April 27th, 2008 · Noteworthy

11 Responses for "I Need Your Professional Opinion"

1. Polina said,
   April 28th, 2008 at 7:31 am

   May I ask why does he want to buy a MAC? I know most of design-related people have MACs, but I have never had problems working on my PC, while performing the same tasks. I doubt that there are some great difference in functionality, only thing I can say - MACs look much more attractive

   Reply: Heh it’s not for me. I’m in love with my HP laptop.

   Polinas last blog post was Skin Care Products Are A Major Reason Why We Lose the Fresh, Healthy Skin of Youth
2. Chadwyck said,
   April 28th, 2008 at 12:12 pm

   Pros:
   +Macs look nicer typically
   +since they largely use proprietary hardware/software, everything works together pretty well.
   +Macs are powerful computers (they should be for that price!
   +You can easily dual-boot windows/macOS
   +Too small of a market share for major viruses to be written for them

   Cons:
   -You have to pay for all major updates
   -You can buy the equivalent PC for cheaper
   -More customization for PCs
   -Your friends won’t automatically assume you’re a snob
3. Jamie said,
   April 30th, 2008 at 9:03 am

   Macs are faster and cleaner (the interface down to the searches). I’d be lost without mine. I’m a Mac girl and will never go back to PC. Plus all new PCs have Vista which I heard is awful. Macs are totally worth all the money.
4. Jessica said,
   April 30th, 2008 at 9:34 am

   My father is a huge MAC lover as well, which never made much sense. I think PC’s are just as effective. Hopefully your friend makes a smart move and sticks with the PC.

   Jessicas last blog post was Boredom, complete boredom.
5. tattooed mama said,
   May 2nd, 2008 at 10:23 pm

   i was a pc girl up until 1 month ago when i purchased my first macbook and i swear, i will never go back. it hasn’t crashed on me. it hasn’t froze. everything runs smoothly.. and everything is so much easier.. the graphics are amazingly clear.. and i am so very impressed.
6. Yan said,
   May 7th, 2008 at 9:04 pm

   You know there is a saying in the Mac Community, “When You Go Mac, You’ll Never Go Back.” I will never ever to go back.

   But if there is one thing unique about Mac is that it’s free from any form of spywares or virus whatever you may call it. It just gives me the peace of using it and not being paranoid about when should I update my anti-virus program.
7. maggie said,
   May 10th, 2008 at 8:01 am

   I currently use a pc however, if I where to purchase a new computer and had a choice. I would choose Mac. Anything you can do on pc can be done on mac including windows. Plus you can do more.

   We had a mac for the longest time.

   maggies last blog post was Finally
8. David said,
   May 15th, 2008 at 11:13 am

   Chadwyck’s response was balanced and sensible. For one take by a longtime Mac user on the “stability of Macs” argument, see Crash Different.

   The really important question is, “What does he want to use his computer for?” For a very few niche applications, Macs are the better choice, for now, if for no other reason than file compatibility with others doing the same kinds of work.

   But there’s a larger question here: Why the apparent bifurcation of “Mac v. PC” when the term seems to be used as a Mac/OSX v. PC/Vista? A PC with good quality components running either a recent Linux distro with a nice GUI front end OR PCBSD can be faster, more stable and secure than either a Mac running OSX or a PC running Vista. And software and hardware that run well on either OS abound–in fact seem to be more abundant than for the Mac platform. And ease of use? Either Ubuntu Hardy Heron (8.04) or PCBSD 1.5 are “Aunt Tilly” ready, IMO. And both those OSes come with virtually everything an average user could need for computing, with reposititories of FREE software available for installation at the CLICK of a mouse button. Heck, even Aunt Tilly (or Cousin Bubba) can install Ubuntu Hardy Heron in Windows with Wubi, as easily as installing any application.

   My next computer’s in the works (locating parts, planning construction) right now, and that’s something not possible with a Mac. Pretty (as some of the commenters have praised Macs for being)? Nope. Not pretty. Masculine ain’t pretty (one reason for me to avoid Macs *heh*), but it can be striking and even beautiful, and it will (might even do as I’ve done before and use mahogany veneer on the case). Powerful? More so than current Macs (an Athlon 64X2 and 8gigs of ram–possible with a 512MB vidcard, Lightscribe DVD burner–oh! just found a Plextor drive for just a couple of bucks more–that’s like upgrading from a nice Mercedes to a Rolls Royce!– 2 different 64-bit OSes–etc., etc.). And my selection of software will be endless, not consticted by one OS (heck, I even plan on running Win98 in a virtual machine on the thing for the benefit of ONE app that will run in nothing else). TV tuner? Sure, that too.

   Cost to build? Under $600. With a nice LCD screen? Under $800. Nothing, NOTHING from Apple less than three four times that cost will even touch it.

   So Macs will dual boot Mac OSX or Windows. Whoopdedo. Dual booting is for n00bs. Parallels on OSX? Sure. For an extra $80. On the PC side, using Windows or Linux, using virtual machines is PDS (pretty, urm, “darned” simple) and free (for home users).

   Going to network with other machines? After nine years, Mac OSX still doesn’t play well with non-Mac networks. (In fairness, Vista doesn’t integrate all that well, in many cases, with existing Windows networks, although I ran into a case just yesterday where unscrambling a mess a client had made was easier from the one Vista machine in the office.)

   The biggest case I can see for Mac sales revolves around two major issues: are you a girl (sorry ladies, but the platform really does appeal to more feminine characteristics) and do you want to avoid Vista? If you are a girl who’s not afraid of computing without training wheels, neither of those need apply.

   I’ll grant that the average PC (everything from the low-end $300 WalMart junk all the way up to

   *heh* Of course, I’m biased. My only experiences with Macs has been use long ago and through Mac users who run into stone walls on their machines and then have whined to me about ‘em… all the while maintaining the superiority of their platform to the PC they came to me to borrow while their machine was down–*heh*

   But if your friend joins the Macultists, don’t worry. He can at least be satisfied that he’s spent the most money possible for his computer running BSD under a Mac GUI… when he could have the same OS–BSD–for free running PCBSD. Heck, PCBSD can even look like OSX… or like Vista Aero… on an old 1Ghz PC. I’ve done it for laughs. Oh, and PCBSD runs an enormous number of Linux apps as well as those designed for it and many Windows apps under WINE. Done that, too. And of all the OSes I’ve installed–until a Wubi install of Ubuntu–PCBSD has been the easiest and fastest. 20 minutes from partition the hard drive (using the simple “CLICK HERE” defaults) to cruising the internet. That’s faster than a typical Parallels/Windoze install on a Mac… or an OS upgrade on a Mac (here going on reports from Mac users of my acquaintance).
9. Kelley said,
   May 15th, 2008 at 4:57 pm

   I work in an office where we have both PCs and Mac users. It seems that the ‘factions’ are totally divided. ( I have PC)
   What I can see is that the Mac is a little more cool, fun colors, a bit hipper, more like ‘ohh, cool shiney object’….. while PCs are the dependable ‘generic’ computer. The MAC peops always give me the ‘never will have a virus w/ a MAC’ crap…but really if you have software protection and good firewall/ security… your fine.

   Good luck with the debate.

   Kelleys last blog post was MommyFest- CONTEST

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