 WINDOWS USERS PLEASE DON'T FUCK OFF YET!! I know, the headline is bashing your machine a little bit, but I'm just like you, seriously! I've been using Microsoft stuff since 1992! That's right, I've been a windows user most of my life. I remember 3.1, NT, 95, 98, 2000, ME (fucking stupid, 2000 in a different box, right?), and then on to (OOooOOoo) Windows XP. Luckily for me, the buck stopped here.
It's about here that I meet Jay Phillips. Jay, a fellow hacker, is the creator of a very successful Telephony application called Adhearsion. He will be the first to tell you owes some of his coder success to his MacBook. Honestly, Jay even looks like the Mac guy on the commercial (see right). Anyway I was in the mood to debunk this obviously misguided coder (because coders need TECH machines, not pretty toys, right?) and I can honestly say from the deepest techie place in my heart: I got PWWWWWWND. This is why:
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11)
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Physical Stability
That's right! I went even here - because it's true. Apple products cost a crapload because they're sturdy as fuck. I mean, really (REALLY) sturdy. The chassis of the macbook is polycarbonate, which is MUCH stronger and more flexible than the cheaper (more common) Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene - which most laptop chassis are made of... And this is the cheapest one! The MBPro features thick sand-brushed aluminum - these things can take a hit, and as a developer - you want that energizer bunny-box that lasts, and you know it. I have an ugly habit of skateboarding where I need to go with this thing strapped to my back, and it's eaten it's share of pavement - and remains UNSCATHED!
Meanwhile, my last computer (Acer notebook with ABS chassis) cracked when it fell from my carseat to my floor. The crack eventually (2 1/2 months later) expanded until the screen was no longer attached to the machine.
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10)
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Software Stability
This is important for everyone, not just developers. Basically, the last (final) time I tried to load up a machine with a Fresh windows XP install (on a community box for my roommates) it lasted TWO DAYS. Internet Explorer is like the black plague of modern internet browsing. Furthermore (having actually had the pleasure of developing windows applications) - I KNOW WHY! Microsoft foundation classes are a bitch to work with, really. Developing anything under windows is a WHOLE painful experience, which isn't generally helped by the 'VisualStudio' suite of tools. It's like building a house of cards in a blizzard.
Anyway - In like 6 months of Mac Ownership I've had to restart my machine due to total meltdown like once, compared to the billion +6 times under windows, daily. THIS IS NOT (always) due to buggy software - because you have to consider bugs when you write an operating system. The real deal here is that my Mac can HANDLE these tragedies when they happen by allowing me to force quit and actually DETECTING when something isn't responding. Or (get this ) I can even use UNIX kill commands to manually shut down my stuff, and save my OS session :). That's some time-honored stability right there.
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9)
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Extreme Usability
Before I even go into the Mac Pwnage here - I just want to mention that even the modern window managers in linux (absolutely free, $0.00) are WAY more advanced than vista crap. Beryl (a free linux window manager) Blows AeroGlass away in every respect (Especially the fucking CUBE effect! Where the hell is MS on this?). Anyway - this category is my main reason for switching to Mac. I can get everything I need to do (as a developer) done FASTER, and in a more efficient way. A few things:
1) Exposé is every mac user's favorite toy when they discover it. Basically (and with a really clean and groovy effect), Exposé will layout all your windows right in front of you, leaving you to click on the one you want to bring to the front. Exposé gives you the active preview of all windows too, even if they contain Video or 3D content. As a developer, this (seriously) saves me HOURS in window switching time - alt+tab doesn't have SHIT on this. Also there's three different modes for focusing exactly what you need at the moment, including a mode to clear all the windows to the screen margins (temporarily) and let you do your desktop business. Again - this saves precious seconds when you need 'em.
2) Quicksilver - "What could be better than a start bar?", I'll show you better than a damn start bar.. Quicksilver is free software for OS X that really does redefine ease of access on your computer. Basically the window opens when you press ctrl+space, and then you type in whatever you need. Quicksilver is QUICK. Need firefox? Type 'firefox'. Need yahoo mail? Type yahoo mail, and it opens it with firefox. It'll even cache your bookmarks and stuff so you can access them immediately. Again: compared to finding, waiting, wading through company names in the start menu, etc - this makes life uber-simple, and productive.
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8)
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Oh, the Compatability!
One major seller (for me) about OS X is that I can continue to use basically all the linux and open source tools that I need to. Since OS X is essentially a souped-up Unix OS, all the linux functionality that I NEED is available to me! I can even compile and install linux applications from scratch (compile; make; make install;) and they run fine. Get this: EVEN the linux apps that require windowing and have GUI interfaces will run on OSX, because Macs come with their own implementation of the X11 windowing system (which is what linux uses!). Look at that: when a software manufacturer IS on your side, you get to USE more stuff!
Also, since I'm primarily a web developer (concentrating in server side logic and scripting) - it's really important that I'm running the same servers and web software as the actual hardware that the site will one day be served from. I can tell you, now that I have a mac I can be fully plugged in to the bleeding edge server techniques that our production servers will be employing. On windows you're always translating the linux server tweaks to their windows alternatives (i.e. "WTF is php.ini??"). I'm not saying that this never works - but I gotta say, sometimes I had to do some backwards somersaults to get my shit running right in windows.
Past even this, I run a MacBook with a dual-core intel processor in it. Not only can I install windows (or linux) on this machine, and reboot into that operating system, I can Open Windows IN A WINDOW in my mac - Please Observe. So yeah - for the twelve of you that are like "Heeey, but I want to go play MINESWEEPER!" you still can, and you don't even have to reboot.
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7)
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Killer Specs
No shit. I can't even believe people would dare call a mac expensive after they've really looked inside. These things PWN. Seriously - I get like 4 1/2 hours of battery life on a full charge - if you swap out the standard 80G macbook harddrive with a Solid State Flash device (available in the same capacity) - you will boost your MacBooks battery life to up to TEN HOURS! This kind of thing is made possible by Apple's horizontal integration in the market. The OS is specifically fine-tuned to the hardware, to make a completely optimized experience.
Anyway - past even that, I really wanted to push mine to the test. Just so y'all know, I have the cheapest model of macBook, and now it's officially been versioned by the ones with slightly better specs. After dual-installing windows I was able to install and play Half Life 2 without a hitch. Actually, it runs twice as smooth on my mac than on my desktop (I must be getting like 40 or 50 fps in the normal-load scenes in the game). NEVER let it be said that Macs can't play games. Now they even do Windows games (eat that, bill!)
As a final note, the built-in mac speakers are LOUD. Really, really fucking loud. Ironically the speakers on this model aren't visible on the outside at all, but I can completely fill my bedroom with tunes with this thing! I actually have to tone it down to have a skype conversation. This is a pleasant change from the often-too-quiet laptop speakers I'm so used to.
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6)
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SuperTOOLS!
Seriously - software development on a Mac is the most pretty and painless thing I've ever done. First - meet TextMate. Textmate IS my best friend. When you install textmate, it gives you a fucking hug. I'm a Ruby/Rails and PHP developer mainly, and I don't really need a full IDE for that, more just the killer editor of my dreams. Believe me when I say, this is the killer editor of my DREAMS. Perhaps this is a conversation for a different blog, but TextMate is a reason in and of itself to switch to OSX. I would urge ANY developer to go the Macromates website and check out the videos pertinent to your language. Anybody interested in Rails development that isn't already using this should watch this.
