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Mac w/ windows, good idea?

Tenchiro

Attention K Mart Shoppers
Jul 19, 2002
5,407
0
New England
sHasta said:
A better argument might be how very few if any viruses are written for Mac OS’s or the fact that Mac OS’s are not as susceptible to most forms of spy ware.
Only because there are too few of them around for those type of people to bother with. If they presented a bigger target, there would be more attacks.
 

Ridemonkey

This is not an active account
Sep 18, 2002
4,108
1
Toronto, Canada
Tenchiro said:
Only because there are too few of them around for those type of people to bother with. If they presented a bigger target, there would be more attacks.
This again....of course! And while there are fewer attacks and fewer viruses we're LOVING IT!
 

sHasta

Chimp
Jun 23, 2004
26
0
Charlotte, NC
Tenchiro said:
I am sure that I could, but I am not sure why I would want to when I can get the same functionality and more upgradability from a PC. Not to mention spending less.
I don't think we are comparing apples to apples here (sorry for the pun).

-In reference to the "functionality" statement: What is it that a Windows based PC can function as that a Window based Mac can't?

-What isn't upgradeable on a Mac that is on a PC?

-Price, you have a point. Once we start talking about Macs in custom enclosures, there isn't much going for Macs on the price stand point.


Tenchiro said:
something like an iMac would just be a pain in the ass.
Why? You don't have the proper tools or know how to open one?
 

sHasta

Chimp
Jun 23, 2004
26
0
Charlotte, NC
Ridemonkey said:
Yes, this is what I meant in regards to freezing and crashing. I don't have a problem with XP, when I first got it I was quite pleased with it, but for most people getting infected with spyware, adware, viruses, etc, at some point is pretty much an inevitability.

I'm not saying that an advanced user can't block all these things, but for a lot of people it is an issue; one that doesn't exist for Mac users yet.
I totaly agree. This is a very strong agrument IMO
 

sHasta

Chimp
Jun 23, 2004
26
0
Charlotte, NC
Tenchiro said:
Only because there are too few of them around for those type of people to bother with. If they presented a bigger target, there would be more attacks.
Sounds like a pretty big "pro" for Macs to me.
 

Tenchiro

Attention K Mart Shoppers
Jul 19, 2002
5,407
0
New England
sHasta said:
I don't think we are comparing apples to apples here (sorry for the pun).

-In reference to the "functionality" statement: What is it that a Windows based PC can function as that a Window based Mac can't?
For me personally it is gaming, while there are a few titles out of the Mac, I played them all on my PC years ago. I do like Marathon though, when I worked at Apple we always had a Marathon server going.

-What isn't upgradeable on a Mac that is on a PC?
Most notably the motherboard and processor. They are impossible to buy after market and if you buy them from Apple, they are unreasonably priced. And only available as a like for like replacement.

Why? You don't have the proper tools or know how to open one?
I have seen them opened up and personally would rather build something from Scratch than get into any sort of poprietary design. Whether it be from Apple, Sony, Dell, etc.
 

syadasti

i heart mac
Apr 15, 2002
12,690
290
VT
sHasta said:
Why? You don't have the proper tools or know how to open one?
They are harder to work on due to their compact design. A Mac mini is the worst - you need two paint scrapers and a jeweler's screwdriver and you have to remove tons of parts/screws to swap the HDD.

You can't upgrade either to a better videocard or soundcard or other internal hardware upgrade if your needs dictate you need one - you have to get a PC or a Powermac for that...
 

sHasta

Chimp
Jun 23, 2004
26
0
Charlotte, NC
Tenchiro said:
For me personally it is gaming
I don't think you read what you replied to. But, as for Mac OS's this hold true.


Tenchiro said:
Most notably the motherboard and processor. They are impossible to buy after market and if you buy them from Apple, they are unreasonably priced. And only available as a like for like replacement.
Now that the Mac is building intel x86 based machines this doesn't hold true. If a Mac OS is ported for x86 and a Windows is ported for x86 everything is fair game.

