Macintosh or Windows?

[miriya]

There are of course other operating systems such as Linux and Solaris and I am sure that some of you are using those but the question here is which of the two, Macintosh and Windows do you prefer. This is not only for the operating system but also for the hardware.

I am needing to get a new laptop and am still not certain which I will get.

Also, I apologize if this topic has already been thoroughly debated here. If so, then please zap this thread.

Otherwise..... VOTE, RANT, and RAVE......

[misterryno]

Well......I would vote for both if I could. Apple is the bomb...but I know mostly windows. Although I have not used Vista...I here it's crappy. Just another way to make money is my guess. I don't know....your choice ulitimatly. Sorry I was not much help.

[miriya]

Thats cool. Good to know that you are open to both.

I personally prefer Mac but it costs so much money!

[gerwalk25]

I still use good ol' Windows XP. When I bought my laptop it came with Vista. I hated it, so I downgraded.

Edited March 13, 2008 by gerwalk25

[misterryno]

I still use good ol' Windows XP. When I bought my laptop it came with Vista. I hated it, so I downgraded.

See.....that's what I was talkin about....when I get a new comp.....I will need to downgrade to XP as well.

[eriku]

I'd vote if there was an option for 'both'.

:edit: Oh, and you may be better off asking this question in the 'computer super geeks' thread, or whatever it's called. I can't remember the name, but that's where most of us discuss things of this nature.

http://macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=21695

Edited March 13, 2008 by eriku

[Chas]

I use 'em both desktop Pc and G4 Powerbook. Prefer the Mac. I just find it all around a more elegant machine from it's physical design to it's operation. Plus I've had the power book since about 2004 and it has only crashed once. That was this past fall It had 41 days of applecare left on it so we took it in to the shop and they replaced the hard drive, logic board and fan ($1500.00of work) without so much as a blink. What's not to love about that! and don't even get me started on the whole adware/malware/ virus stuff. Sure you pay more upfront but my experience tells me it is totally worth it. 2004 to 2007 without a crashing or freezing once! can anyone with a PC based laptop match that? You pay more for a Mac but you get peace of mind (note: Always get the applecare! particularly with a Macbook or Macbook Pro). That's how I see things anyway. Ciao.

[David Hingtgen]

I'm typing this on my new PC which is about 48 hours old---built it from scratch myself, and bought a copy of XP for it, not Vista. (and doing that is cheaper than downgrading)

[Duke Togo]

Mac's are fantastic, but are a money sink. My stepmother has plenty, has been an Apple user for probably 2 decades, and all she ever does is complain about Apple's efforts to suck every dime out of her they can.

As far as Windows goes, its XP or nothing.

[eugimon]

for laptops, I would say go mac. I prefer windows on desktops though, mostly for gaming. But since I've made the jump to consoles (I got tired of the endless upgrades), I'll probably go Mac as well. Though, for content streaming to my 360/PS3, I'll probably keep a windows box of some sort.

[eriku]

2004 to 2007 without a crashing or freezing once! can anyone with a PC based laptop match that?

Actually my Toshiba Satellite (running XP) ran perfectly from 2004 to 2007 until the fan died. Aside from the fan everything was still running in top condition and it had never crashed or froze. The thing worked better than any desktop PC I've ever owned. Of course without the fan it's now a 'use it for 15 minutes before it overheats and shuts off' machine.

Edited March 13, 2008 by eriku

[Noyhauser]

Just to chime in... I think its really a question of what you want to use it for and how much you're willing to pay for it. My main use for this computer is for my writing and research, as well as making long, boring posts on Macrossworld. So it needs to work online fairly well, able to save and organize a large database of files, and be reliable. I also watch movies from time to time on it. For this sort of narrow range of functions (which I'd say refer to 50% of the market at least) Apples are probably the best you can find. Everything you heard about the Panther/Tiger/Leopard's ease of use is probably true; its just that simple. After buying my first in early 2004, I was astounded by its ergonomics. It makes you wonder why Windows makes it so hard. The obvious problem is that there is a significant cost premium involved; possibly as much as $1000 dollars for a comparable PC.

