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Old 08-28-2004, 03:10 PM   #1 (permalink)
... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.
 
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My story of two computers

I was raised on Macintosh, or rather Apple. I've always enjoyed the straight forward OS's over the years as well as the system stability. About a year and a half ago, I had to borrow a friends Compaq (that was new as of 2002). My Apple was outdated and it was time to start saving for something decent. I used the PC for about a year and some change. I found that Windows has much more support from many software and hardware companys. I found it odd that PC's had thousands more game titles available. To be honest, I'd never noticed before when I had been using Macs. I felt kinda stupid. I started playing games and using apps that I'd never known existed. It was fun, but I quickly noticed that the computer, though new, had a bad habit of freezing and crashing. It was odd to me, because I'd been on a computer that froze twice in 3 years before this. I called and talked to some friends that basically told me that 'this is part of using a computer' and to not worry. Don't worry? Why not? I called some help lines and they had some basic suggestions about trying to avoid situations where the computer was proned to act up, so I followed them. It was really limiting. I was told to try and not run more than one or two apps at a time, and have very few windows open. I was also told to delete any files on my comp that might have spyware. I did. It still froze. Then things started to go wrong with several parts of the hardware. Eventually, the whole motherboard was lost. I was saving up to get a G5 tower and a cimina display, but I needed a computer for work and school. I apologized to my friend about his computer and assured him I did everything I could to save it. He shrugged it off and simply replied, "It happens a lot."
I went out the next day to my local Mall Apple store and bought an eMac with a 1 GHz G4 processor and a GB of RAM. As soon as I got home I plugged it in and turned it on. It was like being in a different reality. This was a reality of less programs, but so much better computers! To this day (it's been about a year since I bought the eMac) my computer has never once frozen or crashed. I've never once had an application unexpectedly close with and error sign. As a matter of fact, I haven't seen one error sign. I have several great programs for work and school, including Microsoft Word, and I also play several really great games. I have been playing Unreal 2003 and 2004 and enjoyed every minute of it. Never freezing. Never having a sudden slow frame rate for some reason. I also play Starcraft, Warcraft 3 and Diablo 2. I don't mind so much about the fact that there are a lot of games out for PC that I won't be able to play at home. If I really want to play Mechassault, Doom 3, or Call of Duty I can go to the local network gaming center and fork over a few bucks an hour. As for my home computer, I have stability.
Now I know there are some die hard PC fans out there. This isn't posted to make you mad. This isn't here to start a war between Mac fans and PC fans. I just wanted some people to hear my conclusions about experiencing both sides.
If people out there on Mac's are really frustrated that they can't use some simple PC programs on a Mac, get VirtualPC or some other emulator. You won't be able to run high quality games or anything with a big load on it, but you can run simple programs without any problems.
Thanks for reading and please feel free to comment.
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Old 08-28-2004, 03:55 PM   #2 (permalink)
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See, you may expect flames for this, but you actually told it exactly how it is. Macs may be more stable, look cooler, and run for longer periods of time, but PCs have much more support as well as thousands of available programs that Macs don't have. It's a trade-off...each has its own advantages and disadvantages.

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Old 08-28-2004, 04:13 PM   #3 (permalink)
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I've never truely tried a mac, and thus I've never flamed someone for using one/prefering one. It's interesting to read your results, and find some of the comments made by the tech support people, such as, "It was really limiting. I was told to try and not run more than one or two apps at a time, and have very few windows open." to be... in my eyes, a load of bull (on their part, not yours).

It is true... to a certain extent that PC's have more issues than mac's, and like Las said, there's a trade-off of stability and support. I guess it all depends on the situation your in, and what YOU use your computer for. I understand the frustration of having a program die halfway through working on something important... only to find out you hadnt saved before it shut off.

