Comments on: the big question: mac or pc? http://eugenecho.wordpress.com/2008/05/16/the-big-question-mac-or-pc/ loving mercy, seeking justice, walking humbly Mon, 13 Oct 2008 01:39:52 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=MU hourly 1 By: Daniel http://eugenecho.wordpress.com/2008/05/16/the-big-question-mac-or-pc/#comment-17160 Daniel Tue, 26 Aug 2008 01:59:13 +0000 http://eugenecho.wordpress.com/?p=911#comment-17160 Wow! This is one of the most amusing blogs and batch of responses that I have read in a while. I love all kinds of computers whether they are MACs PCs, Mainframes, etc. I have worked on and with computers since the very first personal computers became available and I have extensive professional experience providing support for MACs and PCs for nearly two decades. I am not an OS elitist and I can easily go between Windows, OSX, Linux, Unix and all flavors in between without pause. The notion that MACs are some how intrinsically more stable is amusing and patently false. What is true is that the easily available choices for different hardware and software are far less on the MAC side than the PC side. What some folks see as stability is really a result of having a close-ended system with limited choices. Again, let me stress that I love MACs just as much as PCs, but the fact is that your choices are far more limited on a MAC than a PC although this limitation has gotten much less in recent years as MACs have garnered a slightly higher market share. I can easily build a PC from individual components that is 2-3 times more powerful than the most powerful retail-available MAC at less than half the cost. Proper use of your PC will eliminate the harm that viruses pose. Remember that there are more viruses written for Windows OS's because they have a huge market share compared to the market share of OSX based MACs. PCs break down and so do MACs. Fortunately, I am able to fix them both. It is no coincidence that today's MACs are now being built with PC components such as Intel CPUs. MACs are great, but expensive as is the software which is often much harder to find. If you are are buying a computer for gaming, for example, you would want a PC. If you want one for email and internet surfing, there is no difference. If you want to run programs like Quark and Photoshop, MACs still retain a slight advantage at retail although not necessarily against self-built PCs with the highest quality components. As far as ease of use, it really depends on what you are used to. I find both platforms to be the same in this regard, but many like one or another based on their experience. Summary: DOn't bash MACs, don't bash PCs, just use whichever you like the most and be prepared to pay at least double for a MAC, including add-ons and software. Good luck! Daniel Wow! This is one of the most amusing blogs and batch of responses that I have read in a while. I love all kinds of computers whether they are MACs PCs, Mainframes, etc. I have worked on and with computers since the very first personal computers became available and I have extensive professional experience providing support for MACs and PCs for nearly two decades. I am not an OS elitist and I can easily go between Windows, OSX, Linux, Unix and all flavors in between without pause. The notion that MACs are some how intrinsically more stable is amusing and patently false. What is true is that the easily available choices for different hardware and software are far less on the MAC side than the PC side. What some folks see as stability is really a result of having a close-ended system with limited choices. Again, let me stress that I love MACs just as much as PCs, but the fact is that your choices are far more limited on a MAC than a PC although this limitation has gotten much less in recent years as MACs have garnered a slightly higher market share. I can easily build a PC from individual components that is 2-3 times more powerful than the most powerful retail-available MAC at less than half the cost. Proper use of your PC will eliminate the harm that viruses pose. Remember that there are more viruses written for Windows OS’s because they have a huge market share compared to the market share of OSX based MACs. PCs break down and so do MACs. Fortunately, I am able to fix them both. It is no coincidence that today’s MACs are now being built with PC components such as Intel CPUs. MACs are great, but expensive as is the software which is often much harder to find. If you are are buying a computer for gaming, for example, you would want a PC. If you want one for email and internet surfing, there is no difference. If you want to run programs like Quark and Photoshop, MACs still retain a slight advantage at retail although not necessarily against self-built PCs with the highest quality components. As far as ease of use, it really depends on what you are used to. I find both platforms to be the same in this regard, but many like one or another based on their experience. Summary: DOn’t bash MACs, don’t bash PCs, just use whichever you like the most and be prepared to pay at least double for a MAC, including add-ons and software. Good luck!

