# Mac computers - is it mostly just image and status? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 20, 2010, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-computers-is-it-mostly-just-image-and-status/529748 "2010-02-20T07:05:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-computers-is-it-mostly-just-image-and-status/529748/121 "2010-02-23T03:16:24Z")
> [@Rumor\_Watkins](#): > > you must not want it to do much if it’s from 2000-1. I’m running a [400 MHz iMac](http://netdna.webdesignerdepot.com/uploads/2009/01/indigoimac.jpg) as a music server in the basement. It runs OS 10.4.11. and iTunes 9.X, which are reasonably recent versions. At ten years old the iMac still does the job nicely. Lacking airport, I had to run ethernet cable down to it, but it sits there like a trouper day after day, doing its job. I do minor net surfing on it as well. It’ll handle both tasks simultaneously. I’ve got a 25 MHz LCIII down there from 94 or so, and that _is_ a bit to slow to do much with anymore. Purchased a legal copy of Vista for one of the upstairs Macs, thinking I might enjoy a game or two. Every time I turned around the damned thing was asking me if I _really_ wanted to do something. Turns out what I _really_ wanted to do was reboot under OS X, and zap the windows partition. I’ll have to hear at least a couple of years of good talk about Windows 7 before I consider throwing money at Microsoft again. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-computers-is-it-mostly-just-image-and-status/529748/122 "2010-02-23T04:21:55Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > It’s not people on the internet the stereotypical Mac user is trying to impress with their cute 'n funky Mac, it’s other people at the coffee shop/library/on the train/at the airport/in the park/etc. > > Even Apple’s advertising supports this- ads for Mac don’t generally show professors in research labs using Macs to make powerpoint presentations, or “Boring” things like that. Mac’s advertising is all about young, funky, arty, creative people having a good time. It’s clearly designed to say “Buy a Mac and you too can be young, funky, arty, creative, and have a good time.” But the professors do bring Macs to do presentations on. As **Chronos** says, the Mac to PC ratio in the sciences is about 50:50. At least in chemistry and physics it is. They work very smoothly for presentations, and integrate nicely with the UNIX platforms that science hardware runs on. It certainly made my job much easier when grabbing integrations from a few thousand files. I’m sure Windows has a way to do it, but with the UNIX terminal it was just a one line command. People that think Macs are just image, have no idea what they are talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-computers-is-it-mostly-just-image-and-status/529748/123 "2010-02-23T04:23:29Z")
> [@WarmNPrickly](#): > > But the professors do bring Macs to do presentations on. As **Chronos** says, the Mac to PC ratio in the sciences is about 50:50. At least in chemistry and physics it is. They work very smoothly for presentations, and integrate nicely with the UNIX platforms that science hardware runs on. It certainly made my job much easier when grabbing integrations from a few thousand files. I’m sure Windows has a way to do it, but with the UNIX terminal it was just a one line command. > > People that think Macs are just image, have no idea what they are talking about. Re-read what I said. I didn’t say Macs weren’t used for making powerpoint presentations etc. I said that Apple’s _ads_ didn’t show that aspect of their use. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-computers-is-it-mostly-just-image-and-status/529748/124 "2010-02-23T04:30:40Z")
> [@WarmNPrickly](#): > > But the professors do bring Macs to do presentations on. As **Chronos** says, the Mac to PC ratio in the sciences is about 50:50. At least in chemistry and physics it is. They work very smoothly for presentations, and integrate nicely with the UNIX platforms that science hardware runs on. It certainly made my job much easier when grabbing integrations from a few thousand files. I’m sure Windows has a way to do it, but with the UNIX terminal it was just a one line command. > > People that think Macs are just image, have no idea what they are talking about. Most awesome “completely missed the point” post in the whole thread. **Martini Enflield** was talking specifically about Apple’s marketing campaign, not about whether or not Macs are used by professors. Many (probably most) of the humanities professors i know also use Macs, and Macs are great for all sorts of work, but the fact is that no Apple commercial on TV ever emphasizes the more mundane things that people might use their Macs for, like word processing or spreadsheets or whatever. The marketing is all about being hip and cool and checking out your photos and your music and your videos and all that other interactive media stuff. On preview, **Martini Enfield** beat me to it. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-computers-is-it-mostly-just-image-and-status/529748/125 "2010-02-23T04:34:36Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > I’m running a [400 MHz iMac](http://netdna.webdesignerdepot.com/uploads/2009/01/indigoimac.jpg) as a music server in the basement. Wow, a music server. You really _are_ a power user, whose cutting-edge use of Mac technology definitively demonstrates the superiority of the brand! Seriously, i could find a similarly aged Windows computer on Craigslist (or probably Freecycle) that would run just fine as a music server. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-computers-is-it-mostly-just-image-and-status/529748/126 "2010-02-23T05:22:13Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > Re-read what I said. I didn’t say Macs weren’t used for making powerpoint presentations etc. I said that Apple’s _ads_ didn’t show that aspect of their use. Re-read what I said. I never said that you said scientists didn’t use Macs. In fact, I was pretty sure you were just talking about the ads perception. The point needed to be made though, that this perception is wrong, and you did not make that point. So I did. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-computers-is-it-mostly-just-image-and-status/529748/127 "2010-02-23T05:33:36Z")