Tenchiro said:
... personally would rather build something from Scratch than get into any sort of poprietary design. Whether it be from Apple, Sony, Dell, etc.
I agree. But, that is not what you were refering to.
 

sHasta

Chimp
Jun 23, 2004
26
0
Charlotte, NC
syadasti said:
They are harder to work on due to their compact design. A Mac mini is the worst.
I agree 100%. But, remember there is PC vendors who make small, un-upgradable PCs too that share the same problems.

syadasti said:
You can't upgrade either to a better videocard or soundcard or other internal hardware upgrade if your needs dictate you need one - you have to get a PC (with a typical enclosure) or a Powermac for that...
This is also 100% accurate, with a slight edit. Check my statement above.
 

syadasti

i heart mac
Apr 15, 2002
12,690
290
VT
sHasta said:
Now that the Mac is building intel x86 based machines this doesn't hold true. If a Mac OS is ported for x86 and a Windows is ported for x86 everything is fair game.
Apple motherboards are still custom Apple products - they use EFI for example. You can't just walk in to a PC store and buy a new motherboard or new faster CPU revision for you Mactel (that would work with PC motherboards with a simple BIOS update in many cases unless socket package changes).

It would be great though if Apple allowed OSX to run on all PC hardware (or at least supported Intel hardware), but I don't think it will happen.
 

sHasta

Chimp
Jun 23, 2004
26
0
Charlotte, NC
syadasti said:
Apple motherboards are still custom Apple products - they use EFI for example. You can't just walk in to a PC store and buy a new motherboard or new faster CPU revision for you Mactel (that would work with PC motherboards with a simple BIOS update in many cases unless socket package changes).
Yes, sorry, you are correct. My thoughts were coming from my personal experience with upgrading. I typically don't upgrade my just my mobo and cpu and call it quits. By the time I upgrade, video card standards, memory, hard drive controllers, cpu sockets, and power supply requirements will all have changed.

What I was getting at with my statement about opening up iMacs was; if you want to restructure components into another enclosure, the procedures evolved aren't any different. They may just be foreign to non-Mac users.

I hope in time they will start using more PC standards. It has been a long time coming, but a good portion of their parts are interchangable now.

syadasti said:
It would be great though if Apple allowed OSX to run on all PC hardware (or at least supported Intel hardware), but I don't think it will happen.
Good thought, this is something I overlooked. You would imagine an Unix based OS would have some support for different hardware, I don't know. Sure Apple will feel the need to keep this ~proprietary in one form or another.
 

Transcend

My Nuts Are Flat
Apr 18, 2002
18,040
3
Towing the party line.
This thread is a riot.

What it comes down to, is some of us value the user experience we have to live in for 12 hours a day. We are willing to pay for a better experience. Thus, we are willing to pay for a mac.

Also, no windows based laptop i could find can match my powerbook's features, power and portability for the same price.

I know, I looked long and hard before I bought it.
 

syadasti

i heart mac
Apr 15, 2002
12,690
290
VT
Transcend said:
This thread is a riot.

What it comes down to, is some of us value the user experience we have to live in for 12 hours a day. We are willing to pay for a better experience. Thus, we are willing to pay for a mac.

Also, no windows based laptop i could find can match my powerbook's features, power and portability for the same price.

I know, I looked long and hard before I bought it.
No most of the world says its not worth the premium and Apple has had 30 years to prove itself in the market - the market never bought it considering only 5-6% userbase...

I have both, for the experienced user either works just fine as long it runs the applications you like - more applications I like on are on Windows. Its like a TI vs. HP calculator, both will get the job done.

Its easy to find a better laptop (and this was true to an even greater premium when it was G4 Powerbook vs. Acer 8104 with Pentium M)...

Posted before, here you go, $100 premium and you get less and service packs cost extra. Toshi's MacBooks were so buggy, he got tired of returning them and got a Mini instead.

