PC or MAC

[eaheer]

I am just curious here, and would like to see how many use PC, or Mac? I use PC, and my brother in law has made the transition over to MAC, and keeps trying to get me to make that change. Let's hear what you use, and how you feel about these two different systems.

[RYBO]

poll added

[eaheer]

poll addedThank you RYBO, I was having issues setting up the poll.

[DavidofColorado]

More things are made for the PC. If you want to be trendy and be different get a mac. You have to learn a whole new system with a mac and it doesn't always be as simple as it should be. However, I have a 22 cinema screen that is made for macs and works on my PC DVI port. I don't get to see it booting up but it works as it should after that. It was free I can't complain.
David

[eaheer]

I forgot to add the option on the poll for using both, I heard that some people do use both systems, and if I heard correctly, you can actually use MAC and PC on the same machine. Well that is what my brother in law mentioned to me the other day. This should be some interesting discussions.

[dm_gsxr]

And you forgot adding things other than Mac or PC :)

I'm on a Mac Powerbook G4 right now. I use a Dell laptop at work right now and and an IBM laptop at IBM.

Downstairs I have three Sun servers (two Ultra 60's, one Enterprise 250), one Linux (Mandrake), one OpenBSD, one Windows XP and one Windows 98 SE. At the colocation site, I have an OpenBSD server.

With that out of the way :)

I'm a Unix geek. I use the Mac most of the time. I'm also a gamer so the XP box is set up as a game machine. Since it has all the drivers for stuff, I also use it for managing my photos, download video from the camcorder, scan stuff, holds the backups from the laptops.

I like the Mac a lot. But I don't just surf the 'net so I'll use whatever machine fits the purpose.

Carl

[DavidofColorado]

Yep I can use a mac monitor on my PC.

[eaheer]

And you forgot adding things other than Mac or PC :)

I'm on a Mac Powerbook G4 right now. I use a Dell laptop at work right now and and an IBM laptop at IBM.

Downstairs I have three Sun servers (two Ultra 60's, one Enterprise 250), one Linux (Mandrake), one OpenBSD, one Windows XP and one Windows 98 SE. At the colocation site, I have an OpenBSD server.

With that out of the way :)

I'm a Unix geek. I use the Mac most of the time. I'm also a gamer so the XP box is set up as a game machine. Since it has all the drivers for stuff, I also use it for managing my photos, download video from the camcorder, scan stuff, holds the backups from the laptops.

I like the Mac a lot. But I don't just surf the 'net so I'll use whatever machine fits the purpose.

CarlUm Carl, all I can say is WOW! That was some serious amount of information. For the other person, I didn't mean Mac monitor, I meant Mac operating system. Carl, you sure use a lot of stuff, that is for sure! Right on its nice to hear EVERYONE'S thoughts.

[DavidofColorado]

Well excuuuuse me. j/k I knew you meant the operating systems. But I don't see a need for it unless you are on a mac computer than you want benefit from having windows on there too. But mac users are cliquey. I bet they would give yu a kidney if you told them you use a mac too. Its like sportbike riders.

[Canuck]

With Apple you can upload M$ Windoz if you "need to" or just like wasting your money on a shitty OS. Hell, with a Mac you can use virtually any OS on it.

[DavidofColorado]

There is a reason that Apple came out first and still only has 5% market share. I don't know what it is. But there is nothing needed with windows. I say get both and enjoy. There is no law that says you have to settle for one computer for the rest of your life.

[pilot]

We use a Mac for the IMS trade show work, Total Control training and Lee Parks Designs as well as creating quite a few editorials and graphics work for several national bike magazines and web sites. On a user note, the Mac doesn't go through the shut down and start up systems that the OS for the Windows systems does. Just close it and open it--that simple. That's for work. For my day to day it is a PC.

[Mista Black]

I used to have a room mate who was a Mac guy; he had a few in the computer room. He said he switched cause he was tired of blue screens, which his Mac never got. It would lock up and stop working but never turned blue, is what I saw. My PCs never had issues. If you take care of your stuff it'll never be a problem. If you don't you'll have issues, be it with Mac's, PC's, Linux, Unix, whatever.

IMO, though, Mac's are seriously overpriced for what you get. Now they're using Intel parts cause they've finally realized they can't match the power of the PC without switching and can't beat the prices.

I use XP mostly but play with Linux some, too. I'll probably keep expanding on the Linux frontier, though; I like it.

