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Mac or Dell - Page 5

Blogs > LimitlessSky
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LimitlessSky
Profile Blog Joined October 2008
United States434 Posts
February 04 2009 01:12 GMT
#81
Thanks everyone for the feedback.

I enjoyed reading all the comments.

I updated the blog about why I need a new laptop.

right now Dell looks good in tems of being able to run SC very well
SKT1 Fighting! <3
CDRdude
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
United States5625 Posts
February 04 2009 01:18 GMT
#82
On February 04 2009 00:30 BloodyC0bbler wrote:
First off, one handy note to start this off: Macbooks have one of the best chargers in the world, It is a magnet cord ie, when some fag kicks the cord when your charging your battery, the cord goes flying and your macbook doesn't.

I'm quoting this, because it's probably saved my computer several times over. Of all the advertised features of a mac, this one is probably worth the most. Also, you can run windows XP on a mac, and by extension, iccup antihack and chaoslauncher. I had XP on this compouter for years until I got a new hard drive, and I haven't bothered to reinstall it since.

But seriously, the power cord thing has saved my computers life many times, and it can relieve a lot of stress if your power cord is stretched across a room. IMO, it's probably the best reason to get a mac.
Force staff is the best item in the game.
Savio
Profile Joined April 2008
United States1850 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-02-04 02:04:00
February 04 2009 02:01 GMT
#83
Ugh..laptops. They are so expensive and inferior to desktop and yet we still need them. Anyway,
IF you get a mac, check this one out:

http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/features-17inch.html

Its pretty sweet. 17 inch screen and 8 hour battery...HOLY COW! I recommend the pro so you can play SC2 when it comes out.

But thats only if you get a mac. PCs are still better for games. Although Dell batteries are crap so...good luck deciding.


ALSO: Read this article. Tries to show that Mac has better value for your money in the higher end latops: http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2006/12/6195.ars
The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery. – Winston Churchill
JeeJee
Profile Blog Joined July 2003
Canada5652 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-02-04 02:48:37
February 04 2009 02:43 GMT
#84
@savio's article
i'm confused how they're speccing the apple and the dell

without googling any coupons i customized an m17 significantly cheaper than an mbp 17", with superior specs. with coupons the difference would be even larger..
(\o/)  If you want it, you find a way. Otherwise you find excuses. No exceptions.
 /_\   aka Shinbi (requesting a name change since 27/05/09 ☺)
thor jton
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
Canada62 Posts
February 04 2009 03:16 GMT
#85
there is no mac anti hack
it's just no one wants to hack the lifeless
here's a reference to mac users
http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=macs_cant
complete dumbass's
eX-Corgh
Profile Joined October 2007
Russian Federation386 Posts
February 04 2009 07:22 GMT
#86
This thread is getting more and more retarded with such single-line replys like "Macs suck", "Plz dont get a Mac", "You can't game on a Mac", "Macs are for eye candy", "You can't do anything with Mac", "I have 5 TB RAM and over 9000 GHz CPU and Macs have nothing for more $$"........... sigh

To OP: please disregard such comments because they are posted by people who never seen/used/owned a Mac or they did but a looong time ago and don't know what they are talking about.

I see that you are planning to use the laptop for studying, editing/storing photos, playing SC and other general computer stuff (internet, IM, etc).

The main reason people use Macs is not the hardware - its the software. The Mac OS X "Leopard" operating system is considered by many to be "on the next level" compared to Windows. It has an intuitive and easy to use GUI, works fast, isn't bloated, supports all kinds of stuff, can be used in many fields, has UNIX base so its incredibly stable and secure (yes, NO viruses for Macs at ALL), doesn't require as much maintenance as Windows. Apple says it "Just works" and I agree with this statement. I've been using Macs for over 10 years and I have yet to run into a serious problem with them. When you connect a divice it doesn't require drives in most cases, setup is extremely easy and intuitive if necessary at all. In short, using a computer is much less frustrating.