Macbook Pro about $2260 online
Al Chassis
Intel 2 GHz Core Duo
AirPort Extreme Card & Bluetooth (no free Bluetooth headset)
1GB 667 DDR2 (half as much memory)
SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW) (no Dual Layer)
100GB Serial ATA HDD (20GB less capacity)
Backlit Keyboard/Mac OS - U.S. English
.3MP iSight Camera
15.4-inch 1440 x 900 (inferior resolution)
ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 - 256MB GDDR3
60 watt hour battery (shorter battery life)
HDD shock protection
(Advantages - magsafe, built in keyboard lighting, 1 lbs lighter, runs OSX or Windows
Disadvantages - Major teething issues, half as much memory, inferior screen, smaller HDD, weaker warranty (only 90 day phone), does not include DL drive, does not have built in 5-in-1 memorycard reader, does not have modem built-in, no PC Card slot (your old investments are trash), shorter battery life, weaker Al instead of carbon fiber, no free bluetooth headset, and lower quality built-in camera)

Acer TravelMate 8204WLMi (PCMag's Editor Choice Dual Core Laptop, Jan 2006) $2160 online
Video Review
2006 IF design award winner
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/060107/20060107005001.html?.v=1
Carbon Fiber Chassis
Intel Core Duo 2 GHz
2GB DDR2 667 SDRAM
120GB SATA Hard Drive
Modular Super-Multi DVDRWDL Drive
5-In-1 Card Reader
15.4" WSXGA+ (1680 x 1050)
ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 256MB
Built-in 1.3 MP digicam/webcam
802.11a/b/g WLAN
Bluetooth
Bluetooth Headset (for VoIP, etc...)
Gigabit LAN
V.92 Modem
87 Whr Battery
PC card AND Expresscard slot
HDD Shock Protection
Microsoft Windows XP Professional
1 year international valid warranty (important for travelers)

Not to mention, on PC service packs are free, on the Mac if you bought OSX when it first came out, you spend about $500 or so?

Mac OS X v10.0 "Cheetah"
Mac OS X v10.1 "Puma"
Mac OS X v10.2 "Jaguar"
Mac OS X v10.3 "Panther"
Mac OS X v10.4 "Tiger" (current release)
Mac OS X v10.5 "Leopard"

WinXP - major revision/service packs free. There was:

WinXP
WinXP SP1
WinXP SP1a
WinXP SP2
and soon WinXP SP3
Each added significant updates - especially SP2
 

HaveFaith

Monkey
Mar 11, 2006
338
0
Sydasti - What bike do you ride? Im sure that there is a bike that does the same job, with the same performance, for much cheaper. Sacrifice build quality and looks and you can get anything cheaper, whether we are talking about bikes or computers. This debate is ridiculous because it all comes down to personal preference. With today's generation of Mac's, everything you can do on a PC you can do with a mac, and for the most part, vice versa. The only difference is a matter of personal choice which boils down to looks/quality/novelty/satisfaction. We should start a thread about why having a $4k+ bike is pointless when you could put one together for 30% cheaper with the same performance .

You will never win this battle, it is an impossible task.
 

syadasti

i heart mac
Apr 15, 2002
12,690
290
VT
HaveFaith said:
You will never win this battle, it is an impossible task.
I was never a brand whore cause I know better than that. I've owned expensive small builders and cheaper mass produced bikes - the whole spectrum from over a dozen different brands - about 26 different mtb frames since 1989. Currently my favorite bike is a mass produced bike from Taiwan but I also enjoy a steel HT frame made in small batches in the US.

Steve Jobs already took the steps necessary to show the PC side was right and Apple was using toys in prior years :D

OS 9 was not technologically modern even compared to Windows - had to switch to BSD - FreeBSD, Linux, etc available for years to PC users...

Hardware was slow and overpriced - had to switch to Intel

They need to make a switch commercial for Apple - they are the ones who really made the switch, haha!

My desktop PC is completely custom, I built it from parts to fit my needs and it was much cheaper and more powerful than the G5 DC tower available at the time (as a matter of fact its still faster than the fastest Core Duo system Apple offers and I built it about 6 months prior to the new Intel CPU even being available).

 

Li'l Dave

Monkey
Jan 10, 2002
840
0
San Jose, CA
So once again my computer seems to be taking a dump, has anyone had any new experience with the windows/mac system? I'm so sick of my computer not working, I just need it to work.