What can a Mac do a PC can't?

[wilsonviz]

Hi there
My company have announced they're scrapping our macs (boo hiss!) As a dedicated lifer of macs, I know nothing, nada, squat about PCs.
I need to know what features are absolutely unique to a mac, to make a great case for getting mac upgrades.
The virus/stability argument won't wash with the company MD. I need to find other features. I think that multi-tasking is limited on a pc as is font management. Am I correct in saying this? And is there anything else anyone can chip in?
Thanks so much in advance. Save my life!

 

[xUKHCx]

To get more focused responses it would help to know what exactly your company does and what software you use.

 

[clevin]

if you are preparing an argument for your company to scratch the plan, then there is nothing mac can do for your company that a windows pc can't (mostly, Im sure there are wedge issues here, ), instead, for most business, they probably can do more under windows.

if you are worrying about learning to use windows. then worry no more, just remember under window, contrl is key to use, instead of cmd.

lastly, there are some "ease of use" issue you may encounter, such as

1. expose, you will need to install a plugin for vista to get that feature. otherwise, you need to learn to use alt+tab
2. You need to goto control panel to add/remove apps.
3. there is no dock in windows (unless you want to pay for an addon), rather, there is a taskbar.
4. there will be more options everywhere in various preference panels in windows, you can forget them at the beginning. and tried them out later. little by little.

its not difficult, so don't worry too much.

 

[headhammer]

i'd be talking figures. a lot of people go for the pc because they think it's "better value" (often, these people also think "better value" means "cheaper").

aside from the fact that the macs are cheaper than their spec for spec pc counterparts, when you add other contributing factors to total cost of ownership over the life of the product, things like not having to pay annual subscription per machine for antivirus, having less downtime (making your workers more efficient, and therefore, more profitable, and therefore, having a smaller, less stressed IT dept), and the fact that macs have longer workable lifespans than pcs (meaning less frequent and less costly upgrades), i think macs are pretty good value, all-in-all.

initial cost might be more (but if you look closely, it's actually pretty close if not cheaper anyway), but ongoing cost is much, much less.

btw, "better value" means that you get more value for each dollar you spend, not how many dollars you spend

 

[XheartcoreboyX]

i dont know what the whole topic is,
but as i noticed, a mac can stay for a whole day with no freeze but a pc cannot stay for 10min without 1 atleast,seriously. XD

 

[clevin]

i dont know what the whole topic is,
but as i noticed, a mac can stay for a whole day with no freeze but a pc cannot stay for 10min without 1 atleast,seriously. XD

you really think this argument will fly in a company's discussion?

 

[XheartcoreboyX]

you really think this argument will fly in a company's discussion?

no i actually just read the title and skim the topic and throw my replay in here...

 

[wilsonviz]

More info

Right here's a bit more background. We're a large media publisher. The whole company (approx 300) use pcs.
I work as part of the inhouse studio, we operate just like a design house only within a big organisation. We're on really old OS9 macs and won't get upgrades unless we move to pc. I'd like to put up a good fight before I have to roll over and die. I find macs are more intuitive and as they are industry standard for graphic designers it seems madness to change over. The chances of ever being able to recruit anyone half decent are nil.
These arguments won't cut the mustard.
Money is the reason for the change over, a new publishing system is being introduced. However, we don't operate like the rest of the building. So I think we can remain on macs apart from the fact the MD hates them!
Can anyone suggest anything? Am I right about multi tasking and font management?

 

[Sesshi]

Seeing as you're on OS9, an XP SP2 PC will seem like a lean, mean speed demon.

Seems to me you can't lose either way.

 

[leekohler]

Right here's a bit more background. We're a large media publisher. The whole company (approx 300) use pcs.
I work as part of the inhouse studio, we operate just like a design house only within a big organisation. We're on really old OS9 macs and won't get upgrades unless we move to pc. I'd like to put up a good fight before I have to roll over and die. I find macs are more intuitive and as they are industry standard for graphic designers it seems madness to change over. The chances of ever being able to recruit anyone half decent are nil.
These arguments won't cut the mustard.
Money is the reason for the change over, a new publishing system is being introduced. However, we don't operate like the rest of the building. So I think we can remain on macs apart from the fact the MD hates them!
Can anyone suggest anything? Am I right about multi tasking and font management?

