Why Mac over pc

Overall I prefer the design of OSX, and it's functionality is great/on par with Windows when you use Pathfinder.

A slightly off-topic point I'm going to make, but those of you that are looking for a free alternative to PathFinder, try XtraFinder. Adds bits on to Finder as opposed to being a completely separate application, and just...works brilliantly.
 
Elegant design with nice little features, apps like garageband and imovie come with it and the option to dual boot or use a virtual machine to run windows too. That being said, desktop-wise I would get a PC but probably stick with apple for the laptop. Generally the products are overpriced in my opinion.

You hit the nail on the head.
 
It's a BSD unix with better, more stable accelerated desktop than any unix or linux ever delivered.

Based on hardware that can run windows with just a reboot, no other windows desktop can do the reverse without a lot of hacking and hassle.

Doesn't run out of power as quickly as regular windows boxes do. Let me explain better. I type this on 2008 Mac Pro. Two physical processors. Four cores each. DDR2 memory. ATI 4870 graphics. Nothing extra ordinary. Nothing than I7 couldn't beat to oblivion in any benchmark. Except. It's on my desk for 5 years. The OS runs as fast as it did the first day. It's as stable as it was the first day. It's still runs all the games available to my OS on Steam as it did five years ago. It's as good for video work, fun, browsing and leisure as it was five years ago.

That HAS - hardware acquisition syndrome, that you get on windows boxes, where you feel the need to change graphics every 6 months, CPU every 9 and motherboard every 12? Completely gone. Vanished. I'm cured. During last five years, I added more drives and swapped primary hdd to SSD. That's about it.

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. :p

On a more serious note I had a Windows machine as my main desktop for 6 years. It did exactly as it said on the tin, always worked, was as fast as the day I bought it... The only reason I changed it fairly recently was because it really hated multi image panoramas (run out of RAM). The reality is there is only that HAS as you call it that makes a difference get over it on either platform and they are the same.

As for me I have an Air and a Windows Desktop, I prefer Windows for anything productive and would still recommend it to a non savvy computer person over OSX which I find great as an internet browser (better than windows) but worse than Windows for just about everything else. What really grates me is the need to go into command whenever you have any sort of problem, rather than a simple UI you can do on windows. The laptop hardware is great though, however is not on it's own ground anymore with Samsung and Asus being two close contenders.
 
A lot of the arguments against Windows are based on stuff that's so old you can usually date when person stopped using it and switched to Mac based on what they complain about. An application crash taking out the whole OS? Windows ME maybe.

Could be. I haven't used Windows properly since XP.

I'm not anti-Windows, I just like Macs personally. I don't really have that much of an opinion on Windows because I don't really have any experience with it in the last few years.
 
Also used macs since way before the iPod. I did actually switch back to windows for a few years when the first intel macs came out, as most of my software was running (badly) under Rosetta emulation.

For me it's all about the OS and the little touches like spaces which I use constantly, and as a developer I just find the underlying directory structure and permissions more intuitive.

More recently, I've fully embraced the ecosystem and wouldn't be without appletv (I have 2 of them). The design is a nice bonus - the screens are beautiful and the total cost of ownership isn't any more expensive than a Windows PC due to the high resale value which makes upgrades quite cheap.

Windows has come a long way, but I still get frustrated with it's random error messages (I got more stressed out trying to install Chivalry for my son on his new i5 PC than the last 3 years worth of mac ownership due to stupid incomprehensible DirectX error messages) but more than that, Windows PCs are tech led, whereas Macs are more user experience led.
 
Not a huge fan of OSX myself, I can see however for a lot of people it'd be a great platform - especially those not tech savy as OSX seems to cater more towards "basic" needs and for me that's where it falls short and fast in front of Windows or alternatives.

But damnit I need it for the iOS SDK, still I enjoy seeing the differences between products and using them both and as I use OSX more I love certain bits but I just couldn't do a full switch.
 
i like the os, the design of the products and just general customer support.

i dont think there is much between them in this day an age as far as apps/the os is concerned, they both do the job equally well.
 
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...
 
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...

im building a pc in the next week or so for gaming. if it wasnt for this then i'd stick with macs.
 
Not a huge fan of OSX myself, I can see however for a lot of people it'd be a great platform - especially those not tech savy as OSX seems to cater more towards "basic" needs and for me that's where it falls short and fast in front of Windows or alternatives.

