Are Macs really that great?

[BHAFC_Pandapops]

no, its just another expensive piece of fanboy'd up turd to waste your money on...

...just go down the Seagulls Shop and waste your money there

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I'd never go back to PC now. Bought a MacBook Pro in 2008 and it runs as well today as the day i got it out the box. So £1800 might have seemed pricey at the time but looking back now it's been amazing vfm given Windows laptops kind of slow down to a halt after a couple of years in my experience

And it works like the nuts too.

Same here. I bought a PowerBook for personal use about 5 years ago - I think it was 5. It's still going strong and has outlived 3 PCs I have to use for work. Amonst many reasons, long term it's definitely value for money.

I caanot think of any reason why anyone would buy a PC except for the short term cost.

 

[JamesAndTheGiantHead]

One of the funniest things I've ever read on here, Apple have been borrowing ideas for years.

Superb. Made my night.

If that's the sort of thing that makes you laugh and 'makes your night', then you might seriously want to sit down and re-evaluate your life

 

[Grombleton]

I use a mac at home (2008 macbook 13") and its been a stunning piece of kit - i upgraded the HDD and the RAM when i bought it (i got it off ebay and it only had 1GB RAM and 120gb HDD...so its now 4GB RAM and 500gb HDD) and there's not been one issue with it at all. Love it.

At work (web design agency) i use both on a daily basis - both have their plusses and minuses but the main thing i find is portability...when we move our office around (it happens a fair bit) then its simply a case of picking up and moving the macs, whereas the windows desktops need moving, replacing, being told slowly that they are in a new home then hours of reassurance that they're still needed...i'm happy to use a Windows machine (or a Linux machine for that matter) but then i'm a huge geek.

Only reason to steer clear of a mac would be for gaming - i'm finding this more often now that there are not that many games available on OS X - you'll be fine if you want some of the bigger titles (World Of Warcraft, Football Manager etc) or anything from Steam...other than that, you might struggle.

So, try a mac and see what you think - i love them but my missus despises them...horses for courses.

 

[Chicken Runner61]

I use a mac at home (2008 macbook 13") and its been a stunning piece of kit - i upgraded the HDD and the RAM when i bought it (i got it off ebay and it only had 1GB RAM and 120gb HDD...so its now 4GB RAM and 500gb HDD) and there's not been one issue with it at all. Love it.

At work (web design agency) i use both on a daily basis - both have their plusses and minuses but the main thing i find is portability...when we move our office around (it happens a fair bit) then its simply a case of picking up and moving the macs, whereas the windows desktops need moving, replacing, being told slowly that they are in a new home then hours of reassurance that they're still needed...i'm happy to use a Windows machine (or a Linux machine for that matter) but then i'm a huge geek.

Only reason to steer clear of a mac would be for gaming - i'm finding this more often now that there are not that many games available on OS X - you'll be fine if you want some of the bigger titles (World Of Warcraft, Football Manager etc) or anything from Steam...other than that, you might struggle.

So, try a mac and see what you think - i love them but my missus despises them...horses for courses.

TBH I've always been of the opinion that games should be played on an xbox or playstation and do work on a pc. Games are ok on a PC but you always open the door to viruses etc as soon as you go online to play or even just to update or patch?

 

[Beach Hut]

Bought a MAC around three years and trust me they rock

 

[Deleted member 22389]

I don't think the components in Mac are any better than what you would get in a PC. You can probably still buy the same components off the shelf or near as. Please correct me, if I am wrong?

I'm my 10 years of using PC with Windows and Linux, the only reason hardware has failed is because I played with it.

The real reason Macs run better is because of the operating system OSX. The build quality of the cases are also a thousand times better than PC, which gives the user the overall feeling that things are also better inside.

The only cases that come close to a Mac for ease of use on a PC are IBM. Everything fits together perfectly and to take cards out, swap hard drives is a screw less operation.

 

[Tux the albion Penguin]

I don't think the components in Mac are any better than what you would get in a PC. You can probably still buy the same components off the shelf or near as. Please correct me, if I am wrong?

I'm my 10 years of using PC with Windows and Linux, the only reason hardware has failed is because I played with it.

