Mac or PC

[Grez]

At work long ago I had an Apple IIe, and used Visidex and Appleworks when they were new(!). It was a good reliable machine and it saved my firm a lot of money. So having become used in the very early days of personal computers to something fairly slick and useful, I have always found PCs something of a frustrating disappointment. I was a bit like having driven a Lotus being told that a Morris Minor was a performance car. When my second laptop (a Sony Viao running XP) eventually slowed up and showed signs of death, which is something I am told happens with XP, I couldn’t face re-loading Windows and decided to look for something else. Actually, my wife got fed up with me hitting and swearing at the beast, and one morning suggested that we took at trip to an Apple shop. I must admit I didn’t take much persuading to come away with a nice shiny new Macbook Pro.

Well this was chalk and cheese. Yup, the mac was about three times the cost of a laptop PC, though you could (on this site) think of it as not even the cost of an SME 5, and as a Stellavox and Nagra fancier the carved-out-of-the-solid aspect of the Apple struck a definite chord.

I’ve not looked back since, and have found the MBP to be a useful tool. The ‘philosophy’ of the software is different in that it tries to assist rather than obstruct and it also seems far more robust. Though of course there is at times a steep learning curve. I have not explored Itunes much other than playing existing files through the USB ports, and for Flac I use ALC (must check out Cog, thanks Nick). But after a couple of months fairly un-traumatic use the only complaints I have is that the case can be a bit cold in the mornings and the front edge is a bit sharp.

I suppose the most telling aspect of my own conversion is that sometimes when I grab my wife’s (Windows) laptop I am reminded how slow, arthritic and seemingly obstructive the whole machine is. In fact she gets quite annoyed at me poking fun at it.

Just IMHO

I'm like that with Linux!

[Welder]

Hmm, some interesting stories.
Now this is what I don’t get; afaik Apple put the same shite in their stuff as any other computer manufacturer or are they making their own processors, motherboards, RAM etc…….I think not.

Okay, the software they use is different but the hardware which is what determines the mechanical reliability of a machine is basically the same as all the other makes.

Now in all honesty I would rather have a linux OS; from what I’ve seen it canes the white fruit raincoat and the microshite stuff, but……..

So, I say the build quality can be bought with any OS so the debate is really around the software.

So, how many of you Apple supporters use the native Apple applications for audio?


(I really really really dont like Apple as a company)

[keiths]

After 26 years of working in IT, I find operating system debates pretty pointless - no one is going to change their opinion and the 'minority' (ie. OSX and Linux) supporters tend to defend their position vociferously.

(Posted from my laptop running Ubuntu Linux whilst listening to music streamed by my Ubuntu Linux media PC from my Ubuntu Linux fileserver)

[trailer]

Hmm, some interesting stories.
Now this is what I don’t get; afaik Apple put the same shite in their stuff as any other computer manufacturer or are they making their own processors, motherboards, RAM etc…….I think not.

Ah yes maybe, but the aluminium unibody case is a sight better than the usual plastic cases on the run of the mill laptops.

[MartinT]

After 26 years of working in IT, I find operating system debates pretty pointless

Agreed, Keith, I try not to get into it now. I choose to use Windows 7 and find there is nothing I cannot do with it. I only get annoyed with Apple Macbooks at work because they are so crap on a network. However, there are better things to debate.

[Marco]

Ah yes maybe, but the aluminium unibody case is a sight better than the usual plastic cases on the run of the mill laptops.

Hi mate,

Just a quickie, could you please add your first name and location to your profile, as per the new requirements for all members?

Cheers!

Marco.

[trailer]

Sorry Marco,

Hadn't posted for a while but been lurking around!

Hi mate,

Just a quickie, could you please add your first name and location to your profile, as per the new requirements for all members?

Cheers!

Marco.

[nat8808]

The PC route probably is cheaper but in terms of power/speed etc i think the macs are more competitively priced than many people think. the figures can be confusing although i'm no expert in this field.

They use the exact SAME harware.. there are no hardware performance differences between two similarly spec'd machines because they will be the same machines.

Didn't use to be this way but Apple caved in to easier and cheaper ways of making their machines some years ago. The Motorola chip based ones were arguably better than similarly equiped PCs but then only for certain tasks (audio and graphics being two).

itunes apart, (can take a little getting used to but it looks fab), running a mac is way more intuitive than a PC. everytime i have to use a PC I end up wanting to throw it out the window its so frustratingly shit.

Personally I find the opposite.. I've been using PCs since about '87 as a kid and everything micorsoft from the DOS back then has still retained it's logical, technical way of working, if you know what I mean. That's to say, that underneath the fancy GUI (that becomes more thickly laid on with each new Windows release) everything is still there where you would expect it to be from a technical point of view - a bit like finding that under the bonnet of your modern car, all the working parts are laid out as you'd expect and all are servicable unlike perhaps the reality of most modern cars where there are a lot of magic, sealed electronic units that only the dealer has the gear to deal with.

They're also considered more reliable than PC's and ime 99% of the time any problems are easily fixed by the user with the install discs and a little knowledge. I haven't had to send a mac out to be fixed for years.

'Considered' is the very important word here. I would say the exact same as the above with all the PCs I've ever had and pretty much all of those have been hand-me-downs or found/recycled PCs. Normally problems are all software based and down to lazy inplementation of installation/uninstallation procedures.

Now, things are better in that respect with a Mac.. because you are less free to buy shitty software! It's a kind of restriction apon the user that protects their computers - a nanny computer state/company.

dont forget, with mac you're only operating essentially with 2 levels - Mac OS and then any software applications on top like photoshop, word, etc. With a PC your dealing with 3 levels because windows is essentially only a copy of Mac OS.

Kind of true but problems have arrisen in the past with Apple and OS X because of this. People have been left in the cold at a dead end in terms of upgrading their OS because their expensive software can no longer work with the new OS implementations.

With Windows, that underlying Kernel doesn't necessarily change that much, just the layer above so the well constructed programmes are still sitting on the same kernel foundations as before.

any extra money you spend on a mac you'll easily make back in reliability and peace of mind.

Depends on how you like to run your finances IMO. Many people are happy to throw a larger sum into one product for perceived peace of mind and reliabilty but you have to realise that by spending more at one time you are setting a larger amount to depreciate where it could be invested in something else actually growing or at least keeping up with inflation and holding value.

Macs do seem to have better batteries than lot of PCs but inside those battery packs are just standard off-the-shelf units. They can be upgraded and changed though.

Now, after chopping up that post as my answer to most typical reasons for owning a mac, I would not though dismiss buying a mac at all! You just have to consider that its plus points are really really worth that extra £600 odd quid for the same spec..

I think that most of the Mac's plus points and a PC's bad points are solved by moving to Linux.

The only two plus points I think that leaves for a Mac are its design and better software innovation as a whole - because the commercial image of a mac breeds that kind of thinking.

If you want a computer as a play machine or to run some specific software like Logic or Pro Tools, then by all means get a Mac.

If you want the machine to carry out a specific role like music server then pick and choose the hardware you need and set it up with Linux for that specific role. That way lies reliability AND low cost.

[Grez]

After 26 years of working in IT, I find operating system debates pretty pointless - no one is going to change their opinion and the 'minority' (ie. OSX and Linux) supporters tend to defend their position vociferously.

(Posted from my laptop running Ubuntu Linux whilst listening to music streamed by my Ubuntu Linux media PC from my Ubuntu Linux fileserver)

..usually because we've got some sort of axe to grind against Windows...

[Marco]

Sorry Marco,


Hadn't posted for a while but been lurking around!

Cheers, Jim - mucho appreciated!

Marco.