The other problem with Apples is that they are limited in their customizability; both in its hardware and software. Now you probably won't upgrade your apple components that much, because they are really not designed to be (beyond ram and the HD) but the OS's limitations can be a bother. If you start wanting to do stuff outside the core applications, then you start running into trouble. Many programmers don't like Apple for that reason. Then again many don't like microsoft either and will go with linux, because they can customize their computer

As for Applecare, I've had both good and bad problems with it, although I'd go with mostly good. I also had a several serious problem with my G4 Powerbook due to dropping it once, and they completely replaced all of it: Screen burn problem (not affiliated with the drop), dead hard drive, burnt out ram bus (requiring the motherboard to be replaced), damaged DVD drive, and dents in the aluminum hull. At least that had to come to 1500+ and they didn't question it. I think its actually a better warranty than you will find with other major manufacturers, but then again I might be biased.

So there you go... hope it helps.

Edited March 13, 2008 by Noyhauser

[mikeszekely]

for laptops, I would say go mac. I prefer windows on desktops though, mostly for gaming. But since I've made the jump to consoles (I got tired of the endless upgrades), I'll probably go Mac as well. Though, for content streaming to my 360/PS3, I'll probably keep a windows box of some sort.

This sums up my thoughts pretty well. At this particular moment in time, I've got three desktops with Windows XP, I'm putting Vista on a fourth, I intend to stick Windows 2000 on an old Pentium III 500MHz that someone tossed once I find a few parts for it, and I have a 1st gen MacBook that dual boots Leopard and Vista.

At its simplest, if you're asking which is the better OS, I'd go with Mac OS 9 times out of ten. XP looks old and ugly compared to Tiger, and Vista looks just as old and ugly compared to Leopard. OS X is just cleaner, easier to work with, and less prone to develop the sort of problems Windows does. Almost every major application that most people use on a daily basis either has a Mac version or a Mac alternative, including Adobe Reader, Firefox, VLC Media Player, and Office.

Macs do tend to be a little more expensive, but I think a bit of that is that they don't have any super-cheap entry-level computers, aside from the Mac Mini. When it comes to notebooks, I'd rather spend a little extra on a Mac than buy an el-cheapo Compaq or something.

Apple does have two issues worth paying attention to, though. First is gaming. If you plan to game at all, you can pretty much forget about a Mac. While the Mac's been getting a little more loving lately, typically Mac games are about a year behind the Windows version, and almost always cost more. The original Neverwinter Nights is still $40 or $50, but for $20 you can buy the Windows version with all the expansions.

The other issue is the proprietary nature of the hardware. You can pretty much only upgrade the hard drive and RAM in most Macs (and in some cases, it's difficult to do even that). To me, that's not a big deal for a laptop, since you can't upgrade laptops much anyway, but as someone who routinely digs around in the guts of desktop towers, I find the iMacs and the Mac Pros a little too closed off for my tastes.

For my primary use, then, I stick to Mac for my laptop, and I build my own desktop. But for fun, I'll clean and restore just about anything I can get my hands on.

When given a choice of Windows, go with XP, especially if you're going to do any gaming. That's not to say XP won't give you headaches, but they'll be familiar headaches.

[eugimon]

I've been running vista ultimate edition since it came out and I'll say this for Vista, the search engine kicks ass. If you take the time to add meta tags to your files, the search functionality is very powerful and useful and the fact that the meta tags are written to the file itself, means you can transfer files around and still retain them.

Other than that though, I really haven't seen much benefit to Vista over XP. It's slower, it needs more system resources, it's still buggy, and if you're running older hardware, especially laptops, driver support just sucks.

[Warmaker]

I wonder what the name of Micro$oft'$ new OS will be in 3-5 years down the road.