I need to get a computer before I go back to school. I am also broke. I am leaning towards the mac mimi over a PC. My mac devoted friends tell me it’s the way to go, and that pc’s are junk and get “sick.” what do the masses think?
Macs are overpriced, relative to PCs, regardless of their technical advantages.
Find a well-regarded private system builder near you (in Central Florida, I strongly recommend Cheap Guys, for example), and tell them exactly what you need.
You’ll save a lot of money, and frankly get much more useful after-sales support.
Macs are all made by apple. Generally speaking, everything works together well because it is all made by one company. There’s also less stuff available for it because it’s all made by one company, and it’s also all more expensive because it’s all made by one company. Single source has its good points and bad points.
PCs have a huge majority in the marketplace. Most web sites are designed for internet explorer first. Other browsers and especially other operating systems aregive a much lower priority by most web designers. Many web sites won’t even work for non-windows computers. Most of the software out there is written for PCs. Of course, most viruses and evil bits of malware are written for PCs too. Popularity has its good points and bad points.
Apple has traditionally been ahead of Microsoft with respect to how easy it is to use the computer.
If you go back a decade or so, Apples were way ahead of PCs in terms of their graphics capabilities. In fact, in the earliest days of the PC just about every other computer system in existance had better graphics. Apples took an early lead in the areas of graphics design, and sheer momentum has kept them ahead of PCs in most things art related. If you are going to school for graphic design then you probably want a mac. Conversely, if you are going to school for engineering, you want a PC.
For sending emails, typing papers, and other typical school related things, apples and PCs are both quite capable machines. Note that due to the popularity of PCs, some professors may have document format requirements that are PC specific (i.e. they demand that you submit your paper in Microsoft Word for Windows format ONLY). Because macs aren’t popular, you generally won’t ever see a professor demand that something be submitted in a mac specific format.
From a hardware perspective, PCs are not “junk”. In fact, for the same amount of money you can get a more powerful PC than a mac. PCs do get “sick” more than macs because, as I mentioned above, most virsuses and malware are written for PCs. You will spend more effort keeping a PC virus and malware free than you will a mac. You will spend a lot more effort on macs trying to deal with web sites and software that assumes you have a PC and not a mac.
There are plusses and minuses for each system. Neither is 100 percent better than the other for all applications. Don’t listen to the mac religious nuts who say macs are better and PCs are junk. Don’t listen to the PC nuts who say macs are completely worthless toys. Figure out which system will work better for your specific needs.
Bleh. “are given”
Preview is my friend…
(please ignore any other typos I may have made)
For ease of use, it’s pretty tough to beat a Mac.
For security, it’s almost impossible to beat a Mac.
For price vs performance, at the top end, the difference tends to be essentially nil. At the bottom end, generic PCs own the market.
For tech support from the school - how to access their VPN, or whatever, most schools will only support PC.
Just remember the old adage: You get what you paid for.
That said, if you’re on a budget and want a Mac, consider buying a refurbished Mac Mini/iMac from either Apple or a third-party reseller (Small Dog Electronics, most notably, has refurb’d Macs available online). I got a $1,300 17" Intel iMac for 25% off (via MacMall) just because it was a refurb, and no one can tell it wasn’t a mint-in-box unit.