Okay - so past TextMate, it's pretty great to have the full linux array of tools available to me. ESPECIALLY with great source repository systems set up, like Fink and MacPorts - which basically make installing software as simple as: "sudo fink install ". It took me all of one hour to completely set up my development environment on this thing - and let me tell you, I'm a stickler. I have a full Ruby/Rails/Gems stack AND (since I do php stuff too) a complete Apache/PHP/Mysql stack. Plus your other standard linux dev stuff: Subversion, Sqlite3 (for easy development db porting), ImageMagick, you name it, really. Also, OSX comes with the full GNU compiler kit, so if you need to really get down and dirty you can recompile with new packages, etc, to your little heart's content..
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5)
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It's a terminal, NOT a console.
You're damn right it is! Welcome what the REST of the world has been doing for the last 30 years. The TERMINAL was another really big selling point for me on the Mac. Basically, OSX has tcsh by default, which is pretty great. I've never found ANYTHING (at all) that was useful about the windows 'Console'. I'm in love with the mac console. Not only can I tweak it to look how I want (let's see that..), but I use it for EVERYTHING, because on OSX, you can use it for everything - and of course as a l33t h4xx0r I like that. For instance, if you're parusing around in your terminal and you stumble upon something you need to open. Let's say it's an mp3 file. All you need to do is type 'open <filename>'. Alright. Lets say you're terminal'ing around your code, and you want to edit it with full-on syntax highlighting, but you want to do it really fast (i.e. you don't want to wait 40 seconds for dreamweaver to start, initialize fonts, plugins, network settings, and kiss you on the cheek). What to do? The beauty of textmate: "mate <filename>".
But wait... who wants to edit ONE file? I need to open my whole repo, or maybe more than one repo of code at a time! Fear not, luke.. Use the mate.. To open a directory in textmate, You need only "mate ." if you're already in the dir, or "mate path/to/dir" if it's not in your current path. And that's it! One line, and you're looking right at your project, with a little browsable sidebar. Everything syntax highlighted and right at your fingertips in less than two seconds. This is what I need at my side in the frenzy that you and I both know IS software development.
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4)
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I like SHINY things..
...and yeah, I get that this doesn't mean everything to everyone, really. Honestly, I'm not really that guy either. I don't care much for the "brushed metal" look, and pretty interface doesn't mean a whole whole lot to me, but come on! It's 2007, and I want some shiny shit. I want pretty rounded corners. I want glossy buttons. I want everything I do to feel like I'm in a movie, basically; and you know what? It really does! this thing keeps up with my every move, in style. It really does feel nice to have everything (especially the typically mudane aspects of computing) be so PRETTY! Alright. You get it. You've seen it. I'm moving on..
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3)
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Service Counts
Everyone has a PC repair horror story, and I'm (seriously) still scarred from some of my worst ones. I've mentioned this earlier in the article, but I have the *CHEAPEST* MacBook I could buy, which (just so you know) was about $1100 bucks up here in Oregon, straight from the Apple store. After messing with the generic apple firmware stuff to pull off a triple-boot (which maybe I shouldn't have done after all) Apple updated their EFI stuff, and I think my disk bricked up because of it. Long story short, I still had the default one-year Apple warranty - so I called them. Get this - I got my computer back in ONE DAY, with a brand new hard disk that I paid $0.00 for and (this is the best part) I NEVER got off my ass once! As a programmer, I like that too. Seriously, they send you a box from california, you stick your computer in the box, DHL takes it, and (in Oregon) you get it back THE NEXT DAY. Seriously, I almost don't even remember that time because it was so completely painless - and that's the kind of shit I like to be able to say.
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2)
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Save time: Don't ask Questions
After having been on my mac for a little while, I found I had very little questions about how to do most things. Everything in OS X is so intuitive, that most of the time when you have those little "Hrm, I wonder if this will work.." moments as a programmer, it actually does most of the time. This is what I DEFINE as good programming. Software that was designed for humans to use it without having to ask anyone how. Basically, software that teaches you how to use it just by being obvious. This is what I'm constantly looking for on my machine. I don't want to look up a tutorial on how to <whatever> - i just want to know, and I want to know now. I love linux, and I USE it all the time, but I'm in the position to have to refer to the forum (or elsewhere) to figure out how to do menial tasks in a linux distro. In OSX, there's a pretty little button for everything, and it's basically always where they knew you'd be looking for it, and (personally) that's where I want it.
Also, One of the COOLEST 'ease-of-use' features about the macBook family specifically is the multi-touch sensitive touchpad. Basically, instead of a right click, I can either click one finger on the pad (for left), or TWO fingers for right, and it knows. Also (even cooler), when I'm browsing the web in firefox OR safari when I use one finger it's the cursor and two fingers is the scroll, which works horizontally and vertically. That saves me so much time in mouse-trips to the scroll bar (or even hand-trips to the up/down keys) for scrolling, I can't even begin to tell you.
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1)
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Steve Jobs ISN'T a dick!
...And I can't stress this last bit enough. This part is *MUCH* more important than everyone gives credit, really. Microsoft is out to milk the consumer market completely, and it's out to crush the competition, NOT work with the competition. We love the internet. We're programmers, and the internet is OUR world. This is our little free-zone, to protect. Giant tech entities have a huge stake in this place - this is where all the action is happening guys! Each MS machine sold is one more step towards total assimilation, and (you can bet) more bending-over of most MS customers. Want an example? OK - let's take an Xbox. Just an Old, shitty, dusty Xbox from 1999. You take it out of the box, you play a microsoft-liscensed game that you payed $50 for, you put it away for a week. You get bored. There's a network card in there, but you owe them $70 a year to USE it for anything, so you don't. Hey! There's a DVD player in there too! So you go try to play a dvd, and it brings you a friendly message. Translated, it says exactly this:
"Hey! Sorry you paid $299 for this and didn't read the 8px-font small print, but EVEN THOUGH THIS THING IS A DVD PLAYER, we're going to make you go back to wal-mart and pay ANOTHER $35 for a dvd remote that you need just because WE SAY SO!"
...What?? Why do i need a remote when I have a perfectly good controller right here? OH YEAH! Cause the remote-dongle costs $35! Well, lucky me for being a microsoft customer.
FAST FORWARD to 2007. Get Splinter cell, and the latest EvolutionX release, and XBMC - BOTH of which cost exactly $0.00. All of a sudden, the exact same machine, without you having to buy ANYTHING extra, can do all KINDS of things! You can watch networked movies from all over your house, you can emulate other systems on your xbox (also free, btw) - heck, you can even watch YouTube, right on your TV, via your XBOX!
Now, as a consumer (if you're smart), this should tell you something: IF microsoft wanted to, you could've been doing ALL that shit way back in 1999!! ..But no, of course not. We had to wait for them to re-engineer the stupid 360, which costs ANOTHER 400, plus the dongle, plus the expansion, plus the kitchen sink. THEN, finally, IF YOU'RE RUNNING A WINDOWS NETWORK, and IF YOU HAVE WINDOWS COMPATIBLE MEDIA FORMATS, the Royal MS Executive Committee gives you the holy permission to do everything I can with my hacked one. This 'Gates' guy sounds like some asshole I don't want to be giving any money to anymore.
