“Macintosh partisans seem to be in a constant state of feud with the PC world. They care for Macs in the fierce and protective way brothers love an ugly sister. Most of the PC world seems unaware that there’s a feud. To them, the Mac is a niche player, a quaint hanger-on. Me? I love computers of all types. When a reader tries to draw me into a Mac/PC debate, my usual position is: Get a life. That’s fun to say. But it’s a cop-out answer,” Bill Husted writes for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
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Husted admits he likes computers – a geek. I’m into technology but I love what I can DO with a computer more than loving the computer itself.
…here it comes (brace yourself for rhetoric)
That was a pretty lame column. “Let me write a column comparing the two. They are about the same. End of report.”
I (obviously) disagree about ease of use. I use both XP and Panther, and Panther is, by far, a much more user friendly, easier to use OS, if for no other reason than for uninstalling an application!
Ahhhhh, phooey! That final grade was a cop out! He needs to just say it. If you got the balls, say it.
That isn’t totally true MDN. My roommate uses Mac OS X exclusivly at hi job. He is a prepress techincian, at a Major University. At home he owns 2 machines both running Windows XP. Of course it doesn’t help that he is a major gamer when he is home, with lot’s of his games are windows Only.
As for me i take and use what ever suits my fancy. I have a windows Gaming machine, a linux server, and Powerbook.
The story’s not interesting me, but the MDN take is. Particularly the Every Windows user to whom we’ve ever introduced or reintroduced a Mac, and who actually use a Mac OS X machine for awhile to get used to it, end up raving about the Mac and disliking Windows in comparison.
This weekend I dropped off my ‘spare’ G4 at a friends house. He’s a fed-up windows geek. He knows his way around some of the nasty places under the windows hood. He was saying that he thought for a long time that we was really clever for knowing all this stuff, but recently he’s been thinking that it’s just a waste of his time.
I’ve explained that it’s quite old and slow (g4 400, 16mb AGP graphics), so he may have to be patient with it. He’s pleased to have it, but is very slightly lost (mainly because he’s a keyboard shortcut addict).
So anyway, I figure this is a good way to get a potatntial switcher to make up his mind. If he decides a PC is the way he wants to go, then at least it’ll be an informed and experienced decision.
I do have one question (apologies if this hijacks the thread). Does anyone know what low-cost graphics cards could be put into that G4 ? It would be nice to get quartz extreme on that machine.
My Director at work is giving his PowerBook back because it doesn’t have two buttons on the trackpad. Not a good reason in my opinion, but to each his own.
I think the Mac wins out hands down on every aspect of computing – EXCEPT FOR GAMES. That’s the dealio, and the PC will always be the big winners for this reason, and users will continue to put up with horrendous aspects of their OS, just so they can piddle with the games they love. So, it stands to reason, that Apple needs to put some serious incentive to get the game makers to port to the Mac. That will make more switchers than any ad campaign in the world.
Once I am in the program, whichever one I use, the OS means very little. Programs on XP and OSX both work fine. I spend little time on the desktop.
By the way, XP never crashes -have no problems with it.
And windows PC is much, much cheaper to purchase.
TommyBoy:
Have you shown your director how to “right click” using the Control key? I’m a recent switcher, have a PowerBook, don’t want to bother with a mouse, and found the Control key works just fine for right clicking.
own both: By the way, XP never crashes -have no problems with it.
In my experience as a Tech Support technician, XP has, and does Crash. I’ve seen it, and have had many calls dealing with such problems. XP is by no means, Crash-Proof. It doesn’t crash as much as ME and previous versions of Windows, but that’s as far as I’ll go in that respect. OS X, by far, has MUCH fewer problems.
And windows PC is much, much cheaper to purchase.
That is and will always be one of 2 factors that Windows PCs have over Macs, Even though the difference is initially just $200 or so.
G Spank: I think the Mac wins out hands down on every aspect of computing – EXCEPT FOR GAMES. That’s the dealio, and the PC will always be the big winners for this reason
And that’s the second reason. But it’s a tenuous reason at best, because many of the most popular games eventually do make it to the Mac. Patience is usually the best virtue in that respect.
Overall, he’s reviewing the Tech aspect of the machines…but he doesn’t review much on the side of the “User Experience”, which in my mind, counts the most. His review seems to be technically correct…but it is lacking.
The only other sticking point is the following…
��Bang for the buck: It’s not fair to use the speed of the processor chip as the guide. Macintoshes with a slower megahertz rating perform faster than a PC with the same megahertz rating.