Some of its features are really nice:

- Exposé. Press a button and all of your open windows are scaled and located on the screen so that all are visible at once without overlap. Select the one you want and it is brought to the foreground while the rest slide back to their original place. Press another button and all your open windows slide behind the screen edges and your is desktop visible at once. Do whatever you needed to do on a desktop and press that button again to have all those open windows back to their original place. A VERY useful feature for small screens (MacBook).

- Spaces. Make up to 16 screen spaces available and move between then with a press of a button. For example have web browser/mail/chat in one space, some Word documents in the other, music player in the 3rd, Microsoft Windows open in virtualization software (see 1) Study) in the 4th space, etc. Helps you organize your work (and play), especially helpful for small screens.

- QuickLook. Preview files without opening them just by pressing Space bar. Files can be anything from text documents to movies and multi-page PDFs.

- Time Machine. The automatic backup software, absolutely THE best I've ever seen. All you need is an external hard drive (you can get a Terabyte for less than 150$ these days). It is absolutely amazing! No setup required, just plug in the HD, press "On" and never worry about data loss ever again. For a demo of how great this is, watch the Leopard Guided Tour (Time Machine is at 9.35 minute mark)

- Spotlight. The fastest system-wide searching tool I've seen in any OS. Starts giving you the result as you are still typing a word to search for. Results are instantly grouped by kind with more recent items on top of the list (closer to the input point). Can be used to instantly find things from applications and files to areas in FDF maps, metadata in your photos music, etc. Windows XP search is pathetic in comparison, while the one in Vista is better than XPs, but still can't match Spotlight.

Thats just a few highlights of Mac OS X features that make people love Macs ^^

Now, to your requests:

1) Study.

Macs have a bunch of software to choose from for this.

- Apple's own iWork suite which contains easy to use/learn and intuitive applications for word processing, page layout, presentations, spreadsheets. Its compatible with Word, PowerPoint, Excel formats as well as PDF and other industry standards.

- The next package is Microsoft's Office 2008 which is basically a Mac version of Office 2007 for Windows. Its more expensive than iWork, but provides familiar environment if you're so used to Office and has ultimate compatibility with other Office documents.

- Free alternatives are NeoOffice, OpenOffice and others. These are viable alternatives, especially if you don't want to pay for your office suite (or dont want to download them from torrents), but they lack some features and are not as refined as payed software. I know a few people who use exclusively Open Office because they refuse to pay Microsoft any money for BS software they make ^^. The feature set is enough in most cases.

Besides office suite you may need some additional specialized software depending on your major, but if it doesn't have a Mac version or alternative you can use Parallels Desktop or VMWare Fusion to run Windows (or Linux, or other OS) alongside Mac OS X without need for rebooting each time you want to use a different OS and with other convenient features.

2) Editing/managing photos.

Again, a bunch of great software is available. If you are not a professional in this area:

- As a part of Apple's iLife suite that comes with every Mac for free, the iPhoto application does a great job of storing, organizing and editing your photos. The ease of use, very intuitive interface, integration with the rest of iLife's applications and some nice features make it my personal favorite application in its category.

- The next is Google Picasa. I have no first-hand experience with it, but from various reports online its a very good competitor to iPhoto. And its free too.

- Pixelmator. Inexpensive photo-editing software with great interface with similar layout as behemoth Photoshop and many similar features. Has the ability to use your graphics card and OS X's built it Core Image technology to edit photos fast and efficient.

- Adobe Photoshop Elements is more of an editing software, but has organizing funcionality too. Not free, but more advanced editing features.

If you're Pro or a serious hobbyist:

- Apple Aperture. Basically a much more advanced version of iPhoto with a more complicated, but more efficient for heavy use interface. Excellent for RAW processing and storing, powerful organization and editing tools, including batch processing. Has a very nice "image versions" feature that allows you to make as many versions of the original "Master" photo as you like, while taking very little space (only changes are saved, so each version os like a few KBs in size). This is the application I use myself.