[Sonic Boom]

"I don't know why Mac users get so defensive when you call them idiots. I mean, Apple is a company that has built its entire user base around the fact that its users can't do simple things like turn their computers on. Hell, most Mac users can't even talk without using their hands, which ranks their intelligence somewhere between a simian and hog shit.

Stupid user base aside, I will never own a Mac. It's not so much that I'm a PC loyalist. I'm not. It's that I'm not stylish enough to own one. Most iPod commercials feature guys with long hair, chicks roller skating, and guys wearing fedoras. I have dandruff, and I buy most of my jeans from a grocery store. I feel like in order to have a Mac, I need to be:

An artist.
In a band.
Unemployed (see above)"

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=macs_cant

[ihavealegohead]

ah both for me..


PC with a VMWARE OSx86 appliance (Mac os running in a VMWARE partition).

[RYBO]

"I don't know why Mac users get so defensive when you call them idiots. I mean, Apple is a company that has built its entire user base around the fact that its users can't do simple things like turn their computers on. Hell, most Mac users can't even talk without using their hands, which ranks their intelligence somewhere between a simian and hog shit.

Stupid user base aside, I will never own a Mac. It's not so much that I'm a PC loyalist. I'm not. It's that I'm not stylish enough to own one. Most iPod commercials feature guys with long hair, chicks roller skating, and guys wearing fedoras. I have dandruff, and I buy most of my jeans from a grocery store. I feel like in order to have a Mac, I need to be:

An artist.
In a band.
Unemployed (see above)"



Wow...I never knew that my choice in computers defined my life so completely. I own a mac, and an I pod for that matter, and frankly I've never been classified as "stylish" "trendy" "artist" "band member" or "unemployed". I too buy my clothing on sale or closeout and tend to stick with styles that are functional for me. I've never appeared in an IPod commercial, but your statment about hair clears that up for me as I have very little remaining.

So, maybe you don't see it, but I do take offense to being called an "idiot" because I chose to purchase something that works for me.

Simians, by the way, are an infraorder (simiiformes), and include the family hominidae which is all humans and the great apes. Since I assume that you meant this to be an insult a better choice of infraorders would have been to say that most mac users rank their intelligence somewhere between prosimians and hog shit, but I digress.

[Filo]

Wow...I never knew that my choice in computers defined my life so completely. I own a mac, and an I pod for that matter, and frankly I've never been classified as "stylish" "trendy" "artist" "band member" or "unemployed". I too buy my clothing on sale or closeout and tend to stick with styles that are functional for me. I've never appeared in an IPod commercial, but your statment about hair clears that up for me as I have very little remaining.

So, maybe you don't see it, but I do take offense to being called an "idiot" because I chose to purchase something that works for me.

Simians, by the way, are an infraorder (simiiformes), and include the family hominidae which is all humans and the great apes. Since I assume that you meant this to be an insult a better choice of infraorders would have been to say that most mac users rank their intelligence somewhere between prosimians and hog shit, but I digress.

Come on Scott, we all know you have (and wear on weekends) that Dee Schnider blond metal head wig. You prosimian (specifically Lemuridae).

[ihavealegohead]

I love this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3q8_40GBuI

[RYBO]

Come on Scott, we all know you have (and wear on weekends) that Dee Schnider blond metal head wig. You prosimian (specifically Lemuridae).

Clearly someone smarter than me....you must use a PC (or you stayed in a Holiday Inn express last night)

[Sonic Boom]

Wow...I never knew that my choice in computers defined my life so completely. I own a mac, and an I pod for that matter, and frankly I've never been classified as "stylish" "trendy" "artist" "band member" or "unemployed". I too buy my clothing on sale or closeout and tend to stick with styles that are functional for me. I've never appeared in an IPod commercial, but your statment about hair clears that up for me as I have very little remaining.

So, maybe you don't see it, but I do take offense to being called an "idiot" because I chose to purchase something that works for me.

Simians, by the way, are an infraorder (simiiformes), and include the family hominidae which is all humans and the great apes. Since I assume that you meant this to be an insult a better choice of infraorders would have been to say that most mac users rank their intelligence somewhere between prosimians and hog shit, but I digress.

Scott, I didn't write ANY of that. Check the link I put in the page. I also quoted it. I just thought it was funny. I have an iBook and a desktop PC also.

[rforsythe]

Wow...I never knew that my choice in computers defined my life so completely. I own a mac, and an I pod for that matter, and frankly I've never been classified as "stylish" "trendy" "artist" "band member" or "unemployed".

