Mac or PC???? (1 Viewer)

[simon4amiee]

Please take 2 minutes to complete a quick online poll!

http://www.misterpoll.com/polls/504429

 

[boblarson]

I did the poll. I am surprised that there are still more people that prefer a PC over a Mac. Even if they have unlimited funds. I don´t know these people....

I would prefer a PC over a Mac even with unlimited funds, simply because

1. I can do upgrades to hardware much easier (and can get hardware from many different sources if I wish).

2. I may be laughed at for this but I actually like Windows.

3. Portability between my software and hardware to and from my friends who are almost exclusively on PC.

I've used Mac many times, including in a couple of jobs that I had. So I'm not ignorant of it all. I have to admit that I have not used the latest hardware or OS so I might not have the full picture. But for what I do and what I like - I'm a PC

 

[MrsGorilla]

Pretty much what Bob said. It's so much easier to perform upgrades, etc. I use Windows primarily but dabble with Linux a little bit. I've never really been interested in a Mac, they just seem overpriced for what you get.

 

[Vassago]

I'm a PC, and always will be. The thing I don't like about Macs the most is Apple is way too controlling over what you can and cannot do with their computers. Sure, the argument can be made that it's to protect the end user from malicious software or hardware they may want to use, but so what? I'm smart enough to protect myself from malicious software and hardware and everyone with a computer should be. It's all about learning everything you can about something before testing it out. I like to learn from my own mistakes rather than have someone hold my hand and smack it if I try to touch the burner. It's almost like technology communism what Apple is doing, not just with the Mac, but the Ipad and Iphone too. I believe in freedom to install what I want on my own hardware without someone telling me I can't. It's my hardware. Of course, I've always been a homebrew junky.

 

[the_net_2.0]

How many times has this question been asked? Did any of you see that ad a while back with the two guys being mac and pc? :laugh:

PC for many reasons:

1) MAC is not supported (the right way) in majority of businesses
2) The majority of the consumer market does not know what a MAC is
3) MAC is overly-expensive

MAC for one reason only:

1) It makes the PC look like a joke in almost every way imaginable, from a technical standpoint

I did the poll. I am surprised that there are still more people that prefer a PC over a Mac.

You shouldn't be surprised at all. The way to make money in the consumer market is to make a product that is A) entertaining, B) easy, and C) simple/stupid.

MAC is not the last two. Unfortunately, I think this is where Steve Jobs has taken a back seat to Bill Gate's genius. IMO, Gate's genius comes from his ability to tap the consumer desire. Jobs' genius come from building sophisticated and technically-sound hardware. The latter will not make money 9 times out of 10.

 

[Vassago]

MAC is not the last two. Unfortunately, I think this is where Steve Jobs has taken a back seat to Bill Gate's genius. IMO, Gate's genius comes from his ability to tap the consumer desire. Jobs' genius come from building sophisticated and technically-sound hardware. The latter will not make money 9 times out of 10.

I disagree. If you consider that the Mac is made to be proprietary with only proprietary and "allowed" software, the Mac is in many ways less technical for the non-technical end user. Sure, it's capable of doing advanced projects, although with the PC being arguably just as capable in today's society, even with major video and graphical work, as what used to be the Mac's prefered usage.

The PC, on the other hand, is far more open-sourced. You seem to be thinking more of a Windows vs Mac-OS approach. Windows is obviously arguably more user-friendly than Mac-OS, but I think that's only because of it's over-abundance in terms of availability. More people have had more experience with Windows vs Mac-OS, so naturally, it's going to be more user-friendly for them. On the other hand, the technological possibilities on a PC far outreach what the typical end-user is going to see, even just inside Windows. This is coming from both a hardware and software standpoint. If you go beyond Windows... well, you get the point.

So really, it depends on how you look at it. Yes, for more advance computer users, a Mac is more simple/stupid and easy than a PC.

Of course, this is all just my opinion and should be taken as such.

 

[Banana]

I disagree. If you consider that the Mac is made to be proprietary with only proprietary and "allowed" software, the Mac is in many ways less technical for the non-technical end user.

Erm... I have all standard UNIX tools (bash, gcc, vi, grep -- you name it) out of the box with a Mac OS X (with exception of gcc which is optional installation). I can compile MySQL from source code and install it on Mac OS X. In short, anything a UNIX OS can do, Mac OS X can do as well. Thus, the statement that it's less technical for non-technical end user seems to me patently false.

The beauty of Mac OS X, to me is that you don't *have* to use those tools to use Mac OS X. It's in many ways the fabled "so easy that my grandmother can use it" OS that various Linux fans has been searching for. With Windows, you *have* to know how to do things and that interfere with the end user experience, IMHO. In a sense, one could say Windows has UI for developers, by developers.

