Trying to switch to Mac

[BoredMan]

Hi everybody. My parents have decided that it's time to buy a new computer, and I'm trying to convince them to make it a Mac. The 20" iMac, to be precise. But the thing is, they think that we should stick with PCs, and that Mac doesn't have good software, and I might not be able to adjust etc., etc. I explained to them that it is possible to run Windows on a Mac, and that Macs don't get any spyware, worms etc., but they still aren't convinced. I did some math and found out that iMac (2GB RAM) + Windows Vista Premium + MS Office 2004 (MAC) + Parallels Desktop 3.0 = $1550. My dad thinks that you can get a PC with much better hardware capabilities for that kind of money. In a way he's right, but Macs seem to be such better machines, overall.
My point is: how do I convince my parents that a Mac would be an excellent investment?

 

[72930]

Why do you want Vista, Parallels and Office? Without these, it would be much cheaper...remember that you get a discount if you're a student...

I'm sure you could convince them to love the iMac in a trip to the nearest Apple store

 

[heatmiser]

Hi everybody. My parents have decided that it's time to buy a new computer, and I'm trying to convince them to make it a Mac. The 20" iMac, to be precise. But the thing is, they think that we should stick with PCs, and that Mac doesn't have good software, and I might not be able to adjust etc., etc. I explained to them that it is possible to run Windows on a Mac, and that Macs don't get any spyware, worms etc., but they still aren't convinced. I did some math and found out that iMac (2GB RAM) + Windows Vista Premium + MS Office 2004 (MAC) + Parallels Desktop 3.0 = $1550. My dad thinks that you can get a PC with much better hardware capabilities for that kind of money. In a way he's right, but Macs seem to be such better machines, overall.
My point is: how do I convince my parents that a Mac would be an excellent investment?

Your parents are right; they could get an amazing computer for that kind of money. Besides that, since they're going to be using the computer too, you have to factor in their *abilities* to use it. As easy as people say Macs are, it's still a significant change from XP/Vista. If I were you, I'd just help them pick out a kickass PC. You could get a 24" widescreen display, a solid core2duo machine with several gigs of ram, etc. for that money. If you still think Macs are a better deal, save up and get a refurbished one on your own, and enjoy it. But don't make your folks change because you'd like to switch.

 

[nsbio]

They are PC people, it sounds like. Just tell them that you won't be supporting their new PC and all the cleanup and such will be on them.

 

[heatmiser]

^
I get the idea that the OP is a teenager, and as such, lives with them. Never a good idea to tell the people who feed you to jump off a cliff, metaphorically speaking. Besides that, I'd hope parent-child relationships, regardless of the age of the child, would not come second to ideological differences over operating system preferences. Or in plainspeak, abandoning your folks because they chose something other than your favorite OS is kind of...disturbing :^)

 

[Cloudane]

Balanced view (I don't go in for allegiances to an operating system... though I'm surprised nobody's leapt to the Mac's defense yet!):

In a sense they're right. If you try to turn a Mac into a PC, it's a waste of money. Either you're paying a Mac premium only to boot it into Windows (basically an expensive PC), or you're running OS X and paying an absolute fortune to run Windows apps from there.

If you want to convert them to a Mac, trying to justify how they can shoehorn what they're used to into an OS that they're *not* used to is not the way to do it. They'll always see themselves as making a tradeoff and getting what they would probably view as an inferior system (for wholly non-technical reasons like not being able to run ALL Windows apps) in place of something that gets the odd virus but can run "anything".

I think the better way would be to show them advantages that get them wanting to use a Mac for what a Mac does, not just because it doesn't get viruses or because it can pretend to be a PC. Showing them the videos of what iLife and iWork can do would seem a very good start.

Also, MS Office for OS X is a total ripoff. Use iWork if you want something to really impress them with, or NeoOffice for something free and actually a little more mature. It's no wonder they're complaining at the price if that thing's included

 

[DeaconGraves]

Ask them what software they feel that they would need to keep Windows around for.

