Should I get a mac or pc?

[table1349]

My only fanboy concern in this whole thing is use what you like and works for you.

And as long as you're not doing any hi-end CAD/CAM work, the mac should do just fine. If you can justify the difference in cost, that is.

Well when I am in the "High End CAD/CAM" forum I will remember that. I won't care, since my Apple built Mac has Windows 7 on it so I can run that "High End CAD/CAM" software with ease. Since this is a photo forum the "High End CAD/CAM" part don't really matter now do it???

 

[table1349]

Gryphonslair, whats your point? Id call your homebuilt a Mac clone. I wouldnt call it a PC clone. Even you call it a Hackintosh, rather than anything PC related. This difference in names is silly stuff. Your advice to the OP is sensible but not very practical. How can you go out and use a Mac to decide if its for you? Ive always been a Mac user and owned a couple of PCs because of the software that was only available for the PC. By comparison to Macs, PCs dont make sense to me. They look like a Mac but sure dont work like one. The downside I see with Macs are they are not supported very well at all. Box stores sell the machines but they usually have to be sent out for repairs and there arent a lot of those available. Of course Macs dont break down often. The other thing is the availability of software. Much more readily available for the PC than the Mac.

My point is my home built Hacintosh has a boot partition with Windows 7 on it and a boot partition with Linyx on it. Is it a Mac, is it a PC or is it just a computer? Hardware is Hardware these days. Hell Apple is only using Intel processors in their machines.

I would suggest that my advise in these times is actually pretty sensible. The Windows 7 GUI and OS X GUI are very similar. Hell you can ever get a free app for mac that has the Finder act like Explorer if you want. 10 years ago, or even 5-6 years ago I would have agreed that a few minutes playing with either machine would probably not be enough. Now however, if you are at least smart enough to know where the "Any Key" is, you should be able to get the hang of the GUI pretty quickly and you will be able to tell if you like it or not and are willing to take the time to become comfortable with it. The programs work the same anymore. Gone are the days when graphic type programs had more functionality in the Mac OS than in Windows. Same thing in the office/business types of software. Word for Mac is as complete as Word for Windows, etc.

My personal choice, as is yours is OS X for home use. At work I have Windows on the machine provided. I have programmed in Cobol and Fortran and worked in everything from Apple System 1.0 to present OS X, DOS, Windows 3.1 to present Windows 7 as well as NT, Unix, Linyx in various configurations, OS 2 from IBM and a couple that died before they were ever really born. For home use for ME I want OS X. I like it. As a Unix based OS it is Stable and Useable. But that is ME. For someone else it is their preference. There are only two real choices out there for the masses these days. OS X and Windows. A little time taken to experience either that a user is not familiar with will only help them know what they will feel more comfortable in using. Frankly, if they don't like it, they ain't gonna use it. That is why I leave my Mac fanboy at home. It aint about me when it comes to making the choice. It is about the choice of the person spending them money.

 

[table1349]

Is the price really that much higher? A fully loaded mac mini goes for $700. Of course you need a monitor and keyboard but so does a PC. Size wise its about the same as two pound of butter. Pretty compact and very reliable.

They can be, depending on what you want. This it the configuration of a fully tricked out Power PC:

• Two 2.93GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon “Westmere” (12 cores)
• 64GB (8x8GB)
• Mac Pro RAID Card
• 512GB solid-state drive
• 2TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive
• 2TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive
• 2TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive
• Two ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB
• Two 18x SuperDrives
• Apple LED Cinema Display (27" flat panel)
• Apple LED Cinema Display (27" flat panel)
• Apple Magic Mouse + Magic Trackpad
• Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad (English) & User's Guide
• Quad-channel 4Gb Fibre Channel PCI Express card

Price Tag: $16,016.00 from Apple, but you get free shipping. Full specs: http://www.apple.com/macpro/specs.html

And it screams just as fast with Windows 7 on it as well.

 

[Bynx]

People here are talking Ford vs GM and you bring out Masaratti. I dont know who would pay $16,000 for a computer. It will be as obsolete as my $700 Mac Mini in just as fast a time. How much for the average home PC as opposed to the average Mac Mini ($700).
And I never disputed your common sense advice. As for your computer, well it isnt normal now is it? I mean how many out there have one like yours? For a brief time Apple allowed clones to be made, but pulled the rug out from that pretty quick.

 

[chaosrealm93]

PC, i hate the mouse on the macs

 

[c.cloudwalker]

PC, i hate the mouse on the macs

:thumbup:

:lmao: So do I. I've been bitching at Mac for a while about it too. They keep sending me a new one about every 6 months. :lmao:

This is the most amazing thread. It seems it has managed to get Mac people arguing against each others. My fooking god...

