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Mac vs PC

A

Addy1975

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 8, 2007
14
0
I've been using PC's all my life, however now i am starting to seriously consider buying a new iMac. I spent a considerable amount of time at the Apple Store last weekend, however one thing that i noticed on all the MACS i tested - inc. iMac, MacBook Pro 17" and Mac Pro was how slow it was to show album art in iTunes- usIng Coverflow.

I mean, i even re-booted one of the iMacs & one Mac Book Pro - and still, in iTunes - it still takes seconds to render the album art - this also happened on the demo Power Mac used for the Workshops - and during the workshop the MacPro was re-booted, and still album art was slow and jerky, and took a few seconds to appear after the album was selected.

Now, i have a Dell laptop D410 Laptop 2years old - 2GHZ PM & 1.5GB RAM - and this displays Coverflow seamlessly, without any delay, very smooth...

I am just very suprised to see this on Apple products, and on Apple software - surely this should perform flawlessly on a MAC - ok, i know this may not seem like a big deal to most people, but i like my OS and programs to run smoothly....but for the MAC's to struggle with something as simple as coverflow has suprised me very much.

I will of course be testing the new iMacs possibly this weekend or next, but has anyone else noticed this?

TIA
 
That's weird because I've always found iTunes to be ridiculously faster on macs than PCs, but I don't really use Coverflow. Perhaps it has something to do with the actual album art that was being displayed. I'll be interested to hear how the iMac test goes this weekend 'cause my 3.0GHz Pentium 4 Dell is much slower than my iMac G5 with iTunes.
 
Remember that an Apple store machine has a lot of people buggering around with them. Messing with system stuff and things. That might account for sluggish response.
 
I don't have any problems with coverflow on my MBP. Keep in mind the amount of abuse any store model gets throughout its lifetime as well... and the sheer amount of things Apple has loaded onto it. I can assure you that if you own a Mac, odds are nothing will be wrong with it and you'll fall in love with it :D
 
...thnx for all the replies...i'm very relived to hear no-one has experienced this themselves. I'm am aware that the MAC's on display in the Apple Store do have an enormous amount of programs installed, hence why i re-booted.

I forgot to mention that i managed to talk my older brother into considering buying a Mac Book Pro 17" - and he got it last week, although i haven't had any opportunity to play around with it yet...;-( and i will certainly test iTunes & coverflow on that...!

One point i am considering is that i use MSN messenger everyday, and IE7 as well as Safari, and i have only found out this week with my brother calling phoning me saying Yahoo messenger only displays video - no sound, and MSN Messenger only has chat functions available - now i know Apple's marketing is brilliant as are their MAC's - but it is little things like this that cause annoyance to me...ok, i know they are both different OS, but if Apple are seriously considering rapid market share, surely there must be a solution to this. Also, in IE7 little simple things like going back a page using the left mouse button, and the new tab button are missing from Safari - these are very simple things missing from Apple - can someone tell me if there is a way to get round this...? Thnx again.....
 
I can understand. It wasn't until the newest MacBook Pro machines that I thought that Apple machines actually performed really well in the store. Usually, they're overwhelmed and short of memory.

After using a Windows XP Home machine for more than a month, I can see a lot of switching problems as Microsoft has forced things to go its way.

Yahoo! Messenger looks a lot different than the Mac beta 1 version that's compatible. No need to worry about the extravagant things like VoIP but the simple things like buddy icons/avatars are much different and the whole graphical look is much more pleasant.

I tried Windows Messenger Live and will never use that again. It took over the system, trying to usurp control from many third party products during set up. It also wants the full display for whatever reason.

gAIM/Pidgin works much nicer but seems to lack video and audio, as does its derivative Adium.

I use Mercury Messenger for webcam duties with WML/MSN Messenger and it works but it's not the greatest. There is a new version due within a few weeks. I'll take it over the alternatives, but if you don't need Asian languages, aMSN works.
 
Applestore bandwith.

The internet connection at the apple store is rather slow, compared to my home. That may be the case as well it is taking more time to download all the pictures. Also the Demo systems at the apple store are fully loaded with stuff and a lot of apps that are open, and normally not configured with the best amount of RAM. Depending what your Home PC has for video and how new it is, it is quite possible that if you have say a year old PC that had the top of the line video card of the time may still be better then a new mac today.
Macs are not leading edge technology they better use mainstream technology.
 
