Talk Me Into Apple

[KRS1]

getting a new laptop and am coming across alot of used macbooks and macbook pros lately.

so, what makes a mac better than a regular old pc?

[Stjohnm]

Nothing

[endure]

The fact that you're a captive audience?

[mausplan]

As a regular user of both types ,the main difference is the OS. Still " touch wood" OSX is virus free and runs with only very occasional Apple updates compared to Windows daily updates. You can still get key stoke loggers and all that stuff if you download junk or visit and log into dangerous sites.

A weak point with the Mac is that a lot of games and business software need to run on Windows. A good point with a Mac however is that you can run Windows (XP or 7) on the Mac using a emulation program like Parallels . This means you can be using either OS at the same time and drag files from one to the other. I use this regularly and it is good except that you need as much RAM as you can fit into the machine.

Mac also have a built in Boot Camp which is a partition you create on your hard drive and you install your windows OS and it becomes a full Windows PC. The weak point is you need to reboot from one OS to the other.

My Macs run well into old age and generally the hardware quality is better , certainly longer lasting but used laptops are like used cars, everyone is different and buyer beware. I have a number of dead PC based laptops with fatal hardware problems that are no longer worth fixing, problems I have never had with the MAC such as CPU's, motherboards and the like whereas I have retired two old Mac laptops that still work fine but are not grunty enough for current software.

Mac software is good and you can pretty much all the normal things using the standard Mac software that comes with the machines.

If you are a Windows person there is a small learning curve, If you are just web surfing and emails and so on. I think the Mac is a good choice because the hardware is nicer , generally better laid out and good quality and the software is good and you still dont have to run any anti virus.

[T_Dog]

My experience is that in 5 years, I have spent maybe 20 minutes total debugging software problems with my MacBook. My past experience with a half-dozen Windows-based machines involved entire nights up with some help-desk trying to get the computers back up. I would never go back, but I'm just a casual user and don't like problems.

[canuckamuck]

With a Mac people know you spent more money.

With a Mac people won't confuse you with a gamer.

With a Mac you have easier time finding software because in the stores the Mac section is really small.

With a Mac you can let Steve jobs determine your spending for the next few years.

[rijb]

As a regular user of both types ,the main difference is the OS. Still " touch wood" OSX is virus free and runs with only very occasional Apple updates compared to Windows daily updates. You can still get key stoke loggers and all that stuff if you download junk or visit and log into dangerous sites.

A weak point with the Mac is that a lot of games and business software need to run on Windows. A good point with a Mac however is that you can run Windows (XP or 7) on the Mac using a emulation program like Parallels . This means you can be using either OS at the same time and drag files from one to the other. I use this regularly and it is good except that you need as much RAM as you can fit into the machine.

Mac also have a built in Boot Camp which is a partition you create on your hard drive and you install your windows OS and it becomes a full Windows PC. The weak point is you need to reboot from one OS to the other.

My Macs run well into old age and generally the hardware quality is better , certainly longer lasting but used laptops are like used cars, everyone is different and buyer beware. I have a number of dead PC based laptops with fatal hardware problems that are no longer worth fixing, problems I have never had with the MAC such as CPU's, motherboards and the like whereas I have retired two old Mac laptops that still work fine but are not grunty enough for current software.

Mac software is good and you can pretty much all the normal things using the standard Mac software that comes with the machines.

If you are a Windows person there is a small learning curve, If you are just web surfing and emails and so on. I think the Mac is a good choice because the hardware is nicer , generally better laid out and good quality and the software is good and you still dont have to run any anti virus.

Well said. I've had both for many years. I find myself using the MAC more than the PC. Mostly because I don't have to spend a lot of time maintaining/upgrading the system/applications.

[nikster]

No viruses and no av software that slows your system. Works just as fast a year later when windows installs are down to 50%

Migrating to a new Mac takes an hour of unsupervised copying. Then you're back and ready to work with all apps, settings, etc.

[nikster]

Forgot: Gorgeous hardware of unrivalled quality since the unibody macs.

[CDNinKS]

If you are a big gamer type I might agree that a PC is probably for you.

However, if you want a computer that works everyday, everytime, no hassles, then you want a Mac. I jokingly tell my friends that buying a Mac has ruined my computer experience, I no longer spend hours looking for drivers, workarounds, defragging, etc.

It may be a catch phrase, but with a Mac it really is true "it just works"

[Bung]

I changed from PC to Mac and am glad I did. I got tired of spending ages trying to get the PC to the point where I could use it eg: connect to a wireless network with all the "you need to do this and that first" popup bubbles BS. By the time I got my PC connected the mac users were done.

