Comments on: Why Use a Mac?

By: alexander the great

alexander the great — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 15:38:09 +0000

well…it says “non apple labeled hardware” so i just put those apple stickers all over it (^_^) and the boot loader is open source
i was always under the impression that it wasn’t microsoft’s fault for OEM disks not being shipped with boxed computers, but rather the OEM themselves, my mom’s gateway (hammer fodder) came with a vista OEM disk, maybe i read what you said wrong. haha and when your typing away at a bash prompt in linux every computer illiterate person is like “OMG, he must be hacking!!!” and then i just play along with it even though i’m only erasing old directories and files XD
you mentioned in another article that apple has a good yet loathsome marketing campaign, and actually, that is why i won’t by a mac from apple, i might pick up my buddy’s old one for 50 bucks but hey, i’m cheap like that, i’m also a photographer so i’d rather spend my two grand on lenses filters and body upgrades….OK ether lenses and filters or a body upgrade, its a very expensive vice.

By: Rob Hoey

Rob Hoey — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 00:31:36 +0000

I am interested in going down the Mac road, but even the macbook air is to big, I am looking for a 10 0r 11 inch size to be portable enough. any ideas?

By: richizy

richizy — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 09:13:25 +0000

I have to say this article hits the debate right on target. I myself own leopard, ubuntu, vista, xp, and windows 7. They’re all hooked on the same home network, and I typically use each one for its own kind of niche. For example,

Leopard – multimedia purposes, photoshop, video editing
Ubuntu – my bittorrent client, filezilla, experimenting with terminal
Vista – gaming, MS Office
XP – …my parents use this since they’re too used to it. Pretty lightweight, stable, and capable of web browsing and document editing
Windows 7 – playing around with it

But obviously the top two OS’s are Leopard and Vista, since I use them for serious purposes (gaming is one >:D) Obviously, all OS’s are able to view documents, browse web, edit photos, the list goes on. Each OS has its pros and cons, but the master do-it-all OS I have to say is WIndows Vista SP1. Now that doesn’t mean it can “do-it-all” at the greatest quality or performance, but it can “do it all”, and THAT’s what I rely on.

By: Why does everyone use a Macbook ?

Why does everyone use a Macbook ? — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 15:20:59 +0000

[...] Why use a mac – link [...]

By: Brian Woods

Brian Woods — Sun, 25 May 2008 03:14:14 +0000

I can totally appreciate your reasoning and logic, Gifin.

My only comment is that Vista came on the laptop I bought to take with me as a Peace Corps volunteer. *knock on wood* I have yet to have a single problem I wasn’t able to figure out. The worst was somehow I managed to kill my internet connection, but a System Restore fixed that (although I didn’t expect it to). For system tweaking, Vista has worked exactly like XP, just with more polish. All this is said after I had all kinds of problems with the Release Candidate I tried on my desktop at the end of 06.

My best guess is that a “closed” system like a laptop means everything inside is forced to meet Vista specs where as my homebuilt desktop might have parts Vista didn’t like.

There is another guy who helps people with computer problems, so my facts might be completely off, but personally, I’ved helped one Windows person with a problem that was user error and three Mac people with problems (two I chalk up to user error, one is that her Mac won’t read dual layer burned dvds).

But yeah, I think of OSes as political parties. Some people are Democrats, some are Republicans and some are Libtertarians. I’ll be happy when the Libtertarians run a candidate that doesn’t require downloading packages for net access before you have net access.

By: Gifin

Gifin — Sat, 24 May 2008 23:24:33 +0000

Well, I got tired of Microsuck’s pushing junk on me like Vista with their overwhelming glacial takeover using OEMs like Dell.

The next OS will be even worse, half PC half Internet, no thank you.

I like the Mac and comparing Mac to WinX is like comparing Ford and Chevy, some like one and some like the other.

I just DON’T LIKE MICROSOFT’S TACTICS. I can use both Mac and Wintel each for different tasks. I like the “fit and finish” of Mac over wintel, while I liked the “access” to the controls on wintel better.

My reason to shift was I have begun moving to LinUnix and while Linux is still “teething” it gives me more control than either Mac or Windows. I got a Mac Pro because the new Mac X system has the Unix / BSD underpinning.

Oh, by the way the last straw was Vista, it is sooo bad it blows chunks. All my friends keep coming to me to make it work, I have seen more Vista “issues” in the last month than I have ever seen with Wintel except maybe in the DOS 5 to win3.1x era. I will not use Vista and if the econo-box I have with Vista from Dell on it won’t take XP I will give it away.

nuf’ said

By: Frnak

Frnak — Thu, 22 May 2008 23:00:34 +0000

I’ll have a tiny bowl of facts with three extra large scoops of biased opinion please.

Thanks Archie

By: Chris Miller

Chris Miller — Thu, 22 May 2008 20:00:49 +0000

Another reason many people choose to pay such a price for Macs is that Apple’s service is simply amazing. Last week, I had Apple fix the Bluetooth module in my MacBook. The computer was gone for a total of four days and everything was covered under AppleCare. Also, the resale value for any Mac is substantially larger than resale values for PCs; making it worth the extra cash when you go to upgrade to a newer Mac.

By: Archie

Archie — Wed, 07 May 2008 23:58:32 +0000

I’m actually glad they don’t license it, for the simple reason that, outside of the most common use cases, Apple software usually turns out to be buggy crud. I’m quite sure anyone who’s had the misfortune of providing tech support for Macs can testify to this.

Not that there’s anything quite like the feeling when, even after an hour of prodding in the candied user interface as well as the terminal (which is typically useless with Apple’s own wonderfully designed software), iPhoto still just doesn’t start. Or whenever Safari spontaneously freezes on the spot, becoming completely unresponsive – and then Finder, which the leaves the option of either using another computer to google for magic key combinations or losing all your work. You guess you can see a pattern here already.

And software for free? Yeah, if you’re already in the routine of combing through the web for rudimentary software that could be provided through a package management system for a fraction of the effort, it’s a piece of cake. BSD people will of course feel right at home firing up the terminal and saying “portage” this and “portage” that, as long as you’ve installed proper application support first.

Unless you want games, of course. Then you’ll definitely want a parallel Windows installation to gain the best of both megalomaniac world views.

By: Gifin

Gifin — Thu, 01 May 2008 04:23:24 +0000

Not so about drivers…The OS takes some responsibility for them and Microsoft requires them to be vetted, a job they were in a rush to do and missed the boat when it comes to Vista.

When Microsoft had to bet the farm on 95 and 98 they made sure that the OS would work with everything including a Timex watch. I guess their priorities have changed.