PC vs Mac

marko_polo1234

Hi all,
I was just wondering if boardsies can give me their opinions on where PC or Mac is better, I don't mind anyone starting a friendly debate....
BTW I mean pc laptops v MacBooks.
Cheers, hopefully it'll help me make up my mind as to whether I should get a laptop or a macbook

aidan_walsh

First things first and before the flamethrowers come out, what do you want to use it for?

marko_polo1234

Browsing, documents, presentations, video editing. I want it to be quick and something that wud last me a gud few years

marko_polo1234

Also a gud screen and just value for money. Don't want retina tho (can't afford it)

Alanstrainor

What's your budget?

And let's get this out right here and now, if you really just want a Mac, get one! No arguing on here is going to stop you from going with that!

T-K-O

As a PC user until 3-4 years ago Ill give you my experience of both..

I currently have iphone / imac / ipad /apple tv before I got the mac a few years ago I didn’t have a clue about apple.
They are all fantastic devices, the mac for everyday use is amazing. Never have any trouble it just works.
However apple works great with apple as long as you do not want to venture back to the pc world you’ll be fine . It’s when you do, you run into trouble.
I hate the way apple lock their products down to apple, perfect example I have a 27 inch cinema display (apple monitor) that can only be used to apple tech and tech of a certain time period. This is an expensive monitor that should be ‘usable’ for years to come.
Apple products are great and I will buy in the future however my next laptop will be a Lenovo.

stevek93

The price PCs are way more less expensive.

coylemj

OP, I see you mention 'value for money' and you've specifically said that this is a discussion about macbooks v. PC laptops.

Do you know anything about Macs? You haven't mentioned a single feature about Macbooks that attracts you to the technology so I'm wondering are you just kicking tyres?

If you want to impress the people sitting beside you in Starbucks/Insomnia, buy a Macbook. If you want value for money, buy a PC laptop.

RUCKING FETARD

GCDLawstudent wrote: »

Why not just buy 3 PCs and keep two spare?

^^^

Overheal

It's the little things, like the superior build quality that really drag the price up on Mac. Sure I can spec an HP M6-1045dx for nearly half the price of the Mac and it will even have a backlit keyboard, more ram, and a subwoofer. What it will still suffer from is a 50-80% plastic construction and standard spec USB 3 and 2 ports. The ports on the Mac if ou never noticed don't use the standard USB "tabs" that hold your flash drives and cables in place: they use machined aluminum ball bearings. Those aren't going to wear out so easily from wiggle. The unibody actually accounts for a lot of the Mac reliability, the "walled garden" Linux based is is the other. Very simple to optimize performance when your OS only has to support a dozen or so models of laptop. Windows meanwhile if you look in your system files is a bloated mess only because every install is carrying with it all the libraries it needs to run on basically any varied assemblage of hardware, jack of all trades unfortunately master if none. Versatile yes and I love it for system building but it's a lot easier for me to see where more of the money goes. Buying online ad comparing specs for specs that's hard to see

Grayson

I think people would need your budget to advise correctly.

For €1500 you can get a kick ass PC Vs a mid range Mac. It's all down to the money.

Also, are you going to hang around for windows 8?

frozenfrozen

get the mac. just do, you want one, and you're trying to justify the money, it's worth it if you have the money, but there's no point taking out a lone to be able to afford it

BostonB

Overheal wrote: »

It's the little things, like the superior build quality that really drag the price up on Mac. .... What it will still suffer from is a 50-80% plastic construction ....

You can buy high end PC laptops also made of better materials.

If you want to pay for it. But most buy the cheaper ones.

stevek93

BostonB wrote: »

Overheal wrote: »

It's the little things, like the superior build quality that really drag the price up on Mac. .... What it will still suffer from is a 50-80% plastic construction ....

You can buy high end PC laptops also made of better materials.

If you want to pay for it. But most buy the cheaper ones.

True. My dell laptop is mostly mad of metal.

HealthyJenny

I'm in the same boat. So torn between MacBook Air or a laptop. The guy in The shop is swaying me towards the Mac but worried I will be stuck not being able to do "normal" day to day things on it.

