Mac or PC?

[acehigh19]

I'm looking to buy a new computer and can't decide whether to get a mac or a pc. I have the money for a mac. Does anyone have any experience with macs? I'd kinda like to get one, but don't know if it's worth the money.

[kiwiMark]

Mac, every time. They're better and if you decide you fail at computers and want to use winblows after all, you can run that on Macs now, too.

[bigred]

Well, like anything else, first ask yourself what you need from a computer because both mac and pc's can cater to certain needs.

[OP]

I'll buy anything if it's shiny and made by Apple

[JKDS]

pc and its not close.

[AdamThePirate]

Macs are generally regarded to be "better" for two things. Music production (Ableton Live, Pro Tools, Cubase, etc) and photo manipulation/design. In both caes, Macs are industry standard.

Should they be? No. I can produce everything on my PC that you can on a mac.

Choose what you want. I think they are overpriced, shiny pieces of turd.

[Monty3038]

Years ago, back when I worked retail computer sales, the MAC was unheard of, and the questions revolved around Amiga or PC. Back in those days, for music and video, Amigas ruled.

If you just want to play pokerz, PC is cheap. Macs are cool looking and can do some awesome things, but Macs are not cheap and it is more difficult to find software unless you know the sources, or hang out in the mac store.

But I also haven't really followed the mac as closely in the last few years... software development for them lags from what I remember though... but running a PC Emulator could eliminate that problem.

Buy a commodore 64. Go Retro.

[dsmrolla06]

the only downside ive had with my mac is you cant run holdem manger or pt3 natively. Although you can run windows on your mac, even at the same time as the osx. Other than that im much happier with my mac in every way.

[badgers]

the only downside ive had with my mac is you cant run holdem manger or pt3 natively. Although you can run windows on your mac, even at the same time as the osx. Other than that im much happier with my mac in every way.

poker copilot is now a viable alternative to the windows trackers imo

mac ftw

I read an EPIC rant from someone on this forum about how apple is the worst company in history, I forget who it was. I expect them to turn up soon.

[BennyLaRue]

Years ago, back when I worked retail computer sales, the MAC was unheard of, and the questions revolved around Amiga or PC. Back in those days, for music and video, Amigas ruled.

I didn't realize you are older than dirt.

[Jack Sawyer]

its down to personal preference really. I've seen some really good pc's lately. But the macs have been really good lately aswell.


i'm personally going to buy me a macbook pro 13" shortly, but its not the first mac i've had, so i know what to expect (lower specs than equivalently priced pcs for one, really great productivity software on the other hand). its exactly what i need at the moment at about what i was expecting to pay, so i take it.

Oh, that plus an 8 hour battery.

[Monty3038]

Years ago, back when I worked retail computer sales, the MAC was unheard of, and the questions revolved around Amiga or PC. Back in those days, for music and video, Amigas ruled.

I didn't realize you are older than dirt.

Yes, God asked me what dirt should be like... and I said, Dirty.

[a500lbgorilla]

Xtina Agulara said Dirrty and Tom Dwan durrr-ty.

We see who the big man respects.

[revolvingiris]

pc and its not close.

This...In honestly every way.

[sinister1]

mac and its not close.

FYP

Mac's never crash, and have much better security. PC's generally run Windows which is the worst operating system in the history. If you get a mac you will run into virtually zero problems but with a PC you will need to have that thing fixed on the regular, something will guaranteed go wrong (probably multiple things).

[drmcboy]

If you don't think DOS was worse than windows I don't believe you used DOS cd..\\imo

My Mac friends all swear by them but whenever I use them scary graphics pop up from weird angles and I just give up, I can barely make mac itunes work. One of them is a total non tech guy and his crashes all the time which never fails to amuse me, but he still likes them. I'm just mad they killed the great commercial concept.

[JKDS]

o noes pc's have windows.

if things keep going the way they are, mac will just dump their os and come standard with windows too, because the favorite counter arguement to

"macs cant do anything pc's can"

is

"they can if you install windows".

[Galapogos]

o noes pc's have windows.

if things keep going the way they are, mac will just dump their os and come standard with windows too, because the favorite counter arguement to

"macs cant do anything pc's can"

is

"they can if you install windows".

You're getting it kind of wrong. Mac's aren't saying they're awesome because they too can run Windows like it was something they were striving to do. They're simply saying if there's a program you absolutely need to run and it's only available on Windows, that is now an option as well.

