I know very little about computers. I generally get my wife’s hand me downs (she is a web designer and uses both Macs and PCs) and I have noticed a few things.
She seems to burn through PCs a lot faster than Macs.
PCs seem to get infested with viruses a lot more frequently than Macs (my understanding is that this is largely because noone really bothers making a virus specific to Macs).
My impression after years of Macs and PCs is that there is a pretty significant cool tax on mac laptops that doesn not really exist for mac desktops. I generally prefer macs because they seem to last longer and have fewer viruses but the laptops is just too frikking overpriced for what you get.
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.
First of all, I should acknowledge that games really are a significant benefit to PCs over Macs. Most games never get ported to Mac at all, and if they do, it’s often a year or more later (thank you, Blizzard, for being the exception), so if your purpose in getting a computer is to play games, then yes, you really are better off with a PC, and there’s not much point in debating it further.
Second, though, people have been talking about the association between Macs and “arty types”. While this was certainly true a decade or more ago, I don’t think it really is, any more. Physicists aren’t generally regarded as “arty”, and yet, Macs seem to be at least as popular as Windows PCs in my department (though still not a clear majority, since there are a lot of Linux users, too). Even among the PC users (Windows or Linux), most of them will borrow a Mac laptop when it comes time to make a presentation, just because it’s so much easier to get it to work with the projector.
I think the popularity among technical types is mostly due to the Unix underpinnings that I cited as a reason: In our line of work, a lot of software is written primarily for Unix, which means it’s actually more likely to be available on Mac than on Windows.
The last laptop I got in lat 2006 took about an hour to set up and configure all the windows stuff, and I still managed to jack up all sorts of protocalls.
The Op’s question was “Mac computers - is it mostly just image and status?.” The question itself is pretty ridiculous - on the Internet, no one knows if you’re a dog, let alone what computer you use. I suppose that for laptops, there are some people who say “ooh…shiny” and rush out to buy a MacBook Air to impress the poor schlubs at Starbucks who are using Dells, but that would have to be a pretty small percentage of all Mac users.
Then all the debates start, and it pretty much seems to boil down to this: Macs are more expensive than PCs, so why buy one? This argument always amuses me. After all, PCs range in price from cheap Chinese junk to pricey name-brand. Do the people who say that price should be the only consideration all buy the absolute cheapest machine? If not, why not?
John Ruskin said:
I am perfectly willing (in fact happy) to pay more for a Mac than a comparable PC. I don’t want Apple trying to race to the bottom like so many other manufacturers. I like the fact that I can open up a Mac Pro, and install a hard drive in under 2 minutes, and not have to fight through a mess of ribbon cables and razor-sharp stampings. I like that Apple takes the time to do a thermally-analyzed layout so that the fans on their desktop machines are whisper-quiet, instead of just putting the largest case fan that will fit. I like that I can go down to an Apple store, and talk to someone who actually knows something, as opposed to some pimply kid at Best Buy who just wants to sell the machine with the biggest margins.
But most of all, I like OS X.
There are lots of postings that claim the Windows can do everything that OS X can do. That may be true, but it’s irrelevant. There is a difference between OS X and Windows - if there wasn’t the Mac wouldn’t exist. I don’t think OS X is perfect, and it’s sometimes frustrating, but it’s SO MUCH BETTER than Windows that I’m willing to pay extra to get it.
Straw man. Not a single person has said that price should be the ONLY consideration. Not one. I challenge you to find such a person.
People have made the point that they take price into consideration, and that Macs are generally more expensive for equivalent levels of processing power, memory, etc., etc. This is true, in most cases, and even people who buy PCs often recognize that Macs have a reputation for very good quality hardware and construction.
Now you’re engaging in the very same sort of false equivalency that you were deriding PC buyers for. Yes, Mac Pro desktops have awesome cases. But you can also buy awesome cases for Windows desktops, cases with hot-swappable hard drives, plenty of space, etc., etc.
And you sound like another Mac user who hasn’t even looked at a PC for about 5 years. There is no “mess of ribbon cables” in my computer. Not sure if you missed the memo, but Windows computers are shipping with SATA devices now, and have been for some time.
It’s certainly true that some manufacturers’ boxes can get quite noisy. But not all, by any means. My desktop is sitting on the floor right at my left knee. If i bend my head down to the level of the case itself, and block out the surrounding sounds, i can just hear the fan. Just.
As for OSX, i agree that it’s an awesome operating system. But most of the things that are “better” about it are purely subjective, the product of people’s aesthetic and organizational and usage preferences. Not to say that those things are unimportant, or that people shouldn’t take them into account—in fact, people should definitely ask themselves before buying which operating system suits their needs best—but that the vast majority of OSX’s “betterness” is the result of subjective rather than objective assessments.
From what I see, it isn’t so much that Mac users are chasing an image, as that they are chased away from PCs by their image - perhaps unfairly.
It may well be that a PC armed with Windows 7 is just as good. I dunno, haven’t used one. Problem is, or was, past quality issues with the PC product. These may be history now, but that’s how commercial reputations work - it takes time to regain one with consumers once it is lost.
That, in a nutshell, has been Apple’s advantage: your average know-nothin’ user, who just wants the damn thing to work and isn’t very knowledgeable about the industry, is reassured by the “buzz” that this machine costs a bit more, but is reliable and user-friendly, and comes in one single package without a lot of incomprehensible (to the non computer literate) choices to make.
I have no doubt that a savvy and computer-literate person can get a better bargain by purchasing the right PC. What some folks who buy Macs are purchasing is the right to use a good quality computer without the necessity to become very computer-literate: they can happily play music and videos, download pictures, do word processing, transfer data between devices like the iPod, etc. without knowing a lot about the machines they are using.
I prefer Macs because they have long useful life spans . My current main computer is about 9 years old, the only thing we have done to it is add an external drive for music. (lots and lots of music files). It can still do everything we have wanted it to do.
Yeah, except people that buy dolce and gabanna sunglasses won’t go to their grave claiming that their sunglasses block photons and UV rays any better than a pair of panama jacks.
it’s like, just admit it that you (not you, global you) buy it for the status/prestige aspect (or because you know nothing about computers), and move along.
“Yeah, except people that buy dolce and gabanna sunglasses won’t go to their grave claiming that their sunglasses block photons and UV rays any better than a pair of panama jacks.”
Actually I think its pretty common for that to happen myself, where some kind of claim is made that they’re better made in some way as a way to justify buying a fashion or status based item.
Which is why I didnt expect to see a whole lot of people here saying ‘yeah I did really buy it for the image/status’ even if that is really the case.
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.”
My experience has been exactly the opposite.
I’ve observed that the people who know the most about computers - Programmers, Engineers, and Scientists tend to use Macs, while the people who know the least about computers - Managers and Accountants (for example), tend to choose PCs.
Based on your comments, I would guess that you are a junior bookkeeper.
There are reasons one is better. Some people probably do buy them for status symbols, but no more than they buy IPods, Blackberries, or 62" Plasma TVs for the same reason.
PC’s have gaming hands down. Mac could, but developers don’t publish or port much to the Mac.
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.
I originally went to Mac’s because of the media applications, greater OS stability, and let’s face it, the style doesn’t hurt them PC’s are fine, but I find a Mac easier to use than I ever found a PC with great features (especially in the OSX series) that windows has yet to deliver in such a user friendly format.
So no disrespect to PC’s (in fact my laptop from work is a PC…we’re still friends) I guess I’m just a Mac man.
PC’s are fine, but I find a Mac easier to use than I ever found a PC with great features (especially in the OSX series) that windows has yet to deliver in such a user friendly format.