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View Full Version : Should I get a Mac?



stewpainger
24-10-2007, 01:51 AM
I need convincing that the mac route is the way to go. Has anyone taken the plunge, and moving from Win Vista to MacOS X?
If so, I would be interested in your experiences to convince me (or otherwise) that a Mac is the way to go.

I use PC's professionally, so need to make sure that changing my OS will be a step backwards.

little_pob
24-10-2007, 09:19 AM
What do you want to do?

Mac games are few and far between, some games do get ported from the PC but not many.

For video and image editing Macs are the industry standard. This is because historically Mac OS is more stable than Windows (thats not to say that they don't crash!). I've no idea if the same is true of CAD design.

For web design there are no real benifits to use one over the other. Having a Mac allows you to test on another OS and browser (safari) but provides little in other ways. That being said in the industry mags (.net, web designer etc) nearly all the screen shots are from Macs.

It is a learning curve; there is no right mouse button, the command key doesn't function the same as the windows key. However, many of the popular software suites are available in Mac flavours to help ease the transfer (Office, Photoshop, Director, Firefox, IE etc). And with bootcamp out of beta you should be able to get windows running on an intel based Mac even easier should you end up not liking OS X.

Hunter
24-10-2007, 09:23 AM
there crap for games but great for web design and graphics

depends what you want to do with your mac really ?

Shipoftheline
24-10-2007, 09:29 AM
The difference has vanished in my opinion because of the speed the computers have moved on. You also have to remember (even though some wont like this) the Windows NT OS is faster than OSX as they've benchmarked the two on a Mac ;)

Hunter
24-10-2007, 12:53 PM
i agree on the nt side of things but if the guy's running vista he,s going to see a huge difference :roflmao:

Shipoftheline
24-10-2007, 01:18 PM
Unfortunately bloat seems to be something the new Max OS likes too. I did read on one of the I.T news sites I visit though that M$ are going to be doing something about this in the future because they've admitted the bloat is getting out of hand.

stewpainger
27-10-2007, 02:28 PM
Thanks for the advice guys,

I don't do any gaming, but do use my PC as an entertainment system. DVD's, music, various video formats.

I have tried to install OSX on my x86 laptop and to see how it performs. The OS went in well, I just need to work out how to configure the wireless & sound drivers (not as straight forward as it sounds on an Inspiron 6400)

One problem I do envisage, is that currently I do use tv streaming progs (tvants, sopcast etc) which I don't think are widely supported on the Mac.

I'll post back with my thoughts once I have given it a go.

pande_monium
01-11-2007, 06:32 PM
Thanks for the advice guys,

I don't do any gaming, but do use my PC as an entertainment system. DVD's, music, various video formats.

I have tried to install OSX on my x86 laptop and to see how it performs. The OS went in well, I just need to work out how to configure the wireless & sound drivers (not as straight forward as it sounds on an Inspiron 6400)

One problem I do envisage, is that currently I do use tv streaming progs (tvants, sopcast etc) which I don't think are widely supported on the Mac.

I'll post back with my thoughts once I have given it a go.

Not sure if you're still interested in any more opinions... but, here's my 2 cents worth anyway.

If you're looking for all round productivity (work & pleasure) - i.e. video, photo, music, internet, application dev, integration of most applications with each other, choice of software, ease of availability of the software, your target audience, etc... then there's NO alternative... you've got to stick to Windows.

However, if you're looking for pleasure-based productivity - i.e. internet, music, video, photo... then MAC OS X is the route you need to take.

The choice of softwares available for Mac OS X is miniscule compared to that for Windows. This is getting better of course, but the situation won't be ripe for about another year. Mac has upped its percentage share in the market to about 7-10%... but it still has a LONG way to go.

I'm a Software Developer/Tester by profession and have developed multi-million ?/$ applications on almost ALL operating systems so far - Dos/Windows/Mac OS/various flavours of Linux/VAX-VMS/OS 400/IBM Mainframes... you name it. No, I'm not citing my CV... what I'm trying to say is that I've recently bought a MacBookPro and 6 months on, I still find myself restricted in actual productivity.

