Writing a School Paper on Why Macs are Awesome

[Yojiirill]

NOTE: Sorry if this might be in the wrong section. I'm relatively new here, and I wasn't really sure where to put it.

Anyway, I'm writing a paper in English about why you should get a Mac, and while I got my first point (that you get a lot of value for your money) down pat, I don't know where to start with my second one (that they're easy to use). There are so many things that make them easy to use, but since I haven't spent much time with Windows in my life, I'm not sure how many of them are 100% unique.

That's where you guys come in. What features (not counting downloadable software) makes your time on a Mac better than being on a PC?

Thanks in advance!

[mkrishnan]

When in doubt, go for the community discussion forum. Your thread is now there.

As for the paper, well, one would hope one would have better things to write about, but good luck.

[notstevelam]

the only reason to get a mac these days is for the form factor and 'prettiness'. other than that, there is no real difference between a mac and pc besides the premium price tag.

the fact that you say its better to get a mac and yet you've barely ever used windows speaks volumes of what the majority of people will probably try to feed you on this forum as well.

[Unspoken Demise]

Originally Posted by notstevelam

the only reason to get a mac these days is for the form factor and 'prettiness'. other than that, there is no real difference between a mac and pc besides the premium price tag.

Im prety sure people get Mac because they like for the computer to...i dont know...work?

[davidjearly]

Originally Posted by notstevelam

the only reason to get a mac these days is for the form factor and 'prettiness'. other than that, there is no real difference between a mac and pc besides the premium price tag.

And the misinformation begins.

[notstevelam]

Originally Posted by Unspoken Demise

Im prety sure people get Mac because they like for the computer to...i dont know...work?

my pcs work just fine. how do macs 'work' more?

macs are good for low-level hobbyists and general internet usage. afterall this is the market apple is targeting.

[Unspoken Demise]

Originally Posted by notstevelam

my pcs work just fine. how do macs 'work' more?

When you get a virus on that PC of yours soon enough, you let me know how Macs

'work' more

.

Originally Posted by notstevelam

macs are good for low-level hobbyists and general internet usage. afterall this is the market apple is targeting.

How's that trollin' working out?

[dukebound85]

Originally Posted by Yojiirill

NOTE: Sorry if this might be in the wrong section. I'm relatively new here, and I wasn't really sure where to put it.

Anyway, I'm writing a paper in English about why you should get a Mac, and while I got my first point (that you get a lot of value for your money) down pat, I don't know where to start with my second one (that they're easy to use). There are so many things that make them easy to use, but since I haven't spent much time with Windows in my life, I'm not sure how many of them are 100% unique.

That's where you guys come in. What features (not counting downloadable software) makes your time on a Mac better than being on a PC?

Thanks in advance!

how can you write an objective argument when you yourself admit you hardly use windows?

as in, in not using windows, how can you deduce that its "better value" or "easier to use"?

[OllyW]

Be careful what you write, the person who marks your paper could be a Windows fan.

[notstevelam]

Originally Posted by Unspoken Demise

When you get a virus on that PC of yours soon enough, you let me know how Macs .


How's that trollin' working out?

umm i've had windows machines for 15+ years with no virus issues. i've had a few malware issues back in like 1999 when i was still using internet explorer. common sense and not downloading illegally obtained warez generally lets you avoid virus/malware issues though.

[notstevelam]

Originally Posted by notstevelam

macs are good for low-level hobbyists and general internet usage. afterall this is the market apple is targeting.

Originally Posted by Unspoken Demise

How's that trollin' working out?

how is that statement considered trolling??? you disagree that macs are targeted at low-level hobbyists and general internet users?

[Unspoken Demise]

Originally Posted by notstevelam

how is that statement considered trolling??? you disagree that macs are targeted at low-level hobbyists and general internet users?

The trolling comment stems from the fact that you are an avid Pc user, who registers on a Mac forum, to bash on Mac products. I can think of many Mac users who are not "low-level hobbyists." If you're going for everyone on this site hating you, please by all means, keep calling them "low-level hobbyists."

[laserfox]

Take an objective approach to writing your paper and avoid doing what apple did in their latest ad, that is, avoid resorting to attacking windows7/vista/xp.