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...So that's it! LET THE FLAME WAR BEGIN!!! :)
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Good perspective on the Mac vs. PC thing.
Nice article i liked the way u presented the information about MAC & Pc things thanx for sharing it
jasmne
tech-chek.blogspot.com
Macs rock :)
I just recently got a new Windows machine (cheap package deal- replaced my older than the hills laptop for a grand total of $800) and it runs Windows Vista. Let me tell you, the computer itself is great, but the OS is a -piece of shit-! I spend more time looking up how to do things in the new OS than I ever did on my Mac or XP machines combined. Need to edit a config file? Better remember to run your text editor in Administrator mode first, or you're screwed on all the changes you just made.
I'm not a programmer or anything, but I do occasionally dip into Gentoo linux and time matters just as much to the common (advanced) user as to a professional programmer.
My wife loves gaming, too. She enjoys RPG and a she’s fan of Elder Scrolls. I’m a Java, Ruby and JavaScript guy. I use Eclipse, Firebug, and some other code editors. And you know, I don’t care what this stuff runs on. It could be Windows, Ubuntu or Mac (even Solaris). For now I use XP. Please, tell me why I should switch to Mac. Can my wife run Oblivion in Parallels? I mean, run smoothly? And even if she can, why should I overpay for it?
Let’s calculate:
1. I can buy a MBPro for $2500. To run a game I also need to buy Windows ($500). Is Parallels free?
2. Or, I can CUSTOMIZE and buy a PC laptop for $2000 with XP or Vista preinstalled. I can save because Windows is cheaper to buy “with hardware†($100 vs. $500).
The difference is about $1000 ($3000 vs $2000). Will you pay me $1000 to switch? And even if you would, I’d better buy an Xbox to try Assassin’s Creed. :)
And don’t try to fool me with Half Life 2 – this game is outdated for a long time, and I don’t like it.
Andrew - for one thing, I just laid out like a whole DAY OF WRITING about why it's worth the extra $$, no shit. Your wife could totally do elder scrolls if she dual-booted windows (which is a pretty easy thing), and rebooted to run the game natively. Anyway - if the three pages of shit up there didn't sell you, you're just not sold, and that's how it is. Have fun with (lol) ECLIPSE, I'm sure that's about as agile as using a artillery missile to light a fucking cigarette. You clearly know all about efficiency, I'm sure when you're alt+tab'ing your way through 40 windows and trying to resize one so you can just see the damn browser and *think* about writing some code, you'll be reminded of this post.
Sorry, man, but I usually don’t get more than four windows at time. Ok, let’s count: Eclipse - one window to work. Opera - to browse the web. Firebug (ok, I got Fox with it, accidentally) - to see the result. Forth window is optional. I’m alt-tabbing between Fox and Eclipse and use browser to lookup for your comment. Not a big challenge for switching, hah? Do I really need an expose? Also, all my windows are full-screened – I don’t need to resize them. Eclipse is heavy for you? Ok, I got Vim and Xemacs for folks like you, and note: I don’t care what OS these windows have behind – that’s my point. There’re lots of posts like this: Mac is Better, Vista sucks, Linux is the way to go, etc. It’s all so childish! I don’t care about it at all! For me XP is cheaper than Mac, and there’s no big deal in switching to it. IMO, the best OS is the OS you wouldn’t notice, that’s it. You bought a Mac – good for you. But stop pulling my leg with “Why do you running Windows?â€. There’s no point in it! I run Windows because I get it preinstalled and it’s fine for me.
Yo, dude, you forgot to mention catastrophic data loss on Macs and their lack of decent Java support!
Funny how you extol the virtues of the Mac command shell, but back when Macs had no command line at all, Mac cultists would talk about how the mere presence of a command shell in any system was a bad thing.
You obviously spent a few hours here writing the same blog post that's been written by tens of thousands of Mac cultists already. I think it has something to do with the psychology of insecure people. You need the approval of others to reaffirm your choices. It's a touch pathetic, IMO.
Now they even do Windows games (eat that, bill!)
I don't think Bill is "eating" anything.
Think about it, where does Bill Gates make all his money? By charging a metric ass-load for an operating system. I imagine that he's actually quite happy that Apple made it soooooooo easy to install Windows on your Mac cause that just means that the "average" Mac consumer will spend more money on Microsoft licensed products. In all reality, Bill is taking back the chunk of the market that he lost, and making more money from it since a retail copy of Windows earns him more money that the bundled ones that come with other PCs.
This doesn't bother Steve Jobs either. Steve doesn't make his money from his operating systems, he makes it on his hardware. I don't imagine he much cares what you run on you Macbook, just so long as it is a Macbook, and he made money on the sale of his hardware. To be honest, I'm a little surprised that the online Apple store hasn't started selling copies of windows yet.
while mac > windows for development, i still think linux > all for development.
oh yeh, and i went to school at the real UT (university of tennessee) :P
You do realize that Windows was a repackaged version of 98, not 2000?
Its silly posts that like that only further the divide between Mac and PC users.
I think dave g has some unresolved insecurity issues.
Yhea you simple trading one software company Microsoft in for an other lord Mac.
I believe Free Software is the only way forward. Apple is non-Free software with a few hooks to Free Software. For me its GNU/Linux because its FREE and there is al the diffrence with your Aplle.
It's a moral choice!
MFC seriously? I don't know a single windows developer that uses it anymore.... not really a valid point of comparison anymore. I like the rest of your points I just don't feel that the whole MFC/Visual Studio thread is viable any more. If you have used VS 2005 or 2008 your entire opinion of windows development will change.
You, sir, are an idiot.
You clearly do not know much about anything. Your comparisons to Microsoft are so far off, its sad. The way you talk about how unstable Windows is, is also so far off. Lets just say that I have used my Windows PC for years without crashes. I simply know what i am doing. I built the system myself (4GB DDR2 RAM, Athlon x2 6000+, etc) and it runs beautifully. I do web design, photography, and graphics and my machine never hurts. I rarely even close Outlook 2007, LightRoom, PhotoShop, Visual Studio, and Komodo (for PHP stuff). Additionally, I always have two VMWare machine running in the background - one for Leopard and one for Ubuntu. All of this running on Vista 64.
I haven't crashed a single time since building this machine.
You get what you pay for, like anything else. Buy a cheap Acer or Gateway or Dell machine and you can expect it to run like shit. Build it yourself and buy the right parts - those that are guaranteed to work with your software (whatever it is) and you will have a solid machine.
On to other things - TopDesk does for Windows what Expose does for Macs and Launchy does what QuickSilver does. Whats your point?
Also, how can you make a post about how cool Macs are and how they are superior to Windows and then bring up Linux windows managers as a valid point? Thats like saying "My BMW is better than your Infiniti because Lexus is better than your Infiniti" What kind of argument is that?
I am well versed in all three - Windows, Ubuntu, and OS X and they each have their strengths and weaknesses.
One more thing - I hate when people compare their Mac's to Windows because they always seem to forget that Windows is the software that runs on top of some shitty hardware by some shitty company but some how Microsoft always takes the heat for anything that goes wrong.
I don't agree with most of these points.
