Want The Most Reliable Windows Pc: Buy A Mac

[Tywais]

Yes that is Windows on a MAC.

Want the most reliable Windows PC? Buy a Mac (or maybe a Dell)

Summary: A new report from Soluto uses data from its massive online database of PC crashes, hangs, and performance metrics to identify the 10 most reliable Windows PCs you can buy today. Surprisingly, a MacBook Pro is at the top of the list. Even more surprising is who's not included.

If you want a reliable Windows PC, maybe you should get a Mac.

That’s the conclusion of a new report released today by Soluto, which crunched the data from its cloud-based PC monitoring and management software to come up with a list of the 10 most reliable portable PCs you can buy today.

The most reliable Windows PC you can buy today, according to Soluto’s report, doesn’t come from one of the leading hardware OEMs. Instead, it’s built by Microsoft’s archrival Apple. (You'll have to use Apple's Boot Camp utility and buy your own Windows license to transform the Mac into a Windows PC.)

The report also provides a partial answer to the age-old question of whether you should use a vendor’s OEM image of Windows or wipe it and perform a clean installation.

Soluto’s database includes data gathered from millions of machines running Windows. For this study, the company chose a sample of data gathered in the first three months of 2013 from 150,000 portable PCs. They filtered the dataset so it includes only models available for purchase today, running Windows 7 or Windows 8.

More details and figures here - CNET

[DonaldBattles]

I switched to Mac 5 years ago. It is light years ahead of any Windows machine. You can also forget about a virus.

As mentioned if you must have Windows it can also be loaded on a Mac and yu can run both programs at the same time. The Apple version of Office is superb. I have machines from Apple and have never any trouble with any of them. It is easy to transfer data from one to the other if you wish.

[USNret]

Likewise, I went Mac about 7 years ago & never went back. Just got tired of the endless battles to keep a Windows machine tuned & virus-free. With Mac, I've never had to buy any security add-ons whatsoever, I surf with impunity, I have full & complete backup literally hands-free (with Time Machine), have never gotten an infection of any kind, never had a BIOS issue or had to do any kind of reload, got awesome customer support when needed. In short, it makes personal computing fun & satisfying once again.

Loading Windows OS on my beautiful machine would be like scraping fingernails on a chalk board; I couldn't bring myself to do it. There are other ways to run (most) Windows software on a Mac without loading Windows (think CrossOver). But for someone who really needs a full Windows environment, I could easily see a Mac being the best solution.

[DonaldBattles]

Another wise person who broke down and switched to Mac. The investment is a little stiff but you probably won't ever need another computer.

[hml367]

Not for me.

Some people like Apple, some people like PC. If a person knows how to use either one they will work for them.

Because Apple controls almost everything on their product they make more profit per unit.

I know professionals that use both Apple and PC and they have told me one is not better than the other,.... just different uses.

From what I have seen and experienced with current Apple products they are much better for people that are not knowledgeable with using computers. That is not to say people using Apple do not know... just an observation from seeing people that do not have a lot of computer knowledge.

Which brand of automobile is best?

MSPain

Edited April 25, 2013 by hml367

[xen]

The analogy with cars is a good one. Some people will buy a car like a Merc or a Lexus and want to be able to get into a car and drive and leave the sevicing and repairs to the mechanics if something wears out or goes wrong. Other people like to tinker and experiment with their cars and add stuff (not always to our taste) and want to know how it works and fix it themselves . These are the Windows and Linux users. The Gamers are the hot rodders . Each to their own .

[TexasRanger]

I got very disillusioned with windows years ago and became a Mac convert. I still have one but to be honest there are still problems. Pro's and cons for both but now since windows 7 I rarely use my mac for much else than watching movies.

My windows 7 netbook, small, reliable and do cheap you can almost afford to just bin it if and when it starts giving you trouble. Not so with the mac, came home recently and it wouldn't boot, needed a new battery and hard disk, paid fir the repairs as I didnt want to throw it away, if it was a 10, 000 baht netbook I would have binned it.

[hml367]

I got very disillusioned with windows years ago and became a Mac convert. I still have one but to be honest there are still problems. Pro's and cons for both but now since windows 7 I rarely use my mac for much else than watching movies. My windows 7 netbook, small, reliable and do cheap you can almost afford to just bin it if and when it starts giving you trouble. Not so with the mac, came home recently and it wouldn't boot, needed a new battery and hard disk, paid fir the repairs as I didnt want to throw it away, if it was a 10, 000 baht netbook I would have binned it.

So much for nothing ever going wrong with Apple products. And no virus worries??? Give me a break.

For myself, I don't like Apple products. I don't have a problem with people that like Apple products... but to suggest people are some how inferior in knowledge if they do not buy Apple I don't agree with.

I worked in sales many years ago. I learned that if you told someone they were "stupid" for buying a product other than yours, then you would probably not be on their BFF list... oh, wait! I don't think they had BFF at that time.

