Forum Moderators: travelin cat
Post one reason why users should choose a Mac over a PC.
yadda, blah ... the screen started flashing, and the whole paper just disappeared. All of it. And it was a good paper! I had to cram and rewrite it really quickly ... yadda, blah blah, ... I’m happy to report that my sister and I now share an Apple PowerBook. It’s a lot nicer to work on than my dad’s PC was ... yadda, blah
Dear Ellen,
take care of the fact that - unfortunately - even a Mac can loose your paper. It's sometimes the user who makes mistakes.
That's not a solid switch argument. eMail me for better arguments. :)
To each his own. I've been working on both platforms now for almost 14 years and they have their advantages and disadvantages. I'll agree that Mac users are a breed of their own.
From a business perspective, I think PC is the best tool for the job. Macs from my perspective are more suitable for design environments and definitely outperform any PC counterpart. The processors in a Mac are superior to those used in a PC.
Its a shame that there was such a broad compatibility issue over the years. If there wasn't, I believe there would be many more Mac users today. What I'm seeing is the ole' Mac diehards switching over to PC because their surrounding environments are PC based. If you are going to have 100% effective communication in a business environment, then PC is probably the best route. All of the software programs have made huge strides in making files from one compatible with the other (Quark, Illustrator, Photoshop, etc.).
Mac vs. PC? PC vs. Mac? Only you can make that choice. It is all a matter of choosing the appropriate tool for the job.
A little OT, just saw the latest commercial for the G5, what a blast. Guy turns on his G5 and gets blasted through 5 or 6 rooms, holes in walls, papers flying, dog running. It was hilarious.
> i don't switch ...
> i don't switch ...
> i don't switch ...
> i don't switch ...
> i don't switch ...
> i don't switch ...
> i don't switch ...
--- i'll stuck with my mac!
those were:
...
c'mon - tell 'em!
who are too dumb to use PCs, ...
They're not really doing much for the large proportion of PC users who are competent human beings
Sorry for quoting, but exactly that is the attitude I use to call by myself: model railway syndrome. - Sorry again, but it's important.
Ever had that Mac experience? I had it, and I can compare: starting with CPM, Unix ... After DOS. Atari, Commodore. Apple! Windows :(
Until now I love my Mac, but have to work on PC.
And hate it: I want to do my work (which gives revenue), and I don't want to find out why some hard-/software stuff doesn't work with my PC ...
Computers have to serve me. And not the opposite.
Sigh! I guess times are gone ...
Apple - Hardware - Power Mac G5 [apple.com]
On a more serious note, I would recommend Neal Stephenson's In the Beginning Was the Command Line. It has a very interesting look at the sociological aspects of operating systems, although it is a bit dated in computer time. (BeOS was still very much alive at publication.) He offers the view that Macs gave consumers the idea of the computer as a regular household appliance. MS/Windows gave consumers cheap hardware, which made Linux possible. It's a fascinating read, and I always think back to it when I hear Mac-vs-PC-vs-whatever arguments.
<edit>edited b/c I can't spell</edit>
thanks for the link - especially because it demonstrates what happens if you try to start it from a PC behind some firewall:
Allow Active-X?
If yes, a screen appears with a broken Quicktime Logo (BTW: I have QT some* installed). Nothing more happens ...
Then I click at 'requires quicktime' - up comes a form to be filled in.
Most of you know this. And I know how to handle this. But the point is: Who's responsible for those things happening?
Your quote:
Microsoft
Apple
Users
Dummies
Model Railway tinkers
Bah, again that discussion?
ok, i'm somehow subjectiv, however, i run 25 Macs and 1 Windoze box - i NEVER (again: NEVER) needed the windoze machine for anything ecept running the google toolbar - 'nough said!
PC user since 1994... Win 3.1, 95, 98, 2K. Lots of my hobbies were on my computer. Used it a ton... I added it up one week and I figured I'd typed over a hundred thousand words that week alone. It was intense.