At this point, there is lots of comparable software on macs, and Office 2008 is just around the corner. Let us know what you need, and the people here will probably be able to save you the money on Vista, Office and Parallels

 

[flyfish29]

You get the student discount on the hardware and software if you didn't check into it already.

Consumer reports is a great convincing tool for parents...it talks about apple reliability, customer service, etc. which are top of the list on all areas.

did they include virus and spyware software as well as yearly definition subscriptions or anything else that would add up over time which doesn't for the Mac?

 

[amac4me]

I think it's all based on how well you explain the benefits of today's Macs. Good Luck.

 

[Divindude]

Don't forget to factor in the $40/year for anti-virus ware .. and the annual reinstalls to clean out 'unknowns' and remove software you don't want .. it brings the costs much closer. I made the leap last year .. now I'm down to Windows XP running in Fusion in order to support the last remaining windows-only software that I have. next year my parents are making the switch .. I'm sick of forever answering questions on why things are slowing down, where this and that popup are coming .. why do I have to pay for anti-virus software again .. yadda yadda yadda

 

[pjarvi]

If no one in the household plays computer games, then get a Mini and shave $500-$700 off the price. Use $200 of that to buy a nice 20"-22" lcd monitor.

 

[dpaanlka]

A great idea might be to pick up a cheap used Mac. A G4 tower can be had for a few hundred collars. Give it a try for awhile to prove that it is worthy, and explain to them how much better a brand new one would be (read: much better).

 

[clevin]

Don't forget to factor in the $40/year for anti-virus ware

yaddayadda, this type of mis-information you mentioned should be put into rest 2 years ago.
a

and in reality, when you patch osx 10.5 from 10.5.1 to 10.5.11, it won't be that faster neither, not to mention windows is indeed faster once boots into the system (yeah, too much virus/malware will slow it down, but hey, vista+free AVG, no worry needed)

 

[dpaanlka]

yaddayadda, this type of mis-information you mentioned should be put into rest 2 years ago.

I wasn't aware anti-malware software was no longer necessary on a PC. That certainly is exciting news!

windows is indeed faster once boots into the system

Wouldn't guess that by playing around with the Dell XPS demo kiosks Bradley University has placed all over campus.

 

[clevin]

I wasn't aware anti-malware software was no longer necessary on a PC. That certainly is exciting news!

what a continent way to change the original words, definitely a mac style of discussion.

and in case you didn't noticed. beside firefox3's phishing protection, if somebody need anti-malware, lavasoft-adaware07 free is always good.

Wouldn't guess that by playing around with the Dell XPS demo kiosks Bradley University has placed all over campus.

oh, im glad you tried out windows on a public computer. and what are the slowness you experienced?

 

[dpaanlka]

what a continent way to change the original words

Those darned word-changing continents! I totally didn't noticed that!

oh, im glad you tried out windows on a public computer.

They literally just started placing them around campus. Surely they couldn't be that messed up already?

and what are the slowness you experienced?

It felt a little unresponsive?

 

[clevin]

Those darned word-changing continents! I totally didn't noticed that!

I don't blame you, apple officially did the same thing. Apple claim windows has 144,000 virus, while the report it cited indicate that 144,00 is virus+malware+adware. and I m still waiting apple to release a number of active vista virus.....

and altho apple gives OP the impression that macs don't get infected with virus, malware, adware. but apple actually carefully indicated in the fine print that they don't guaranty that at all. how nice!

It felt a little unresponsive?

my 2G Macbook gives me more beachball than my vista. I still won't make a judgement like that.

maybe let us know the spec of the dell XPS tho. maybe interesting to know

 

[dpaanlka]

I don't blame you, apple officially did the same thing. Apple claim windows has 144,000 virus, while the report it cited indicate that 144,00 is virus+malware+adware. and I m still waiting apple to release a number of active vista virus.....

and altho apple gives OP the impression that macs don't get infected with virus, malware, adware. but apple actually carefully indicated in the fine print that they don't guaranty that at all. how nice!

I see...

