why not buy a mac?

[rudder]

Originally posted by: ntdz
I have a mac mini, the $600 1.66 dual core duo, and I love it. I'll never replace windows as my main OS, but i like using something different sometimes. Plus, if you don't like osx for whatever reason, you can easily just put windows on it.

I just like the look of the mini. Sure I have to have a monstrosity for my gaming... but the mini looks good. I tried to make something similar with a PC, but decent ITX motherboards that can take decent cpu's are so expensive... making a sleek little box like the mini is cost prohibitive.

 

[Hulk]

I've heard a lot of good things about macs and upon seeing this thread decided to price one out on the Apple site.

Whew! To get a system *almost* as powerful as the one in my sig it looks like it would cost about 3 times as much. I paid $1200 for this rig without monitor.

I really have no problems with XP. I don't notice it and that's how an OS should be in my opinion.

It's just a price thing for me otherwise I'd give Mac a try.

 

[pradeep1]

Objective: Apple and their products are good and will serve the vast majority of people.

Subjective: I used Macs extensively in engineering school, but my heart will always be with PCs because they appeal to the geek/engineer/nerd in me. I just don't think I can get the satisfaction of breaking, building, optimizing, and tinkering that I can with a PC.

 

[Noema]

This is why

(NSFW)

 

[Noema]

And seriously...these are my thoughts on Macs:

Pros: They have an awesome, intuitive, user friendly, stable, secure, great looking, UNIX based operating system. And you can now install Windows on them.

...uhm, and, well, they are shiny, I guess.

Cons They are more expensive than a comparatively equipped PC; You can't build your own; You have to dual boot into Windows if you are a gamer.

 

[erikistired]

i've been a pc user my entire life, started tinkering when i was around 10 (i'll be 32 this year) on my dad's green screen sanyo. i was one of those mac haters for a large part of that, til i actually tried one last year. i picked up a 12" g4 powerbook to do school stuff on and travel with, and i absolutely fell in love with os x. i'm at the point now that i hardly touch my pc, and then it's for the occasional game. there were some program things i had to work out and a few i'm not 100% happy with (gaim > * for IMs but adium is coming along), but for the most part everything is perfect and works so much better than windows. yes i realize a large part of the stability comes from the closed hardware, but it doesn't negate the fact that it's still there.

i'll be upgrading to a macbook pro sometime this year and at that point my pc will go for good, i can boot into windows for my bf2 or sam & max fix.

why not? entry cost maybe. the mbp i have priced out will cost about 600 more than the asus i priced out, but the advantage of os x is worth it to me. ymmv.

 

[idiotekniQues]

i think my p180 case, my saitek backlit keyboard, mx518 mouse and soon to have dell 2407 monitor will look just as slick as any mac could on my black/silver computer desk.

not to mention i saved a ton of money and dont have to dual boot to do all the same things. i have never had a virus that did any damage, nor do i crash often. the macs at my school crash more than my pc at home by a long shot.

 

[idiotekniQues]

Originally posted by: Gooberlx2

Originally posted by: Platypus
Laptop ended up being 300 dollars cheaper or so with same hardware from Apple versus Dell, I use firewire a lot for music devices, and OSX is great + easy access to BSD shell.

No brainer for me, I'm no mac fanboy but it fit my needs more appropriately as a musician. I doubt I'd ever purchase a Mac desktop.. no reason in that case because of ridiculous cost premium. I could build something for a fraction of the cost and use XP or UNIX if I have to do any 'real' work. I won't go as far as to say it's not possible to do these things in OSX but there's just really no justification for me to use a Mac for something another OS does better.

I think if I get another laptop, it might be a mac, simply for the same reason bolded above.

edit: or not, I just checked them out and I swear they use to be much better for the price. Doesn't seem like much the case anymore.

my gf wanted a macbook pro and i told her to get one, in fact if i had the money i would get a mac for a laptop.

however, the 17"dell was almost $1000 cheaper for the same configuration.

i dont see how the mac's are cheaper.

 

[lamere]

Originally posted by: idiotekniQues

Originally posted by: Gooberlx2

Originally posted by: Platypus
Laptop ended up being 300 dollars cheaper or so with same hardware from Apple versus Dell, I use firewire a lot for music devices, and OSX is great + easy access to BSD shell.

No brainer for me, I'm no mac fanboy but it fit my needs more appropriately as a musician. I doubt I'd ever purchase a Mac desktop.. no reason in that case because of ridiculous cost premium. I could build something for a fraction of the cost and use XP or UNIX if I have to do any 'real' work. I won't go as far as to say it's not possible to do these things in OSX but there's just really no justification for me to use a Mac for something another OS does better.

I think if I get another laptop, it might be a mac, simply for the same reason bolded above.

edit: or not, I just checked them out and I swear they use to be much better for the price. Doesn't seem like much the case anymore.

my gf wanted a macbook pro and i told her to get one, in fact if i had the money i would get a mac for a laptop.

however, the 17"dell was almost $1000 cheaper for the same configuration.

i dont see how the mac's are cheaper.

because dell laptops are infamous for being POS's with their mobos dying days sometimes hours after the warranty expires.

i'd buy a mac over a dell ANY DAY, regardless of cost, just for the piece of mind that its not likely to have the hardware issues that dell has, and need to be replaced ANYWAY after a year and a half.

 

[idiotekniQues]

Originally posted by: lamere

Originally posted by: idiotekniQues

Originally posted by: Gooberlx2

Originally posted by: Platypus
Laptop ended up being 300 dollars cheaper or so with same hardware from Apple versus Dell, I use firewire a lot for music devices, and OSX is great + easy access to BSD shell.