- Adobe Lightroom. A competitor to Aperture and seems very well-made and refined too. Interface is similar to the Creative Suite apps and has tight integration with it. More expensive than Aperture.

- Adobe Photoshop. An industry-standard photo editor. Not much to tell, same as the Windows version basically.

3) Playing SC

That's already been said by other posters, but I'll say it again. Yes, there is Starcraft for Mac, yes its runs just like Windows version, yes you can play on ICCUP, BUT you can't have AntiHack, Lat changer, etc. But thats if you're running a Mac version. Windows version which you can run in either BootCamp (by dual-booting) or virtualization (see Parallels Desktop or VMWare Fusion above) lets you have all that.

4) General computer useage.

This includes web browsing, e-mail, chat, file transfers, music, moves, tv-shows, etc etc.

- For the web browser you have a ton of options. The default browser is Apple Safari and is very good. Its not bloated, runs fast, has a pleasant interface, tight integration with the OS (for links, bookmarks, search, etc). My favorite.

The competitor is of course Firefox. Most of people use either Safari or this, but there are less widespread browsers as well.

- E-mails are covered either by the default Mail or 3rd party software such as Microsoft Entourage (part of Office suite), Thunderbird, etc.

- IM chat is not deprived of vividness too. The king is (IMO) a multi-protocol-in-one application called Adium. Supports protocols such as MSN, ICQ, AIM, Yahoo, GoogleTalk, Facebook Chat, MySpace IM, Jabber, QQ, etc. No need to keep multiple IM apps if you use multiple protocols. Open Adium and it lets you stay connected and being able to chat in all of them. No bloat, nice and tight. The most customizable software I've ever seen. Oh and its free of course. The drawback is that it doesn't yet support video/audio chat, but developers promise its inclusion in the next major version.

The next app is Apple's iChat which supports AIM, MobileMe, ICQ and other protocols, but also has the A/V chat feature. The best A/V chat app if your interlocutor also has a Mac.

Skype. A/V chat app, compatible with Windows version. The best cross-platform a/v chat software.

MSN Messenger. Part of the Microsoft Office suite or can be downloaded separately for free. Never used it so can't tell much about it. Obviously for MSN protocol only.

- File transfers: Download managers, torrent clients, FTP, P2P, etc.

Speed Download is one of the best download managers. Others include iGetter, etc

Torrent clients: Transmission, Vuze, paid Xtorrent, uTorrent (still a beta though), etc

FTP: Speed Download (see download managers), Cyberduck, etc

P2P: Limewire, etc.

- For music management and listening I strongly recommend Apple iTunes. The best jukebox software for Mac. There are alternatives though if you don't like it. An awesome add-on for iTunes is Coversutra - improves your experience with iTunes even more.

- Videos are covered partly by iTunes for viewing and storing them, but other software includes:

VLC - a player that supports virtually all video formats. Can also be used for live SC watching.

Perian QuickTime component significantly broadens the number of supported formats in QuickTime (iTunes and Front Row as well). A must-have.

Handbrake - Mainly a DVD conversion tool. Insert a movie on DVD, choose the preset (for iPod, for PSP, just for computer screen, etc) and click start, wait, enjoy the result ready for storing/archiving/viewing/, etc. Can also be used to convert movies other than DVDs, like an AVI you've downloaded, or FLV, XVID, whatever.

In short, despite a popular belief, there is absolutely no problem with software on Macs.

Hardware

As for the hardware part of the question, I can tell you this. Macs aren't overpriced. If you match a comparable PC in specs the price difference is virtually none or probably slightly more for Macs. When I say "comparable" I mean comparable in ALL or MOST aspects of the specification. This includes not only CPU, RAM, graphics and screen, but also case thickness, battery life, quality, etc. The only real drawback Macs have now is that there's no way to watch Blue-Ray (other than in Windows with an external blue-ray drive plugged in), but additional features in Mac laptops like MultiTouch trackpad, MagSafe power cord (that will save your laptop from flying down from the table or bed more times than you can imagine), better design, (in most cases) thinner and more solid construction, lighter weight, Wi-Fi N, Bluetooth 2.1, keyboard backlight (on higher end models), better case materials usually make up for it in terms of price.