11) The materials of the casing != the physical reliability of the system. If you drop the laptop, the last thing you should be worried about is whether the surface of the case is damaged. The parts that fail most often on laptops (besides the batteries) are the hard drives followed by memory and video cards/keyboards. Hard drives/memory will fail at some point or another regardless of how well the system was maintained. For developers that don't travel often, desktops are a much better option. And I'm sorry but mac desktops are way overpriced.
10) Perhaps you might have heard of Firefox. Besides, what does IE have to do with software stability. IE may be a POS browser, but I don't recall the last time IE has actually crashed.
I don't understand the rest of your argument. A clean install of Windows XP is pretty damn fast and stable. I don't even recall the last time windows has crashed over the last several years that wasn't related to failing hardware.
9) Quicksilver may be nice but it's unnecessary for developers. Most devs use the same applications every day. The core applications I use everyday are NetBeans, Outlook, and Firefox. I rarely even need to use the start menu.
All of those fancy desktop rotating effects are not usability features. They're bloat that doesn't enhance the desktop experience at all IMHO. My optimal desktop setup is two 20.1" monitors (with Ultramon on Windows to provide a second taskbar).
8) Linux and Windows are much more compatible with Java :(
7) This is nonsense. PC's are cheaper with equivalent specs. Solid state hard drives are not a mac invention. 4 1/2 hour battery life should be 'expected' with new batteries. I really don't care how loud the speakers are on my laptop when I'm trying to work. I'm sure my coworkers WOULD care.
6) Linux and Windows are much more compatible with Java :(
5) Yeah, the windows command shell sucks. But I only use it to run "ipconfig" or "ping" so it really doesn't matter.
4) No comment
3) I think you'd be surprised most PC vendors do the same. My question is, how well does Apple support older systems? When your macbook is no longer apple's primary seller, how well will they support you? I really have no idea - most PC vendors are pretty bad in this regard. Dell is top notch. You can obtain nearly any part you need for older systems, download drivers, download the manuals for taking apart the motherboard, LCD, etc even if the system is several years old.
Correction:
11) Motherboards fail almost as frequently as hard drives.
"ME (fucking stupid, 2000 in a different box, right?)"
WRONG!
ME is a descendent of the 9x line. 2000 is a descendent of the NT line. They use completely different codebases. Anf FYI, ME was last of the 9xes.
J - you sound like a much more informed MS'er - and I think your rebuttal is clean and professional. So much so that I don't really have a comeback - I just want my friendly denizen readers to know that really I do respect and appreciate that kind of thing. Anyway - THIS IS TOTALLY THE FLAME WAR I WANTED *pulls out AK and fires through the sky* -- keep up the good work guys!!
Oh yeah - I should mention one thing (I've noticed the typical 'my IDE kicks your IDE's ass' stuff up there - and that's appropriate i think). I just want everyone to know that OFF OSX, I prefer Komodo as an IDE. I mostly just like the interface better than eclipse (especially the sidebar), honestly. Also, I didn't have to do much to Komodo to have it PWN as a Ruby/Rails dev environment, and I like not having to do much. Basically just popped the CD in and it begged me for code. No hug like textmate though...
everyone always talks about mac and massive data loss.....blah blah blah...after 2 years on my mac...i haven't lost anything...
Dave G is gay :)
Steve Jobs is A DICK! He's been ever so blinded by the mighty dollar these days. This is not to say that Bill Gates isn't also A DICK!
I got a EMAC as a present 4 years ago. It's a total piece of crap now, it's dying and I can't figure out why, and it will cost me 4x more to fix it than it would a pc that I put together. It runs so slow and I had every thing swipped and reinstalled. Macs tend to come with cheap parts, sorry to burst your bubble. Yeah OSX has it's perks, but it also has a lot of problems. I'm just fine with Vista. It's way better than XP. I don't want to spend 2,000 on a pretty computer when I can make one that has more powerful parts for less than half that?
Jenni - seriously that's a good point (and that's totally where I've been at for years): why spend like a fortune on a mac when I (the developer) can string together whatever I want from base parts and software and spend 1/2 as much? Basically, I stopped using this metaphor for reality when I had to start working too hard to be able to spend time throwing everything together and building it up myself. Furthermore - I do NOT know anything about 'making' a laptop - so if I want something portable I'm totally stuck to what the market has to offer, and it's hard to swing that good deal, and I've really been dissappointed with a lot of other-brand laptops lately (and really I've had a few) - the Acer is (obviously) a bad one, but before that I've been on compaqs and toshibas and haven't noticed a sizable increase in quality of parts OR design. I guess now that I'm really a professional I want a really professional machine for EVERY reason, and I'm not willing to settle for the *almost*, because that's always what comes back and bites me in the butt when it counts. Anyway, I really don't mean that to sound condescending, but there was a time when I too was like "Damn! Why the fuck should I spend $1100 bucks!?!??", and I really (and honestly for one of the first times) feel like I got my money's worth this time.
I'd just like to point out, those of us who are not so tech-savvy are apt to buy Macs because they come easy-to-use and performance-ready. Those people who ARE tech-savvy are free to spend less money and build a great computer all their own. Basically, we're paying for convenience; we don't have to learn much about inter-hardware and -software mechanics, and we can still enjoy a fantastic computer experience. A more cynical person may refer to that as paying to be stupid. I leave that interpretation to you.
I personally have a Mac and a PC. I use both. I love both. My Mac is for school and editing because it is more stable. My PC is for gaming because I customize the hardware(which makes it less stable). They are both very good computers and they will always have their place in the market. If i were to get rid of one it would be the PC but that is because I need Final Cut Pro. I agree with all 11 reasons above but I do like XP.
If you want to talk about getting the most bang for you buck, for the smaller machines you can do better elsewhere. For the bigger more powerful MacPro, I just bought the 8-Core with 16GB of RAM with 3TB of harddrive with the NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 GC for just under $12,000. I looked everywhere else and calculated out the price for all the other parts to meet the same specs and would have had to pay over $17,000.
Andy - I just want you to know: I want your MBPro to have my children. What do you even DO with that fucking thing?? It'd take me the better part of a year and a half to fill up ONE TB I think.
I do a lot of HD editing and so that 3 TB fills up real fast. I have another 15TB of HDD space sitting on some shelves and about 1000 MiniDV tapes with all the HD footage. It is all logged on a PC (for this use only) that is not networked and not connected to the internet, can't afford to get a virus or have some other program screw it all up.
Hey, I have a basic MacBook dual core with some extra ram in it. The only thing i think is not true about your article is the speaker sound, my speakers honestly suck...
I have a Mac and I have a Window's box (Technically two windows as i have my home machine with XP and my office laptop running Vista). I've only recently bought the Mac. I wouldn't say i prefer either OS over the other the other. Vista has some nice features to it, but it has some parts that I dislike, mostly because my job involves software support and some of our older customers are trying to run non vista software on it.
By the same token, Mac OS isnt with out fault, but the advantage the Mac is I dont have people asking me how to do things on it all day and i dont have to think when im using it. I like some of the design the interfaces, particualrly the way the mouse buttons can be used for various things (spaces and expose spring to mind).
