Mac dillema
 

im going to college next year, want to get a laptop, now ill either get a centrino laptop, or a powerbook (or ibook)

now i think macs are badass, but there are several reasons why i want to get a PC over a mac

1. never used a mac, so im used to windows

2.im used to all the programs for PC,

3. i like to game once in a while, and i dont think many games come our mac


can anyone shed some light on the situation

so what's the situation? I mean it's obvious you want a PC laptop. So why not get one? Is there something I'm missing in this argument? :)

I feel you on this mbchills. Macs are just so cool that all the reasons why it doesn't make sense to get one sort of stack up against the coolness, and it ends up being almost a wash.

I don't have an answer for you. There really isn't any one answer about this. In the Wintel world, you look at dollars versus specs. In the Mac world, you follow your heart.

well the question i have is, how can I overcome those reasons not to get a mac? because i want one

Because Macs are over-priced pieces of hardware, if you ask me. At first I was in love with Mac notebooks, but when this guy downstairs finally received his 3.06 HT Pentium 4 notebook, all was fair in love and PCs.....

the graphics on his laptop were as good as my PC.

and he paid a little less than an equivalent Mac notebook......and look at all the features. he can actually PLAY GAMES *snicker*, watch movies, all of it. the thing is awesome.

isnt there a thing for macs called virtual pc? or something, where you can emulate windows?

i know thers one for linux

Why waste money on a over-rated piece of hardware. For half the money and 3x the performance, you can get a wintel lappy and get graphics that look just as good if not better than a mac.

I mean, seriously.

Hey mbchills,

I used a PC/Windows for 8+ years or so (middle school, high school, and the first half of college) until I decided to buy the new 12" Powerbook when it came out and switch to a Mac. I met someone at a summer program who introduced me to the new generation of Macs and especially Mac OS X. I had absolutely hated the "classic" Mac OS, but I loved OS X for its GUI and its UNIX core. I absolutely do not regret switching to a Mac, and I'm pretty sure I'll be using Macs for the rest of my life.

Sure, as with switching to a new platform, it will take some time getting used to, but I got the hang of it relatively quickly. Your reason number 2 "you're used to all the programs for PC", does that mean you have a specific program on the PC that you absolutely need to use or just that you're used to running say, Microsoft Word on the PC? I think that's two totally different things.

Yes, there is a program for Macs called Virtual PC that you can use to run any Windows program. So you could use that if there were any Windows program you need to run if a Mac version didn't exist. But as for being used to Windows versions, again, that would just take time getting used to.

Yes, Macs are expensive. Although, as a student you do get educational discounts, so make sure you check that out. My advice is to see if there are any Apple Stores in your area and just try out the computers. The staff does a good job in answering your questions. And if you decide to buy one and it doesn't work out, just sell your Mac on Ebay or something. Macs typically have good resale value.

Oh, and about games... yes, Macs are lacking in this department. Personally, I don't play very many games on the computer so this didn't matter at all to me. Try going to the Apple Store online to see what games they have for Mac. They seem to have most of the major games like Age of Empires, Warcraft, Civ3, Black and White, Sims and Simcity, etc..

Hope it works out, if you have any more questions, just reply or send me a PM.

Hey, if you don't like Macs, that's fine. Macs are expensive, I can't deny that. But I think my Powerbook was probably one of the better purchases I've made with my own money, and probably the most significant. Totally not a waste of my money.

As a long time PC user that is soon leaving for college, for me, it's PowerBook all the way. I've just had it with Windows, there's just too much shit wrong with it. Its the Mir space station of OS's. I, much like Redjake, thought there was virtually no software for the Mac OS... until I stepped into an Apple store. I saw all the software I would ever need. Plenty of games, most everything I was looking for and had played on PC; and the selection of multimedia and graphics software was awesome. Apple's student discount is really great, too. For me the choice is clear. Fare thee well, Windows.

Get a fast powerbook and run virtual pc on it. then you can ran all your pc apps (games most likely) and run mac at the same time

to get through school, doing stuff like word processing, spreadsheets, storing photos & music, putting class notes on, etc, Id say sure get a mac.

if you know what your major is going to be, maybe check out what kinds of software/os' the field uses. for example, im in the publishing field, and mac's are the industry standard platform. from typesetting to preflighting to printing, its a mac workflow (everythings done on macs, well 95%). at home i have a pc, and i have software that i use at work on it, one is quarkxpress. but the keyboard shortcut keys and other important commands are different on the mac, so it can screw you up if say, youre on a job interview and dont know the keyboard shortcuts/commands by heart.

