PC or Mac

[Scrooge]

This forum has been a little quiet, so why not start a debate that is sure to fire up some people (Mac users trying to defend their thing)with the good old Mac vs PC debate.

Now that Apple has seen the light and has started using Intel proc's isn't it only a matter of time till the Apple computers catch up with PC's, after all not since the G3 could Apple claim it's chips were faster.

So will Apple ever make a Mac that can run with the big dog's ?

[Pete]

Already happend. Current Apple machines now have Intel Core2 Duo, so the latest and greatests processors.

And since Macs can now run Windows natively (using Apple's Boot Camp), or at the same time as Mac OS X (using Parallels Desktop - which also let you run Unix, or pretty much anything else), the Mac is now a seriously good option for any user. You get the sheer beauty of a Mac's design, but the benefit of being able to run any operating system on it.

Pete

But which option is cheaper?

[Scrooge]

Darn it Pete, this could of been a good mud slinging thread [:(!]

Anyways if you use boot camp then all your doing is running a PC in a pretty box.

I am talking about stock Apple vs stock Pc ( he says trying to revive the thread) for the money a Pc will out perform a Mac any day of the week.

[Pete]

If you want cheap, buy a Dell. But for the same reason I prefer to fly in Premium rather than Economy, cheaper isn't always better.

[Pete]

Originally posted by Scrooge


I am talking about stock Apple vs stock Pc ( he says trying to revive the thread) for the money a Pc will out perform a Mac any day of the week.

Try running Final Cut Pro or DVD Studio Pro on Windows and you might find that doesn't hold a lot of water.

Macs always have been more traditionally associated with the creative world, and PCs are the workhorses of business. Since I spend 90% of my time in creative apps, the Mac suits me better. YMMV.

[Scrooge]

Originally posted by pixuk
If you want cheap, buy a Dell. But for the same reason I prefer to fly in Premium rather than Economy, cheaper isn't always better.

But for the same price as a Mac you start getting up into Alienware or Voodoo territory which means you are taking on some good Pc's.

[RichardMannion]

As I speak I have an iMac (Core Duo 2.0Ghz) and a classic Toshiba Laptop (M7 Core 2 Duo) machine at my desk that I am working on. Both are running RTM of Vista. Guess which one is faster! A lot of it comes down to drivers and components. Apple use some good components and the manufacturers of those said components have been damn good about being proactive with drivers. The ATI cards and drivers are far better than anyone else at the moment. Have been given a top of the line $700+ NVidia 8800 graphics card but it's nigh on useless as the drivers are alpha versions and not build for performance or stability. Obviously time will change this, and some vendors who shoudl know better are dragging their feet. Obviously I look from a different angle as I tend to sit on the cutting edge,a nd work with products that are not currently live. But we are precariously close to general launch (30th Jan) and some have yet to deliver.

Of course you do pay for Apple's designs but then they are very nice. Not so sure about future upgrades (aside from RAM) but then I think the tendency to upgrade components has fallen behind a bit. I tend to just buy a new machine instead of upgrading the internal hardware elements.

Depends on your terms of 'big dogs' Dave - If I look at Dell, they have some stupidly priced top end XPS machien that is over £3k with no monitors. Sure it has dual NVidia 8800 cards but unless you are a die hard gamer then not so sure on the point of it. The Mac Pro on the other hand is half the price as base and looks one seriously powerful piece of hardware.

Thanks,
Richard

[Pete]

Originally posted by Scrooge

Originally posted by pixuk
If you want cheap, buy a Dell. But for the same reason I prefer to fly in Premium rather than Economy, cheaper isn't always better.

But for the same price as a Mac you start getting up into Alienware or Voodoo territory which means you are taking on some good Pc's.

Can't say I'm aware of those manufacturers, but I'd be impressed if they can beat Jonathan Ives* utterly brilliant industrial design.

*Jonathan Ives being the rather talented (and British) designer behind the look of the iMac, iPod, MacBook and pretty much everything else that has come out of Apple for years.

Originally posted by pixuk

Originally posted by Scrooge


I am talking about stock Apple vs stock Pc ( he says trying to revive the thread) for the money a Pc will out perform a Mac any day of the week.

Try running Final Cut Pro or DVD Studio Pro on Windows and you might find that doesn't hold a lot of water.

Macs always have been more traditionally associated with the creative world, and PCs are the workhorses of business. Since I spend 90% of my time in creative apps, the Mac suits me better. YMMV.

I think you will find there was a substantial comparaison done with a Mac verses a PC done on the gadget show, and the Mac got trounced, even in it's domain of creative prowse. They ran Paint shop pro on both and windows Mac. windows was faster to everything. Also, you can't get the parts for a Mac easily, and they are expensive.

[Pete]

Originally posted by stoneman

Originally posted by pixuk

Originally posted by Scrooge


I am talking about stock Apple vs stock Pc ( he says trying to revive the thread) for the money a Pc will out perform a Mac any day of the week.

Try running Final Cut Pro or DVD Studio Pro on Windows and you might find that doesn't hold a lot of water.

Macs always have been more traditionally associated with the creative world, and PCs are the workhorses of business. Since I spend 90% of my time in creative apps, the Mac suits me better. YMMV.

I think you will find there was a substantial comparaison done with a Mac verses a PC done on the gadget show, and the Mac got trounced, even in it's domain of creative prowse. They ran Paint shop pro on both and windows Mac. windows was faster to everything. Also, you can't get the parts for a Mac easily, and they are expensive.