For me they both have their uses and I wouldnt be without either of them if I could. Although at the moment I've had to take the Mac back for repair as one of the memory slots on the mother board has failed. Does this mean all Macs are prone to faults. Of course not, I've had similar problems with new PC's before now, although in the case of the PC I would have fixed it myself, but sometimes its nice to let some other bugger do the work
Seriously?? I'm pretty sure you have the same version as me (pretty much), and these things ROCK! I'm coming from the Acer aspire, which may as well not have any speakers, and before that a pretty nice toshiba, which was really $1050 or something, and even THOSE things suck! Idk, I'm really not a professional blogger. I'm NOT an expert on hardware, although I DO consider myself a connoisseur of sorts, and I definitely researched my specs for this article. Anyway - that's totally weird. I've NEVER met anyone who said the MB speakers were too quiet - you might want to compare your sound shit to someone else's macbook.
While Mac OS X does have tcsh installed by default, it hasn't been the default shell in Terminal since 10.2. bash has been the default from 10.3 and beyond
sikanrong - I just realized that you were saying that i had a MBP. I don't it is a Mac Pro, that is not a laptop like you were thinking (i think)
Ok I would just like to make a few points first iv been a die hard windows fan for a long as i can remember and still am to this day iv run almost every windows os, built desktops, laptops, and done an extensive amount of programing. And thought all this windows has worked relatively problem free for me. now on the other hand i got into the mac world about 2 years ago and i love it! the hardware is sexy and the interface is easy to use and good looking,ive also used almost every version of liniux I LOVE THEM ALL i have a custom built desktop with vista, a mac book with: lepord, xp, kubonto, ubontu, AND fedora. there all great for there own reasons and any REAL techie will tell you that the ability to utilize each great characteristic that they have is what it takes to truly be computer savy.
First: I do web design, coding, general programming, gaming, whatever.
Second, I built my desktop. Total cost to me, about $700, cost for a Mac with the same specs is around $1500. A PC would be around $1200.
Third: My OS, Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon/Backtrack linux dual boot.
Open source, free, source code, the software is mine to freely use in most cases, not "licensed" to me. (Well, some of it GPL'ed, but still.)
So, what does this mean?
My software is on par or better than yours, easily upgraded, stable, and just plain great. The system has an uptime of almost a year, not even the slightest hiccup, and running as fast as ever. I've had features for over a year now that most of you are just getting in Leopard/Vista, and I'm HAPPY.
I'm not saying Linux is better, I"m saying that to each his own. I've foumd what works for ME.
What works for each person is perfect for them.
Stop all this flaming bullshit and get over yourselves. YOUR OPERATING SYSTEM DOES NOT MEAN A THING.
All this fanboy shit is seriously irritating.
I plead, for my sake and all of the internet, for the collective sanity of humanity, SHUT UP.
That is all.
-Kenneth
Windows has always worked just fine for me, but out of curiousity I bought me a Mac Book Pro. Please, do not try to tell me it never hangs or crashes. That is BS. Mine does, a lot (e.g. dotmacsyncclient takes 1.7GB of RAM when connected on my home network)
But i follow xxbadsushixx: STFU, you are annoying.
I've used Macs since they were called Apples, and I have never once had this 'catastrophic data loss' mentioned. Also, they generally last a decade. Just last week, I finally retired my Blue/White G3, made in 1999. It ran the latest version of Firefox, it handled torrents, I could install pretty much any app I wanted on it. It was still a fully functioning, capable computer...8 Years after I bought it. And now it will continue to work, never crashing, never complaining, never confusing, for my parents, probably for another 8 years. Can anyone out there in PC land claim the same? Is there one single PC, regardless of cost, built in 1999, with the only upgrades made being RAM (512M), HD (120G), and video (64M), that can run Vista? In fact, that's the only reason I upgraded at all. The 300MHz processor with a 100MHz bus speed just couldn't handle everything at once anymore. It could handle anything...just not everything at once. That's it. The only reason I even bothered getting a new computer. Mac people will get this; PC people won't. There's nothing I (or anyone else) can say that will change that. But, the next time you cite cost as a reason Mac users are n00b, or whatever, remember that a PC is something you buy for the next year. A Mac is something you buy for the next decade. How's that cost/benefit ratio working for you now?
sadpanda - I would never claim that Macs do not crash. They do from time to time. It just seems to me that with the programs (or their Windows equivalents) that I am running Macs crash/freeze/need rebooting far less often. Try to leave Avid up and running for a week and a half. If you do you probably just screwed your PC. Now do the same with FCP and you are fine it just now started to slow down some.
Seriously, man. You just got a new subscriber. This is 100% truth, right here. At last, someone who can actually come up with some new arguments for using macs over windows PCs.
Ricky,
It's OK to be enthusiastic about a product. But when you state: "Can anyone out there in PC land claim the same?" well then I have to say, Yes.
The PC I purchased in 2000 is still being used every day by my entire family with the only upgrade being an OS upgrade from Windows 98 to XP. There goes your entire argument...
Do you think Macs had some sort of futuristic hardware in 1999 that was 1000x more reliable than anything else on the market?
You guys all crack me up. It is simple: If you want ease of use, stability and can afford to, buy a Mac. If you dont mind figuring out which version of Vista to buy and can afford to wait for, well... till you can afford to drop back to XP then get a PC. By the way it is proven that macs are cheaper. When you build a PC up to Mac specs, the Mac heavily outweighs the PC.
I have two macs, the older one is that titanium power notebook, you know, the first gray laptop that mac ever produced. I was my first mac and after five years or so I can even run the newest version of photoshop on the newer OS, no problem. It makes it slower (naturally) but still reliable. I don't use it for my everyday work because I have a faster machine but I know I can. A mac is a machine designed to do get the job done. I'm a designer, not a developer, and I'm not interested in spend an entire day dealing with complex configurations, crashes, blue screens and all that nasty pc stuff I was used to. I'll never buy a PC again.
And I have no problem with my need of approval to reaffirm my choices. My worst problem, as you see, is writing english.
dude, if your english is your biggest problem - life must be alright for you antonio. Hey - just so you guys know, I got 10,000 page views in one day from this blog. Some guy up there flamed me for writing a new take on the mac vs pc thing, said I needed re-affirmation or some shit - and i just want him to know that he can suck my white ass.
> Yo, dude, you forgot to mention catastrophic data loss
> on Macs and their lack of decent Java support!
Uh .....
a) Java is in there.
b) I need Java for ..... what, exactly?
> I've used Macs since they were called Apples, and I have never once had this 'catastrophic data loss' mentioned.
I haven't either. I have no idea what this is about. In fact, I'm having a hard time remembering the last time I had to 'reboot.'
Wait, does power-on count as a reboot? OK, I had to do that after I visited the local Apple store. They replaced my keyboard, free (the spacebar got a little crooked, though it worked fine). Oh, the humanity!!
How seriously do I take someone who goes on about tcsh when the screenshot CLEARLY shows bash?
Not very.
Well I have been using PCs in my web design business for 10 years and have had my fair share of horror stories with repairs and reliability. The guy that raves on about buy the right components to suit the software needs to take a step back and look what he is saying.
Who wants to screw around buying all the right components for it to hopefully work right.
The straw that broke the camels back for me was my last PC I bought just over a year ago. Bought the best of everything to make a great PC. Yeah right. I had to reformat it 7 times in 11 months and it loved to crash all the time.
I finally went out and bought a Mac, which actually cost less than my last PC box. Well what a great machine. Never have any problems at all. It has been running now for 3 months without a reboot and the rare times I do have to quit a program it doesn't take the whole computer out.
