Zardon

I have owned a few in the past and I still have an old G4 powered mac in a cupboard. I used them in my work for many years with mainly photoshop/quarkxpress.

I do however feel that windows and building my own hardware is a more viable proposition as I have access to more software and higher support. I also don't like the fact very few are upgradable and you pay through the nose for less powerful hardware than the PC equivalent....

So any mac users out there? why do you use it? Anyone thinking of buying one as a secondary or even main machine?

Discuss.

dj_stick

yes

i plan to buy a mac pro when i can afford to, mostly for my music production (my software only works on mac now)

of course i'd be dual booting windows on it for general purpose usage

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Vampyromaniac

Not at the present time as I have no need for one, and it would be more money for a more limited platform.

But who knows what the future holds.

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temeteus82

If I get to school I would get MacBook Pro

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zaim

nope considering they use same hardware as a pc now... it's all eye camdy

i'd rather VM Ware it

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Erroneus

Not really, there is nothing there which really intrigues me that much.

Is nice and all, but there are to many program for Windows i would prefer to use.

But it looks like my work is going to buy me one, as we has to include Macs in our projects (I'm a network administrator / system administrator / it technician), since more users are beginning to get macs, *sigh*

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Zardon

really?

Sandok

I'd get a mac, but only end up isntalling windows on it... I like the macbook...

BlueMak

I might get an mini for my mother, but for myself? I don't see any reason to. I also don't like the much higher prices for upgrades and the monopoly of Apple on eh, Apple computers. (yes yes I know)

I might get one after a couple of years for my job, but not entirely sure yet.

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The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis
This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm Sic semper tyrannis.

Lowfat

If i wasn't such a gamer/overclocker Mac's is all I would own. I plan on buying a Mini in October'ish and use it for day to day tasks, and use a PC for gaming/benching. I use a Mac 8 hours a day at work and when i come home to windows I am dissapointed lol.

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Vikingod

My sister has a nice Mac, I was fairly impressed with it, and the OS is good. Problem with Mac is the price and the fact that I game with my PC. Performance wise, you can get a PC much cheaper, and for what I use mine for, there really wouldnt be any advantage to using a Mac. But, if I got a good deal on it, and was looking for a laptop, I might consider a Mac.

Erroneus

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zardon really?

Yeah, the organization I work for, administrate a lot of higher education schools and the students is really in to mac.

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niceguyrichy

once spring and summer are done with I'm planning on getting back into recording music big time again, and given my previous experience with macs and music production I'd definately have one if I had the cash
they are definately over-priced though , unfortunately

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Zardon

did you play in a band richy? what instrument and genre?

swimtech

Right now, of course this could change, but the Macbook is the number one selling laptop model at our University. Small wonder really, it does everything well - except 3D gaming, for $1100.00 complete - and I wouldn't consider that overpriced but quite competitive really - no offense...

One major problem though - no accidental coverage available. Gateway, Dell, and the others offer it - not Apple. It matters bigtime on a laptop purchase. You don't want to know how many spills I've seen in laptops over the past three months...

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It's not so much getting your way that matters or not - what matters is how you go about getting it.

Lowfat

I always suggest to people who need a notebook to get a MacBook IMO they are the best budget portables computers out there.

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Vampyromaniac

I just did a quick price check, and here's what I got for the closest notebook I could spec from Dell (some of the options don't go as low as Apple's.)

Apple ...... Dell
$1099 ...... $978
13.3" ...... 14.1"
1.83 GHz ... 2.0 GHz
512 MB ..... 1 GB
60 GB ...... 80 GB
Tiger ...... Vista Premium
..GMA 950 graphics..
..24x CDRW/DVDROM...

I wouldn't consider that quite competitive.

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Lowfat

With an education discount the MacBook drops to $1049 and add Wireless N and Bluetooth which are standard on the MacBook, the price of the Dell goes to $1029. Not much of a difference then.

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Vampyromaniac

Fair enough, $50 less for students. The Mac does not have wireless-N, though... only 802.11g. Bluetooth is $20 from Dell, but since most students don't need it, maybe it's better that it's an option.

Even so, the prices may be closer but you've forgotten the important specs. I still wouldn't consider it quite competitive.

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Lowfat

I work for Apple, i know it has wireless N They just don't advertise it because you need to either buy an Airport Extreme Base Station or pay the $2.99 to download the firmware update for it.

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swimtech

...there's a little camera in the Macbook too - and the software for that device in OSX is a hoot! It works in Windows now too, but very basically. I still think a 10% price difference is "competitive" though .

But, you can get a Dell for less - that's what they do best.

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It's not so much getting your way that matters or not - what matters is how you go about getting it.

DudeBoyz

I first bought an eMac just before they stopped selling them. I gave that one to my niece.

I now have a 24" iMac with the Intel Core 2 Duo and have upgraded it to 2 gig of RAM.

I am not a fan of FINDER and wish it was more configurable. It is usable, but for file operations, I like to use muCommander. I've tried Xfolders but it is buggy and unpredictable.

I like NeoOffice fairly well, and am looking forward to the update that includes all the features of OpenOffice 2.2, including KERNING being enabled by default.

I prefer using the PC for most things, still, but have found that Parallels for the Mac is EXCELLENT for running Linux virtual machines. I bought a copy of the software from Newegg and really enjoy tinkering around with various distros in that environment. I particularly like OpenSuse Linux 10.2.