Daniel

]]> By: how2blogfast http://eugenecho.wordpress.com/2008/05/16/the-big-question-mac-or-pc/#comment-14974 how2blogfast Fri, 23 May 2008 13:55:59 +0000 http://eugenecho.wordpress.com/?p=911#comment-14974 It is amusing to see just what Steve Jobs knows, and has used at every turn, to revitalize the Macintosh Product over the last 10-12 years : Perception is everything. A Mac Book can be had for $1099 It will have Intel duo running at 2.2(2.1?) for the low end. The screen will be small like mac books costing hundreds more (13.3") It has a number of very annoying qualities, like no way to retrieve random files that disappear,,a shut down mode from hell, and a lot of hacking sh8t that is just not viable. If you are doing editing/media/music recording,,a Mac is going to make it easier, sort of,,easier in that the software that is native and Mac only,,won't be found on a PC. But, this means total control, like, oh, say yanking 'Logic' off of the market, for PCs, overnight. Not cool. Apple sells computers for the self-important, don't like to get my hands dirty crew. The real money is not made in a price-controlled product, that probably has a true mnfctr-retail markup of quite a lot. But you are beseiged w/ how cool it is and Steve knows that. He is a marketing genius, and he offers membership to the 'special club.' Bill Gates is a complete hypocrite and Vista is so horrible and just keeps displaying how much it is designed to prohibit the user from doing anything...I currently run XP on two Desktops and a Compaq laptop, all are 2-5 years old. The laptop has only 1/2 (512MB)a gig of RAM, and 60 GB Hard drive. The processor is a Celeron M, and w/ Safari installed as the Operating System,, I am beyond thrilled. I will add RAM but it simply does not need it. I have it tweaked, but they are basic speed up tweaks. In 5 years, Unix will be the only way to rock, if we are going to maintain our privacy and the attitude of all who are far too smart to allow their rights to be abused. We will have our own Wi-Fi-Broadband-networks and because no one wants to learn, we will be free. Apple Care? What about a warranty that speaks to the quality of your superior product? It's all smooth, sexy, simple marketing. It is amusing to see just what Steve Jobs knows, and has used at every turn, to revitalize the Macintosh Product over the last 10-12 years : Perception is everything. A Mac Book can be had for $1099
It will have Intel duo running at 2.2(2.1?) for the low end. The screen will be small like mac books costing hundreds more (13.3″)
It has a number of very annoying qualities, like no way to retrieve random files that disappear,,a shut down mode from hell, and a lot of hacking sh8t that is just not viable.
If you are doing editing/media/music recording,,a Mac is going to make it easier, sort of,,easier in that the software that is native and Mac only,,won’t be found on a PC. But, this means total control, like, oh, say yanking ‘Logic’ off of the market, for PCs, overnight. Not cool. Apple sells computers for the self-important, don’t like to get my hands dirty crew. The real money is not made in a price-controlled product, that probably has a true mnfctr-retail markup of quite a lot. But you are beseiged w/ how cool it is and Steve knows that. He is a marketing genius, and he offers membership to the ’special club.’ Bill Gates is a complete hypocrite and Vista is so horrible and just keeps displaying how much it is designed to prohibit the user from doing anything…I currently run XP on two Desktops and a Compaq laptop, all are 2-5 years old. The laptop has only 1/2 (512MB)a gig of RAM, and 60 GB Hard drive. The processor is a Celeron M, and w/ Safari installed as the Operating System,, I am beyond thrilled. I will add RAM but it simply does not need it. I have it tweaked, but they are basic speed up tweaks.
In 5 years, Unix will be the only way to rock, if we are going to maintain our privacy and the attitude of all who are far too smart to allow their rights to be abused. We will have our own Wi-Fi-Broadband-networks and because no one wants to learn, we will be free. Apple Care? What about a warranty that speaks to the quality of your superior product? It’s all smooth, sexy, simple marketing.