You just can't compare a loud 1.3" thick 2.5 kg cheap plastic ugly PC laptop with nothing in it except for basic computer components and with a battery that lasts 2 hours max to a 0.9" thick 2 kg beautiful MacBook in the strong aluminium case, LED display, MagSafe, Multitouch glass trackpad, newest Bluetooth and wi-fi chips and over 4 hours of real battery life that is still just as fast in performance. Its just not the same league. Again, its all about selecting comparable hardware.

Aslo, considering the value of the software that comes free on all Macs and no need to buy Anti-virus (annually) its safe to say that the actual cost is lower than PC.

If you think you don't need any of this stuff - fine, no problems, go and buy a PC. Macs aren't for everyone (same with PCs). Both have their uses.

Sorry for the huge post, I'm done. Hope this helped someone.
Never give cheese to the Gorilla ^^
LimitlessSky
Profile Blog Joined October 2008
United States434 Posts
February 04 2009 10:23 GMT
#87
On February 04 2009 16:22 eX-Corgh wrote:
This thread is getting more and more retarded with such single-line replys like "Macs suck", "Plz dont get a Mac", "You can't game on a Mac", "Macs are for eye candy", "You can't do anything with Mac", "I have 5 TB RAM and over 9000 GHz CPU and Macs have nothing for more $$"........... sigh

To OP: please disregard such comments because they are posted by people who never seen/used/owned a Mac or they did but a looong time ago and don't know what they are talking about.

I see that you are planning to use the laptop for studying, editing/storing photos, playing SC and other general computer stuff (internet, IM, etc).

The main reason people use Macs is not the hardware - its the software. The Mac OS X "Leopard" operating system is considered by many to be "on the next level" compared to Windows. It has an intuitive and easy to use GUI, works fast, isn't bloated, supports all kinds of stuff, can be used in many fields, has UNIX base so its incredibly stable and secure (yes, NO viruses for Macs at ALL), doesn't require as much maintenance as Windows. Apple says it "Just works" and I agree with this statement. I've been using Macs for over 10 years and I have yet to run into a serious problem with them. When you connect a divice it doesn't require drives in most cases, setup is extremely easy and intuitive if necessary at all. In short, using a computer is much less frustrating.

Some of its features are really nice:

- Exposé. Press a button and all of your open windows are scaled and located on the screen so that all are visible at once without overlap. Select the one you want and it is brought to the foreground while the rest slide back to their original place. Press another button and all your open windows slide behind the screen edges and your is desktop visible at once. Do whatever you needed to do on a desktop and press that button again to have all those open windows back to their original place. A VERY useful feature for small screens (MacBook).

- Spaces. Make up to 16 screen spaces available and move between then with a press of a button. For example have web browser/mail/chat in one space, some Word documents in the other, music player in the 3rd, Microsoft Windows open in virtualization software (see 1) Study) in the 4th space, etc. Helps you organize your work (and play), especially helpful for small screens.

- QuickLook. Preview files without opening them just by pressing Space bar. Files can be anything from text documents to movies and multi-page PDFs.

- Time Machine. The automatic backup software, absolutely THE best I've ever seen. All you need is an external hard drive (you can get a Terabyte for less than 150$ these days). It is absolutely amazing! No setup required, just plug in the HD, press "On" and never worry about data loss ever again. For a demo of how great this is, watch the Leopard Guided Tour (Time Machine is at 9.35 minute mark)

- Spotlight. The fastest system-wide searching tool I've seen in any OS. Starts giving you the result as you are still typing a word to search for. Results are instantly grouped by kind with more recent items on top of the list (closer to the input point). Can be used to instantly find things from applications and files to areas in FDF maps, metadata in your photos music, etc. Windows XP search is pathetic in comparison, while the one in Vista is better than XPs, but still can't match Spotlight.

Thats just a few highlights of Mac OS X features that make people love Macs ^^

Now, to your requests:

1) Study.