The real reason Macs run better is because of the operating system OSX. The build quality of the cases are also a thousand times better than PC, which gives the user the overall feeling that things are also better inside.

The only cases that come close to a Mac for ease of use on a PC are IBM. Everything fits together perfectly and to take cards out, swap hard drives is a screw less operation.

Unfortunately as far as I'm aware IBM are out the desktop game. Am I correct?

 

[fork me]

I think there's a kind of Marmite thing going on with Macs. Personally, my number one gripe about anything Apple is that it's only truly compatible with other Apple products.

I have an Android phone (which cost £50 PAYG) and a Toshiba laptop (which cost €700 three years ago and still works perfectly) and guess what? If I want them to talk to each other I just plug the phone in using a USB cable. No messing about with synchronisation or any of that nonsense, it just works.

I have no Apple products at all, even iTunes, and I have no intention of getting any.

 

[clippedgull]

I was an avid Windows user up until late 2009.

I bought my first 27inch Imac and fell in love with the simplicity of OSX straight away I also love the fact that I can still use Windows on the Imac if needed. It's still running absolutely perfectly today, as a testament to how gorgeous the screen is I will be upgrading by buying another 27 inch Imac from Apple in the next week or so. I will probably get around £800-900 on Ebay for my current one so the upgrade cost isn't so painful!

 

[Tux the albion Penguin]

I was an avid Windows user up until late 2009.

I bought my first 27inch Imac and fell in love with the simplicity of OSX straight away I also love the fact that I can still use Windows on the Imac if needed. It's still running absolutely perfectly today, as a testament to how gorgeous the screen is I will be upgrading by buying another 27 inch Imac from Apple in the next week or so. I will probably get around £800-900 on Ebay for my current one so the upgrade cost isn't so painful!

I honestly think to be honest. The only thing stopping me from buying Is the price. It's a rare thing that I ever have that kinda cash, If ever really. Feel like such a poor-per

 

[JetsetJimbo]

I think there's a kind of Marmite thing going on with Macs. Personally, my number one gripe about anything Apple is that it's only truly compatible with other Apple products.

I have an Android phone (which cost £50 PAYG) and a Toshiba laptop (which cost €700 three years ago and still works perfectly) and guess what? If I want them to talk to each other I just plug the phone in using a USB cable. No messing about with synchronisation or any of that nonsense, it just works.

I have no Apple products at all, even iTunes, and I have no intention of getting any.

I think the last line of your post is the only one that's accurate! Apple products work fine with those of other manufacturers most of the time, the exceptions are where the other manufacturers have a competing product: for example, for years Sony products didn't work with Apple ones because Sony thought that they'd be encouraging people to buy Vaios (they've realised relatively recently that all they were doing were putting Apple owners off Sony products and reversed that policy, I understand).

Also, I don't think you quite understand what syncing is in this context. I don't even need to plug my iPhone and iPad into my Mac. If they're on the same network as my laptop, they'll copy all the music/ videos/ apps from my computer that I've told it to, without me having to lift a finger. How's that for "it just works"? If you're manually copying things across (which is the only thing I can imagine you mean when you say "No messing about about with synchronisation") then you can do that too, in fact I did exactly that for a couple of years before I realised how much easier it was to automate it all.

If your stuff works for you, then great, but why the need to slag off other products which by your own admission you know next to nothing about?

 

[fork me]

Also, I don't think you quite understand what syncing is in this context. I don't even need to plug my iPhone and iPad into my Mac. If they're on the same network as my laptop, they'll copy all the music/ videos/ apps from my computer that I've told it to, without me having to lift a finger. How's that for "it just works"? If you're manually copying things across (which is the only thing I can imagine you mean when you say "No messing about about with synchronisation") then you can do that too, in fact I did exactly that for a couple of years before I realised how much easier it was to automate it all.

Yes, because they're all Apple products. That's exactly my point.

If your stuff works for you, then great, but why the need to slag off other products which by your own admission you know next to nothing about?

I didn't slag it off, just said why I don't like it, I'm assuming the original poster wanted to hear all opinions, not just pro-Apple ones.

 

[Tux the albion Penguin]

Yes, because they're all Apple products. That's exactly my point.



I didn't slag it off, just said why I don't like it, I'm assuming the original poster wanted to hear all opinions, not just pro-Apple ones.