Thanks for your story, and I wouldnt be too suprised if most of the people here who reply to this thread don't flame you, as you've given valid points on both ends of your ordeal.
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Old 08-28-2004, 04:20 PM   #4 (permalink)
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I really appreciate your honesty. A lot of people I've told this to call me an idiot for getting a Mac. I guess they just don't want to see both sides. I can appreciate other people who have actually tried both and worked with them without letting old rivalries cloud their judgment. There are very angry people on both sides. Mac users bitter after years of being second best in sales and support. PC users dealing with Mac users looking down their noses because of reliability.
Thanks for posting.
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Old 08-28-2004, 04:22 PM   #5 (permalink)
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Oh, and Gotenks (just for future refrence) what are some ways to prevent the crashing and freezing on a PC? The tech guys obviously were just spewing back to me what they heard somewhere or learned years back in school, not refrencing actual experience.
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Old 08-28-2004, 04:52 PM   #6 (permalink)
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a few years ago i would have agreed with you. back then i didnt know about spyware, adware and such. i mean i installed bonzi buddy! haha. my computer was full of trash. but now that i do regular maintainance on my pc i have gone for months without crashing or freezing. i have had some program errors but i think thats expected when pc's have so many more programs. but no errors that have rendered my comp useless. my pc's solid as a rock!

Last edited by Xepidemic; 08-28-2004 at 04:54 PM..
 
Old 08-28-2004, 05:56 PM   #7 (permalink)
who?
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Xepidemic
my pc's solid as a rock!
exactly. someone who takes the time to do preventative maintainance (spyware scans, immunization, virus checking, etc.) will find that working on a pc can be a pretty straightfoward experience. i have played around with aquaintances' macs for five minute stints, but i'm too used to a windows environment to really appreciate the machines. i recognise the fact that for the money, a mac is a much better platform to media and graphic manipulation programs, but i don't want to feel limited by a small choice of gaming software titles.
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Old 08-28-2004, 07:15 PM   #8 (permalink)
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Not just the maintenance of your files/content, though that is definately one of the top things you need to do in order to keep it in good shape. The main thing that I have done to keep my computer from crashing is to simply spend the extra few bucks on the better part. The quality of the build, and the parts that you put in your computer is what keeps it ticking.

My computer changes it's appearance/performance every few months, so I've never really had many problems with parts dying on me. And there's also the fact that when computer manufacturers put their computers together, they use one main brand name (AMD/Pentium), slap that logo on the computer, and suddenly the market base see's it as a "good" computer. That's not the true story though. I have seen more than my fair share of manufactured computer's having their power supply's die. And when I open up the computer to take my look-see, I notice that nearly all of the parts have no brand names on them. The RAM, the PSU's, even sometimes the MOBO's will be crap. And from that I conclude that's the problem with most PC's today.

It's hard to beat the prices of manufacturing company's today. Unlike 2-3 years ago, where you could build your own computer and save some serious cash... nowadays, most company's buy in major bulk, severely cutting down on the price per single component. And although alot of these manufacturing company's provide a valid (good) warranty for their products... that still doesnt change the quality of their components.

If I had one guess why that computer was acting up, I would say that the part's in it werent too good to begin with, ontop of being 2 year's old. Also take into fact that your friend before hand may have never formatted the hdd, and the clutter could severely be hurting the cache.

So to sum up pretty much everything I just said. If you want a PC that will last a long time, that won't crash/bsod/error... you'll want quality components, and you'll need to take care of it more than you would a mac.
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Old 08-28-2004, 08:19 PM   #9 (permalink)
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Well mac software and hardware seems to cost about 3x that of PC, so they better damn well be better!
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Old 08-28-2004, 08:49 PM   #10 (permalink)
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I SEE!! (In response to Gotenks) Like I sad, I was used to Macs. You see, Macs do not need replacement parts. The computer I have now (the eMac) will not need new processors, RAM, PSU's, or anything else. Mac's come with Mac parts and brand names. They even have their own OS! Every once in a great while you might get a bad piece of technology in a Mac, it's rare for a Mac owner to go to an electronics store in search for new parts to make it faster or perform better. My comp came with everything I'll need over the next 2-3 years.
For a PC, though, I guess you need to be ever-vigilant about upgrading hardware and clear the clutter out consistantly. That explains a lot. I treated a Compaq like a Mac. Bad idea.
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Old 08-29-2004, 09:41 AM   #11 (permalink)
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Well, if you invest the same amount of money in quality parts as you spend in a new Mac, your HW is in good condition and there shouldn't be any problems. Especially if you let your pc-savvy friend choose the parts according your budget and need. Not the neighborhood guy but the guy that really has 10+ years in the industry.

