Hello , ive used pc's for most of my life, and ive used macintosh when I went to school. But does anyone have a good reason why I should switch. Im about to spend 600$ building a new pc. But I decided maybe an apple. Give me your reason why I should pick Apple over a PC
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Why Should I Go With Apple
- Thread starter xRob2k4x
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any generalizations about how "Macs are better" or "PCs suck" will be met with severe flaming. 
for me, i really, really hated windows. so Mac was my alternative. (and i wanted a laptop so Linux wasn't as good of an option as if i were getting a desktop.) since then, i've found numerous things great about Mac, but it was kind of a passive decision for me.
go try one out. that's the best way to be convinced. we can rave about Mac all we want, but only you can determine whether it's right for you or not. (esp. because your budget is not very high. with $600, your choice will be limited to used machines or lowest end eMac.)
for me, i really, really hated windows. so Mac was my alternative. (and i wanted a laptop so Linux wasn't as good of an option as if i were getting a desktop.) since then, i've found numerous things great about Mac, but it was kind of a passive decision for me.
go try one out. that's the best way to be convinced. we can rave about Mac all we want, but only you can determine whether it's right for you or not. (esp. because your budget is not very high. with $600, your choice will be limited to used machines or lowest end eMac.)
My reasons for Apple are:
1. OS X-rock solid. (XP is better than previous versions of Windows, but i like how OS X is stable and I find it easier to use.)
2. iLife-I have yet to see a suite of applications as capable and well integrated for Windows.
3. More return on investment-My current Mac is a Rev. B iMac that is about 5 years old. It is just now reaching the point where it won't do what I want it to do. Typical upgrade cycles for PC's is about every three years.
4. OS upgrades don't require hardware upgrades-Windows releases require faster hardware to maintain the same level of speed as the previous version. For me, each version of OS X has gotten faster on my trusty iMac.
5. Unix core-this just appeals to my inner geek. I like the fact that I can run all kinds of great unix and linux software on my Mac, without rebooting.
Utimately, a computer is a tool. If there are particular applications you need to run everyday, make sure they work on Mac. For me, and I would argue most home users, the Mac is the perfect tool for home computing. Managing your photos, movies, and music is easier and readily available. Word Processing is plentiful and the Internet is available for Macs, too.
If you do creative work; graphics, video, web design, etc. you will find a lot of these people prefer the Mac.
If you are a gamer, I will say that the Mac selection of Games is only about 20% of the PC side. But then I find that only about 25% of the games available for Windows are really worth playing.
I love my Mac and will probably keep using one at home as long as they keep putting out quality hardware and great software. Hope that helps.
1. OS X-rock solid. (XP is better than previous versions of Windows, but i like how OS X is stable and I find it easier to use.)
2. iLife-I have yet to see a suite of applications as capable and well integrated for Windows.
3. More return on investment-My current Mac is a Rev. B iMac that is about 5 years old. It is just now reaching the point where it won't do what I want it to do. Typical upgrade cycles for PC's is about every three years.
4. OS upgrades don't require hardware upgrades-Windows releases require faster hardware to maintain the same level of speed as the previous version. For me, each version of OS X has gotten faster on my trusty iMac.
5. Unix core-this just appeals to my inner geek. I like the fact that I can run all kinds of great unix and linux software on my Mac, without rebooting.
Utimately, a computer is a tool. If there are particular applications you need to run everyday, make sure they work on Mac. For me, and I would argue most home users, the Mac is the perfect tool for home computing. Managing your photos, movies, and music is easier and readily available. Word Processing is plentiful and the Internet is available for Macs, too
.If you do creative work; graphics, video, web design, etc. you will find a lot of these people prefer the Mac.
If you are a gamer, I will say that the Mac selection of Games is only about 20% of the PC side. But then I find that only about 25% of the games available for Windows are really worth playing.
I love my Mac and will probably keep using one at home as long as they keep putting out quality hardware and great software. Hope that helps.