I'll tell you something right now- you are absolutley right when you say your company won't be able to recruit anyone halfway decent if they go all PC. Why would any decent creative person put up with designing on a PC? I know I wouldn't, and I know of companies here in Chicago that tried to go all PC and had their staff leave. They suggested that here at my company once, and ONLY once. The entire office threatened out loud to walk. They've never tried to even suggest it again. BTW- I work at a large advertising agency.

 

[Aranince]

i dont know what the whole topic is,
but as i noticed, a mac can stay for a whole day with no freeze but a pc cannot stay for 10min without 1 atleast,seriously. XD

Hmm...my windows has been on running XFire, iTunes and Firefox and has not crashed or froze for two hours.

 

[Sesshi]

I'll tell you something right now- you are absolutley right when you say your company won't be able to recruit anyone halfway decent if they go all PC. Why would any decent creative person put up with designing on a PC? I know I wouldn't, and I know of companies here in Chicago that tried to go all PC and had their staff leave. They suggested that here at my company once, and ONLY once. The entire office threatened out loud to walk. They've never tried to even suggest it again.

Sad isn't it - people fear change.

 

[Virgil-TB2]

Right here's a bit more background. We're a large media publisher. The whole company (approx 300) use pcs.
I work as part of the inhouse studio, we operate just like a design house only within a big organisation. We're on really old OS9 macs and won't get upgrades unless we move to pc. I'd like to put up a good fight before I have to roll over and die. I find macs are more intuitive and as they are industry standard for graphic designers it seems madness to change over. The chances of ever being able to recruit anyone half decent are nil.
These arguments won't cut the mustard.
Money is the reason for the change over, a new publishing system is being introduced. However, we don't operate like the rest of the building. So I think we can remain on macs apart from the fact the MD hates them!
Can anyone suggest anything? Am I right about multi tasking and font management?

I don't really have an argument for you because the biggest arguments (lower cost of ownership, greater stability, and better applications for the type of work you are doing), have already been mentioned and it doesn't seem like your supervisors consider them valid.

One thing that seems key is that your current Mac is running OS-9. While OS-9 was an okay system in it's day, even some die-hard Mac lovers of today, did not like nor see any benefit in OS-9. The difference between it and OS-X is like the difference between DOS and Windows in terms of how different and how much more powerful the new OS is.

If I was you, I would simply bring my own MacBook to work and start using it as your work machine. This would show your supervisors that you really are serious about your need for Apple products and also give them an eyeful of OS-X as it is actually used in the workplace. I think you really need to show these bozos what they are missing as they will never believe you if you just write a letter or talk to them about it.

I have a friend that did this a while ago, and she was so productive at work, and so many of her fellow workers were drooling over her (at the time) PowerBook with OS-X, that the company not only ended up paying for it, they bought a couple for her coworkers as well.

Ultimately it will depend on the attitude of your supervisors though. May work, may not.

 

[defeated]

Right here's a bit more background. We're a large media publisher. The whole company (approx 300) use pcs.
I work as part of the inhouse studio, we operate just like a design house only within a big organisation. We're on really old OS9 macs and won't get upgrades unless we move to pc. I'd like to put up a good fight before I have to roll over and die. I find macs are more intuitive and as they are industry standard for graphic designers it seems madness to change over. The chances of ever being able to recruit anyone half decent are nil.
These arguments won't cut the mustard.
Money is the reason for the change over, a new publishing system is being introduced. However, we don't operate like the rest of the building. So I think we can remain on macs apart from the fact the MD hates them!
Can anyone suggest anything? Am I right about multi tasking and font management?

just present your pov, your company will make right decision, may that be mac or pc. you have been using mac for so long, you probably can make as good poinnts as any of us here can.

 

[XheartcoreboyX]

Hmm...my windows has been on running XFire, iTunes and Firefox and has not crashed or froze for two hours.

i dont know about you but its a big huge underlined fact that windows computers freeze alot...my win xp intel core due 2 used to freeze alot for no reasons..and my friend's new computer with vista installed freezes even more..

 

[vandlism]

Well I guess if it were me, it'd be impossible because I'd never want to give up the stability and system wide PDF supprt. Those aren't the main reasons I use a Mac, but they sure make daily tasks much easier. Essentially you are missing out on running the Mac OS and it's great programs like Final Cut. Unless I were totally into PC gaming, I couldn't imagine not running on a Mac. With BootCamp and Parallels/VMware you have all your bases covered.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

i dont know what the whole topic is,
but as i noticed, a mac can stay for a whole day with no freeze but a pc cannot stay for 10min without 1 atleast,seriously. XD

and this is an example of why a lot of people do not listen to any of the argument on why mac are better. They are getting tired of hearing completely and utter bull crap like this.
PC general can get days between crashes. Heck most PC goes very long time spans between reboots at all. Truth be told most windows PC restarts are control by system update and software installs. System updates are the 2nd Tuesday of every month in most case. Software are a case by case but generally speaking a one time deal.

