Why do you like using a Mac rather than a Windows PC?

AndyWest

AndyWest

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What is the fundamental reason you use the mac rather than a PC? What is it that makes it so great?

So many of you have said that they were PC users and went over to a Mac and never regretted it so why?

Ta muchly!
 
Firstly. Macs are PCs.

Its really a choice between OS X and Windows. Mac hardware is carefully chosen wheras there is much more choice in the Windows camp.

OSX is much more integrated than vista. Programs share data a lot more fluidly than Windows does. The operating system is much less bloated than xp/vista.

How many Mac owners do you hear jumping over to Microsoft?
 
I made the jump after using OSX on my PC for a while (via a full purchased copy of OSX to make me feel less guilty about it).

As many people have already said, the OS just works, seemlessley (sp?), and seems much more integrated due to the limited number of spec combos available.
 
As has been said its apple software on apple designed hardware which reduces 3rd party drivers to pretty much zero. So zero crashes, "it just works", no need for loads of 3rd party anti-virus, clean up tools, optimizers etc etc. Ive only had a mac for about 10 months and will be mac from now on (although i do have xp installed as well for the odd bit of software that doesnt work!)
 
Oh no, we know where this will go :D

Yeah, well, I jumped over for the ease of use too - I was sick of the hassle you have to through keeping Windows running properly and also since I worked with them it seemed obvious to do so. The quality of software development for OSX was something else too compared to that for Windows.
 
If you're using your system purely for image and video editing, or design, then Mac wins hands down but if you are a gamer, then PC is your only choice.
 
neo2810 said:
if you are a gamer, then PC is your only choice.
Click to expand...

Hardcore gamers yeah for sure - I play games on my mac, admittedly I like very few games and don't think much of the overdone, over rated, graphics intense stuff that is out there for Windows and XBox.
 
  • Reliability
  • Performance
  • Simplicity

and because I love to pay 99 euro's for a damn cable! :|
 
neo2810 said:
If you're using your system purely for image and video editing, or design, then Mac wins hands down but if you are a gamer, then PC is your only choice.
Click to expand...

All i do on my Windowz PC is Web, Mail, Word processing, Digital imaging, iTunes, a little web designing and Microsoft Flight Stimulator! I would miss Flight Stimulator but i hardly ever use it plus when i do i get bored pretty quickly with it.

SO... there's no reason for me not to go Mac but i can't afford an iMac at the moment but i can afford a used Mac Mini. There's one on the bay of E that's a 1.83GHZ Core 2 Duo, 2Gig ram, 160Gig HDD, Superdrive, keyboard and mouse plus it's about 2 miles away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! oooh so tempting!

Would it be an idea to get the mini, use my Samsung 22" 2232 screen and then sell it when I'm almost ready financially to get an iMac??????

Like i need convincing!! :LOL:
 
Many many reasons but here's just one:

When you're typing something into a document and another application wants your attention, what would you like to happen? The Windows way is to bring the app that wants your attention to the front and direct all keyboard input to that application. If we're talking about a dialog box with options 'Yes' and 'No' and you happen to be typing the letter 'y' then you will agree to whatever that dialog is asking. I have done this on more than one occasion. On a Mac the app just bounces in the dock letting you know that it wants something but allowing you to deal with it when you want to.

To be honest, that's reason enough on its own in my opinion but it's just one tiny example of how the Mac way is better.

Oh yeah, the other day I thought it would be neat to have a folder called "Web size photos" that contained, well, web sized photos. You can use the supplied automator program to create this 'smart folder' that will allow you to drag files to it and automatically resize each photo as it goes in there. And you don't have to write any code either.

FWIW I have used every version of Windows in my regular job (Software Engineer) since Windows for Workgroups and detest what it has become. It's an endless source of frustration to me. I'm currently using Vista 64 with 4 gigs of RAM (of which Windows only recognises 3.25 gig for some reason) and it's so slow it drives me insane.

I converted to Mac for home use 7 or 8 years ago and would never change now.

