Why Mac over pc

[Amp34]

Interesting to hear the photographers views as I find the complete opposite. Windows photo and fax viewer (standard windows photo viewer) is far more effective than spacebar (can't zoom in) and preview (have to select all the images you want to scroll through, rather than opening one and pressing arrow keys). Finder is a pain in comparison to the windows file manager and things like Lightroom and Photoshop work exactly the same on both (used to be for a while the OSX versions were worse). Each to their own but I really find it so much easier to view and choose photos to edit on my windows machine rather than OSX.

And then there is the stupid delete function, where you have to manually empty trash rather than being automatic when the drive is full on Windows (most pertinently with removable drives...) and the crashes I had when I first got my macbook (my Air has crashed more than my home built Windows 8 machine, although give it it's due it was fine after the first month). Then there is the Wifi issues, still not fixed, even though that was supposed to be fixed in an update months ago, all that succeeded in doing was showing the hidden files (most annoying when I like an empty desktop), which apparently needed terminal to hide them again, although give it it's due an update recently has sorted that again...

So I like OSX, but it's certainly not perfect, and no better than Windows at most things.

 

[v0n]

I love that argument! So basically because you can't control your spending you use the fact there is much less upgradeability in an Apple PC as an advantage.

Yeah, but there is more to it. Oddly enough, the alleged rip off world of Apple, turned out to be quite a good value, for me personally. It might be different experience for a lot of people, but for me, after decades with SGI, Sun, PC's, Apple proves to be best bang for buck I have ever encountered in computing.

On PCs, even if you ignored all the latest trends, hardware rotation became enforced by the OS. There was no reason to switch from XP to Vista for most of users at the time when I abandoned ship. XP was stable, popular, well supported. But it wasn't enough for MS. So they forced us to move to new OS by withholding DirectX upgrade. You want to use new games, video accelerations etc? You must upgrade. Your OS, your graphics card. Oh and memory. Get a lot of memory. I think I'm right to think DirectX trick to enforce OS upgrade was used by Microsoft at least twice?

OSX doesn't do that. It doesn't force you to upgrade. If you feel you want to or need to, it's £13.99. And doesn't come in several different flavours, none of that Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate, with embedded CPU and memory limitations, just to rip you off and sell you upgrade to an upgrade. And for me, again personally, on any of the multiple OSX machines that surround me at home and at work, there was never that "drama" you get in Windows. No missing drivers from random manufacturer forcing you to update hardware, no unexpected incompatibilities. No fresh installs because something, somewhere prevents boot after in situ upgrade.

Back to last decade story. Vista was terrible mistake for most of us at the time. It definitely broke the Windows market. And Apple knew it very well. People often say Apple sells basic hardware for crazy money, but the 2008 Mac Pro with 2 physical CPU's and 8 cores was priced at £1400. There was no Windows server or workstation you could buy with the same spec, from any PC manufacturer for even remotely similar money. Back in 2008 Apple just had it all. The deal they made with Intel totally paid off. Fastest and best bang for buck workstations. Slimmest desktops. Slickest laptops. And Windows 7 simply arrived too late to the rescue.

I don't follow Windows market too closely since I switched. I mean I do have windows boxes at work, I also have Windows 7 on my Mac Pro, to which I found no need or opportunity to boot into for over 12 months. I keep Win XP laptop handy for car diagnostics. Tried Win 8, it's odd. But not the way, for example Finder in OSX, is "odd" (one could even say Finder is retarded). "Odd" in the way BeOS, Enlightment desktop in Linux or Launch Control in OSX is odd. I just don't see purpose of it. It's just one of those products that feel like it was written by couple of stoners in college dorm who took their thinking process two joints too far "outside the box", and kept on going with the code just for the sake of dramatic reveal (with obligatory "tada!") and still stand there with palm of hand raised in eternal high five that will never arrive.

By the end of last decade, as Microsoft focused on constantly misfiring web based services and console market, they effectively killed the reasons to remain in Windows. Gaming market stagnated. There was no ground braking, mass hardware upgrade worthy production since what - Crysis in 2008? Console ports were just as easy to port to other OS's as they were to other consoles, games started to slowly trickle into OSX world. Professional software market abandoned OS specific platforms. Even the obligatory MS Office stopped being a reason to use Windows PC for work. It was now available to all platforms thanks to open source options. And MS themselves, thanks to Office for Mac. The two main driving forces behind annual hardware rotations and constant upgrades, were effectively demolished by Microsoft themselves. The reasons to go back to Windows vanished. The reasons to stay with OSX remained. At least for me.

 

[bloodiedathame]

It was Vista that made me jump ship too. I dabbled in 7, but got frustrated by the need to jump through hoops to get anything done or working at full capacity. I've used 8, and hope never to do so again.