So your average window PC needs a reboot between 1-2 times a month.
Less see OSC general reboots are cause by what OS updates and a small handful of software installs.
Difference being lets see the software installs are less often. A lot of mac users do not bother restarted on a OS update....

The crashing argument Mac users use for the most part is a load of crap and very far from the truth. OSX is more stable but not as far as mac users make it out to be. Crashes are general few and far between. Heck most of the time they are not to hard to track down the causes. A lot of the time it is cause by a hardware issue which a PC is no better protected from than a mac.

 

[velocityg4]

I consider Rodimus to be correct. My Windows machine hardly ever needs to be rebooted. Every couple of days I reboot mine just because I realize it has been a while since my last reboot and well it is just a habit from the days when computers had to be rebooted constantly.

Now my Macs are a different story they have to be rebooted every day or two because they lose their network connections. Does anyone know a way to shutdown and restart the networking processes in OS X without a reboot?

Anyways back on topic. Switching from an aged OS 9 machine to a modern Core 2 Duo/Quadro machine running the latest design apps in XP or Vista will be a major upgrade. If your arguments fail and using Windows rather than a new OS X machine is a major point to you and will greatly affect your happiness in life. Then find another company to work for, I am sure a competitor would jump at the chance for an experienced designer (higher pay, better benefits, Octo-Core Mac Pro workstations, whatever floats your boat). Once you find an alternate Mac Friendly work place tell your employer why you are leaving, if they do not want to lose a good worker they will replace your Mac.

 

[Aea]

The crashing argument Mac users use for the most part is a load of crap and very far from the truth. OSX is more stable but not as far as mac users make it out to be. Crashes are general few and far between. Heck most of the time they are not to hard to track down the causes. A lot of the time it is cause by a hardware issue which a PC is no better protected from than a mac.

Truth TBFH, I see too many people (both mac users and not) thinking that OSX is a perfect OS that never crashes. My windows machine ran for months at a time under heavy use and never had many problems, my work machine (XP) probably hasn't had a restart for two weeks now (and that was because I kicked the power cord).

 

[yellow]

Now my Macs are a different story they have to be rebooted every day or two because they lose their network connections. Does anyone know a way to shutdown and restart the networking processes in OS X without a reboot?

Turn off the failed Network port, apply, recheck the port, apply.

 

[jczubach]

Is your resume updated?

 

[Frisco]

Truth TBFH, I see too many people (both mac users and not) thinking that OSX is a perfect OS that never crashes. My windows machine ran for months at a time under heavy use and never had many problems, my work machine (XP) probably hasn't had a restart for two weeks now (and that was because I kicked the power cord).

Very true. I have had more OS X crashes than Windows XP. Windows XP is a rock solid OS, hence one of the reasons Vista isn't doing so well. It was the same with Windows 2000. It was very solid and took companies time to migrate to WinXP.

When Mac users talk about Windows always crashing they are talking about Windows 95 and Windows ME. Us fan boys shouldn't be so naive. It only makes us look bad.

 

[flopticalcube]

I remember when my old employer JPMorgan switched from Macs to PCs. I was rather saddened by it at first because I love Macs and everything Macs do (or did then). This was 1998 and we were using 3 or 4 year old 604-based Power Macs and were replaced with the latest PCs running NT 4.0. It did feel a lot faster and for the first 6 months (because they were new PCs with no built up software) they were quick and enjoyable. After 6 months, things started to change and we had the technicians under our desks every other day doing something to get the boxes stable.

In my case my entire industry was PC, your case is a bit different. Your industry is generally Mac but your company is PC. Unless you can convince your superiors that the Mac simply makes a better PC under XP or Vista then the argument may have already been lost.

 

[overcast]

i dont know what the whole topic is,
but as i noticed, a mac can stay for a whole day with no freeze but a pc cannot stay for 10min without 1 atleast,seriously. XD

Apparently you've never used a PC then. XP is a very stable OS. When OSX has to deal with an INFINITE number of hardware configurations AND is as stable as XP - you come talk to me.

 

[rhoydotp]

it's funny how people try to argue about which is better between mac & pc on a primarily "mac-driven" forum

why don't you post this question on a "windows-driven" forum, see what you are going to get