EDIT: I have a Mac Mini Andy and they're great. Mine only has 1 gig RAM and could really do with 2 I reckon as it seems a bit slow compared to my MacBook.
 
ianm79 said:
there are flight sims available on osx - open source ones, but hey you can still have windows and flight sim on a mac eh ;)
Click to expand...
The amount i play FS9 it wouldn't be worth me purchasing windows to put on the Mac just for that programme. All programmes i need can be found either on the machines OS, free open source (Open Office, Gimp etc) or i have software that is both Windows and Mac compatible like Lightroom 2.
 
bradleysmith said:
Many many reasons but here's just one:

When you're typing something into a document and another application wants your attention, what would you like to happen? The Windows way is to bring the app that wants your attention to the front and direct all keyboard input to that application. If we're talking about a dialog box with options 'Yes' and 'No' and you happen to be typing the letter 'y' then you will agree to whatever that dialog is asking. I have done this on more than one occasion. On a Mac the app just bounces in the dock letting you know that it wants something but allowing you to deal with it when you want to.
Click to expand...

How strange, my vista setup just flashes the button in the task bar. None of this diving into another application unwanted. And it's the off the disc setup no altering settings to get it.:shrug: And if you've got 64 bit Vista it goes way over 4 Gig no problem (well, obviously not for you).

Macs are fine they do what they're supposed to but I'm not keen on the GUI, not used to it I guess. and it all seems rather expensive to me.

My Vista setup worked perfectly from install and I've had absolutely no problems with drivers or crashes it just runs - like a mac maybe?
 
The whole point about getting a mac it to get away from windows!
 
AndyWest said:
What is the fundamental reason you use the mac rather than a PC?
Fundamental, it works better than my PC ever did.

What is it that makes it so great?
The clever people at Apple.

So many of you have said that they were PC users and went over to a Mac and never regretted it so why?
Apart from the above, I need nothing more than the mac offers me. I guess if I was into games I would have to keep a PC.

Ta muchly!
No worries.
Click to expand...

Frankly there are a myriad of reasons why I prefer to use my mac than a "PC". I know some people take exception to that, but I'm me and they are they.

One thing did occur to me actually. Mac's are great if you need to do something, PC's are good if you need something to do.
 
cyclone said:
One thing did occur to me actually. Mac's are great if you need to do something, PC's are good if you need something to do.
Click to expand...

Sums it up really!! (y)
 
Been using my iMac for a month or so. It just works. No hassle, its fast, reliable, and it just works. I love windows, and I love my PC's, but they are annoying, a lot of the time. They breal and slow down and crash and get viruses. They get so many small annoying issues, which you often forget about....and then you use a mac....and it just works.

Night and day. Converted, end of story.

Gary.
 
Graulges said:
How strange, my vista setup just flashes the button in the task bar. None of this diving into another application unwanted. And it's the off the disc setup no altering settings to get it.:shrug: And if you've got 64 bit Vista it goes way over 4 Gig no problem (well, obviously not for you).
Click to expand...

Guess I must be using it wrong then ;-)

P.S. At one point I had Vista 64 as a dual boot on my MacBook and it addressed the whole 4 gigs ram. Must be this stupid Dell PC I'm using.
 
AndyWest said:
What is the fundamental reason you use the mac rather than a PC?
Click to expand...

Because when I started working on computers there was this new fangled thing called DTP and you could only do it on a Mac, using PageMaker, or if you were one of the new breed of 'pros' then it was Quark Xpress. Output directly to bromide, and I don't think our local repro house had anything other than Macs.
 
Great replies there peeps, Thanks very much!! It's running at 12/1 at the moment in favour of the mighty Mac!! (y)
 
bradleysmith said:
Oh yeah, the other day I thought it would be neat to have a folder called "Web size photos" that contained, well, web sized photos. You can use the supplied automator program to create this 'smart folder' that will allow you to drag files to it and automatically resize each photo as it goes in there. And you don't have to write any code either.
Click to expand...

