someonecompletelyrandom

Congrats.

s_k

Haha, this topic will probably be useless on this forum as on any other forum.
But here goes: I've tried both. I prefer PC. Macs run nice, but they cost a lot more and I don't see the upsides. Yes, less can go wrong, but that's only useful when you have problems with your PC. I don't. I think for my parents a mac would be a bliss, they really can't handle computers that don't think for themselves.

Some reasons why I dislike mac
1. I don't like the company. They tell you to expand your memory with apple memory for which they ask literally 6 times as much as regular memory, and it's just the same with an apple logo on it. Stuff like that. They seem to use peoples ignorance to make an awful lot of profit. They ignore the (Dutch or EU, not sure) rule that says that you should be given a two year warranty on any electronic device but they are willing to sell you an extra year of warranty at an incredibly high price. I also don't like the hype around macs. They are just computers with mainboards, hard drives, memory... Yes they have a nice design, but they're still just computers.

2. No taskbar. I cannot live without a taskbar. I can't get used to it.

3. The Price. It doesn't do anything a PC cannot do and it costs at least two times what a PC costs. Yes I do audio, video and photo editing but I don't think a Mac does this better than a PC. It did in the 80's and nineties, but now? I don't see it.

4. Gaming. Yes you can play games on a mac, but only a small portion of the amount of games you can play on a PC

5. Design over practicality. I don't like that. The Magic Mouse is awful (it's too flat, it's got sharp edges and it scrolls way too fast) and these flat keyboards are amongst the worst I've ever typed on.

I do have a 'thing' for the way the apple computers and the OS looks and yes it has some good sides, especially for people who just start working with
computers. But to me they're a tad unpractical and most of al, you pay for something I don't really see.
I'm founding this on a lot of personal Experience. I still have two iMacs, an Apple II, an eMac 1ghz and I've sold my G5's as I didn't use them much. But I definitely did give it a good try before I came to this conclusion.

So: PC for me. And Windows.
That's another thing, people are always bitching about Windows.
I've done Android (which is nice), I've done loads of linux distro's (some of them are really good considering the price!). I've run into some fun stuff, but in the end I haven't found an OS that works better than Windows. Yes there has been some awful windows editions. Like 98FE, ME and Vista. But XP runs brilliantly, so does 7. And 2000 is still incredibly usable on 10 to 15 year old computers. Try mac OS 8.6 for comparison... It's like windows 3.11 already.

Oh, edit: To all those people who have had problems with PC's and all their problems have vanished since they have a mac: Congratulations, you made the right choice. But a PC can run properly. It's user error most of the time. Or you've bought an Acer or a Packard Bell. But that's another discussion .

Edit 2: I couldn't live with MacOS. I would go bezerk. If I had to ditch Windows, I'd go for a Linux distro.

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Janszoon

So... well produced then?

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Burning Down

Don't most companies do that?

Never had that experience. I'm not a huge gamer but I can tell you that games sold here are available for both systems, and if not all the time, at least 90% of the time.

Have to agree with you here. The multi-touch Magic Mouse is the worst mouse I've ever used. I don't have an iMac (just a MacBook Pro), but I can tell you that if I ever bought one, I would switch that mouse for a regular one.

The keyboard is not so bad. Many high end Windows laptop computers use a similar keyboard (Sony, Samsung, some Gateways). Nothing could be worse then a netbook keyboard. Those things are so ****ing small, I don't know how anyone manages to type anything on them.

Actually, I also think most desktop keyboards are horrible. Good to learn on, but overall they are very clunky and you have to type so darn hard to get the words on the screen. This opinion is a result of 6+ years of laptop use. Laptop keyboards are easier to type on because my fingers can just fly across the keys.

Acer laptops are not the best. Yes, they are incredibly cheap compared to other models, but you're really getting what you're paying for. My mom has had two Acer laptops in the last couple of years, and the keys come off very easily. Also, the touchpad is not terribly sensitive. A few of my friends have also had those problems with Acers.

s_k

Not every company takes it that far.

I reckon you don't do racing games?