Mac Book Pro

...ok, this weekend i was using my brother's MBP 17" 2.4 GHZ - 2GB RAM...and i am disappointed with the response times of both Safari and Firefox in loading web pages - i also have Safari on my XP laptop, and again the loading time for web pages, esp including images is always slower in loading - i thought Safari was 'coined' as the fastest web browser in the world...!

I love what Apple are doing, and maybe i am just too new to MAC's, but i also found out to start using iChat you need to sign up for a .MAC membership - i think this is very cheeky, given you have to pay a subscription for this...! :mad: - please tell me i am wrong here...!

My brother and I both miss a lot of the features and functionality of IE7, and small things in web pages, where you click on a field within a web page, and it drops down A list of recently typed entries - this doesn't work at all in Safari, and only works in Firefox if you type a letter first...!

I like the look & feel of 10.4, but it is missing these seemingly small features that make, in my experience, make web browsing a clumsey experience...!

Is it just me, or do other people feel the same way...!!??
 
Addy1975 said:
i am disappointed with the response time of Safari
Click to expand...

Safari seems as fast on my Mac as when I use Windows browsers, but if you want it to load faster you can download tinker tool and set it to speed up page loads, which just displays graphics as they're downloading, which is probably what you're used to.

Addy1975 said:
you click on a field within a web page, and it drops down A list of recently typed entries - this doesn't work at all in Safari, and only works in Firefox if you type a letter first...!
Click to expand...

It does work on safari. And the typing a letter first system is much more usable IMO. You're used to things being a certain way, which doesn't mean they're better ways, just more familiar to you. Give the new ways a real chance and in most cases you'll find the new ways quite superior.
 
well in the cover flow in my mac,the albums arts show up pretty fast,,i cannot notice any freezing or whatever(i have 40 gig of music),in my earlier windows computer it used to take lots of time to show up the covers..im very sure about that...
 
Addy1975 said:
...ok, this weekend i was using my brother's MBP 17" 2.4 GHZ - 2GB RAM...and i am disappointed with the response times of both Safari and Firefox in loading web pages - i also have Safari on my XP laptop, and again the loading time for web pages, esp including images is always slower in loading - i thought Safari was 'coined' as the fastest web browser in the world...!

I love what Apple are doing, and maybe i am just too new to MAC's, but i also found out to start using iChat you need to sign up for a .MAC membership - i think this is very cheeky, given you have to pay a subscription for this...! :mad: - please tell me i am wrong here...!
Click to expand...

uh, you are wrong here. iChat supports AIM........ are you signing in with the right service???

uh, the comp specs don't mean as much as your internet connection when it comes to loading pages. especially if you're using a wireless connection, your page loading speeds are only as good as the connection of the computer.

oh, this might help you two. percentages of how much a browser supports CSS web standards
IE6 51%
IE7 55%
Firefox 93%

yeah...... that proves how bad IE really is.
i couldn't find Safari, but it is right up there with firefox im positive... otherwise it wouldn't be as crazy fast :D
 
iChat is free!!!!! .Mac is free!!!! Just sign up for the 30 trial and you're done, it will last forever! As for being slow is because the hard drive's are so filled up.
 
each individual has different standard about how fast is "fast". is there a way you can show me what do you mean by "fast" enough?

windows, is still the fastest OS (it was said its code is most effective, obviously, maybe at the expense of some security) around if you can bare its slow starting process.

I mean, your question is very big. and difficult to be discussed in a practical manner.

I would suggest you just try it out from time to time until you feel comfortable. You might find the answer to many questions by yourself. you might need to accept some changes of your habit of using computers. etc. in the end, experience if the best way for you.
 
As a returning mac user (left the mac to join windows 98, returned this spring) and someone who uses XP Tablet at work, I find the mac accomplishes things much more quickly. If I get the beachball cursor, I am suprised and impatient. On my winders machine, the lag on operations is noticable. Some of that could be differences in network security, but the duo 2 cpu and hardware that is specific to the mac machine seems to win me over.
For Addy, I use both and greatly prefer the mac. More software (that works) included in the purchase, less virus threat, high quality displays, fast, etc.
In addition, I bought ClearWire internet service the week I bought my imac and after several weeks had a connectivity issue. Service tech was sure it was my computer until I told him it was a mac. After that he found the issue was theirs and my connection was quickly back... :D
 
OSX will evolve to become more intuitive, more user friendly, more feature rich, and more beautiful.

That cannot be said about Vista. I can ONLY recommend Windows if you NEED to use it because Mac lacks the software.

Otherwise, I've seen the light and there is no contest.
 
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