> [@WarmNPrickly](#): > > Re-read what I said. I never said that you said scientists didn’t use Macs. In fact, I was pretty sure you were just talking about the ads perception. The point needed to be made though, that this perception is wrong, and you did not make that point. So I did. I did re-read what you said, and what you said completely missed the point I was getting at. Lots of people at universities (and elsewhere) use Macs for various reasons, both specialist (graphic design, scientific applications, video & music editing etc) and mundane (word processing, spreadsheets, Facebook, general internet surfing etc). _But the Apple advertising only focuses on the “hip, funky young people” aspect of Mac ownership_. Mac ads don’t show Professor Labcoat making an A/V presentation to his colleagues using a Mac. They don’t show Mary T. Housewife using a Mac to send e-mails to keep in with the rest of her Bridge Club. They dont show Ernest Scribbler using a Mac to write a novel. They show hip, funky, creative university student-types having an awesome time with their Macs to interface with their iPods (another Apple product) and generally be hip, funky, creative university student-types. So if the perception of Mac users as being about “image” is wrong, then it’s largely Apple’s fault for promoting their product as being for hip, funky university student types (ie, people for whom image does generally matter in some form or another) and not as a general “household” computer. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-computers-is-it-mostly-just-image-and-status/529748/128 "2010-02-23T05:51:28Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Seriously, i could find a similarly aged Windows computer on Craigslist (or probably Freecycle) that would run just fine as a music server. So do it, and show us. When it’s done and it works transparently, I’ll still be wondering why you had to buy or finagle an old computer from Craigslist/Freecycle, rather than just use one of your own old ones. Is it because your PC’s don’t last for shit? _That’s_ your cutting-edge for you, right there. What’s the point of setting up a decent little music server on something so superannuated that 99.995% of it’s brethren are dead? You’ll get two months in, and some damn something or other will pop, and you’ll spend a week and a half trying to pin down the problem rather than listening to music. My little iMac’s been pumping out tunes with no troubles for over a year, and I expect it’s got another 5 years in it. Heck, I booted my 1984 vintage Macintosh a couple years ago, after finding the missing 400K floppy disks for it, and it still came up [under System 1.0](http://www.nd.edu/~jvanderk/sysone/). I don’t think you’ll find many [IBM AT’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Personal_Computer/AT) still up and kicking, and IBM made machines a good bit sturdier than most of today’s windows boxes. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-computers-is-it-mostly-just-image-and-status/529748/129 "2010-02-23T05:53:14Z")
We are and always were in agreement. ETA: er, that was for **martinti** I use an old G3 tower to run my MIDI set-up. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-computers-is-it-mostly-just-image-and-status/529748/130 "2010-02-23T06:51:26Z")
I’ll certainly agree that Apple _should_ make commercials highlighting the utilitarian benefits of their machines. When all of their advertising is about image, it’s easy for folks to conclude that that’s all they have going for them, and they lose a big chunk of the market that doesn’t care so much about image. You could make a great Mac ad with two students or professors in the halls of a university, “Hey, can I borrow your laptop for a presentation?” “Why, don’t you have one of your own?” “Yeah, but it’s a PC, and I can never get it to work with the projector in the conference room.”. Or a scene I actually saw once: At a conference, where every speaker had 11 minutes to give their entire presentation, so there was no time to spare for futzing about with settings. One presenter couldn’t get his Windows laptop to work, and one of the smartest men in the world (quite possibly the smartest, and I mean that literally) calls out from the back of the room, “Get a Mac!”. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-computers-is-it-mostly-just-image-and-status/529748/131 "2010-02-23T07:46:00Z")
