Have all the people who think PCs are slow and buggy ever built one?

[bobindashadows]

Originally posted by QCassidy352
to all the people saying that PCs are good as long as you know what you're doing: well, that's fine for pros who do know what they're doing. But consider how many people don't know what they're doing. The funny thing is that PCs are really more appropriate for those with the expertise not to f*ck them up, but they are most used by the ignorant masses who are prone to "sloppy system management."
I think Macs are better because most users want a computer where they don't have to worry about system management.

Exactly right. When I find a piece of shareware that has a function I'd like, I don't have to worry, or see if there's a better solution that won't screw my system up. I install it and if it works, good, keep it. Oh, and mac's can use file sharing programs, and don't get screwed up systems (or spyware ) not that I support piracy - I don't, I'm just saying in terms of freedom from crap, Mac users have it much better off.

All of the Windows people here have a somewhat good point - that as long as you are careful with what you install and know not to use certain things, windows won't crash too often. I have a better point - on macs, you can install and use whatever the hell you want, and the computer will still start up.

Well, except for one time in System 8.6 when I installed so many kaleidoscope themes my computer ran out of memory starting up... but that's 8.6 and overdose on themes. As far as I know, if you wanted to install a lot of themes for Mac OS X (with an imaginary version of Kaleidoscope), it would use Virtual Memory and run quite slowly. Not crash, or give "general protection faults".

 

[Vlade]

I went to a lan party with 4 PCs + my Mac, and each one one the PCs had a problem. One started up into DOS for some unknown reason, and he had to reinstall windows. Another didn't have network for some reason, and the other two were just real slow.

Oh, and they all built there own PCs

 

[Independence]

Originally posted by bobindashadows
Oh yeah, he has a 40x CD-ROM and a 32x CD-RW. Unfortunately, he was too cheap to get a good one, and so he has to burn audio CDs at 4x, fearing buffer underruns *roll*. Data CDs can burn at 12x without making a coaster. It cost him about 700 bucks.QUOTE]
that's his own damn fault. maybe he shouldn't have used cheap components...

He was beyond miserable getting it stable. It took him 3 months to get most of it working - excluding the network card, which took 6 months.

sounds like someone is clueless. i was up and running in less than a day when i built my own PC. maybe you should tell your friend to build his own Mac and see how well he fares with that. if he's as sloppy as you make it sound then i doubt it would run well.

His computer wouldn't start up, blurting random messages about "IRQ OVERLOAD"s and General Protection Faults. Every once in a while, it would just turn off and he'd have to wait 5 minutes before he could start it up. The computer wasn't even running hot - he has 5 fans installed.

once again, that's his own damn fault. he's better off getting a prebuilt computer from Gateway...

It was a month and a half before he finally had to get a specialist to tell him that he couldn't have onboard sound enabled and his sound card enabled. It's too bad windows didn't just say that! For those interested, IRQ stands for Interrupt Request (I think). His network card didn't work, nor did a second one he had to get. The second one worked miraculously one evening six months after assembling the computer.

how strange... i used an onboard sound chip to play back sound and i used a PCI sound card to record. no problems. and an operating system shouldn't have to tell someone who builds their own computers that they basically ****ed up. people who build their own computers should have the knowledge necessary to fix problems such as this.

It's fast, though *roll* I guess hell is worth going through to make a fast PC. He made it for games. However, a number of games just don't run on it, for no reason, like Giants: Citizen Kabuto (good game!) and Ghost Recon (good game!).

i built my own PC and i haven't gone through hell. and, at the time, it was fast. i'm due for an upgrade and i'm gonna get new components for my system. the iMac is being put off until i'm well under way to getting a car. besides, i want to see if the PPC970 rumors are true.

 

[TeraRWM]

I built my own system. All windows boot CDs haven't worked with the two drives I have, so I've had no way of getting windows on there...but since I could get linux working booting off the CD /) I found out the mobo doesn't want to see the sound out...or ANY AGP card I feed it.

A smashing success I guess...

Oh yeah, tech support for it sucks.

