Should I buy a Mac

[Caravan Ray]

So, I need a new computer. I just got a quote on a new system with all bells and whistles when i wandered into a Mac shop and saw all their shiny toys. Now I'm confused.

I use a computer for:

stuff for work (MSOffice, Powerpoint or Excel)
internet surfing
music recording
and though I havent done it yet - Id like to work out how to put videos of my daughter onto dvd.

those nice neat Mac units look pretty cool

Anyone have any comments? Either Mac vs Windows or eMac vs iMac?

[Daj Werkenhorse 1]

I used a PC since I started 'computing' (more than 10 years, I think?). I recently got a Mac (17" G4 Powerbook), and I will never get a PC again.
I don't even have a real reason, I just like it better.

[Bjam]

Don't go to the darkside, dude. Stay pure and Windowy. They may not be pretty, but trust me, they're better.

Down with Macs.

[Lunkhead]

The price/performance ratio is definitely better for PCs. For the same money as any given Mac you can probably get a substantially faster PC. That said, most new Macs these days will be plenty fast enough to do the kind of recording most SongFight! submitters do.

PC games are way beyond Mac games, though you didn't list gaming as something you do with your PC so that shouldn't matter.

Things "just work" way more often with Macs, though. For example, you will not have to erase your hard drive and reinstall your operating system every 6 months or year because of adware/spyware/viruses/trojans/worms/registry corruption/etc.

I'm in the Mac camp, myself, and always have been. I could go on and on. And on... But try them out at the store and keep an open mind. There are tradeoffs but you might decide they're worth it.

[MalachiConstant]

I use a computer for:

stuff for work (MSOffice, Powerpoint or Excel)
internet surfing
music recording
and though I havent done it yet - Id like to work out how to put videos of my daughter onto dvd.

Office...check
internet...check (and no spyware to worry about)
videos to DVD...supercheck if you have a MiniDV camera. iMovie and iDVD are great and very easy to use
music recording...check ( I think)

I'm not sure how music software compares against windows, but there's always garageband.

If you want to use it for games you might want to check if there are mac versions of the sort of games you want.

If you're looking for inexpensive take a look at the Mac mini. You have to supply your own monitor and keyboard/mouse, but you can get those cheaper than the cost of an iMac.

i used a PC until I had to use a Mac at work, and I've never wanted to go back. The only reason I'd buy a PC is for games.

[bortwein]

We need Fluffy to chime in about this one.

bortwein= Mac user, but I'm a graphics guy.

[roymond]

I work on PCs 10 hours a day for programming, web dev, business and music. I've used DOS, then Windows, since 1983. I've used Macs since 1988 for programming, music production, web dev, business. I've built large asset management systems on both platforms, and designed and managed large (120 user) graphics system using Macs as clients and Windows servers, which we soon replaced with Sun. I will never use Windows-based servers for anything serious. Ever.

I love my Dell laptop. But I generally can't wait to start up my Mac laptop at night. My wife's G5 iMac is awesome.

You can't compare platforms with CPU speeds and other "specs". Price/performance ratios ... uh ... sorry. It simply isn't apples to apples unless your talking very specific applications. I don't care about games, frankly. At all. I find myself fighting the windows interface on a regular basis. I think it's a genetic compatibility issue. Go figure.

All this said. I will not tell you what you should get. It may be that none of this applies to your situation.

[jack]

yes.

[Hoblit]

yes.

no

[c hack]

I used a PC at work for the past few months. Even though there was no ad/spyware, it still gave me plenty of stress. It was also a pentium 4, and I swear it was slower than my 1.2 ghz g4.

The biggest issue for me is feel. if I'm gonna be spending all day on something, it should feel nice to look at it, and nice to use it. Macs let me enjoy what I'm doing. PCs give me stress.

I don't buy into the whole price/performance thing. For $500, you can get a mac that's just as fast as the equivalently-priced PC, but it's tiny and quiet and has firewire to boot. Or for $1500 (or less for an older model) you can get a sweet G5 or powerbook G4.