Macs have a bunch of software to choose from for this.

- Apple's own iWork suite which contains easy to use/learn and intuitive applications for word processing, page layout, presentations, spreadsheets. Its compatible with Word, PowerPoint, Excel formats as well as PDF and other industry standards.

- The next package is Microsoft's Office 2008 which is basically a Mac version of Office 2007 for Windows. Its more expensive than iWork, but provides familiar environment if you're so used to Office and has ultimate compatibility with other Office documents.

- Free alternatives are NeoOffice, OpenOffice and others. These are viable alternatives, especially if you don't want to pay for your office suite (or dont want to download them from torrents), but they lack some features and are not as refined as payed software. I know a few people who use exclusively Open Office because they refuse to pay Microsoft any money for BS software they make ^^. The feature set is enough in most cases.

Besides office suite you may need some additional specialized software depending on your major, but if it doesn't have a Mac version or alternative you can use Parallels Desktop or VMWare Fusion to run Windows (or Linux, or other OS) alongside Mac OS X without need for rebooting each time you want to use a different OS and with other convenient features.

2) Editing/managing photos.

Again, a bunch of great software is available. If you are not a professional in this area:

- As a part of Apple's iLife suite that comes with every Mac for free, the iPhoto application does a great job of storing, organizing and editing your photos. The ease of use, very intuitive interface, integration with the rest of iLife's applications and some nice features make it my personal favorite application in its category.

- The next is Google Picasa. I have no first-hand experience with it, but from various reports online its a very good competitor to iPhoto. And its free too.

- Pixelmator. Inexpensive photo-editing software with great interface with similar layout as behemoth Photoshop and many similar features. Has the ability to use your graphics card and OS X's built it Core Image technology to edit photos fast and efficient.

- Adobe Photoshop Elements is more of an editing software, but has organizing funcionality too. Not free, but more advanced editing features.

If you're Pro or a serious hobbyist:

- Apple Aperture. Basically a much more advanced version of iPhoto with a more complicated, but more efficient for heavy use interface. Excellent for RAW processing and storing, powerful organization and editing tools, including batch processing. Has a very nice "image versions" feature that allows you to make as many versions of the original "Master" photo as you like, while taking very little space (only changes are saved, so each version os like a few KBs in size). This is the application I use myself.

- Adobe Lightroom. A competitor to Aperture and seems very well-made and refined too. Interface is similar to the Creative Suite apps and has tight integration with it. More expensive than Aperture.

- Adobe Photoshop. An industry-standard photo editor. Not much to tell, same as the Windows version basically.

3) Playing SC

That's already been said by other posters, but I'll say it again. Yes, there is Starcraft for Mac, yes its runs just like Windows version, yes you can play on ICCUP, BUT you can't have AntiHack, Lat changer, etc. But thats if you're running a Mac version. Windows version which you can run in either BootCamp (by dual-booting) or virtualization (see Parallels Desktop or VMWare Fusion above) lets you have all that.

4) General computer useage.

This includes web browsing, e-mail, chat, file transfers, music, moves, tv-shows, etc etc.

- For the web browser you have a ton of options. The default browser is Apple Safari and is very good. Its not bloated, runs fast, has a pleasant interface, tight integration with the OS (for links, bookmarks, search, etc). My favorite.

The competitor is of course Firefox. Most of people use either Safari or this, but there are less widespread browsers as well.

- E-mails are covered either by the default Mail or 3rd party software such as Microsoft Entourage (part of Office suite), Thunderbird, etc.

- IM chat is not deprived of vividness too. The king is (IMO) a multi-protocol-in-one application called Adium. Supports protocols such as MSN, ICQ, AIM, Yahoo, GoogleTalk, Facebook Chat, MySpace IM, Jabber, QQ, etc. No need to keep multiple IM apps if you use multiple protocols. Open Adium and it lets you stay connected and being able to chat in all of them. No bloat, nice and tight. The most customizable software I've ever seen. Oh and its free of course. The drawback is that it doesn't yet support video/audio chat, but developers promise its inclusion in the next major version.