 

[Invizzible]

I used to use only PC's. I bought my first Mac (a G4 400Mhz Powermac) because I was having a horrible time trying to record multitrack audio on a PC and a friend who did audio engineering for a living said he would never even attempt it on a PC. He also said if I bought a Mac I would be able to do anything I wanted, and wouldn't have any problems. He was right. I bought the Mac, and used it side-by-side with the PC for 2 years. I eventually ditched the PC (I didn't build this PC, but I did lots of upgrades to it) because over those two years it became unbearably glitchy and unstable, while the Mac (running OS9) remained as solid as when I'd bought it (I treated both machines equally, installing tons of programs on each). BTW, the PC was a Pentium 3 600Mhz machine, and when I tried running the same audio app. on it that I was running on the Mac (Pro Tools LE) it couldn't even come close to matching the performance of the 400Mhz G4. The only thing worse about the Mac back then was its internet performance, but that gap has since closed (at least for me). I don't ever plan on owning a PC again and I'm really looking forward to the next leap in Mac performance!

 

[LethalWolfe]

Originally posted by bobindashadows
My friend built his own PC a little while ago - I dont' know the exact specs, but I believe its an Athlon 1700, it's got a GeForce 3, 512MB DDR Ram (333 I think), SB Live!, a network card, and I think that's it. Oh yeah, he has a 40x CD-ROM and a 32x CD-RW. Unfortunately, he was too cheap to get a good one, and so he has to burn audio CDs at 4x, fearing buffer underruns *roll*. Data CDs can burn at 12x without making a coaster. It cost him about 700 bucks.

He was beyond miserable getting it stable. It took him 3 months to get most of it working - excluding the network card, which took 6 months.

His computer wouldn't start up, blurting random messages about "IRQ OVERLOAD"s and General Protection Faults. Every once in a while, it would just turn off and he'd have to wait 5 minutes before he could start it up. The computer wasn't even running hot - he has 5 fans installed.

It was a month and a half before he finally had to get a specialist to tell him that he couldn't have onboard sound enabled and his sound card enabled. It's too bad windows didn't just say that! For those interested, IRQ stands for Interrupt Request (I think). His network card didn't work, nor did a second one he had to get. The second one worked miraculously one evening six months after assembling the computer.

It's fast, though *roll* I guess hell is worth going through to make a fast PC. He made it for games. However, a number of games just don't run on it, for no reason, like Giants: Citizen Kabuto (good game!) and Ghost Recon (good game!).

No offense to your friend but I think the problem might be located between the keyboard and the chair. Just because one can build a computer doesn't mean one knows how to build a computer.

The blessing and the bane of building your own PC is the vast array of choices you have. If you do your homework and choose wisely you'll be in heaven. If you don't do your homework and you choose poorly you'll be in hell.

Of course the opposite is true on a Mac. The smaller amount of choices means you are less likely to encounter conflicts, but you have fewer options to choose from.

It's all a give and take.


Lethal

 

[reflex]

Originally posted by jxyama
computer is an inorganic object. it should not deteriorate, as if it's alive. i've personally come to the conclusion that it's due to windows bloat and cheapo parts. this is strictly my opinion based on my experience.

But it IS alive, in the sense that it changes all the time. The hardware itself also changes all the time (small changes that may build up over time).

 

[ZildjianKX]

Originally posted by TeraRWM
I built my own system. All windows boot CDs haven't worked with the two drives I have, so I've had no way of getting windows on there...but since I could get linux working booting off the CD /) I found out the mobo doesn't want to see the sound out...or ANY AGP card I feed it.

A smashing success I guess...

Oh yeah, tech support for it sucks.

Dude, ever heard of a bootable floppy?

 

[Independence]

Originally posted by ZildjianKX
Dude, ever heard of a bootable floppy?

most Mac types are unable to believe that floppies still exist. floppies are old but they can make a pretty big difference in some cases.

I built my own system. All windows boot CDs haven't worked with the two drives I have, so I've had no way of getting windows on there...but since I could get linux working booting off the CD /) I found out the mobo doesn't want to see the sound out...or ANY AGP card I feed it.

what version of windows? if it's windows 95/98 (and possibly ME), you can't boot off the CD. and i also recommend you check your BIOS and make sure your settings are correct.

 

[ColoJohnBoy]

My brother is a networking and technical expert for a company here in Colorado. He spend all day studying PCs, repairing both their hardware and software, and custom building them for people in the company offices. He built the one he uses at home. He freely admits to me that Macs are better computers. The hardware is of better quality, the software is better, and that OS X is "the f***ing Allah, Buddha, Jesus, God of operating systems." (A direct quote, mind you). He's always playing around on my TiBook, and wishing he could afford one.

I'll have my PowerBook in six years from now, and probably more. He's had to replace his home computer every 2-3 years, and that's with regular, expert maintenance.



