The Washington Post’s Rob Pegoraro is often online to answer readers’ personal tech questions and discuss recent reviews.
A few Q&As caught our eye:
Virginia Beach, VA: Livecare, macAfee, Norton, etc: Why aren’t the costs of these services considered when purchasing a Windows machine? I keep hearing that Macs are overpriced, but don’t recall needing to subscribe to a antiviral package.
Rob Pegoraro: In the computing industry, the phrase for this kind of calculation is “TCO,” or total cost of operation. And you should think about these costs–financial and otherwise–when buying a computer or any other complex electronic device.
Dave (Fairfax, VA): I want to migrate from a PC to a Mac. In the meantime, I want to use an external hard disc to back up my PC data and eventually move it to the Mac. Can I buy an HFS+ disk now to back up my PC data; or do I have to buy NTFS hard disk now, and reformat it HFS+ after I’ve moved the data to a Mac?
Rob Pegoraro: Nope. Get your external hard drive, format it as a FAT32 disk, and you can use it with your Mac and your PC interchangeably. (FAT32, NTFS and HFS+ are all disk file-system formats; the first two are Microsoft standards, while the last is Apple’s.)
DC: Hi Rob- Hope you can take my question. Looking to buy a new laptop to replace a desktop that has been “hijacked”. What do I need to know as I go shopping? I want to make sure it comes loaded with proper protection. Thanks!
Rob Pegoraro: You can’t–nobody sells a Windows PC, AFAIK, with a really good set of security software. Best you can do is to buy whatever computer meets your needs, then follow the items in this checklist: Basic Rules Plus Common Sense Add Up to Security
Or, you know, you could just get a Mac.
Full Q&A session here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Whit” for the heads up.]
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Heh heh heh. I like it.
For 99% of the population, the Mac should be their one and only choice. People are coming round to saying (or even admitting) it..
“Or, you know, you could just get a mac”
well said.
I just had breakfast with someone who bought an iBook for his daughter last year and is really impressed with the new I’m a Mac commercials. I think the tide is begining to rise.
There are a lot (probably a majority) of people who will always settle for the just good enough solution (PC’s) and not appreciate what the Mac platform has to offer, but there are plenty who will, and it’s starting to look like they are getting it. It takes this sort of thing some time to get rolling because people inherently do not like change but it appears to be working.
Three percent global market share, baby. THREE PERCENT!!!
Nice, but TCO = “Total Cost of Ownership” not “Operation”.
‘PC Pro’ magazine is running a feature called: “Mac vs. Vista”. The articles deal with should one consider switching.
I was amused because of course “Vista” doesn’t exist! Things are so bad in the peecee camp that they are resorting to comparing Mac OS X Tiger to the Vista vaporware . Comparing currently shipping products from Apple and M$ would be like pitting a Tiger shark (pun intended) against a gold fish (Windblows of course).
Rock on Steve!
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MDN Magic Word: “serious”. They can’t be.
Besides the problem with security, does anybody have ever tried installing software in windows, and then installed the same software for Mac? in windows, there are a bunch of DLLs, registry keys and OCxs that takes too much space and can o t be removed if you uninstall the software because can damage windows. In Mac, you just trow it to the trash and that is it. Windows is a pain in the (*^% not just for security, but also for stability and esay of use and maintain.
if you were going to buy a new car and were told you will need to purchase a pair of jumper cables, 12 quarts of oil, some powersteering fluid, a perrinial tow truck membership, AAA, and two spare tires (for good measure) to be out the door and running, would you?
Sound Crazy?????
Well . . . . you have no idea . . .!
Prama (a.k.a. Troll) said: “Three percent global market share, baby. THREE PERCENT!!!”.
Ah, you fool, even if you take the most pessimistic number on “market share” for Macintosh of 2.5% and not the highest of 5.5%, this only refers to current year’s shipped units. It does not apply to “install base”. The most conservative numbers on install base are around 12%! The growth numbers for Macs are running well above the industry norm as well.
I for one don’t want the Mac install base to go much beyond 16% (bell curve stuff). Because it would mean more of the mass market shit heads like you would own a Mac and walk around claiming to be “Mac guys”. So please sell your iPod and go back to playing video games in the basement.
Rock on Steve!
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MDN Magic Word: “data”. MDN does it again!
Mr. MacMania,
You are sooooo right. I am sick of reading the same shit as well. Vista does not even exist and they are all wetting their shorts with all the wonderful things it will have…….
Straw clutchers all of them!
leo
> I for one don’t want the Mac install base to go much beyond 16%
i for two don’t want the mac base to grow beyond what makes the mac stay around forever,. that was always the fear. if the unwashed masses want to waste their time and money with peecees that’s fine by me.
Given all of the media hype around Intel Macs and how everyone should be buying them. How much longer will Apple support PPC based systems already installed? Will 10.5 or maybe 10.4 be the last OS that supports PPC? I have three PPC Macs, and to me comparisons to Vista mean nothing since I am more concerned about future of PPC, at least in the short term, or rather the lack of a the future of PPC.
Vista doesn’t appear to offer anything wonderful from my POV. I’m Apple all the way, but no fanboy, but with all of the so-called inovations removed, it seems that all of the new stuff that’s left are OS X rip-offs; that point has been practically conceeded by several Doze tech writers.
And what’s so wonderful about needing a minimum of 1 gig ram and a $400 video card to get all of the visual goodies of “Aero”?