]]> By: ttremeth http://eugenecho.wordpress.com/2008/05/16/the-big-question-mac-or-pc/#comment-14934 ttremeth Fri, 23 May 2008 01:46:30 +0000 http://eugenecho.wordpress.com/?p=911#comment-14934 The MAC was the original GUI pc! It depends on budget. MAC is more expensive and less flexible but higher quality. I hate spending more money than I have to when I have other things that money can go towards, like my electricty. Because of that I lean towards a Windows pc. If you do not play with settings and just use it for the basics your overall experience will not be significanlty worse than a MAC user when you take the monetary difference in to account. The MAC was the original GUI pc! It depends on budget. MAC is more expensive and less flexible but higher quality. I hate spending more money than I have to when I have other things that money can go towards, like my electricty. Because of that I lean towards a Windows pc. If you do not play with settings and just use it for the basics your overall experience will not be significanlty worse than a MAC user when you take the monetary difference in to account.

]]> By: marian http://eugenecho.wordpress.com/2008/05/16/the-big-question-mac-or-pc/#comment-14866 marian Thu, 22 May 2008 09:04:25 +0000 http://eugenecho.wordpress.com/?p=911#comment-14866 Look here: get a Mac. I am not a hipster Mac user. I just like computers that work. I've used PCs consistently for work and play for 20 years, Macs for about 10, and I can honestly say that my Macs have withstood both hardware obsolescence and software snafus much better than my PCs. I currently own two Macs (iMac G5 & Powerbook G4) that are probably at least 5 years old, and they both work great for my daily needs, which run the gamut of business apps to Adobe Creative Suite to music recording software and video editing (uhhh, well the G5 only for that last one.) If you are worried about the initial cost of a Mac, try buying something off craigslist that comes with an extended apple care plan. The warranty is transferrable to the new owner. I've bought about 7 macs on CL (for myself and for friends) and so far no duds. Good luck! Look here: get a Mac. I am not a hipster Mac user. I just like computers that work.

I’ve used PCs consistently for work and play for 20 years, Macs for about 10, and I can honestly say that my Macs have withstood both hardware obsolescence and software snafus much better than my PCs. I currently own two Macs (iMac G5 & Powerbook G4) that are probably at least 5 years old, and they both work great for my daily needs, which run the gamut of business apps to Adobe Creative Suite to music recording software and video editing (uhhh, well the G5 only for that last one.)

If you are worried about the initial cost of a Mac, try buying something off craigslist that comes with an extended apple care plan. The warranty is transferrable to the new owner. I’ve bought about 7 macs on CL (for myself and for friends) and so far no duds. Good luck!