Er, Paint Shop Pro? That doesn't even exist on a Mac, far less would it exist in a professional studio. More likely they were talking about Photoshop, but until the Universal (ie, Intel) version is shipped, it's not a fair comparison. There's also a key point you may be missing here - now that Macs & Windows use the same processors, speed comparisons a pretty much irrelevant, and it all comes down to prefered user interface and industrial design. As for Macs having expensive "parts", that's a myth. Other than the motherboard, most of the bits in there are standard components that you could happily replace with stuff off the shelf (Hard Drives, DVD drives, RAM, PCI cards, etc). As for the motherboard, if that dies - just like on a PC - you have to replace the whole thing.

Ooo... and my point about Final Cut Pro / DVD Studio Pro (arguably two of the best apps in their class, and used by television studios around the world like the BBC), are only on Mac, so for certain creative tasks, the Mac is the only choice.

Pete

Sorry yes, it was Photoshop. So they drop both computers off of a chair, and say "right, fix it" go to several places to get parts for both, and find Mac parts at least twice the price, and usually not without ordering as well, I don't call that a myth. Now this was last year, things might have changed, but on what I saw, I will stick with my PC any day, mostly because it's because the interface I am used to, which is why I will not running out to buy Vista until I am dragged kicking and screaming. Oh, and Pete, why do you have to be so smarmy?

what about the newest laptop magsafe power adaptor, for those who have clumsy kids/dogs/cats/etc..... Mac RULES!

[Pete]

Smarmy? Moi?

Your point about the Mac repair sounds like its more to do with the place you've taken it. The components - for the most part - are exactly the same between both bits of hardware. What it sounds like is that you're either being charged a premium for the labour (because either the place you've taken it too doesn't have any experience with Mac, and they might outsource), or because in a less competitive market (Mac engineers being more thinly spread than PC engineers), they can charge more for their service. The actual parts are interchangeable when you're talking about drives, RAM, etc.

User interface preferences are totally subjective, which is why I don't go near the argument of which is better. You pays your money, you takes your choice.

Pete

Have you every tried to get real service out of a Dell gone wrong??? Never again. Mac all the way!

[HighFlyer]

Is this comparison purely down to 'the fastest machine'?

If so, is that really an issue nowadays? Once upon a time i needed to have the fastest, newest processor and the best graphics cards. Gosh i remember when Voodoo were all the rage, i had the Voodoo desktop to boot! Now, i really dont care about having the 'best' hardware configuration or the 'fastest' machine, it's generally overrated. My server at work is an old 1.7Ghz, 768MB RAM PC that I built, its not the dogs nuts but it doesnt need to be - its only a file share. As long as it doesn't hang on me - i'm happy.

As for interfaces, thats software, and a whole other issue.

I have Macs and PCs, each to their own, but i prefer the Macs ... by a LONG way .

Thanks,
Sarah

I changed to a Mac Mini with Cinema Display last summer ... Best move I ever made.

we have 5 pcs and 2 macs in the home/office. guess which ones we use as the 'main' machines?? Mac much more stable and less vulnerable to virus/worm attacks too!

[RichardMannion]

Originally posted by Juliet
we have 5 pcs and 2 macs in the home/office. guess which ones we use as the 'main' machines?? Mac much more stable and less vulnerable to virus/worm attacks too!

Are you trying to get yourself removed from my Xmas card list?[:p]

Trying to keep up with the latest hardware is an expensive game, and for all but most people it's way too much. You don't need to have a quad core machine to just do general Office work and surf the Internet. If you are doing real intensive work such as rendering or compelx number crunching then that's a different story but simple fact is that most don't have that need.

There's a reason they are less vulnerable to virus/worm attacks you know. Hackers can't be bothered to go after the market because of the relatively small install base in the past - obviously with Apple market share growing this may change. There current advertsing campaign is done well I must say though.

So basically it comes down to design nowadays, not speed. And shame on the PC OEM's for never makign anything remotely as beautiful as an iMac. People walk up to my desk and ask where the 'base unit' is for the iMac, they find it a bit hard to understand that its all in one. You do get the odd fool who wants to knwo why I have a Mac on my desk, and then stand stunned when they see Vista running in utter glory with DreamScene running at 1080p. No denying it basically, Apple make beautiful hardware (but there is that small premium) but when wasanything 'designer' cheap?

Thanks,
Richard

[HighFlyer]

Macs are less vunerable to worms and viruses because the file structure is different also. Yes, the hackers have not focused on the Mac so much, but the way the files are kept is completely different on the Mac than on a Windows PC. For starters, Macs do not keep their executables along with all the other files for that program, therefore if anyone does gain entry to that part of the O/S or to a specific program, its a lot harder to do any damage.

And low market share? 50% of all Mac sales last year were to new users, people who have never had a Mac before ... now thats food for thought. Doesnt look like so much of a small slice of pie to me.

Thanks,
Sarah

[RichardMannion]

I think this will amuse some....

Originally posted by RichardMannion
I think this will amuse some....

very droll!

[Scrooge]

Originally posted by RichardMannion
I think this will amuse some....

Sweet [y], your cred rating is almost back into + now.

I know what you mean about PE pete, but sometimes BA is more expensive than VS. More expensive is not always better

this also might entertain ... [8D]