Gene needs a new laptop:Mac or PC ?(MOD EDIT-I got a mac, new poll question)

[mtbmichael]

depends on how tech savvy the person is. personally, i'll take a pc and put linux on it, but if you have absolutely no idea what you're doing and want reliability, mac may be your answer. if you're super tech savvy, then osx on pc would be cool too.

[strobelite]

get the mac, buy the warrantee, and never look back- this is coming from someone raised on msdos.

[trailman]

the more popular the macs get, the more viruses will get written for them.
vista, although nothing to write home about, isn't as bad a people say. (i have run it for a year.)
macs are real nice is you have lots of money to burn, don't like to upgrade and like running nothing but apple software.

[BrewMaster]

blue screen of death, viruses, ease of use...bah, that's all old news. I've used PCs my entire life and haven't had any of those problems in years. More specifically, I've owned 4 Dell laptops and many desktops with little problems in the laptops.

that said, Linda's next computer will be a Mac (I have no choice since my laptop comes from work).

Gene, as you've probably seen, there's a lot of pride and, dare I say, arrogance, from both sides of the discussion. I don't think the question is Mac vs. PC, but rather, what computer fits your needs best. I don't believe all PCs are created equal.

I've decided that our next laptop will be Mac because I have been impressed with the interface, power, ease of use, and uniformity of Macs. Everything works with everything in the Mac world. That makes me enjoy using their product.

Sure PC users like myself have long said, "you don't need a Mac if you know how to maintain your PC properly." The fact for me is that I am not a computer geek and I would rather ride my bike than mess with my computer.

Go to the Mac store and play around or try out one of your friend's Macs. You decide what you want to stare at everyday.

[Edog]

Best Buy has some killer deals on Macs they are last years & would benefit from some RAM upgrades. The pricing is better than the Mac student discount!
I always use PC's, but I do like a Mac for home use, it's great for Music, Pictures etc.
This model is sweet, the screen is small at 13.3" but it's perfect for travel & you could get a 20" moniter for under $200

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1193451411770
This laptop combines a powerful Intel® Core™2 Duo processor with built-in AirPort Extreme wireless capabilities to deliver blazing-fast speed and performance from the new Mac OS X "Leopard" and your multimedia applications.

• <LI class=bullet-sq-ccccff>Intel® Core™2 Duo mobile processor with 800MHz frontside bus, 4MB shared L2 cache and 2.2GHz processor speed <LI class=bullet-sq-ccccff>1GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM for multitasking power, expandable to 4GB
• Slot-loading SuperDrive multiformat DVD±RW/CD-RW drive with double-layer support records up to 8.5GB of data or 4 hours of video using compatible DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media

[JoeTruth]

This coming from a PC/Windows guy...

For your application (photos, music, internet), a Mac would be a perfect fit. The only stumbling block seems to be your budget. Technology becomes out dated quick enough; don't go buying last years stuff in order to save a few bucks. If you're going to do it, do it right. I'm not saying buy the top tier stuff. Use some common sense, of course. Mac's are NOT cheap! You can add ram later but buy enough to allow the system to run properly and then expand as you can afford. That same theory doesn't apply to the CPU. Upgrading to a larger hard drive down the road is pain so buy as much as you can afford now. If money was no object, go get a Mac Air and "forgetaboutit" but that's not realistic.

Don't think Mac's don't have their share of problems as I've seen many break down or crash. You don't hear about it as often for 2 reasons. Only 1 out 10 users uses a Mac. 2. Mac users are in denial and always sugar coat problems. They somehow blame disasters on MS. Go figure!

Lastly, I wouldn't completely discount a Windows machine. Vista (especially with SP1) runs pretty damn good. All this BSOD (blue screen of death) talk is so old and nonsense. I've been running Vista since it was in beta. In the beginning, yeah I had problems but that's why it was called beta. Now, it's become extremely stable. The Mac and Windows platforms are are becoming frighteningly similar to one another. Lots of parallels.

My only advise to going with Vista is get at least 2 Gb's of ram and stay away from Celerons. Go dual or quad Core processors. some good hardware out now-a-days. Worth a consideration.

[el_d00der1n0]

Tired of the BSOD? Don't have enough $$$ for a decent Mac? Want to be virus free? Want to have photo editing/managing software built in without having to install anything? Tired of throwing money at Bill & Steve? I could go on forever.

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/s...=19&l=en&s=dhs



PS: PC is a machine. It can have whatever OS you put on it.
PS2: I haven't had a BSOD on a Windows machine since XP, but whatever.
PS3: Vista is pretty bad. My wife has it on her notebook, and it's been crashy -- still no BSOD though.

[Abui]

Originally Posted by KeepsWhatHappens

Gene needs a new laptop. He has around $1200 to spend. He just needs it for email, music and photos. Being a Mac person I told him a Macbook is a no-brainer. But he's a PC guy and can't understand when I tell him a Mac is just EASIER to use and is perfect for what he needs to do. I tried explaining it to him but as you Mac people know, it's hard to know what I'm talking about until you try the Mac.

Hey no more blue screens of death is a big seller eh?

I told him as Ferris Bueller says "If you have the means, I highly recommend it."

But let's hear the group's opinions and help Gene decide...Mac or PC?

Buying a Mac is like supporting a charity, you fell warm supporting a cause, you get something, but not bang for buck. Over Christmas we bought HP laptops for less than $500 (Athlon dual-core 64, 160GB). Added TV tuners (IR remote, works as DVR) for $69.

Haven't seen BSOD on any PC in years. Current PC criticism is like saying Crossfire is the only game on Macs.

PC software - it works, there's lots.

[thephat]

Anyone want to modify comments for my needs? We run Quickbooks Pro, and network it to several computers. We are abusive, and they are in constant use. I want to attach Quickbooks Point of sale soon, so that we can run bar codes. We have a staff of almost 20 trained on pc, but we need to replace most of them soon. They are old and getting unreliable. We currently are on 1-3 year old Toshiba lap tops. One of the two one year old ones just died ( I think mother board). We have a somewhat high powered one year old HP desktop anchoring the deal. I am not that impressed with this thing, but there are no deal killers.

[gregOREO]

tell him to watch Mac comercials

i grew up on PC way back when win95 all the way through vista and i own a mac mini and at work i work on Mac Pro desktop and love it

my wife works at Western Digital(hard drive manf) so she a die hard Pc person

so i would say its a matter of preference but i would go with MAC

[JoeTruth]

Originally Posted by thephat

Anyone want to modify comments for my needs? We run Quickbooks Pro, and network it to several computers. We are abusive, and they are in constant use. I want to attach Quickbooks Point of sale soon, so that we can run bar codes. We have a staff of almost 20 trained on pc, but we need to replace most of them soon. They are old and getting unreliable. We currently are on 1-3 year old Toshiba lap tops. One of the two one year old ones just died ( I think mother board). We have a somewhat high powered one year old HP desktop anchoring the deal. I am not that impressed with this thing, but there are no deal killers.

Is there a need for laptops in your shop (aside from the obvious 1-2 here and there for roaming)? From what I saw the other day, everything is stationary. Considering how dirty a shop can get, why use laptops that are very sensitive as it is? Why not use mini-desktops with cheap kb's and mice and let your staff beat the crap out of them and your only out a kb and mouse, which are dirt cheap. The huge benefit would be cost per unit. Considerably cheaper then laptops and much easier and cheaper to service and upgrade.

As far as going with macs vs. pc's. In a business environment, I'd stick with Windows based pc's. Stay away from most of the crap they sell at retail stores and order it through dell's small business division. If your concerned about Vista, you can still order them with XP Pro. Especially since you're using Quickbooks Pro and are considering going to their POS. Although I know of people who run Qbooks on their Mac's using parallel, I wouldn't exactly call it the best way to get from point A to B.

Another thing you can do is block all the b.s. stuff through a firewall router. This won't be popular with your employees but it will make your systems run so much smoother. All that Myspace, Facebook, etc is full of adware and cookies. A gazillion of them get dumped on your computers in the process. Some will work their way into your startup and that's usually the beginning of the end to good performance.

[SheDevil]

For 1200 I say PC....only because you'll get bang for the buck. 1200 won't get you much in a MAC. Good Luck.

[destroyer]

I've had both, if he's fine with windows I would recommend he stay with windows. I think the more someone knows windows inside and out the tougher it is to switch to a mac. They both have advantages and disadvantages.

[Bergsteiger]

Mac all the way. I now own 2-24" Imacs, a Macbook, Apple TV, and 2 -I phones in our house.
Could not be happier. I can only say buy it and you will never look back. Its not a trend, its just so much better then anything else out there.
I just bought PC solely for the purpose of building it up and using it for Microsoft Flight Sim X for real life instrument flight training. Nothing else.
Seeing windows running next to my Imac is like looking at a Yugo next to my Porsche.

[boboso]

My wife has the basic mac book and loves it... email, shared library for photos music, internet, etc. Never fails, just works.

[faded1004]

i think mac would be nice. my sister got one and she likes it. same things you are planning to use for... but she also uses it to plan her work stuff and meetings.

i personally can't use it now, cause i use too many engineeringn programs... so i need to match my work computers... so it's easy for me...

[L8 APEKS]

Mac users are snobs! it's so anti-MTB!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=c2sT5l9-YR8

[mcinvale]

If you do end up getting a Mac, don't buy first generation hardware.

[dstepper]

I am totally stuck with PC unless I dual boot a Mac with Windows. I have spent mucho money on Windows only GPS Topo Software and have years of windows only Topo files.

Dean