“Unless you’ve recently emerged from a coma, you know the consumer versions of Microsoft’s new Vista operating system ship Tuesday. Over the next few weeks, many people will try to convince you to move to Windows Vista, from design friends to product and software makers,” Mike Elgan blogs for Digit Magazine.
“This column is not a review of Windows Vista. I’m not here to tell you about Vista or what’s wrong with it,” Elgan writes. “This article is for those of you who are about to download or purchase Windows Vista and install it on a PC. I’m here to talk you out of it. Just say no to Windows Vista — for now. Here’s why.”
1. Vista is incomplete
2. Vista is expensive
3. Vista wants a new PC
4. Vista is time-consuming
5. Windows XP isn’t obsolete
6. Vista may be the best reason yet to buy a Mac
Elgan writes, “Under what circumstances should you “switch” to a Mac? Apple fans will tell you that the answer is obvious: If you want your system to crash less, run with fewer hassles and fewer security breaches, then buy a Mac. But that’s the Mac user’s world view.”
Elgan writes, “If you’re looking to make that decision from the PC users world view, here’s a more practical checklist.”
MacDailyNews Take: Elgan’s following checklist is obliterated by Apple Mac’s ability to run Windows via Apple’s Boot Camp and/or virtualization such as those offered by Parallels Desktop for Mac and VMWare Fusion.
Elgan writes: Consider switching to a Mac if:
• You’re not into PC gaming.
• You don’t have any Windows-only applications you’d still like to run without emulation.
• You don’t have major PC hardware investment — such as expensive flat-screen LCD displays — to take advantage of.
• You don’t have non-Mac applications that are required by your employer for working at home.
MacDailyNews Take: Again, all of Elgan’s four points above are meaningless in the face of Apple Mac’s ability to run Windows natively and/or via virtualization. All Apple Mac models allow for you to run “expensive flat-screen LCD displays” you might already own. So, get a Mac.
Elgan’s full article is here.
Related articles:
Apple Macs can run more software than Windows PCs – October 30, 2006
Dude, you got a Dell? What are you, stupid? Only Apple Macs run both Mac OS X and Windows! – April 05, 2006
Pioneer Press: Windows Vista shows ‘Apple is an innovation engine; Microsoft, not so much’ – January 29, 2007
Windows Vista disappoints, so get a Mac – January 29, 2007
Analyst: Microsoft’s Windows Vista could be an opportunity for Apple – January 26, 2007
CNET Reviews Windows Vista: Is that all? Clunky and not very intuitive vs. Mac OS X; warmed-over XP – January 24, 2007
Security firm: 38-percent of malware already Windows Vista-compatible – January 22, 2007
Mossberg: Microsoft’s Windows Vista offers lesser imitations of Apple’s Mac OS X features – January 18, 2007
Windows Vista disappointment drives longtime ‘Microsoft apologist’ to Apple’s Mac OS X – January 17, 2007
InformationWeek Review: Apple’s Mac OS X shines in comparison with Microsoft’s Windows Vista – January 06, 2007
NY Times’ Pogue reviews Microsoft’s Windows Vista: ‘Looks, Locks, Lacks’ – December 14, 2006
Forbes: Microsoft Windows Vista boss suffers from Mac envy – December 12, 2006
Windows chief Allchin 2004 email: I’d buy a Mac if I didn’t work for Microsoft – December 11, 2006
Unlike Microsoft’s Windows Vista, Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard will create no new jobs – December 12, 2006
15-year Windows vet tries Apple Mac: ‘My God! This is amazing!’ – December 04, 2006
Microsoft’s Windows Vista: obsolete on arrival? – December 04, 2006
InformationWeek: Now that Vista is the past, let’s look at the future: Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard – December 02, 2006
Microsoft’s Windows Vista and Office 2007 releases generate yawns – December 02, 2006
Dave Winer: ‘Microsoft isn’t an innovator, and never was – they are always playing catch-up’ – December 01, 2006
Harvard Medical School CIO picks Mac OS X over Linux and Windows – November 30, 2006
Microsoft’s Windows Vista vulnerable to malware from 2004 – November 30, 2006
Microsoft Windows Vista developers used Apple Macs for inspiration – November 27, 2006
A Windows expert opts for a Mac life – November 06, 2006
Microsoft’s Windows Vista is basically Microsoft’s version of Mac OS 9.3 – October 11, 2006
Embrace and Extinguish in action: TechIQ’s ‘The VAR Guy’ dumps Windows, switches to Mac OS X – September 25, 2006
Top Windows developer dumps Microsoft’s ‘pile of crap’ for Apple’s Mac OS X – September 12, 2006
$399 for Windows Vista Ultimate?! (Hint: Get a Mac) – August 29, 2006
Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard is 64-bit done right, unlike Microsoft’s Windows Vista kludge – August 14, 2006
Microsoft Windows Vista: If you can’t innovate… try to impersonate Apple’s Mac OS X – August 10, 2006
