Long time Mac user switch back to Dell

[ob81]

Whatever. After you have to install your OS a few times, and then it claims that your copy of windows XP is not legitimate.....

 

[janey]

Whatever. After you have to install your OS a few times, and then it claims that your copy of windows XP is not legitimate.....

Mmm, gotta love the zealotry.

I've only reinstalled XP when there's a backlog of updates I can't be bothered to install (and I do this with OS X too...) and it's easier to find a slipstreamed version with everything on it already.

Most people also don't encounter the WGA notices, but in teh event you do, it's a trivial fix no matter which way you go.

Please understand that some people have a legitimate need for Windows, be it on a Mac or not on a Mac. Gaming, development, ...what have you.

 

[Roba]

You don't really get this problem if your hardware comes bundled with XP.
It may happen if buy hardware that does not come bundled with the OS and you reinstall your software quite a few times.
You can still use it though if you call Microsoft to activate your software for you.

Whatever. After you have to install your OS a few times, and then it claims that your copy of windows XP is not legitimate.....

 

[janey]

You don't really get this problem if your hardware comes bundled with XP.

However, you do run into the retail vs. OEM licensing issue if you lose your disks. That alone is a huge pain, but rare.

 

[ob81]

I have a need for windows, so I installed it on my Mac. There is simply no justification for using windows based PCs. Sure, some get lucky, others don't. I have owned 4 Macs. I have never had a problem with any of them. I have owned numerous windows based desktops and laptops. All my laptops died after about 2 years of use. Regular use, mind you. Waste of $1000 bucks. I did have a HP desktop high end that was awesome, but the stupid windows xp kept craping out on me.
People are talking about how cheap Dell PCs are. They are shipping with an old OS on them, that happens to FINALLY be stable after being 5-6 years old. Try to put vista on it. I bet you won't feel so great about it. I bought Vista a little while after it came out. I have reinstalled it 3 times already. 3 times. I have never had to reinstall my OSX. Sorry, but saving $300 to own a computer thats going to be crap in a few years is garbage. Yeah, yeah, you can upgrade it, but the money starts tacking on if you do your upgrades as new options come available. "Oh I can save money and do the upgrade when the price goes down." Or you can just save yourself from this crap process and just get a solid Mac.

There are two things you can't be cheap with. 1 is food. 2 is your computer.

 

[killerrobot]

There are two things you can't be cheap with. 1 is food. 2 is your computer.

Remind me to never go to a strip club with you.😀

 

[pengu]

I've only reinstalled XP when there's a backlog of updates I can't be bothered to install (and I do this with OS X too...) and it's easier to find a slipstreamed version with everything on it already.

you REINSTALL THE OS because you think its EASIER than CLICKING A BUTTON!?

 

[maccam]

you're funny. hehehe

have you noticed that OS X doesn't bundle anything like Minesweeper, Solitaire or Paintbrush?

That alone increases the value of Windows like... US$459.99 !!!! (or US$969.99 if we're talking Solitaire on the Vista Premium edition, because it's... shiny...)

now seriously... iMac is a desktop with laptop components, it's a good value for money but not *that* great.

As for you... Mac's had MarbleBlast Gold and Nanosaur 2. And now they come with a whole big game bundle.

@maccam
Show me how you can save $500-600 bucks on software when you buy a mac. Every mac I've bought only comes with the OS included in the price and that's it.

Here is my post again...
Well you can't have a choice (wanting iLife and that stuff) there's so few people (like you) apple doesn't give a hoot... so if you want to complain about that, I would understand.

 

[maccam]

The OP and others bring up a legitimate point that frustrates me.

There is no good mid-range Mac tower. The iMac does not fit between the Mac mini and the Mac Pro. Nowhere was it mentioned Apple needs to lower prices. Apple just needs to create the mini version of the Mac Pro. Smaller case, less powerful components (e.g. the iMac's vs. the Mac Pro's), more upgradability than the mini or the iMac, and priced around where the mini stands now, but below the iMac. No display included, maybe a keyboard and mouse.

Any price drop needs to happen to the mini with the now excessively overpriced and outdated components.

Enough said. A girl can dream.

Also, apps are only worth as much as you value them - iLife sans iTunes is worthless to me, while I'm sure the valuable (to me) Xcode is worthless to a lot of you.