The next app is Apple's iChat which supports AIM, MobileMe, ICQ and other protocols, but also has the A/V chat feature. The best A/V chat app if your interlocutor also has a Mac.

Skype. A/V chat app, compatible with Windows version. The best cross-platform a/v chat software.

MSN Messenger. Part of the Microsoft Office suite or can be downloaded separately for free. Never used it so can't tell much about it. Obviously for MSN protocol only.

- File transfers: Download managers, torrent clients, FTP, P2P, etc.

Speed Download is one of the best download managers. Others include iGetter, etc

Torrent clients: Transmission, Vuze, paid Xtorrent, uTorrent (still a beta though), etc

FTP: Speed Download (see download managers), Cyberduck, etc

P2P: Limewire, etc.

- For music management and listening I strongly recommend Apple iTunes. The best jukebox software for Mac. There are alternatives though if you don't like it. An awesome add-on for iTunes is Coversutra - improves your experience with iTunes even more.

- Videos are covered partly by iTunes for viewing and storing them, but other software includes:

VLC - a player that supports virtually all video formats. Can also be used for live SC watching.

Perian QuickTime component significantly broadens the number of supported formats in QuickTime (iTunes and Front Row as well). A must-have.

Handbrake - Mainly a DVD conversion tool. Insert a movie on DVD, choose the preset (for iPod, for PSP, just for computer screen, etc) and click start, wait, enjoy the result ready for storing/archiving/viewing/, etc. Can also be used to convert movies other than DVDs, like an AVI you've downloaded, or FLV, XVID, whatever.

In short, despite a popular belief, there is absolutely no problem with software on Macs.

Hardware

As for the hardware part of the question, I can tell you this. Macs aren't overpriced. If you match a comparable PC in specs the price difference is virtually none or probably slightly more for Macs. When I say "comparable" I mean comparable in ALL or MOST aspects of the specification. This includes not only CPU, RAM, graphics and screen, but also case thickness, battery life, quality, etc. The only real drawback Macs have now is that there's no way to watch Blue-Ray (other than in Windows with an external blue-ray drive plugged in), but additional features in Mac laptops like MultiTouch trackpad, MagSafe power cord (that will save your laptop from flying down from the table or bed more times than you can imagine), better design, (in most cases) thinner and more solid construction, lighter weight, Wi-Fi N, Bluetooth 2.1, keyboard backlight (on higher end models), better case materials usually make up for it in terms of price.

You just can't compare a loud 1.3" thick 2.5 kg cheap plastic ugly PC laptop with nothing in it except for basic computer components and with a battery that lasts 2 hours max to a 0.9" thick 2 kg beautiful MacBook in the strong aluminium case, LED display, MagSafe, Multitouch glass trackpad, newest Bluetooth and wi-fi chips and over 4 hours of real battery life that is still just as fast in performance. Its just not the same league. Again, its all about selecting comparable hardware.

Aslo, considering the value of the software that comes free on all Macs and no need to buy Anti-virus (annually) its safe to say that the actual cost is lower than PC.

If you think you don't need any of this stuff - fine, no problems, go and buy a PC. Macs aren't for everyone (same with PCs). Both have their uses.

Sorry for the huge post, I'm done. Hope this helped someone.


Wow..so in-depth.

MACs sound indestructible...

so Macs already have free fall sensors of some sort?
SKT1 Fighting! <3
eX-Corgh
Profile Joined October 2007
Russian Federation386 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-02-04 11:03:17
February 04 2009 10:33 GMT
#88
On February 04 2009 19:23 LimitlessSky wrote:
Wow..so in-depth.

MACs sound indestructible...

so Macs already have free fall sensors of some sort?


No, MagSafe is a technology for the power cord/port. It uses magnets instead of traditional connectors so if its pulled it releases instantly (like when somebody is tripping over the power cord that was stretching on the floor)

Saved my MacBook a couple of times.

