Mac v. PC?

[Dao]

With the service contract we had on our Dell servers and EMC arrays, they would send techs out to provide support since the devices were on a network that didn't have internet access. Did Apple ever provide support like that for their servers?

We use Netapp here but did talk to the EMC folks and they said they monitor the units themselves and will send tech to replace a shelf if they noticed a problem before the end user even know about it.

 

[usayit]

With the service contract we had on our Dell servers and EMC arrays, they would send techs out to provide support since the devices were on a network that didn't have internet access. Did Apple ever provide support like that for their servers?

Yeh... I worked at a place (going back more than 6 years ago) that had rows and rows of EMC frames (128TB). Occasionally, some guy would show up and request an escort to a frame in the secured area to replace some part or disk. First time it happened, I was like.. "I didn't call you?". He laughed and said the frame did.... That was cool... wonder how much that support contract is worth.

I'm now in primarily a NetApp shop... nice stuff.. really nice. EXPENSIVE. They recently purchased LSI's Engenio division which I thought was an interesting maneuver.


Apple's support seems on par with the lower end contracts from the likes of Dell. They claim that you can keep critical parts on site at all times for a quick repair. They stress that the Xserve is designed to have easy swappable parts so service can be done quickly and easily. Not exactly to the level of EMC or NetApp... maybe.. just maybe ok for SMBs. We only have 2 and they've been out of production for a while.... I've swapped a couple drives.. but that's it so far.

 

[mjhoward]

Sweet. People have to resort to insults and such via PM now? It's a real shocker if you can't figure out who the sender is... :er:

If you're referring to me, 'Feel Better?' is hardly an insult. I thought it be more appropriate to Private Message you than to further clutter an already derailed thread. Apparently you don't share that sentiment.

 

[Village Idiot]

Sweet. People have to resort to insults and such via PM now? It's a real shocker if you can't figure out who the sender is... :er:

If you're referring to me, 'Feel Better?' is hardly an insult. I thought it be more appropriate to Private Message you than to further clutter an already derailed thread. Apparently you don't share that sentiment.

Now you're sending even more unwarranted PM's? Can you just stop harrassing me already?

 

[Village Idiot]

With the service contract we had on our Dell servers and EMC arrays, they would send techs out to provide support since the devices were on a network that didn't have internet access. Did Apple ever provide support like that for their servers?

Yeh... I worked at a place (going back more than 6 years ago) that had rows and rows of EMC frames (128TB). Occasionally, some guy would show up and request an escort to a frame in the secured area to replace some part or disk. First time it happened, I was like.. "I didn't call you?". He laughed and said the frame did.... That was cool... wonder how much that support contract is worth.

I'm now in primarily a NetApp shop... nice stuff.. really nice. EXPENSIVE. They recently purchased LSI's Engenio division which I thought was an interesting maneuver.


Apple's support seems on par with the lower end contracts from the likes of Dell. They claim that you can keep critical parts on site at all times for a quick repair. They stress that the Xserve is designed to have easy swappable parts so service can be done quickly and easily. Not exactly to the level of EMC or NetApp... maybe.. just maybe ok for SMBs. We only have 2 and they've been out of production for a while.... I've swapped a couple drives.. but that's it so far.

I believe I heard that ours was pushing $80K for a service contract? That's totally believable to me seeing as how it's the government and if they want to buy a computer that a consumer can buy for $1000, they're going to pay $2,200 for it.

 

[johnh2005]

I currently use a PC, but since I'm getting more serious about my photography as a career myself, I plan to Mac eventually. I've heard it doesn't get viruses, runs faster, and is great for editing. Just my 2cents. My PC doesn't do a bad job! But I'm getting sucked down the Mac road.

Mac's can do and will get viruses. Just like EVERY other OS out there.
Mac's do not run faster. They draw their hardware from the same exact pool PC's do.
Editing on a Mac is basically no different than on a PC except you have a control key vs a apple key. Just go watch video's that show how to do the same exact edits on a Mac and PC at the same time.

It is so funny I ran across the article today. I read an article in Science Magazine (or something like that) that talks about Apple Fanatics. If you know someone who owns an iPad you are 14% more likely to get one. If you know two it is like 41% more likely and if you know 4 or more people with an iPad you are almost 100% more likely to get one. I will have to find the article again (Left the magazine in the work truck) and put down the exact numbers.

To the OP. There is NO REASON to jump ship from PC to Mac if you are already used to using PC's and are not as comfortable with the Mac OS. Same coin different side, if you are used to running MAC there is no reason to jump ship to PC.