Well, the idea that Macs are easier to work with is more about hype and marketing ("It just works!) than reality. I use Windows machines with projectors all the time without difficulty. And I have often been confused by this or that feature on a Mac even after I had some experience with them. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-computers-is-it-mostly-just-image-and-status/529748/132 "2010-02-23T08:07:29Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Wow, really? _That’s_ your criticism? You are hilarious. > > Comparison of the steps to shut down my wife’s Macbook Pro and my Windows 7 desktop: > > Mac: Click the Apple symbol, then click Shut Down. > > Windows: Click the Start button, then click Shut Down. > > Would you be happier if Microsoft changed the name of the Start button to the Apple button? What’s more, in my experience\* with Windows 7, the “Start button” is no longer labelled “start”. It is labelled with simply (wait for it…): a Windows symbol. \*: Admittedly, extremely limited, but at least extensive enough to make this observation ---
**Author:** ![conurepete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e57/32.png) [@conurepete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/conurepete)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-computers-is-it-mostly-just-image-and-status/529748/133 "2010-02-23T11:24:06Z")
Squink, that corresponds to my experience. When you want a Mac to die, it takes EM pulses, wooden stakes and cat piss. I love the fact that they just keep chugging along. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-computers-is-it-mostly-just-image-and-status/529748/134 "2010-02-23T11:24:58Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > So do it, and show us. > When it’s done and it works transparently, I’ll still be wondering why you had to buy or finagle an old computer from Craigslist/Freecycle, rather than just use one of your own old ones. Is it because your PC’s don’t last for shit? > _That’s_ your cutting-edge for you, right there. What’s the point of setting up a decent little music server on something so superannuated that 99.995% of it’s brethren are dead? You’ll get two months in, and some damn something or other will pop, and you’ll spend a week and a half trying to pin down the problem rather than listening to music. My little iMac’s been pumping out tunes with no troubles for over a year, and I expect it’s got another 5 years in it. Heck, I booted my 1984 vintage Macintosh a couple years ago, after finding the missing 400K floppy disks for it, and it still came up [under System 1.0](http://www.nd.edu/~jvanderk/sysone/). I don’t think you’ll find many [IBM AT’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Personal_Computer/AT) still up and kicking, and IBM made machines a good bit sturdier than most of today’s windows boxes. Wait. What? Because a guy doesn’t keep 20 year old computers means Macs are superior? (My PC 5150 still works. It’s older than any Macintosh. Of course, my Apple ][ still works. Mostly. I should spray it with degreaser.) Seriously, what kind of an argument is that? It makes no sense. ---
**Author:** ![Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fake_Tales_of_San_Francisco)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-computers-is-it-mostly-just-image-and-status/529748/135 "2010-02-23T11:41:06Z")
> [@WarmNPrickly](#): > > I also like that I don’t need to install software for every new piece of hardware I hook up. I can plug into any printer and just print. I plug my video camera into the computer and it just uploads the videos and sorts them into clips and dates. My camera just plugs in and goes. You do have to install software for every piece of hardware you hook up. They’re called drivers, and just like Windows XP, Vista and 7 does, Mac OSX installs them quietly and quickly without you really knowing about it. It is comments like this that leads me to believe many Mac users are going off an experience of Windows from many, many, many years ago. > [@](#): > > When connecting to a wifi network, I just find it in the list and click it. The amount of frustration I’ve had with windows doing this is unbelievable. After going through a few help windows we get it connected, but for some reason it’s still trying to use the ethernet port which isn’t connected. This has happened multiple times with my wife’s computer and once with my parents. What the hell kind of system tries to use the port that’s not connected, when it is clearly stating that it is connected another way? Why can’t I just find a list of wifi networks and connect? I’ve found Windows to be far superior in networking. My brothers Macbook has endless trouble with various wi fi WEP keys and whatnot. All you do in Windows is find the list of networks and connect, it’s almost always painless. We have a wireless network at home, and I can stream music and video from my Windows machines to our PS3 with no trouble at all. We didn’t have to do anything, it all just automatically found each other. The Mac on the other hand is being a bit of loner. I don’t know how they really work, so I haven’t been able to troubleshoot it (but my brother does obviously). I really just expected it to find the PS3 and the Windows machines no problem. But no dice. Oh, but it can connect to the iPhone and other macs just fine. Well, _that’s_. useful. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-computers-is-it-mostly-just-image-and-status/529748/136 "2010-02-23T12:09:17Z")
