Hi. I'm a Mac....

Printable View

05-19-2009, 11:22 AM
mk2tmr2

Hi. I'm a Mac....

As a designer by trade, I've been using Mac OS exclusively for the last...oh...13 or 14 years. I have only touched Windows on very rare occasions.

Just bought my wife a HP laptop (she doesn't like change and Windows is what she's used to). Vista can bite me. That POS has frozen, hung or crashed more in the last week and half we've owned it than in the 2.5 years I've had my latest Mac.

I work in marketing, so I always took those Apple commercials with the Mac and the PC with a grain of salt. Entertaining, probably partly true, probably exaggerated. What do I know? I haven't used Windows much since 1996.

Hell no. They're so accurate it's scary.

That is all.
05-19-2009, 11:33 AM
Rogue

and I'm also a Mac!

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.tuaw.com/.../07/af8c_1.jpg
05-19-2009, 11:36 AM
goofygrin

I'm a windows 7 RC 1 and it works like a freaking champ.

The HP is infected with bloatware that HP installs. A clean install of Vista SP1 would likely run like a champ unless you bought it with too little ram.
05-19-2009, 11:59 AM
Titus

My wife has a HP laptop running Vista that we bought last summer. I wanted to remove all the preloaded crap, but she wouldn't let me. Even with the bloat, it hasn't crashed. I run XP on my computers and it runs like a champ. Now back when I ran 95/98/NT4, it was crash city.
05-19-2009, 12:58 PM
Radio-Active

VISTA SUCKS!

I run XP on my laptop. More than once, I have considered making it a Hackentosh.
05-19-2009, 02:05 PM
MadMerv

I remember when my TRS-80..........
05-19-2009, 02:07 PM
HudsonHawk

I love my PC. Of course every computer I get I wipe and reload with what I want on it and nothing else. Probably why mine run trouble free.
05-19-2009, 02:28 PM
mk2tmr2

Quote:

Originally Posted by HudsonHawk

I love my PC. Of course every computer I get I wipe and reload with what I want on it and nothing else. Probably why mine run trouble free.

I would go this route if it was my machine. But since it's used for web and email only - it just needs to be *mostly* reliable. Which it is. Barely. :)

Then again, if it was my machine it would be a Macbook Pro.

I've disabled (not removed) all of the built in HP crap that it came with. Annoying.

Patiently awaiting the release of Win 7.
05-19-2009, 02:54 PM
goofygrin

wow... a $2000 machine (macbook pro) to surf the web and type email. Sounds about right for Apple.

If that was the case, you should have gotten her one of the numerous netbooks out there for $300 or so and she'd be set. Heck, I've used my eee to do development work in a pinch.
05-19-2009, 04:10 PM
Foreverzero89

love vista. i have had no prob with it at all(besides the backwards compatibilty thing).
05-19-2009, 04:25 PM
redmenace

Quote:

Originally Posted by goofygrin

wow... a $2000 machine (macbook pro) to surf the web and type email.

I believe the term is "you suck at read"...

Quote:

Originally Posted by mk2tmr2

As a designer by trade...

Quote:

Originally Posted by mk2tmr2

...if it was my machine it would be a Macbook Pro.

::Banana::
05-19-2009, 05:55 PM
miataspeedracer

I prefer apples to worms...
05-19-2009, 08:55 PM
sxk122

I love my 6+ year old toshiba satellite running xp. does everything i need it too. Can't stand the GF's new HP that is loaded with Vista and tons of other shit. I wasgoing to replace this laptop with a 900 series EEE pc, but instead bought a new battery for the toshiba. Roomate got the EEE for himself and loves it; it is his primary computer.
05-19-2009, 09:08 PM
goofygrin

Quote:

Originally Posted by redmenace

I believe the term is "you suck at read"...

::Banana::

Oh no, I know how to read. I inferred that while this machine was for his wife since she prefers windows, he would have gotten a macbook for the same purposes.

Now obviously a hard coreish machine (although I'd argue that a mbpro is vastly overpriced) for a designer is not uncalled for.
05-19-2009, 09:18 PM
Nexus Flux

Quote:

Originally Posted by HudsonHawk

I love my PC. Of course every computer I get I wipe and reload with what I want on it and nothing else. Probably why mine run trouble free.

Here here, OEM OS installs are the suck :thumbdow:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Foreverzero89

love vista. i have had no prob with it at all(besides the backwards compatibilty thing).