Where is this automator programme? I'm still learning my iMac and and in typical Mac stylee "I'm lovin' it" :)

EdinburghGary said:
Been using my iMac for a month or so. It just works. No hassle, its fast, reliable, and it just works. I love windows, and I love my PC's, but they are annoying, a lot of the time. They breal and slow down and crash and get viruses. They get so many small annoying issues, which you often forget about....and then you use a mac....and it just works.

Night and day. Converted, end of story.

Gary.
Click to expand...

:agree:
 
AndyWest said:
All i do on my Windowz PC is Web, Mail, Word processing, Digital imaging, iTunes, a little web designing and Microsoft Flight Stimulator! I would miss Flight Stimulator but i hardly ever use it plus when i do i get bored pretty quickly with it.

SO... there's no reason for me not to go Mac but i can't afford an iMac at the moment but i can afford a used Mac Mini. There's one on the bay of E that's a 1.83GHZ Core 2 Duo, 2Gig ram, 160Gig HDD, Superdrive, keyboard and mouse plus it's about 2 miles away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! oooh so tempting!

Would it be an idea to get the mini, use my Samsung 22" 2232 screen and then sell it when I'm almost ready financially to get an iMac??????

Like i need convincing!! :LOL:
Click to expand...

Getting a cheaper/older Mac is a good idea, I did this before I bought my Macbook and found that I much preferred OS X to Windows. Then didn't feel quite so bad spending over £1k on something I had no experience with. My Mum is still using the iBook I bought for £100 2 years ago.
 
After chatting to someone who owned a Mac, and me getting frustrated with Windoze :bonk:, being a gadget guy I thought I need one of those.

The iMac looks good, fires up like lightning, does not snooze before it loads a page and.....well I'm converted :love:!!! Had it over 18 mths now, and although I still have a good Sony lappy, I'm sending this reply on the iMac.

HTH

Jim M
 
Thanks for all your help. I have just ordered a new Apple Mac Mini
Spec:
2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM - 2x1GB
120GB Serial ATA drive
SuperDrive

With my luuuurvley samsung 22" screen it should look the Nuts, not as good as the iMac but sweet never the less!

Woohoo:woot:
 
bradleysmith said:
FWIW I have used every version of Windows in my regular job (Software Engineer) since Windows for Workgroups and detest what it has become. It's an endless source of frustration to me. I'm currently using Vista 64 with 4 gigs of RAM (of which Windows only recognises 3.25 gig for some reason) and it's so slow it drives me insane.
Click to expand...

You advertise yourself as a software engineer and then describe a problem you're having which should be very simple to fix for a software engineer, or any other non tech savvy PC user who knows how to type "Vista 64 wont recognise all 4Gb RAM" into Google.... You should be ashamed! :bonk:

Have you tried Windows 7 Beta yet? I think you'll find it's a serious OSX contender finally (provided MS don't wreck it between now and release)...

And to the OP: There are arguments for and against PC vs Mac. Don't get disuaded either way by know it all fanboys...
 
neo2810 said:
You advertise yourself as a software engineer and then describe a problem you're having which should be very simple to fix for a software engineer, or any other non tech savvy PC user who knows how to type "Vista 64 wont recognise all 4Gb RAM" into Google.... You should be ashamed! :bonk:

Have you tried Windows 7 Beta yet? I think you'll find it's a serious OSX contender finally (provided MS don't wreck it between now and release)...

And to the OP: There are arguments for and against PC vs Mac. Don't get disuaded either way by know it all fanboys...
Click to expand...

Fanboys are eejits. However, important to make the distinction between a fan boy, and some with experience of both, and a proper opinion.

Windows 7 is great, Windows Vista 64 is great. Windows XP was and still is superb. My Windows OS of choice is Windows Server 2008. The trouble though, from my NON fanboy point of view....Windows for me, has never worked for a prolonged period of time without requiring a reformat. And it has never, ever, hit the ground running without the need for 3 hours of updates, searching for drivers, tweaks and otger fixes. In short, it is everything that OSX would appear not to be. Awkward and Clunky after a while, and in need of repair every so often.

