A PowerBook more specifically. I really like the look, and they seem to be becoming more open to a lot more hardware/software. Is it really that hard to learn/use after using Windows? If anyone has a Mac, could you tell me the advantages and disadvantages, or anyone for that matter. Thanks
Thinking about switching to a Mac
- Thread starter KilGil27
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If you can use a PC, you can use a mac. I have a PC and my wife has a mac, and I have no problems helping her with her computer problems. And, those powerbooks rock!
kamper
Diamond Member
- Mar 18, 2003
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I'm not sure "open" is quite the word for mac hardware 
Anyways, I recently bought a powerbook coming from linux/windows. I like it, and use it as my desktop system but I'm not totally in love with it or anything.
The reasons I do like it:
-*nix with a nice gui (I happen to like linux and I happen to like nice integrated, fancy desktops)
-no putting up with windows security hazards, mostly because of security by obscurity
-it's a chance to try out a new/different platform which makes it a learning experience
-it has a bit of "non-conformism" value, at least the way I see it. It can also be pretty easy to accuse diehard mac people of being sheep
If you like windows and are capable of keeping it secure and don't really feel a need to have something non-windows then there probably isn't much point. You can easily get a similarly spec'ed Dell for much less money.
Anyways, I recently bought a powerbook coming from linux/windows. I like it, and use it as my desktop system but I'm not totally in love with it or anything.
The reasons I do like it:
-*nix with a nice gui (I happen to like linux and I happen to like nice integrated, fancy desktops)
-no putting up with windows security hazards, mostly because of security by obscurity
-it's a chance to try out a new/different platform which makes it a learning experience
-it has a bit of "non-conformism" value, at least the way I see it. It can also be pretty easy to accuse diehard mac people of being sheep
If you like windows and are capable of keeping it secure and don't really feel a need to have something non-windows then there probably isn't much point. You can easily get a similarly spec'ed Dell for much less money.
sourceninja
Diamond Member
- Mar 8, 2005
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Pro's - BSD based so you can leverage a lot of open source software and run a lot of programs designed for linux
Con's Apple is getting increasingly more into restricting their users rights, and getting sue happy.
Pro's - The hardware is top notche and will just work
con's - The hardware is very very expensive compared to what you can get from dell or build yourself at the same price point
Pro's - The GUI is very perty
Con's - The gui is hard to customize (at least from my limited exp, but I may just not know enough about it).
I'd say the line between longhorn and mac osx is getting thinner. So it wont matter which you choose, you should still be happy. Personally, I am going to buy an intel powerbook when they come out.
Con's Apple is getting increasingly more into restricting their users rights, and getting sue happy.
Pro's - The hardware is top notche and will just work
con's - The hardware is very very expensive compared to what you can get from dell or build yourself at the same price point
Pro's - The GUI is very perty
Con's - The gui is hard to customize (at least from my limited exp, but I may just not know enough about it).
I'd say the line between longhorn and mac osx is getting thinner. So it wont matter which you choose, you should still be happy. Personally, I am going to buy an intel powerbook when they come out.
secretanchitman
Diamond Member
- Apr 11, 2001
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One con is that Mac's are so damn expensive. I could build two PC's for the price of a high-end Mac that would perform much better.
Maximilian
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anarchyreigns
Senior member
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I always think of it this way;
Why is it the mac has a program to emulate windowsXP and yet windows does not have a program that emulates MACOS??
I think you would run into less issues staying on a windows machine.
Don't listen to these PeeCee Weenies. Macs are the best computers in the world. Go to http://www.apple.com and look at the benchmarks.
Maximilian
Lifer
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kamper
Diamond Member
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I personally don't take it too seriously when a bunch of mere windows people (*scoff scoff*
) are uncomfortable about me using a mac One of my cons is that some of the mac crowd can be just as bigotted against the pc world as pc people can be about macs. The difference is that they have bound themselves to a single company (read: fanboys) while in the pc world you at least have a chance for some diversity through both hardware and software. I like the mac crowd here, to tell the truth. Most are from a pc background and those that aren't obviously have enough common sense not to be mac fanboys in this forum
Apple hardware is the same hardware you get with every other PC except the CPU is differenent. There is nothing top notche about it is all from the lowest bidder.
Maximilian
Lifer
- Feb 8, 2004
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Custom mobo (not unlike some other OEMs such as Dell), custom case (again like many OEMs), optical drives (usually Pioneers) tend to be better than most large OEM drives, and RAM tends to be topnotch stuff (although it seems like most OEMs don't skimp too much on the RAM quality (get from Micron and the like))
The dfferentiation from other OEMs is that the quality tends to be a bit higher (e.g. more metal/less plastic) and the AIO nature of Apple systems allows for some unique, arguably better design choices (witness the Powermac thermal design enabled by the highly custom mobo design allowing for better component separation and OS level automatic control of numerous system fans).
The point being, not everything is going to the lowest bidder, when a fair amount of the system is Apple in house design.
They tend to look very nice, but they have (speaking of powerbooks) uncompetitive battery life (compared to centrinos), poor screens (compared to even a normal middle of the road laptop, but particularly compared to the brightview-style laptops), and they're somewhat expensive too.
They do have non-integrated graphics cards - a plus - and they do have a very attractive desigh, so for those that care about such things, those are two plusses.
The problem with the graphics card is that they're fairly last-generation stuff - Radeon 9700 in the high end and GeForce 5200 in the low-end - and the GF5200 used in the PB is low-end.
The G4 doesn't compare to the Centrino speedwise - it's about 2/3 the speed of the Centrino, clock for clock.
Apple desktops are out-of-this-world expensive. A Mini + 19" LCD is $900 and more, and that's for last-generation hardware. A Dell 4700 + 19" LCD is $480 or so, with current generation, reasonably fast hardware.
The GUI's great. The software included with it is great. The extra software that you can buy for it, though, just doesn't compare to Windows outside of some mainstream interests.
They do have non-integrated graphics cards - a plus - and they do have a very attractive desigh, so for those that care about such things, those are two plusses.
The problem with the graphics card is that they're fairly last-generation stuff - Radeon 9700 in the high end and GeForce 5200 in the low-end - and the GF5200 used in the PB is low-end.
The G4 doesn't compare to the Centrino speedwise - it's about 2/3 the speed of the Centrino, clock for clock.
Apple desktops are out-of-this-world expensive. A Mini + 19" LCD is $900 and more, and that's for last-generation hardware. A Dell 4700 + 19" LCD is $480 or so, with current generation, reasonably fast hardware.
The GUI's great. The software included with it is great. The extra software that you can buy for it, though, just doesn't compare to Windows outside of some mainstream interests.
Schadenfroh
Elite Member
- Mar 8, 2003
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