Alas it will and has turned into a flame war, as usual, same culprits too, hence why I've kept quiet for a while.

Macs are more expensive than the same spec of AMD/Intel based windows OS machines. Wether they are worth the additional price is a very personal thing. I've used macs for a very long time, so I tend to prefer them. I don't just recommend / buy Mac's though, my wife has an Acer laptop, and I've suggested friends and family purchase PC's.

I would buy a Mac as I could run OS X and Windows on it, bet it at the same time in emulation, or via a dual boot solution. It gives me the flexibility to run either. Some could claim you could create a PC to run OS X and you can, but I do not think you can pick a machine from a retail store and just install OS X on it, you need to have specific hardware and make a fair few mods. Plus when an update to the OS comes out, you cannot upgrade to it as things will break.

My usual rule of thumb is that if you are going to do some heavy graphical processing, for example, CAD / CAM / Gaming, then get a PC, as you can mod it very easily. If it's just surfing, email, using Office, then you can go either way.

One thing I do find is that my mac still seems fresh after a fair few years (current main mac is a 2006 Intel iMac) whereas a PC of the same age doesn't. Maybe that's just a personal thing, but I don't think I'm alone in this. So if you look at price vs time on that assumptions Mac can work out better value.

If you don't need absolutely brand new, look at Apple's refurbished line, can get a few hundred quid of the price. Right now, a new range of iMacs came out and it is possible some retail places have stock of the old models and might be offering rather good discounts. One local place here shaved about $400 off the price of the top of the line iMac, plus threw in an 8GB RAM upgrade, not too shabby a deal.

 

No problemo .......as I said I do value everyones opinion

Thanks for that, just the kind of reply I've been looking for. I just want a computer I can use with the minimum of maintenence....
When we get 5 the missus and I are going to have a nosey around at all models and go from there.

 

I have a mac and a pc both good machines In their own right , I just personally prefer mac OS.

 

Cleaned up the thread - someone stole my ban hammer.... which is a shame

 

i would have to say mac hardware is quite expensive, but I haven't encounted a case so convenient as the mac pro - i haven't seen any wires! - i wonder how much that'd cost in PC land?

my observations of pc building is that you can buy and build to whatever quality and much higher quality than a mac, but you get what you pay for in your cheap as chips computers.

i wonder how the game would change if OSX were as available for any hardware as windows and linux?

personally i *like working in OSX. to me it's nicer and smarter working than windows.

i think i would build my own pc and put OSX on it if it were a valid choice.

my 2 cents
Michael

 

It certainly would be interesting to see. I doubt it'll happen any time soon though. Apple likes the fact it controls the hardware, obviously revenue comes into it, but also, from a tech viewpoint, you know what the machine is going to be like. There are minimal components you can change, no fancy motherboards, fans, and more importantly, drivers.

The Genius Bar (Oh, and that term does grate somewhat with me, fanboi or not) would be seriously inundated as you'd get someone come in with their custom build rig with motherboard X, graphics card Y, Ethernet card Z, etc... It could be drivers for any, one, or all of these causing weird and wonderful issues.

I would imagine Apple would up AppleCare support for bona-fide Apple hardware. For example, three years of AppleCare with purchase of a new Mac for free, and if you need to extended / purchase it and you have Apple hardware, it'll be cheaper than it currently is.
They'd try and push people from their custom intel hardware to Apple hardware, for the reasons mentioned above.

I'm sure PC World / Best Buy etc... would be quite happy though, as they could make even more of a killing when people bring in their PC which won't run OS X, or has some weird issue.

 

I was build few PC's with Mac OS X installed and all working well,but these are build for one reason to my friends which are musicians and Mac Pro is little out of budget.

I'm using Mac OS X for making music,but for CAD,CATIA and 3D modelling,i'm using Windows,due on Mac are not available Maya,3DS Max etc.Yeah AutoCAD is available for Mac's but still PC have bigger support in terns of GPU etc.

Jura

 

I think the differences these days are very over-stated. You can spec a PC up to daft levels for the home user these days (I know I just have) and Apple will sell you a very nice IMac too.

-PCs definiately work out better on the VFM scale
-Macs probably less intimidating for people who don't want to get involved with fiddling around with settings etc... they tend to want to keep the user from the workings of software etc...
-Macs definitely win the style race
-Despite all the usability claims, I still find PCSs easier to deal with and more intutiative to use. I think it's very much a case of what you're accustomed too.
-The virus issue with PCs can be negagted by 1) Not using an account with admin features enabled as your regular user account 2) Getting a decent security suite package. In all the years I've used a PC I've never once lost any content or had to reinstall software/an OS due to a virus!

I'm a PC person myself, but don't be lead by the fanboy's on either side: have a go with both, do your homework on which best meets your needs and make your own mind up!

Ns04

 

Hmm a MAC/PC war

They are both the same hardware. The only real difference is that you wouldn't really want to go messing with the MAC hardware where as you can easily with a PC if you choose to. Some manufacturers like Dell put things in place to prevent you from messing with their PC hardware in the same way that Apple do with MACs. They do it only so they can get out of the warranty if you fiddle with it.