It's true that they just work. You can put Microsoft Office for Macs on it and do all your word, excel etc stuff. I had Windows running as a virtual machine(VM Ware) which you don't need to reboot into and it lassted a month before I realised that I didn't need it. I have found only one thing that I can't run on the Mac and that I would have liked - Nokias Ovi suite but have since learned that it is a bloated POS anyway.

I dropped mine onto a carpeted cement floor from chest height and I fully expected it to be broken/smashed when I opened it but apart from a slight ding in the aluminium body it is fine. I doubt a PC would have survived that. I think the HD's have some sort of shock protection on them. Very well made.

My desktop PC is having a virus scan and adware removal as I type.......

Edited August 28, 2010 by Bung

[CDNinKS]

There is no need for MS Office, Apple IWorks for the bargain price of 3000 baht does everything Office does......

I agree with Bung, I loaded boot camp and windows on the partion because I was sure there would be something I would only be able to run on Windows.......never used it.

Once you go Mac, you will never go back

[hughden]

Switched to Mac about three years ago when I discovered that a Macbook with the same CPU and memory specs as my PC desktop could run my photo processing software seven times faster. Never looked back and now have three Mac computers at home.

Never once had a software issue. Had a hard drive fail in one machine after two years. Down to the computer store and bought a new (bigger) drive and, thanks to the painless Time Machine backup utility, was up and running in an hour with no lost data.

If you are into media (photos, video, music), the software for the Mac is excellent, and if you have to do work related stuff then iWork is far less bloated than MS Office. I do have a windows drive accessed with boot camp which I use for gaming.

Spent twenty years building computers, fixing failed Windows, being faced with the blue screen of death just when I needed to do something important. Some seem to feel this is a necessary part of "real computing", some sort of badge of honour. Rubbish. Get a Mac, it just works.

[nikster]

Yes, absolutely. You will miss that feeling of superiority when you tell your Windows friends that they must defrag their hard drive and they look at you like you are God.

I used to fix Windows installs for my friends - the geek you call when your system is fried. Now I have forgotten a lot of the arcana that are involved in that - I am not sure I could still do it.

More and more people I know get Macs. I always tell them - hey, if you have any problem, anything at all you need to know, ask me, I know all that stuff. The difference is - they never call. They never have a question. I have never had to fix a Mac for a friend. Not that there isn't anything that could go wrong, but its just not that common. And yes TimeMachine is a huge improvement - it's the best backup solution for any machine. It's automatic, in the background, and recovery is a snap.

[T_Dog]

I don't use Time Machine for back-ups as the CM Computer Club turned me on to SuperDuper. The cool thing about SuperDuper is that the back-up you make is bootable. I've taken my external drive to a friend's Mac, plugged in the FireWire cable, and booted up to my exact desk top and files. Just like having your own computer! Do a search and check it out.

[Cowboyshoe]

The curmudgeons are right - Apple is more expensive. My Powerbook cost me about $1200.00 and lasted roughly 7 years before I replaced it 2 months ago.

Over the same time my girlfriend went through 3 PC laptops (about $500 each),

two of which needed DVD drive replacements (about $150 each),

and dozens of trips to the local 'PC guy' for de-virusing, de-corrupting and software upgrades (as the windows software was never 100% compatible with the version of whatever software she had bought she had to hire this guy to install software, that would allow her to install the software she bought. This made numerous software purchases twice as expensive.)

Frankly I think the whole PC is just as good as a Mac argument is pointless - to a certain extent it's like comparing apples and oranges. Nobody ever says, "Why are you paying more for that Ferrari than that Toyota? They're both CARS, right?"

Edited August 29, 2010 by Cowboyshoe

[BergRace]

I don't use Time Machine for back-ups as the CM Computer Club turned me on to SuperDuper.  The cool thing about SuperDuper is that the back-up you make is bootable.   I've taken my external drive to a friend's Mac, plugged in the FireWire cable, and booted up to my exact desk top and files.  Just like having your own computer! Do a search and check it out.

TimeMachine is fully automated and a no brainer. You would use one disk for TimeMachine and a second one for a bootable clone made with Superduper or CarbonCopyCloner if in need of one.

You could easily also use two separate partitions on the same disk if you want to have a bootable option, you would however impair safety in case of an disk crash, and those do happen.

I have lost two within the last year, the controller of the external enclosure did my last disk in, a 500GB disk full of videos...

J.

[Thakkar]

15 responses and all of them say: buy a Mac.

What did you expect in an Apple Forum?

But seriously, if you value your time, get a Mac.

The last time I checked, for a similarly decked out Dell, the price difference for a Mac was only about 15% -20% more. For that extra money you get a machine that is better built, uses better components, looks much nicer, is much less prone to viruses and software bugs, and just plain works better. In the long run, it'll probably save money, because it will last longer.

