mac or pc ???

dreamondreamer

hi, going to buy a new computer and drawn to a beautiful looking imac. anyone any words of wisdom? have been using windows always and realise apple have a completely different operating system. this would be a family use computer, if that makes any difference. has anyone any experience of changing over? are they worth the extra bucks? thanks!

Redisle

as long as you or any of your family dont want to play games at reasonable quality a mac would suit you fine, they are a nice machine... if i didnt game i would consider getting one (you could install windows onto one of those new intel macs but im not sure how good or bad game performance would be).. also you would have to buy all software made for macs... windows software dosent work on mac os.

Anti

ab_cork wrote:

as long as you or any of your family dont want to play games at reasonable quality a mac would suit you fine, they are a nice machine... if i didnt game i would consider getting one (you could install windows onto one of those new intel macs but im not sure how good or bad game performance would be).. also you would have to buy all software made for macs... windows software dosent work on mac os.

Macs come with the latest intel core 2 duo cpu's And you can easilly fit a top of the range graphics card.

I myself love the looks of mac. But am eerily put off by the lack of a rigth mouse button. ITS JUTS NOT RIGTH !

Redrocket

you can plug in a standard mouse and get the functionality of a right click
what puts me off is the lack of mouse acceleration, wonder if thats changed since???

sparkicks1

i would go windows... sister got a mac for christmas and it just drove me crazy trying to get things working maybe its cus ive been using windows so long

correct me if im wrong as the first mac i touched was my sisters and that wasnt for long.i dont think mac has nearly as much support and comunity and software though as windows.

Sad Professor

anti wrote:

I myself love the looks of mac. But am eerily put off by the lack of a rigth mouse button. ITS JUTS NOT RIGTH !

The Mighty Mouse that comes standard with all Macs now has a right click, in addition to the scroll ball, middle click and side squeezable buttons. You've no excuses anymore

sparkicks1 wrote:

correct me if im wrong as the first mac i touched was my sisters and that wasnt for long.i dont think mac has nearly as much support and comunity and software though as windows.

You may be somewhat right about the software but there's a great mac community out there which is much friendlier than the windows one IMO. As for support there's plenty of that too, there's not the same need for it though. Apple's discussion board is excellent and covers all of the problems you're likely to ever have and there's plenty of other sites too.

OP, an iMac is the perfect family computer and OSX isn't at all hard to get used to. And like others have said you can install windows on it as well, so you're getting the best of both worlds. Mac's really are easier. I've used both for years and find windows a complete pain in the arse. The only real excuse for not switching over anymore is gaming. Once people switch to mac they almost never look back, this has always been true.

K.O.Kiki

Gaming: that's what consoles are for The GPU is fine for most games though - Radeon x1600 in most models.

Buy the iMac; it's lovely -- OS X is a lovely, easy-to-use OS. It's rare that "switchers" (like myself) go back voluntarily to the old-and-creaky XP (and Vista isn't out yet -- though I doubt it's not more of the same old MS BS).

Also, right-click -- can someone explain to me WHY I CAN SEEM TO MANAGE WITHOUT IT? Of course, it's been there, with the bundled "Mighty Mouse" since last year...

weeder

i moved to mac before christmas and im not going back i only use the pc now for gaming or if im downstairs with the family......choose mac you can learn the OS quite fast and because it only runs on apple hardware(well legally) there wont be any driver issues since apple control what goes into the system and make drivers just right for it and they dont have to worry about third parties to supply drivers

Cabaal

go with a mac with intel chip and then you can eithjer use Mac or Windows, Mac is more suitable for general family use imho (not the best for games though)

Blazer

Go with Windows..there's a lot bigger range of software available to buy or download via the internet for the family.
Monkeys could use XP it's so easy so it's not a question of which one is easy to use any more.
Plus if your neighbour or another family member has software that maybe you'd like to have it's more than likely that a mac version would not be available.
However make sure that all users bar yourself have normal user rights and make sure that the antivirus and automatic updates are on.
I'd recommend AVG as it's a very good virus catcher and will block nearly all of them.
With your PC upto date there should be only the very smallest risk of getting a virus.
I've never had a virus or trojan on my system..why? I do the above..and definitely do not use p2p programs such as bearshare or limewire..that's like leaving the front door of your pc open and letting the viruses in.

pickarooney

Mathew Reilly wrote:

Go with Windows..there's a lot bigger range of software available to buy or download via the internet for the family.
Monkeys could use XP it's so easy so it's not a question of which one is easy to use any more.
Plus if your neighbour or another family member has software that maybe you'd like to have it's more than likely that a mac version would not be available.
However make sure that all users bar yourself have normal user rights and make sure that the antivirus and automatic updates are on.
I'd recommend AVG as it's a very good virus catcher and will block nearly all of them.
With your PC upto date there should be only the very smallest risk of getting a virus.
I've never had a virus or trojan on my system..why? I do the above..and definitely do not use p2p programs such as bearshare or limewire..that's like leaving the front door of your pc open and letting the viruses in.

More of a turn-off than anything, that post. "She's a grand girl, gets on with all the lads, as long as you use two johnnies she shouldn't give you much hassle"

Blazer

you need johnnies with the mac as well u know:D

8T8

If you like the look of the iMac go for it as some have previously mentioned Mac's now use the same parts as PC's do internally so Windows can be run natively on the Mac via Bootcamp.

It will sit alongside OSX so you can switch between the two and if you should come to that decision you do not like OSX you can just continue use Windows on the machine & ignore OSX.

You can also make use of virtualization to run Windows XP inside OSX & start to do some crazy stuff like have Windows apps running on the dock etc with a program called Parallels, VM ware also have a beta of a similar program in the works.

There are potential reasons as to why not to get the iMac for instance if you are an upgrader who likes to mess with PC's or a gamer but if those do not apply then it is not an issue.

If you have never used OSX before then you will have a learning curve to get used to but having the option to run Windows will lessen the blow though conversely you could say it inhibits the drive to learn how to use OSX.

JuncoPartner

I just got the new iMac brought back for me from the states there recently and saved myself about 400 euro on it so if you know anyone over there its well worth checking that out if you decide on the iMac.

As for Mac VS PC, if as you say it is a home computer and you are willing to spend that money anyway then without a shadow of a doubt I would recommend the iMac. I have an extremely high end laptop that I havent turned on even once since I got my new iMac. My laptop is now purely reserved for work(I'm a WinApps developer).
Im using my iMac as a home computer cum stereo and it absolutely excels. There is tonnes of software bundled with it in the first place plus getting your hands on a "free" copy of MS Office is every bit as easy as it is for PC. It'll take about a day to get used to OS X but thats hardly going to kill you.
And as you say you love the look of them, if all else fails you can still stick XP on there, but I doubt you'll want to. In the last 6 months I know about 10-12 people who have bought macs, not one of them has had the desire/need to install xp and not one of them has any intention of going back to pc.
I think the fact that the new windows vista is a complete rip off of OS X really says it all.