Tout the features of snow leopard like expose, its dock, time machine etc. While you can compare it to windows, I would also compare it to other operating systems like various linux distros (as linux users does not experience major virus issues). Do not gloat and most of do not come off smug.

[harperjones99]

The OS and the larger multi touch trackpad are the only things I find superior on a Mac. I do not find this worth the cost however..nearly double for these two things seems a bit much. If there were another hardware option out of the box that ran OSX without hassle and hacking, and at the price point of comparable PCs I would buy one over a Mac. The "image" factor means nothing to me and I don't find it worth one cent.

[notstevelam]

Originally Posted by Unspoken Demise

When you get a virus on that PC of yours soon enough, you let me know how Macs .


How's that trollin' working out?

Originally Posted by Unspoken Demise

The trolling comment stems from the fact that you are an avid Pc user, who registers on a Mac forum, to bash on Mac products. I can think of many Mac users who are not "low-level hobbyists." If you're going for everyone on this site hating you, please by all means, keep calling them "low-level hobbyists."

i am an avid user of both windows and mac. if this threatens you, then i am sorry. and i was talking about apple marketing, which i am right about.

[notstevelam]

Originally Posted by laserfox

Take an objective approach to writing your paper and avoid doing what apple did in their latest ad, that is, avoid resorting to attacking windows7/vista/xp.

Tout the features of snow leopard like expose, its dock, time machine etc. While you can compare it to windows, I would also compare it to other operating systems like various linux distros (as linux users does not experience major virus issues). Do not gloat and most of do not come off smug.

i actually find the dock and expose to be the weakest part of OS X. its like they didn't know how to improve the dock properly, so they just add a bunch of workarounds to make it actually usable. the windows 7 dock is miles ahead in functionality.

[No1451]

Originally Posted by laserfox

Take an objective approach to writing your paper and avoid doing what apple did in their latest ad, that is, avoid resorting to attacking windows7/vista/xp.

Tout the features of snow leopard like expose, its dock, time machine etc. While you can compare it to windows, I would also compare it to other operating systems like various linux distros (as linux users does not experience major virus issues). Do not gloat and most of do not come off smug.

Like this guy said, atm you cannot write anything about Apple products as really, you have to take every side into account when writing a paper, I could very well write a paper about how great cats are but it would suck because I've never owned a dog.

Break down some features the OS and machines have then compare them against other similar features in other OSes(Time Machine vs Windows backup vs whatever Linux has going for it). To be entirely frank though, I think any paper about something like this will be really weak since you are arguing for preference(something I see absolutely no value in which is why I failed all my opinion papers in highschool)

[notjustjay]

The problem with these sorts of stories is that it's always difficult to be totally objective, but I wish you luck Maybe, to add a human interest element to your paper, you could tell real stories about real people, rather than hypothetical situations that may be biased. For example, there are threads about people's "switch experiences".

I think what it boils down to for me is that "Macs make you look good". This is a result of some great software and "polish". So I can churn out a slide show very quickly (iPhoto), burn it to a DVD with motion menus and music (iDVD) or edit a video (iMovie) or write up a newsletter (iWork). Today the Windows apps are really catching up, but a few years ago, the difference was remarkable. I've done Keynote presentations and not even done anything super-flashy, and the people who don't pay attention to technology complimented me on how good a presenter I was, while the people who do pay attention asked, "Hey, what version of PowerPoint were you using? How did you get it to look so good?"

Sometimes it's what you don't see. I know the "PCs crash a lot" is cliche, but it does sometimes happen and we've become so used to seeing it that we don't even notice anymore. I've been to many presentations or school lectures where the presenter will come in, unpack their laptop, plug it in, and I watch on the big screen as they fiddle with resolution settings in the Control Panel. You get a glimpse of their Windows desktop, watch as they open up PowerPoint and navigate to their file, etc. We see that all the time and we think nothing of it. I even see that happen in church services, and nobody is bothered by it.

So when the guy with the Mac plugs in and we see the projector fade to a plain blue screen, and then the next thing we see is the first page of the presentation, we don't think consciously of it ("Hey! we didn't see any desktop - that must mean he set up multiple monitors automatically and set up his presentation to use the secondary display! That's impressive, considering this is the first time he's ever plugged into that projector!") But what we do see is a smooth, distraction-free presentation, and in our minds we think "That guy is prepared. Therefore he is a good presenter."