 

[usayit]

I hate mac mouses as well..... I've been a mac user for quite a long while and the first thing that hits the trash are the mice. Ergonomically a nightmare.

PS> I've managed to convince the IT folks at work to give me a Mac workstation. I'm pretty sure I won't be able to pull that off again..

 

[jdag]

Virtually any mouse will work on a Mac....getting a 3rd party mouse that suit you could be as little as a $15 fix. And many mice that come with PCs are very very poor anyhow, so that should not be a deciding factor IMO.

 

[Bynx]

I dont think its Mac users fighting amongst ourselves. Its just that no matter how much we like the Mac, there are still lots of things that it lacks. The mouse is a good one. Do you remember the bloody puck they came up with once? Then someone came out with a plastic shape for it to fit into so it felt more like a mouse. The new touch mouse is pretty good but for $70 its expensive. I have a cordless Macally and from using the scroll wheel my right pointing finger is permanently numb. I think Apple is Mac own worst enemy.

 

[usayit]

Virtually any mouse will work on a Mac....getting a 3rd party mouse that suit you could be as little as a $15 fix. And many mice that come with PCs are very very poor anyhow, so that should not be a deciding factor IMO.

I think most people know that....

<< Kensington PilotMouse (most comfy I've found for a lefty) and Microsoft Natural keyboard

 

[chaosrealm93]

being a gamer and a hobbyist photographer, i use a gaming mouse for my editing work. and being a gaming mouse, it has adjustable DPI settings.. helps a lot in fine editing.

*not sure if PC periphs would work on macs (mainly drivers)

 

[johnh2005]

Is the price really that much higher? A fully loaded mac mini goes for $700. Of course you need a monitor and keyboard but so does a PC. Size wise its about the same as two pound of butter. Pretty compact and very reliable.

Actually, yes, Macs are way overpriced. One of my bosses at work LOVES Mac's and started buying Macs for replacements as PC's were dying. I went into his office one day and he had a $2800 Mac up on the screen. I started talking with him a bit and I convinced him to let me build a PC instead of buying a $2800 Mac. I got a faster Processor, i7 vs i5, 16GB of faster RAM instead of 8GB slower for the Mac, an 128GB SSD and a 500GB Sata3 data Disc vs the 500GB Sata2 disc, an 800 watt PS vs the 700 for the Mac, GTX570 video card vs the GTS460 in the Mac, plus a whole bunch of other stuff and I saved him $1100 on just the purchase price. I charged him $300 for the build, install of ALL software, updates etc etc. He still came out $800 cheaper and with MUCH better hardware. So, the answer is, Yes Macs are much more expensive.

 

[jdag]

Virtually any mouse will work on a Mac....getting a 3rd party mouse that suit you could be as little as a $15 fix. And many mice that come with PCs are very very poor anyhow, so that should not be a deciding factor IMO.

I think most people know that....

<< Kensington PilotMouse (most comfy I've found for a lefty) and Microsoft Natural keyboard

I know...I was simply stating it because there were a couple of comments about the mouse, and it is a paltry issue relative to the cost of a computer in general.

 

[table1349]

People here are talking Ford vs GM and you bring out Masaratti. I dont know who would pay $16,000 for a computer. It will be as obsolete as my $700 Mac Mini in just as fast a time. How much for the average home PC as opposed to the average Mac Mini ($700).
And I never disputed your common sense advice. As for your computer, well it isnt normal now is it? I mean how many out there have one like yours? For a brief time Apple allowed clones to be made, but pulled the rug out from that pretty quick.

My two main machines are my 27" iMac and my 17" MBP. The Hackintosh was for fun and to have something to shall we say experiment on in different operating systems.

As for the Masaratti, that ain't nothing. That price would maybe buy the monitor at Pixar or Lucasfilm for one station. Besides, you asked if they can really be that expensive. They can be, why the average person needs that much power I don't know.

 

[table1349]

I dont think its Mac users fighting amongst ourselves. Its just that no matter how much we like the Mac, there are still lots of things that it lacks. The mouse is a good one. Do you remember the bloody puck they came up with once? Then someone came out with a plastic shape for it to fit into so it felt more like a mouse. The new touch mouse is pretty good but for $70 its expensive. I have a cordless Macally and from using the scroll wheel my right pointing finger is permanently numb. I think Apple is Mac own worst enemy.

Go give the magic track pad a try. Still $70.00 but so outshines a mouse or ball. Even the magic mouse.