Way I see it, there's three good reason to buy a PC over a Mac:

1. You're a businessman, and you spend all your computer time in Word/Excel/Powerpoint.

2. You're a gamer.

3. You've used a PC all your life, and you want to stick with what you're comfortable with.

Anything else, just get a Mac and enjoy it. My take on your reasons:

stuff for work (MSOffice, Powerpoint or Excel)

PCs are better for this, mostly because things sometimes look different when you open up a PC powerpoint file on the mac and vice-versa. But Macs are more than capable.

internet surfing

both the same.

music recording

Not a huge difference, since all the important software (except Logic) is available for both. All the important plug-ins are too, except Sonic Maximizer is only on PC.

and though I havent done it yet - Id like to work out how to put videos of my daughter onto dvd.

I'd be very surprised if this wasn't a million times easier on the Mac.

[Southwest_Statistic]

stuff for work (MSOffice, Powerpoint or Excel)

PCs are better for this, mostly because things sometimes look different when you open up a PC powerpoint file on the mac and vice-versa. But Macs are more than capable.

<a href="http://www.apple.com/macosx/applications/office/" target="_blank">Microsoft made the freaking software for Mac</a>. Same freakin programs. Identical in every freakin way. Freakin freaking freak freakin.

[jack]

actually, macs will open files without the dot three extension. this is always problematic with windows.

[toddlans]

for music there are many advantages for using PC over mac (that is if you are a lower budget user, not a studio owner). For one you can build a system cheaper on PC. I know that specs are not comparable between the two (generally a slightly slower CPU on a Mac tends to be about the same as a PC in terms of perfomance), but it is still cheaper to build the same quality computer (in general) when going PC. As far as audio applications go, if you're on the low budget end GO PC. If budget isn't much of an issue, GO MAC but be prepared to spend $400 for the same quality plugins you can get on PC for half the price. If you're one of those people thats thinking I don't care about prices of software and plug-ins because you'll just download cracked versions, this doesn't solve your problem because from what i'm told the high quality plugins and software for mac are harder to get in this way than PC because the copy protection is better with products that are more expensive (like on MAC). There are more options on PC as far as software and Plugins, and a lot of the good ones (like some VST ones) are dirt cheap compared to similar ones on MAC. MAC can use VST within Cubase for Mac but many VST plugs are not compatible on mac (though I'm sure they all will be within a couple years or so) or a VST wrapper (which is unreliable and sucks from what people say). So pretty much if you want bang for your buck audio-wise, build your own PC and beef up on your processor, RAM, get 7200rpm harddrives, etc. You can get a good free multitrack program to start, and lots of great free VST plugs until you want to spend more money for software and plugs that are even better and still reasonably priced. If budget is no issue, I'd go with MAC because they are more stable you have less problems. You should also decide on what software and interface you want to use, that has a factor. Logic is only for MAC, Cubase is for both but is better on PC usually because of more plug-in options. Protools is a big waste of money unless you own a studio and want to be compatible with session files clients bring in from another studio or you just want to be able to say "Protools here" to impress prospective clients. but yeah nobody here owns a studio so fuck pro tools(unless you get HD which is THE best probably).

either go Logic on Mac with good($$) plug-ins if your spending some cash, or go PC with cheap (good) plug-ins and have your pick of a few differnt options on software (Cubase SX 3 is probably your best bet) and save some money, i see no reason to go with a cheap mac set up unless your main concern is stability alone (over price and quality).

[j$]

Go for the one that looks nicest.

[thehipcola]

my pc crashed 4 times in a row last night...ARGHH.. I have always been a staunch supporter of PC for most of the reasons Toddlans mentioned, but I have to tell you...I was really thinking about Apple's stability long and hard.

Which made me wonder - Steinberg has SystemLink where you can run your VST and VSTi's on a seperate computer from your box running Cubase..using digitial i/o on the soundcards. Might it be possible to grab an old(erish) PC CPU to run all the VST's you like but run your main app on a mini mac? Hmmm...