Thats actually the best part of OSX - at the top level its very basic and easy to get to grips with, but there's a lot more depth under the skin, and it's easy to access with terminal.

Just been reminded of another little touch I love - space bar to instantly preview any file, whether you have the software installed or not. Eg a client just sent me a huge pptx file, which I don't have installed. Click on the attachment and hit space and instantly I can browse through the slides - instant as in less than a second to launch.
 
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.
 
Thats actually the best part of OSX - at the top level its very basic and easy to get to grips with, but there's a lot more depth under the skin, and it's easy to access with terminal.

There's also some great built-in tools for pros like Automator.
 
The hardware is built to the highest possible quality and because I like my aesthetics it really looks like something that is worth while using. Speaking in terms of the iMac its big (what I want) Its got a trustworthy and quality screen which enhances the joy of desktop computing and entertainment. The peripherals work a delight with productivity thanks to the gestures. I love that when I am typing and I cant spell a word I can quickly double tap my function key and my music pauses whilst some version of Siri dictation listens to me say the word and it places it for me. Just keeps me in my non stop workflow.
I loved the idea of spaces for OSX. I regularly have several applications open that allow me to set spaces to work on these all at once and rapidly change between them.

I love how visually gorgeous the OS is. Its again beautiful to use. I find that applications are built to a higher standard than windows one. I always find using Mac applications more fun than Windows. I do find that Windows have more options but its saturated by options I just dont need to care about. I get way more out of my Mac applications than I did with Windows ones.

Stability!? Need I say more? The added security regarding viruses etc?

Memory & processes management is way better I have found. My Mac still feels new a year later. My Windows one felt bloated and outdated after a few short months.

The cross integration with iCloud and iOS devices is a delight to use. All my data is accessible wherever I am. My music (Thanks to iTunes Match) My iPhotos, My bookmarks and pages I left open (such a brilliant feature)

I've just highlighted points here but all are from my past experience on Mac for a year coming from a miserable Windows experience of the last 15 years.

I used a Windows computer at work for over a year and managed to convince work to get me a Mac and now my productivity on everything I do (and I do a lot of Office work) is just a joy to use now.

I think Automator is such an Unsung feature of OS X too. I'm only scraping the surface of what it can do but so powerful and built under the hood.

I think even basics like the screen grab tool are soo clever and simple to activate and use. Again under the hood and I can draw a screen grab at the press of a button right under the hood. I do a lot of comparing of websites at work and this just is a beautiful feature I need.

I love notifications in OS X. When I get an email in Outlook my screen flashes slightly. So I know when I am focused in what I am doing I get this visual wink that something in my email has changed.

I am a photographer too and I get so much out of it but even at work it meshes perfectly with my workflow.

Extremely happy Mac user. I'll never go back.
 
Out of those who cite the terminal as an advantage over Windows I'd love to know how many have used or even heard of PowerShell.
 
I have both and find windows is better for my overall use as I can build the hardware to fit my requirements and upgrade it as needed. There are fewer restrictions and compatibility issues with windows.

Having said we use Apple devices such as the Mac mini hooked up to our hd TV for media such as video, music etc which is easy to use and works well. The ipad is a great remote control for the Mac mini as well.
 
Out of those who cite the terminal as an advantage over Windows I'd love to know how many have used or even heard of PowerShell.

PowerShell is no substitute for a real UNIX-compatible terminal. The nearest thing on Windows is Cygwin but it's far from an ideal solution.
 
For me it was when I was at University that I decided I wanted to switch to Macs.

Up until that point, I'd be building my own PCs, but in 2003, we had a bunch of German students who came over to join us for a semester. Most of them were using PowerBooks and I was blown away by the difference in software. Most notably, Final Cut Pro was miles ahead of Adobe Premiere at the time. Key Note was also brilliant for doing presentations, it made Powerpoint look terrible.

I've never really looked back and given that I only play games on consoles these days, I'm not at all bothered about the gaming aspect anymore.

Software has caught up on either platform now, so that isn't really an issue for picking one or the other now. I do still like the ease of Macs though, there is no messing about with drivers and such. Yes Macs do get problems, but I've not had as many as I did with Windows.
 
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