I didn't say there was virtually no software for the MacOS.......I said you couldn't play games, and watch movies as easily. Show me a Mac that is running Battlefield 1942 and able to play DivX movies, and I'll reconsider. And that doesn't cost an arm and a leg for decent performance.

And the Windows emulators RARELY work. How do I know? I have MANY friends with Macs, I've seen it first hand. They rarely work with every program you spit at it.

I shouldn't have to run some emulator just to play the games I want or run the programs I want!

If you get a Mac and "VirtualPC" (which I've seen fail many times), then why not just get a PC to begin with?

If the only reason you want a Mac is because of how it looks...who cares! Damn man, have you seen the Mac laptops? We're not talking about desktops here. The laptops aren't anything special. No neat swivelling LCD and no neat compact design. It's just a laptop with an apple on it. There's no reason to get the Mac if you just want it because it looks neat. PC laptops look as cool, even though how a laptop looked wouldn't be a decision for why I'd buy one. If you've used PCs for a while, buying a Mac because it looks cool is a bad idea, especially in the laptop department (where PC laptops and Mac laptops look about the same).

The PC is gonna give performance and compatibility. The Mac will give freedom of Windows and the possibility of looking neat. I'd go with the PC 100% without turning back. Now, if you were considering buying a desktop Mac and had been using them all of your life, it'd be a bit different.

-Lasereth

in my experience, running *any* kind of pc software under emulation on a mac means its going to run very, very, very slow, at best. i wouldnt even consider running pc games under emulation. it would be unplayably slow, unless it was something like blackjack, or scrabble or solitaire. hell, some of the newer pc games run slow on my pc.

How often will you be gaming? If a console like xbox just will not satisfy your needs, a mac probably will not either. Look at http://www.macupdate.com, http://www.versiontacker.com and http://www.downlaod.com and see if there are enough games for you. As for school work, macs are great. Most laptops I see in my classes are ibooks. Go to CompUSA and/or an Apple store and see what games they sell and try out a mac for yourself. They work for me and they have better resale values when compared to other brands of PCs.

alright, so if not cuz it looks cool what are good reasons to get a mac over a pc?

besides stabability

You're kidding right? There have been more OSX updates than WindowsXP Service Packs. And you have to pay for the OSX updates!

If you're looking for thin, silver laptops, check these guys out.

I've been hearing good things about them and are considering them for my next laptop purchase.

Whoa, hold on a sec here. I think we should be clear. By what you're saying, OSX updates are equivalent to Windows Service Packs. Windows Service Packs are downloaded and installed via Windows Update, correct? Well, OS X updates are downloaded and installed via Software Update on the Mac. And it's FREE. You do NOT have to pay for OS X updates.

On the other hand, you DO have to pay for *major releases* of the OS, as in what I had to pay for 10.3 "Panther" from 10.2 "Jaguar". Just like you'll have to pay from Win98/2000 to WinXP, or WinXP to Longhorn whenever that comes out. Major releases of the MacOS have been coming out annually (10.2 was out in fall 2002, 10.3 out fall 2003)... they're usually priced at $129 retail, $79 for educational customers (students).

I run both at work each has its advantages.

Mac if I have any problems on the PC with it I load it up on the Mac, works 100% of the time. The games they do have are some of the best ever. Weeds out all the PC trash out there.

PC Laptop... Games, how many people still play games on a computer especially a laptop, you will get a lousy picture and hard controls, go get a playstation. I have a PC Laptop at home and even when it was top of the line it was a pain in the ass to play games on, the controls SUCK.

I have a PowerBook Ti, an iMac and a PC desktop (and an XBox) and I like and use them all, so here are my two cents.

All operating systems, have to assume that the user is going to have the computer skills of your grandma. Windows and OS X have very different stratagies of handling this. Windows keeps everything in the OS secret from the user and places wizards all over the operating system to help you when you run into problems. This works well most of the time, but if you are a user with more computing skills and would like to get into the guts of the computer a little bit, you have to take steps to circumvent the protection and even then, the file stucture is pretty confusing to everyone but developers.

OS X on the other hand just puts everything out there in front of you. And they do it in a way that looks graceful. If you are into the command line, you can get to it easily, if not, the system won't care.

But the number one reason I like OS X over Windows XP is the lack of any kind of OS registration.

My advice is get the mac laptop or get the PC laptop and install a Linux distro. And get an XBox if you want to game.

the kinda games i play arent on consoles ;) like online rpg's, ones im looking forward to such as world of warcraft and ultima X odyssey.. stopped playin shooters a while ago so i dont care about controls

Mac Hardware is crap. My friend has an iBook and the bottom left part of the laptop is creaky, the battery is slightly too big for it's place, about 1 millimeter, and it's generated so much heat that some of it has slightly warped. Go with a reliable wintel laptop. Apple is now out of debt and has about 4 billion dollars in the bank, so hopefully now they can focus on quality control and more reliable hardware.

thats not hardware, thats the case :)

mac hardware is much faster then pc hardware.. just more expensive in most cases

what?