Their OS is very solid and not only attempts to do things for you, but also *gasp* succeeds at it. Has anyone ever waited for Windows Vista to solve the problem for you as it valiantly tries to and have it actually solve the problem? I never once have.

And I'm not a Macs rule PCs suck guy. I own one of each and happen to think the Mac is superior. Do I think the price tag is worth it for a more stable OS? That's just personal preference of the buyer, and to me it is.

PS. drmcboy I miss DOS. I felt like a hacker in some 80's movie even when I did tasks as simple as moving files.

[Jack Sawyer]

[JKDS]

ok honest time

reasons i dont like macs:

1) more expensive
2) i haz to learn how to not right click, and i LOVE right clicking
3) Iz afraid of not having things i want to work work

most of those are pc biased and lazy reasons thoguh :P

[dsmrolla06]

ok honest time

reasons i dont like macs:

1) more expensive
2) i haz to learn how to not right click, and i LOVE right clicking
3) Iz afraid of not having things i want to work work

most of those are pc biased and lazy reasons thoguh :P

On the laptops you right click by tapping two fingers instead of one.

[CoccoBill]

Ok I just have to chime in.

1. Macs are not "better", they're different. If you want a fairly stable, user friendly and polished OS, don't like to go "under the bonnet" and fix/tweak things yourself, can live with limited support for add-on hardware and software, don't play games and price is not your primary concern, get a Mac. If you don't subscribe to 1 or more of the above, I'd recommend a PC. The reason Macs are typically more stable than PCs is driver support. OS X has to support a VASTLY smaller number of hardware than e.g. Linux and Windows, which makes it far easier to write and test drivers.

2. Macs are not "more secure". I would say that Windows 7, for example, is more secure out of the box than Snow Tiger, even disregarding the fact that Snow Tiger shipped with a vulnerable version of Adobe Flash. Both (just like every other OS) can be secure or insecure, depending on how it's configured, maintained and used. Followers of St Steve like to think his blessings are all that's required to stay safe, unfortunately this is not the case. The largest reason there aren't many known vulnerabilities and not a large amount of malware for OS X, is simply because the huge install base of Windows systems makes for a much more preferable and profitable target for attackers. When Macs gain popularity the malware will get more common, proof of this can already be seen.

Just a tiny comparison:

Microsoft Windows XP: 248 vulnerabilities between 2003-2009
Microsoft Windows Vista: 121 vulnerabilities between 2006-2009
Apple Macintosh OS X: 1038 vulnerabilities between 2003-2009

3. sinister1, 5 factual errors in 3 sentences, congrats!

[amir is cool]

mac and its not close.

FYP

Mac's never crash, and have much better security. PC's generally run Windows which is the worst operating system in the history. If you get a mac you will run into virtually zero problems but with a PC you will need to have that thing fixed on the regular, something will guaranteed go wrong (probably multiple things).

ITT: We make ignorant blanket statements such as: PC's are insecure and horribly buggy, while Macs never ever crash or ever have a problem.

Half the people who get macs get them to be different/or for image, they dont even know why they buy them, they just use general statements like "lol it never crashes" Well neither does windows if you know how to use it.

It's like how old people say don't buy a used car with over 100,000 miles because back in the day, a car wasn't designed to be used to that extent/the craftsmanship was shoddy. While newer cars have absolutely no problem whatsoever making it well past the 200,000 mark with minimum maintenance.

[kiwiMark]

The largest reason there aren't many known vulnerabilities and not a large amount of malware for OS X...

...is more or less irrelevant, unless you personally have pissed off some hacker kid in the last couple of weeks.

We've always had at least one Mac in my house as I was growing up, which puts me in a somewhat biased position, but also puts me in a position of someone who has genuinely spent extensive time with both operating systems.
I'm also computer-literate (have dabbled in programming for a number of years, entered a couple of small competitions, and study computer science at uni, here). Obviously it's just one man's opinion, but I genuinely feel that Mac OS X is a nicer operating system to work with, on a day-to-day basis. I easily get more frustrated sitting at a windows box trying to do things than I do with a Mac. (I should state here that I have not yet played with Windows 7, the latest Windows Install I have access to is Vista. And I wish it were XP.)
Macs certainly aren't marketed to the "go under the bonnet, fix it yourself" group, and that means they've made what I feel is a much more user-friendly computer. The irony is of course, if you want to go "under the bonnet" in a software sense, I would argue it's considerably easier tangling with Mac OS X's darwin kernel than the beast which is Windows.