The only comaptibility thing that i had with my Vista can really be blamed on Creative's crappy driver support for their sound card.
05-20-2009, 09:13 AM
channelmaniac

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nexus Flux

The only comaptibility thing that i had with my Vista can really be blamed on Creative's crappy driver support for their sound card.

My EPROM programmers and my photo printer aren't supported under Vista.

I had BAD problems with crashing but it was all hardware related. The HP computer I have had a bad motherboard AND Intel released a duo core CPU with bad microcode. Once those problems were fixed it's been a decent system.

But, I did upgrade it to 4Gb of RAM. That sure helped things.

I use this PC for web surfing and building VMware PC and server images for use in training courses and more. Right now I'm populating data into a wiki server that will be used by more than 15,000 sales folks globally when finished.

BTW: Turnkey Linux images FTW!
05-20-2009, 09:32 AM
mk2tmr2

Quote:

Originally Posted by goofygrin

Oh no, I know how to read. I inferred that while this machine was for his wife since she prefers windows, he would have gotten a macbook for the same purposes.

Now obviously a hard coreish machine (although I'd argue that a mbpro is vastly overpriced) for a designer is not uncalled for.

If it were my machine it would be used to run pretty much the entire Adobe Creative Suite (at once). Since it's not my machine and only used for email and web, I got a cheap(ish) HP for the wifey.

"Overpriced" is definitely a relative term. Mac users tend to keep their machines twice as long as Windows users without modifying much besides adding memory or storage. So, in the end, the cost tends to balance out. And you have to be careful to compare (pardon the pun) apples to apples when it comes to hardware. It wouldn't be fair to compare the little $600 HP that I bought to a top-line MBPro and then call the MBPro "overpriced". Compare it to a top of the line Dell Precision and the paying field is level.
05-20-2009, 10:31 AM
HudsonHawk

Quote:

Originally Posted by channelmaniac

BTW: Turnkey Linux images FTW!

No joy running nix on my notebook. I have tried 3 different flavors:

One the video would not work on.

The second messed up my HD so bad the notebook would not post much less boot. I had to pull the HD and format it on a different machine.

Solaris actually booted but the video driver was messed up and eventually the screen was unreadable.

The only option I have is to go back to Windows. Most of the problems I have had is finding a driver for the ATI video card in my notebook. Its an OEM implementation and is a real pain. Under Vista I am running a hacked version of the XP driver and it is working fine.
05-20-2009, 10:44 AM
bnordin

I dislike VISTA very much! (clean version) I just bought my collage bound son a very nice MAC.
05-20-2009, 10:56 AM
channelmaniac

Quote:

Originally Posted by HudsonHawk

No joy running nix on my notebook. I have tried 3 different flavors:

One the video would not work on.

The second messed up my HD so bad the notebook would not post much less boot. I had to pull the HD and format it on a different machine.

Solaris actually booted but the video driver was messed up and eventually the screen was unreadable.

The only option I have is to go back to Windows. Most of the problems I have had is finding a driver for the ATI video card in my notebook. Its an OEM implementation and is a real pain. Under Vista I am running a hacked version of the XP driver and it is working fine.

VMware is a great way to go when you need software running under another OS such as Linux. :D
05-20-2009, 11:09 AM
Darron65

Quote:

Originally Posted by goofygrin

wow... a $2000 machine (macbook pro) to surf the web and type email. Sounds about right for Apple.

If that was the case, you should have gotten her one of the numerous netbooks out there for $300 or so and she'd be set. Heck, I've used my eee to do development work in a pinch.

Yep, we bought a sexy little HP Mini with the 10" screen at Christmas. Allegedly the poor thing is unable to run Vista so it came with XP and no bloatware. It is rock solid stable. I'm still planning to bump it to 2 GB of ram but it runs pretty good with 1 even with the 2 of us using fast user switching. If it was just for me I'd have bought the Eeepc too but I had to get :queen: onboard with the good looking case and big keyboard.
05-20-2009, 11:13 AM
bigDstars

I use Microsoft Millenium edition. It's awesome! More kick ass than all those others!
05-20-2009, 11:27 AM
Darron65

Windows ME FTW!
05-20-2009, 12:02 PM
HudsonHawk

Quote:

Originally Posted by channelmaniac

VMware is a great way to go when you need software running under another OS such as Linux. :D

Yes, I know. I have the vmware desktop edition. It is nice.