[HeuristicsInc]

stuff for work (MSOffice, Powerpoint or Excel)

PCs are better for this, mostly because things sometimes look different when you open up a PC powerpoint file on the mac and vice-versa. But Macs are more than capable.

<a href="http://www.apple.com/macosx/applications/office/" target="_blank">Microsoft made the freaking software for Mac</a>. Same freakin programs. Identical in every freakin way. Freakin freaking freak freakin.

Sure they did, but they're not.
I have personally had documents come up differently on my PC and my Mac at work. If I cared more I could probably make a couple of screenshots. Powerpoint, I think, is the most common, but if you start futzing in Word you can make it happen too. Of course, my SGI at work won't run Word so I can't compare that one
-bill

[roymond]

yes.

no

exactly

[j$]

my pc crashed 4 times in a row last night...ARGHH.. I have always been a staunch supporter of PC for most of the reasons Toddlans mentioned, but I have to tell you...I was really thinking about Apple's stability long and hard.

Your PC <> all PCs

[roymond]

Sure they did, but they're not.
I have personally had documents come up differently on my PC and my Mac at work. If I cared more I could probably make a couple of screenshots. Powerpoint, I think, is the most common, but if you start futzing in Word you can make it happen too.
-bill

I'm as snobbish as the next person, but if one depends on complete and transparent compatibility with your work system and that's Windows, then hands-down, go Windows.

[jb]

If you don't mind constantly futzing with things on your computer that have nothing to do with the work you're trying to accomplish, get a PC.

If you just want to work and don't want to bother with any of the mechanics of your computer, get a Mac.

I have to use a PC for work. Given my druthers, I'd be on a Mac. I hate hate hate constantly having to figure out why stuff isn't working, do I need to reboot, do I have to reinstall X program, is my device driver not working, why is the USB not recognizing, is my monitor optimized, what's the resolution of my screen and on and on and on and on and on and on.

If I buy a hammer, I don't want to have to put it together to use it, and I don't want to have to adjust it. I definitely don't want to know how to fix it. I just want to hit stuff with it. A PC is a hammer made of jigsaw puzzle pieces.

JB

[bortwein]

If you don't mind constantly futzing with things on your computer that have nothing to do with the work you're trying to accomplish, get a PC.

If you just want to work and don't want to bother with any of the mechanics of your computer, get a Mac.

I have to use a PC for work. Given my druthers, I'd be on a Mac. I hate hate hate constantly having to figure out why stuff isn't working, do I need to reboot, do I have to reinstall X program, is my device driver not working, why is the USB not recognizing, is my monitor optimized, what's the resolution of my screen and on and on and on and on and on and on.

If I buy a hammer, I don't want to have to put it together to use it, and I don't want to have to adjust it. I definitely don't want to know how to fix it. I just want to hit stuff with it. A PC is a hammer made of jigsaw puzzle pieces.

JB

That Hammer might be a good way to fix your PC problems. Just burn the word Reboot (Or Control+Alt+Delete) into its handle.

[Hoblit]

If you don't mind constantly futzing with things on your computer that have nothing to do with the work you're trying to accomplish, get a PC.

If you just want to work and don't want to bother with any of the mechanics of your computer, get a Mac.

If I buy a hammer, I don't want to have to put it together to use it, and I don't want to have to adjust it. I definitely don't want to know how to fix it. I just want to hit stuff with it. A PC is a hammer made of jigsaw puzzle pieces.

JB

This is the trend. (notice I didn't say 'problem') You have nailed it and I'm not judging you. (pun intended) Computers are becoming applliances now...just like a wash machine, stove, refridgerator, hammer...etc... Folks just expect them to work with minimal button pushing. I personally understand this and recognize it's coming. However, there are still those who like to have as much understanding and control over their machine as possible. This would include self upgrades and the tinkering you speak of.

Just wanted to point this out. Thought it was an interesting perspective. Carry on.