Coming from someone who has built his own PC for numerous years, and who also is going to get an apple I thought you might want to know MHO. I am going to switch to an apple laptob because I am tired of dealing with the cumbersome things that happens with windows. I have a decent background in UNIX and like what OSX is based on. I plan on keeping my PC around for the games I play and using my laptop for everything else. eventually I plan on doing a full switch. After messing around with panther at local stores, I found it's ease of use very appealing to me. Also, I found the UI very intuitive. In the half an hour or so that I played with it, I could do pretty much everything I ever did with my PC except for gaming. Also, the look of the laptop appealed to me. I currently am an EE for a company and deal with PC's everyday. I either design or write software to be used with or integrate with a PC. Lately I have found myself at work switching to a linux platform to do mose of my development in. I really dispise having to deal with Windows in a design enviroment. On the side I am continuing my education so the portability of a laptop that works is going to be ideal for me. That is just my opinion take it for what it is worth.
What is your budget for a new computer? Are you looking for a laptop or a desktop computer?
Also what are some Apps you use? Do you play a lot of games?
If all you're willing to spend is the $500 and you're looking for a gaming machine then you should probably stick with the PC as you should have atleast a G5(~$1500) to play most new(UT2k4) or upcoming(Doom3) games.
Really Mac OS X and the quality of hardware is so much better than anything out there(even homebuilt PC's), 16 months ago I didn't have a Mac, and hadn't used any since HS about 6 years earlier. Now today I have an iBook, replaced my homebuilt gaming PC with a 1.6Ghz G5 w/20" Cinema display, replaced my Linksys wireless router with an AE Basestation.
For me everything is just so much easier and better, it's hard to explain. If you've got a Mac store around where you live go in and check OS X out.
Also what are some Apps you use? Do you play a lot of games?
If all you're willing to spend is the $500 and you're looking for a gaming machine then you should probably stick with the PC as you should have atleast a G5(~$1500) to play most new(UT2k4) or upcoming(Doom3) games.
Really Mac OS X and the quality of hardware is so much better than anything out there(even homebuilt PC's), 16 months ago I didn't have a Mac, and hadn't used any since HS about 6 years earlier. Now today I have an iBook, replaced my homebuilt gaming PC with a 1.6Ghz G5 w/20" Cinema display, replaced my Linksys wireless router with an AE Basestation.
For me everything is just so much easier and better, it's hard to explain. If you've got a Mac store around where you live go in and check OS X out.
switching
I got tired of registry and unkown errors, and not being able to use norton 2000 in windows xp... and xp not liking my video card..
I tried beos for a while.. was fast.. and nice.. but not nearly enough apps.
tried redhat for a while.. and was generally better than beos except finding drivers was a whore.
I tried a mac in compusa and was hooked.
My personal opinion is macintosh are for those geeky people who like those alternative type operating systems, but with a higher installed base and more commercial software.. kind of a happy medium between being owned by microsoft and having everything open source.
if you plan on playing more than a couple new games a year, I'd say don't bother. personally, I don't much care for games one way or the other.
os x isn't perfect, but it is pleasing to use.
in the end, it's personal preference. poke around with somebody's computer that uses os x, and decide then. all of the functionality might not be there, but it is pretty close. and much better than open source offerings.
/.02
I got tired of registry and unkown errors, and not being able to use norton 2000 in windows xp... and xp not liking my video card..
I tried beos for a while.. was fast.. and nice.. but not nearly enough apps.
tried redhat for a while.. and was generally better than beos except finding drivers was a whore.
I tried a mac in compusa and was hooked.
My personal opinion is macintosh are for those geeky people who like those alternative type operating systems, but with a higher installed base and more commercial software.. kind of a happy medium between being owned by microsoft and having everything open source.
if you plan on playing more than a couple new games a year, I'd say don't bother. personally, I don't much care for games one way or the other.
os x isn't perfect, but it is pleasing to use.
in the end, it's personal preference. poke around with somebody's computer that uses os x, and decide then. all of the functionality might not be there, but it is pretty close. and much better than open source offerings.
/.02
xRob2k4x said:
'Cause we like Macs better?
Really, you're not giving us a lot to go on, here. Does building a $600 PC mean you're on a really tight budget? Do you need your computer to be a hard-core gaming machine? Are you a tinkerer who likes to mess with the computer's innards, constantly upgrading and tweaking?
Then get Windows. Otherwise, at least consider a Mac.
A question: Is there a reason you were thinking of switching? Or is this one of those "I dare you to convince me" posts? Not trying to be hostile, just trying to get a handle on the factors that might make Apple a better choice for you.
One reason I can add to what others have said: that three years after the introduction of OS X, there are still no OS X-native viruses. If you want to spend more time using your computer than protecting, configuring, and updating it, Mac is definitely the way to go.