 

[johnh2005]

I don't know if this has already been mentioned but the new Mac's can run both Windows AND MAC OS... a PC can only run Windows. Thats a plus in my book. Plus Mac's are built better... much better.

lol PLENTY of people home build computers and install Mac OS. In fact if you had read this thread at least one person has mentioned this. But that is what Apple Fanboy's do. They jump on the bandwagon both feet first blinders and just spew whatever Lord Steve Jobs tells them to.

 

[Tomasko]

johnh2005, I completely agree with you. Obviously there are certain people, who are a little blinded and can only see their arguments. It is just the same as "battle" Nikon vs Canon. There can't be a winner. Whether you like it Derrel or not Each brand/product has its pros and cons.

To the OP,
you're saying, that you are a PC family. Stick with it! Really, there is no reason to change. As you said it yourself - MAC is much more expensive and in my humble opinion - it isn't really worth it.

 

[mjhoward]

I don't know if this has already been mentioned but the new Mac's can run both Windows AND MAC OS... a PC can only run Windows. Thats a plus in my book. Plus Mac's are built better... much better.

lol PLENTY of people home build computers and install Mac OS. In fact if you had read this thread at least one person has mentioned this. But that is what Apple Fanboy's do. They jump on the bandwagon both feet first blinders and just spew whatever Lord Steve Jobs tells them to.

OK, I apologize if I was unaware that off the shelf PC's and Notebooks were able to run Mac OS natively. It has been a while since I've even wanted to run a dual boot windows machine, apparently things have changed. I'm not going to assume that the OP is comfortable building and configuring his/her own though. If you read this thread, then you would have seen that we've already been through this. I'm not an Apple 'Fanboy' as the one small comment I made might lead you, and apparently several others, to believe. I have a Macbook, which I DO happen to like, but I also have a PC that I built that runs strictly Windows and is mainly for software development and CAD.

I will partly disagree with one point you made though. Although Mac's may get there hardware from the same 'pool' as PC manufacturers, the OS isn't the same. I'm not going to refer to the interface; whether or not you prefer one over the other is purely subjective, but in my experience, windows is much more bloated than other OS's. If I'm running OS X on my notebook, the battery life is around 6 hrs. If I run Win XP however, battery life is only around 2.5 hrs. It's a resource hog. It isn't just windows though, I've noticed this on recent versions of Suse Linux. Older versions weren't so bloated, but they've since adopted some of the UI of Windows and now its all bloated. I do prefer developing software for Win machines though, the .NET framework is nice to work with.

 

[JClishe]

If I'm running OS X on my notebook, the battery life is around 6 hrs. If I run Win XP however, battery life is only around 2.5 hrs. It's a resource hog.

I assume you're talking about your MacBook Pro, correct? If so, What version of OS X are you running? Windows XP is 10 years old. If you want to talk about battery life on a 10 year old version of Windows than you'd better be comparing it to an Apple OS of similar age. Let's make sure you're comparing apples to apples (no pun intended) and are comparing battery life on OS's that are at least of the same era. Using Windows XP as a talking point within the context of a CURRENT Mac Vs PC discussion adds no value to the discussion whatsoever. That's like saying "I have a 35 inch Sony CRT TV that I bought in 2001, and it isn't as clear as the Samsung HD LCD TV that I bought last year, therefore my opinion is that Sony doesn't make good TV's". It's simply a ridiculous path to go down. Windows XP has no business being in this discussion, just like a 10 year old CRT TV has no business being in a discussion about current TV choices.

I have a Windows 7 laptop that gets 10+ hours of battery life; I really don't think your "Windows is bloated" argument in relation to battery life holds water when you're talking about CURRENT technology that someone would actually purchase today.

 

[mjhoward]

The version I'm using is 10.5 which came out about the same time as Vista... not Win 7. The XP Version was the 2005 XP 64 version so only 2 years older than the OS X version I had installed. Win 7 wasn't out when I had set up my notebook with dual boot windows and there was no way I was going to install Vista. I think the comparison against XP 64 would be more in favor of the Windows argument than comparing against Vista, Vista was a joke. You may be right about win 7 running more efficiently I've never had any reason to check, but historically newer versions of OS have generally had higher system requirements than its predecessor. Regardless, windows is still bloated.

BTW, theres a reason why XP was around for a decade. It was the most stable platform they had every created and it worked well.