Whats so great about a Mac?

[barch 88]

Not sure if this is the right place to post this but Im looking for a new computer and I was looking into a Mac. Now Im not going to be doing any gaming on it, already have a computer for that and I plan on building another gaming computer. Im going to be heading off to college though and I would like to get a computer for School. It don't have to be a notebook, I have no problem in having another desktop seeing I plan to stay at home while at college.

The question is what is so great about Mac's? My current school uses them, and Im going to be using this computer for storing/using photos/photoshop, editing, and of course internet/school work (Typing).

Why would a Mac be a good choice and Why? I always liked the look and feel of them, but what would be a better route for what Im looking to do? Money is not much of a big issue here, but lets try to keep it reasonable.

What kind of Mac should I get? The new Intel based or should I go with the PCPower? G5 or iMacPro? PowerMac? There are just so many.

Thanks, Mike.

[Mac Medic]

If you have never owned a Mac and therefore have no software investment in PowerPC then go with an Intel Mac.

[flawedreality5]

I want a Mac laptop really badly but they're a little out of my price range. I'm trying to save for a newer car. I like how simple they are and clean the OS looks as well as the hardware. I love the Mac Mini and think it is just a sweet little piece of technology. I'd say get the Intel laptop for ease of transporting your music/pictures/school files and because they're media management power houses.

[Hitokiri]

A few reasons to buy a Mac:

- They come in a pretty case.
- They are reliable, the hardware doesn't go bad.
- OS X is better than Windows XP in terms of:
- ease of use
- overall cleanliness
- safety from virsues and hackers

If you want, there are games available for Mac, not too many though...

G5 towers are expensive, but the imacs and ibooks are great for price/performance. $1,500 would get you a nice Apple computer.

[fiery]

Ive switched to an IMAC and love it.its worth the extra price mainly because its immune to viruses and osx tiger and its apps and the speed in which it handles apps like photoshop will increase your productivity.

[Ind-PC_student]

It is not only the security that makes the macs so appealling is actually its capacity to rendering very good Working [CAD/Photo Editing] graphics at a very good speed/quality ratio and of course it is very reliable and solid platform so says a very good resource i found on the net..

Sorry but cant seem to remember the URL i had on that resource.

[LocoCoyote]

Originally Posted by fiery Ive switched to an IMAC and love it.its worth the extra price mainly because its immune to viruses and osx tiger and its apps and the speed in which it handles apps like photoshop will increase your productivity.

Let's keep this in perspective...NOTHING is immune to viruses. It is true that you don't see many MAC (or anyother *nix) viruses, but that is due to windoze being so widespread. Bigger target and all that.

I have always been impressed with how MACs handle graphics. They are good graphic workstations. As for speed, stability, etc.....yes MACs do have this going for them, but that is because they have a very limited range of software & Hardware that it will run (or run on as the case may be).

I recommend you stay away from the intel based MaCs for now. wait until the platform matures some. You will save yourself a lot of headaches.

Go Linux!

[fiery]

Originally Posted by LocoCoyote Let's keep this in perspective...NOTHING is immune to viruses. It is true that you don't see many MAC (or anyother *nix) viruses, but that is due to windoze being so widespread. Bigger target and all that. I have always been impressed with how MACs handle graphics. They are good graphic workstations. As for speed, stability, etc.....yes MACs do have this going for them, but that is because they have a very limited range of software & Hardware that it will run (or run on as the case may be). I recommend you stay away from the intel based MaCs for now. wait until the platform matures some. You will save yourself a lot of headaches. Go Linux!

Actually it is not because windows is so widespread.many people mistakenly believe this.many people have been challenged to create viruses and failed.They also do not have a very limited range of software that it will run.

[MakeYourslf2012]

Apple is the only company that makes all its hardware AND software, so there will never be any compatability issues.

[LocoCoyote]

Originally Posted by fiery Actually it is not because windows is so widespread.many people mistakenly believe this.many people have been challenged to create viruses and failed.They also do not have a very limited range of software that it will run.

I disagree. There are known MAC viruses. There is just little gain in building one. Here is an interesting article that explores this point. http://www.macobserver.com/editorial/2003/08/29.1.shtml

When one designs the software ( ie in this case the virus) you build it for the platform you are targeting. You don't go down to the Bargin Barn and buy a MAC virus! :-)

At any rate, the less common the OS, the fewer virus threats you will have to deal with.


'nuf said.

