As per title really, just looking at the g4 powerbook and it looks good. I have been using a G4 at college and i cant really get the hang on the interface. So before I look at buying one, what makes them better than a small form compaq laptop running xp pro ?

 

People don't mess with Mac OS as much as they do with Windows, the result is your likely to have no problems. The hardware is pretty standard so when Apple release a fix they have a small amount of hardware to test on, the result is you're likely to have no problems. The Mac is a tool for the job, the Windows PC is a modified calculator.

 

easy really. Just as some background, I'm a Mac fan. I use them in my studio. I'm also a PC user. It's used as my day-to-day machine for everything else.

I love my Mac because of the reliability and user interface. Particularly in audio/MIDI use, the Mac rules.

It is not as prone to virus attacks as Windows either. Yet.


TBH, if you can't get on with the G4 @ college (is it running OSX or OS9.x?), then go for a PC, as, to put it simply, you don't like the OS.

Buy what you feel happier using

Dan

 

The machine i use (well at college) is a single 744? MHz with 382 MB RAM, so it aint fast ! But I only have had 5 hours to play with it so far. Running OS X btw

 

It'd be a 733MHz and Mac OS X really needs 512MB to avoid the "spinning beachball of death"

I'm going now before this thread gets too toasty from all the flames

 

Better at doing what precisley?
Depends on what you want to do with them

 

As Neil says it depends on what you want to do with them really. And like ScoobyDoo555 mentions though, if you don't like it, don't go for it. However I would suggest that you need at least a month to really get a hang of the OS. It took me a while to "get" the differences from Windows, but once I did I was blown away.

Myself? I prefer the stability, and "lack of hassle" it gives me. I can just get on with what I need to do instead of cocking around problem solving which is what I tended to do most of the 15 years I used PC's. I also like finding new things everyday that just make life easier. Its hard to explain but you trundle around and notice that when this OS was put together, things were thought about properly.

A good example is with Windows you will often get things like a "Setup Wizard" to guide you through complicated things, and MS put loads of effort into these Wizards. Whereas in OSX, Apple tend to think about making the process easier in the first place.

The shareware is outstanding too. This article (although a bit up its own **** - typically) explains quite well the difference that OSX has.

 

"Serious question. Why are macs better"

Gimme a break

 

I best chime in as well

As others have said, it really does depend on what you would be using the Mac for. If it's going to be a gaming machine, well, forget it, simple as that. Mac's CAN play games, and things such as WOW are out for Mac OS X and if you have a decent spec G5 it'll run ok, but the mac is not principally a games machine.

Most macs seem to be used by creative types, eg; Publishing (where I cut my teeth on Macs), Graphic Design, Audio and Video (including 'Pro Audio and Video), Web Design, and probably other area's I've forgot about.

Ease of use is cited as one thing macs have over PC's and in some respects it is true, it is slightly less difficult to totally screw up a mac, and if you have some decent security software on there (hint, hint ) then it's nice and protected from the outset.

Then there is the lovely world of spyware/adware/viruses/trojans. The majority of these evil things are coded for PC's and so simply will not run on a mac. OK, so you can act as a middle man and pass an infected file on to someone else with a PC, but you cannot be infected yourself (been in this situation a few times).

I'm a big mac fan, have to be really, work for a macintosh dev company Our flagship product centers on Network Administration and Security, so I speak to a lot of tech types who mange Mac's and PC's and they seem to spend most of their time running around fixing virus problems on PC's. Not good. The mac's, oh, they sit there and work. Might need the odd reimage when, as will happen to any machine, the hard drive fails, or is corrupt in some other way.

The new Mac Mini is out there to tempt people to look seriously at a mac, if not 'switch' to one. You can use your PC keyboard and mouse (if USB, if not, get a PS/2 to USB adaptor) and monitor with it, and so can have both on your desktop. You find me a PC that has the small form of a Mac Mini, and is as elegant.

I'd have to say if you're looking for a Mac, the mac mini might be a good first step, especially if you have a PC and want to test them side by side.

 

You can't beat a big mac meal now and again

How often would you say you have to reimage macs? Got one i look after and its just gone for the second time in a year!? I guess hard drives do fail so why would a mac be different.

I am quite tempted to buy a mini mac but its a mac

 

also remember you can run a virtual PC on a Mac (WinXP) but you cannot do that vice versa...I also use both G5 and PCs and were it not for my gaming needs I would now move to a Mac exclusively. They used to be a bit of a mystery but OSX is an amazing OS and you can get MS Office and loads of other PC apps now so it's not as much of a problem.

I do all my Graphic Design on my Mac and my PC is a home machine - altho I do Photoshop, Quark stuff on that too...you really also do have less hassle with Spyware/Viruses etc....but the more ppl get Macs the more chance that will become more prevalent.

 

Trivia Q: For how many years was MS Office available on the Mac before it was released for Windows?

 

MJB2,
Good question! Most of the tech staff I talk to re-image all of thier macs at least once a year, usually over the summer break. Some do it at the end of every term/semester. Really does depend on the site to be honest.

As for me, well, my test machines are partitioned with between four and eight partitions (on a single drive). Ususally I've got something like:

Classic - partition for the 'Classic' system folder(s). Will have two copies of 9.2.2, one for booting into (only on machines that support this), another for use in the 'Classic' environment under OS X.

10.2 Client - partition running latest version of 10.2 (Currently 10.2.8)

10.2 Server - partition running latest version of 10.2 Server (Currently 10.2.8 Server)

10.3.x Client - partition running previous version of 10.3, so currently this is 10.3.7

10.3.x Client - partition running current version of 10.2, currently 10.3.8

10.3.x Dev Client - partition running latest development seed of 10.3, currently 10.3.9

10.3 Server - partition running current version of 10.3 Server, currently 10.3.8

10.4 Client - partition with current seed of Tiger client

10.4 Server - partition with current seed of Tiger server.

Now, I switch between these partitions on a daily, sometimes hourly basis, and the only time I tend to have problems with the dev OS versions, which one tends to expect.

The last time I reimaged a partition was when 10.3 came out.