Hard to pull myself away from a laptop.

Kylo Ren

HealthyJenny wrote: »

I'm in the same boat. So torn between MacBook Air or a laptop. The guy in The shop is swaying me towards the Mac but worried I will be stuck not being able to do "normal" day to day things on it.

Hard to pull myself away from a laptop.

The guy is leaning towards the more expensive item? Madness.

HealthyJenny

HealthyJenny wrote: »

I'm in the same boat. So torn between MacBook Air or a laptop. The guy in The shop is swaying me towards the Mac but worried I will be stuck not being able to do "normal" day to day things on it.

Hard to pull myself away from a laptop.

Get the dell xps ultrabook

http://www.dell.com/ie/p/xps-13-l321x/pd.aspx?ST=xps%2013%20ultrabooks&dgc=ST&cid=41215&lid=1069576&acd=1245214524120563

The dell haters will come out in force no doubt but top range dells are a different animal to basic models that people give out about being bad quality, this is a great machine imo.

cookie1977

These threads bring out the worst in people. In the end they'll both do the same thing. So it's down to you what you want to buy and what you are happy paying.

HealthyJenny

The two things that are making the decision difficult is:

Mac is faster, never crashes.
Being stuck with all Apple Products sounds painful.

I already own an iPad and an Apple Tv but still have a little netbook that is killing me, it's so slow.

I'm starting my own business and also going through a 3 year course so need something to use for assignments and also presentations.

The laptop I'm looking at is only about €200 in the difference from the Mac as my friend works in Apple so can get me a 20% discount.

cookie1977

HealthyJenny wrote: »

The two things that are making the decision difficult is:

Mac is faster, never crashes.

They also bring out the crazy comments

Kylo Ren

HealthyJenny wrote: »

The two things that are making the decision difficult is:

Mac is faster, never crashes.

False.

stevek93

Keno 92 wrote: »

False.

Think we have a apple fan boy amongst us.

Kylo Ren

stevek93 wrote: »

Think we have a apple fan boy amongst us.

I have an ipod and love it. If he had said "PC's never crash" I would of corrected him too.

stevek93

Keno 92 wrote: »

I have an ipod and love it. If he had said "PC's never crash" I would of corrected him too.

But who says PC's never crash

Kylo Ren

stevek93 wrote: »

But who says PC's never crash

The same people who say Mac's never crash. People who are ill informed

stevek93

Keno 92 wrote: »

The same people who say Mac's never crash. People who are ill informed

True.

BostonB

HealthyJenny wrote: »

...Mac is faster, never crashes....

The hardware is the same in both. So speed simply depends on how much you spend on the spec be it mac or pc.

Macs certainly crash. Do they crash less than PC's? Perhaps because OSX is built on linux and its a closed system, less hardware variations and less drivers. That said a crash on Windows should be pretty rare too. Unless theres something wrong with your computer.

HealthyJenny wrote: »

....have a little netbook that is killing me, it's so slow....

Thats because its a Netbook not a Laptop. They are by design low powered devices. If you find it slow, you bought the wrong thing.

That said the only way to know if you like using a mac is to use one. They retain their value 2nd hand so if you don't like it you'll have no problem selling it on.

Bad Panda

Honestly, I think some people just throw down 'video editing' so they'll be recommended a MacBook. A lot of editors out there ago the moment! You'd swear you can't edit anything on a PC.

I was going to buy a MBP, but having weighed it all up it would be madness to pay the money for one when I can get similar/better spec PC.

Edit: Just for the record - I've own a few Macs in the past as well as windows machines.

Bpmull

I have a iPhone iPad and MacBook pro. I only got the MacBook pro 2 months ago. I was cautious and didn't want to spend the money on the mac. But I took the plunge and the mac was one of the best things I ever bought. I would never go back to windows. Macs are just amazing to use and worth every penny. Physically they are extremely strong the unibody is class technology. The Illuminated apple and backlight keyboard is cool in low light. Just buy the mac you will have no regrets and this is my first mac and I always used windows up to 2 months ago but the mac just beats windows hands down in my opinion anyway.

stevek93

Im pulling myself from this tread feel a apple war coming :P

Solair

One thing to remember, if you want to, you can also install a copy of Windows 7 (or 8 when it comes out) or Linux onto a Mac. You can dual-boot by holding down the option key when you start the machine and Apple provide all the relevant drivers and make it extremely easy to install windows.