Funnily enough I run parallels on this machine and have another monitor hooked up to it which I run windows in. So now I have a Mac and a PC and can drag and drop stuff between the 2 of them.
The greatest bit is, and the funniest is Windows XP runs more reliably on my Mac than it ever did on my PC.
So:
11. Um, dude, no. I know far more people with Macs exploding when they're dropped than anyone else. And I don't know that many Mac users. Apple has a horrible track record supporting their hardware.
10. Yeah, it's pretty stable, mostly. Purchase a Windows PC with good components with good drivers, and it won't crash either, though. The PC is a commodity product, and a Mac is not.
7. Overall, the hardware IS more expensive. There are exceptions, but anyone who does elementary school-level math can tell.
3. PFFFFFFF Mac service. It's great unless they are choosing to not recognize your faulty hinges or power plug as defective, even when hundreds of people are calling in with the same problems.
Your other points are good. But I abhor the cult of Mac.
And Jim, I build PCs that never crash. I unfortunately had to run in Windows for a job I was doing, and my PC that never crashes in Linux never crashes in Windows, either, apparently. The systems I've built my clients never crash unless they do something stupid to them. Focus on the motherboard chipset and getting Kingston ValueRAM or better. Get discrete video, and you're good to go.
Stop.
Don't scroll back up, don't scroll down.
This is silly. Think about what your reading. If you want a decent opinion, go and try it thing out for yourself.
Stop wasting your time reading comments and continue stumbling.
Oh, and if you're buying an IBM-compatible laptop, you should get a thinkpad, period.
They are the best.
hey thegnu - i like you man, you sound pretty solid. Actually I agree that the users of some of the mobile mac devices are getting RAPED service-wise. There's some problems abound with some of that shit, and they need to own up. Also - the 300pg At&t bill (which is mostly at&t's fault) - is pretty horrendous. Lately also there's been compatibility issues with some of the ipod software for older generations and the new software, as well as even hardware compatability issues. Anyway - i don't own an iPod/Phone so i don't deal with lots of this stuff. About the tcsh thing OSX really does have it by DEFAULT (read the fuckin' article b4 you talk shit, kid) - and they've had bash 10.3 and on. Also - to you again (thegnu) that's really weird that you've seen some dropped exploding macs! maybe mine's just a trooper - but after "the acer incident" with the car floor I've been thinking that this thing is made of super-fiber or some shit.
Oh, did we Mac enthusiasts mention that without the Mac there would be NO Halo? That's right. Bungie started out making games for the Mac. Started with Pathways, then on to the revolutionary Marathon. Bungie then turned the successful Marathon series into Halo, but before they released onto the Mac, Bill Gates and his MS cronies decided to hijack our game and use it as their flagship game for their new gaming console, the Xbox.
What a crazy world, that MS keeps on stealing from Mac.
Note to MS: The "X" in OSX stands for "10", as in the 10th operating system. What does the "X" in XP stand for? MS is lame. Thanks for the defective Xboxes and the even more defective Xbox 360.
In your opening you say you were a windows user all your life and then promptly compare Windows Me to Windows 2000 "(fucking stupid, 2000 in a different box, right?)"
Wrong - there is absolutely no comparison between 2000 and Me. Had you compared Me with 98 you would have maintained your credibility. That one sentence has to place in doubt everything you say after that. I have used both Macs (personal) and Windows (profession). To promote Macs as a superior OS, we have to maintain credibility. You do us all a disservice here.
having come out of the dark ages of tubes and tape lastyear.... i broke down and bought a computer to use deep in the hills of east tn. and against all of my friends and family 's advice i bought a macbook.... :o) .... now when they all gather round to group grouse pc probs., i don't say nothing cept... i've never had that particular problem before, what' that about? i have just learned the basics, and am producing pro product in my studio again (i thought it would a couple of years to be up again, and my customers were amazed!) s.d.
Everyone's entitled to his opinion. I'm a mac user for more than 20 years. Too many macs to count right now (maybe 8?). Zero hard drive crashes in 20 years. Zero data loss. Zero viruses. Ditto for worms, trojans, etc. Zero dollars spent on virus software.
I've saved literally thousands of dollars in productivity. How do I know this?
Last year I bought a Windows laptop, brand new. I had it for 6 months. It was in the shop 3 times. Twice for a reinstall of Windows. I managed to get it to play 3 DVDs in the time I had it. On the 4th DVD it froze, and it would never ever play another DVD without crashing and freezing. Even the network specialist I hired couldn't get it to log into my home network. I finally sold it to my daughter. She loves it. Good for her.
Nathan, who is the manufacturer of the laptop? I worked at CBS Studios and they have many MANY Macs (the production team for Big Brother used them exstensively)and trust me, I saw my fair share of lost data, machine crashes, etc. That being said, they had many MANY PC's as well, and they had the same problems.
Nathan, the fact is that ALL computers have the same hardware problems. A quick search on toshiba laptop hard drives shows that their MTTF (mean time to failure) is 300,000 hours. That means that on AVERAGE, the hard drive will fail at 300,000 hours - it may fail at 100,000 hours or it may last to 600,000 hours.
Do you seriously believe that the hard drives produced for macs simply do not fail? A quick google search seems to indicate that apple uses hitachi and toshiba laptop drives - the same OEM suppliers do companies like Dell, Compaq, etc.
The fact that you had zero hard drive crashes in 20 years means that you're simply lucky and that's a fact. Most average computer users are completely ignorant. They may buy a Dell, the hard drive goes fails after a year and then they tell all of their friends "I'll never buy a Dell again. I lost all my data blah blah blah". The ironic thing is there's a good chance the next computer they buy will have the same hard drive supplier.
Windows does have a ton more viruses simply because it's more popular which makes it a bigger target. If macs and linux replaced Windows as the desktop of choice for most consumers, those OS's would also be larger targets for viruses. Also too many people associate spyware with viruses. If you get spyware TODAY, it's your fault. All modern browsers, including IE, do their best to protect you. But if you really want that Anna Kornikova screensaver, well then you're going to have to deal with all the spyware crap that's bundled with it too.
J, well said. Hell, I have some old RLL and MFM hard drives that still boot! I work for Kaiser Permanente and they got a batch of Dells that came with bad hard drives... data-loss left and right. You just never know when drives will fail and for what reasons. Nathan, you truly are lucky!
Y'know, i don't think I mentioned anything about a hard drive up there - I said the SSD thing, but that doesn't count (although, for the record I think it could outlast ANY disc with moving parts). I guess maybe it was all the talk about data loss up there. Anyway fuck it, it's so cool to see a discussion on my website! I just wrote this comments bit... If I had known I'd get this many people I probably would've done it a little better (maybe some cooler css, anyone? Some colors?). *sigh*... stepping away from my ego now..
I, too, hate the Windows vs Mac wars, but I'm no better or worse than the rest of you, so here goes.
FACTS
1. I have owned/used Apples/Macs since 1981.
2. I have used Windows (with XP and now,ugh, Vista) for six years.
OBSERVATIONS/OPINIONS
1. People shouldn't extrapolate their experiences to everyone else, but they do.
2. My Macs and PCs "crash" with about the same frequency.
3. Since 1981 I have had one Mac internal hard drive crash. Anyone who thinks it won't eventually happen to them and does not back up their hard drives are idiots and fools.