Greater peace of mind and time savings alone should be worth the slight premium.

[blakegeee]

I have been using Macs for the last few years now, and I am incredibly happy that I made the change. PCs drive me nuts. The entire system is so flaky. I am setting up my old PC recently for my wife to keep in touch with me when I am out of the country. They need constant work! I was using this same PC before strictly as a jukebox and it was a pain in the a$$ even for just that. I spend enough time doing my work on the computer already. I love that the mac doesn't waste my time trying to fix or debug it. When I sit down to get some work done, I do just that. I don't need to spend any extra time fixing my tool, so that I can begin work after that. The Mac is nearly maintenance free. I imagine it has something to do with the fact that the hardware, OS, and software is all made for each other. A PC is a mix of everything and everybody's machine has a different setup than everybody elses. How could the software and hardware possibly always work well together.

"Drivers", what drivers? These stupid compatibility issues don't exist on a mac.

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

The Mac does have higher initial purchase price but they hold their value pretty well. I recently sold a Macbook Pro after 4 years and got 23K baht. I bought the new model for 60K. 37k baht for 4 years. 9,250 baht per year. Contrast that to a PC laptop over 4 years. The PC is not going to be all that cheaper. How much cheaper? 6K baht a year for comparable hardware? Okay a whopping 3k baht per year for driving a great computer and OS. Less hassles and more smiles.

It's definitely a premium product but the premium is not that painful. 10 baht a day.

Oh wait I deduct it off my US tax return. No premium for me. No excuse to not own one in my case.

[Bung]

Well, after saying how great my mac was for not dying on me after I dropped it, the HD failed last week.....So I got a 320 GB installed by a Farang IT guy in CM and restored it using time machine. I initially freaked out as when I plugged in my back up drive there was no back ups to be seen but a quick google showed that when reinstalling the OS you need to boot up on the install disc and backup via utilities. On my PC I tried and tried to have a reliable back up system but what a PITA, time machine worked perfectly and saved the day. Big difference there.

[MJo]

If you are into media (photos, video, music), the software for the Mac is excellent, and if you have to do work related stuff then iWork is far less bloated than MS Office. I do have a windows drive accessed with boot camp which I use for gaming.

Funny, i just got a excel file from mac user. Simple few sheets and one pivot table. File size 227 megs ! Did his tables again in windows and file size below 2 megs...

Been a windows user since 3.1 version and never had a problem. No blue screens and no failing hard drives. You just need to have some common sense. No endless nights cleaning it up, all is done automatic in the background. Just like mac does.

Want to connect to a phone or anything, just go and download a driver.

Mac is good if you don't care what you are getting and just play around with photos and vids and purchase music from iTunes. Also makes sense if you are a fanboy with latest iPhone and iPods and pads. The moment you need to connect and work with rest of the world you need MS software with MS apps.

[BergRace]

If you are into media (photos, video, music), the software for the Mac is excellent, and if you have to do work related stuff then iWork is far less bloated than MS Office. I do have a windows drive accessed with boot camp which I use for gaming.

Funny, i just got a excel file from mac user. Simple few sheets and one pivot table. File size 227 megs ! Did his tables again in windows and file size below 2 megs...

Been a windows user since 3.1 version and never had a problem. No blue screens and no failing hard drives. You just need to have some common sense. No endless nights cleaning it up, all is done automatic in the background. Just like mac does.

Want to connect to a phone or anything, just go and download a driver.

Mac is good if you don't care what you are getting and just play around with photos and vids and purchase music from iTunes. Also makes sense if you are a fanboy with latest iPhone and iPods and pads. The moment you need to connect and work with rest of the world you need MS software with MS apps.

Bs!

What software cannot be found on the OsX platform which you need to work with MS apps/software? Not much/many..

Did you know that some Microsoft developers actually work on Mac hardware? And no, you are not going to get anyone admitting to that.

"Just go and download a driver" alone is an argument sufficient to stay away from MS.

Mac hardware is better engineered and has a lower failure ratio than any other maker, these are facts not opinions. Open up PowerMac and have a look for yourself, count cooling fans, censors, air vanes and temperature zones. It should give you an indication of the engineering behind the hardware.

J.

[xbusman]

First Mac o mine was an Apple IIe in about 1978 or thereabouts. Always had the terrible habit of bringing my Mac into the companies I worked for in the 80s and eventually there was always a line to use it, particular for anything that required graphics.

Three years ago my company had seven windows computers and I found myself spending about one to two hours average getting them working every morning. One had a virus or crashed or could not get online or could not access the LAN or or or or or.