But at the end of the day your average user probably doesn't care too much about the above.

Macs are purdy, bitches in cafés will get on your dick, and if for some reason you dislike Mac OS X (which would surprise me greatly, if you spend the requisite time realising it's not Windows) then you really can just install Windows or Linux on your Mac and have both.

Buy a mac, imo. If you want further reasons from a completely impartial and unbiased source:

http://www.apple.com/getamac/whymac/

In summation: Buy a mac, get bitches.

[dsmrolla06]

I never went into a lot of detail in my previous posts but these are the reasons I like my macbook better than my pc. (Some of these are going to be vs my previous pc laptop)

1. Two finger right click. Instead of having to click a button below your trackpad you just tap two fingers.

2. Clickable touchpad. You can either just tap the touchpad to click, or it is also clickable like a giant button. You can have both at the same time.

3. Two finger scrolling. You can scroll just by dragging two fingers anywhere across the touchpad, instead of using the scroll bars on a laptop on the right and bottom of a traditional touchpad.

4. Expose. Swipe four fingers across the touchpad downwards and all of your windows go into mini views spread out across the screen. Super handy if you're constantly switching windows.

5. Going back and forward in browsers by swiping three fingers left and right on touchpad.

6. Super easy to install and uninstall programs. Uninstall by simply dragging the icon to the trash can and its gone.

7. The overall design of the macbook from the mag-safe adapter (the power adapter connects to the laptop with a magnet so if you trip over it it just comes unplugged) to the keyboard.

I'm no pc or mac expert by any means but these are some of the reasons I love my mac over my pc. I'll probably buy another pc at some point but it will be a desktop, I honestly cannot see myself buying another pc laptop over a mac in the near future. Also one last thing, the mac syncs really well with my iphone.

[revolvingiris]

IMO PCs are better because they are easier to diagnose, parts are cheaper if one goes out (ie motherboard, graphics card), there is more support, better software especially for poker. If you buy a mac and install windows that kind of defeats the purpose. I own both and my PC laps circles around my top of the line Imac.

[kiwiMark]

If you buy a mac and install windows that kind of defeats the purpose.

Disagree. Dual-booting so you have both OS's on your machine and can choose is ridiculously easy and gives you the best of both worlds. There are also tons of options to run the two OS's literally simultaneously on your Mac box, now that they're intel machines.
That said, I'm not really suggesting you buy a mac to install windows on. I'm saying even if for whatever reason you start regretting buying a mac and wishing you'd bought a windows box, it's as simple as installing windows, so in that sense buying a Mac is basically risk-free.

Imac

*twitch* Few things in life tilt me more than this.

[allabout]

Buy a Mac, it helps my Apple stock!!

Seriously I have both (well Macbook) and just recently my PC crashed and I bought a new PC. My biggest reasons for getting a PC were that I couldn't easily run HEM on the Mac and price (somewhat less of a factor).

Macs take some getting used to but once you get it they are very easy to use and user friendly. I definitely agree though that it just depends on what you want to do with it as to which one you should get.

[revolvingiris]

If you buy a mac and install windows that kind of defeats the purpose.

Disagree. Dual-booting so you have both OS's on your machine and can choose is ridiculously easy and gives you the best of both worlds. There are also tons of options to run the two OS's literally simultaneously on your Mac box, now that they're intel machines.
That said, I'm not really suggesting you buy a mac to install windows on. I'm saying even if for whatever reason you start regretting buying a mac and wishing you'd bought a windows box, it's as simple as installing windows, so in that sense buying a Mac is basically risk-free.

Imac

*twitch* Few things in life tilt me more than this.

Risk free? Yeah if you like paying x2 the price for it then sure...Don't hate on me because of how apple names their products.

[oskar]

If you have to ask then prolly a mac would be better.
I can't stand the things. I've been a linux user for almost a decade, and mac-os screws with my expectations of a *nix system. Everything looks like *nix underneath, but nothing works like you expect it to. - But everyone I know who has one is happy.