Having said that... working on the Mac is still a real pleasure. Its like driving a Ferrari... somewhat impractical, but incredibly pleasurable.

chmod-uk
29-12-2007, 04:50 PM
If you've got the right hardware in your pc's box then try one of the uphuck or JaS installers, you should be able to find an iso in the usual places ;) Also head over to the "OSx86 Project" site.

Best thing is you can use two partitions or another drive and still keep Windows on as well.

Cleanfoam
12-04-2008, 01:36 PM
I don't see that there's any need to choose between OS's. All the new (Intel based)Mac's can run both OS-X and Windows XP/ Vista. You install both and a boot manager and then when you turn the machine on you pick which OS you want.
Best of both worlds as far as I can see!

ceepee2003
13-04-2008, 10:07 PM
My Bro thinks M$ is evil and will only use a mac, but there you go...

I work in an entirely Windows world myself (I do have a Mac as well as numerous Pc's), but from what i understand (and have read) Apple may well start selling their Mac Books pre-installed only with Windows. I also understand that Windows runs quite nicely on a (new) Mac.

If you want to try one out, go to your nearest Apple store and have a demo. I had an impromptu demo at the apple store in Regent Street and I was seriously tempted to get one! That's saying something as I love PC's!!!

chmod-uk:- Do I understand correctly from your post that its possible to get OSX to run on a "normal" PC. If so, that I would like to see.....

shiraj
13-04-2008, 11:12 PM
best decession you will ever make getting MAC

jahilton2002
29-04-2008, 08:31 PM
best decession you will ever make getting MAC

i have to agree with this quote... although my first mac was a hackintosh.... pc hardware running os as a primary os.... mine worked 100% although i still bought my self a mac mini lol

topdrawmalone
27-12-2008, 12:26 PM
having spent 15 years using m$ for a web design business the single best decision we ever made was to upgrade to macs (one imac and 2x macbook pros) if your serious about creativity, mac is the way to go.

pcworld at the moment are falling over themselves to sell more macs, based on an apple incentive to break more into the business sector. we're renting 3 macs over two years that works out 30% cheaper than buying them outright.

pande_monium
07-01-2009, 03:15 PM
Having said that... working on the Mac is still a real pleasure. Its like driving a Ferrari... somewhat impractical, but incredibly pleasurable.

Think its about time I updated my own opinion! Almost 2 years on now since I've had the MBP... and I now swear by it. I find myself using the OS X for almost everything as compared to XP/Vista.

Yes, Windows has a bigger bite, but the OS X has loads more class. You can see it in pretty much anything you develop using the OS X... websites, apps, etc.

Compared to Vista, there is absolutely NO bloat. Compared to NT, perhaps a little. But, its hardly noticable when you consider the entire working cycle including boot-ups/downs, errors, crashes, etc.

Initially I did struggle to get used to the Mac. But I think it was perhaps my ignorance of software available or inability to spend time learning it. Yes, there is a learning curve associated to the way things work in OS X. Get past it and you're laughing all the way.


from what i understand (and have read) Apple may well start selling their Mac Books pre-installed only with Windows. I also understand that Windows runs quite nicely on a (new) Mac.

Umm... I doubt if that'll happen. Think Apple'll leave that to the customers to decide.


chmod-uk:- Do I understand correctly from your post that its possible to get OSX to run on a "normal" PC. If so, that I would like to see.....

Yes, there's a whole website dedicated to this. Looke >>> HERE (http://www.osx86project.org/)<<<

silastic1960
17-08-2011, 11:19 PM
Absolutely yes. Changed our small office from pc's running xp to mac OSS snow leopard including new mac mini server. Best move we made

spikey
28-03-2012, 12:55 AM
Gotta say I have always had windows based PC's but after yet another annual re-install I started to play around with the idea of switching. I started by playing around with linux mint as you can install that onto a flash drive and configure it to emulate OSX. I finally took the plunge last year when I got he option of a discounted MacBook through work. I can honestly say I haven't looked back since. I still use windows at work and have office for Mac on my MacBook but i far prefer OSX to windows now and find using a windows based laptop really clunky.
My advice, go for it if you can afford the hardware. :)

gizmo59
30-08-2012, 02:22 PM
I use a mac at home, all the computers at my work are windows. I find windows slow and fiddly to use.
Buy a mac, best move you'll ever make. :thumbup: