For the first 4.75 years of my PC's life, things were pretty good, but lately the problems have been increasing faster than the national debt. I bought an Apple computer waaaaaaaay back in 1994 and used it until 2000, when Cindy and I were given a ThinkPad from her dad, which we used until we got our current Gateway.
But I think its time has come.
I've done a fair amount of PC vs. Mac research this week and intend to do more in the coming weeks, but so far, I'm leaning toward a Mac (a desktop, not a laptop). I know they're more expensive than PCs, but the OS 10.5 Leopard looks pretty tempting, especially with Boot Camp, which will allow me to run Windows programs from my backup drive, Time Machine (a backup drive built in to the Mac), plus a whole slew of other features.
Apple claims (and I'd like to hear your stories, Mac users) that viruses are almost non-existent on Macs, which would certainly be a nice change.
We have also had tons of problems with viewing/editing/sending/even looking at our photos. With all these new nieces in our family, Cindy and I are accumulating tons of photos, most of which we can't easily access.
I'm convinced that my iPod problems are not due to iTunes, but problems with my computer.
So what do we want out of a new computer other than word processing and Internet access?
Easier photo access and manipulation including the ability to create/edit movies.
Easier iPod/MP3 usage.
Speed.
Freedom (as much as possible) from viruses.
Programs that won't crash every time you use them.
Maybe do some podcasts.
Bottom line: If a Mac is going to give me fewer hassles and longer life than a PC, I don't mind spending the extra money.
So what do you say? PC or Mac? Why?
3 comments:
As far as I can tell, the main reasons to use Windows is a) games, and b) specific mission-critical software that hasn't been compiled for any other platform. Actually, (a) is a subset of (b) if games are part of your mission in life.
If you don't have either of these two issues, you should be happy with Apple.
You will still find some hassles and frustrations, but different ones than with Windows. I've been running Linux for over two years, and although it's also not perfect, and has its own annoyances, I've got no desire to return to Windows. Ubuntu does pretty much everything I want. Although, I will admit I keep a partition loaded up with Win2K for playing the occasional old PC game that Wine won't handle.
What's in the core of the MacOS is the Mach kernal, a real form of UNIX and pretty damned robust. I think your basic rundown of the pros and cons is pretty good -- and you should go for it, Andy.
Dr. Phil
I agree with Dr. Phil's comments. MacOS is very similar to the Unixy FreeBSD OS that I run on my desktop at home. More important that the new computer that you buy is the old computer that you replace. Got any use for it? I run a small network of orphaned computers that had nowhere else to go. Meaningful employment calculating cures for AIDS and Cancer drugs awaits...
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