Their Windows setup software's called Bootcamp and it's bundled with Mac OS X
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boot_Camp_(software)

Or, you can run virutalisation software like Parallels http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/

It lets you run Windows (lots of versions) (or Linux) on your Mac on top of Mac OS X all sharing the same desktop space.

So, you get the benefits of Mac OS X, Apple hardware and all the Mac-only apps that attract people onto the platform i.e. Final Cut Pro etc.

And you get the compatibility with the PC world too should you wish to use PC-only Windows / Linux software.

Also, Mac OS X plays quite well with Windows anyway. You can get Microsoft Office for Mac (In fact Office was written by MS as a Mac app before it came to windows in the first place) and most other productivity software is available too.

Mac OS X has become a much more mainstream platform than it was in the past and you'll generally find it's much better supported these days due to the popularity of Apple laptops.
But, if you are pining for some Windows app, there are those options above. So, you're not really losing anything by going with a Mac.

Running Windows on a Mac used to be much more difficult in the days when Apple used PowerPC processors. It moved to Intel chips several years ago which makes it easier. There are still some significant hardware differences between Apple machines and a standard PC, but they're nothing that is particularly difficult to overcome and Apple itself is quite helpful in that regard with Bootcamp making installing windows a total breeze.

They even include drivers that allow Windows to read/write HFS+ (Apple's native file system) so you can see all your Mac drives without any fuss.

That being said, a Mac is not a PC, it has slightly different architecture and different ways of dealing with things like BIOS - using Intel EFI instead etc etc. But, in general installing PC operating systems on a Mac isn't exactly a challenge.

AlmightyCushion

stevek93 wrote: »

Im pulling myself from this tread

I know people love a good flame war but this is going too far.

stevek93

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

I know people love a good flame war but this is going too far.

Exactly.

marko_polo1234

Sorry but eh is windows 8 not just going to be that metro/tablet like UI and windows 7 desktop on the side. Also, are there many pc laptops that are made of good quality materials (not typical plastic) ?

Overheal

BostonB wrote: »

You can buy high end PC laptops also made of better materials.

If you want to pay for it. But most buy the cheaper ones.

absolutely. The Samsung Chronos is about half the cost of a similarly specced MBP but again, still lacks the magsafe patent, or the ball bearings on the USB ports (which might also be a patent, but its hard to see how). Im in training for engineering, its just something I noticed.

Alienware laptops, on the offtopic, are extremely heavy as well

Overheal

I will say this about iOS, it's not crashproof (its happened - I lost photos) but its a lot less often than other android phones I see. In some cases people talk about their phones needing to be power cycled a few times a day because of glitches, which again is down to the open nature of the platform which is both a good and a bad thing. Which is not to say there aren't great android phones (and actually according to google, those are the "Nexus" series of phones which are done in direct partnership between Google and the Manufacturer(s)) but lots of customers expect to buy a prepaid cheapo phone running Gingerbead and try to compare that to iOS5..

Torqay

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

I know people love a good flame war but this is going too far.

What you expect from a thread titled "PC vs Mac"?

BrianDug

I recently got a new laptop Asus G55. I had seriously considered getting a Macbook pro as I was interested in trying out their OS and I liked the sturdy design of the machine. But in the end it just came down to getting more for your money by not getting a Macbook.

I would not rule out getting one in the future, I think the Air is a nice machine. But its hard to justify the high prices they charge when the internal components are the same as any other laptop. I also dislike the buzzwords such as "retina display" for a clearer screen.

Overheal

well thats to get the point across about pixel density and whats visible to your naked eye.

RUCKING FETARD

Who is deleting posts?????

Alanstrainor

RUCKING FETARD wrote: »

Who is deleting posts?????

I am. Posts with silly videos and pictures only serve to drag this thread off topic.

Torqay, I removed your post with the gif, do not post these again.

