The Holy war. Mac vs Windows :p

Rhys · Jul 6, 2008

I'm running a Macbook. I also run a Compaq V2570NR laptop with XP and an elderly Dell with XP.

I've only had the Macbook for 3 months but my impressions so far....

All the software for Mac works flawlessly and doesn't crash the Mac. The only problem so far was the driver for an HP scanner/printer/copier which just plain did not work. I can print but not scan. My Epson (the one I want to dispose of) works flawlessly as a copier with my Mac. This is HP's crappy programming that's at fault.

I haven't got multiple Macs so I can't see whether I get the same results from a variety of Mac machines that I get from a variety of WIndows XP machines where one program will work on one system but not on any of the others - even systems supposedly identical.

My mac has not slowed down. My WIndows machines are forever slowing down. In fact I removed all the stuff from the one that was slowing it and it still does not run as fast as it once did. I blame the Microsoft updates for adding too much overhead and the antivirus software for this. My Mac does not need antivirus software. If software is installed from the web or email it will ask if I wish to run this software before I can. It needs a password for software that tries to install itself into the system.

My Compaq crawls badly when the disk nears 75% full. My Macbook hasn't slowed down yet but the drive is much larger.

My wife's XP machine lost her user account then after that was fixed, locked up totally and refuses to even complete booting. I've seen other equally horrible problems with windows. I'm currently waiting for a 2.5" to USB connector so that I can rescue her data and then reformat/reinstall her laptop.

The controls on a Mac are pretty intuitive and to be quite honest although it takes time to get used to it all, I do prefer my Mac to Windows systems. After using Leopard, XP just seems so 1970's Star Trek clunky.

pm63 · Jul 6, 2008

My mac has not slowed down. My WIndows machines are forever slowing down.

But you've only had your Mac for 3 months. Put it through years of use involving copying/saving files, installing/uninstalling software like you have on your Windows machines and then comment on if it has slowed down.

My Mac does not need antivirus software.

Uh-oh. My advice is to get some antivirus software for it ASAP. Despite it being true that Mac's are less vulnerable, nothing is foolproof, and viruses do exist for the Mac. Just because it asks you if you want to install something to the system, doesn't mean it "doesn't need antivirus". All computers need it, no matter the platform.

My opinion is that Mac's are indeed nicer, but the huge price you pay for that isn't worth it for me. Maybe one day...

One thing which annoys me about Mac's is that Apple are obsessed with making everything really thin and light. Take the MacBook Air - it doesn't have a damn CD drive! Just to save a few milimeters and grams? They should focus on practicality and usability, instead of cool reflection effects in their OS and light, thin, and trendy hardware.

That sounds like a bit of a rant, but I do think they are nicer despite the emphasis on aesthetics, just too expensive.

Rhys · Jul 6, 2008

The bonus of the Air is that it doesn't have a CD drive. We're in the process of changing from DVD to HDDVD/blu-Ray. If it had a DVD drive it would be out of date very soon. The Air is intended to work with TimeMachine for backups. It's a great little laptop. My only issues with the Air are the lack of a user-replaceable battery and the cost of the AIr with a SSHD.

Mav · Jul 6, 2008

After running PCs for 15+ years I recently switched to Mac and couldn't be happier. It just works.

I still run Windows though, through Parallels on my Mac! :mrgreen:

clarinetJWD · Jul 6, 2008

Rhys said:
All the software for Mac works flawlessly and doesn't crash the Mac.

I use a mac quite often in the recording studio, running ProTools HD. It crashes/freezes/beach-ball-of-dooms all the time.

My mac has not slowed down. My WIndows machines are forever slowing down. In fact I removed all the stuff from the one that was slowing it and it still does not run as fast as it once did. I blame the Microsoft updates for adding too much overhead and the antivirus software for this. My Mac does not need antivirus software. If software is installed from the web or email it will ask if I wish to run this software before I can. It needs a password for software that tries to install itself into the system.

Windows machines slow down not because of Windows Updates, but because it uses the same old registry system as the very early versions. This was implemented in the days where hard drive space was very limited, so that many programs could share common files. This has not been 'fixed' yet, because it would cause absolute program incompatibility problems (100% of previous programs would not work). Apple changed their system for OSX, and it did break a huge amount of compatable programs and hardware, but no one seems to remember that. As for antivirus, good luck with all that. In a recent hacking competition, Mac OSX was compromised in a mater of minutes, Vista SP1 took a couple days, and Linux was by far the safest.

My Compaq crawls badly when the disk nears 75% full. My Macbook hasn't slowed down yet but the drive is much larger.

Caused by 2 things: 1, the drive is probably very fragmented, meaning it has to search between very distant physical sectors on the disk for what should be subsequent bits. Vista has an auto defrag utility that works in the background, and according to PCMag works as well, or better than commercial solutions. I'm sure OSX has something similar.

The second cause of the slowdown is probably related to RAM. THat model laptop comes with 512MB RAM by default, and while I don't know if it's been upgraded, 512MB needs to be supplimented by virtual RAM, which is a block of hard drive space used to augment RAM (slower, but still faster than reloading all the time). As the hard drive space becomes limited, so does the virtual ram, and as the drive becomes fragmented, so does the virtual ram.

My wife's XP machine lost her user account then after that was fixed, locked up totally and refuses to even complete booting. I've seen other equally horrible problems with windows. I'm currently waiting for a 2.5" to USB connector so that I can rescue her data and then reformat/reinstall her laptop.