No brainer for me, I'm no mac fanboy but it fit my needs more appropriately as a musician. I doubt I'd ever purchase a Mac desktop.. no reason in that case because of ridiculous cost premium. I could build something for a fraction of the cost and use XP or UNIX if I have to do any 'real' work. I won't go as far as to say it's not possible to do these things in OSX but there's just really no justification for me to use a Mac for something another OS does better.

I think if I get another laptop, it might be a mac, simply for the same reason bolded above.

edit: or not, I just checked them out and I swear they use to be much better for the price. Doesn't seem like much the case anymore.

my gf wanted a macbook pro and i told her to get one, in fact if i had the money i would get a mac for a laptop.

however, the 17"dell was almost $1000 cheaper for the same configuration.

i dont see how the mac's are cheaper.

because dell laptops are infamous for being POS's with their mobos dying days sometimes hours after the warranty expires.

i'd buy a mac over a dell ANY DAY, regardless of cost, just for the piece of mind that its not likely to have the hardware issues that dell has, and need to be replaced ANYWAY after a year and a half.

im not sure what your rant has to do with the claim that an equivalent apple laptop spec-wise is cheaper than a dell.

considering dell sells a ton more laptops than mac does, of course more will be defective.

i know a lot of people that have had dell laptops for awhile with little or no issues. just like how i have seen ups used a ton more than fed-ex, yet of all the packages i haev seen, only some from fed-ex looked like they played hockey with it.

but according to what you read online, ups abuses all t heir packages.

i think your POV is the same as that. mostly merit-less.

 

[lamere]

Originally posted by: idiotekniQues

Originally posted by: lamere

Originally posted by: idiotekniQues

Originally posted by: Gooberlx2

Originally posted by: Platypus
Laptop ended up being 300 dollars cheaper or so with same hardware from Apple versus Dell, I use firewire a lot for music devices, and OSX is great + easy access to BSD shell.

No brainer for me, I'm no mac fanboy but it fit my needs more appropriately as a musician. I doubt I'd ever purchase a Mac desktop.. no reason in that case because of ridiculous cost premium. I could build something for a fraction of the cost and use XP or UNIX if I have to do any 'real' work. I won't go as far as to say it's not possible to do these things in OSX but there's just really no justification for me to use a Mac for something another OS does better.

I think if I get another laptop, it might be a mac, simply for the same reason bolded above.

edit: or not, I just checked them out and I swear they use to be much better for the price. Doesn't seem like much the case anymore.

my gf wanted a macbook pro and i told her to get one, in fact if i had the money i would get a mac for a laptop.

however, the 17"dell was almost $1000 cheaper for the same configuration.

i dont see how the mac's are cheaper.

because dell laptops are infamous for being POS's with their mobos dying days sometimes hours after the warranty expires.

i'd buy a mac over a dell ANY DAY, regardless of cost, just for the piece of mind that its not likely to have the hardware issues that dell has, and need to be replaced ANYWAY after a year and a half.

im not sure what your rant has to do with the claim that an equivalent apple laptop spec-wise is cheaper than a dell.

considering dell sells a ton more laptops than mac does, of course more will be defective.

i know a lot of people that have had dell laptops for awhile with little or no issues. just like how i have seen ups used a ton more than fed-ex, yet of all the packages i haev seen, only some from fed-ex looked like they played hockey with it.

but according to what you read online, ups abuses all t heir packages.

i think your POV is the same as that. mostly merit-less.

not a rant at all, just stating the facts, based on my personal experience with dell laptops.

every single person i know that bought one has had SOME kind of hardware issue with their laptop.
Every single person.

 

[dreddfunk]

Reasons to not go with a Mac? That's the official topic. Hmmm...

We'll I've certainly used both for many, many years. The biggest downside to the Mac laptops that I can see is the lack of an integrated, two-button mouse. It's a non-issue for the desktop.

On the desktop, I personally think dual-booting just isn't much fun. If you're not worried about gaming, this is a non-issue as well because Parallels desktop allows you to seamlessly used Windows apps from the Mac desktop. Dual booting is a hassle, however small. If you are a hard-core Windows gamer, a Mac just isn't going to be the right call for you, for this, and many other reasons...among which:

Upgrades are another big reason, as many have mentioned. The iMac's biggest strength is also it's biggest weakness: it's design. You're stuck with dead pixels or a failing screen after the warranty ends. The quality of LCD panels has increased sharply so this isn't nearly as much of a con as it could be, but it sure would stink to have to pay Apple through the nose in order to get a 20" LCD screen replaced, when comparable models cost $200 from Newegg. You also won't be able to easily upgrade the GPU, even if there is space...there aren't proper BIOS and drivers available for most cards on sale.

Also, if you don't get enough memory the UI can be sluggish. It's probably just that my experience with OSX has mostly been on my wife's powerbook G4s, but the UI can be somewhat less responsive on lower-end Mac hardware, especially when compared to stripped down version of XP.

Finally, someone already mentioned the dock as being inferior to the Windows taskbar, and on some level I agree. The dock can be very limiting for some types of power users. Essentially, if you use a very small number of applications incessantly, the dock is for you. If you have tons of applications you use consistently, but often infrequently, then the dock is a poor solution. In the latter case, it becomes crowded and less easy to see, especially once a lot of applications and windows are open (as they are added by default to the dock). To get an idea of whether or not you'd like the Apple dock, I'd recommend anyone interested download ObjectDock from Stardock.com. It gives a good (if much slower and less well-integrated) look at the Mac's dock functionality.