Graduated college, moved about 4 times, got really sick of lugging that "sweet" 19" CRT up and down stairs. Took about 4 trips up and down the 3 flights of stairs to my current apartment to get the PC in, with all its peripherals. Ugh.
In the meantime, I got a boyfriend who is a software developer for a company solely run on Macs. He got a G4 Powerbook and I stole it. Repeatedly. I was unemployed and spent 10 hours a day on it. I loved it. It was just fun to use. OS X was cool. AirPort was _really_ cool. Job-hunting, I could take it into the City, schedule interviews, find directions on it, get emails in the wireless parks, etc. Really handy. I thought it was the coolest thing I'd ever seen.
I got a job, finally. 8 hours a day, I stare at a PC that looks just like the one back home. I use the same programs I used for most of my hobbies. I never felt like playing on the computer when I got home, which meant that my dreams for an independent business fell by the wayside and my personal website was neglected and none of my friends got the usual volume of emails. My online social life was dead because I couldn't stand to sit myself down and stare at the same screen I watched all day.
I know fine well that my PC was perfectly adequate for my needs. The hard drive failure was bad luck; the loss of my data was my own fault for not keeping a backup. But despite my PC's innocence in the whole debacle it was the final straw; my boyfriend, a Mac geek, was helpless to assist me as I watched the entirety of my email correspondence over the last six years vanish. Because I was dumb and hadn't backed it up. I know it wasn't the PC's fault.
But no matter whose fault it was, I couldn't stand to stare at the thing anymore. It just sickened me. So...
I went out and bought an iMac, and sold the PC. It's a 17" iMac with all kinds of goodies. I feel like sitting in the living room, I unplug it, pick the keyboard and speakers up in one hand, pick the computer up in the other, move it to the coffee table, plug it in, I'm online in a minute. My 25 GB of mp3 files are organized, my 2 GB of digital photos are organized, and I'm living like a princess on our all-Mac wireless network. Everything works and computers are FUN again. I have my life back and can once more enjoy my hobbies. And, my boyfriend and I can have voice iChats across the apartment when we're feeling especially lazy. ^.^ I didn't need a Mac, it's not that it has any superpowers my PC didn't, it's just that I like using it better, and it makes me happy. And darn it, it looks cute in my living room.
My name is Bridget, and I'm a hopeless geek.
I think its about the pro hardware- i.e. the G4's and now the G5. I'm not a fan of The Steve but he IS a nut about quality and design. My own G4 is built like a brick, has top flight components (power supply etc) and is a BREEZE to add or change drives, memory etc.
The Super drive rocks.
As others have mentioned, adding new devices is a piece of cake. I frequently have to accomodate customers' digital cameras, digital video cameras, various flash memory cards, etc. My Big Mac (G4) just handles them. No drivers, nothing. Plug 'em in, use em.
I think that's it great to see Apple and IBM back together again. Has anybody else come to the "prosumer" market yet with a 64 bit design? (Seriously- I dunno. I don't follow PC technology much any more.)
Like someone has said, I bought a very top end Pee Sea and all I use it for is the Google toolbar ( and to check how web sites I create look under various flavors of Pee Sea and Explorer.) I have different versions of windoze and Explorer on different drives and partions in the PC. It is SO much harder to do than on a Mac.
Oh, last big point- better graphics. Macs have always had better display systems to my eyes. From having abetter gamma built into the OS, at each step they just do a better job with what you see.
The secret is Apple's "end to end" control of the OS and the hardware.
Does the "mothership" drive me crazy? Oh, you bet. But it's still a better mousetrap.
I would recommend Neal Stephenson's In the Beginning Was the Command Line.
Oh yes, I loved the comparison he made between systems and cars:
Windows 95/98 => Van (practical, easy to use, but not very stable)
Windows NT => All roader (Stable, never crashes, but a bit ugly)
Mac => European sportscar (fast, beautiful, expensive)
BeOS => Batmobile
UNIX => Superfast tanks which never break down and should they nevertheless break, you have an entire host of helpers.
You've got your "Mac" with its nice GUI. You can buy easy-to-use programs like FileMaker Pro and Lasso.
