I am in the market for a new computer, and it is going to be a laptop. One of my best friends has been pushing hard for me to switch to Mac when I get the new one. He has a variety of reasons that all seem fairly well thought out, I want to hear the counter argument. It seems that everyone with a Mac is generally happier with the performance, so why shouldn’t I make the switch. (Let’s take money out of the equation at the base cost, but cost of add ons/upgrades to a base model are fair game).
I need Internet, some basic word processing/spreadsheet programs. The ability to do things with music (eventually working up to basic sound editing) Personal accounting software (quicken or the like) etc. In other words I don’t need the video processing capabilities, but do need work related things (I work in the theatre as a Director/ Stage Manager/Sound Designer) and portability. I also have an Ipod with about 30g of music on it, it would be nice to keep it backed up on the laptop.
In the ibook vs powerbook thread, several of you seemed to have strong anti mac sentiments. This is the thread where I want to hear why.
There are a lot more programs available for just about anything on a PC. You mention sound editing. If you do a search on Download.com for “wave editor” for Mac OS X there are two search results versus 20 results for Windows XP. This says nothing about the quality of the software, but if you’re like me and like playing around with different programs, or if you want a wider variety of programs to choose from, then a PC has a definite advantage in that area. Having said that, I doubt there is a function that a PC can do via software than a Mac can’t do. There are just more choices as to how to do it with a PC.
If as part of your sound editing, you want to hook up external hardware to your laptop, you may find that your choices will be limited by whether the company writes drivers for the Mac. I’m sure the majority of manufacturers will provide Mac drivers though.
All else is equal though IMO, and if the above two points don’t concern you, then go for the Mac.
The Windows platform happens to be the one on which most of the software I like (and software I develop) will run; the metaphors in the user interface are more familiar to me. Were it not for that, I might be looking at buying a Mac; the OS seems generally more stable and secure; the aesthetics of both the GUI and the physical hardware are pretty yummy; they seem to perform quite adequately.
Would you need a tablet PC? Might come in real handy in your work depending on your style. If that’s the case, then get a tablet not a mac. I usse my tablet a lot
Because we’ll all point at you and snicker. And absolutely NO reindeer games, young man.
Seriously… get a Mac if you’re inclined. I’ve used Mac & PC, and really prefer non-fruit electronics, but that’s a personal choice. The lack of software is a huge downside, but it’s a quite capable platform otherwise.
Remember that lack of software is only a downside if the particular software you want to use isn’t available - you could quite easily use this argument in the opposite direction for software that is available on Mac but isn’t available on another platform. There is plenty of software available for the Mac that allows you to do pretty much anything you could do on any other platform - check out VersionTracker .
But you’re looking for reasons not to buy a Mac… Well, I’d tell you not to buy a Mac if you want it to behave like Windows. Believe it or not, I’ve encountered a number of people who have picked up and discarded Macs because they could not figure out how to use them - it’s not a huge learning curve from one operating system to another, but it is a learning curve (or maybe ‘unlearning’ curve).
One of the main reasons not to buy a Mac at this point, particularly a laptop, is the switch Apple is about to make to Intel. That is a big change. But it may well mean that you can, in the near future, install Mac OS/X on your laptop anyway, even if you bought a Windows XP machine now.
The main reason that Apple is switching is another indication of why you might prefer a laptop. Where everyone might be happier with the performance, Apple itself isn’t. The IBM processor they use lags behind both in power and in power consumption. I.e. it performs less using more battery. IBM isn’t going to change this much - they’ve moved on to the Cell processor, something which Apple isn’t willing to invest in as too many competitors are involved, and the other PowerPC alliance is with Microsoft/Xbox.
Basically, there is pretty much nothing you can’t do on a PC that you can do on a Mac. The other way round, the list is much, much longer.
The operating system is Mac’s only strong point now - not that it is infinitely much better than XP, not at all - XP SP2 is very powerful, very user friendly and reasonably safe, also from adware if you’re clever enough to browse either the right sites, or stick to Opera or Firefox for browsing.
But the OS is what distinguishes the Mac, not the hardware - most of its components are overpriced versions of the same hardware you find in PCs. The CPU is underperforming these days. And so the OS is what they’re focussing on.
Apple can’t survive on the small margins in hardware, and the platform is too small to make it in the big world - think again about the CPU; since it is primarily sold in Macs, it has a market that is a fourth or less of either AMD or Intel. I think Apple realises that if they port their OS/X to Wintel, their potential market share for an OS grows 900 procent. So that’s what they’ll do.
And that’s what you should do.
And I agree with China Guy - do have at least a look at the Tablet PC. It’s quite interesting.
There’s your reason to stick with a Windows machine. I’m assuming from your post that you already own a WIndows PC, and they iPod is used with it. An iPod has to be formatted for windows OR Apple, not both. I think you can “switch” one after buying it, but all the music on it would be gone. You’d have to b ack it up on your other Windows PC, then foramt it, then somehow transfer all the windows music to the Apple PC, and then maybe even have to convert the music fiels to be able to be used on the iPod, and that’s assuming the music files (I assuem MP3, but maybe not) can even be recognized by the Apple OS (can they? I honestly have no idea.)