MSPain

[DonaldBattles]

Many people are afraid of Apple computers because they have been stuck on Windows most of their life. this is understandable as no one wants to lear a new system. It took some time for me to learn but it ws really worth it. One of the reasons that I changed was several years ago in Don't Mall in Phuket I noticed several young people with their Apple lap tops working all day. I was curious and asked several people why. When they showed me the difference I was convinced that I had been living in the dark ages. There will be no going back for me. However, I am not suggesting that you should change.

[WhizBang]

If Apple were the last company on earth, I would NOT buy from them. Period.

The main problem with Windows, is M$ itself. The way M$ sets up and tries to control your copy of windows can lead to sooooo many problems. There may have been good reason to do certain things 15 years ago, but that was then and this is now and M$ has not changed the M$ mindset to realize that.

To avoid most Windows problems you need to take control of your copy of windows, which means NOT doing it the M$ way. I use programs like nLite (for XP) and RT7 (for win7) to strip out the bloat and preset many registry variables. I rarely have issues with my PC's.

Take control, don't be sheep.

[Mousehound]

I work and supervise a technician that keeps over 700 pcs - desktops, laptops and a hundred or so iPads. Yes, I know, 700 machines and one tech! But we do bring in outside help from in fromtime to time. Roughly half the machines are Apple and the rest a mix of OEM windows machines. Hardware wise the failures are about the same. The upset costs are a lot less for OEM. The Apples are often run with windows as the network and software we use - a great variety - is more stable. I tend to favour windows but use both. My techo used to be Apple but now seems to favour OEM machines and windows. We have had a task force running iPads - with varying success. The windows slate type we are trying out are, I understand, prefered by the users over the iPad. Virus wise we don't have many problems either way. At the end of the day I don't think there is really much in it. The Apples look puurdy but do they do the job better, I doubt it. This war between users is really about ego. No one wants to admit that they didn't make the perfect choice: GM V Ford, Canon V Nikon etc. The fact is that it is about what works best for the application you are running and what you are familiar with.

[hml367]

^{Go, Moushound! Thank you.}

[candypants]

i have a number of freinds who exclusively use win 7 x64 on their macbooks.

it is what i would do.

[DonaldBattles]

Windows 7, I find cumbersome and not so easy to work with the pull down tools like print. If you must use Windows I recommend that you consider Windows 8 if this is the latest version. I keep Windows on my employee computers because it is hard to untrain them.

[dominique355]

I switched to Mac 5 years ago. It is light years ahead of any Windows machine. You can also forget about a virus.

As mentioned if you must have Windows it can also be loaded on a Mac and yu can run both programs at the same time. The Apple version of Office is superb. I have machines from Apple and have never any trouble with any of them. It is easy to transfer data from one to the other if you wish.

unfortunately that's a myth.

[USNret]

I switched to Mac 5 years ago. It is light years ahead of any Windows machine. You can also forget about a virus.

As mentioned if you must have Windows it can also be loaded on a Mac and yu can run both programs at the same time. The Apple version of Office is superb. I have machines from Apple and have never any trouble with any of them. It is easy to transfer data from one to the other if you wish.

unfortunately that's a myth.

Whatever. I've been Mac for 7 years & never got a virus. On Windows, it was a regular occurrence, and that was with keeping virus checkers current. You can say 7 years doesn't prove anything, maybe I'll get a bug in Year 8. Perhaps, but I'll take a 7-year run any day, and furthermore I've never met a Mac owner who has ever gotten infected.

[hml367]

I switched to Mac 5 years ago. It is light years ahead of any Windows machine. You can also forget about a virus.

As mentioned if you must have Windows it can also be loaded on a Mac and yu can run both programs at the same time. The Apple version of Office is superb. I have machines from Apple and have never any trouble with any of them. It is easy to transfer data from one to the other if you wish.

unfortunately that's a myth.

Whatever. I've been Mac for 7 years & never got a virus. On Windows, it was a regular occurrence, and that was with keeping virus checkers current. You can say 7 years doesn't prove anything, maybe I'll get a bug in Year 8. Perhaps, but I'll take a 7-year run any day, and furthermore I've never met a Mac owner who has ever gotten infected.

I doubt if it was Windows fault. But you can believe what you want. I don't have viruses on any of my PC's and I have been using them in Thailand for longer than 7 years. I also used PC's for many, many years in the US. I have had minor problems with a virus once. It was my fault, not Windows.

So for me... me...... that doesn't make one better than the other as far as viruses go.... it just makes one more expensive.

I use my PC laptops as long as many Apple users say they use their computers. That, for me, just makes one more expensive than the other.

For myself, one of the reasons Apple products are less susceptible to general virus is one of the reason I, personally, don't like Apple products. Anyone - user, hacker, mean people - have a much harder time getting into the OS and system. It also limits what the user can do with the OS and system.

People that like Apple stuff keep right on using... It's like one person starting a thread about "Convince me to upgrade to Windows 7 from XP"... something like that... If you have to be convinced you will find something wrong with whatever you change to - unless of course you change to Apple.. or so they say.