Analyst: Apple’s new Mac OS X Leopard sets new bar, leaves Microsoft’s Vista in the dust – August 08, 2006
Microsoft botches another copy job: Windows Vista Flip3D vs. Apple Mac OS X Exposé – June 26, 2006
Sydney Morning Herald Tech columnist dumps Microsoft Windows, switches to Apple Mac – June 13, 2006
Windows Vista rips-off Mac OS X at great hardware cost (and Apple gains in the end) – June 13, 2006
Computerworld: Microsoft Windows Vista a distant second-best to Apple Mac OS X – June 02, 2006
Thurrott: Microsoft going to get eaten alive over Windows Vista’s resemblance to Apple’s Mac OS X – March 09, 2006
NY Times’ Pogue on Gates’ CES demo: Most of Vista features unadulterated ripoffs from Apple Mac OS X – January 05, 2006
Analyst: Windows Vista may still impress many consumers because they have not seen Apple’s Mac OS X – January 05, 2006
Apple’s talent and innovation vs. Microsoft’s hype – October 25, 2005
Microsoft’s Windows Vista strives to deliver what Apple’s Mac OS X already offers – October 10, 2005
Thurrott: many of Windows Vista’s upcoming features appeared first in Apple’s Mac OS X – September 26, 2005
Microsoft’s Ballmer: It’s true, some of Windows Vista’s features are ‘kissing cousins’ to Mac OS X – September 18, 2005
PC World: Microsoft innovation – an oxymoron – September 14, 2005
As usual, Apple leads, Microsoft tries to follow – June 02, 2005
Bye-Bye Bill: another columnist dumps Windows for Apple Macintosh – January 20, 2005
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IBM Fellow dumps Microsoft Windows XP, switches to Apple’s Mac OS X – September 02, 2004
OK, we are talking about computer gaming not console gaming. If you buy a computer to play games (which is the point of the article and MDNs response) then considering a console is irrelevant. Let’s try to stick with the subject here. The issue is if you want a computer to play games. There are many reasons for this.
There are a number of games not available on a console and or not as good on a console. These games tend to require high end graphics cards and the ATI x1600 just doesn’t cut it. If you want to play some three year old titles OK, they work, but nothing new. If you want increasd frame rates or enable AA ect. forget it. iMacs suck for gaming. You can put together a decent mid-range gaming PC for the cost of an iMac that will give you a much better gaming experiance. So, if you want to play PC only games like Battlefiled 2142, Total War, GRAW, flight sims, ect, a PC with a dedicated graphics card is better than an iMac. To argue otherwise is to display your ignorance or blind denial that a Windows PC can actually be better than a Mac for some purposes.
Get over it.
I think that the author is comparing Vista to OS X, not to Macintosh, even though he doesn’t make that so obvious. He is not talking about how Vista runs on a Dell, an HP, a Gateway or a Mac. Many of the posters on MDN seem to think that since the Mac can run XP or Vista then that ‘solves’ the problem. Don’t you ever stop to consider that a lot of people cannot afford a new Mac AND a copy of XP or Vista to put on it? Just because it can be done does not mean that it is a viable solution.
*looks at 19″ widescreen plugged into Powerbook (DVI) and PC (VGA)*
Dang…guess I have to unplug one of them.
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It is amazing how many Windows users still don’t realize that you can run Windows XP at full speed on a Mac these days. Hopefully when Leopard is released this will made more clear to the masses out there.
You don’t have to give up your games or other Windows only apps if you get a Mac, and people need to know that.
Thanks everyone that was really great information
If you are that concerned about playing games, you need to get a life. Period. But I suppose that point is lost upon the deranged, subhuman, trigger-happy, drooling, moronic, onanistic collection of fungi that we call gamers.
“Many of my friends that are Windows users and have a machine more powerful then a mac mini have a nice LCD monitor already […]”
One thing you can mention to your friends who are loathe to “throw out” their nice LCD monitor is that they can actually use their second monitor on the iMac and have two displays.
So they buy the 17″ iMac for $1199 and then hook up your nice 25″ LCD to the iMac. Make that your “main” display and use the extra 17″ on the side for something else. And, if nothing else, they have a 43″ display!
That’s usually how I deal with that argument. And once they play with two displays, they wonder how they got along with just one!
Our university dept. is looking at new machines for next year and we’re in the same quandry: we want to buy the computer and monitor separately, but can’t afford the MacPros. What we need is the iMac sans monitor plus the 20 (or 23) inch LCD displays separately. This is affordable now and we can keep the monitors for the next CPU upgrade cycle as well, which reduces costs in the future.