How Long? PPC will be supported in Leopard, guaranteed (lowest spec is the question). 10.6 is a “guarantee” for G4s and G5s (too much of a user base), after that, good question. Obviously all my opinion, but the PPC userbase is quite large to give up anytime soon. Some features will be missing starting in Leopard (like virtualization for Intel processors), but otherwise your PPCs and mine are safe for several years to come.
Vista’s resource requirements are the issue too many don’t want to talk about. If they’re so high that 90% of the installed base of PCs are incapable of running it in all its sorry “glory”, one has to ask why. After all, my still trusty G3 Pismo laptop (500 MHz G3, 512 MB RAM) runs Tiger fine, though it does lack Altivec and Quartz support. And if those 90% will need to be upgraded or replaced in order to run Vista’s modest improvements, why not indeed “just buy a Mac”?
LOL, ya I have said similar things to friends when they ask about security. Usually something like:
Well if you are on windows then you should get a router to act as a hardware fire wall. If you have computers which will be joining the network inside the router firewall after being connected other places, you should turn on the windows software firewall as well. Then install at least three antispyware program because no one program catches them all. I recommend Microsoft’s defender, adaware, and spybot and make sure you turn on the real time protection or immunization feature because they are better at preventing infections than at fixing them. In fact if you get infected with a virus or spyware you might be better off just backing up your data and re-installing windows it will probably save you time and frustration in the long run and then you will be sure you got it.
Although you should use several different antispyware programs, you should just use one antivirus program because they can conflict. They can bog down your system so try and find a light one that just does what you need. AVG is a good free one and Nod32 is a good commercial one.
Then you have to be sure that you don’t click on any attachments or links in emails and turn off the HTML feature in your outlook email program and make sure you install all of the current updates and patches from Microsoft. Although this won’t make you 100% secure it will make you as secure as you can be if you use windows.
Or, you can just get a mac.
pog,
The cost of AV & OS software, like the cost of a built-in or seperate keyboard, mouse and monitor, is part of the Total Cost Of Operation when considering a Windows PC. You just can’t operate a Windows PC without an OS or AV software.
Required software should be listed in the purchase price, anything else is false advertising.
===================
if you were going to buy a new car and were told you will need to purchase a pair of jumper cables, 12 quarts of oil, some powersteering fluid, a perrinial tow truck membership, AAA, and two spare tires (for good measure) to be out the door and running, would you?
Sound Crazy?????
===================
I love it. You are unwittingly admitting that a PC salesman is as scummy as a car dealer. LOL. Touché.
The analogy doesn’t fit me, nor does it fit most of the people I see on the bus and train.
😀 I’m almost 40 and have willfully, gleefully never owned a car, never driven one more than once. I have a far reaching public transit system and I use it, or I walk or take a cab (which is an efficient use of a car). No need to own an egobubble to drag my ass around town. Parking, tickets, theft, accidents, insurance, safety ratings, the physical/mental/emotional hassle of driving in a city…
That said, your analogy is perfect in one sense: I’m no more likely to go to a PC store, hear some pimply faced liar sell me a PC box du jour (whatever one they have too much of in stock) because I know the underlying hassles of owning a PC, same as I will never be talked into buying a car, no matter how glossy or popular is.
I don’t want a hassle or added expense, so I buy a Mac and squeeze the life out of it. (Still happily using my iBook G3 from 2001).
So yes, a slimy PC seller will omit the gory details, just as much as the slimy car dealer will. But I know better.
The fact that ~95% of the rest of the PC users don’t know better is not my concern. I merely want Apple to be self sustaining with modest growth, and I want get-rich-quick investors to keep their unreliable, here today, gone tomorrow investment money out of AAPL.
I wish my business had 3% market share. And $6+ billion in liquid assets. My liquid assets are sitting in the fridge.
“How much longer will Apple support PPC based systems already installed? Will 10.5 or maybe 10.4 be the last OS that supports PPC?”
Don’t forget that as we speak, Apple’s high-end computers still come with a PPC processor. There is absolutely no chance that they will introduce an operating system next year that will not work on those systems. Nobody (ok–very, very few people) who spends $3000 on a G5 this year is going to shell out another $3000 for an Intel-based Macintosh Pro next year just to have Leopard. It would be a poor business decision; Apple would just be losing OS X retail sales.
NOT defending Vista, but you do NOT need a $400 video card to run Vista with Aero. I am running Vista Beta 2 on my PeeCee (Yes, I have PC and Mac, but vastly prefer the Mac, and I will never buy another non-Apple computer). I upgraded my video card in the PC about a year ago for $150 or so, and now that card is available for about $50. Most cards in new machines will run Vista w/Aero just fine. As for 90% of installed PC’s will not run Aero — well, I don’t know, but I doubt that. Maybe if you include ALL really old machines running in businesses, but if you just count machines that people would even think about running Vista on — most will.
The high requiredments of Vista are thoroughly overstated. I admit that it’s ridiculous how much graphics power they require to run compared with what Quartz needs, but let’s not overstate the issue. Any video card you can buy now for $50 or even a little under that will run full Aero just fine.
Now… back to thinking about my Mac!!! (Vista is thoroughly disappointing, by the way).
Actually the ONLY reason I use a Mac is to turn my nose at other people and feel superior. Elitist much? Sheesh.
There was a banker who would never where a mac,
it was very strange.