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Mac Advantages Over PC?

#21
I have a 4 year old Mac at home and it runs damn smooth, has never crashed, and is quite convenient and easy to do almost anything on.
The only problems i've ever had with it is (1) The mouse roller tends to die fast. Been through 2 already and working on a third, in the past year and a half and (2) The "Open Office" and a few other programs for Mac are horrible compared to the PC competitors. Those are few and far between, though.

My boss bougt a brand new Pc with pretty mcuh everything on it, and it's already had so many issues it's ridiculous. He has high-end virus blockers and it still gets viruses and still freezes up entirely. It's only 4 months old.

Case in point, Mac is better in my opinion, but you'll have to spend some real dough if you want any programs that are worth a damn on it.

-My opinion.
 
#22
Well, it's hard to not go into vs. but I have had a Mac since 1986. I have had one crash where I lost it all. I backed up 2 days before. Anyway, I like how they run. I like that they always work. I like the simplicity. I don't want to necessarily know how they work, or open them up and swap drives and cards and all that crap. I want it to do what I need, easily when I turn it on.
 
#24
Thunderscreech said:
I mean, I love my Macbook, don't get me wrong. it served me very well in the time It was my sole computer, and continues to do so.


also, if you fancy some multiplayer AoE 3 sometime....
Click to expand...

well, I've tried getting my laptop to run OS X before, using step by step instructions, but my laptop (the better of my windows machines) won't allow it. It's not quite good enough. So rather than buy a new windows machine to run both, I figure I can buy a mac that will easily run both.

As for AOE 3, I haven't played in awhile but I'd love a multiplayer game sometime. I never knew many people with the game so I didn't play many multiplayer games...
 
#25
Mikaela Ellinger said:
I have a 4 year old Mac at home and it runs damn smooth, has never crashed, and is quite convenient and easy to do almost anything on.
The only problems i've ever had with it is (1) The mouse roller tends to die fast. Been through 2 already and working on a third, in the past year and a half and (2) The "Open Office" and a few other programs for Mac are horrible compared to the PC competitors. Those are few and far between, though.

My boss bougt a brand new Pc with pretty mcuh everything on it, and it's already had so many issues it's ridiculous. He has high-end virus blockers and it still gets viruses and still freezes up entirely. It's only 4 months old.

Case in point, Mac is better in my opinion, but you'll have to spend some real dough if you want any programs that are worth a damn on it.

-My opinion.
Click to expand...

I haven't actually had a ton of problems with my most recent windows machine. I don't mean to sound arrogant or anything but it all depends on how you treat the computer. That being said, i don't mean to say I've had NO problems, just not a ridiculous amount.
With a Mac, I've heard problems are much fewer and further between, but at the same time they're not invincible. However, because I've had a good history with keeping my computer in good shape, I think I can keep a mac operational for a long time, just like many others have.

Also, could someone compare the registry system windows has with
the mac? I know my windows registry always needs cleaning, and inuse ccleaner frequently to clean the extra crap
that windows keeps. Could someone explain how mac is better in this regard? I know that they are better, I just don't know the specifics
 
#26
rarisgod said:
I haven't actually had a ton of problems with my most recent windows machine. I don't mean to sound arrogant or anything but it all depends on how you treat the computer. That being said, i don't mean to say I've had NO problems, just not a ridiculous amount.
With a Mac, I've heard problems are much fewer and further between, but at the same time they're not invincible. However, because I've had a good history with keeping my computer in good shape, I think I can keep a mac operational for a long time, just like many others have.

Also, could someone compare the registry system windows has with
the mac? I know my windows registry always needs cleaning, and inuse ccleaner frequently to clean the extra crap
that windows keeps. Could someone explain how mac is better in this regard? I know that they are better, I just don't know the specifics
Click to expand...

I don't know how the Mac registry works, but I do know that you need something called AppZapper to fully "uninstall" programs, i.e. remove them and their registry entries.
 
#27
There is no central registry, XML documents use .plist extension for holding program settings. These might compare with .ini files from Windows, with the caveat that if a .plist file gets corrupted, you delete it and the program will generate a new one the next time you start it up. This will reset preferences to default values, but a corrupted .plist file can't take down the OS like a corrupted registry would do to Windows.
 
#28
WillPlay4Food said:
There is no central registry, XML documents use .plist extension for holding program settings. These might compare with .ini files from Windows, with the caveat that if a .plist file gets corrupted, you delete it and the program will generate a new one the next time you start it up. This will reset preferences to default values, but a corrupted .plist file can't take down the OS like a corrupted registry would do to Windows.
Click to expand...

Thanks, so overall it sounds like a better system, to some extent.

alright well I was just curious, I had heard something about it before but I don't recall.

