I have not had extensive experience with OS X, please tell me what it does so much better than Win2000 Pro or XP Pro?
Well, I would suggest trying it out. You may not like OS X and that's fine, but personally I find the OS makes more sense, despite the fact I grew up on Windows. Some examples:
Installing software (if done correctly) is simply dragging the directory off the install disc to the hard drive. Indeed, strangely enough, that's how you install Microsoft's Office v.X.
When I close the lid on my laptop, the machine shuts off and goes to sleep. When I open the lid, it starts back again within about 5 seconds, precisely where I left off.
Every app can save files as .pdf files, because it's a native format of the OS.
Auto fall-back of network interfaces is cool. My primary network is wireless, but 10/100/1000 is my secondary. When I'm not near a wireless access point I just plug in Ethernet... and it just works. No need to adjust the config settings.
I can mount the hard drives from other Macs via Firewire. eg. If I plug a Firewire cable into both my TiBook and my iBook, I can reboot one of the computers while holding down the "T" key. That computer goes into Firewire mode and its drive simply gets seen as any other Firewire drive mounted on the other computer. Faster than 100 Mbps Ethernet (and much faster than current Windows and Mac implementations of Firewire networking), without need for removing a drive.
This is a software issue, but contextual menus (ie. right clicking or ctrl-clicking) seem to be better on Macs. I find often in Windows far too many things are crammed into the right click menu. I suppose because the Mac OS tends to be built around one button, it's easier to access the main features via that one button, with more select stuff in the right button contextual menus. I have no problems using my single button on my track pad for my laptops, whereas using a single button on a Windows XP would be much more difficult.
Disk images. OS X prefers works with disk images instead of stuff like zip files. To backup a CD or create a new archive you just use the built-in disc image function. You can then mount them and they get seen as any other hard drive and can be partitioned and formatted, etc. This is similar to Drive Image in Nero, but simpler, and built into the OS. However, if you want, you can use .zip files or .sit files.
External displays are much better supported. It's built into the OS and simply works. Sometimes I find myself fighting with ATI or nVidia drivers to get dual displays working as they should. Although usually not necessary, sometimes in XP or 2000 a reboot after plugging the second display in helps. This is not needed in OS X, ever. Plus I think my laptop is in the only laptop line in existence with DVI output. DVI is sweet.
I hate AOL, but Apple's AIM client is actually quite nice.
iDVD I'm told is the best consumer level home DVD authoring program in existence. I've made picture books with iPhoto (great for gifts), and iPhoto has ultra easy image web site creation. And I don't even like iPhoto (free) that much, but it's certainly better than most inexpensive image software I've seen on the Windows side.
I don't deal with it much, but others love the underlying Unix backbone, with full Unix compatibility, without the difficult ergonomics of Linux. What I do use is SMB to mount Windows drives over the network, and I may start using CUPS.
P.S. People using only Win 98/ME, NT, and OS 9 and who haven't checked out anything else, should really check what's available these days. Win 98/ME and OS 9 are yesterday's technology, and have long since been left behind by Win XP and OS X.2. Although NT may be useful in the legacy corporate realm, NT is simply useless on the home desktop. Indeed, one of the reasons I bring my laptop to work several times a week is because half the stuff I need to use doesn't even work in NT, but my workplace is NT-only. I won't lump Linux in with Win 98 or OS 9, since Linux is much more powerful, but I find the usability of Linux terrible for those without a lot of hardcore computer experience. It's truly a geek OS, built by computer geeks for computer geeks, and not ready for the Joe Shmoe mainstream user. If you really want to though, you can simply install PPC Linux on a Mac. Being a non-*nix person, I'm not sure I see the point though since OS X.2 is already Unix.
I think a dual pentium 3.2 Ghz machine or amd 2800+, or opteron when it comes out would be pretty nice for mac heads, I would think the faithful would like it instead of being sutck with slow processors.
I personally don't care what chips my Macs use, but as it stands now the OS and software are simply incompatible with x86 chips (if you exclude Darwin). So it's not even an option to switch to a P4.
5. Wintel and IBM are evil. Apple is good. (The people I have known who run Macs seemed to have a moral issue with PCs)
Apple is far from being anti-IBM, since lots of Macs these days use IBM chips. iMacs use them, as do iBooks. And probably next year we'll see IBM-based PowerMacs. If your friends are anti-IBM then then they should boycott Apple because their logic simply makes no sense. As for Microsoft, the best office suite for Mac is Office v.X, and MS Internet Explorer ships with EVERY Mac. You can't even say that with Intel/AMD machines.
By the way, it almost seems to me that home PC builders never buy software.
People compare prices but don't include any software in that price, and often don't even include the OS cost.
In the end, I'm not saying Macs are perfect. If they were, I wouldn't own both Macs and Windows machines. However, I am just pointing out that some of the opinions voiced about Macs are simply due to lack of information and experience with the Mac hardware and software.
Ummm, Eug, I think you're in denial. Dude...you have over 6000 posts on Anandtech!
Heheh. True. What I meant was that I don't work with computers for a living.
This is the biggest untruth of all the rhetoric. It was Apple that forced the customer to use Apple or Apple approved and licensed software, development tools, and hardware. They have exclusive dealerships and restrictive advertising, using strong arm tactics for those who do not obey. Granted, Microsoft and Intel use cutthroat competitive practices of their own, but the fact of the matter is that anyone can develop hardware and software for the Wintel platform and users have incredible freedom of choice.
Actually, anybody can write software for Apple. They don't have to be "Apple approved"
Apple software and peripherals are under much tighter control and therefore work together better with fewer incompatibilities.
And that's why I like it. On the Wintel side I try to stay away from bargain basement stuff because much of it is crap. I try to buy the higher end components, not just because they're better quality, but also because they seem to be better tested with other components and with the OS. On the Apple side, that's largely already a given, since Apple controls much of the hardware as you said.
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