Same thing when I put up a slide show using iPhoto and the Ken Burns effect as opposed to flipping static images. People come up and say "Wow, that was such a beautiful slideshow." They can't necessarily articulate why they thought it was nice. But they know that they saw something above and beyond the "norm".

The Mac isn't going to turn you into a superstar overnight. But it does give you a head start It's not any one thing that'll do it. But eventually people notice that you're always the one who puts out the great DVDs, does the great slide shows, never seems to have problems with the projector, always seems to be the first one to connect to the public wireless network without any glitches, never seems to curse because the latest patch blew up your favourite app..... and eventually people realize there's something different going on.

[Abstract]

Wirelessly posted (Nokia 5800 Tube XpressMusic : Mozilla/5.0 (SymbianOS/9.4; U; Series60/5.0 Nokia5800d-1/21.0.101; Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 ) AppleWebKit/413 (KHTML, like Gecko) Safari/413)

Just to prove that you don't really do more 'work' on a Mac when compared to a PC: This paper is going to earn a failing mark no matter which OS you use.

[007bond]

Originally Posted by notjustjay

The problem with these sorts of stories is that it's always difficult to be totally objective, but I wish you luck Maybe, to add a human interest element to your paper, you could tell real stories about real people, rather than hypothetical situations that may be biased. For example, there are threads about people's "switch experiences".

I think what it boils down to for me is that "Macs make you look good". This is a result of some great software and "polish". So I can churn out a slide show very quickly (iPhoto), burn it to a DVD with motion menus and music (iDVD) or edit a video (iMovie) or write up a newsletter (iWork). Today the Windows apps are really catching up, but a few years ago, the difference was remarkable. I've done Keynote presentations and not even done anything super-flashy, and the people who don't pay attention to technology complimented me on how good a presenter I was, while the people who do pay attention asked, "Hey, what version of PowerPoint were you using? How did you get it to look so good?"

Sometimes it's what you don't see. I know the "PCs crash a lot" is cliche, but it does sometimes happen and we've become so used to seeing it that we don't even notice anymore. I've been to many presentations or school lectures where the presenter will come in, unpack their laptop, plug it in, and I watch on the big screen as they fiddle with resolution settings in the Control Panel. You get a glimpse of their Windows desktop, watch as they open up PowerPoint and navigate to their file, etc. We see that all the time and we think nothing of it. I even see that happen in church services, and nobody is bothered by it.

So when the guy with the Mac plugs in and we see the projector fade to a plain blue screen, and then the next thing we see is the first page of the presentation, we don't think consciously of it ("Hey! we didn't see any desktop - that must mean he set up multiple monitors automatically and set up his presentation to use the secondary display! That's impressive, considering this is the first time he's ever plugged into that projector!") But what we do see is a smooth, distraction-free presentation, and in our minds we think "That guy is prepared. Therefore he is a good presenter."

Same thing when I put up a slide show using iPhoto and the Ken Burns effect as opposed to flipping static images. People come up and say "Wow, that was such a beautiful slideshow." They can't necessarily articulate why they thought it was nice. But they know that they saw something above and beyond the "norm".

The Mac isn't going to turn you into a superstar overnight. But it does give you a head start It's not any one thing that'll do it. But eventually people notice that you're always the one who puts out the great DVDs, does the great slide shows, never seems to have problems with the projector, always seems to be the first one to connect to the public wireless network without any glitches, never seems to curse because the latest patch blew up your favourite app..... and eventually people realize there's something different going on.

that was an insanely good way to put it. and thats the reason i bought a mac. thanks for justifying my purchase. the other posters made me feel like i wasted 2 grand

[Lloyd Christmas]

cause os x, it just works. Lloyd

[Xavier]

I did speeches on Apple only because it was an easy topic to talk about/an easy A

[Melrose]

Originally Posted by Abstract

Just to prove that you don't really do more 'work' on a Mac when compared to a PC: This paper is going to earn a failing mark no matter which OS you use.

I'll go with that. If the paper's going to get any type of good marks, it should present both sides of an argument, and offer a personal opinion as to why the writer thinks Macs are better.


...although, the OP asked for information about a paper explaining why Macs are awesome, which they are. He didn't ask for why Macs are better.