4. Vista sucks. Not only is it behind OSX, but it doesn't work well. It took two IT experts on the line with a Microsoft tech two days just to upgrade from Home Premium to Ultimate.
5. My (3) PCs have been very good and I have not one thing bad to say about them (two IBMs and one HP), but I love my Mac. Non-Mac people just can't understand.
6. Macs DO have a better performance record and Apple does have superior service. Just go look at Consumer Reports or PC World.
The knowledge of the world is only to be acquired in the world, and not in a closet.
Oh waa, waa, waa Microsoft lovers.
Honestly, I'll tell you this, I was birthed on Apple, seeing on how I'm only fourteen, it's easy to see how the first iMac was where I started. (Which still sits in my living room and works fine considering it's got a good decade plus on it.)
But, this year, I was forced to use a Dell with Windows XP on it for my boarding school. There are only a few *CLEAR* things that stood out instantly.
1. SPEED- I can not say, more, how much time it takes to just get the desktop loaded when I turn it on. Which sucks when you're late to class. It takes years to bring up any programs or navigate the internet. Even with Firefox.
2. Visual Effect- It's not that important to me, but my god there is nothing uglier than the task bar, or many Microsoft applications.
3. Window exchange- My Mac has this neat little thing called a Doc, which holds *tons* of windows, and has visual pictures of each, so there's no guessing with the titles of the pages or programs. Let me tell you- when you talk about Expose being a time saver, it is, like nobody's momma, saved me hours.
4. FREEZING- "Blah blah blah, Macs freeze as much as Windows, blah blah blah."
You lie like a Trojan, I've had to restart my Dell a bajillion times in the last six months because it turns into a frail old man every time I have six plus applications open.
My Mac you ask? I've owned this baby at least three years, and have only had to restart it ONCE, and it was completely my fault.
(Force Quit ish god)
_______________
Honestly, if you want to stay anchored to your Windows system, do it, but once you go Mac you usually never go back.
Ugh this is annoying, all these mac vs PC wars, so I'm going to keep this statement short and sweet.
MAC kicks PCs ass on some things ...
PC kicks MACs ass on other things....
Why cant they just work together and make the ultimate machine? lol
Author, please stop filling the internet with garbage. The internet is not a dumptruck
Steve, please stop being a waste of humanity. The world is not a dumptruck
I love how anyone that is against MACs have very little to NO experience with them. Try it, you may like it you lemming piece o dookey... Once you go MAC you never go back!
In a previous post, thegnu said: 'The systems I've built my clients never crash unless they do something stupid to them.' Unless 'they' do something stupid? Who are 'they' Mr up your own backside PC developer? Oh yes, your clients - the people that pay you for your services. And right there is the difference between the attitude of PC developers and Mac developers. Mac developers assume that their customers are not stupid and provide a product that is welcomed by their clients as something that is going to enhance their lives. This in turn induces an affection for the product that is evidenced by the massive community of mac forums that offer free software, advice and exchanges of information. And that is why PCs suck - because developers like you patronise the user and this is reflected in a hostile product full of messages like 'it is now safe to turn off your computer'and, oh yes, 'fatal error'.
So, PCs = hostile and Macs = friendly: hmm I wonder which computer I want to use for 8 hours every day? Hard choice that one...
Macs are great for audio production, or any place where you're gonna need to do live, intensive work (such as live video.) All them being on the same hardware provides a static environment for the developers. One wrong chip in a computer and you may end up getting huge latency. However, this comes as a hit, as you need that overpriced hardware to run it.
Macs are also solid as they're Unix-like in the core, and feature eye-candy, and offers a newb-friendly design.
On the downside, if you want to go from say, 10.3 to 10.4, you have to buy it (if I'm not mistaken). This is analogous to going from SP1 to SP2. I think it's something that should be free. I also dislike how they're newb-friendly, creates quite a hassle for me.
But whether it be OSX, XP, or Linux, you're gonna get many of the same things offered, just different flavors. No comment on Vista.
On a sidenote: isn't it odd that all three contain an X, an otherwise little-used letter?
Corey,
No, going from 10.3 to 10.4 is not like going from SP1 to SP2, it's like going from XP to Vista, which you pay for on Windows as well. Regular updates to OSX take the form of 10.X.X
Apple Just decided to keep the 10.X format around for different versions (Panther, Tiger, Leopard) for whatever marketing reasons they settled on.
sikanrong,
I agree on almost all points. I don't have much problem with crashes on my PC (nor my Mac, which I use FAR more often) but that is because I treat it gingerly. On my Mac, i never have to worry about if the link I'm clicking on is going to crash my browser or make my computer puke all over itself. I can drag my browser through the nastiest, darkest corners of the web and it never bats an eye. This has a lot to do with using Firefox, of course, but I've had messy stuff happen on my PC in FF.
At work I use a completely maxed-out Mac pro (2.7 TB, 8 gigs RAM, Dual Quad Core @ 3ghz or some ungodly speed) and it is awesome. On top of that, I manage an Xserve environment and it is equally as killer. It's so quiet compared to the beastly Windows servers we have, and is far more stable. It doesn't force reboot itself over vacation periods because it decided to update the OS without my permission (maybe I can fix that on Windows, but I know I'd have to dig for an hour just to find where). On top of THAT we have a Mac Mini that runs our DNS aerver, and has NEVER had to be turned off, and has never had any issues.
The best thing about all this, the truly best thing? I majored in Anthropology in college. I knew almost JACK about managing computer networks. I didn't feel daunted by the prospect of learning on my own how to manage a Mac lab, but our Windows servers are still a big black hole of knowledge for me. Mac even makes their server OS fairly easy to use for n00bs.
gr8 post Alexander!
I posted a link to your Article on my site, I really think more "Programer-Geek" types need to take a look at a Mac with an open mind like you did.
I didn't want to impose by putting a ling to my site but it is directly related to this Artcile:
http://www.switchingtomac.com/wp/a-programers-view-on-switching-to-mac/
Cheers!
Mike
This is an excellent article. I've used Macs most of my life but only a year ago bought my own Macbook. It's the best thing I've ever bought, I must say. Congratulations on switching over, and keep up the great writing. I'm bookmarking this post to show to friends who I have trouble converting! ;-)
It's to bad you can't write with out using four letter words. You might sound more Intelligence there by making your column worth reading.
Like the review. I tend to listen to the opinions of true Windows converts instead of Mac fanboys.
If DISNEY made a computer that never crashed and looked like mickey mouse, i would use it everyday... but they don't APPLE does... i'm not a apple fanboy, im a "WHAT WORKS I WILL USE" fanboy, and my MAC is the most stable machine ever... I am definitely on board about Apples customer service.. It is better than any company i know, and for being sucha huge company that is awesome... When i buy Apple... They dont GET my money, they DESERVE my money...
Hi, Bill Gates here. I wish I had a big cock and a mac like Steve Jobs. Unfortunately I'm stuck with a PC and a tiny skinny member. My wife loves Macs too and she won't shag me. Bill.
my parents have mac os x. i played with it but i don't like it. had xp for several years know. still have it but i can't say i like it more then mac. linux and specially the ubuntu distro made it. but i guess everybody should find what works for them.