This is not an Anti PC / Windows rant from a mac fanboy. Just my honest opinion based on 7 years of living with Windows, and 6 weeks of no hassle Mac computing.

Maybe in 6 months, my Mac will crawl to a halt and need a reformat. I have a suspicion though, based on what I have read, and what others have said, that the problem of the crumbling OS, is a Windows and not OSX issue.

Oh and Windows 7 is indeed great. Simplified, faster and lets hope, more stable. Trouble is, it still has a registry, and the same file structuring as previous versions of Windows. As a result, I suspect that before the Beta period expires, my installation will have slowed to the point where a reformat is required.

Gary.
 
Blue Eagle said:
Wtf, what software engineer doesn't know the reason for it not recognising (addressing is the correct term) the full 4Gb of ram. (no offence like but its fairly common knowledge, google for it)
Click to expand...


Why are people being so aggressive? Give the guy a break, who cares? I fixed PC's for 5 years, I didn't know either. Big deal. I have no idea how to use a lot of the features on my Camera. I would still take money for a shoot if asked.

Unfriendly, aggressive, eejits on the forums these days. Stop being assholes.

Gary.
 
Having never used a Mac, I have no real comparison but I do find Windows in our work environment fine, I look after 5 or 6 PC';s in the office and rarely have any problems. In fact the occasional HD failure is all I can think of.

My home PC is a different matter though. Continual installs and uninstalls, paricularly games, do seem to degrade the registry over time eventually requiring a re-format to get acceptable performance.

On the whole, I find XP Pro a perfectly fine OS, maybe the issue really is more the amount of poorly tested and poorly integrated software available for Windows.....

Russ
 
EdinburghGary said:
Fanboys are eejits. However, important to make the distinction between a fan boy, and some with experience of both, and a proper opinion.

Windows 7 is great, Windows Vista 64 is great. Windows XP was and still is superb. My Windows OS of choice is Windows Server 2008. The trouble though, from my NON fanboy point of view....Windows for me, has never worked for a prolonged period of time without requiring a reformat. And it has never, ever, hit the ground running without the need for 3 hours of updates, searching for drivers, tweaks and otger fixes. In short, it is everything that OSX would appear not to be. Awkward and Clunky after a while, and in need of repair every so often.

This is not an Anti PC / Windows rant from a mac fanboy. Just my honest opinion based on 7 years of living with Windows, and 6 weeks of no hassle Mac computing.

Maybe in 6 months, my Mac will crawl to a halt and need a reformat. I have a suspicion though, based on what I have read, and what others have said, that the problem of the crumbling OS, is a Windows and not OSX issue.

Oh and Windows 7 is indeed great. Simplified, faster and lets hope, more stable. Trouble is, it still has a registry, and the same file structuring as previous versions of Windows. As a result, I suspect that before the Beta period expires, my installation will have slowed to the point where a reformat is required.

Gary.
Click to expand...


Good post Gary (y)
A long way of saying "it just works" :D
Your experience mirrors mine pretty much completely, but I've had my iMac longer and after a year I notice no speed difference.

neo2810 said:
And to the OP: There are arguments for and against PC vs Mac. Don't get disuaded either way by know it all fanboys...
Click to expand...

I think Andy was pretty careful how he worded the OP, he asked specific questions so as not to restart the PC v Mac debate. Some of us actually answered them.
 
As soon as I can afford to make the move I'll be doing it. I'm sick to the back teeth of Windows needing reformatted every 6 months to keep it good.
 
slideordie said:
As soon as I can afford to make the move I'll be doing it. I'm sick to the back teeth of Windows needing reformatted every 6 months to keep it good.
Click to expand...

For Windows there is a bizarre solution and it works very well. It keeps the PC fresh.

Please see here for details:
http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=54787

It does work very well indeed. Your PC is only as old as you want it to be with that system. Its the only way I can keep my machines fast.

Gary.
 
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