That's what I did when I used my ex's mac to edit video. Found an old microsoft mouse lying around, plugged it in. I almost threw that mac mouse through the room (not kidding, the thing got me bloody agressive).
I bought her old laptop and will now use that to edit photo/video/audio at her place, because I cannot stand the mac. They use the same software (premiere, audition, lightroom) but change it a little bit so it becomes very unpractical. Well, at least that's what I think.

I have a netbook and it is indeed too small. You sort of get used to it (after all, I can also type on my mobile phone) but it's still not a laptop. Laptops should have at least 10" screens. Anything smaller is just too small.
I wouldn't rate Sony, Samsung and Gateway 'high end'. I'm not sure where high end starts with laptops, but I'd go Dell and IBM . I'm not sure if these new dells and IBMs have those annoying keyboards. But I probably wasn't clear about this; The Laptop keyboard is quite allright. It still has these annoying square keys that make it impossible to slide from key to key (remember, I do 720 strokes/minute, I know my keyboards ), but at least they click and don't feel rubbery. It's the external keyboard (that should be better than the internal laptop keyboard) that sucks so much.

I prefer desktop keyboards that have flat keys and a light touch. So I agree with you. That's why I use the

Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000. I have four of those .
The only exception to this is the old IBM Model M. It's just brilliant. Clicketyclick. Most people tell me they hate my keyboard because the keys feel like laptop keys (!) and the TGBYHN keys are bigger than the rest. But when you type with 10 fingers, blind, that's brilliant as you don't have to reach out with your index fingers so much. I love these keyboards.

I hate acers. I really do. We even have a word amongs computerpeople here called 'acering'. It means a computer just stops working for a couple of seconds, for no apparent reason. Acers have been doing that since the pentium IV and no one really knows why. Not all Acers obviously, but it is a typically acer-thing. If I am to spend money on a laptop, it will be an IBM or a Dell. But I usually buy second hand business laptops and spend my money on PC's as I feel you get more value for money when you buy a PC.
Don't get me wrong, I have three relatively modern (as in: Usable) laptops lying around. A Toshiba netbook (1.6ghz Atom), an IBM Z60M (2ghz Centrino) and an Asus X50V (1.86ghz Dual Core). Apart from that I have... Maybe 10 to 15 older laptops, ranging from 386's to Pentium IIIm 1ghz computers. So I like laptops, but when it comes to audio/video and gaming, I still prefer a decent PC. I always build them myself by the way. Usually just as expensive as a comparable ready made PC, only you get to choose what's in it .

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Scarlett O'Hara

PC hands down. Mac's are pretty but really not the type of computer I need.

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Janszoon

Okay, even though the question in the poll doesn't actually make sense (as I said before, Macs are PCs), I'll play along. I vote Mac. They're the industry standard in my line of work and the OS I learned on so I'd need a very, very compelling reason to switch to Windows. I've had a couple jobs where I've worked in a Windows environment throughout the years and while I think by and large that the differences between using a Mac and using a Windows PC are fairly negligible I do find that a lot of the software that I use seems to run just a little better in a MacOS environment than in Windows.

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s_k

What software would that be?
Because macs are known for their compatibility with photoshop and the likes, but I can't say it runs better on a mac than on my (older...) PC.

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Janszoon

Mostly the Adobe creative suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat, Dreamweaver, After Effects, etc.). In my experience these programs have longer load and save times, crash more often, and are overall more sluggish and problematic in Windows.

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s_k

Hmmm, I can honestly say that Photoshop, Premiere and Audition never ever (!) crashed here. Oh, wait, photoshop CS3 did. I thought that sucked. But apart from that, they don't crash. They also are not problematic at all. Very stable software. As far as I have been able to compare they always were more sluggish on a Mac. They run fast, but they just stop for a couple of seconds every now and then ('acering' ;D).

Most of it is probably about preferences/taste, but I can say for sure that it never ever crashed. Point is, it is really easy to **** up a PC. You almost cannot **** up a mac, accidentally. For some (not so computer-technical) people, that's a very good thing.

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