But then since you're here I guess you'll be playing poker and stuff... you might run into some compatibility issues there.
Frankly I think XP has really cleaned up its act post XP SP2, and vista at least looks like a step forward, but I haven't used it yet. But you would want someone who truly knows what he's doing to set it up for you, and get a good security suite and backup solution (ie Kaspersky).

If you just slap on XP, deactivate updates, set the firewall to allow everything, and leave it to zonealarm to protect you from threads from the interwebs, then you can't really blame the system for breaking down on you.

[sinister1]

EDIT: drunk tirade delted.

[OP]

But is there a PC with NO KEYBOARD?

http://www.theonion.com/content/vide..._revolutionary

[al yell]

But is there a PC with NO KEYBOARD?

http://www.theonion.com/content/vide..._revolutionary

'The Onion' rules. rofl.

[Jack Sawyer]

I own both and my PC laps circles around my top of the line Imac.

heh, either talk about a Macbook Pro or a Mac Pro. Imacs and Macbooks are for grandmas and little sisters. Macmini's are for terminals in your house, like the bitch pc everyone who isn't assigned one uses to access their email..

[givememyleg]

i can't waaaaaaaaaaaait until i can buy my macbook. need to save a bit longer but it's gonna be tits!

[spoonitnow]

the only downside ive had with my mac is you cant run holdem manger or pt3 natively. Although you can run windows on your mac, even at the same time as the osx. Other than that im much happier with my mac in every way.

poker copilot is now a viable alternative to the windows trackers imo

mac ftw

I read an EPIC rant from someone on this forum about how apple is the worst company in history, I forget who it was. I expect them to turn up soon.

Poker Copilot is absolutely horrible compared to even the free windows trackers right now

[badgers]

I haven't used the free windows trackers, so I can't really comment. I don't know how recently you've used the software, but it's come a long way in a short space of time and has all the essentials (HUD/replayer/some filters). It's nowhere near as advanced as hem and PT3, but it's perfectly adequate for my needs atm and I would suggest others look into it if the alternative is parallels + hem.

[revolvingiris]

I own both and my PC laps circles around my top of the line Imac.

heh, either talk about a Macbook Pro or a Mac Pro. Imacs and Macbooks are for grandmas and little sisters. Macmini's are for terminals in your house, like the bitch pc everyone who isn't assigned one uses to access their email..

My imac runs better than my friends macpro but his is pre switched to intel design. I use both for film/picture editing and my pc is WAY better. Plus it was cheaper.

Macbook pros get so much hype and boy do you pay for it...just buy a cheap ass 18'' laptop and switch the screen. Problem solved

[kiwiMark]

My imac runs better than my friends macpro but his is pre switched to intel design.

There's no such thing as a pre-intel Mac Pro. :-/ Do you mean PowerMac? G5? G4? Saying "my modern middle-of-the-line computer runs better than my friend's five year old top-of-the-line computer" isn't that exciting.

That said, with regards to don't bother with a MacBook, I disagree. Unless you're doing anything, like, hardcore, a MacBook should see you through.


I also note that OP hasn't popped in since he made the thread. He probably just wanted to start the inevitable flame war. Genius.

[a500lbgorilla]

I want a laptop with a big screen (17 in or more). 1,500ish american dollars.

Mac or PC?

[kiwiMark]

I want a laptop with a big screen (17 in or more). 1,500ish american dollars.

Mac or PC?

PC. The only mac laptop with a 17in screen costs like three billion dollars, sadly.

[revolvingiris]

There's no such thing as a pre-intel Mac Pro. :-/ Do you mean PowerMac? G5? G4? Saying "my modern middle-of-the-line computer runs better than my friend's five year old top-of-the-line computer" isn't that exciting.

My bad, I just consider the power G5 pre-intel being its the same machine only now based on Xeon. Whats even more funny is my "middle of the line computer" cost more than the current starting for the macpro :-/...Either way, my PC was about half and still more powerful than both.

[mbiz]

what operating system do you prefer. macOS or windows? because apart from shiny mac design thats about the only big difference.

windows on mac = poor driver support last time i checked.
default mouse on mac sucks but you can just get a new one with..2 buttons!

personaly i prefer PC.

edit: for laptops id never get a mac, theres only 1 'mouse button' on them! lame. and macos blows

[kiwiMark]

what operating system do you prefer. macOS or windows? because apart from shiny mac design thats about the only big difference.

windows on mac = poor driver support last time i checked.
default mouse on mac sucks but you can just get a new one with..2 buttons!

personaly i prefer PC.

edit: for laptops id never get a mac, theres only 1 'mouse button' on them! lame. and macos blows

Blah blah blah blah blah blah I know nothing at all about macs except I used one in high school seven years ago blah blah blah.