Well, anyway, I would recommend the OP try emphasizing the strengths of being able to run two operating systems side by side. Parallels is great, and safe! I don't look fondly upon Boot Camp - seems to open to catastrophe.

maybe let us know the spec of the dell XPS tho. maybe interesting to know

I'm not sure what model it is exactly, but it's a 17" laptop that for some reason is as thick as my 1997 PowerBook 3400c. It's big and ugly and has a lot of stickers and stupid red LED lights everywhere. "XPS" is printed all over the thing, top, bottom, sides, etc... so that from any angle there is no mistaking the tremendous earth-shattering prestige of Dell.

EDIT: Ah, here it is:



It looks and feels like shift and most people seem to find it quite appalling. All the PC geeks seem to gawk at it though. Figures...

 

[chris200x9]

but apple actually carefully indicated in the fine print that they don't guaranty that at all. how nice!

All I can say to that is, in this day and age you can't legal guaranty anything. I'm saying that as a hyperbole to say how stringent the laws are.

 

[heatmiser]

I'm not sure what's going on above there, but on Windows, you don't have to pay a penny for anti-virus services. AVG Free is better than 99.9% of AV programs out there (only thing better is AVG paid), and comes with the *exact* daily definition updates the paid version comes with. Use that, and the virus threat becomes effectively non-existent. Combine it with a free firewall, and you're set. It's how I rolled when I used Windows, and I never had any issues in either department.

 

[Muncher]

Looks like you got caught in the middle of a fire fight, BoredMan. Remember, never configure your mac's ram with apple online - always add $40 cheaper (varies) third party ram. It is really easy - even I was able to do it!

Also, get vista oem for about $100 cheaper than retail, buy it with your ram and you're totally legal.

If you buy from macmall, they have good deals on bundles with parallels (like, really good).

Good Luck!

EDIT: Macmall has parallels FREE right now! Taking that into account, your purchase would be: $1144 (iMac + parallels) + ~$20 (1GB ram) = $1164! Not bad

 

[dpaanlka]

I'm not sure what's going on above there, but on Windows, you don't have to pay a penny for anti-virus services. AVG Free is better than 99.9% of AV programs out there (only thing better is AVG paid), and comes with the *exact* daily definition updates the paid version comes with. Use that, and the virus threat becomes effectively non-existent. Combine it with a free firewall, and you're set. It's how I rolled when I used Windows, and I never had any issues in either department.

People always tell me that but I find so many average users (not geeks) with tons of malware, despite having anti-malware software installed. Sure, maybe they aren't updating their definitions enough or whatever, but that doesn't really excuse the operating system being able to get the crap in the first place.

I have less malware on my Mac with no AV installed (less as in zero) compared to most of my regular non-geek friends with PCs and all kinds of AV installed.

Looks like you got caught in the middle of a fire fight, BoredMan.

User clevin and I have a long history of battling it out on MR. It's nothing personal though.

 

[heatmiser]

People always tell me that but I find so many average users (not geeks) with tons of malware, despite having anti-malware software installed. Sure, maybe they aren't updating their definitions enough or whatever, but that doesn't really excuse the operating system being able to get the crap in the first place.

I have less malware on my Mac with no AV installed (less as in zero) compared to most of my regular non-geek friends with PCs and all kinds of AV installed.

Oh, I totally agree. Stuff like this (viruses, malware, etc) just isn't an issue on OS X as compared to on Windows. In that sense, it's clearly the better OS for average users, who seem to pick up "stuff" like lint on XP/Vista. It's also better for geeks too, as it's just sweet not to even have to think about AV/malware, and to have resources left to...compute! It's one of my favorite things about working on OS X. I just mean that if someone's going to run XP/Vista, they shouldn't pay for AV protection; not when it's freely available.

 

[dpaanlka]

I just mean that if someone's going to run XP/Vista, they shouldn't pay for AV protection; not when it's freely available.

Hmm, well in that sense (given my complete lack of familiarity with the AV industry) what exactly are the key benefits of payware versus the freeware according to the publishers?

 

[BoredMan]

Thanks for all of the help, everybody. I really appreciate it.