The iMac is a perfect mid-range, let me see the specs and the price you want for a mid-range mac. AND THIS IS FOR EVERYBODy... GET A JOB!!! a good job like $10 an hour, that way you can buy un-beatable products. 🙂

 

[killerrobot]

@maccam

here's my post again.....
show me on this apple order where I check off 5-600 dollars for software I don't want.

$10/hr doesn't even cover my monthly rent. Not everyone lives in Wisconsin or would consider 10/hr a good job. (You might want to think about that the next time you insult everyone in the forum)🙂

 

[maccam]

@maccam

here's my post again.....
show me on this apple order where I check off 5-600 dollars for software I don't want.

$10/hr doesn't even cover my monthly rent. Not everyone lives in Wisconsin or would consider 10/hr a good job. (You might want to think about that the next time you insult everyone in the forum)🙂

About the top part, I told you that apple makes you get all the programs. About the bottom part, you should live at home until your married. AND EVERYONE CAN GET A $10 AN HOUR JOB!!

 

[killerrobot]

Alright i'll compare it... here is a 20" iMac you silly:
20" iMac $1419
1GB extra ram +$49
take off iLife -$600
THAT EQUALS $868

Whether apple includes it in their pricing or not, show me where to find a brand new 20" iMac on Apple's website or on any website so I can buy one?

If you find it, you better start stocking up on them and selling them on ebay.

EDIT: At your quoted price of $868.

 

[maccam]

Whether apple includes it in their pricing or not, show me where to find a brand new 20" iMac on Apple's website or on any website so I can buy one?

If you find it, you better start stocking up on them and selling them on ebay.

Here you go take your pick:

 

[MacCurry]

To the OP. Congratulations! Yes, you're right that bang-for-buck, Dell is better with Windows XP. With SP2 its fairly stable, and if you don't intend on processing video or are not a photo enthusiast, then its probably a great machine.

To the Mac fanboys here, if Apple sold their OS to Dell and certified it for particular processors, northbridge, southbridge and video cards; there is NO reason why Dell couldn't sell Intel hardware based computers with Apple's OSX.

Its time for Steve Jobs to retire, go somewhere else (or jail) so that Apple can truly move forward. We're tired of having locked up computers and phones.

 

[killerrobot]

@maccam
I'm not saying its inferior, I'm saying $1499 doesn't equal $868 -- the price you quoted it cost. 😱

 

[maccam]

@maccam
I'm not saying its inferior, I'm saying $1499 doesn't equal $868 -- the price you quoted it cost. 😱

It does when you take off iLife (and all the other programs)

To the OP. Congratulations! Yes, you're right that bang-for-buck, Dell is better with Windows XP. With SP2 its fairly stable, and if you don't intend on processing video or are not a photo enthusiast, then its probably a great machine.

To the Mac fanboys here, if Apple sold their OS to Dell and certified it for particular processors, northbridge, southbridge and video cards; there is NO reason why Dell couldn't sell Intel hardware based computers with Apple's OSX.

Its time for Steve Jobs to retire, go somewhere else (or jail) so that Apple can truly move forward. We're tired of having locked up computers and phones.

If apple did (which would be fine), Dell would be just as much as apple. 🙂

 

[zap2]

Very well OP, but I don't see how this needs to be posted, buy your Dell, sell your Mac, and don't visit Apple based sites...doesn't seem hard.


But as for an old G4 not being as fast as a new Dell...well I mean, does that shock anyone. 🙄

 

[zap2]

We're tired of having locked up computers and phones.

I find it best to speak for yourself...more so, when that isn't the general feeling around these boards.

 

[Cleverboy]

I got a Dell

I have a Dell. I've almost always had two computers though.

As I've upgraded, I've handed down my various computers to relatives. A couple of years ago, I recommended my mother upgrade her computer from a Mac Performa to a new Dell from Dell's Outlet store. It was a huge improvement (big surprise).

My second computer is a Mac G4. I use it for a server, and I have a Belkin KVM switcher so it shares my mouse/keyboard/monitor with my PC. Over time, as a power-user, by PC sucks... Dual Windowing on the PC is ridiculous when you've used a Mac. Previously on the Mac, Photoshop allowed me to stick a "zoomed in" view in one window, and an "actual-size" image in the other. PC users can't do that. You can only put tool bars in one window and images all in the other. Also, Windows runs out of memory much quicker than the Mac. I can be running 15 "power" applications (Photoshop, Flash, Dreamweaver, Director, Illustrator, iMovie, etc) on my Mac, and its fine... on my PC, it starts choking very quickly, and doesn't know when to tell me it doesn't have enough resources. Windows appear half-drawn, and sometimes Internet Explorer will open a half-drawn window it doesn't have enough memory to close. It's pathetic. --But only pathetic because I've used Mac OS X, and I used to use OS 9 with no virtual memory, which told me clearly and confidently when it didn't have enough memory to run a program.