Anyway so my plan is to sell off the desktop computer I don't use. I don't think I'll get a lot for it, but then I might buy a MacBook. So basically, it seems that the guys who have one have taken care of it and it's served them well for many years, and so I might go ahead and do this. who knows though, I started an iPhone thread and ended up settling on a cheaper phone and an iPod Touch, so maybe I won't go through with this either. Nonetheless, thanks for the input, and any additional opinions are still welcome! (this will by no means take place today)
 
#29
WillPlay4Food said:
There is no central registry, XML documents use .plist extension for holding program settings. These might compare with .ini files from Windows, with the caveat that if a .plist file gets corrupted, you delete it and the program will generate a new one the next time you start it up. This will reset preferences to default values, but a corrupted .plist file can't take down the OS like a corrupted registry would do to Windows.
Click to expand...

Did you write that software mentioned in your sig?
You seem to know quite a bit about Mac usage, would you recommend highly? (noting that I am a programmer who would like to delve into Apple involvement in terms of programming)
 
#30
I know a little bit, there are certainly tons of smarter people than me out there. Yes, I did write Musical Scales, but haven't touched it in some time. Teaching myself iDevice programming at the moment. :)

It's hard for me to be objective as I am a current owner of Mac products. I like what they do and how they work. The good thing is all the development tools come free with OS X. If you're serious looking into programming, check out http://developer.apple.com and set yourself up a free account so you can start grabbing tutorial videos and check out the docs / sample code.
 
#31
CapnSev said:
All I will say is that I've had my iMac for almost 2 years and it's never crashed, given me a blue screen, and kept me virus and spyware free and runs at lightning speed.
Click to expand...

Same for my pc. Granted I built it myself so it was really cheap and I know exactly whats running on it.

To the OP theres no clear cut to the better OS. Both can pretty much get most jobs done nowadays
 
#32
I run both. Probably the best thing about the Mac is how fast it boots up. My PC needs constant work to keep things from self installing and slowing down my boot up. I'm no computer expert but I find that really annoying. Just the fact that a PC will allow this to happen is rediculous. In this day and age with all our technology, having to run 2-3 programs to prevent it is rediculous. At some point, I'll lay out the big bucks for my CAD software upgrade and bye bye, PC :spit:
 
#33
WillPlay4Food said:
I know a little bit, there are certainly tons of smarter people than me out there. Yes, I did write Musical Scales, but haven't touched it in some time. Teaching myself iDevice programming at the moment. :)

It's hard for me to be objective as I am a current owner of Mac products. I like what they do and how they work. The good thing is all the development tools come free with OS X. If you're serious looking into programming, check out http://developer.apple.com and set yourself up a free account so you can start grabbing tutorial videos and check out the docs / sample code.
Click to expand...

Did you switch over from Windows initially?
I'm finding that even though I'll be able to run Windows on the Mac, I'm a bit edgy about making the switch...
I considered once switching from Windows to Ubuntu on at least one of my computers, but it just doesn't seem right. Ubuntu isn't very user friendly and even though I'm in computer science and I'll be delving into the more difficult aspects of computing, sometimes I'd like my computer using experience to be simple. That's what I see in a Mac (once I'd get used to it, of course).
Sometimes using Windows just annoys me.
 
#34
I still have a (rarely used) Windows 7 64bit Home Premium system at home so it isn't like it's a "one or the other" cut and dried deal. I did buy my first Apple laptop in 2001 because it was the right tool for the job. I needed decent developer tools and a *NIX base for my CS courses but didn't want to leave the realm of commercially available software (which ruled Linux out). Apple / OS X fit the bill perfectly so I decided to try it out.

The only things I use my Windows system for today is RealFlight G4.5, a R/C flight simulator and some edutainment CDs my son likes.
 
#35
Yeah I plan to keep a Windows machine around...I just bought my laptop last year though, so I'm feeling a bit irrational in my wanting a Mac right now...so that's why I'm asking for advice and such. I just would really like to delve into that world and I can't do that with a PC.
 
#38
No spyware

almost no virus

no needd to take your time when you install a program, it won't install tool bar, or other program you don't want.

No need to format every 6 month because it slow down.

spotlight

the hardware is desing for the OS. The OS doesn't need to support 100 sound card, 100 video card etc..

Battery life (for laptops)

bootcamp

reliability
 
#39
I've never understood the big deal about Spotlight, is it this easy to lose things on your computer?

Otherwise, thanks for that list as it pretty much sums up all the reasons I'd want to buy and it clears up most causes for regret.
 
#40
I jumped on the Mac train last lear, and to be perfectly honest, it literally does NOTHING that I couldn't have had a PC do at a fraction of the cost...

However, the good people at the Apple Store did offer to throw in some complimentary "Smug" for me. They had something of a surplus there...

I kid! I kid!

Seriously though... I can't honestly say that I've enjoyed my Mac. Programs freeze on me ALL THE TIME, and what's worse the "Force Quit" option never seems to work right. Looking back, I should have played it safe and gone with a really cherry laptop... but hey, your experience could probably be entirely different from mine.
 

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