Captain Commie

I have been switching between mac and PC for years. Love mac hardware and software, but pricing is somewhat hard to stomach.

I made the decision over the last 2 weeks that I was going to go back to mac for day to day use and then use virtualisation for my windows needs (I'm a M/S cert pro). Picked up a base model MacBook Pro 13" on Sunday evening and love it. The build quality is far better than any windows based laptop I have ever used.

I still have some windows machines in my home office to build a lab for studying, but for my day to day stuff there is no beating a mac, and it is deffo worth the money I paid for it.

Bpmull

Captain Commie wrote: »

I have been switching between mac and PC for years. Love mac hardware and software, but pricing is somewhat hard to stomach.

I made the decision over the last 2 weeks that I was going to go back to mac for day to day use and then use virtualisation for my windows needs (I'm a M/S cert pro). Picked up a base model MacBook Pro 13" on Sunday evening and love it. The build quality is far better than any windows based laptop I have ever used.

I still have some windows machines in my home office to build a lab for studying, but for my day to day stuff there is no beating a mac, and it is deffo worth the money I paid for it.

I totally agree macs are excellent for day to day use. Although expensive worth every penny

cnocbui

Are Macs that much more expensive, though? I currently use a Macbook pro (unibody) that is 4.5 years old and apart from some keys being polished to shiny, it's like new.

I have been running into Ram problems - as in 2gb is no longer enough for all the things I do, though I do still get by. So I was thinking of increasing the Ram and getting an SSD, but then the new Retina screened Pro's came along and made me think they might be a better way to go, as I do a fair bit of photo editing and the retina screen would be nice for that as it's an IPS with a much wider viewing angle so the screen can be tilted to avoid reflections.

Now I can get the base model Retina Pro for €1784. I followed a link in another laptop recommend thread and spotted this:

http://www.laptopsdirect.ie/Refurbished_GRADE_A1_-_As_New_-_Lenovo_ThinkPad_X220_12.5_Core_i7_Windows__77059041-1-NYG4BUK/version.asp

for €2066. inc the vat

Now I am fairly clueless on Windows running laptops. Is that massively overpriced or about right? Because if it's the latter, the Retina Pro would be clearly better value.

Alanstrainor

cnocbui wrote: »

Are Macs that much more expensive, though? I currently use a Macbook pro (unibody) that is 4.5 years old and apart from some keys being polished to shiny, it's like new.

I have been running into Ram problems - as in 2gb is no longer enough for all the things I do, though I do still get by. So I was thinking of increasing the Ram and getting an SSD, but then the new Retina screened Pro's came along and made me think they might be a better way to go, as I do a fair bit of photo editing and the retina screen would be nice for that as it's an IPS with a much wider viewing angle so the screen can be tilted to avoid reflections.

Now I can get the base model Retina Pro for €1784. I followed a link in another laptop recommend thread and spotted this:

http://www.laptopsdirect.ie/Refurbished_GRADE_A1_-_As_New_-_Lenovo_ThinkPad_X220_12.5_Core_i7_Windows__77059041-1-NYG4BUK/version.asp

for €2066. inc the vat

Now I am fairly clueless on Windows running laptops. Is that massively overpriced or about right? Because if it's the latter, the Retina Pro would be clearly better value.

No ones saying there aren't over priced PCs out there, there's typically only one price you pay for a Mac though, which is where the "Macs are over priced" debate stems from!

cnocbui

Oh, I don't know about that one price thing. The only reason I am even contemplating the Retina Pro is because I have found it €565 cheaper than buying it from Apple here.

But this happens whenever I look for equivalently spec'd PC laptops that are half the price that I could then hackintosh. I can't find them.

The Samsung 9 series is one of the few up there with a Macbook Pro/Air in construction quality and appearance. The top of the line seems to be the 15" 9 NP900X4C. It looks gorgeous.

It has a dual core i5 1.7 GHz processor 8Gb RAM, a 128 Gb SSD and.... wait for it .... {Cough} integrated Graphics processor {cough.}

It costs € 1,426 (UK)

The Macbook Pro gives you quad core i7 2.3 GHZ, 8Gb Ram, 256 Gb SSD, 650M, graphics processor with 1Gb VRAM and the best screen ever put in a laptop for a whole €357 (UK) more

The one that looks overpriced to me is the Samsung.