Visit Blue Pudding!
http://bluepudding.1hwy.com

 

[Abstract]

It just sounds like most of these "examples" of failed attempts at building a PC are by people who don't know what they're doing. If they did, almost none of these problems would happen, and you wouldn't be getting these weird messages. Don't build a PC unless you know what you're doing. If you or your friend chooses to build one anyway, then don't blame Windows or Microsoft when it **** up. Nobody will admit when they're out of their league. It HAS to be Windows' fault, right?

[mod .edit - Don't circumvent the profanity filter.]

 

[Rower_CPU]

Originally posted by Abstract
It just sounds like most of these "examples" of failed attempts at building a PC are by people who don't know what they're doing. If they did, almost none of these problems would happen, and you wouldn't be getting these weird messages. Don't build a PC unless you know what you're doing. If you or your friend chooses to build one anyway, then don't blame Windows or Microsoft when it **** up. Nobody will admit when they're out of their league. It HAS to be Windows' fault, right?

[mod .edit - Don't circumvent the profanity filter.]

To be fair, you have to give props to Windows for "working" with a wide variety of hardware.

That said, it shouldn't take an MCSE or A+ cert to get parts that should work together to work together right.

 

[Roger1]

I have a homebuilt pc. It's currently slow, unreliable and is in pieces in my office. It was acting up on me today, so I did a "dirty install" of Win95. Well, after I did that, it lost the cd rom and the modem. So, while piddling around with it, it decided to lose the floppy drive as well. Well after changing the floppy drive and cable, then putting the originals back in, it now works (the floppy drive anyway)

Well when the floppy crapped out, it had my boot disk in it. So I had to drag out my old, old pc, and make a new boot disk.

So I reboot my troubled machine, reformat the HD, and it still can't find the cdrom.

Hmm. I will say (in my defense) the machine is over 4 years old, and has run virtually flawlessly until very recently. So I don't feel bad (especially since my wife told me I am going to have to buy another pc if I can't fix it).

edit:clarification

 

[damax452]

The other side

Look at the big picture.

I have always used a PC, and have very little experience with macs so my opinion is a little biased here. I've both built my own PCs and bought from Dell. Sure I've had problems with them that were frustrating, but nothing major that required returning hardware.

I hate to say this, but its the truth. Maybe, just maybe microsoft and PC makers have done SOMETHING right...seeing as how 90% of the world uses PCs w/ MS software. It wasnt just by luck that all of those people chose MS. This is how competition works, plain and simple. The better product gets more business. So before you say PCs are horrible, look at all they have done right, not the few things they have done wrong. Nowadays however, the world is so saturated w/ MS that nearly all software/games/hardware are targetd for and optimized for Windows. So a hardcore gamer or a business is almost forced to buy MS to be compatible with the world, which kinda sucks.

So my question to you PC haters is, if Macs are so wonderful and never have problems, why hasnt the world picked up on this and begun using them over PCs?

Don't get me wrong, Macs appear to be great from what ive heard, and I have recently bought by first Apple product. I bought a 15gb iPod may 3, and i love it...very proud of it. I just get frustrated when people say PCs are so horrible, give them a chance.

 

[Independence]

i think it's really because Mac users hate Windows but they blame everything on the computer itself instead. PCs aren't limited to Windows. there's a wide range of operating systems. if you don't like Windows, use another operating system. if you build your own PC and it doesn't work right from the beginning, you have only yourself to blame.

 

[LethalWolfe]

Re: The other side

Originally posted by damax452
The better product gets more business.

Close. The better marketed product gets more business. You don't have to make a better product you just have to convice people you make a better product and then deliver a product that isn't blatantly inferior.


Lethal

 

[iJon]

Re: The other side

Originally posted by damax452
give them a chance.

funny you should say that, ive found many people i work with chose mac because they did give windows a chance, and it sucked.

iJon

 

[fourthtunz]

Where did all the windoz lovas come from? I never go to windoz sites, must be they're thinkin of switchin?
I have always thought that choice was a good thing but you wouldn't think so by some of the posts on here. Would it be better for computing if all that we had was windoz?
Where would the innovation come from then?
Why do people worry what computers others use?
Do I care what car you drive? No
If every mac user in the world banded together and put down windoz does it really matter? Why are people so angry about this?
It is implied by some that if you can't get your pc to work whether you built it or not means that you are dumb.
I worked in a hospital IS dept with 2500 pcs with a whole team of people to troubleshoot and there were lots of problems and nobody ever got fired, are they stupid? no.
Windoz is just good enough and is made by the biggest bully in computing. Be thankful that Apple and others still exist despite the bully. If this makes you mad take a deep breath, hit the red button on your powerstrip and step outside.
You're welcome in advance
daniel

 

[solvs]

Re: The other side

Originally posted by damax452

I have always used a PC, and have very little experience with macs so my opinion is a little biased here.

