PC vs. MAC

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Posted by DjPiLL

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Posted by cluelessbride
But isn't it true that a UNIX-based system will be less prone to viruses? That with such a system you do not have to worry about viruses at all?

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Alas.... that is definitely NOT true. UNIX viruses are actually more popular than Mac ones (currently). Ever hear of the KLEZ virus? That has a popular UNIX variant.

There are also other Unix viruses that are very popular. One in particular actually that I can't remember the name. If I think of it... i'll post it here.


Oh... and for you MAC heads that didn't know... OS10 for the MAC is actually a UNIX operating system. Its based off the Unix platform. If you open the Terminal program... you get a unix command prompt and can enter unix commands there. (Don't do this unless you know what you are doing).

I bet most of you here didn't even know that.

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Actually Mac head here new that,. I have a G4 and love it. I would not give it up for the world.

Ah, the mac vs. PC debate...

I'm going through this myself. I want to start dabbling in Graphic design - I've worked on both PCs and Mac and I wanted to know which one is better. There is a whole website devoted to this debate and I posted on it - you should've seen the responses I got. Pages and pages of computer nerds slamming each other over and over again.

What I've basically learned is this - they are both completely able machines. It depends on what you're more comfortable with. Also, something to consider is what is the industry standard? Because I want to get into graphic design, and most graphic designers tend to use Macs, if I ever want to get a job at an agency or whatever, it would be best for me to be familiar with a Mac.

Side Note, may be totally irrelevant: I also have found that in MY EXPERIENCE Macs are more forgiving with plug-ins, meaning I can plug my MP3 player, my digital camera or whatever in and the Mac just reads it as an external drive. But, both Dad and DH say that that's because I'm using old PC's...

Oh, and one other thing I've learned...this is a highly sensitive subject and it's best to be nice to both Mac People and PC People

Good luck!

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Posted by usuk2004

Ah, the mac vs. PC debate...

I'm going through this myself. I want to start dabbling in Graphic design - I've worked on both PCs and Mac and I wanted to know which one is better. There is a whole website devoted to this debate and I posted on it - you should've seen the responses I got. Pages and pages of computer nerds slamming each other over and over again.

What I've basically learned is this - they are both completely able machines. It depends on what you're more comfortable with. Also, something to consider is what is the industry standard? Because I want to get into graphic design, and most graphic designers tend to use Macs, if I ever want to get a job at an agency or whatever, it would be best for me to be familiar with a Mac.

Side Note, may be totally irrelevant: I also have found that in MY EXPERIENCE Macs are more forgiving with plug-ins, meaning I can plug my MP3 player, my digital camera or whatever in and the Mac just reads it as an external drive. But, both Dad and DH say that that's because I'm using old PC's...

Oh, and one other thing I've learned...this is a highly sensitive subject and it's best to be nice to both Mac People and PC People

Good luck!

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Thank you! I didn't know it was such a hot topic!

Like you, I'd like to learn more graphics stuff although I don't intend to do professional work, just stuff for fun. So I suppose I could use either platform.

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Posted by usuk2004

Side Note, may be totally irrelevant: I also have found that in MY EXPERIENCE Macs are more forgiving with plug-ins, meaning I can plug my MP3 player, my digital camera or whatever in and the Mac just reads it as an external drive. But, both Dad and DH say that that's because I'm using old PC's...

Good luck!

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This is very true. A newer PC (Windows XP with Service Pack 1) will read most hardware you plug in. A mac makes it look 'easier' to plug in cause they stick it right in your face.

I think it boils down to... if you are completely computer dumb... and I mean REALLY bad... then the MAC could be a better choice for you.

Oh and Sassy... yeah I am very computer knowledgeable. In fact I think its safe to say I probably have the most computer experience on this entire forum since this is what I do for a living.

My specialty at my job is network administration, security (anti-virus), and e-mail. I used to do help desk support back in the 90s. Now I do upper level server support and networking.

I am not the guy that comes to your desk at work when your computer won't turn on, or when you can't print. I am the guy that gets busy when the shyt really hits the fan (like the entire network goes down).

Yeah when my computer doesn't turn on I throw it out the window.. ha ha ha.

I just like the MAC b/c I'm a computer tart and I find that with the MAC I'm able to troubleshoot it myself rather quickly and with the PC I oftentimes cannot..

at the end of the day- MAC and PC both do the same thing IMO..

I just like the MAC better b/c
1) they look better- and I'm very careful when buying appliances, so why not my computer?
2) Bill Gates has enough money
3) I get a very good deal b/c I'm in school and they turn out being way more inexpensive

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Posted by Sassyz75

Yeah when my computer doesn't turn on I throw it out the window.. ha ha ha.

I just like the MAC b/c I'm a computer tart and I find that with the MAC I'm able to troubleshoot it myself rather quickly and with the PC I oftentimes cannot..

at the end of the day- MAC and PC both do the same thing IMO..

I just like the MAC better b/c
1) they look better- and I'm very careful when buying appliances, so why not my computer?
2) Bill Gates has enough money
3) I get a very good deal b/c I'm in school and they turn out being way more inexpensive

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1) Ill agree. They look kickarse. A nice addition to any living room.

