Should I get a Mac?

[Loco.M]

if you have 2 grand to blow, get a mac

[doggiebs]

I have three macs, a Powermac G5 a MacPro and a macbook - love them to bits. I run parallels desktop on the MacPro for windows - best of both worlds imo.

I have had several PCs in the past starting with a p166 and windows 95 upto P4 3.2 windows XP.

What annoys me the most with PCs is the need to upgrade them quite often, just to run the latest OS properly and the fact that you can buy a middle range PC for say £600 and in a year's time you would be lucky to get it £150 for it. I used to be heavily into unreal tournament with a clan and it costs fortune in hardware for a gamer, I remember spending about £1500 on a top spec PC that I built myself and in two years I was building a replacement PC and selling the old one for about £100, I personally do not understand why PCs lose their value so quickly, I know technology moves on fast, maybe it is because there are so many of them.

It is true that macs cost a bit more but you get more back when you sell it, my powermac is about 5 years old and is still worth about £350 and it runs leopard like a dream. also the operating system is cheaper to buy, you can get a 5 user family pack for less than one retail version windows xp home.

I would say unless you a hardcore gamer, get yourself a mac and Parallels Desktop and windows XP or Windows 7 (haven't used windows 7, not sure if it is any good) OEM.

[doggiebs]

Well, I have lots of licenses for Windows stuff that I can't live without, so maybe I will be safer to buy a Windows based PC.

If you get parallels desktop you can convert it virtual machine without losing anything, they supply the tools as part of the software.

[Zachery]

I'm aware of how OSX works :P I just like windows management better. I've been using macs and pc's for as long as I can remember. I remember singing onto the WWW in the computer lab of my middle school in 95-96 on a mac with netscape navigator I think.

I own two macs, and multiple PCS. I use both OSX, Win7, and WinXP in my every day life.

[Quillz]

Well, I have lots of licenses for Windows stuff that I can't live without, so maybe I will be safer to buy a Windows based PC.

Or you could buy a Mac and install Windows.

[Quillz]

By the way, is it possible to use a Macbook just for windows, I mean delete the entire disc and just install windows?

Technically, yes, you can, but you shouldn't because you need Mac OS X to install EFI and firmware updates.

What you can do, though, is use the Boot Camp tool to make the Mac OS X partition as small as possible (I believe on Snow Leopard, you can take it down to just 9 GB or so.)

[doggiebs]

By the way, is it possible to use a Macbook just for windows, I mean delete the entire disc and just install windows?

Why would you want to do this, in that case why not just buy a windows based laptop?

[aussiefooty]

I'm planning a new laptop purchase, as a longtime PC user, I actually like Windows, but I love the hardware of the Macs, should I get one, and just use Bootcamp in case I need Windows stuff, or should I just get a new Windows laptop?

Let me read your thoughts about this,

Thanks

It all depends what you want to do with it. If you were going to use it just for graphics and photos then go and get a mac if you were going to use it for school/work or for play I would get a one that has windows on it.

[pank]

if you have 2 grand to blow, get a mac

Really you should check before making posts like that (no disrespect intended towards you)....
2 grand, common. Maybe if he wants the most expensive macbook pro or top of the line iMac. Not sure where you get your prices from. I have a macbook that runs very fast and I only paid just over 1k for it. Unless he wants to run video editing software or some real intense 3D programs the macbook or base model macbook pro should be fine. Not to mention you can get a killer iMac for far less than that.

[wii]

Because I love the hardware of the Macs, I'm looking into other options too of course.

Why would you want to do this, in that case why not just buy a windows based laptop?

[chrisholland]

OSX - hands-down by far the best operating system since 2001, and i've used most of them out there ... Solaris, redhat (Gnome Desktop), debian server, Windows NT4, 2000, XP, and yea Mac OS X.

A huge part of its allure to me of course is its unix underpinnings, being able to use true unix shells in multiple tabs for development and server administration.

Beyond work there are quite a few neat things about OS X which windows has yet to do well.

- One such little feature is the Address Book: It's both a program and an API for all applications and systems on your computer which have a concept of a Person. IM Programs, e-Mail, and the built-in PDA synchronization agents all leverage and elegantly augment your Address Book as you use them. Windows ties all this into Outlook, but the problem is Outlook doesn't expose an elegant API to its Address Book which other apps can leverage.

- One other big aspect is the elegance of the operating system architecture: User files are clearly confined in a user folder, Applications live in their own folder, and any system extensions belong in proper directories, although most apps simply leverage Apple's APIs. To give you an idea, the laptop i'm on is a recent macbook pro running the latest Leopard -- yet technically it's my original "2001 Mac OS X", as far as all my documents and applications are concerned, and even operating system preferences and settings. Let that sink-in for a second. I've done straightforward upgrades throughout every Mac OS X version since 2001. Before Apple offered a solid "Migration Assistant" from an old Mac to a new Mac, in the early years we simply used a free utility called "Carbon Copy Cloner" to do similar things. None of this would've been achievable without an elegant architecture.

- If you're a developer, or are interested in learning some programming in just about any language, Mac OS X is the platform of choice for any language beside C# + Windows .Net. The full Java SDK comes with Mac OS X, ruby, php,, python, perl, C (gcc compiler), and of course Objective-C + Cocoa APIs.

- The iApps that ship with OS X are always good fun - Pictures, Movies etc.

- Time Machine, the back-up system built into the OS

- The multiple desktops, spotlight search, expose' make everyday more usable/fun

As far as hardware goes, you'll end-up spending similar or more dough on higher-end wintops if you care about good industrial design and finish, and you won't get that nifty magsafe power plug and that precious back-lit keyboard. And if you're seriously into gaming, you'll likely be better-off with a desktop PC, than with any kind of laptop.

[Quillz]

As far as hardware goes, you'll end-up spending similar or more dough on higher-end wintops if you care about good industrial design and finish, and you won't get that nifty magsafe power plug and that precious back-lit keyboard. And if you're seriously into gaming, you'll likely be better-off with a desktop PC, than with any kind of laptop.

You can get backlit keyboards on many Wintel portables. Dell offers them for a nominal fee on many of their consumer Studio models and a few small business Vostro and Latitude models.

[Sergio68]

if you have 2 grand to blow, get a mac

If you have time to blow, get a windows

[AWS]

I just bought my third Mac. I got a mini which now gives me the iMac i bought last year, the G5 I've had for several years and the new mini. I still use Windows as my main OS but I find myself on one of the Macs more and more each day.

[seltaeb]

Once you go Mac, you'll never go back!!!