Can you say no freaking encryption problem when ripping CDs w/ iTunes?
Ripped the new Norah Jones CD in Panther (Dual G4 1.25G) and WinXP Pro (Barton 3200+) using iTunes (AAC 192). Went real smooth in Panther, ripping around 12x. Wasn't the case in WinXP. The CD kept skipping, thus the ripping couldn't start. I could use EAC + LAME, but that's too much trouble.
Ripped the new Norah Jones CD in Panther (Dual G4 1.25G) and WinXP Pro (Barton 3200+) using iTunes (AAC 192). Went real smooth in Panther, ripping around 12x. Wasn't the case in WinXP. The CD kept skipping, thus the ripping couldn't start. I could use EAC + LAME, but that's too much trouble.
xRob2k4x said:
You should probably take note that your past Mac experience isn't really indicative of how you'll like OS X. Basically OS X is a total rewrite (probably you know that). Having used Windows, then Linux, and now OS X I'd say that OS X has the same power and toolset as desktop Linux, but provides a more polished/finished user experience; plus it has a world-class GUI front-end that eliminates the headaches that you can get with a Linux desktop.
i was in a similar situaiton about two years ago. i was an avid windows user and getting tired of my home built machine and was ready to spruce it up to give it some more power. also i was really pissed off at windows. it crashed too much, it got too many viruses and i really hated how it handled my large mp3 collection. . . there just wasnt a good music management/playing software around. i went from one job in highschool doing IT work on windows/unix systems to a job in college on windows/mac(OS 9 yikes!) systems. i knew windows totally sucked in both those jobs. and i started to like unix from my highschool job. i was seriously considering building a new box and putting unix on it, that solved 2 out of the 3 of my problems. i still didnt know much good music software for unix. then a friend showed me her iMac and iTunes. . . i was impressed. i talked with my boss (who was the guy who used OS 9 and he told me about the new 'OS X' (yeah it was new at one point in time)) and when i learned about it being built on unix i was set. right about that time my Archos 20GB mp3 player died so i also was on the market for a new MP3 player. i researched them (cause i had gone through most of the large sized mp3 players at the time. .. they all died. . . lots of money down the drain) i got an iPod (and a hack for windows cause it didnt work with windows at that time) when buying the iPod i went to the local apple store and started playing around with the computers. after seeing the crappy integration of iPod to windows and the awsome integration of iPod and mac i was ready to buy a mac. so after using an iBook for a month i was set and i will never turn back. OS X is easier to use, more powerful, more integrated, more stable, less suseptable to viruses, and well it handles everything in a much cooler manner than any Windows system ever. in esance everything works much much better on a mac (unless you are a hard core gamer)
kgarner said:My reasons for Apple are:
Utimately, a computer is a tool. If there are particular applications you need to run everyday, make sure they work on Mac. For me, and I would argue most home users, the Mac is the perfect tool for home computing. Managing your photos, movies, and music is easier and readily available. Word Processing is plentiful and the Internet is available for Macs, too
If you do creative work; graphics, video, web design, etc. you will find a lot of these people prefer the Mac.
If you are a gamer, I will say that the Mac selection of Games is only about 20% of the PC side. But then I find that only about 25% of the games available for Windows are really worth playing.
I completely agree, I'v used PC's and Mac's at school and Professionally. It all depends on what you're going to us it for. I find that 3D applications run best on PC, but the only reason why is because programs like Maya and 3DSMax have been out for PC longer. Macs are catching up (and surpassing)very fast in all aspects.
As far as everything else, I would choose a mac. Obviously its much more stable and secure. Only once has my mac crashed and thats because i started deleting and hacking my way into the OS.
As a professional, i prefer working on Macs because of reliability.I mainly do multimedia stuff, linear editing, ect. Also you really can't beat the Programs OSX comes with if your just an every day joe trying to make a dvd or anything else.
I would never go back to a pc. My fiance is a pc head, she calls me at least 3 times a week with problems, she is now ready to switch after using my macs.
Try it!