[kram 2.0]

Originally Posted by MakeYourslf2012 Apple is the only company that makes all its hardware AND software, so there will never be any compatability issues.

LG makes a lot of the Apple screens. IBM (up to this point) has made a sizable majority of Apple's processors. Apple distributes the hardware - a lot of what they distribute, they don't physically make themselves.

kram

[fiery]

Originally Posted by LocoCoyote I disagree. There are known MAC viruses. There is just little gain in building one. Here is an interesting article that explores this point. http://www.macobserver.com/editorial/2003/08/29.1.shtml When one designs the software ( ie in this case the virus) you build it for the platform you are targeting. You don't go down to the Bargin Barn and buy a MAC virus! :-) At any rate, the less common the OS, the fewer virus threats you will have to deal with. 'nuf said.

thank you for that interesting article which reiterates my point,zero viruses for mac osx.i never said there were no known mac viruses.basically what im saying is my imac does everything i want better safer and faster than windows.

[thefultonhow]

The big problem with switching to a Mac, in my opinion, is that you have to buy all of your software over again. Your college might be able to help with this though, because many of them offer discounted software, or software already licensed for students. If you can get past that obstacle, then a Mac is a great computer to have.

As for which one to get, I'd personally wait a bit until the Intel iBooks come out. That shouldn't take longer than a month or two.

[nickuss04]

I work part time at a high school and we run a 90/10% Mac/PC network.

I have found that the Mac's are far more reliable, they are less likely to crash or lock up if a user makes a mistake. When programs do lock up....its very rare that it locks the OS as well, you can mostly force quit an app without the OS slowing down or effecting other software that is running. Force quit is also far more successful than Ctl-Alt-Del on a PC. I don't think I have ever had a force quit not work, where as plenty of times I have had to re-boot a PC cuz an app has locked up. One downside with the simplicity though is that you get barely any form of error messages so that you can diagnose a problem.

Mac OS X is a very pretty and easy to use OS. Everything loads quickly, there is no graphical glitches (like things getting stuck on screen). The equivalent "My Computer" (called "Macintosh HD" or the "Finder") organises your files beatifully. It doesn't have the built in photo viewer that XP does which is a bugger. Other than that, everthing is stored well. Macs come with loads of free software out of the box (already installed for you as well). And its not like the free "crap" software you get on an out-of-the-box PC's. Installing stuff is easy.....usually just by dragging an app into your Applications folder. Uninstalling software is just the reverse....drag the app to the trash. This doesn't apply to big name programs like Photoshop...they still have install programs.

They are easier to set up too....it took me longer to set up 10 PC's than it took me to set up 60 eMacs. Thats unpacking, installing software (on one machine) and then imaging all the rest. For a consumer though....you just pull it out of the box.....switch her on and your ready to go.

I would recommend an Intel iMac......even though its a new processor...its not like Apple is gonna go back to the PowerPC cuz they have put to much into it and it has proven itself already. Intel PowersMacs are just around the corner, as well as Intel-supporting software from all the major developers. Existing PowerPC software works well on the intel anyway.

Anyways, its up to you....I reckon the Mac is a good switch (or addition).

[Mac Medic]

nickuss, just a couple of tips for you.

For more trouble shooting you can open the console (apps/utilities folder) and use the logs.

In the finder, select some photos and ctrl+click and you can run a slideshow from right in the finder with options for index sheet, add to iphoto etc..

[mmendoza27]

I just switched a couple of months ago and I absolutely love my iMac, it's a 20" 2.0 GHZ G5 (wish I would have waited for the Intel Core Duo's) but I still enjoy it nonetheless. Greatest thing about this, is it's allowed me to grow in my computer knowledge in different ways. I have many video encoding programs, I chat, download like crazy, surf all over the web, listen to music, and still get a chance to do some simple stuff with iLife '06 and I have Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, Dreamweaver, Fireworks so I've learned to do graphic design and it's so efficient on a Mac.

Mac's are great since they allocate so much stuff to virtual memory, you can literally do so many things at once, keep in mind I have a G5, that's not even a dual-core processor. I only have the 512MB of RAM in here too, I'll soon upgrade to 2GB which should be enough for me.

Mac's are so simple, so efficient, they are powerful and friendly machines. I bought a Mac mainly for the software, only thing I miss is the ability to customize. With a PC, you can change whatever you want, have the latest hardware for the price of a iMac, but I'd definitely recommend switching to Mac, it's a decision you'd never regret.

[fiery]

is there anyway to get those programs cheap?