Mac can read Windows formatted iPods fine. Windows, however, cannot read Mac formatted iPods. Surprisingly, Macs are also quite capable of playing most popular music files (with the notable exception of DRM’d Windows Media files, which wouldn’t be on an iPod anyway).
My main objection to Macs are that they often mistake nifty design for good design.
Take the iPod, for instance. It’s slick stylings are admired everywhere. But that didn’t help when mine crashed on a bus just outside of Fresno. In the name of “slick design” they didn’t put a hard reset switch. I had to wait half an hour to get cell reception and call someone to look up the secret combination of buttons you are supposed to press to restart the damn thing.
The list goes on and on. The one button mouse what a neat idea, but it honestly sucks compared to a two button mouse with a scroll wheel. The Cube was a neat thing, but it will overheat and shut down if you even quickly pass a paper a foot over the vent. iPods are gimped in a number of ways. One way really affects me- I do not have my music backed up on a hard drive (I don’t have space right now) and I would like to buy a shuffle to use on bus rides through sketchy areas. But because of Apple’s music-industry-pleasing gimpings, there is no way to convince an iPod to talk directly with the shuffle. I’ll have to wait until I can afford a new computer to do that. Time and time again Apple has rejected the notion of raw functionabilty. And when push comes to shove, a computer is a tool, not a showpiece. Raw function is what counts.
If you’re seriously considering a Mac PowerBook, I think they are great machines, (and very durable with long useful lives…I’m typing on one that was new in 1998), but be aware that an upgrade to the PowerBook line is very overdue at the moment.
Many of us are hoping to see dual-core G4 PowerBooks either later this month (!) or (more likely…sigh…) in January.
If you’re talking about specific applications (“I need to run Program XYZ for my business”), then yeah. If you’re talking about general computing duties (“I need to maintain ten years’ worth of Excel spreadsheets with my tax records”), then no.
I’ll address all these points. Internet, you have your Safari and Firefox and an outdated IE(MS stopped supporting IE for Mac when Safari was released), so that’s no issue. In general, the lower level tools like ssh that come with the Mac are much better than Windows, but that is easily remedied, so it’s a non-issue.
Word processing and spreadsheet… plenty to choose from, even Office if you’re so inclined.
Ability to do things with music? Apples are pretty popular in the sound engineering area, and a quick breeze through VersionTracker.com shows a fair number of apps for that.
Quicken is available on the Mac… in fact, I need to update. My version is ancient and the new one has some useful features I’d like. It’s generally equal to the mid-level Windows offering. Above the Basic, but not equal to the Deluxe.
The iPod was made to go with a Mac, really. If it’s a 30GB, you’ll have no problem. I think the Mac can read a Windows-formatted iPod, but if not, you can always transfer the music from your PC to the laptop, then sync it. A minor PITA, but nothing to worry about.
Reasons not to? Someone already mentioned… Apple’s switching to Intel, so you might want to wait. You won’t be able to install Mac OS on just any Windows laptop, but you /should/ be able to install Windows on your Mac once it has an Intel processor, should you decide to switch back.
If you play a lot of games, the Mac might not be for you either. Also, once in a great while I stumble across a media file I can’t read. Specifically, WMV3 that’s not in a .wmv container, and anything with certain Intel codecs. On the up side, Quicktime movies work much more smoothly than they do on Windows.
I’d advise you to wait and see if the upcoming update will bring in the Intel machines, but then again… you might not want the first version of a product. Generally, Apple has some pretty good quality control. But when they screw up, they don’t do it small!
Meh. Switch to the Mac. You’ll be back in the market for another new machine in a couple years anyhow - and you might like 'em. Why not broaden your horizons? I’ve used Mac before, and even supported a Mac environment at a job a few years ago (I’m a Systems Administrator, and that job had their own Art Department). Macs are good stuff. The only reason I don’t use one is because I ply my trade in a Microsoft environment.
One problem with switching either way (as I noted in a thread regarding the OSx86 image business) is that if you have accumulated an assortment of commercial software for one operating system, then when you switch (either way) you will additionally need to obtain that software for the other system as well.
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My wife has a Powerbook, I have a Thinkpad. She loves her computer, but I feel like I can do everything she can, or more, and I’m still more comfortable with the Windows platform than OS X.
Fewer things work on Mac than MS. For instance, my company provides me with a printer for home use, her computer cannot use it. Big deal? Maybe not, but if you find the “perfect” accessory for your needs, it might not be compatible.
If I had the choice, I’d stick with Windows, I just don’t find the Mac to be superior.
Power consumption is one reason not to. The Pentium M chips have much better power consumption than the G4s used in Apple laptops. For a laptop, that can mean an extra hour or so of battery life doing standard tasks.
The above is actually why I switched to Mac in the first place. 2 years ago, the G3 iBooks had the longest battery life of any budget laptop. I’ve since become a pretty hard core Mac convert, but if I were buying a laptop today, I’d think pretty hard about getting one with a Pentium M chip.
This is wny Apple is going Intel. This, and the forecast for the future. The rate of speed increase on the desktop G5 is disappointing, but the dealbreaker for PowerPC was the complete lack of anything on the horizon to make the PowerBook line kick PC-laptop butt. Intel had a roadmap for increasingly fast, low-power chips.
Apple figures a bigger slice of the pie is going to consist of folks who want their computer to be as mobile as they are, and not be some stripped-down substitute when they get there.