With Mac, you already paid for this service, to some extent.

With PC, you don't necessarily have to have replacement parts, it's an option. You can buy a new PC when the old one gets too slow like you have to do with the Mac. With PC, you can upgrade just some parts and move some stuff over to get an almost equally good new PC without paying the full price.

And the software... I've had numerous bad experiences with Mac's regarding shitty software. If you run something that has loads of bugs, you are inviting some odd behaviour no matter what. In both worlds. The worst one have been PS and some other lighter software that I run on Mac and when they crashed, the whole OS would crash also (OS9, haven't really used the X. Played around with X and now I feel a need to buy a 12" powerbook ). With Win2k+, I just kill the program and re-launch it. No nasty corruptions on harddrive due crash & stuff.

In the end my PC won. Same or equal software, more responsive with the same amount of money invested in hardware, more affordable upgradeability.
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Old 08-29-2004, 10:43 AM   #12 (permalink)
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OS X is MUCH more stable then OS 8-9.2. Speaking from experience.

Damn I should have called this thread 'A Tale of Two Computers'. Sounds whittier. That or 'Two Computers of Verona'.
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Old 08-29-2004, 06:03 PM   #13 (permalink)
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I have both a mac and pc, I never have trouble with the pc, I don't get viruses, I do my regular maintenance, and I don't have crashes (since XP)... the mac never get's used for anything but word processing and internet surfing while I'm playin games on the PC
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Old 08-30-2004, 10:13 AM   #14 (permalink)
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You get what you pay for. With Macs, you can pay a LOT. Therefore, you should expect it to run as such. Additionally, most Mac hardware is proprietary, therefore, it is all designed to run with your mobo, processor, etc. My guess is that if you spent as much on a PC as you did on a Mac (and kept up on Maintenance) you should be just as happy.
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Old 08-30-2004, 02:57 PM   #15 (permalink)
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Kutulu, that sounds like what everyone's been saying. I guess that makes sense. I'd personally rather not have to shop for everything. I went and bought my whole comp in about 15 minutes. I bought the RAM seperate, but we all know how easy that is to put in. Took me all of a minute and a half.
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Old 08-31-2004, 01:15 PM   #16 (permalink)
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I'm about ready to stop using Windows and switch full-time to my PowerBook. I've been using OS X for the last year and have learned why Mac people love Macs.

Here's the primary reason why I'm switching: maintenance. I'm tried of Windows Updates every other day for the OS, Media Player, IE, and Office. I can't even get rid of IE or Messenger if I wanted to do - I still need to update.

Second reason why I'm switching: UNIX. I can sit down and start using shell scripting, nmap, tar, gzip, and grep and a slew of UNIX apps without having to install Cygwin or a Linux distro. It's a real industry standard, not industry adopted.

Third reason: this is open for debate, but the future that Gates & Co. is painting scares me. It's Totalitarian. I can only ponder that Longhorn's WinFS isn't for the good of searching metadata, but rather a way to ensure that other systems (Linux, Mac) can't access the data.

Every day I turn on the Mac and it just works - no maintenance. No rebooting. I can wi-fi, plug in, and unplug without lengthy timeouts or annoying warnings or errors. I can use my Mac to do work - not spend time updating and maintaining my system so I can do work later. I think that Windows users are so used to screwing with their systems they don't realize the time spent doing it.

I am a freelance IT consultant and most/all of my clients run Windows networks. I can take my PowerBook and connect in anywhere. I can mount Windows drives. I can run Virtual PC if I need a 100% Windows client. I can run UNIX network diagnostic tools and load up an OS X native version of Photoshop. I can still use my Palm PDA and third-party desktop conduits. Man, it rocks. Compared to Linux, I can have UNIX and retail apps.