But my mother is pretty happy with her Dell. She can run that Bible program the Home Shopping Network sold to her as "PC Compatible", and she doesn't have to worry about what will or won't run on her computer. It's all predictable. Now, with Parallells and VMWare out there, I would almost unreservedly recommend she spend many hundreds of more dollars to get an iMac. It's just BETTER. We got her Dell for cheap... like $400 and it is peppy and "new". She could have gotten a MacMini for a little more money, but that's hardly comparable to a full-fledged iMac.

Me? I'm still saving to upgrade my G4, maybe by the end of the year. Who knows. A nice 24" iMac for $1999 will let me kill off my Dell and my G4 and radically improve my desk space. For most people though? It's kind of tough. The Mac these days is a tremendous value, but crappy PCs are definitely a solution for pocket books that ail you. I mean, its a nightmare of virus protection and spyware, but as long as you don't have kids, you're generally protected from accidental browsing to websites that will infect you. If you DO have kids however, its constant viligilance on SpyWare, or getting a Mac.

The amount of people, friends, acquaintances, that come to me with stories of trashed PCs is ridiculous. It's just awful, and unproductive. OEM virus software is usually a running joke, I've even had trouble installing Norton Anti-Virus (and friends) on my PC. It's like a second IT job I never wanted to have, and neglect as much as possible to get other things done. Meh.

~ CB

 

[feelthefire]

For those of you saying that windows computers boot slow after a week of use, that's not true.

I am writing this on a FIVE YEAR OLD, pentium 3, original XP (updated to SP2 much later) with 512mb of ram and it boots in less than a minute. That's 1.2GHz for those counting.

On the other hand, my friend's 1.83 ghz 2gb ram core duo MBP boots up in about twice as much time.

 

[weckart]

It all depends on how many start-up (log-in) apps and services you have on boot. The more the less merry as far as boot-up times are concerned.

 

[RacerX]

I don't know about anyone else, but the fastest computer in the world is no better than an over sized paperweight if it can't run my apps.

Assuming that I would be willing to use a Windows environment (which doesn't run some of my Mac only applications), the cost of replacing all my software (that can be replaced) with Windows versions would make any switch like this one monumentally expensive.

Most of my Macs I've gotten for free (or less than $100) and most of my software is a little dated... but no amount of performance gain would be worth the expense (and head aches) of switching platforms. And I most likely wouldn't even get an Intel Mac if I could right now as only about a third of my major apps offer free upgrades to universal versions.

I'm not even going to ask how the OP got a Windows version of Photoshop if he originally was using a Mac version (I'm guessing that that cost wasn't included in the expense of switching), but if he wasn't using anything that is uniquely Mac (designed to take advantage of the environment) then he most likely wouldn't really notice the difference in the switch anyways.

 

[QCassidy352]

well, I'm glad you're happy with the dell, but if I were you I would have gone for a refurb imac. $850 for the 1.83 core 2 duo, or $1050 for the refurb 2.0 core 2 duo.

 

[flyfish29]

For those of you saying that windows computers boot slow after a week of use, that's not true.

I am writing this on a FIVE YEAR OLD, pentium 3, original XP (updated to SP2 much later) with 512mb of ram and it boots in less than a minute. That's 1.2GHz for those counting.

I just know that our laptops at my school boot and run extremely slow after only a few months of existence- I imagine you have had to work very hard at keeping your five year old machine up to date, in good working order with software updates, etc. Most people don't want to put that much effort into their computer- they just want it to work- I would gather that even if someone has a slightly slower Mac they woudl still be more productive than someone having to put so much energy and time into updating, cleaning, devirusing, decluttering, despywaring, de adwaring, etc. a Windows machine. JMO

 

[nsbio]

Well you can't have a choice (wanting iLife and that stuff) there's so few people (like you) apple doesn't give a hoot... so if you want to complain about that, I would understand.

Dude(ette), you are not making sense. But that's ok as long as you are doing this on a Mac 😀