Macs vs PC

Greetings all ,

I've only ever used microsoft and have heard macintosh operating systems are much more trouble free ... Is this true from anyone's experience here ? Or it it largely some marketing hype ?

Thanks

wm

It's true. Mac is far more stable than Windows. There are a myriad of reasons for this, but the end result is you get what you pay for.

When I was a pc user I took mine in to a tech service for work. I asked the guy (and he didn't sell computers) if the mac/linux systems were as bulletproof as I'd heard (mostly from guys here ) and he sorta looked around and looked at the ground and looked at me and said "Yes they are". I bought my first one then, almost 2 1/2 years ago. Since then I've only one minor crash (in which I lost no info and took minutes to fix). I run no virus scans, download no virus/malware updates, and enjoy a most excellent OS. One of the things that frustrated me with a pc was the constant paranoia of virus/malware and so I was always running scans and downloading updates, and I can remember telling my wife that it seemed I spent more time doing that than actually using the computer. I spent about $700 for a customized mac mini (which means I had 1GB of memory put in instead of the stock 512mb) in the fall of '06, and today it is still in great condition and the RAM is still fine for it's use. I use it for internet, email, word processing, and things like that.

All that said, I would like to build a pc sometime. I'm not exactly a mac fanboy, and see the purpose for pcs for the guys that know how to take apart/put together and really jack up a system to do extraordinary things. It would be fun to build one for gaming with my oldest son, and buying a mac strong enough to do that is $$$$ and then the game selection is modest. And depending upon usage there is always the linux route for the pcs, so pc isn't limited to windows.

It might not be easy to do, but you should try to find someone with a mac and see how their's works, maybe use it. It's a bit of a different experience; I use a windows system at work, and always try to use my mac tricks on it only to be reminded I can't do that

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Appreciate the reply wiggsfly ... any thoughts on best place to purchase a Mac ?

wm

Thanks MrJim ,

I too , with windows , have often felt like the bulk of my time was spent on trying to keep up with all the downloading , updating and scanning attempting to protect , or make right a frail / faulty OS.

$ 700.00 doesn't sound like too much to pay ... I'd be looking for a what is sometimes called a notebook computer , is that similar to a " mac mini " ?

Yea , trying before buying would be good !

Don't know much about linux ? Have heard of it before ... guess I could research it ?

Thanks for sharing !

wm

Oh , and I just remembered , I've heard someone claim that macs are safer mainly because there are fewer of them , and hackers etc. design viruses etc. to attack microsoft sys. mostly because there's a lot more of them out there to target . Is there truth to this ?

While that's part of what keeps a mac safer, it also has to due with file permissions. On a PC most users run with full rights to manipulate any file they want. This makes it easy for you to install Malware, etc. This isn't the case on Mac or Linux where the user has a much more limited set of permissions.

Lets break down the differences. The simple truth is that besides these differences, it really just depends what interface you would rather work in. There is no difference in the quality of work as there once was if you're someone who works in things like graphic design, audio, etc. The results are the same.

Mac Benefits - Macs are harder to mess up. If you're someone prone to deleting system files or generally screwing up your OS, then Mac is the way to go because it's much harder to do.

Mac downside - If you're someone who likes gaming or third party programs, then you probably should stay away from Mac as there is little to no support a lot of time for those. Macs also generally cost more than PC, sometimes by x2. The computer I built for $3000 would have cost over $6000 if I had bought a Mac.

PC Benefits - Very little limitation with the OS. If you know what you are doing, you can modify pretty much everything. Third party and gaming support for 99% of the programs out.

PC Downside - Viruses, Malware, etc. Honestly, if you have a scanner run once a day while you're asleep or during a time when the computer isn't in use, it's no big deal or hard task to accomplish. I've not had a virus in years and I do a mass amount of downloading and work. Just don't open every .exe attachment you get in your email and you should be fine. And contrary to what most people have said, Vista was a fantastic OS. Old stigmas die hard though. With Win 7 around the corner though, no worries.

Linux Benefits - Probably the most stable of all the OSes, free, fast, and great development.