I was actually wanting to run a linux 64 bit OS and run the linux version of vmware workstation so I would have my windows tools when I needed them.
05-20-2009, 12:24 PM
OZMDD

I agree that Macs are pricey, but I've become convinced that you get what you pay for in computers, to an extent. The biggest problem with Macs is the consumer has been sold on the idea that you need to buy a "fully loaded" model to get a good one, which is the case with most PC makers. The cheap base models suck. Entry-level Macs are already loaded. They would be like Lexus, which doesn't really offer a "stripped" base model.
PC's are cheaper and have more supported sofware. After 2 years on my $900 Macbook, I have not had a single problem, never frozen-up once, and I have not experienced a decline in performance as I often did with PC's. Whiel they certainly make faster/better versions today than 2 years ago, I don't feel like Macs "show their age" as much as PC's. My iMac is over 4 years old (PowerPC) and still works great and seems quite up-to-date.
The biggest mistake of a non-Mac person is believing that you need the Macbook Pro, or any of the pro-level Macs. If you aren't doing really serious data work, video editing, pro audio mixing/recording or other resource-hog applications, you'd never need a Pro.
Also, its hard to overstate the value of ignoring all the virus threats out there, as they don't affect Mac, by and large. I don't have to buy and run a bunch of "security" software. Love the Mac!
05-20-2009, 03:10 PM
HudsonHawk

Quote:

Originally Posted by OZMDD

Also, its hard to overstate the value of ignoring all the virus threats out there, as they don't affect Mac, by and large. I don't have to buy and run a bunch of "security" software. Love the Mac!

Keep believing this. The only reason they don't have the virus/malware problem is market share. Its not worth the hackers time. They are no more secure then any other desktop operating system on the market.
05-20-2009, 06:57 PM
channelmaniac

Quote:

Originally Posted by HudsonHawk

Keep believing this. The only reason they don't have the virus/malware problem is market share. Its not worth the hackers time. They are no more secure then any other desktop operating system on the market.

Actually there is already software out that will infect a Mac and turn it into a "zombie" under some hacker's control. Keep believing that you are safe. Go ahead. ;)
05-20-2009, 09:42 PM
mk2tmr2

Whether or not the system itself is more secure is not the point. The point is that the threat of a Mac becoming infected with a virus is miniscule compared to a Windows machine. I have not had a single virus/malware/adware issue on any of my Macs ever (13+ years) nor have I ever used any anti-virus software...ever. There is no practical need.
05-21-2009, 06:03 AM
HudsonHawk

Quote:

Originally Posted by mk2tmr2

I have not had a single virus/malware/adware issue on any of my Macs ever (13+ years)

I can say the same for the Windows based computers I have as well. A little common sense will stop 99% of the threats out there.
05-21-2009, 10:19 PM
Magma

I must chime in and say that when I bought my beast of a MacPro, Nex and I priced out building the same hardware in a "Hacintosh" and the price was within 3% I think. For me this will pay for itself with a few side gigs(If the side gigs start showing up again)
05-22-2009, 02:37 PM
Nexus Flux

Yes, I agree it was within 3-5%, but in your case, as may be the case with other space hungry power users, the Mac case is the issue.

It has very limited expansion capabilities, in my opinion. It's a full tower case with 1 (one) 5.25" (ie CD/DVD ROM bay) and only 3 (three) 3.5" bays for hard drives. While that might be enough for some people, when I pay nearly $4000 for a workstation class machine, I want options. ( I say workstation since the thing has 2x Intel Xeon quad core CPUs and 10 GB of Ram) Graphic card and memory options are also more limited and come with a much higher price tag than a PC.
05-22-2009, 08:48 PM
Magma

Actually the Pro has 2x5.25 slots and 4xHD bays. With the move to Intel the graphics options are the same as PC
05-24-2009, 01:04 AM
johnwag

no linux?
05-28-2009, 07:49 PM
Dudley Dawson

I can't use a Windows machine for more than 5 minutes without wanting to put my fist through the monitor.

Then again, I'm not particularly computer-savvy. I know how to use the specific applications I need, and goof off online. I don't want a computer I have to be a tech-head to use. I want my computer to work like my TV: turn it on and it does what I expect. My iMac excels at this. No bulging forehead veins, no drama, it just does what I want it to. I also love that it takes maybe 10 seconds between pushing the power button and being able to actually use the thing, unlike most PCs I've used, which take 2 minutes to boot up.

I did some comparison shopping when I bought it, and it cost the same as a PC would've with the same features. For me, it was no contest. I'd have bought the Mac even if the PCs were half the price.

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 05:47 AM.