 

[joebingo]

The way windows is going and if the rumours about windows "blue" is anything to go by I will be sticking with a MAC and not touching a microsoft system again for personal use. Its a sad story really given what I do for a living...

It's an absolute joke isn't it. The only thing keeping me using windows now will be games and Cubase (Cubase for mac isn't particularly brilliant). Windows 7 is a fantastic operating system and windows 8 is so useless even Bill Gates has said he won't be upgrading to it. I don't have a touch screen, I don't need a touch screen and I won't be buying a touch screen for a long time to come.

OSX, however is working very nicely for anything I throw at it. Fast indexing of hard drives, being able to label things different colours (great for sending things to dumb clients who don't understand how to use finder), space bar to preview virtually anything. Great touch integration without sacrificing functionality for people who like using professional software mice. The only real downfall for OS X is gaming.

 

[mikejs21]

I haven't really switched over. I needed a new computer and was in a position to get an iMac, so I did. 100% do not regret that decision.

I have bootcamp of windows 8 for gaming and OS X for generally everything else. Windows 8 runs fantastic on Apple hardware!

 

[reflux]

It's an absolute joke isn't it. The only thing keeping me using windows now will be games and Cubase (Cubase for mac isn't particularly brilliant). Windows 7 is a fantastic operating system and windows 8 is so useless even Bill Gates has said he won't be upgrading to it. I don't have a touch screen, I don't need a touch screen and I won't be buying a touch screen for a long time to come.

In all fairness, install Start8 on Windows 8 (therefore getting rid of the Metro bits) and it's definitely better than Win7. The task manager shows more info, File Explorer is better and it boots and shuts down quicker. The metro bits are the main problem with Win8 IMO.

As for Windows Blue, I don't see why people are moaning about it - it sounds just like MS are switching to a similar strategy that Apple uses with OSX. Fairly regular small updates rather than one big one every few years.

For the record, I'm a graphic designer and I was forced to use a Mac in my last job Lovely screen and Finder's native PSD thumbnail support is ace, but other than that... nope, not for me.

 

[Syther101]

im building a pc in the next week or so for gaming. if it wasnt for this then i'd stick with macs.

Google tonymac /Gaming problem solved and you don't have to maintain 2 systems.

As for my reasons I have been a Windows user since 95 and only after getting a Macbook for University I just love the OS, for me that's pretty much it as I hate where Apple it taking their hardware.

Not being able to change my Hard Drive without taking out my screen and having soldered in ram is plain silly in my opinion. If they ever wanted me to buy one of their desktops they would need to introduce something between the iMac and Mac Pro which is better aimed at power users.

As for Windows I still like it but it has been getting boring for a while and then Windows 8 came out and IMO it is the wrong change they needed to refresh their operating system (from a desktop point of view that is). Although I will always have my Windows OS for gaming .

 

[Syther101]

I love the solid feel of OSX. The only thing I prefer in Windows is File Explorer over Finder.

I also love the workflow, I have 2 businesses and I run it all on the Mac. Using about 6 desktops I can have everything I need open and use a 3 finger swipe to navigate between them. I just did a demo on YouTube....

**SNIP**

I have on my lap an extremely portable 2.7GHz Ivy Bridge computer with 16Gb RAM, 512GB SSD, GTX650M Graphics and an amazing 2880x1800 screen. Its slim, solid and if I am typing, email, web browsing I get 7 hours out the battery. Best in class trackpad with amazing gestures.

I just can't get that in a windows machine. Before people comment on the price I got it 2nd hand from the US and cost me £1700 1 month after release. 3 years Apple Care included.

Completely agree with this. Wouldn't look anywhere else laptop wise. Especially with Uni work starting to pile on I just feel more productive when using OS X.

As for finder have you tired xtra finder. I found it made it 100 times better. Probably still not on par with Explorer but none the less bearable. Simply enabling folder to be on top of files in finder was a god send after using Windows for so long!

 

[Raymond Lin]

I love the solid feel of OSX. The only thing I prefer in Windows is File Explorer over Finder.

I also love the workflow, I have 2 businesses and I run it all on the Mac. Using about 6 desktops I can have everything I need open and use a 3 finger swipe to navigate between them. I just did a demo on YouTube....


I have on my lap an extremely portable 2.7GHz Ivy Bridge computer with 16Gb RAM, 512GB SSD, GTX650M Graphics and an amazing 2880x1800 screen. Its slim, solid and if I am typing, email, web browsing I get 7 hours out the battery. Best in class trackpad with amazing gestures.

I just can't get that in a windows machine. Before people comment on the price I got it 2nd hand from the US and cost me £1700 1 month after release. 3 years Apple Care included.

Ha, I never thought you could use it like that. Instead of moving apps/windows on top of each other, just put them on a different desktop and flick between !

How neat !

 

[Syther101]

Ha, I never thought you could use it like that. Instead of moving apps/windows on top of each other, just put them on a different desktop and flick between !