]]> By: J. P. Kang (aka My Mac Hero) http://eugenecho.wordpress.com/2008/05/16/the-big-question-mac-or-pc/#comment-14664 J. P. Kang (aka My Mac Hero) Sun, 18 May 2008 06:41:42 +0000 http://eugenecho.wordpress.com/?p=911#comment-14664 Hey Eugene--thanks for the plug, bro. All I can say is you have an iPod and I think I see a 3G iPhone in your future. At that point, you will have everything but the central nervous system of the Apple product line. Can you say "halo effect"? :) For the record, I'm neither a Microsoft basher nor an Apple fundamentalist--some of the smartest people I know, like, and respect work there and the company has made many positive contributions to technology (not to mention the life-saving work that the Gates Foundation is supporting)--it's just that for my purposes I am far more productive on a Mac than I have ever been on a PC. I think for most people the intuitive thing comes down to which they used first. I've used Macs since 1984, so everything that has come out of Microsoft since Windows 95 has seemed like a transposition (Apple menu vs. Start button and the trash can vs. recycling bin to name just two of the early things, and recent analogs such as Aqua vs. Aero, Widgets vs. Gadgets, and Spotlight vs. Quick Search). So I can imagine that for Windows users the transition to a Mac probably feels like a quirky alternative universe as well. There are empirical methods to measure usability, but in real world situations, it seems clear that the best solutions (and by that I'm not saying that Apple has always made the right decisions) aren't always the most popular (witness the persistence of the inefficient QWERTY keyboard layout). Apple's decision to switch to Intel since 2006 means that you can easily enjoy the best of Apple, Microsoft, and Linux on one machine (lots of RAM strongly recommended for these scenarios!). I believe that Apple is in the strongest position it has ever been in (and boy do I remember when things looked bleak in the mid-late 90s) and that in the iPhone and Apple TV we're only seeing the beginning of a long line of devices that will leverage OS X's increasingly mature development environment. Can Jobs & Co. keep hitting home runs? We'll all have to wait and see. p.s. I was honestly surprised to not read anything positive about Vista from commenters on this thread--I've used it for maybe all of 10-15 minutes, wherein I set the performance prefs to maximum, thus making it look like Windows 95. Hey Eugene–thanks for the plug, bro. All I can say is you have an iPod and I think I see a 3G iPhone in your future. At that point, you will have everything but the central nervous system of the Apple product line. Can you say “halo effect”? :)

For the record, I’m neither a Microsoft basher nor an Apple fundamentalist–some of the smartest people I know, like, and respect work there and the company has made many positive contributions to technology (not to mention the life-saving work that the Gates Foundation is supporting)–it’s just that for my purposes I am far more productive on a Mac than I have ever been on a PC.

I think for most people the intuitive thing comes down to which they used first. I’ve used Macs since 1984, so everything that has come out of Microsoft since Windows 95 has seemed like a transposition (Apple menu vs. Start button and the trash can vs. recycling bin to name just two of the early things, and recent analogs such as Aqua vs. Aero, Widgets vs. Gadgets, and Spotlight vs. Quick Search). So I can imagine that for Windows users the transition to a Mac probably feels like a quirky alternative universe as well. There are empirical methods to measure usability, but in real world situations, it seems clear that the best solutions (and by that I’m not saying that Apple has always made the right decisions) aren’t always the most popular (witness the persistence of the inefficient QWERTY keyboard layout). Apple’s decision to switch to Intel since 2006 means that you can easily enjoy the best of Apple, Microsoft, and Linux on one machine (lots of RAM strongly recommended for these scenarios!).

I believe that Apple is in the strongest position it has ever been in (and boy do I remember when things looked bleak in the mid-late 90s) and that in the iPhone and Apple TV we’re only seeing the beginning of a long line of devices that will leverage OS X’s increasingly mature development environment. Can Jobs & Co. keep hitting home runs? We’ll all have to wait and see.

p.s. I was honestly surprised to not read anything positive about Vista from commenters on this thread–I’ve used it for maybe all of 10-15 minutes, wherein I set the performance prefs to maximum, thus making it look like Windows 95.

]]> By: gar http://eugenecho.wordpress.com/2008/05/16/the-big-question-mac-or-pc/#comment-14660 gar Sun, 18 May 2008 05:03:40 +0000 http://eugenecho.wordpress.com/?p=911#comment-14660 For the budget conscious... Apple sells discounted refurbs that have been re-certified: http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?sf=wHF2F2PHCCCX72KDY&mco=MTE3NjY&nclm=CertifiedMac I'm a PC person, but I've been contemplating a switch. Call me sick of dealing the wackiness of Windows, especially with the craptastic "Vista" being the new flagship. For the budget conscious… Apple sells discounted refurbs that have been re-certified:

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?sf=wHF2F2PHCCCX72KDY&mco=MTE3NjY&nclm=CertifiedMac

I’m a PC person, but I’ve been contemplating a switch. Call me sick of dealing the wackiness of Windows, especially with the craptastic “Vista” being the new flagship.

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