Apple vs. Windows

[SoniCX]

I need your help, please!

Several years I bought my first and only PC. I upgraded it several times to go with the 'modern computer age'. I think now it is time to buy a whole new computer. Thinking about to switch to Apple my parents told me that they will pay for the computer. I know my dad very good and when I'll tell him I want to have an Apple then I need some points like why is Apple more money worth then other computer systems.

So, please help me. Write down all advantages AND disadvantages about: PC (Windows, Linux) Apple (Macintough)

Thank you very much folks!

Lars - Germany

[Giaguara]

Hi Lars

Welcome on board.

How old are you? What do you do (with the computer), a student or something else? Which kind of applications do you need your computer to work with & what other you enjoy it with (e.g. technical drawing as a must, videos and music music enjoyable, office must etc)? Have you ever used on your PC e.g. any Linux distros? Which Mac or which kind of PCs do you have as alternatives now? I think it'd be easier to give the most valid pros and contros for both if we knew more about you...

[SoniCX]

Hey again!

I'm a highschool student who will go to collage in one year but I don't have a clue yet what classes I want to take there.

I thought about one of these new Power Mac rather then the iMacs. The stuff I do the most with the computer is:

DVD burning
work with digital pictures (graphic design)
editing Website
working with movies
Internet/eMails
(games)

[cellfish]

Originally posted by SoniCX
I need your help, please!

Several years I bought my first and only PC. I upgraded it several times to go with the 'modern computer age'. I think now it is time to buy a whole new computer. Thinking about to switch to Apple my parents told me that they will pay for the computer. I know my dad very good and when I'll tell him I want to have an Apple then I need some points like why is Apple more money worth then other computer systems.

So, please help me. Write down all advantages AND disadvantages about: PC (Windows, Linux) Apple (Macintough)

Thank you very much folks!

Lars - Germany

- No registry
- Remove programs by dragging icon to trash (no remnants remain)
- Operating system stability
- Open source community support

[Arden]

Originally posted by SoniCX
DVD burning

Macs are great for that because they come with DVD burners standard, iDVD, and iMovie for creating & exporting DVD movies.

work with digital pictures (graphic design)

Macs are also excellent for these purposes because you can get several great programs for working with pictures, including Photoshop (full & Elements), Graphic Converter, Illustrator, Freehand, Flash, Director, etc. The Mac is great too because the higher end models come with dual processors, the likes of which both the system and programs like Photoshop take full advantage of. Macs are often the graphic design professional's computer of choice; about 30% of Adobe's market share is for Mac. That's still only about 1/3, and it's down from 50%, but compared to the Mac's 3-5% market share overall it's pretty high.

editing Website

You can get a variety of programs for this purpose too, including Dreamweaver, Go Live, Fetch, Transmit, and many more. Mac OS X has PHP, Perl, Apache, and more tools built right into its UNIX core, so you can use these powerful tools right out of the box.

working with movies

Final Cut Pro. 'Nuff said.

If you want/need less than that, you can use iMovie and a DV camera's Firewire port, or you can purchase Final Cut Express, Adobe Premiere, or even go all out for Avid Cinema. Plus, you can get pro tools like the (now) Mac-only Logic Audio, Cubase, and MOTU's Digital Performer for audio editing, and Adobe After Effects for special FX.

Internet/eMails

Mac OS X does not require you to use only 1 browser, and even though it comes with Explorer, you can download at least 6 other quality browsers, including Apple's latest venture, Safari; Netscape 7; Camino; and OmniWeb. Plus, X comes with Mail for checking POP3 mail accounts, and you can find other great mail programs for free as well.

(games)

This is, and has always been, one of the Mac's weakest angles. The sheer volume of games available for PC has consistently outweighed the Mac severalfold; however, we like to think that only the "best" games get ported/written for the Mac (though that's not always the case). If you don't mind playing a few popular games, maybe a while after they're released for PC; if you want quality shareware titles from the likes of Ambrosia; if you can afford Virtual PC and get a computer that can handle running games in it; then you should definitely get a Mac. If you need the latest, greatest games now, on the absolute best hardware possible, and you need all the games you can get, then you should get a PC. (Hell, you should buy a top-of-the-line PC, top-of-the-line Mac, Xbox, Playstation, and Gamecube because you have too much free time! )

With all these advantages, why would you buy another boring Wintel box? If you're addicted to blue screens of death (BSD! LOL! ); if you actually like Luna (or actually prefer it over Aqua—would you rather be an Aquatic or a Lunatic? ); if you need obscure programs like ___________ (<—insert obscure program here); if you're on the tightest of budgets; if you have no personality and you want to blend in with the majority instead of fighting back against mainstream society and buying a classy sports computer.

[SoniCX]

Thank you very much for that big post!

(If somebody knows something more you are welcome to post it.)

YOU GUYS ARE A GREAT HELP! I LIKE THIS FORUM HERE

Lars

[Giaguara]

This is not a fast 2 or 3 lines thing .. (but I need to get to real life now) ..

- Better support (forums etc) for macs (i never saw any good for windows)

- X = using OS X you can use easily most of UNIX and Linux programs. (As powerful as *NIX in general, but you can do about everything also with GUIs.) Those (=unix and most linux programs) are free, and learning better what to do with command lines you could probably become interested also in programming .. did anyone mention cocoa yet?

- Software? Look on versiontracker.com - So thousands of softwares for OS X and many are even freewares. And lighter than the windows spyware-powered equivalents. If you try some of those small programs, many times the programmer him/herself answers to you if you have a question - this never happened with any windows software.

[SoniCX]

i guess there is a lot of positiv stuff. how about the negative. is there something where you rather would have a Windows PC then an Apple (except for games)?

Lars