running vista, some running XP.
- Mac almost never hangs or requires a reboot (I do occasionally have an issue with trackpad not responding... that requires a reboot... annoying, happens once every couple of months.) The Dell, Acer and especially the horrible HP I have at work require reboots ALL THE FREAKING TIME.
-Wireless Network connection: when I open the mac, it's up within 5 seconds. Open up a PC and it f's around for a while (sometimes up to 1 minute) before it's up and running.
- Multi-touch trackpad is AWESOME. Takes some getting used to though. The way that gestures are integrated into the UI and the browser is very useful.
- Battery life kicks butt.
Negatives:
=======
- Price.
- USB mice: for some reason they just seem sluggish.
- Lack of support for a vast PC software library unless you run bootcamp.
When I went to get a new computer, I was skeptical about switching, but I figured I wouldn't really know until I owned one for a while. Now that I own one, I would suggest everyone go this route unless you are a heavy game player and don't want to run bootcamp. It's very hard to explain many specifics (I tried to above though.)
It's like PVR. Try to convince people to get it...they hum and haugh... then they get it and wonder how they ever lived without it.
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sportdan30
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Well said James. Macs just work, right out of the box. For someone who's not very tech savvy like myself, Macs are a dream to own. There's no fear that I have to continuosly keep saving whatever I'm working on in fear of a crash. Plus, I can rest easy with my 7 and 5 year old working on the Mac without messing something up. It's pretty much kid proof, something a PC definitely is not. You don't have to worry about that just yet Fletch! Maybe in a couple more years when your daughter is older.
For me personally, the DVR and Mac purchase were my two best tech purchases in the last 5 years.....and that includes the purchase of my HDTVs and PS3.
For me personally, the DVR and Mac purchase were my two best tech purchases in the last 5 years.....and that includes the purchase of my HDTVs and PS3.
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dbdynsty25
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"They just work" is a ridiculous statement. A PC Just Works...if you aren't stupid with the sites you visit and the things you open, you won't have a problem. I run an OLD SCHOOL corporate anti-virus program w/ updated definitions, but no anti-spyware/adware...nothing. You don't need it...if you pay attention to what you're doing.
Mac's are significantly more difficult when it comes to corporate environments and vpns. They both have pluses and minuses...but you can go into any best buy store and walk out with a mac or a pc that just works. Anyone who says otherwise has been brainwashed by advertisers. Job well done I suppose.
Oh, and I'm typing this on my 13 inch Aluminum MacBook.
Mac's are significantly more difficult when it comes to corporate environments and vpns. They both have pluses and minuses...but you can go into any best buy store and walk out with a mac or a pc that just works. Anyone who says otherwise has been brainwashed by advertisers. Job well done I suppose.
Oh, and I'm typing this on my 13 inch Aluminum MacBook.
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dbdynsty25
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Just get a Dell Mini 10. Sub 400 w/ a nice 10" screen with HD resolution 1366x768 (ish), a 5 hour battery and an "almost" full size keyboard. We got a couple of them at work and they are outstanding. Internet and Email...piece of cake. Comes with XP or Ubantu Linux. It's perfect for your needs if that's all you're gonna do with it.Feanor wrote:I'm planning on getting a sub $500 laptop once they come with Windows 7 pre-installed. Now my house has wireless internet I want a laptop just for internet and e-mail when my wife is using the main computer or when I just don't feel like turning it on.
You see ads in the paper for 2.2 Ghz CPU and 4 GB of RAM and so forth for $700 or whatever. But if you really look at the processor, these bargain basement Core 2 Duos don't have the same amount of L2 cache or the same bus speed as the ones used in the MacBook Pros, particularly the 15-inch ones.LAking wrote: Back to the downsides. Once again, it's about price. You definitely get a nice looking laptop with a Mac, but when it comes to power and speed, you're mostly getting hosed. I paid $1200 for my 13" MacBook Pro. With that I only got 2GB of RAM, 2.2ghz CPU, a 13" screen, and a 120GB HDD. I could have gotten at least 15" LCD, 4GB RAM, may be a 2.5ghz CPU, and probably a 300GB HD for less then what I paid if I had gone the PC route.
Not to mention, no dedicated GPUs (although now the 15-inch MacBook Pros have a $1699 SKU which only has the nVidia 9400 integrated GPU).
Besides the quality of the screen, you get the unibody case. Compare that to most consumer Windows laptops. Compare the design, compare the build quality.
That's not to say you don't pay an Apple premium. You do and part of that is for iLife.
For photos and browsing, 13-inch MacBook Pro is good at $1199. But the 15-inch model gives you a bigger screen (but heavier too) and can run pro apps. like Final Cut, Aperture, Light Room, Photoshop, etc. better, if one's interest in multimedia expands over time.
He means the out-of-the-box experience is better. You booted it for the first time, you go through the set up and you're online right away. With XP at least, the Internet connection wizards didn't always get you online as quickly or as smoothly.dbdynsty25 wrote:"They just work" is a ridiculous statement. A PC Just Works...if you aren't stupid with the sites you visit and the things you open, you won't have a problem. I run an OLD SCHOOL corporate anti-virus program w/ updated definitions, but no anti-spyware/adware...nothing. You don't need it...if you pay attention to what you're doing.
Mac's are significantly more difficult when it comes to corporate environments and vpns. They both have pluses and minuses...but you can go into any best buy store and walk out with a mac or a pc that just works. Anyone who says otherwise has been brainwashed by advertisers. Job well done I suppose.
Oh, and I'm typing this on my 13 inch Aluminum MacBook.