Apple really needs to come up with the new iMac Cube, or whatever they want to call it.
To MacMental and other dedicated gamers.
You said, “To argue otherwise is to display your ignorance or blind denial that a Windows PC can actually be better than a Mac for some purposes.”
Hey, I agree. buy a box, buy the best parts, and make a mega game machine (Alien ware). And there you go. Of course you get what you pay for. I think Alien ware went for around 3000 – 4000 dollars for a machine.
Or you could get a really cheap Dell. That would be a windows machine. Would that work??? Wait, switch out the processor, graphics card, memory, HD, etc and there you have it, a cheap Dell costing a total of 3000 $.
Apple comes in one main piece all designed to work together. If you want to build a motor from the ground up, fine, but why complain against those of us who like our cars in one piece and that just work. ????
If you love to tinker so much, Windows is not that bad. You will always have a reason to tinker.
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JMHO.
N.
I have the perfect Mac design to fit between the iMac and Mac Pro, and it would make the ideal 30th anniversary machine. Take the original Mac form factor (from 1984), replace the 9-inch CRT with a 9-inch LCD. Use the additional space for an extra hard drive or memory, so it’s somewhat expandable. Include a video card that supports up to a 30-inch display. It could have all or nearly all the power of a Mac Pro without all the expansion capabilities that many users don’t need. The small screen would be fairly inexpensive and could be used by graphic designers and video people for keeping all those toolbars and palettes out of the way. It would be a semi-headless iMac and could be priced between the iMac and Mac Pro. They’d sell millions of them.
John
“Hey, MDN, not everyone can figure out or knows about BootCamp.”
The people who have been looking for a reason to switch, who have been hampered from doing so by an ignorant IT department in their company, or just couldnt because of one Windows only applications now what this is all about and can easily figure it out.
at what price point would you sell these “not the iMac” and “not the mac pro” ? be careful not to kill the sales of mac mini.
Vista: same turd, different polish!
MacMental,
I don’t know. Doom 3 and Quake 4 look pretty damn good on my 20″ iMac with the 256MB vid car option.
No PC necessary.
Digit claims to be platform-neutral but have a long track record for being hostile to Macs. They would make grand statements about how platform wars were for others and would always seem to make accidental unfortunate errors when mentioning Macs.
As far as I am aware, they were the last outpost which in comparative reviews marked down Macs for not having floppy disk drives built in.
In June 06 they marked down a PowerBook in a review because there wasn’t a two button track pad. The reviewer’s knowledge of Macs didn’t stretch as far as using two fingers on the touchpad. It’s easier to criticise a Mac than to read the help files. It’s bad that the writer didn’t know, but it’s quite unforgivable that the editor didn’t either.
Digit have completely lost the plot and although I used to subscribe to it, I cancelled my subscription a few months ago.
Notice on the web site that all the headings are in bold, except for the one that says –
“6. Vista may be the best reason yet to buy a Mac”, which is in standard type and doesn’t show up in the same way that the others do. Its another of those little things that always seems to happen when Digit mentions Macs. Another coincidence ?
MacMental,
I’m almost 40 years old. I want a computer to compute things, not to play bloody games. Mind you I heard a rumour that Macs can run Windows now so I guess Macs can play any game that can run on Windows. But you are right., the Macs graphics card is nowhere near as good and options to change it are limited. But in the future that will change.
Hows the Playstation 3 going? Anyone got one? I’m in Australia. Can’t wait.
Several of the above talkbacks have argued, as I have for the last year or two, that there’s a glaring hole in the Mac lineup, what I’ve called the “Missing” Mac. Headless and expandable, sitting between the Mac Mini and the Mac Pro. Off to the left on my desk is a Shuttle, a “small form factor” PC. Holds two full-size drives plus an optical, and a plethora of I/O ports. Integrated power supply. Apple only needs to release such a box (in white or black to match the iPod, or perhaps Shuttle Silver), price it right, and help me clear off my desk. Heck, I’m sure Shuttle would be pleased to build the box to Apple’s specs.
GROAN – Do I have to step in here again?
1 – If you have a large LCD you can use it with your mac, all new macs support the higher resolutions – it’s not 100% valid at all (I’m talking you you “eMac”).
2 – Gaming, ok, if your hardcore into gaming, by all means, get a Mac Pro, those chasis are great platforms to built the ultimate gaming machine on. And you’d be able to have XP and Tiger on your box so more options for software. If you aren’t hardcore into gaming, get an Xbox 360 or a Wii.
3 – Just don’t bother with Vista, in 2 years it’ll be Windows Vienna, so save your coins for that if you must.
4 – Get a Macbook Pro; sufficient 3d graphics via X1600 Radion chipset, can play mid-range PC games in XP, compatible (via mini dvi adapter) with larger LCD screens, and it’s portable.