These "I'm a mac you're a pc" flame wars are very entertaining. Please, keep them flying, boys. I am not going to tell you what device I use.
i am a new Mac user also. I had been a windows user since it first came out...yea that makes me a bit old. I just want to tell you... you really, REALLY, do not need to use the "F" word to attempt to make your point. Actually, you would have more creditability if you refrained from using that word. Yes, I LOVE MY MAC! I don't know why I did not make the switch a long time ago. But, I am so glad I finally did.
Ive been in IT a good few years & your findings are spot on. Ive used nearly every version of Windows apart from ME (shudder) with similar findings.
I still use Windows 2000, its a fairly good solid platform & theres still many PCs with 2000, XP & NT4 still doing good work.
But I have yet to see a PC with Vista installed that diddnt crash or work correctly, just coming out of suspense to 3 minutes with 2 error messages for one pre-installed laptop - thats dreadful.
I find with Windows (any version) just when youre about to save that large word document or you do something a bit tricky, it crashes and flames your work, thats no good to anyone & very frustrating if your rely on it.
I also found that after changing a hard disc my Windows XP coa would not work because Microsoft 'think' you need a new license, furthermore they expect you to pay for another, thats VERY VERY WRONG.
My mac has never lost work, I havnt manged to crash it although I once crashed Aperture becuase I only had 1Gb of ram, it still seemed to run OK though!
To compare a Mac with a PC is not fair because the difference is so vast (like a Porsche 911 to a bicycle ?).
My Mac is vastly superior in every respect & the best computer I have ever bought in 30 years.
I will never buy anything Microsoft again and Im definitely not changing ever.
John,
Going from XP to Vista is going to a completely different operating system.
The most revamping I can notice from each 10.x is just some changes to allow for more functionality (One of them allowed DVD drive support?), tweak a few things here and there, so on. Now, it does offer more than what the service packs bring, but it's still not a whole new OS.
Btw, That rebooting problem can be fixed with a simple registry edit.
And:
You're soon gonna lose that sense of browsing security as Mac gains more mainstream attention: and hence more people will start targeting it with spyware and such.
And Noel: I must mention. I've lost MANY school reports to the spinning beach ball of death. :(
Computers are like air conditioners, they work fine until you open Windows.
Looking at pure processor speed, the price jump isnt all that great. My MB 2.18gH was $1500 and with a $40 RAM upgrade to 2Gb makes my Windows Vista side roar with power. And it has been shown that a MB Pro is better equipped to run Vista.
("http://www.digg.com/apple/Apple_s_top_end_laptop_runs_Vista_better_than_a_high_end_Sony_Vaio")
Its true that macs are more stable, though sometimes they can run into trouble when they reboot after running into certain errors. Nevertheless, the software support is increasing as well.
http://www.codesplunk.com/?s=c
Programming Language Questions & Review
Great article, but then it's always fun to read something written by someone else from UTD. (Found via Stumble-Upon)!
hey sikanrong. nice article. funny crap stuff you mentioned about the MS holy permissions and that kind of f#ck. i also work on a MB Pro (4,1) at home and a Mac Pro in the studio. this machine kicks ass!!! 8-core and 10 Ram, 4 DVI outs ... groundbreaking!
well beside music i also program some php and also java apps on my mac ... great stuff. REAL ease of work
And of course ... mac are unchallenged in music production ... BELIEVE me, i know the differences between windoze and osx! Leopard Rockz!
i never recorded my drum stuff with such an ease and flow of work. and such beautiful little things which sum to a big great result i appreciate!
Same opinion as you! MACS TO THE WORLD!! ;]
: rock on : greetings :
I've been using windows computers my entire life (which is only 16 years, but regardless...). I just recently purchased a macbook when the new aluminum ones came out, and I am IN LOVE. I have had zero issues with it, and it's absolutely amazing.
I'm so satisfied with everything about this computer. Every PC that I've ever had crashed on me within a few months, I was constantly having to re instal windows every few months :/
Maybe I just had bad luck! But I WAS running anti-virus programs.
POINT BEING:
I LOVE MAC.
:]]]]]]
Sorry. I am more and more convinced that our happiness or unhappiness depends more on the way we meet the events of life than on the nature of those events themselves.
I am from Vatican and also now am reading in English, please tell me right I wrote the following sentence: "Side Effects: The lye of jamawar has written black to the professional ballads of party years and waste vessel, lemon handmade soap."
Regards ;) Handmade shea butter soap.
ok
this makes me REALLY p***ed
first of all
all of you guys are going all yippie that macs can run windows on them
no one gives a crap
and second of all
they made it compatible
for those of us who wouldn't mind dual booting mac and pc on a pc computer (which is me though im a pro pc guy :D) we aren't given the option
apple refuses to let us do that buy releasing updates that stall our ability to use mac on a pc computer (known as a hackintosh)
also
HALF LIFE 2 WILL GET 50 FPS ON A BLOODY NETBOOK.
that game (which its very good to say the least) is so old that the old pentinum 4 could run it
its old and great and you will always get a good fps
also
i built my system with my bear hands
4 gigs DDR2 ram
9600 GT 512mb
AMD 1.9 ghz qaud core
6mb cache
gigabyte motherboard
and a 550 watt power supply
altec casing
your old crappy little mac would cost about 1300$ for this where as i build this for litterally
$678.43
so go f yourself
(P.S. java is much better on pcs then macs
oh
and i DO dual boot federo on my pc windows vista kicks os xs ASS
Yes, you can replace the hard drive in the macbook with a solid state drive, and you can extend the battery life in your battery, but you can also do that on a pc based laptop. They are both SATA based drives, but that solid state drive is going to push you back $250.
And don't get me wrong. I do like macs and pcs, it's just kinda funny how in order to play games and get all your programs to run, you need to have windows installed on your computer. I agree fully, that Windows Os is a bit finicky at times, and can be a huge pain in the arse, but if you know how to take then it won't be a problem. I know people who do everything right on their macs and they get pissy over how things don't work properly.
As far as hardware goes, the hardware in the macbooks are no where near the power that that pc based laptops have. I can run Half-Life 2 flawlessly on my laptop, cost me $700 and there's nothing wrong with it. I could be a more powerful desktop for less than that, and both together will have cost less than you paid for the macbook, or macbook pro.
And Steve Jobs is a dick. If you're a smoker and you own any sort of Apple product, if you go and need it repaired, they test to see if any smoke has been near the product at all. If they find that there has been smoke, then they won't repair the product, even if you have warranty on it. They won't even touch it after they find the smoke traces. Don't believe me, look up the new story about it. There isn't anything anywhere in the warranty coverage about it, they will just refuse to do it.
Again, I do like macs, but i also like pcs. The thing I do hate, are Stubborn, arrogant mac users like yourself. You give macs a bad name, and you're only helping the stereotype that mac users are douche bags.
Thanks for you time.
Programmed for 20 years on Mac. Has always ripped Windows at the API level (windows API is a Charlie Foxtrot) and had more advanced tooling. I got to school those windows boys and girls for 20 years on advanced technology and advanced technique. Hell, we were doing OOP development before they could spell it. It did not hurt having a solid system and solid hardware for development ... All the while Windows programmers were struggling with registries and managing idiotic memory models and bumbling with IRQ limitations. The approach that brought them upside down memory management and 640K limits is alive and well.