Sorry to hear that... did you try a startup repair from the XP disc? As far as data recovery goes, it's much easier than that if you have any external hard drives, or large flash drives. Take a live Linux CD like Ubuntu or a lightweight package like SystemRescueCD (Both free), and boot from CD...then just drag and drop the files to the external drive.

The controls on a Mac are pretty intuitive and to be quite honest although it takes time to get used to it all, I do prefer my Mac to Windows systems. After using Leopard, XP just seems so 1970's Star Trek clunky.

That was a joke right? No, no right click, you need to use BOTH hands instead. No, no scroll bar on the touchpad, 2 fingers instead (Granted it's nice once you know it, but if you sat down in front of a mac for the first time, there's no way you'd know it).

Why should we keep your applications and open folders/programs separate? Put them all on one cluttered bar. Oh, and make the bar pop up whenever you go for the scroll arrows at the bottom of the window, but miss slightly because of the "precision mouse" that's both uncomfortable, and overdesigned for maximum user-unfriendliness at the same time. I x-ed out of an application, so it must be closed, right? Nope! Gotta open it back up and quit from the menu, or it continues to sit in memory.

"Video card upgrade for Mac Pro carries $100 premium over actual card price" Need I say more? Yes? OK! What does that video card give you? Well you can play...no...Oh, but you can...no, that's CPU heavy not GPU...ummm... Diablo II is out on the Mac!

The laptops have been constantly plagued with heat issues, many to the point of componenets failing, but Apple ignores the problem as long as possible. My friend has a G4 laptop, which many have had the problem of the video chip coming de-soldered, but Apple has not, and will not admit it is a problem and offered to fix it for him...for $1400.

And don't get me started on how all the advanced options seem to be hidden away in order to make the interface appear more simple.

This is a good read, basically it calls out every OS on their strengths and weaknesses from a very computer savvy point of reference. http://lucumr.pocoo.org/cogitations/2008/04/03/use-os-x-you-git/

Does every thread related to technology really have to end up being an advertisement for Apple by its fanboys?

Corry · Jul 6, 2008

Hey, I have an idea . . . how about we DON'T do these pathetic "mac vs pc", "nikon vs canon", "film vs. digital", etc, etc, etc, threads.

They get totally ridiculous, when mostly all it boils down to is personal preference. You aren't going to sway someone to your side.

clarinetJWD · Jul 6, 2008

Corry said:
Hey, I have an idea . . . how about we DON'T do these pathetic "mac vs pc", "nikon vs canon", "film vs. digital", etc, etc, etc, threads.

They get totally ridiculous, when mostly all it boils down to is personal preference. You aren't going to sway someone to your side.

I agree...I was just getting tired of seeing Apple! Apple! Apple! all over the place.

Hertz van Rental · Jul 6, 2008

I get tired of PC users always knocking Mac even though quite often they have never used one. I also get sick of people banging on about how wonderful their Canon camera is, or their Nikon.
I don't start threads about it, though.
What say we use what we've bought instead of trying to publicly convince everyone we haven't made a bad consumer choice? :lol:

PS Macs, like PCs, have to be subjected to housekeeping. If you don't do the basics to repair corrupt files and get rid of other gremlins then of course your computer won't function properly.

Mav · Jul 6, 2008

clarinetJWD said:
Does every thread related to technology really have to end up being an advertisement for Apple by its fanboys?

As if there are no PC fanboys? :lol:

All of these threads are retarded and are of absolutely ZERO use to anybody. BTW I can right click just fine on the SINGLE button Mighty Mouse! It only "looks like" a single button mouse! :lmao:

Renair · Jul 6, 2008

I'm just waiting to see what Windows 7 looks like. They started it a year ago and even Gates said Vista was a complete disaster on a You Tube interview about Windows 7. I think they got the message from Apple about all the different versions of Vista and just doing 1 version of Windows 7.

Check out you tube for some of the updates.

The Dread Pirate Robins · Jul 6, 2008

My four plus year old Mac mini running OS X 10.3.9 is much more stable than my not yet three year old PC at work running XP.

I don't get into this much. I have a preference for Macs, but I use PC's all the time.

This is kind of like Ford vs. Chevy, isn't it?

hovis · Jul 6, 2008

Corry said:
Hey, I have an idea . . . how about we DON'T do these pathetic "mac vs pc", "nikon vs canon", "film vs. digital", etc, etc, etc, threads.

They get totally ridiculous, when mostly all it boils down to is personal preference. You aren't going to sway someone to your side.

Could not agree more.

Senor Hound · Jul 6, 2008

Linux > all IMO

Its stable, cheap and easy to use (and if you don't think its easy, just get another GUI that is!)

The only issue I ever have with Linux comes from incompatibility issues. But there are ways around this.

If my computer would let me, I would partition my HD and run both Linux and Vista. But my computer is horribly slow, so I only run XP. But on my new computer... ohhh baby.

My question is even though all these threads are just argument sessions, why Linux never gets mentioned. Its always Mac vs. MS, but there is another option!

Village Idiot · Jul 6, 2008

My MBP is great. I only had to reboot it once today when it froze while trying to access facebook.

Corry · Jul 6, 2008

Senor Hound said:
Linux > all IMO

Its stable, cheap and easy to use (and if you don't think its easy, just get another GUI that is!)

The only issue I ever have with Linux comes from incompatibility issues. But there are ways around this.

If my computer would let me, I would partition my HD and run both Linux and Vista. But my computer is horribly slow, so I only run XP. But on my new computer... ohhh baby.

My question is even though all these threads are just argument sessions, why Linux never gets mentioned. Its always Mac vs. MS, but there is another option!