�
But, overall, the real speed demons are PCs. Macintoshes offer less performance for the dollar. Here’s why: All Macintoshes are made by Apple. PCs are made by literally hundreds of different companies, competing head-on. To prosper in that kind of competition, price-cutting is necessary. I give the PC an A, the Mac a C-minus. (Emphasis mine)
He’s switching gears in the middle of his comments to blast Apple for not cutting prices, while the real point here is Value for your Money. Dollar for Dollar, I’ve found my Mac to exceed my PCs in value, because not only do they work, but they work As Expected or better. Just because a part is $50 cheaper than another doesn’t mean it’s valuable. It just means it’s Cheaper. And with PC hardware, Cheap seems to be the key word. Just go to a Computer Parts show and you’ll see.
~Dak
Hywel: The PowerMac G4/400 AGP should support Quartz Extreme with the stock video card.
And then PC wins in the “I want to build one myself” segment.
If inclined, one can go to their local Fry�s or other PC parts store and build one from scratch – picking whatever components one wants.
You can�t do that with a Mac.
(Friend just built himself a nice PC over the weekend with a 2.6Ghz processor, etc., etc for around $650.
He�s happy with it and saved some money.)
If Apple had some competition new models would come out faster…
What a bloody waste of time. Bill Husted, GET A LIFE!
The full article tastes like pablum. Skip it.
Dak,
I agree totally. I think the Mac is the best bang for your buck by a long shot. When I was a PC user, the headaches that kept on showing up (you know them PC users..) made a dent in my workflow, and in my STRESS flow. How much would you value that? Since I’ve swithced to a Mac it is all but gone (with the very rare occassion of course). Personally, if there was a device I could’ve bought for my PC that would make it run as smooth and effortless as my Mac, and 99% virus proof to boot, I easily would’ve spent $500 bucks on it. People spend $100 on virus software THAT BARELY WORKS! Really what it comes down to is that PC users are short sighted when it comes to price. Remember the old saying “You get what you pay for?”
You are right Homemade Harold, Apple doesn’t have any competition. But don’t worry, Longhorn will be out in 2008.
I’ve in the meantime switched 3 friends over to the Mac. EVERYONE of them (who used to be die hard PC users) thanked me time and time again for getting them to switch. What does this say about the platforms value?
Andy C : Unfortunately it doesn’t. Need 32MB. It’s an ATI Rage 128, with 16MB. No animation on Fast User Switching, for example. It’s four years old, so I’m not complaining, and it’s getting faster with each revision of OS-X too, but Quartz Extreme would be nice
In my office it’s the XP computer and the nt server that get most of the outside service calls. the win98 machines rarely require the type of attention that costs money. They crash more, but a simple reboot doesn’t require $$ to fix. I’m still lobbying for a move to Mac, but cash is just too tight in this small nonprofit.
I love how he ends with the “a computer is just a tool” bit. Yep, and a Porche is just a car. It will get you from here to there just like a hyundai. And an iPod and a Rio are both just digital players, music comes out of both. And Silk and Polyester are just fabrics, they both cover you up. McDonalds and a five star French restaurants both serve food, and the food that both serve will sustain you. Man, this guy must have a hard time getting dates.
Husted’s article is a total piece of fluff. Neither Mac nor PC users should pay it much heed.
Well, having read his report card, the content is shallow and superficial at best.
Hardware wise, obviously Apple produces high quality machines, and evenly obvious in the PC-world you can get much cheaper hardware though with some loss of quality (and getting interoperability issues). PC’s of the same hardware quality and interoperability are not that much cheaper than Macs at all.
A much, way much better effort to compare the two OS – which mostly defines the user experience – is undertaken on this site: http://www.xvsxp.com/final-score/ Very detailed and argumented. From this final score page there are numerous links to other sections that delve deaper into the various pro’s and cons. Check it out.
I do relate however to the authors point of “get a life”. I use Apples for quite a many years now for all my computing needs, but also have a IBM Thinkpad to run Chessbase on and taking it with me when I play in a chess tournament (in my holidays). I consider myself a devoted Mac user, but tht best part on both machines as far as I’m concerned is the off-button. They are machines, not a way of life.
Like Hywel, I too am very interested in what would be a good low cost graphics card for quartz extreme. When the G5 iMac 20″ comes out (and hopefully cube-like silent!), I plan to give my current G4 400 Sawtooth to my brother, but the built-in Rage Pro does not support QE. Advice would be greatly appreciated! Thx
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Hywel, you can get a Radeon 9000 (ADC, and DVI), or an 8500 (VGA, S-Video, and DVI).
Performance, from what I’ve heard, is similar. Just the ports are different.
http://www.ati.com/products/mac.html
Here is a new convert:
Apple 17in PowerBook G4
Ian Cuthbertson
MARCH 23, 2004
All right, I surrender: this is the finest looking notebook I’ve ever seen. As a dyed-in-the-wool Windows person, I’d previously believed the whole Mac empire was like an expensive pack of cards, likely to fall down at any time through marginalisation and lack of applications.
…