"default mouse on mac" is a Mighty Mouse which has multiple buttons, scroll ball, the works.
The second mouse button on mac lap tops is accessed by clicking with two of your fingers instead of just one. Also if you drag two fingers then it scrolls the page instead of moving the cursor and other neat stuff.

The one thing you're right about is that the deciding factor should probably be which OS you prefer.

[Monsieur_chat]

All I know is that my mac is 4 and a half years old and yet still runs as crisply, as fast and as well as it did the day I first booted it up. I'm yet to see an affordable windows machine of 3+ years which isn't painfully slow and cluttered, as if the HDD is scrambled.

Get a mac and ignore the inverse snobbery.

[revolvingiris]

[quote="Monsieur_chat"]I'm yet to see an affordable windows machine of 3+ years which isn't painfully slow and cluttered, as if the HDD is scrambled./quote]

You can come see mine?

[kevster]

All manner of crap being spouted in this thread, though I like a lot of what Gala was saying - seems balanced.

I've been a total PC head who is seriously considering a macbook. Sure, every mac-head can come off like a total ass but isn't there a reason for their loyalty?

Microsoft have pissed me off all manner of times so I figure it's time to give someone else a go. If the macbook can do everything I need it to - which I'm 99% sure it can - I'm going to give it go.

Final thought for the PC faithful to consider. Ever tried to un-install IE6 because it's gone ghey?

[Jack Sawyer]

http://apcmag.com/15_reasons_macs_ar...an_windows.htm

(obviously mac sponsored though)

[revolvingiris]

http://apcmag.com/15_reasons_macs_are_still_better_than_windows.htm

(obviously mac sponsored though)

I lol'ed @ 3,4,5,6,7,15...#5 for a moment: OSX + Windows is better than just windows? Linux+windows>OSX+windows and still cheaper.

[Jack Sawyer]

Whoah, hold up there, anonymous flamer.

[Monsieur_chat]

Oh, fwiw Spoon is right about Copilot, it's fucking horrible.

That said PT3 is supposed to be coming to mac any time now and i'm assuming that as a former windows user who's buying a brand new machine that Boot Camp will be an option.

[Warpe]

Macs are for the computer challenged.

[revolvingiris]

Whoah, hold up there, anonymous flamer.

Sorry but its hard to take seriously when this is one of the arguments:

"4. Less blinking lights."

[mbiz]

kiwimark: waaaa im a gay mac user

[kiwiMark]

Excellent bump imo

[flush76]

I have always used PCs but after my recent adventures with a system that is not 6 months old with Vista on it, I swore that the next desktop I am getting is a Mac. Regarding laptops I am actually very happy with my Dell so I don't think I would change there, but I am very close to chucking my desktop out the window. And PCs can be expensive too, especially if you end up using it as a coffee table because it acts like its got PMS.

[Jack Sawyer]

http://www.apple.com/imac/
http://www.apple.com/macmini/server/
http://www.amazon.com/Pavilion-DV7-2...6173713&sr=8-2
http://www.amazon.com/Pavilion-DM3-1...6173778&sr=1-7
http://www1.la.dell.com/an/en/dhs/De...=dhs&cs=andhs1


Whichever you choose, you cannot go wrong. Its a great time to be a kompootah usar.

[badgers]

jack did you just buy pcp? Reading the blog they said they had a sale to the nethanlands antilles and that can only be you!

[sarbox68]

Real men build their own sh!t from stuff they find at garage sales.



Anyone want a 386 with half a keyboard and a busted pong controller?

[always2away]

Fords are cheap...Acuras are not.

PCs are cheap...MACs are not.

After having lived for nearly 30 years in PC hell, needing to learn far more than I ever wanted to know about the workings of a computer, it took buying my daughter a MAC to open my eyes.

In the last 3 years her MAC has performed flawlessly, my PC has been in the shop six times.

I used to own a Ford and now I own an Acura.

[Jack Sawyer]

jack did you just buy pcp? Reading the blog they said they had a sale to the nethanlands antilles and that can only be you!

hahaha no idea what pcp might be!