I was going to install Linux as a primary machine and then I started finding so much software that I can't run. CrossOver Office has limitations, many of my Palm apps don't exist in Linux versions. Besides, why would I want to run Windows versions of software in Linux? I want it native.

Anyway, I'm turning my XP box into a SuSE server running VMWare for my Windows needs. My PowerBook will go full-time in another month. It should be fun.

I've had great experiences with PC hardware and software, but on the whole, my Mac is easier to operate and more powerful out of the box.
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Old 08-31-2004, 06:21 PM   #17 (permalink)
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I was talking about this issue at work today, because I work with one of those guys that everytime you say something about computers, he says, "Well, Mac had that 5 years ago." We all get kinda sick of it, but whatever.

Would I be right in making this statement: "The average Mac user knows is more technically knowledgeable about his (her) piece of equipment than the average PC-user is about their machine."? Aside from the fact that there are far more PC/Windows users than there are Mac users (increasing the probability that less intelligent people will be using PCs), it seems to me that a Mac person tends to know a lot about the product they use, how to maintain and use it to it's full potential, whereas the average PC user tends to be totally computer stupid. I am constantly fixing people's PC's and there is rarely a time I have met someone who actually knows what they are doing. They just blindly download all sorts of damaging data. And then they call some minimum-wage kid at the "tech support" for help, getting mad when the kid reads from a book that can't solve their problem. It's like buying a car but never changing the oil, filters, or tires. Why doesn't my %$&*#$@ car run?!?!?! well, duh!

I think it's true that 1.) Macs are made of better quality components, causing them to be more stable and durable. 2.) Mac software is of a higher quality simply because it only has to work with Mac hardware. 3.) the average Mac user knows how to properly use his machine.

But hey, I'm cheap and was raised on good old DOS and Windows 3.1. I like being able to tinker with my machine and make it more like a peice of art. I don't care if it crashes, cause, yeah, it's frustrating, but you learn something through fixing it. I still think, however, that the stability thing has partially to do with the fact that PC users think it's no different than a TV, which you never maintain except for dusting the screen off!
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Old 08-31-2004, 11:01 PM   #18 (permalink)
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I would like to address #3 from spiffcheese's list of truths. "3.) the average Mac user knows how to properly use his machine."

Yes, but do you know why? It's not because all Mac users are die hards from the 80's. Actually, there are few of us that have been faithul all the way through (but I have, and I'm damned proud of it). The reason all Mac users seem to have such a great handle on their computers is because of the most intelligent OS in history. Mac OS X revolutionized the way people think about using a computer. It is friendly and has simplicity to it's incredible complexity. Windows has been more of a chore than a joy to use for it's entire lifespan. Mac, however, is always looking for ways to improve the overall experience for the user. Have you ever used a Mac before? It's simple. It's actually fun to use. I'd rather learn about something fun, then something that frustrates me.
It's kinda funny. Most of the things that windows has come out with that are so ground breaking have been done by mac earlier. I know it's annoying to hear again, but the reason we keep saying it is because no one seems to be listining.
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Old 09-01-2004, 06:17 AM   #19 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SpiffCheese
I think it's true that 1.) Macs are made of better quality components, causing them to be more stable and durable....
You made some good statements in your post, but this one is just ridiculous.
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Old 09-01-2004, 07:28 AM   #20 (permalink)
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I won't get into the quality of macs vs pc's, but I'll say this:

you pay a premium for proprietary. This goes for everyone, not just Apple. The upgrade options on a mac are limited because mac users are content with using the same system for years to come. PC users typically find themselves unsatisfied with how their older systems perform when stacked against the latest advances, which lands them in a computer store looking for some way to squeeze more performance out of their machine. This doesn't mean either is better, just that some people are content never upgrading their machine and others thrive on changing their hardware configuration to gain more performance.

Apple claims that there is over 15,000 software titles available for macOS, but let's face it, most of those are just pc ports. Not very many companies out there program exclusively for mac. not very many virus developers out there for mac either, which is one of the contributing factors to mac's acclaimed stablity. PC's have a bigger userbase, and it's easier to program malicious code for windows.