Technically I was classified as "unemployed" at one point, but it wasn't for lack of trying... And I got the Mac long after that situation was resolved.

Dude maybe by not fitting into the stereotype, we're starting the new trend of mac owners! We should totally start a band and try to paint some shit.

[Filo]

Macs are expensive - no doubt about it. They also do some stuff (like video editing) much better than a PC. PCs are better at gaming (which I don't do) and have more applications available for them. For example, Quicken is a few generations behind on the Mac version.

The reason PCs are less expensive, have more applications and a bigger market share is that IBM chose to license its PC architecture and Mac chose to not license it. Thus, the only place you get a Mac is Apple whereas everyone with a garage can make a PC. This is also why Macs tend to be more stable than a PC - Apple controls the hardware and therefore has explicit knowledge when writing drivers; Microsoft doesn't control the hardware and drivers are written by both Microsoft and external companies. More hands in the pot means more chances to mess up something.

I use a Linux laptop (running Ubuntu), a G4 Mac and a Pentium running XP at home. Work is a Dell Precision 370 running Redhat linux with VMware running XP. No one uses Sun machines anymore (Carl).

[rforsythe]

Macs are expensive - no doubt about it. They also do some stuff (like video editing) much better than a PC. PCs are better at gaming (which I don't do) and have more applications available for them. For example, Quicken is a few generations behind on the Mac version.

The reason PCs are less expensive, have more applications and a bigger market share is that IBM chose to license its PC architecture and Mac chose to not license it. Thus, the only place you get a Mac is Apple whereas everyone with a garage can make a PC. This is also why Macs tend to be more stable than a PC - Apple controls the hardware and therefore has explicit knowledge when writing drivers; Microsoft doesn't control the hardware and drivers are written by both Microsoft and external companies. More hands in the pot means more chances to mess up something.

I use a Linux laptop (running Ubuntu), a G4 Mac and a Pentium running XP at home. Work is a Dell Precision 370 running Redhat linux with VMware running XP. No one uses Sun machines anymore (Carl).

What he said.

FWIW I have my choice of systems at work. I have a Macbook Pro and a Dell running XP (with the Intel Core Duo, certainly not a low-end machine). The Dell sits in the corner of my desk as a backup if I need to wander into the data center to plug into a console port on something, otherwise it remains dormant for the most part. The fact that Mac runs on a UNIX base (BSD) means I kill two birds with one stone, and most of the things I need to run are available on the Mac. I don't game either so I couldn't care less about that part of it. I also have Parallels on my Mac with XP, for the few Windows-specific apps that I have to use for work. Beyond that though I can't imagine using that clunky crappy OS by choice ever again.

I don't know anyone that has a Sun as a workstation (maybe some of our developers, but that's a long shot), but we have several data centers with them racked by the thousands, because as a server platform they are rock solid (and Sun Support is hard to beat).

[dm_gsxr]

No one uses Sun machines anymore (Carl).

Better not tell that to any of the unix admin teams I've been on in my career. Most of us have a Sun box or Solaris on an X86 running under our desk.

Technically though the Sun boxes at home aren't for surfing but for learning. I have Solaris 11 on the Enterprise 250 and am learning how to use zfs and zones.

Rita gets upset if I power them on and leave them running for any length of time. Just having the E250 running for a day or two significantly heats up the basement :D

I've used Linux on a desktop box a few times but it never really jelled for me. I think it's one of the main reasons I moved over to the Mac for my general screwing around. The XP box only gets powered up when I'm downstairs really geeking.

Carl

[Filo]

No one uses Sun machines anymore (Carl).

Better not tell that to any of the unix admin teams I've been on in my career. Most of us have a Sun box or Solaris on an X86 running under our desk.



Yeah, I guess sarcasm really doesn't carry well on the internet. I was being facetious about the no one uses Suns thing. Although my work place has moved almost totally away from Sun/HP servers to Linux servers in our server farms. They are much cheaper. We stopped using Sun desktops about 4-5 years ago. I still use a Sun keyboard though...

[Devaclis]

uhuhuhuhu this thread is not gonna go well.

[dm_gsxr]

Yeah, I guess sarcasm really doesn't carry well on the internet. I was being facetious about the no one uses Suns thing. Although my work place has moved almost totally away from Sun/HP servers to Linux servers in our server farms. They are much cheaper. We stopped using Sun desktops about 4-5 years ago. I still use a Sun keyboard though...