Linux Downside - Very little driver support for hardware, very little program support which means most of what you will use is third party - designed for Linux - programs. I'd be in Linux now if it supported everything that PC does.

Linux and Unix-derived (i.e. Macs) systems are far more secure than Windows partially because of a smaller market share but also because they are simply just more secure in their design.

Basically: Macs are easy to use, but they cost a lot because it's Apple. Linux is free, and the user-friendliness is getting better. Ubuntu is the most user-friendly, but it still requires some manual editing from time-to-time.

If you're not afraid to get your hands a bit dirty and want to save a decent amount of money, go with Linux. If you're looking to switch over from PC to Mac and keep things easy to do than go with Mac. But of course, they cost more. Also remember that Macs have a different "feel" to them. It will take a bit of time to feel comfortable in the OS. Linux and Windows are more similar in their feel in my opinion... Mostly because of that awesome little control key.

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Some tasks endemic to Windows are harder to accomplish on a Mac due to the lack of support (while non-linear video editing software is well grounded on both, support programs for the Mac are sorely lacking - the absence of AviSynth is one of the greatest drawbacks, IMO, and even running it in Wine isn't a substitute because of the lack of VFW and DirectShow support). Other types of file management tasks can also be rather frustrating if you're very accustomed to Windows practices in the matter. But like everything, the more you use it, the less weird it is. My mom has an old iBook that runs Jaguar, and they also have one of the Intel iMacs that runs Tiger. I'm fairly comfortable on them, although because I don't have or need constant access to them I just don't find them as useful for certain tasks. I've even made the iMac utterly lock up a couple times, whereas on my XP setup I've not had such a complete lockup in years (periodic slowdowns, yes, lockups, no).

Linux, and the ways it can be used, is sort of like playing roulette. This is mainly because most distributions are highly, highly modular, whereas both OS X and Windows are not, at least by default. The desktop environment in particular (yes, there are substitute shells for Windows, such as xoblite - which I have sitting around myself - or the Aston shell, but they don't have the same level of visibility that the myriad environment and window manager projects on Linux do). GNOME could be generalized to be roughly Mac-like, KDE is roughly Windows-like, Fluxbox (or other *boxes, like the original BlackBox and Openbox; the aforementioned xoblite is a Windows port of BlackBox) is completely alien in concept to either of the previous two, and I could never figure out Enlightenment. It's not limited to those, though - there's dozens of them out there. There was even a project to develop a more or less straight clone of the Windows XP interface, but it never really got off the ground. Besides, the level of theme and system customization you can do under GNOME (via Beryl) can make it look virtually the same as Vista Aero if you wanted it to.

Market share arguments about system vulnerability I take with a heavy grain of salt; market share only makes existing problems more visible, it doesn't spawn them. Windows would be just as insecure and poorly administrated under-the-hood no matter if the market share was 90% or 10%. Likewise, the security models in OS X and Linux, as both are Unix-based or Unix-like, are no more or less secure because of their lack of share. The vulnerabilities would exist either way, increased market share may increase the rates of trying to attack them, but it doesn't provide an accurate model of successful attacks, which is what is really important here. Unix systems are famous for their tight security, and have been in the 40 years since they were introduced (2009 is the 40th anniversary of its development). NASA even uses them.

Basically, if all you're looking for is security and a basic Windows replacement, OS X and Linux are pretty much tied. The differences amount largely to official support (most Linux distributions don't provide a hierarchy there, although the major distros have either for-pay tech support or large communities to offer free help, and of course Apple offers it comprehensively), and to program selection. Like I said, if all you're really looking to do is word processing, web browsing & email, music, etc., then Linux is perfectly well-equipped, although you might want to tweak the interface's appearance to your liking (and if part of that 'music' category is buying from the iTunes Store, then count that one out - or at least you'd have to see about running the Windows version of iTunes via Wine or consider OS X instead; Amazon MP3's Downloader app has a Linux version, as well as an OS X version). If you want to do more focused tasks, like pro-level video editing, then I'd choose OS X over Linux at this time. The Linux video scene is not at the level of maturity that Windows' or OS X's is, although it's getting there - albeit slowly. I use video editing as an example because that's my main hobby and the profession I'm shooting for a career in.

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