So I did what I have done for years and brought in a single Mac, next thing I know I have my workers lined up to use it every day and the window machines are gathering dust.

Last year I replaced the whole lot of windows machines with all Apple. Set up consisted of taking them out of the box and plugging them in. Now I have internet, central backup, LAN access, no crashes, no hits, no errors, and maybe best of all, no viruses.

You cant imagine how nice it is after struggling with Windows for so many years to have computers that simply work.

If you are a gamer, buy a PS3 or a Wii or some other incredible game machine. If you have some very special proprietary program from corporate headquarters or your company has a computer geek that will straighten out your windows for free, well they are fine in that case. I gave them a good 10,000 hours of pure frustration and occasional rage over the last twenty years and thats enough for me.

[TheLaughingMan]

After reading this thread now I wish I had some spare cash to buy a mac

[KRS1]

so can i get photoshop, dreamweaver and adobe soundbooth and some type of video editing software for the mac these are all i really need. i dont really play games.

i also need to be able to access paypal and ebay so are their compatible browsers like firefox and explorer that can be used on the mac?

asking because ive heard that paypal and some merchant gateways wont work on macs, any REAL experience on this?

Edited September 19, 2010 by KRS1

[Deksan]

so can i get photoshop, dreamweaver and adobe soundbooth and some type of video editing software for the mac these are all i really need. i dont really play games.

i also need to be able to access paypal and ebay so are their compatible browsers like firefox and explorer that can be used on the mac?

asking because ive heard that paypal and some merchant gateways wont work on macs, any REAL experience on this?

Yep all the adobe suite is available on mac ( I think they were long time ago ported from mac to windows by adobe). No problem to access paypal or ebay you can also download firefox / opera / chrome for macosx if you don't like safari (Apple's browser available on osx). If I were you I d go to an istudio shop and ask for a tour of macosx. They ll probably answer more directly to your question as they pop out.

For video editing, you can use iMovies, last version is installed and free with every mac :

http://www.apple.com/ilife/imovie/

Edited September 19, 2010 by Deksan

[hughden]

so can i get photoshop, dreamweaver and adobe soundbooth and some type of video editing software for the mac these are all i really need. i dont really play games.

i also need to be able to access paypal and ebay so are their compatible browsers like firefox and explorer that can be used on the mac?

asking because ive heard that paypal and some merchant gateways wont work on macs, any REAL experience on this?

For serious video editing there is Final Cut; heavily used by the video and movie industry for editing. Final Cut Express is a cheaper and easier version; but iMovie may be all you ever need.

I use Firefox and Safari and have never had any problems with eBay, Paypal etc. I use Adobe Lightroom and it runs way faster on a Mac compared to a comparable PC; it's what moved me to Mac in the first place.

[bubba]

If you are into media (photos, video, music), the software for the Mac is excellent, and if you have to do work related stuff then iWork is far less bloated than MS Office. I do have a windows drive accessed with boot camp which I use for gaming.

Mac is good if you don't care what you are getting and just play around with photos and vids and purchase music from iTunes. Also makes sense if you are a fanboy with latest iPhone and iPods and pads. The moment you need to connect and work with rest of the world you need MS software with MS apps.

Not sure what your point is. Word, Excel and Powerpoint all have Mac OSX versions. File formats are identical and exchanging them between Windows and Mac users is transparent. Someone earlier mentioned iWork, which costs a fraction of MS Office for Mac, and it also produces MS Office format files. I also find iWork a lot easier to use than the corresponding Office files, and the presentation application in iWork (Keynote) is far superior to Keynote, but in ease of creating presentations, and also formatting, effects, and transitions. I often get people who are used to seeing the same old tired Powerpoint formats say "Hey, how did you do that?"

Nearly all media files are platform independent, so it doesn't matter whether you are using Windows, OSX, or Linux.

Obviously, I am a Mac user and I connect and work with the "rest of the world" on a daily basis. I'm always hearing this objection to Macs stating that "Macs aren't compatible". I have yet to find a real problem with that apart from some company proprietary software that only run on Windows. For that, I just open up Parallels and run Windows 7. But then I use my computers for work, music, photography and internet, and I don't have a single game my Macs. Although it looks to me like there are plenty of kiddy games out there for Mac, they may not be the ones you want to play.

Maybe this comment that I keep seeing sums up the Mac experience for me, as I am truly not much of a computer geek: Macs just work.

[puuchai299]

4 days ago i bought a new mac book pro,it's the first time ive ever used a mac.So far apart from still learning how to use it after using windows for years i'm very happy with it.I'm amazed with the way it installs programs so quicly and the build quality feels good.