I hope you're kidding. If Mac hardware is faster than PC hardware, then why does it take 1 minute and 15 seconds to open Photoshop on the iMacs in this computer lab, and 9 seconds on an equivalent PC?

Macs are using Motorola processors or something for all I know. If you want performance, get Intel or Advanced Micro Devices. They are in a damn race for performance. You'll get it.

im sorry but a G5 owns any intel or AMD :)

I'm sorry but I've used G5s before and they aren't any faster than my Barton. Go hard or go home. And mine costs exponentially less.

Pit an Athlon 64 or a Hyper-Threading Pentium 4 versus a G5.

wait, it's already been done, and the results came in: G5s aren't any more powerful than anything else. in most cases, <i>not as</i> powerful.



If you have to be sorry about it, then don't say it

Gah, so much hating. When you compare Mac laptops to PC laptops with similar specs, especially in the iBook range, they're not that expensive. In fact, an iBook will usually set you back less.

Game-wise, they're adequate. More and more top games are getting here, especially with the support of Epic, ID and Blizzard. UT2004 is a simultaneous release. It kinda shows what confidence Epic have when they reveal the first playable version of UT2004 on a Mac. Seriously, though, if you buy a laptop for gaming, you deserve a huge slap.

DivX movies are easily playable with the download of one (1) codec. Took me about 3 minutes to find, and 2 minutes to get running. No drama. In fact, to save you the trouble, you can get it http://www.divx.com/divx/mac/] here [/url]. BF1942 never got here for the simple reason that the guys who made it are asshats and don't want any 3rd parties seeing their (probably crappy) source code.

Redjake, my four year old G4 opens Adobe Premiere in 18 seconds. The computers at school, all replaced this year, take around 3 minutes. iMacs are not built for speed, neither are school PC's. Although, I'd like to see any PC running 26 apps simultaneously. With no slowdown.

my computer runs 26 apps simultaneously with no slowdown, and I payed 600 bucks for it. total.

and I don't have to fish around for compatible programs and games.

I've burned CDs, played Battlefield, and had winamp going in the background many times.



if school PCs aren't built for speed, why do they run so much faster than the macs, even though they are the same clock speed and ram?

and it's not just school macs, ALL of the macs I've used are just annoying when it comes to doing regular stuff in a short amount of time.



the only thing Macs are good for is a grandma who wants a user-friendly, stable, piece of hardware. and for GAIT and Graphic Design majors. hell, I'm using a Mac right now. it's not too bad of a piece of hardware. but when I click on photoshop, I have to wait. and wait. and wait. and wait. and if I want to rapid-click and navigate through the MacOS, I am pretty much ostracized from the OS itself. I have to slow down and let it do it's thing.


I'll take my lightning fast, just as stable, 300% cheaper PC anyday.

You know, it's not just grandmas who want user-friendly, stable pieces of hardware. I've just had to initialise the HD on my PC laptop. Again. The problem? The idiotic system thought that a Baldurs Gate 2 mod was a system file, and attempted to install it. Without any warning. As compared to my 6 apple computers, which I've never had to do anything more drastic than a PRAM reset to get going again.

And for the record, my G4/400 runs MacOS 9 much faster than my 1.4 PC runs Windows XP. I'm not waiting 45 seconds after my mac starts up for it to access the C: drive.

This thread is starting to turn into a Mac vs PC debate. And like all Mac vs PC debates, emotions will run high.. and at the end of the day, what's going to happen? The Mac users will stick by their Macs, the PC users will stick by their PCs. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, but there's no need for any animosity or ill feelings. I have been a Mac user for a year now since I decided to switch from Windows, and I love Macs. I don't harbor any ill feelings towards PCs. I still use a PC from time to time, and I think it's a good idea to be as proficient as you can be on as many computing platforms as you can learn. We can debate all day about how Macs suck or PC's suck.. cause each platform has pros and cons. But this thread didn't start out that way by my reading.

Anyway, back to the original post... mbchills, if you want a Mac so much, I'll repeat my original point.. go to an Apple Store and try them out, or see if any of your friends have a Mac and ask them about it. 2 out of 3 of your concerns are about "not being used to" the Mac and software for it. Well, that only takes time to solve, and you'll get used to it just like you got used to Windows whenever you first started using a PC.