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To be honest, I was a PC guy for years. Four years ago, I made the switch and was happy I did. The quick and dirty on why:
1) The computer simply works. In four years, I have had one crash. One. It's just an insanely reliable machine, much more so than my Dell or HP.
2) It really is easier to use. The interface is a little different, but once you get used to it, it's so much more effortless.
3) Unless you're playing Doom or using some very specific software, 99% of the computer use will be based around the components of Microsoft Office. Mac runs Word, Excel and Powerpoint very well. In fact, Mac's alternative to Powerpoint, Keynote, is much better.
4) Despite making some big strides in ease of use, PC is still light years behind Mac in terms of connecting peripherals, installing new programs, etc. Here's an example. We bought a new digital camera last Christmas. When I was downloading photos from it for the first time, the PC instructions for setting up the digital camera were 16 pages, and required a software download. The instructions for the Mac were literally, "Plug it in."
5) So far, so good on viruses. Apple is pretty good about sending out weekly security upgrades that really don't interfere with your operations. I'm sure, as Apple continues to gain more market share, more viruses will target Mac. But right now, my life has been virus free for four years.
Now, before this degenerates into a Mac vs. PC fanboy melee, both systems are perfectly adequate at this point (I haven't installed Vista on my PC, so I can't tell you about that). But Mac in total usability and dependability is just light-years ahead of PC. I'm a guy who bills out $100 an hour to my clients for my services, so every hour I spend monkeying around with my computer means I lose money and productivity. With the Mac, I just turn the thing on and get busy.
Use both every day - while I will admit that PC is good [Windows XP], overall prefer Apple and its OS. Was a time years ago that I mocked Apple OS, but after a grad student friend tugged me into "that" other side of the computer labs, and then I found just how fun, easy, good, fast, etc. could do the same things PLUS even more on the Apple, was hooked. lol, since then have sold quite a few others of the pros of Apples...
I used to be a Mac hater until a few of my friends coaxed me into switching to the "dark side". Got my macbook and my life has never been better! It took a little bit to get used to the differences but otherwise no major problems. Macs are so user-friendly.
Compared to what? Every time I've tried to use one nothing made sense. Navigating the file system took a good bit of getting accustomed to.
It's almost as if you have to be raised on one to make good use of it. Just my take; from a long-time pc user.
That seems to be the case with a lot of people, actually. I've used Macs since grade school, so by the time I bought one for myself I had tons of experience. It's not impossible for a PC guy to get used to the Mac interface, though - my dad bought a Mac for work fairly recently after using PCs for over 15 years, and he couldn't be happier with it. You can't expect to get the hang of it immediately - it just takes some time, as with everything in life. If you were to operate a Mac consistently for a week or two, I bet you'd be fine.
But yes, as for me, even though I like and use both Macs and PCs, I prefer Macs. I've had my current MacBook Pro for almost a year now, and it's really been a great computer. It's fast, powerful, easy to use, lightweight, sleekly designed, and virtually trouble free (I had a few issues early on, but a quick reinstallation of the OS fixed everything). I would definitely recommend it for anybody looking at a new laptop, even though it's a bit on the expensive side. I think it's worth it.
Interesting fact - In PC World's testing last year, the quickest-running Windows Vista laptop was a MacBook Pro.
Compared to what? Every time I've tried to use one nothing made sense. Navigating the file system took a good bit of getting accustomed to.
It's almost as if you have to be raised on one to make good use of it. Just my take; from a long-time pc user.
I thought I'd have trouble learning my way around a mac. I'm a lifelong PC user here and still use one for work every day.
I was pleasantly surprised to discover just how EASY it was though, right from the moment I turned my macbook on for the first time!! Sure, it takes some getting used to but I pretty much learned my way around it within the first couple of hours.
If the PC is universal, then why do I have a Macintosh sitting in front of me?
I forgot. What was the question?
Oh! Which do I prefer? ... Why Mac of course.
I live in a 2 Mac and 1 PC world. The PC is forced on me by my employer.
I can't say that I love my iMac. To me it's just a tool. It doesn't keep me warm in bed, or bring me soup when I've got the sniffles. But, it does stay on all the time (24/7), connected to the Internet through a broadband router without any virus sniffing software, without any firewall and never catches a virus. It keeps up with my thousands of photos and never looses one, with the software that came with it, iPhoto. It keeps up with my thousands of music tracks and never looses one, with the software that comes with it, iTunes. Movies? iView MediaPro. Accounting? Quicken. Spreadsheets? Apple's Numbers. Word processing? Apple's Pages. Mail, Address Book, Safari, and Calender? I use them all! I mean really, I could go on and on. This little tool really does a lot! It even backs itself up every hour and keeps every backup going back to the first one with an OS feature called Time Machine. Does Vista do that?
My little 20" iMac has only 1GB of RAM and a 320GB internal HD, but it is connected with gigabit ethernet to my older Mac, and has one and a half terabytes of external storage on Firewire 400. Its video card is 256MB VRAM and comes ready for a second monitor (not mirrored).
I have been using Macintosh since 1984 when they first came out, and the only thing I have ever lost was from changing formats and software becoming obsolete. With my PC friends it's get in a bind and reinstall Windows. Wipe the HD and reinstall Windows. I ask them, "Do you have anything on your computer that you created over a year ago?"
"No, I lost everything when I had to reinstall Windows!" as if I was supposed to accept that as the normal process of owning a computer.
I've never, since 1984, been forced by my OS to do a wipe and reinstall. Once, and only once, I had to do a clean install. That's where you reinstall the OS and keep your data intact. I got bit by an OS upgrade incompatibility with some software I had installed. But, I didn't loose anything. And, at the time I wasn't backing up and didn't have an external HD.
No. Windows is not universal. Not even close. And, if you're still stuck in Windows it's a lead pipe cinch that you're cheating yourself out of owning a better computer.
Oooooooh Yes, another "tastes great verses less filling" thread!
I'll put my single vote for a free PC I find on the curb, install Linux and call it a day!
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