Several manufacturers - HP, Acer, Samsung - now make Macbook Air rivals. But they are more expensive than Airs, last time I looked.

So where are the PC bargains that everyone says exist?

I have to be able to hacintosh because life is too short for Windows.

My previous laptop was a Powerbook G4 Ti. It lasted 8 years. So while it too seemed expensive at the time, it worked so well for so long that it clearly wasn't. My current Unibody Macbook pro is significantly better and more robustly constructed so I would be surprised if it didn't last even longer.

mackerski

BostonB wrote: »

Perhaps because OSX is built on linux

It isn't. I wish people would stop spreading this idea around.

See here: http://jbrealow.com/blog/?p=385

Stallingrad

I've been using Macs forever and in my experience the latest ones are very, very stable. Can't remember the last time one crashed forcing a restart, very rarely an application will crash (Quark are you listening) but the Mac itself is probably as bombproof as computing gets.

Can't speak of PC reliability as luckily I don't have to use them often, but anytime I am required to use a PC I am staggered by the clunky interface.

AlmightyCushion

cnocbui wrote: »

Oh, I don't know about that one price thing. The only reason I am even contemplating the Retina Pro is because I have found it €565 cheaper than buying it from Apple here.

But this happens whenever I look for equivalently spec'd PC laptops that are half the price that I could then hackintosh. I can't find them.

The Samsung 9 series is one of the few up there with a Macbook Pro/Air in construction quality and appearance. The top of the line seems to be the 15" 9 NP900X4C. It looks gorgeous.

It has a dual core i5 1.7 GHz processor 8Gb RAM, a 128 Gb SSD and.... wait for it .... {Cough} integrated Graphics processor {cough.}

It costs € 1,426 (UK)

The Macbook Pro gives you quad core i7 2.3 GHZ, 8Gb Ram, 256 Gb SSD, 650M, graphics processor with 1Gb VRAM and the best screen ever put in a laptop for a whole €357 (UK) more

The one that looks overpriced to me is the Samsung.

Several manufacturers - HP, Acer, Samsung - now make Macbook Air rivals. But they are more expensive than Airs, last time I looked.

So where are the PC bargains that everyone says exist?

I have to be able to hacintosh because life is too short for Windows.

My previous laptop was a Powerbook G4 Ti. It lasted 8 years. So while it too seemed expensive at the time, it worked so well for so long that it clearly wasn't. My current Unibody Macbook pro is significantly better and more robustly constructed so I would be surprised if it didn't last even longer.

The series 9 is an ultra book, spec, performance and price would be comparable to the Macbook Air. If you want a competitor for the Pro check out the Series 7 Chronos.

As for the Air being cheaper than it's rivals. The Asus Zenbook is a bit cheaper than the Air and even has a more powerful processor.

Gurgle

BostonB wrote:

Perhaps because OSX is built on linux

mackerski wrote: »

It isn't. I wish people would stop spreading this idea around.
See here: http://jbrealow.com/blog/?p=385

^^ Dead link.

See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS_X

Linux and OSX aren't that different as both are Unix based.
Linux is obviously much more advanced than OSX, both in terms of hardware and software compatibility.

OSX' reputation benefits greatly from the fact that it's only ever intended for use with a small selection of top end hardware and a restricted software collection while Linux runs perfectly well on any old junk you might find in the shed & stick together with duct tape.

cookie1977

Gurgle wrote: »

^^ Dead link.

See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS_X

Linux and OSX aren't that different as both are Unix based.
Linux is obviously much more advanced than OSX, both in terms of hardware and software compatibility.

OSX' reputation benefits greatly from the fact that it's only ever intended for use with a small selection of top end hardware and a restricted software collection while Linux runs perfectly well on any old junk you might find in the shed & stick together with duct tape.

It was working when it was posted but looks like the site is gone or is having trouble
Edit

Cached version here:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:zMtslXNGC0AJ:jbrealow.com/blog/%3Fp%3D385+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ie