But open the hood (er, Terminal) and you see a bona fide Unix workstation. You can download (free) powerful Unix tools like MySQL, PHP, and Perl.
(For me, it was a great way to learn Unix. Dive into the Terminal, and come back up for air into the GUI.)
Also, Mac OS X has become a very popular flavor of Unix. So there's lots of binaries to make your life easier installing stuff, and answers to questions that work "straight off the Web page."
Hopefully we will be safe now that Al Gore is part of Apple. :(
this might be a good start to learn HOW to switch: Apple - Switch - Guide to Switching - Move2Mac [apple.com].
Some quick FAQ's from the Win/DOS users's pov can be found at Apple's Top 10 Switch Questions [apple.com] (FAQ related to Office usage, eMail and Chat, PC/Mac Networking, Disc and File Sharing, ISP, Two Button Mice :), Printing and Digi Cam stuff).
There are a lot of great sites at the net about Mac usage, from daily work to high end stuff (Serving & Webmastering, Video, Graphics, etc.). Just use Google's Mac Search [google.com] to find them.
All in all the big advantage of Macs is that they are quite intuitive and easy to use. So you won't have a problem to get started. Just buy one, read the 10 pages handbook and start using it. If you have any questions, this forum is also a good place to get and find answers. :)
The Ellen Feiss commercial can still be viewed here:
[apple.com...]
Remix of commercial
[jeffwilhelm.com...]
Pace dawgs!
here is one funny video...
[flogged.net...]
my neighbour has mac and it is nothing but the pain..as long as it works it is ok..but when you try to fix something..things are set up so they are deliberatelly hard todo..life is too short to waste it on "all the better things mac/unix/linux/assembler offers you if you take tiem to learn it and get to know it better" :)
i hate windows ,lockups,resets,blue creens and tons and tons fo thigns but i like my pc..the last OS and computer that i used and LOVED and was not pc was my darling amiga 500..
but maybe i am just "simple mind" and dont undertand "all the greatness of mac community" :)
i like the "stoned chick" though..
[edited by: JonB at 9:19 pm (utc) on Aug. 3, 2003]
Chndru it really is as easy as Yidaki said. I set the machine up. Read about 10 pages in the booklet and let her rip.
It was the fastest transition I ever made. The trickiest thing was getting used to a one button mouse and looking up copy/paste command.
Its a very easy and transparent OS.
Don't bother. Spend the $30 for a two-button + scrollwheel mouse (or use your old PC's mouse) and you'll be much happier. No need to install drivers or anything like that, just plug it in. :)
I moved to Mac from Windows over a year ago and the one-button mouse was tough to get used to at first, but now I honestly don't understand why anyone needs two buttons and a scroll wheel. I now feel uncomfortable using the two-button/scroll wheel mouse on my parents' PC now. I love the Apple mouse.
Where's the other mouse button? It's right where it's always been -- at CompUSA.
The Mac has contextual menus and supports multi-button mice/scroll wheels. (If you use a USB mouse on your PC, plug that into your Mac and away you go.)
In the meantime, hold down the control key and click to approximate a right-click.
(In defense of the one-button mouse: It's great for young kids, and fine for a lot of people. It also is easier on the joints. I do however, use multi-button mice with my Mac.)
Even, if I prefer by very far my Macs over my PCs, I will never try to defend the single button mouse. Once any tried a multi-button wheeled mouse, there is no turning back.
Not to mention the tiny dark keyboard. I am no typist, I must look at the keyboard wile I write. Just impossible to do in dim light. The size of the keyboard is also of some discomfort for me. Just give me a full size beige keyboad. That is what people need.
If Apple has decided to keep up popping those nonsense, I would appreciate they give me the option not to pay for them. Replacement third party hardware will be of better design and come up cheaper.
Some other great posts about this topic in : Why Mac? [webmasterworld.com]
This thread was solid gold for me. I just ran out and bought a $30, 2-button mouse, plugged it in and it works. Fantastic. That was the one thing I really missed from the PC. I am glad you guys mentioned a two button mouse would work! Thanks. :)