As for MacOS, I was forced to use it throughout highschool and the past few years at college, and I hated it. As a windows user I found it counter-intuitive and although I could get around I felt like the interface was trying to separate me from the way the computer works. as a techie who likes to know how things work and what's going on in the background, and I felt like < OS9 was trying to protect me from my own curiosity. I found the macs to be slower and more crash-happy than my own windows machine that I built for over 2000 less than these spankin new macs. Now the macs at school have OSX, which I haven't had much of a chance to use yet, but should be much less frustrating. I built the PC I'm posting from now, and crashing is not even a consideration, let alone an issue.

I obviously lean in one direction, but it's different strokes for different folks.

edit: lol i didn't put a space between < and OS9, and the rest of the paragraph disappeared.
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Old 09-01-2004, 09:55 AM   #21 (permalink)
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It's a myth that Macs are more expensive. An eMac with a 1.25 GHz G4 processor, 17-inch flat CRT display, 40GB Ultra ATA drive, 256MB of 333 MHz DDR SDRAM, combo drive (cd burn/dvd read), ATI Radeon 9200 graphics w/32 DDR video memory, two firewire 400 ports and three USB 2.0 ports, 10/100 BASE-T Ethernet and 56K V.92 modem, and AirPort and bluetoothe ready for $799 is one hell of a deal. I personally have this computer, except with the 80GB hard drive, a superdrive ( cd burn/dvd burn), and a gig of ram.

I play UNREAL 2003 and 2004, Star and Warcraft, Diablo 2, Age of Mythology, Battlefield 1942, Bloodrayne, Call of duty, Command and Conquer, Civilization 3, Ghost Recon: Desert Siege, Halo, Homeworld 2, James Bond Night Fire, Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast, LOTR Return of the King, Max Payne, Medal of Honor (all of them), Myst, No one Lives Forever 1 & 2, Rainbow Six 3, and numerous other games. Everyone seems to think that there are no games for mac. Now I know better.
I'm not going to list all the applications and software that I have, but I can basically do anything on my computer that someone can on their PC.

MikeC, can you be more specific about what's ridiculous? Do you mean that you think that PCs are made to the same quality as Macs as far as hardware? Please elaborate.
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Old 09-01-2004, 10:37 AM   #22 (permalink)
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i think willravel works for the apple store or he has some stock invested with them
 
Old 09-01-2004, 11:11 AM   #23 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by willravel
It's a myth that Macs are more expensive. An eMac with a 1.25 GHz G4 processor, 17-inch flat CRT display, 40GB Ultra ATA drive, 256MB of 333 MHz DDR SDRAM, combo drive (cd burn/dvd read), ATI Radeon 9200 graphics w/32 DDR video memory, two firewire 400 ports and three USB 2.0 ports, 10/100 BASE-T Ethernet and 56K V.92 modem, and AirPort and bluetoothe ready for $799 is one hell of a deal. I personally have this computer, except with the 80GB hard drive, a superdrive ( cd burn/dvd burn), and a gig of ram.
At a glance, that sounds good, but it's a small amount of outdated RAM, a video card from like 3 years ago, and a tiny HDD. You can get a similarly equipped PC for about half that price. If you spend the same money, you can get a system with much more and a AMD 3200XP+. That is no myth.
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Old 09-01-2004, 11:12 AM   #24 (permalink)
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My investment has more to do with time than anything else. I've beeen using Macs since the original Macintosh released in 1983. I've owned the first notebook mac ever had, an apple classic, and two iMacs. Now I have an eMac. I'm probably going to be getting the new G5 iMac, just released, in about 4-6 months.