The real question is what operating system, OSX, Windows 7 or Linux. Yes I said Linux because these days a PC doesn't have to be Windows like everyone has assumed. The operating systems makes the machine so forget MAC/PC and decide which operating system you are more comfortable with. Even mainstream stores like PC World and Comet will sell you a PC with Ubuntu installed which uses the same core as OSX but in my opinion is a much better operating system because it isn't controlled by Apple.

Day to day I use Windows 7 but if it was taken away and I was left with Ubuntu or another type of Linux I could get by. Anything that can be done on Windows can be done on Linux it's just a little more tricky. Windows is very 'click and go' where as Linux is open source so some things aren't very well supported (this is slowly changing as it becomes more popular). OSX is also very 'click and go' but only for the things that Apple want you to be able to do. If Apple don't want you to do it then you'll find it very hard to do.

The whole virus thing is a load of rubbish. There are viruses out there for both Windows and OSX but they tend not to be publicised for OSX because who is it affecting.... home users and the odd designer. Windows viruses hit the headlines because big businesses, governments and the majority of internet users use it.

 

Lets not forget the core reason that Mac's are a better choice. The operating system and hardware are designed to work together. It's the same reason the ChomeBook will be great at what it does.

Don't listen to anyone who believes Apple restricts the way OSX works, it's just as open as Windows, they're mixing up iPhones and Macs. Same with the virus thing, take a look at the Sophos 'Naked' blog, as soon as there's a sniff of a threat on OSX the PR machine goes into overdrive. Are Mac's secure, no, far from it, are you more likely to have a problem on a PC, undeniably.

 

Jack, do you have a full spec sheet for an apple mac home computer? (all the components?)

Tony

 

Why would I? I bought this machine in 2005 knowing that Apple knew exactly what components were inside their machine when designing their operating system. They did a great job it still functions as new and outperforms the many Windows machines I've had in those years.

If you want to see a tear down, try here http://www.ifixit.com

 

interestingly, i tried to locate my mac pro motherboard and i can't really find an equivalent.

it's a dual CPU xeon 5620 westmere. i've seen a few dual cpu xeon mobos and they're £300+

there's no doubt apple hikes the price (ram ), but i bet mac pros aren't cheap if you add all the component prices together.

 

Do you mean like this?


To be honest I could not tell you which is faster a quad core or a dual core or a celeron core etc but I do know that my mac runs super speedy with the above spec

 

it has taken Microsoft nearly 20 years to realise the shared .dll architecture is rubbish

 

And people are still paying.

 

OOI in what way is the DLL architecture different to .so files in Linux or .dylib files on OSX? I know I've had problems with stuff in the past using Linux with shared libraries.

 

On that note Blu then either m8, if you want gaming go PC, or get a MAc and flatten it.

if your doing docs photos then either really, MACs seem to get more worship when your doing photos, and most publishing houses use MAcs for mags etc.

But if your looking for wide support then PC, or flatten the mac for windows its just how it is.

As the guys said above standard arcitecture benifts the mac as it does the xbox and ps3, Virus dont really hit MAcs much but then why would they, Windows is used by 90% of the globe why develo a virus that only going to hit 10%, this was the same when Novell was around , its safe secure and virus free, that was the same deal only a few used it thus virus never got developed for it, hence to say its now dead.

But in all honesty if you have the budget and the know how get a nice mac Book pro and dual boot it. you wont go wrong.

 

Someone comes onto the forum to ask for advice about whether to get a pc or a mac and the sensible replies are hidden in the fog of arcing toys launched from the prams of the mutual fanboys.

I've cleared up the thread again - try and stay on topic this time please?

 

Surely if the man wants advice, the advice will come from 'fanboys' from both sides.

 

So you removed mine but left Jacks derogatory comments, brilliant.

 

Macs play games - i've been playing Portal2 at 2000x1100+ without any issues.

what were the trolling comments? i didn't think the thread was that bad - we've seen worse lol

 

Crysis or Crysis 2 try play on max

Portal2 is not very demanding game like on CPU or GPU.


Jura

 

In any case he isn't looking for a performance computer so either would suit him perfectly. With what the OP wants to use it for, there isn't a perfect answer.

Fashion or Value for money, you decide.

 

But who wants to play crysis?

Blu either choice will be a good one but if you want reliability imo go for a mac.

 

by the way, i use Pages to edit my Microsoft Word PC documents!

there's really no reason not to get a mac

 

Cost

 

I thought this thread may keep you busy kieran

Guys, I need FACTS not bickering

Reliability

I just want something that doesn't need constant faffing about to keep it running.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CREWJ

Cost

As I said before I'll pay a decent amount of dough for the right machine

 

Sounds like you want a MAC then.

 

Am I missing the point?

MAC's selling points - Reliable, no viruses, easy to use, able to run office etc

- Just buy any Intel machine and shove Ubunto / Fedora on it.

If you're not already "trained" (brainwashed) into any other OS, then the learning curve of Linux (for home use) will be the same.