And IT has never been friendly to Macs. No wonder, they're all invested in MSCE and various other certifications.
As for the carefree attitude, that's not a good idea. Connect an external drive and turn on Time Machine. Hard drives fail in Macs too so don't risk your iTunes and iPhoto libraries on the internal drive not going down eventually.
I am late to the party, but I wanted to chime in on this as well since I just got my first Mac.
The main difference to me is that Apple controls both the hardware and the software. That is not the case in Windows. Windows software has to account for a much more varied hardware environment and there is much more potential for incapability issues. It is almost like the difference between gaming on a PC versus gaming on a console. With the console, the programmer knows exactly what hardware specs he is working with and does not have to account for different processor speeds or brands or different video cards. That is a little simplistic, but the bottom line is that OS X is written for a rather small number of specific hardware configurations. Apple works very hard to control the user experience - something some people love and others hate.
Since i am new to the Mac, there are certain things that I will only learn over time. For example, I know that with Windows that after a few years of adding and removing programs and changing settings that I find the system starts to bog down and run slow. This is generally solved by backing up data, reinstalling the operating system on a reformatted hard drive and then a re-installation of the key third party software. I don't know if this will be necessary with the Mac down the road. Also, Apple claims that disc fragmentation is not an issue. Not sure if this is true - Microsoft made the same claim about Windows NT and that turned out to be untrue. I would not want to commit to an opinion on overall reliability based on having a Mac for a month and using my wife's off and on for a year. I do know that I have to spend a certain amount of time every month to keep my PCs running - updating drivers, defragging, updating virus and spyware definitions, etc.
I got the 13 inch MBP model and since my wife is in education, she used her education discount, and I got it during the tax free week so I saved money that way as well. And it came with a free 8 gig Ipod Touch (well, it was a mail-in rebate). (Side note: I like the way Apple handled the rebate. After paying for the laptop and Ipod, they had a dedicated laptop in the store set up for customers to fill out the rebate information and send it to Apple. The Apple employee walked me through the form and when I left the store all I had to do was wait for the rebate check for the Ipod Touch. That was cool.)
With the savings and the features it was a good deal for me. I really like the solid aluminum design, the LED backlighting, the LED lit keyboard and the glossy screen. We live in a dark house so glare is not an issue and I spend a lot of late night and early morning time on the laptop. I like the extra long battery life that allows me to go for 3 or 4 hour stretches of heavy use without worrying about running out of juice. And once i got used to the large trackpad and using finger gestures instead of a mouse, it became second nature. So far so good. It is a great way to mess around with family photos and video, watch downloaded shows and movies and listen to music and surf the web.
I generally like the Mac software, but then again there are things I don't like. Personally, I find the Zune software to be better than ITunes, and while i use Iphoto 9 to organize all my digital pictures, I went back and forth with several other options that offer similar features.
I guess it comes down to personal preference. And for me it was not an either or since i still have both a PC, an old Dell laptop and and a company provided HP laptop.
The main difference to me is that Apple controls both the hardware and the software. That is not the case in Windows. Windows software has to account for a much more varied hardware environment and there is much more potential for incapability issues. It is almost like the difference between gaming on a PC versus gaming on a console. With the console, the programmer knows exactly what hardware specs he is working with and does not have to account for different processor speeds or brands or different video cards. That is a little simplistic, but the bottom line is that OS X is written for a rather small number of specific hardware configurations. Apple works very hard to control the user experience - something some people love and others hate.
Since i am new to the Mac, there are certain things that I will only learn over time. For example, I know that with Windows that after a few years of adding and removing programs and changing settings that I find the system starts to bog down and run slow. This is generally solved by backing up data, reinstalling the operating system on a reformatted hard drive and then a re-installation of the key third party software. I don't know if this will be necessary with the Mac down the road. Also, Apple claims that disc fragmentation is not an issue. Not sure if this is true - Microsoft made the same claim about Windows NT and that turned out to be untrue. I would not want to commit to an opinion on overall reliability based on having a Mac for a month and using my wife's off and on for a year. I do know that I have to spend a certain amount of time every month to keep my PCs running - updating drivers, defragging, updating virus and spyware definitions, etc.
I got the 13 inch MBP model and since my wife is in education, she used her education discount, and I got it during the tax free week so I saved money that way as well. And it came with a free 8 gig Ipod Touch (well, it was a mail-in rebate). (Side note: I like the way Apple handled the rebate. After paying for the laptop and Ipod, they had a dedicated laptop in the store set up for customers to fill out the rebate information and send it to Apple. The Apple employee walked me through the form and when I left the store all I had to do was wait for the rebate check for the Ipod Touch. That was cool.)
With the savings and the features it was a good deal for me. I really like the solid aluminum design, the LED backlighting, the LED lit keyboard and the glossy screen. We live in a dark house so glare is not an issue and I spend a lot of late night and early morning time on the laptop. I like the extra long battery life that allows me to go for 3 or 4 hour stretches of heavy use without worrying about running out of juice. And once i got used to the large trackpad and using finger gestures instead of a mouse, it became second nature. So far so good. It is a great way to mess around with family photos and video, watch downloaded shows and movies and listen to music and surf the web.
I generally like the Mac software, but then again there are things I don't like. Personally, I find the Zune software to be better than ITunes, and while i use Iphoto 9 to organize all my digital pictures, I went back and forth with several other options that offer similar features.
I guess it comes down to personal preference. And for me it was not an either or since i still have both a PC, an old Dell laptop and and a company provided HP laptop.