I don't work for apple nor do I own stock.
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Old 09-01-2004, 01:31 PM   #25 (permalink)
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The G5's are obscenly priced. Looking on nextag.com, the cheapest I found was a 1.6GHz for $1,573. For that price, it still comes with only an 80GB HDD, 256MB PC-2700 DDR RAM (outdated), and a X 5200 64MB vid card (outdated).
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Old 09-01-2004, 01:38 PM   #26 (permalink)
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just out of curiosity, what was the aim of this thread?
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Old 09-01-2004, 01:57 PM   #27 (permalink)
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Very good question. Originally, I posted here to try and see what middleground existed between Mac users and PC users. I used my true story, because it featured what people generaloly consider to be the strengths and weaknesses of each side. I have often had discussions with my friends who all use pcs and they seem to know nothing about Macs, desipte the fact that they consistantly bad mouthed them and never reccomended them. I want to get a handle on what people are saying on both sides and try to use what I know to address what's being said. Honestly there are myths out there about both sides, and I also wanted to address those. I prefer mutual knowledge. I prefer Macs, obviously, but I would be just as quick to correct a Mac guy about PCs.
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Old 09-01-2004, 01:58 PM   #28 (permalink)
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Sorry I wasn't more specific.
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Old 09-02-2004, 04:01 AM   #29 (permalink)
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you know, it's just fine to have both Macs and PC's out there; everyone is different, I'm glad there's more than one choice. Why can't it be ok for one person to choose one thing and another to choose something else? It's like this stupid presidential campaign. My mom this Bush is Jesus Christ incarnate, and my friends at work think Kerry is the greatest American Hero ever, and they bitch about each other all day. One friend at work loves Macs and is constantly berating the "high-end" emachines (note sarcasm) I have at work because it crashes. Another friend says Macs suck all day long. They're both fine! I use what I'm used to. I don't have enough to get 2 computers, so I have one, and since I grew up with PC, it's a PC.

Another question is why this even makes me upset to begin with? I don't want it to, but it does. Why do I care? I don't feel particularly protective of PCs, I just like computers. I don't even like WIndows all that much, but why does it make me mad when people say "It's kinda funny. Most of the things that windows has come out with that are so ground breaking have been done by mac earlier." - Willravel

Here is my final question:

would the world be a better place without one of the contenders? Should we get rid of one option so there is only one choice? Should everyone have the smae exact system?

funny, I've never been upset by someone's choice of toothpaste.
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Old 09-02-2004, 04:09 AM   #30 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lasereth
It's a trade-off...each has its own advantages and disadvantages.

-Lasereth
Which is exactly why I have both platforms. I run a mac for when I want a computer that I know will work 24/7 and I can use and enjoy. I run XP for when I need to do something that the mac can't do. It's fairly simple. I don't understand the zealots on either side.

Right, as for cost:
The way I see it is that my mac has 100% uptime. Fine, I paid a hell of a lot for it, but it's there whenever I need it. Say a PC goes down for a few hours, I think that most people would be happier paying $20 or so instead of having that downtime and extra workload... It's a more drastic situation in the workplace, what with people depending on their computer and having to pay tech support staff.

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Old 09-02-2004, 04:45 AM   #31 (permalink)
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Originally Posted by willravel
MikeC, can you be more specific about what's ridiculous? Do you mean that you think that PCs are made to the same quality as Macs as far as hardware? Please elaborate.
yes, that is exactly what I mean. I don't think anyone can say that the assembly line churning out a mac mobo/processor is any better or worse than an assembly line churning out intel processors and asus motherboards. And both Mac and PC use the same memory chips, so the quality there is no question, the same on both sides.
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Old 09-02-2004, 09:03 AM   #32 (permalink)
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True, but one hardware advantage that apple has is they have 100% control over components and software and can therefore keep errors to a minimum.
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Old 09-02-2004, 09:53 AM   #33 (permalink)
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which is why macOS works so well. if windows only had to write software drivers for only a handful of hardware configs, I would guarantee that some of the instability issues users have would virtually disappear.

it's the price that is paid for the software working on virtually any hardware config......except for a mac config of course heheh.
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Old 09-02-2004, 09:35 PM   #34 (permalink)
... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.
 