Edit: MacBooks do have a Sudden Motion Sensor that instantly parks the heads of the hard drive if the computer is moved very rapidly (like when it falls) to help prevent damaging the hard drive and its data. This isn't a 100% guarantee of data safety on your internal HD, but its better than nothing nonetheless. If you do damage the HD, Time Machine which I described in my previous post will restore everything.
Never give cheese to the Gorilla ^^
Bockit
Profile Blog Joined November 2004
Sydney2287 Posts
February 04 2009 11:52 GMT
#89
The new macbook pro trackpad alone would be enough for me to pick it over a dell laptop. Usability is 100x better than the useless things you get with other laptops. They are expensive though
Their are four errors in this sentance.
Scorch
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
Austria3371 Posts
February 04 2009 12:40 GMT
#90
Now that you've listed what you want to do with your laptop: you can achieve all of that easily with even a Eee PC plus an external hard disk. Since you probably want a larger screen, just buy any 500-600€ laptop that sounds nice and has a long warranty, and then buy a new one in two or three years with the money you saved. You really don't need anything special for your purposes.
TheYango
Profile Joined September 2008
United States47024 Posts
February 04 2009 13:09 GMT
#91
On February 04 2009 07:35 joohyunee wrote:
btw Macs get RIDICULOUSLY nice benefits in terms of warranty - my friend's mac broke down once, she sent it to the repair shop, and they sent her a NEW macbook. getting a 2.2GHz instead of the 2.0 she sent them was an added bonus.

Funny, I've had the exact same experience with Dell.
Moderator
Jibba
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
United States22883 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-02-04 14:40:53
February 04 2009 14:37 GMT
#92
Corgh, you just listed a ton of stuff that's either a minuscule difference or is available on both. Expose is fancy and better than Alt+Tab but it doesn't add much functionality over a Start bar; I have both on Vista. Keynote is much cooler than Powerpoint, but the rest of those points are silly.It's nice that you put a lot of effort into it, but many of your points are just wrong.

There is no benchmark between Spotlight and Window's Search, and having used both, I'm pretty sure you're just making things up. The both have indexing time and they both work fine when it's done.

Virii don't exist, but worms and trojans do exist for OSX, and that's really where computers are most vulnerable- through the applications they run. The UNIX kernel isn't invincible. Most AV software is free these days, anyways. And Safari, really? Safari + Flash is actually the main vulnerability for any Mac user. FF is safer and has the most features of any browser. If you want speed, nothing touches Chrome.

And iTunes?! Every time we have this discussion the rest of the Mac people spend most of their time making sure everyone knows there are viable alternatives to iTunes, because no one wants to use it.

Everyone knows Macs win form factor. The light aluminum is nice, the Multi-touch pad is nice and MagSafe is very nice. But aside from the small advantage in DDR3, they do not come close to this type of performance. Nowhere in the same realm. You could honestly get a laptop with comparable hardware to the $2k MBP for around less than $1k.
ModeratorNow I'm distant, dark in this anthrobeat
Bub
Profile Blog Joined June 2006
United States3518 Posts
February 04 2009 14:44 GMT
#93
Dell. You can mod the hell out of it for CHEAP unlike with a mac.
XK ßubonic
oneofthem
Profile Blog Joined November 2005
Cayman Islands24199 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-02-04 17:29:59
February 04 2009 17:23 GMT
#94
if you need to read all that to understand why you have to choose a mac based on software, then i guess people were really not choosing for the software, were they?

+ Show Spoiler +
macs suck LOL

LOL!


On February 04 2009 16:22 eX-Corgh wrote:

Macs aren't overpriced.



LOL ok
We have fed the heart on fantasies, the heart's grown brutal from the fare, more substance in our enmities than in our love
Fontong
Profile Blog Joined December 2007
United States6454 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-02-04 18:30:08
February 04 2009 18:26 GMT
#95
On February 04 2009 16:22 eX-Corgh wrote:

Macs aren't overpriced.