Lol
Well Ive been using windows and I like it , but i was curious why people liked apple so much so i decided to come here for an answer. No 600$ on a pc isnt a tight budget thats just how much it costs to make a pc to run the current games smooth. Lets just say money wasnt a issue. I dont dislike windows i find it stable and never crashes(XP PRO). But I was exploring my options i tried linux for while didnt like it that much. So could you give me more insight on the macosX
Well Ive been using windows and I like it , but i was curious why people liked apple so much so i decided to come here for an answer. No 600$ on a pc isnt a tight budget thats just how much it costs to make a pc to run the current games smooth. Lets just say money wasnt a issue. I dont dislike windows i find it stable and never crashes(XP PRO). But I was exploring my options i tried linux for while didnt like it that much. So could you give me more insight on the macosX
xRob2k4x said:
It sounds like you're going to expect your computer to play games, and unfortunately for about $600, you're not going to be able to pick up a (new) Macintosh which will handle current games smoothly at reasonable resolution and detail settings. The cheapest Mac you can buy is the eMac, which for $799 comes with a 1GHz G4 CPU, a 32MB Radeon 7500 and 128MB RAM. Clearly you aren't going to be getting your frag on in UT2004 at 50fps at high detail settings with such a machine.
That's not to say that you can't buy a Mac which will play modern 3D graphics intensive games well...it's just going to be called a PowerMac G5, and it is going to cost a lot more than $600. In fact, at a minimum it will cost 3 times as much. Basically, if you're happy with Windows XP and you want a moderately priced system to game on, my advice is just stick with your PC.
As for why choose a Mac, I'll basically agree with the things that everyone else has said in this thread already. Mac OS X is the star attraction. It's Unix based, so it has the flexibility and power of Linux. Then on top of that foundation, you have a GUI which is very polished and well integrated. Stuff like Expose for windows management is really innovative, and you just know it's going to be copied by every Linux windows manager. Drag 'n' drop is truly pervasive...much more so than Windows or Linux GUIs. I'm still discovering new tricks you can do with just picking up stuff and dragging it around. The included collection of software is superb...Mail, Safari, iChatAV, TextEdit, iCal, Address Book...they're all superior to their bundled equivalents on Windows, and they are all seamlessly integrated with each other. Then there's iLife...again, all tightly integrated with each other and OS X. The whole system just works as one, on a level which I never saw with Windows or Linux (been using Windows since 1991, and Linux since 1997)
So you've got all that nice GUI-ness, ease of use, integration etc...but then when you want to revert to your Unix roots and do something on the command line...there it is. It's like having Linux, but with native access to big commercial apps like MS Office and Photoshop, polished integrated GUI, excellent included apps, real plug'n'play hardware management, and of course access to the thousands of open-source programs available for Linux via OS X's Unix heritage and the included X11 server in Panther.
So...can you tell I'm impressed with OS X as an environment?
Yes, the hardware is expensive, and in terms of raw performance, just isn't competitive with the x86 world when you're comparing a $1500 Apple to a $1500 x86 box. Apple has an annoying tendency from time to time to seemingly try and 'milk' extra dollars out of its existing userbase, rather than dropping prices and grabbing new customers. If you're a gamer, you only get access to the blockbusters 6-12 months after the PC world gets them. I agonised for months over the decision to switch from my life-long x86 background to the Mac (especially as I would need to sell all my PC equipment to afford a Mac!). 9 months down the track, I'm glad I did. People at work still gasp when they see Expose arrange the 15 open windows on my desktop with a flick of the mouse button, then an image plucked from a web page, and them seamlessly dropped into the e-mail I was composing, or straight into a Word document. And the sysadmin geeks from upstairs still come by and drool at the prospect of having a bunch of Unix shell windows open and running home-brew Perl/MySQL apps (with hardware accelerated transparency!) alongside natively running Excel and PowerPoint.So that's what I think of OS X
I don't know if you should switch...what do you want to do with the machine? This is the most important thing for us to know...gaming, internet, photos, music, presentation, design, etc.??????
If apples are right for you...which we will wait for your reply as to what you do to tell you yea or nay, but emacs are on applestore.com for about $699 which are great machines! Latest software, tons of free software including appleworks, fax software, quicken, iMovie, iPhoto, iTunes, iCal, etc.
If you know any educator or student they can get you a discount on education site at applestore.com
For reasons to switch check out three pages on Apple.com
http://www.apple.com/macosx/overview/
http://www.apple.com/macosx/
http://www.apple.com/switch/
If apples are right for you...which we will wait for your reply as to what you do to tell you yea or nay, but emacs are on applestore.com for about $699 which are great machines! Latest software, tons of free software including appleworks, fax software, quicken, iMovie, iPhoto, iTunes, iCal, etc.