Yea, we're about 50/50 Sun/Red Hat and about half the Sun boxes are on x86 type hardware. The really important stuff is on the high end Sun hardware though.

And considering Sun's had their first full year in the black, they can't be doing too bad :)

Carl

[InlineSIX24]

Anyone here done any graphics stuff w/ Redhat? I'm curious to know what the file compatability is between Gimp and Photoshop, and does Redhat have a vector based prog. like Illustrator?

[irdave]

Yeah, I switched to Mac maybe 4 years ago. I've got a MacBook Pro now. It's not quite as smooth as my Powerbook was- I figure it's the Intel processor. I've got XP on the backside of the partition and dual boot to use Solidworks and MasterCam. Parallels didn't cut it for me as the programs I use in Windows require way too much in the way of resources.

Makes me happy, so...

[CYCLE_MONKEY]

TRS-80!!!:rock:

Actually, I only used a Mac when my dad had one. I liked MacWord. In my professional (PC) life of 21 years, it's been nothing but PC's, with the notable exception of the 2 years I spent on a Silicon Graphics Indy system running Pro/E. That thing (and Unix) totally ROCKED! Every PC has proved far inferior in every way, especially running Pro/E, than that SG system. The monitor (HUGE and WAY HEAVY) had the BEST graphics. I miss that thing....:cry:

[eaheer]

Thanks to everyone for the response. I am not sure what I should do still? Maybe I will have both. PC, and MAC.

[Sonic Boom]

Thanks to everyone for the response. I am not sure what I should do still? Maybe I will have both. PC, and MAC.

That's what I did. PC desktop has been great so far (3 years) .... and I love my iBook. I had too many shitty dell laptops to go back.

[dm_gsxr]

That's what I did. PC desktop has been great so far (3 years) .... and I love my iBook. I had too many shitty dell laptops to go back.

Yea. Back in 2000 I got a hefty bonus for being part of the Y2K team and staying at work December 31st to January 1st. I maxed out a game PC. I've replaced the motherboard (failed), video card (and added a second one), memory, and hard disks as necessary and it still sits downstairs with the original monitor and a second flat screen one (looking for a third).

In 2004 we sold the house in Virginia. Prior to that though, we had a contract on it and the guy backed out. We kept half of his deposit and I used it to buy this Mac Powerbook G4 I'm on now. I've upgraded the RAM and hard disk and upgraded the OS.

Both still work great.

Determine what you need to do. If it includes games, I'd go with an XP based desktop. If you have a few extra bucks and don't play any heavy duty games, I'd go with a Mac laptop.

Carl

[Dizzy D]

Why in the world is Dana being so quiet in this thread? This is his favorite topic he loves giving shit about! (Including me - because I have converted to Mac.)

BTW I voted for Mac.

[will-t]

In my professional life, it's pretty much been all PC. My only Mac exposure was due to a handful of graphics classes back in college and playing some basic games on my teacher's Quadra 840AV.

However, even with that little exposure, the OS just stuck with me. When OSX first appeared, I went out an got myself an iBook G3. OS9 still worked beautifully and OSX was giving hints of what was to come. OSX being brand new didn't work for shit though, no driver support meant limited hardware options (including printers) and a lot of software was still for OS9 and needed to be run in a slower interpreted environment. Even so, playing with those early iterations of OSX gave me enough knowledge to support the basic Mac problems that cropped up with our Design department.

Fast forward a number of years and 3 systems later (iBook G4, G5 tower, and finally a MacBook Pro) and I don't use a PC for anything. I've got Parallels running XP Pro for the few work applications that I need, which actually runs better than Windows on a PC - faster startup, faster application start, less crashes, etc - and everything else is handled by OSX.

The Mac hardware is expensive, but you definitely get what you pay for. As someone already stated, the misguided decision to have a proprietary OS/hardware meld did have the good side effect of spawning a very stable platform.

The other nice accidental benefit to a Mac is that because they have such a small segment of the business world market share, no one bothers to write spyware, malware, and viruses that affect them. Don't make the mistake of believing that Macs are invulnerable to such problems, it's simply a matter of ego, the people writing malicious stuff want to see their stuff in action and making the choice of hitting 95 out of 100 is a lot more appealing than targeting the lowly group of 5.

Having used, and supported, both systems for the better part of 15 years, I'd have to say that the new Intel Macs are a lot more versatile, stable, and generally nicer to use than anything else I've come across.

[Suki]

Thanks to everyone for the response. I am not sure what I should do still? Maybe I will have both. PC, and MAC.