I'm open to all opinions

 

[nomoremithras4me]

Just In general I see alot of people on here who own apple products. One of the products I have never tried due to cost Is an apple Macintosh/Mac computer. But my question Is Are they that great? Also If so Does anyone know where I could get a "Cheap" Old one just to test. I use cheap lightly as Macs command a high price no matter the age.

Yep, try the shop a couple up from the club shop. Bought two MacBooks for my daughters for Xmas £375 each, you can have a deal with him for cash

 

[JCL666]

For a long time I detested macs because of the "do it the apple way or not at all" nature of their products.

However I succumbed and bought a MacBook Air. It is amazing.

I love with PCs that you can optimise/customise, strip them down, buy replacement parts, get loads of software for free and they are CHEAP.

But for hassle free maintenance and great build quality, macs are great. You do have to utilise the device/control/icloud architecture to get the best out of them, and that can be irritating...


Then again I'll probably buy an asus eeepad transformer next.

 

[Superphil]

. once you go mac you'll never go back.

.

That might be the case for some, wasn't for me, largely due to the fact I couldn't get the software i wanted for mac, but also, I genuinely find the OS a bit awkward. The beauty is the machine runs both W7 and OSX so I do have the choice, I tend to use OSX for a bit of ipodding and ripping DVDs as I have Mac s/w for that, but I can't get the software I want for OSX so W7 gets used for work. Lovely bit of kit mind, fast processors, never crashes, small footprint, lovely screen (iMac). Go for it, but if you are a heavy PC user (work) don't expect it to be able to do everything you PC could.

 

[Mr Smggles]

Gone from PC to Mac and will certainly NEVER go back.

 

[JetsetJimbo]

Yes, because they're all Apple products. That's exactly my point.

But you've missed my point, which was that if for some reason I wanted to transfer music (or whatever) from my Apple computer to a non-Apple phone/tablet/ mp3 player, there's nothing at all to stop me doing that. I'd just plug it in and copy stuff across as I would do to a USB memory key or anything else that connects via USB, probably just how you do now. This myth that buying something Apple-branded means you have to ditch everything you own that isn't Apple, is just that, a myth. Ok, I wouldn't get all the awesome wifi and cloud sync options that I get by having a full Apple set-up, but I wouldn't have those if I had a Windows PC/ HTC phone combination either. There are, of course, some areas where PCs get the nod (games being the main one for me, but I have games consoles and a Windows installation on my MBP for those, and an awful lot of games get Mac-native versions nowadays anyway).

The things you're talking about don't fall under that category, in fact I'd go as far to say that media consumption (by which I mean using music/ vids/ books etc across your computer, phone, tablet or whatever) is probably the area where an Apple set-up has the clearest and most indisputable lead over its rivals. It can do everything you currently do, but it can also do much more should you go the whole hog and get a load of Apple stuff.

I'm not having a go, I just think you've been either misinformed, or you're going by received "wisdom" from outdated opinions (which haven't been applicable in the ten years I've been using Macs, although I can't really comment about how stuff worked before that). It's true that trying to get non-Apple devices to play nice with iTunes is often more trouble than it's worth, and I suspect that's probably what you're getting at. But that's not the same as what you were suggesting, and it's perfectly possible to use a Mac with (for example) an HTC phone. You can even get them to sync if you want to!

 

[fork me]

But you've missed my point, which was that if for some reason I wanted to transfer music (or whatever) from my Apple computer to a non-Apple phone/tablet/ mp3 player, there's nothing at all to stop me doing that. I'd just plug it in and copy stuff across as I would do to a USB memory key or anything else that connects via USB, probably just how you do now. This myth that buying something Apple-branded means you have to ditch everything you own that isn't Apple, is just that, a myth. Ok, I wouldn't get all the awesome wifi and cloud sync options that I get by having a full Apple set-up, but I wouldn't have those if I had a Windows PC/ HTC phone combination either. There are, of course, some areas where PCs get the nod (games being the main one for me, but I have games consoles and a Windows installation on my MBP for those, and an awful lot of games get Mac-native versions nowadays anyway).

Maybe, but the other way is much harder, it's a pig getting information from an iPhone or an iPad onto a PC.