-

It's blindly stupid to say both are 'equal' - after all, we choose one product over another because of it's reputation (a Honda over a Ford, for example.. or whatever the comparison is). To say that both are equal makes no sense whatsoever. They are both made by different companies - different engineers, different software developers (for the OS), and outside of some shared components, different manufacturers. One is bound to have strengths the other one lacks. Ultimately, it's what you personally prefer. Pick one you're happy with.

[iOrlando]

with a mac you also buy a community...sort of like buying friends in a frat.

you buy a mac , and you feel connected to others like on macrumors. You can then easily come on here and post your questions/talk about apple..etc... I dont know of any easy way to do this with windows since there are so many crap PC out there.


the other main reasons are quality and design. (and customer service). Those 4 reasons to me add up to the 300-350 price difference.

[Prom1]

Originally Posted by notjustjay

The problem with these sorts of stories is that it's always difficult to be totally objective, but I wish you luck Maybe, to add a human interest element to your paper, you could tell real stories about real people, rather than hypothetical situations that may be biased. For example, there are threads about people's "switch experiences".

I think what it boils down to for me is that "Macs make you look good". This is a result of some great software and "polish". So I can churn out a slide show very quickly (iPhoto), burn it to a DVD with motion menus and music (iDVD) or edit a video (iMovie) or write up a newsletter (iWork). Today the Windows apps are really catching up, but a few years ago, the difference was remarkable. I've done Keynote presentations and not even done anything super-flashy, and the people who don't pay attention to technology complimented me on how good a presenter I was, while the people who do pay attention asked, "Hey, what version of PowerPoint were you using? How did you get it to look so good?"

Sometimes it's what you don't see. I know the "PCs crash a lot" is cliche, but it does sometimes happen and we've become so used to seeing it that we don't even notice anymore. I've been to many presentations or school lectures where the presenter will come in, unpack their laptop, plug it in, and I watch on the big screen as they fiddle with resolution settings in the Control Panel. You get a glimpse of their Windows desktop, watch as they open up PowerPoint and navigate to their file, etc. We see that all the time and we think nothing of it. I even see that happen in church services, and nobody is bothered by it.

So when the guy with the Mac plugs in and we see the projector fade to a plain blue screen, and then the next thing we see is the first page of the presentation, we don't think consciously of it ("Hey! we didn't see any desktop - that must mean he set up multiple monitors automatically and set up his presentation to use the secondary display! That's impressive, considering this is the first time he's ever plugged into that projector!") But what we do see is a smooth, distraction-free presentation, and in our minds we think "That guy is prepared. Therefore he is a good presenter."

Same thing when I put up a slide show using iPhoto and the Ken Burns effect as opposed to flipping static images. People come up and say "Wow, that was such a beautiful slideshow." They can't necessarily articulate why they thought it was nice. But they know that they saw something above and beyond the "norm".

The Mac isn't going to turn you into a superstar overnight. But it does give you a head start It's not any one thing that'll do it. But eventually people notice that you're always the one who puts out the great DVDs, does the great slide shows, never seems to have problems with the projector, always seems to be the first one to connect to the public wireless network without any glitches, never seems to curse because the latest patch blew up your favourite app..... and eventually people realize there's something different going on.

Bravo! You have tangibly shown us the harmony of ownng and using a Mac.

I would suggest to the thread starter to change the topic & focus of his thesis to why the Mac has increased in sales and marketshare in the USA over the past 8 qtrs. This way you can show not just the ease of us for using the apps on Mac OS but also for personal use of accesories I. And out of the home.

I cannot comment how many years using Win98 - Win7 in the steps I need to do to setup a projector, setup to a previously used 2nd or 6th monitor (standardized on Dell 1709fp's) for deployment after the pci/pcie video card was installed. Rearranging the desktop arrangement setup. No big deal as it provides a job for me lol.

In a corporate environment of 5000 users or more on various subnets behind a firewall with rules implemented at various internal or external locations hands down windows is king. I keep wanting for Apple to highlight more of os x server in corporate deployment wih/out windows machines alongside Mac's. I'd love to see equivalents for exchange, SMS or app deployment from the server, gpo's etc. I also feel this needs to done and highlighted outside of the USA.

To the op try to research on using apps and the machine for end user home use. If you're going into professional use focus to the arts and check out Apples Education link showing how much marketshare in education k12 Apple has which is incredible also in Universities.