If you know any educator or student they can get you a discount on education site at applestore.com
For reasons to switch check out three pages on Apple.com
http://www.apple.com/macosx/overview/
http://www.apple.com/macosx/
http://www.apple.com/switch/
just try a mac for 1 month afterwards youll be able to see if its right and it probably will be just use osx for 1 month before you decide
kgarner said:
Actually as a percentage more graphics and Multimedia/AV Pro's use PC's.
Gaming is for the PC. you got that right
For $600US, I'd get something like this
AMD Athlon 2600/2500+ 333FSB
a Giga-byte/MSI/ASUS motherboard with SATA/nForce2 Ultra/Firewire/USB2/SPDF(digital audio)/AGPx8......
1 stick of 512MB DDR 333 or 400 (RAM faster than 333 won't make much difference, so don't bother with setting up Dual chanel on this system)
80GB PATA 7200RPM, ATA 100 HDD
Radeon 9600 (XT if you can afford to get the HL2coupon)
nice case
CD R/RW/DVD-ROM combo drive.
This should come out around the $600US mark give or take, and will probabley beat a G5 1.6PM in most tests. maybe even the Single 1.8.
FuzzyBallz said:
now this is interesting. how'd you do it? got the same cd,but can't rip it. thanks.
moo
You also have to be careful asking a question like that around a macintosh board.
You are going to get a lot of responses from blind lemmings who feel that everything that apple does is good, and that os x is perfect and 100% secure. Software has bugs, get used to it.
I personally want to have steve jobs's babies too, but I don't say it in public. But who doesn't?
A mac is pretty much as functional as a pc for everything that I can think of except for some specialized applications.
for the gamer, you are gonna want to get one of the 3,000 dollar macintosh's, but it can be done in a pretty decent manner. UT2004 just came out.. world of warcraft (and doom 3?) is going to be a simultaneous release.
Anyhow.
You need to look at the gui and the iLife suite, and the apps available for os x and decide if the smaller amount of software is worth access to them.
Putting a GHz number next to your PC truly isn't the most important thing. I watched my friend play some games yesterday on his P3 550. it still works.
yadda yadda.
good luck with your decision.
You also have to be careful asking a question like that around a macintosh board.
You are going to get a lot of responses from blind lemmings who feel that everything that apple does is good, and that os x is perfect and 100% secure. Software has bugs, get used to it.
I personally want to have steve jobs's babies too, but I don't say it in public. But who doesn't?
A mac is pretty much as functional as a pc for everything that I can think of except for some specialized applications.
for the gamer, you are gonna want to get one of the 3,000 dollar macintosh's, but it can be done in a pretty decent manner. UT2004 just came out.. world of warcraft (and doom 3?) is going to be a simultaneous release.
Anyhow.
You need to look at the gui and the iLife suite, and the apps available for os x and decide if the smaller amount of software is worth access to them.
Putting a GHz number next to your PC truly isn't the most important thing. I watched my friend play some games yesterday on his P3 550. it still works.
yadda yadda.
good luck with your decision.
I use both Windows and Mac
I use Windows for some things and Macs for other things. If I was forced for some reason to only pick one, then I would pick a Mac. Only because I can run Virtual PC and run some of the apps that aren't available for the Mac. I typically have about 5 computers in my house. Back in the late 90's, they were Windows based PCs. Now I just have 1 PC and the rest are Macs. Macs are easier to maintain and I can install a ton of software without having software conflicts and slow performance that I do with Windows that forces me to reformat and try again.
I spend less on commerical software and use more shareware and freeware, and I spend almost nothing on virus software, norton, disk partitioning software and all that Windows addon junk. Probably the most used App and the program that originally got me to switch was a simple program called iMovie. Nothing like it on the PC.
I use Windows for some things and Macs for other things. If I was forced for some reason to only pick one, then I would pick a Mac. Only because I can run Virtual PC and run some of the apps that aren't available for the Mac. I typically have about 5 computers in my house. Back in the late 90's, they were Windows based PCs. Now I just have 1 PC and the rest are Macs. Macs are easier to maintain and I can install a ton of software without having software conflicts and slow performance that I do with Windows that forces me to reformat and try again.
I spend less on commerical software and use more shareware and freeware, and I spend almost nothing on virus software, norton, disk partitioning software and all that Windows addon junk. Probably the most used App and the program that originally got me to switch was a simple program called iMovie. Nothing like it on the PC.