Yeah they are. And in addition to being overpriced they suck.

LOL I took a look at the apple site. woww In order to get a computer that is equivalent to mine costs about 4000$. I assembled mine for about 600$ + reused a few old parts.

Going from 2gb ram to 4gb ram costs 500$. Please tell me that isn't overprice, I would love to hear you say that.
Edit: The ram isn't even 1066mhz, 800 only lol and in 4 slots

Also many of the problems that you get from using vista are actually caused by all the bloatware that ships with it. I'm using a clean install on my custom gaming computer and I haven't had any problems yet.
[SECRET FONT] "Dragoon bunker"
betaben
Profile Blog Joined September 2007
681 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-02-04 20:04:26
February 04 2009 20:02 GMT
#96
just for wondering, it does seem that most mac users have owned both machines, and most dell users have not owned a mac.. so:

[image loading]

Poll: background usage poll
(Vote): recommend dell, owned only a dell
(Vote): recommend dell, owned both
(Vote): recommend mac, owned only a mac
(Vote): recommed mac, owned both

(for 'used' in the above, read 'owned')
Jibba
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
United States22883 Posts
February 04 2009 20:13 GMT
#97
I don't necessarily recommend Dell out of all PC manufacturers, but I've used both. Built my old PCs, and one of my jobs over the summer was building and messing with XP/OSX and Ubuntu machines. The only Mac I didn't get to take apart were the new all-in-ones because you need specialists for them, but I had a fair amount of Macbook problems to fix.
ModeratorNow I'm distant, dark in this anthrobeat
TheYango
Profile Joined September 2008
United States47024 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-02-04 20:46:15
February 04 2009 20:40 GMT
#98
On February 04 2009 16:22 eX-Corgh wrote:
The main reason people use Macs is not the hardware - its the software.

Except since its possible these days to run either OS on either hardware, buying hardware for the default software it runs is kind of silly.


...but additional features in Mac laptops like MultiTouch trackpad, MagSafe power cord (that will save your laptop from flying down from the table or bed more times than you can imagine), better design, (in most cases) thinner and more solid construction, lighter weight, Wi-Fi N, Bluetooth 2.1, keyboard backlight (on higher end models), better case materials usually make up for it in terms of price.

How does being forced to spend money on things you might not care about count as a plus?

A lot of these would be fine as options, but being forced to bump up the price for features you don't want is not a good thing (e.g. I don't care about size/design/weight, my existing Wi-Fi already gets good service everywhere on my school campus, I don't use Bluetooth peripherals, and I can already type just fine in the dark, so a keyboard backlight isn't useful).
Moderator
Zortch
Profile Blog Joined January 2008
Canada635 Posts
February 04 2009 20:47 GMT
#99
Are you heavily into graphic design?
If so get a Mac for their creative suite.
If not get a PC.
Respect is everything. ~ARchon
uppTagg
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
Sweden473 Posts
February 05 2009 01:53 GMT
#100
On February 05 2009 03:26 Fontong wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 04 2009 16:22 eX-Corgh wrote:

Macs aren't overpriced.

Yeah they are. And in addition to being overpriced they suck.

LOL I took a look at the apple site. woww In order to get a computer that is equivalent to mine costs about 4000$. I assembled mine for about 600$ + reused a few old parts.

Going from 2gb ram to 4gb ram costs 500$. Please tell me that isn't overprice, I would love to hear you say that.
Edit: The ram isn't even 1066mhz, 800 only lol and in 4 slots

Also many of the problems that you get from using vista are actually caused by all the bloatware that ships with it. I'm using a clean install on my custom gaming computer and I haven't had any problems yet.


If you're smart you don't buy the extra ram from applestore when you buy your mac (because that's fucking overpriced), instead you buy from some random computerstore which sells rams that fit for the same price as the rams for a pc. That's what I did with my macbook ^^

The touchpad is what made me fall in love with mac to start with ;> But now I just hate going back to windows in general since OS X is incomparably better.

Buy a mac! ^^.
men du... Tagga!
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