How neat !

This feature is easily one of the best things os x.

Desktop 1. (a.k.a Procrastination desktop)
Normal web browser (OCuK, Reddit, Facebook)
Spotify/iTunes

Desktop 2. (a.k.a Work desktop)
Programming/in other peoples cases perhaps photoshop/web development app of choice
Programming web browser (Googling bugs/stack overflow/etc)

Desktop 3.
Email client of choice
Other background processes (Moving files on server/VMs/Backup process/etc)

 

[Raymond Lin]

This feature is easily one of the best things os x.

Desktop 1. (a.k.a Procrastination desktop)
Normal web browser (OCuK, Reddit, Facebook)
Spotify/iTunes

Desktop 2. (a.k.a Work desktop)
Programming/in other peoples cases perhaps photoshop/web development app of choice
Programming web browser (Googling bugs/stack overflow/etc)

Desktop 3.
Email client of choice
Other background processes (Moving files on server/VMs/Backup process/etc)

Now my MBP suddenly gained a few screens !

 

[samuelc]

I am a long time Pc user and I recently have been dabbling with the idea of buying an Airbook with a 256GB ssd and 8GB ram. Believe it or not, I only found out about Parallels not too long ago - this would mean I can run my trading programmes etc on it with no issues. Curious though, people seem to say the Airbook is not for number crunching. Is this true? Assume a large large excel file or even Matlab could run with no issues with an i7 processor with 8GB? I suppose it might lag if one were to run Matlab etc on the Windows boot?

Apologies if I'm not making sense as I've not owned an apple laptop/desktop before.

Kind Regards,
Sam

 

[Syther101]

I am a long time Pc user and I recently have been dabbling with the idea of buying an Airbook with a 256GB ssd and 8GB ram. Believe it or not, I only found out about Parallels not too long ago - this would mean I can run my trading programmes etc on it with no issues. Curious though, people seem to say the Airbook is not for number crunching. Is this true? Assume a large large excel file or even Matlab could run with no issues with an i7 processor with 8GB? I suppose it might lag if one were to run Matlab etc on the Windows boot?

Apologies if I'm not making sense as I've not owned an apple laptop/desktop before.

Kind Regards,
Sam

Excel it would run easily. I guess in a way it's not for number crunching but I have friend at Uni with's Air's and then program ing Java on NetBeans with just as much ease as I do on my Macbook pro if that helps

 

[xxalxx]

This feature is easily one of the best things os x.

Desktop 1. (a.k.a Procrastination desktop)
Normal web browser (OCuK, Reddit, Facebook)
Spotify/iTunes

Desktop 2. (a.k.a Work desktop)
Programming/in other peoples cases perhaps photoshop/web development app of choice
Programming web browser (Googling bugs/stack overflow/etc)

Desktop 3.
Email client of choice
Other background processes (Moving files on server/VMs/Backup process/etc)

Cheers mate! I have had everything one the one screen since I got my first Mac just after xmas

 

[Spit]

Ha, I never thought you could use it like that. Instead of moving apps/windows on top of each other, just put them on a different desktop and flick between !

How neat !

Its great. I went back to a windows machine for a while and was just lost without the multiple desktops and gestures.

 

[pingwing]

Ha, I never thought you could use it like that. Instead of moving apps/windows on top of each other, just put them on a different desktop and flick between !

How neat !

It's one of the very best things they introduced in Lion, I can't live without it on my mini (and gives the best reason ever to use the track pad). F3 brings up the cover flow thing that shows where everything is too

 

[Caged]

It's impossible to buy a non-Apple laptop that isn't either terribly built or has an awful trackpad. Hence I only buy Mac laptops.

 

[Syther101]

It's impossible to buy a non-Apple laptop that isn't either terribly built or has an awful trackpad. Hence I only buy Mac laptops.

This!. Although there are some nicer laptops getting introduced into the market these days. I think companies are concentrating on stupid ways to implement touch for Windows 8 rather than actually getting their products to a Macbook standard XD

 

[joebingo]

In all fairness, install Start8 on Windows 8 (therefore getting rid of the Metro bits) and it's definitely better than Win7. The task manager shows more info, File Explorer is better and it boots and shuts down quicker. The metro bits are the main problem with Win8 IMO.

I don't want to have to hack the GUI to make it work though.

 

[Syther101]

I don't want to have to hack the GUI to make it work though.

tbh the new Start menu really isn't that bad. In-fact after using it for more than a week I prefer it.

Think of it as a desktop. I no longer need to keep a crap ton of icons on there. I then have all my app separated nicely into sections and it works well.

Only thing I would change is how much the UI depends on having touch. You can from the first 5 mins of using it see how much it was built for touch and then they just made a half ass job of making it compatible with the mouse and keyboard XD