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If you take a higher end PC and compare it to a medium Mac, then it about hits the even mark. But, you would probably have to build your own PC to keep up with the higher end Macs (example: the dual 2.5 GHz G5 tower with 8GB DDR400 SDRAM, dual 250GB serial ATA hard drives, and the 30" Apple Cinema HD Display w/ Airport, bluetoosh, PCI-X Gigibit Ethernet Card, Fibre Channel PCI-X Card (w/SFP-SFP cable), and an iPod). BTW, that computer comes fully assembled, ready to plung in and go. No assembly required.
8 Gigs of ram is fun.
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Old 09-03-2004, 09:40 AM   #35 (permalink)
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here is my experience.

I have grown up on PCs. With new pcs and resonable use I have rarely crashed with XP (ME is different but outdated). I love XP a lot and will contiune to use it until I get longhorn (LOL)

I work with OS 9.2 at work (apple) and it freezes all the time. I can't have too many IE windows open because it will tell me "I'm out of money." Its slow and I often have to 'hard' restart it.

OSX is really nice but the limited compatibility outweighs anything that I would gain in Reliability (XP doesn't crash for me)

Everyones experience is different *shrugs*
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Old 09-03-2004, 09:41 AM   #36 (permalink)
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wtf do you do with eight gigs of ram?
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Old 09-03-2004, 10:48 AM   #37 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by willravel
But, you would probably have to build your own PC to keep up with the higher end Macs (example: the dual 2.5 GHz G5 tower with 8GB DDR400 SDRAM, dual 250GB serial ATA hard drives, and the 30" Apple Cinema HD Display w/ Airport, bluetoosh, PCI-X Gigibit Ethernet Card, Fibre Channel PCI-X Card (w/SFP-SFP cable), and an iPod). BTW, that computer comes fully assembled, ready to plung in and go. No assembly required.
8 Gigs of ram is fun.
Final price of that computer, $12,552. I can buy a fucking new car for that price.

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPL.../7.0.9.1.0.6.3

Quote:
• Dual 2.5GHz PowerPC G5
• 8GB DDR400 SDRAM (PC3200) - 8x1GB
• 2x250GB Serial ATA - 7200rpm
• NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL
• Apple Cinema HD Display (30" flat panel)
• AirPort Extreme Card
• Bluetooth Module
• 56k V.92 modem
• 8x SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW)
• PCI-X Gigabit Ethernet Card
• Fibre Channel PCI-X Card (w/SFP-SFP cable)
• Apple Keyboard & Apple Mouse - U.S. English
• Mac OS X - U.S. English


Subtotal $12,552.00
MAC price gourges their customers so much that they charge $4,650 for the upgrade to 8GB RAM. The display is $3,299.

Alienware has their video array system coming out in a month or two. It will use 2 seperate video cards to render images. Benchmarks leaked showed a 50-70% boost over single video card systems. You'll be able to outfit this computer with all the bells and whistles that the dual G5 mac can have and it will cost about the same (or less). It will smoke the dual G5. You can even power 4 seperate displays with it.

http://www.alienware.com/alx_pages/main_content.aspx

Last edited by kutulu; 09-03-2004 at 11:08 AM..
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Old 09-03-2004, 06:23 PM   #38 (permalink)
... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.
 
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Yep. "You'll be able to outfit this computer with all the bells and whistles..." Exactly. You'll have to do it. You have to open up the tower (basically unheard of for Macs), and put this is and take this out. Also, the Alienware computer ISN'T OUT YET. Mac is really good at springing new products on people. I know they just came out with the G5 iMac, but who knows what's next? Who knows when the unheard of G6 or possibly a faster G5 will come onto the market? As for right now, Mac is the Porsche or Ferrari of computers. Also, I never said that you didn't have to pay an arm and a leg.
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Old 09-04-2004, 07:37 AM   #39 (permalink)
I flopped the nutz...
 
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Location: Stratford, CT
Quote:
Originally Posted by ruggerp11
wtf do you do with eight gigs of ram?
that's what I'm saying.
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Old 09-04-2004, 10:23 AM   #40 (permalink)
... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.
 
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Comps like the one I listed are used by Lucas Arts among other cgi companies. It is spectacular to watch a movie that is such high quality that it will apear on a screen that can be over a hundred of feet across. It's also a lot of fun to tell your friends that you have the cash to buy a computer that's got 8 gigs of ram.
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