Now that I've got a job which relies on a stable platform, I can't afford the time or money a fine-tuned PC would (and has) cost me. I had two catastrophic incidents at uni which left me without a doubt in my mind that I had to leave the PC modding scene behind a buy a mac.
I think that was more to do with you than the cost of a PC vs. Mac
I got my first Mac (this one i'm using now
) just before Uni. Before that I always used a PC (building my own). Now i've finished Uni I think getting a Mac was probably a mistake. Not because I don't like it and Mac OS X, but the whole Apple platform (and where it's going) makes me want to get out of it. Reasoning:
Now i'm no longer a student, Macs are total rip-offs (if I wish to not break agreements and basically lie that I am still a student). Plus as I like to keep software updated i'm "forced" to pay £70/year for iLife of which I only use iPhoto.
They ramrod you into a computer. Plain and simple. Want a 15" screen on a laptop? That starts at £1,299
Already have a monitor? Either a £499 Mac mini or a £1,899 Mac Pro. The sheer lack of choice is unforgivable.
Despite the fact that Mac OS X is written by Apple for computers made by Apple, they tend to be
worse than Microsoft when it comes to
updates,
upgrading and
security*. My Leopard/Snow Leopard experience has been no better than that of a Vista SP1 installation with 5mins of configuring disabling some stuff.
The App Store shows the very essence of Apple. Beautiful UI, great experience, but a place where they have total and utter control over you, developers and the platform. It's Apple's way or just **** right off!
Microsoft Office for Mac isn't really compatible with Windows Office. Whatever Apple or Microsoft says.
More and more the platform is becoming irrelevant. I can use Windows, Mac OS X and Ubuntu perfectly well. Windows can easily do everything OS X does. Ubuntu is slowly getting there as well. Sure Windows and Ubuntu might take more initial time in getting it running how I want, but once it's up it's up.
When the recession hit, they put the prices of Macs
UP. They did this so $ into £ + VAT was the same. Despite my hatred of them doing this purely for themselves (£1 in the UK, when you live in the UK, is still £1), what I hate them the most for is when it was $2 to £1 the prices never matched up. "Cost of doing business in the UK". My Arse. I bet now that the Apple plebs have shown they'll pay the new prices in the UK, Apple won't bother putting any prices down when/if the pound recovers.
At the end of the day I just don't really care about Apple and letting them enjoy their high profit margins any more. A £300 Acer jobbie will do just fine for a laptop, and I can build my own desktop.
*They took AGES to fix this. Mozilla did it in a couple of days, I think Apple took something like 2 months.
I personally love windows and ms never had any problems with the os bar drivers and hardware as i get through quite a bit of it. I have a macbook which i use and like. Too early to tell with the mac but i like the style i can live with the os as i have found all the apps i need. It has crashed a few times tho requiring a power off so not perfect. pc since day 1 mac for about 6-7months i think. Like them both.