Not to pick apart your entire comment, but I think you're missing the point. Most Mac users have used Windows. It has saturated the market for other reasons than being a superior product (which IMO, it is not) as others have already mentioned. However most PC users have little to no contact with Macs. Especially OS X. So you've disproven your own arguement. That would be like a Mac user saying, "I've never used Windows, but I know it sucks and Macs are better". Which does happen.

But then, that would make them wrong too.

 

[bobindashadows]

Originally posted by Independence
sounds like someone is clueless. i was up and running in less than a day when i built my own PC. maybe you should tell your friend to build his own Mac and see how well he fares with that. if he's as sloppy as you make it sound then i doubt it would run well.


once again, that's his own damn fault. he's better off getting a prebuilt computer from Gateway...


how strange... i used an onboard sound chip to play back sound and i used a PCI sound card to record. no problems. and an operating system shouldn't have to tell someone who builds their own computers that they basically ****ed up. people who build their own computers should have the knowledge necessary to fix problems such as this.


i built my own PC and i haven't gone through hell. and, at the time, it was fast. i'm due for an upgrade and i'm gonna get new components for my system. the iMac is being put off until i'm well under way to getting a car. besides, i want to see if the PPC970 rumors are true.

I agree with you wholeheartedly. My biggest point was that just because you built your own PC
1. Doesn't make you a computer God.
2. Doesn't mean your computer is really fast.
3. Doesn't mean your computer is really stable.
4. Doesn't mean your computer will work perfectly.

A lot of PC users I've encountered say that as long as you build a PC it'll run fine. Then they have no idea how to do that correctly. Just out of interest, to compare with my friend, how much did your home-built PC cost?

(And yes, IMO he used cheap components. The company he bought the mobo from went out of business soon thereafter.)

 

[bobindashadows]

Re: The other side

Originally posted by damax452
Look at the big picture.

I have always used a PC, and have very little experience with macs so my opinion is a little biased here. I've both built my own PCs and bought from Dell. Sure I've had problems with them that were frustrating, but nothing major that required returning hardware.

I hate to say this, but its the truth. Maybe, just maybe microsoft and PC makers have done SOMETHING right...seeing as how 90% of the world uses PCs w/ MS software. It wasnt just by luck that all of those people chose MS. This is how competition works, plain and simple. The better product gets more business. So before you say PCs are horrible, look at all they have done right, not the few things they have done wrong. Nowadays however, the world is so saturated w/ MS that nearly all software/games/hardware are targetd for and optimized for Windows. So a hardcore gamer or a business is almost forced to buy MS to be compatible with the world, which kinda sucks.

So my question to you PC haters is, if Macs are so wonderful and never have problems, why hasnt the world picked up on this and begun using them over PCs?

Don't get me wrong, Macs appear to be great from what ive heard, and I have recently bought by first Apple product. I bought a 15gb iPod may 3, and i love it...very proud of it. I just get frustrated when people say PCs are so horrible, give them a chance.

Unfortunately, this is the outlook most inexperienced computer users have. And while one may think it makes sense, in truth the quality of a product has much less to do with the success of the product than how it is marketed, as a whole. Windows comes on cheaper computers - so people on a budget more often buy computers with Windows. When people make their first computer purchase, they often know nothing about computers other than what they've seen so far. In most instances, this is that "every one uses windows." Many have never heard of Macs, and wouldn't buy one anyway since they are out of their price range. If you could install Mac OS X on every Dell, Gateway, etc. in the world, and those respective resellers were allowed to by Microsoft, then I would bet Apple would get several percentage points of market share. Not because people think Mac OS X is a better Operating System; they don't know what the hell an operating system is, ?r does. Those people buy the cheap computer, not the operating system. That's why Microsoft has those users, and not because Windows is better.

 

[RandomDeadHead]

t just sounds like most of these "examples" of failed attempts at building a PC are by people who don't know what they're doing.

But you must understand that "Most" people DON'T know what their doing.

These are the people that have problems with pc's. I bet 95% of the world DOSENT know what they are doing.