OS X is very stable, but I do wish it was more configurable. It is not as complex to configure as Linux, which is a good thing, but I find that the interface lacks some of the configurability that I'm used to on the Windows side.

I prefer not to use the Mac platform for my production rig. There are issues with the Mac file system vs the PC file system, and there are some file format issues (MP3, some graphics formats, etc.) that also cause issues with sharing.

If I had to choose between a Windows based PC and an OS X based PC, I would choose Windows, because it's what I know best and also because there are a ton more apps out there that I can use to help ensure the type of compatibility I want. Windows is not perfect, but it's the "devil I know" as it were.

The transition from PowerPC to Intel based systems has thrown a monkey wrench into things. Some apps just suck when run in emulation mode, and there are many older apps that will never be updated to a Universal Binary or native Intel compiled app.

As much as I like tinkering with the Mac, the hardware is WAY, WAY, WAY too expensive, imo. You don't have a lot of choice like you do on the PC / Linux side. I don't think I would have gotten the 24" iMac if it was not capable of running Windows on that hardware. The BootCamp feature was a big-time selling point for me, because I figured if I get sick and tired of using the thing as a Mac, I could just boot into Windows via BootCamp. Now I've discovered Parallels so use that instead, but have found I don't like running Windows on the Mac hardware and that Linux is much faster and fun to mess with. So, the Mac is my "fun project" computer and I no longer mess with Linux on my PC's at all.

But that's all it is, really. It is not good for games, lacks the key apps I like to use and is frankly too quirky for me to rely on given that most folks I interact with are PC based.

I'm not sure I'd do it again. I think I would have preferred to get a Mac Mini and a standard 1600x1200 LCD like the Viewsonic VP2030b, but the Mini's are just way under-powered and the steel tower models are way too expensive, especially in terms of memory upgrades.

I guess I should have just kept my eMac (1280x960), but I am glad that I have at least 1200 vertical pixels to work with. 1600x1200 is about the minimum res where I feel productive. The iMac is 1920x1200, but those extra 320 pixels don't really seem to do much for me, except maybe give me room for the dock.

kris23

if the mac OS could be used on PC hardware then i would have one.........but no, it would have been nice to use such hardware like core 2s in desktops without paying that big price tag for ........in my opinion overpriced "toy" computers

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DudeBoyz

The Mac is NOT a "toy" computer. It is as capable of running tail-kicking stuff as the PC is, and then some. It is based on UNIX after all.

BUT - the selection of apps is dismal compared to Windows, and the hardware is WAY overpriced, imo.

It's not a crap computer - it's just not as good of a value as a PC when you start comparing cost per config.

kris23

thats the only thing i find good about it, the stability of the OS, it really is nice but the price for the desktops are a little much to me..........last time i checked anyway, ill see what they have in a few minutes

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swimtech

With regards to their desktop line, I wouldn't consider purchasing a desktop Mac either - they're charging a lot extra over what the hardware alone is worth, generally speaking, but I don't think you can buy an eight-core (!!!) anywhere else at the moment.

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It's not so much getting your way that matters or not - what matters is how you go about getting it.

DudeBoyz

They do charge way too much for their PC's.

My 24" iMac was $2000. It is not worth $2000 when compared to a PC, but it was the only one with a built in screen with at least 1200 vertical pixels.

Even their Mac Minis are too costly for what you get.

Oddly, their Operating System is a bargain - $129 per copy or $199 for a 5 user license (or $179 - I don't remember exactly)

niceguyrichy

played bass in a band in high school, then played lead guitar in another band later.
I'm all on my lonesome now (which I prefer), just me and my computer, a tascam a casio and my guitars
genre wise, I played all kinds of dull shite with the school band (covers of 40 past midnight and shite like that). personally I like folk type stuff when I pick up my acoustic (love complex fingerpicking), and I'm a huge blues fan also. have been known to thrash out som Smashing Pumpkins or radiohead too (blew up an amp playing a smashing pumpkins cover in front of 2 /300 people once )

I used Logic Audio on a Mac for years and was thoroughly impressed with how well it worked and how easy it all was to get set up. like I said before, if I could afford it I'd have one for that (and if I ever get around to making another sig I guess it wouldn't hurt for that either )

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kris23

is there some kind of good emulator software to be able to run OSX on windows? vista? lol

dude that price is DEFANITELY too high...... u gotta pay 2000 for a sub-par system.......how lame... if Apple could just make an OS that would run on the hardware we see in stores....thats all i want, stability and power in a customizable setup and not one of those things they got that cant run anything good enough.....

i think they do it like this because of how popular their name is, stick random components into a case and double the MSRP to make more moolah.... it aint right

in the heart of a PC and mac its all the same.....deep down in the hardware its all the same, all their mac pro's are, are server systems with OSX

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DudeBoyz

I agree. Many people would not buy their hardware if they did not have to, at least not at those prices. It would have been great if I could pick up a $550 Compaq Presario type of desktop, a $450 Viewsonic 20.1" LCD at 1600x1200 and pay $129 for the operating system. I'd have been all over that.

The bummer is that their Mac Mini's are just not that configurable in terms of what options are available so I could not go that route.

The good thing is that the 24" iMac did include the latest Intel Core 2 Duo setup, so it is fast and it does have virtualization stuff built into hardware, so I can run that Parallels software pretty efficiently.

But the cost is one big reason I have 4 PC's and only 1 Mac...