Windows is obviously arguably more user-friendly than Mac-OS, but I think that's only because of it's over-abundance in terms of availability. More people have had more experience with Windows vs Mac-OS, so naturally, it's going to be more user-friendly for them.

Sorry, but I do not consider wrangling with anti-virus & malware detection software, being forced to install emergency patches and having to remember to undo bad defaults on a fresh install to be really user-friendly. Windows has really gone a long way and under a well-administered IT infrastructure, it can be usable. No way am I going to put up with it at home, though.

Mind, I so completely sympathize with those who loves to tinker, especially with hardware. If you're going to ask me how to build a computer, I probably wouldn't have had suggested Mac hardware - not easy to customize unless you go to the Pros which by then we're looking at >$2000 investment. Gaming rigs were built for much less but both machines have different goals, I think. I'm content to just buy a package, plug it in and write posts on internet forums.

So really, it depends on how you look at it. Yes, for more advance computer users, a Mac is more simple/stupid and easy than a PC.

It's odd to me, really. Why is simple & easy to use not a feature? We all came to use Access because it was easy to use and does very good in spite of some IT guys writing it off as "toy database" (while failing to realizing they've made a technical blunder in calling an IDE a database but whatever). For same reasons, I came to use Mac OS X because it's easy to use and let me do what I want to do as opposing to fighting with Windows.

 

[Ron_dK]

For graphics ( CAD/CAM) etc and music rcording, the MAC is unbeatable.I've got an old 8600 which is still running great with Protools/Cubase and such, something I would not recommand for a PC. However, for office /email/internet I stick to my Dell PC.

Just my 2cts

 

[Rabbie]

I am a PC fan bcause I mainly run business apllications and Microsoft office meets my needs. MACs always seem to be a bit expensive for what they are especially as I don't do a great deal of graphics work.

 

[the_net_2.0]

You seem to be thinking more of a Windows vs Mac-OS approach. Windows is obviously arguably more user-friendly than Mac-OS, but I think that's only because of it's over-abundance in terms of availability. More people have had more experience with Windows vs Mac-OS, so naturally, it's going to be more user-friendly for them.

Yes I think I was. But then again, I was talking from a money-making standpoint, nothing else really. Windows has much more value than mac-os does, and thus the PC is much more valuable and will generate much more revenue.

Why? Because it successfully catered to the general public's entertainment needs. And 40 years later, that familiarity with windows for all those years has created an enormous amount of goodwill for Bill Gates.

Again, speaking from a business perspective and not really hardware/software comparisons.

 

[Alc]

Found this thread while searching the forum and hoped to 'reignite' it.

I'm thinking about replacing our home PC with a Mac, mainly because I'm sick of dealing with malware, viruses, etc. on the PC, in spite of whatever protection I've got installed.

We use it predominantly for recreational stuff (internet, music, photo/video editing) but I've held off because of needing to run Access on it for work. Now I understand that Parallels is available and would let me use Access, but I've read very mixed reviews of how well that works. I'm tempted to just get a cheap laptop running Windows for the Access stuff and keep it off the internet to avoid any infections.

Has anyone personally run Access on a Mac and so have any string feelings about it, either way?

 

[Banana]

I've been developing with Access on my iMac for last 3 years. Mind, I use VMWare Fusion, but fortunately, the competition between Parallels and VMWare has been pretty hot so both are pretty well-featured. I'm loving the convenience of having several virtual machines with different combination of OSes & Office and few other programs, which really makes it easy to be able to test for different environments. (Of course, it also helps to have a MSDN subscription to have all the licenses to install those software). I also run SQL Server and SharePoint as well as Visual Studio. If there were any problems, I'd have run into it by now. Mind, I do understand the issues with virtualization pertains to gaming which are more fussy about the hardware configuration whereas server-based tools really shouldn't care if it's a virtual machine or physical machine.

Even better, I don't have to mess with crapware because all of those are sandboxed. I never browse internet out of those virtual machines and they have no internet access except for services I explicitly allow. This has made the maintenance much easier.

So basically, if you buy plenty of RAM and get a spare hard drive, then the experience should be great.

 

[Alc]

Thanks for the response.

I have no interest in playing games on it, so that isn't an issue.

Think I'll take a walk up to the local Apple store and have a look at the iMacs (less hanging cables for my son to grab).

 

[Fifty2One]

PCs are great for work but unless you are working 24/7 then visit the Apple store. Even then the use of a PC is starting to become more difficult to justify on the business end, depending on what sort of business you are in. Mac is capable of running everything - or an adaptive version of everything - PC does not seem to have that capability.

This is sort of biased as Windows is starting to really try my patience - between all of the add on protection and its own updates, some days it seems that updating the neccessary protection and security gaps over taxes the resources almost as much as a virus would...

 

[Alc]

PCs are great for work but unless you are working 24/7 then visit the Apple store. Even then the use of a PC is starting to become more difficult to justify on the business end, depending on what sort of business you are in. Mac is capable of running everything - or an adaptive version of everything - PC does not seem to have that capability.