> [@Oveja\_Slayer](#): > > However, if you want to do any serious A/V editing, I would question why you wouldn’t buy a Mac. There is quality PC software out there, but the Mac’s processing capabilities and OS are streamlined for such features. Add firewire to the mix and you’ve got a blazing media machine. Wow, please do share that apple fanboy koolaid with us man. Sounds like a trip. The Mac’s processing capabilities and Os are “streamlined” for such features? Really? This is just ignorant. Please, tell me, how is the an apple’s intel processor made streamlined for video editing exactly, and more importantly, how is the SAME EXACT PART in a PC NOT made streamlined for video editing? Also, I just looked down at my PC and I noticed it has a firewire port. Imagine that! It appears every Mac advocate here is either completely ignorant about just how computers work or has had no experience with windows machines since the early nineties. Get over yourselves. Stop trying to rationalize your overpriced hardware purchases to each other. More importantly, stop lying to yourselves and stop trying to spread your ignorance. This is the strightdope, we’re supposed to be fighting that kind of attitude. For the most part, and specifically, the inside parts of a decent PC and a decent Mac are one and the SAME. Except the mac will cost more. Sometimes significantly more, some times not. I’m not saying there are NO reasons to choose a Mac, but the vast majority are not objective but rather subjective preferences. I personally find some of the mac designs down right ugly for example, of course ugly PC’s are a dime a dozen, but there are also many cases that I find esthetically appealing on both camps. To each their own. Just quit making shit up. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-computers-is-it-mostly-just-image-and-status/529748/137 "2010-02-23T12:47:18Z")
> [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](#): > > You do have to install software for every piece of hardware you hook up. They’re called drivers, and just like Windows XP, Vista and 7 does, Mac OSX installs them quietly and quickly without you really knowing about it. It is comments like this that leads me to believe many Mac users are going off an experience of Windows from many, many, many years ago. The drivers are already there. Nothing needs to be installed. I drivers are already installed. No disks need to be inserted. I just plug any printer, camera, video camera, scanner in and it works. You definitely need to install stuff for XP, I have no idea about Vista and Windows 7. > [@](#): > > I’ve found Windows to be far superior in networking. My brothers Macbook has endless trouble with various wi fi WEP keys and whatnot. All you do in Windows is find the list of networks and connect, it’s almost always painless. I’ve no doubt you are telling the truth here. Unfortunately, my experience with Windows XP states otherwise. Maybe for 9/10 people, the experience is just like yours. The fact is, on two occasions, the Windows XP claimed it was connected to the wireless network, but chose to go through the unconnected ethernet port. I have no idea why that would be even possible. You can’t make the claim that people are choosing Macs as a status symbol when they have experiences like that. I know that it’s **almost** always painless, but when it isn’t, it drives me mad. If Windows works for you, that’s great. I don’t bash people for choosing it. I’ve only had endless trouble with it though. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-computers-is-it-mostly-just-image-and-status/529748/138 "2010-02-23T12:58:55Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > I’d like to share my story as well. > > I too had a PC - a Pentium II “turbo” PC with 32 Mb of RAM, 250 Mb hard drive and a 2800 baud rate modem and running Mircro$oft windows 3.0 with a black and white 10" monitor. > > Oh my god, I can’t tell you how difficult it was to watch Youtube HD on that. I tried to install excel 2007 and it kept asking me to insert floppy number 2, but I only have 1 floppy drive! Of course, Crysis wouldn’t run on it for shit even though poople keep saying PC’s are the bomb for playing games. > > So finally I put on my douch gear and off I went to the mac store where I got a brand new mac book. Like night and day people, like night and day. I went mac and I’ll never go back. True story bro. Your problem, bro, is you were folding the 8" floppy to fit it in the 5" slot. Should have used WD-40 instead. ---
**Author:** ![GreatStuffMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f04885/32.png) [@GreatStuffMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreatStuffMan)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-computers-is-it-mostly-just-image-and-status/529748/139 "2010-02-23T13:16:09Z")
Mac computers… well, yeah. I guess they’re developed for some things that PCs aren’t generally as good at dealing with. But on the whole, it’s a lot of hipster marketing working incredibly well to sell overpriced goods. The iPhone is great, though. ---
**Author:** ![tacoloco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tacoloco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tacoloco)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-computers-is-it-mostly-just-image-and-status/529748/140 "2010-02-23T13:24:55Z")
> [@GreatStuffMan](#): > > Mac computers… well, yeah. I guess they’re developed for some things that PCs aren’t generally as good at dealing with. But on the whole, it’s a lot of hipster marketing working incredibly well to sell overpriced goods. Spoken like someone who doesn’t know anything about Macs. Personally, I own both windows based PCs (all running win7 now) and a Macbook Pro laptop. I like both environments. The Mac is pokey by modern standards, as it’s an original issue 15" model, but it still runs great. If I could afford it, I’d update to a newer faster MBP. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-computers-is-it-mostly-just-image-and-status/529748.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-computers-is-it-mostly-just-image-and-status/529748.md?page=8)