MSPain

Edited April 27, 2013 by hml367

[nikster]

All the software developers use Macs these days - pretty rare to find Windows users, and usually that's because they work on some Windows-only technology (of which there is less and less).

For web devs, Ruby, Java, et cetera, it's all Mac. Having an actual unix command shell is a huge plus (the ones that can be installed over Windows suck). And generally running trouble free without having to do anything is also good.

When people tell me Macs are expensive I always tell them not for me, for me they're the cheapest machine available, and pay for themselves on day 1. Because that's when I transfer my old system to a new one, with my entire dev tool setup, and all the bits and pieces, all in one go, takes about 1 hour of unsupervised copying from the time machine backup. Prior to time machine, it was the same thing, you just directly transferred stuff from the old Mac.

On Windows it takes me about 2 - 3 full working days before everything is back to where I like it. All the preferences have to be changed (because Windows defaults are so bad). Backup doesn't really work so all the apps have to be re-installed which takes forever. For me any Windows machine is truly expensive. 2 or 3 days of wages - wow. Cant', or rather, really don't want to afford that.

I think the main difference between Windows and OS X - assuming you pick one of the "good" windows versions, e.g. Windows 7 or XP - is a philosophical one. On OS X the operating system is out of your way - I never see, or have to deal with, anything on the operating system. It does its job and lets me do mine.

On Windows, even after setup, there's always this prompt or that, an update of something, alerts, settings that need tweaking - it's needy, it always craves attention. Queue dialog box "Hello! The Windows Operating System wants something from you! Please deal with it right now as it is very important.".

The thing that Microsoft seems to have forgotten when designing Windows is that I as a user do not actually gain anything from dealing with operating system issues. It's a waste of my time, e.g. a loss of money.

PS - about reliability of macs - There's been a huge improvement with the rollout of unibody design. Before that, Macs were good but not stellar - they had their little issues. With unibody designs, Mac laptops became near indestructible. It's carved from a single block of aluminum, and you can feel that.

Edited April 27, 2013 by nikster

[qdinthailand]

I did development work for an online store in Seattle from 1999 to 2006. They had a few thousand employees, with most working in their 'brick and mortar' stores scattered around the country. At the time, they were a $1 billion in annual sales operation. They since have hit $2 billion annual sales.

The entire organization, headquarters, the warehouse, the 80 some stores around the country used Wintel PC's, connecting back to the Seattle data center. The web servers and database boxes (Oracle db) we worked with were IBM Unix.

Anyway, there were about 16 of us on the online development team. Our development work was done on PC's. Over 1/2 of us at the time I left (2005) had Mac's for our personal computers at home. Why? They're unix boxes under the covers, designed for networking. And they just worked! No screwing around, loading drivers every time you added new hardware (and updating same all the time). We all appreciated them Macs when we had to deal with issues from home.

I used PC's for a about 20 years ('86 - '06). I started using Macs in 2001, and that's all I own now. I love using the Unix/OS X operating system.

But I have anti-virus software running on my macs. Never been infected, but it can (and will) happen. Can't be watching the wife and 12 year old every minute.

[hml367]

That is great that Apple stuff works for you. Windows works for me and apparently many others. As I said, as long as people, and I am not referring to either of you in particular, don't try and tell PC users they are stupid. Some PC users probably are stupid. I am sure some Apple users are probably stupid. But telling them or insinuating that they are is only feeding an ego.

I also don't agree when someone that doesn't like Apple says that Apple users are ONLY feeding their ego. Apple works for someone is great. PC works for someone is also great.

MSPain

[ignis]

So what about a Mac Hackintosh ?

a PC at PC price but running Mac ?

Did look about 18 months or more go, looked good, but now what I looked at building back then is old as hardware has moved on since then..

PC new build about 30,000 baht, same for a Mac Hackintosh, or a now discontinued desktop Mac at 70+k......... Why has the desktop Mac been discontinued ?

Always did have in mind to buy a iMac one day, notice now a day there is very little difference in price between a iMac and other makes 'all in one' i5 CPU Samsung, Dell, even Acer and the iMac are between 40 - 45,000 baht.

[ignis]

http://bangkokmac.net/products/hackintosh

[nikster]

hackintosh is imo a waste of time - as you said prices between macs and PCs for the same thing are pretty much the same, give or take, except you get a lot better quality on mac hardware.

Apple doesn't make cheap laptops or desktops - it does make a mini at 30k though, and the Mac Pro is still around too - it's expensive but it also has lots of high end features and in addition it's built like a tank.

I am kind of surprised PC makers all-in-ones are not cheaper than iMacs...

anyway the only real use case for hackintosh would be a dirt cheap mac; but the trade-offs are pretty significant. not worth it.

[ignis]

I am kind of surprised PC makers all-in-ones are not cheaper than iMacs...

Yes, but like for like here they appear the same.. the iMac being 1,000 baht more expensive...... the only difference is the iMac has 21.5 screen, the others 23.6 screen, both have same CPU, Ram and graphics card !! of course there are lots of cheaper ones but looking at like for like...