This is sort of biased as Windows is starting to really try my patience - between all of the add on protection and its own updates, some days it seems that updating the neccessary protection and security gaps over taxes the resources almost as much as a virus would...

Just how I'm feeling.

The guy I just spoke to at the Apple store was pretty helpful. Able to answer almost everything I asked about. The differences in using the two don't seem to be as huge as I'd heard.

I think the Access part is going to be a moot point, since any development I do work will need to be on XP and Office 2003, or it won't match the environment here at the office.

iMac is looking promising thus far.

 

[Vassago]

You are just as likely to become infected with malware and viruses on a Mac as you are a PC without sufficient protection. Don't think you are safer just because of the OS you are using.

I've never been infected with a virus or malware on my personal computers, although I've had to remove them from too many for me to count. It's all about having the sense to not click on certain links and open certain files from your "friends" without checking with them first to make sure they actually sent it. A healthy combo of MalwareBytes AntiMalware and a good anti-virus program is all you need to avoid infection. It's not really that hard.

 

[Banana]

Yes, that's basically how I ended up with Mac, too. I was having nothing but headaches with my old Dell and since then I'm firmly convinced that the whole model of installing anti-anything is pretty much the wrong way to do it and we have to make decisions (block or unblock this program? check the latest virus definition? is it a malware?) far too frequent that it's just futile. Yes, one could "train" to avoid bad things but it is a tax nonetheless. I like to think of this analogy:

Using anti-anything is basically same thing as insisting that you should be able to leave your house unlocked but you'll pay a rent-a-cop to park outside of your house to watch the house and make sure nobody who shouldn't be there get in. At first it seems like it'll work but by and by you'll have to tell rent-a-cop to stop bringing his friends over and raiding your fridge, to not accost your niece who came over for visit (yes, she's a relative and I trust her, blah blah), and then few more. In end, you end up watching the rent-a-cop and thus were worse off before the rent-a-cop was hired.

Better to simply lock the door, bar the window and install a security system. That's basically the Mac OS X's security in nutshell.

Of course, John Gruber argues that it's not just Mac OS X that's doing it. He has a theory on why Mac OS X works so well WRT securing against malware/virus which I think is pretty plausible.

There are some things Microsoft get right. Windows 7 is pretty nice improvement. I still think, however, security issues are just not for normal users or in my case, users who do not want to be burdened with extra work when they could be getting paid developing actual stuff instead of fixing and cleaning up.

Best investment I made 3 years ago, I'd like to think. Not everyone may agree, but hey, that's just me.

 

[Alc]

I still think, however, security issues are just not for normal users or in my case, users who do not want to be burdened with extra work when they could be getting paid developing actual stuff instead of fixing and cleaning up.

This is exactly how I see it. If I can get the protection set up for me and forget about it, that suits me fine. Norton 360 and Stopzilla aren't doing the job, at present.

Clearly, if I had the sense not to click on stuff, I wouldn't have any problems (right Vass ). Tha fact is, I can't think of what I might have clicked on but obviously can't rule it out. However, my wife also uses it and she's somewhat of the school of thought that if something doesn't work, you should click on whatever's available until it does.

 

[MrsGorilla]

Clearly, if I had the sense not to click on stuff, I wouldn't have any problems (right Vass ). Tha fact is, I can't think of what I might have clicked on but obviously can't rule it out. However, my wife also uses it and she's somewhat of the school of thought that if something doesn't work, you should click on whatever's available until it does.

Sure, blame it on the wife. I also have not had problems, even just using the free Avira plain-jane antivirus software and occasionally Malwarebytes. It's all about being able to recognize what's safe and what isn't, and if you can't recognize what's safe you won't be safe with a PC or a Mac.

Personally, I prefer PC's over Macs, and likely always will for the reasons that have already been laid out earlier by Vass and boblarson. No need to rehash that.

 

[Simon_MT]

You sometimes wonder if the aesthetics of Windows 7 was in response to the developments on the apple Mac platform. I don't think it is fair to compare some models of PCs to a high end product like a Mac Book and these are superior build.

If you look at something like the new MacBook Air that is truly a beautiful object. If I stop drooling for a minute, the only reason I haven't acquired a MacBook Air is now that apple uses the Intel chipset why can't we have a version of Access as part of the Office Suite for the Mac.

Commercially, with similar Office offerings for both the Mac and PC, I personally think that the Ribbon caused more problems than switching users between platforms.

Drivers can be more time consuming, you have to ask permission to squeeze when installing Printers but other apps like Word Excel etc. and then Firefox, Thunderbird and Filezilla are familiar enough. Entourage I believe is becoming Outlook.

The only issue is databases, Access is not the b-all and end-all, but it is popular.

Simon