2) Well... Steve Jobs ain't crying poverty either.

3) Apple does offer good student discounts. But frankly you can't get more bang for your buck if you don't buy a Dell PC.

I can't ever buy a Dell b/c one time I called them up and they were so annoyingly rude to me I decided that I could never give them my $$$....
Plus- I've been a MAC person since day 1... so call it a brand loyalty thing.. it's like the other age old dilemma.. coke vs. pepsi..

please don't tell me you like pepsi...

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Posted by Sassyz75

please don't tell me you like pepsi...

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I am not a cola fan period. I'm a root beer freak.

Dell's customer service sucks bad. They outsource it to India. But again... doing this keeps their prices dirt cheap.

oooohhh root beer.
I love that...
it wasn't the customer service- I was actually calling to buy a machine.
the salesperson was like a used car salesman- told him that I wasn't going to buy that day, was going to speak w. my husband and to put the system on hold and I'd call back tomorrow- well... he sent me the machine anyway and charged my CC.. when I called to complain, he said 'well your current computer sucks so why bother'...
so I really showed them- instead of buying a dell lap top I wound up spending 2k at the apple store in NJ what are you going to do?

In my experience, unless you are a computer expert (like DJ), or have access to excellent tech support, Macs are preferable *because* they are easier. I work in an office where people use both Macs and PCs. My computer never crashes, while colleagues have often been tearing their hair out because of failing hard drives (I had one colleague go through literally 3 PCs before buying a Mac, and his life is so much easier now). I also have never had a virus on my computer. Not so for my colleagues.

Two downsides to Mac that I would mention, though, are:

1. Microsoft has stopped supporting Internet Explorer for Mac, which I think means that Mac users will turn more and more to Safari, Apple's internet browser, and not all websites work well with Safari.

2. Not all software is Mac-compatible. You can purchase an emulator, like Virtual PC (although I want to say that they've gone out of business?), but it can be sloooooow.

I still love my Mac, though. Would never get a PC.

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Posted by DjPiLL

I am not the guy that comes to your desk at work when your computer won't turn on, or when you can't print. I am the guy that gets busy when the shyt really hits the fan (like the entire network goes down).

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Oh, that's my dad, too! He works for Keyspan.

If a hard drive is going to fail... it will have *equal* chance to fail on either the Mac or PC since a harddrive is a cross-platform device. You can buy a hard drive and use it on either a mac or PC.

Safari is built off the Netscape platform I believe... and I have a lot of trouble using Safari. A lot of websites I work with don't load properly.

The third drawback that an office has to deal with is Macs are NOT work-friendly on a network. I can go into reason after reason why this is true... but you guys probably won't understand the techno-babble I would say.

VirtualPC isn't a bad program. But if you are in a corporate network and need to run PC apps on your Mac... there is nothing better than running Citrix Terminal Server on a Windows server and running Citrix Client for a Mac. But Citrix is an expensive solution for a job so its not widely used.

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Posted by Sassyz75

Yeah when my computer doesn't turn on I throw it out the window.. ha ha ha.

I just like the MAC b/c I'm a computer tart and I find that with the MAC I'm able to troubleshoot it myself rather quickly and with the PC I oftentimes cannot..

at the end of the day- MAC and PC both do the same thing IMO..

I just like the MAC better b/c
1) they look better- and I'm very careful when buying appliances, so why not my computer?
2) Bill Gates has enough money
3) I get a very good deal b/c I'm in school and they turn out being way more inexpensive

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I work at a university and we get great MAC deals - that's another incentive! You're not at NYU are you Sassy?

SUN is a flavor of Unix.

If all your files are stored on the SUN server... then most likely all your MACs are OS10.

Since OS10 is a Unix OS... it can connect to the SUN via NFS which is a decent solution.

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Posted by DjPiLL

SUN is a flavor of Unix.

If all your files are stored on the SUN server... then most likely all your MACs are OS10.

Since OS10 is a Unix OS... it can connect to the SUN via NFS which is a decent solution.

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I actually use a pc at work, but the server is a SUN machine (at least I think it is).

The systems staff HATE pc's - they only like SUN machines and wish we would all use them.

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Posted by cluelessbride

The systems staff HATE pc's - they only like SUN machines and wish we would all use them.

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Then you have Anti-Microsoft / Unix Fanboys on your support staff.

Those are the same guys that probably wish everybody ran Linux on their PCs instead of Windows.

A nice concept... but something that will unfortunately never happen.


EDIT: And you can tell your support staff that I said that (the Unix Fanboy thing). They will get a good laugh.

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Posted by DjPiLL

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Posted by cluelessbride

The systems staff HATE pc's - they only like SUN machines and wish we would all use them.

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Then you have Anti-Microsoft / Unix Fanboys on your support staff.

Those are the same guys that probably wish everybody ran Linux on their PCs instead of Windows.

A nice concept... but something that will unfortunately never happen.

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True - they wish we would learn Unix and do everything in Unix. Even secretaries here use Unix , but I am too lazy to learn it I can't even help my assistant when she has a question like 'should I blah blah blah shell blah blah blah command'