Well, if you go with a new PC, Vista will make you it's bitch.

We bought a notebook a few months back and it only comes with a trial version of MS Office 07, otherwise it's MS Works (And i didn't even find the office apps until just a month ago, so i was spending a good amount of time being pissed off at the laptop while trying to write papers with works). Also, alot of things aren't compatible 'yet' with Vista, such as the new printer we bought a couple weeks ago. So I had to dig out my desktop PC (with XP OS) just to use the printer.

So if you go the PC route, just make sure that printers, scanners, faxes, etc are going to be compatible with Vista, including games and whatever else or it could cost you more money in the long run.

[rforsythe]

Vista has actually make CNet's "Top 10 of Worst Tech" list because it's such a complete pile of shit. That people have been going back to XP in droves speaks volumes. Spending $150-$300 for an operating system that hardly works and requires almost new systems in many cases (taking the cost of your "software upgrade" to several hundred dollars if not more, unless your hardware is already very recent) is absurd.

[dattaway]

Linux, because a PC or Mac traditionally comes with horribly crippled software.

[Sonic Boom]

Vista has actually made CNet's "Top 10 of Worst Tech" list because it's such a complete pile of shit.

:lol:

The dealership I work for had tried it for a week (in the service department, where we have 110-150 service appointments a day, and after just 8 days, they went back to XP.

That was a joke.

[GiXXeRChicA]

mac. i run xp in vmware. works perfect.

[R1chie]

Thanks to everyone for the response. I am not sure what I should do still? Maybe I will have both. PC, and MAC.

The Mac and the PC are tools. Buy the best tool you can afford. That means figure out what you do most on the computer and buy the best tool. Thing is they both do the same thing, one does one thing better, the other does the something else better. Neither are perfect.

My take. The Mac can run windows, Windows hardware can run hacked versions of mac. Mac is more than double the price in almost every instance (though mac people will debate this). If you can afford both and you want both. Get both. I prefer two pc/laptop combinatings to one mac. I can do more. As far as what I use it for, photography, music, videography, web development, browsing the web. The PC does this perfect for me at half the cost. So that is what I choose. Some complain the Vista has problems. My laptop runs Vista and has no problems. I run xp software for music, photography, games and everything else I run on XP. Two program I run a lot are only written for the PC.

If you did not have a computer, buying a Mac or a PC would be a hard decision if you had lots of money. If you are on a budget and can only own one. The pc is the ticket. If you have the extra money to throw away, then you may consider a Mac. But if you already own a pc and have lots of software for it, say Photoshop CS2, games, music production software, MP3 encoders, or other third party apps, why would you switch (unless you have money to burn). Same with the Mac, if you have a bunch of software for it, why would you want to buy a PC and duplicate software.

So, the computer is a tool, buy the one that you like, the one you can afford, the one that has the software that you like. If I were you and I had a pc, I would either buy a new pc to replace the old one but if your old pc is working, save your money and buy a new bike, or parts for the old bike.

[merlotSV]

I have a Macbook and am running osx and windows xp. I had a powerbook 12" but when I got out of college and married I ended up having 4 laptops and the mac brought the most money so I sold it and used my wifes Dell. After 4 months of issues we sold the dell and bought the macbook. I have never looked back! My next will be a iMac...I love them (minus the lack of good photo editing software out of the box).

[R1chie]

Vista has actually make CNet's "Top 10 of Worst Tech" list because it's such a complete pile of shit. That people have been going back to XP in droves speaks volumes. Spending $150-$300 for an operating system that hardly works and requires almost new systems in many cases (taking the cost of your "software upgrade" to several hundred dollars if not more, unless your hardware is already very recent) is absurd.

I have not tried to install vista on an old system. Don't think I will try it either. My new system works fine, all my old software works fine although I had to mess with CorelDraw Suite 12 a bit to get it to work but it works perfect now. Other than that one little install issue it I have had no problems.

Personally if I wanted Vista, I would not spend 150 to 300 on the OS, I would buy a 300-400 on a new box with vista installed, much less expensive and it will work and you will have a processor and system much faster than a legecy hardware system that could have the reported trouble running Vista.

[TurboGizzmo]

I would like a new macbook with parallels, bootcamp, and/or VMware. Of course its the time of year that i cant buy stuff for myself, so waiting till after the holidays when I can snip one from Apple Outlet or from some frustrated windows to mac user that couldnt handle the change.

Till then I am a Windows Domain Admin by day and a Powerbook G4 Mac user by night ;)