Mac's might be expensive, but....

[Ducati]

A few weeks backs, I decided to sell my G5 Quad and 30 inch monitor, my Dell desktop, and my iBook and get a new Mac Book Pro. I bought the Mac Book Pro, which is amazing BTW, and sold the Dell and G5 on Ebay. I decided to give my iBook to my sister because I wouldn't get much for it, and she really needed something more powerful than her PC. The 30 inch display had some green spots that would grow into wiggling lines. So, I took it into the Apple store. It wasn't under warranty, so they said it would be $500 to fix it. I figure I could sell it for $1100, so I figure $600 isn't bad. Well, Apple's website said it was repaired and shipped back to the store in 4 days. I stop by the store and they said it wasn't in yet and to wait for them to call me. After two weeks, I decided to call Apple. They said it had been shipped back two weeks earlier, and they contacted the store. The store said they couldn't find it, so they said call back tomorrow. I called back the next day and the guy said it was there, but because of its size, it was put in an area no one bothered to look in. They waived the repair fee and I took it home. I hooked it up and after a little bit, green dots started to appear. I took it back in and said it wasn't fixed. The guy told me to wait there and went in the back. He comes out with a brand new display with a warranty! How is that for customer service!! I don't pay a dime and I get my old out of warranty display swapped for a brand new one with warranty! This totally makes up for Apple not making Snow Leopard for the Power PC chip.

[Vegan Joe]

Back in the late '80s I bought an Apple IIGS. They sold me on the fact that it had color, something that the Mac which was still in it's infancy didn't have, at the time. So buying it most for my kids I was sold on the IIGS. Well after a short period of time Apple started putting all it money into the Mac. People weren't writing software for the IGS but Mac was filling up the shelf. So having spent over $2,000.00 on it not to mention software and such, and they didnothing to make it compatable with the Mac, in very short time it turned into a dinosaur. I felt betrayed. Screw Apple, I'll never buy another product from them, and that includes their IPhone/Pod, or visit their little museum down the street, or what ever.

[Marcina]

I have one of the new imacs and it's very fast and reliable. I love it!

 

Before that I had an emac. My boyfriend bought it maybe 6 or 7 years ago and we finally retired it for a newer model.

 

Macs are good computers imo

[Addai]

Meh I built my sister a new computer a month back. She was a lifelong Mac user. What I got her was screaming fast for a fraction of the price, most parts have a decent warranty or an extended could have been purchased. But who cares. I custom picked parts that were higher quality than anything that goes into a Mac, and if a part goes in a PC I pop open the side, take it out, and put in a new one. You cannot beat the cost effectiveness of a PC.

 

But anywho I think mac users should give Windows 7 a chance. My sister and her fiance are now using it happily after a life on macs! I was working all day today in a mac lab trying to organize digital assets for this e-news organization...*shudders*...anyways I got so frustrated at the terrible windows management of OSX. I should mention that what I specialize in is basically creating applications and user interfaces that give a good end user experience. I'm all about creating things that are as functional as they are enjoyable and intuitive to use. So I sort of have an obsession with these things. Anyways, the new windows taskbar has the best usability of any taskbar I've ever used (of previous windows, mac, and a number of linux solutions...I actually wrote my own years ago in utter frustration since everything in the world sucked).

 

Anywho, give it a chance!

[xjohanx]

The thing with Macs in my experience is that they easily break. I've had around 5 different ipods and every one of them got trashed somehow. But every time it happened I got a totally new one. Sometimes it was the same product but sometimes it was a newer version of the ipod etc. Good stuff.

[SyrLinus]

As someone who has used Macs and PCs, in the end, they both are good. The more important question is: does it do what you need it to do? If yes, then it's the right system for you. If not, then perhaps it's time to reconsider. There are pluses and downsides to every computer system. I personally prefer the Mac, especially at the present time, since it does allow for flexibility and a stable OS (since the OS was optimized for the hardware itself). The Mac Towers can allow for "popping in and out" of standard hardware (they are all Intel now) so if I want a "build-a-box" system I can still do it.

[Ducati]

The thing with Macs in my experience is that they easily break. I've had around 5 different ipods and every one of them got trashed somehow. But every time it happened I got a totally new one. Sometimes it was the same product but sometimes it was a newer version of the ipod etc. Good stuff.

 

 

Just to clarify, iPods are not Macs. Macs are the computers. I have two iPods both over 3 years old, and an iPhone about a year old, and they all work quite well for the abuse they receive. I have dropped my iPhone on pavement several times and it didn't break.

 

My Macs have been the most solidly built computers I have ever owned. The iBook was only plastic, but it is still running strong and my sister uses it now. It is going on 4 years old. My G5 and my Macbook Pro are encased in Aluminum. No cheesy plastic things to break off.

 

My Macbook Pro has a glossy screen which is absolutely awesome for colors. The resolution is just amazing.

[Addai]

iPod's aren't macs but they are computers made by Apple.

 

Macs are just terribly overpriced, which isn't something anyone can argue against. You can lookup production costs for them, the markup is insane. And now, their operating system feels like it was designed by a chimp compared to Windows 7.

 

I'm interested to see what comes out in the latest advent of OSX, because they quite seriously are going to need to fix their dock so it works in a more logical, effective manner.

[sinisterkungfu]

iPod's aren't macs but they are computers made by Apple.

 

Macs are just terribly overpriced, which isn't something anyone can argue against. You can lookup production costs for them, the markup is insane. And now, their operating system feels like it was designed by a chimp compared to Windows 7.

 

I'm interested to see what comes out in the latest advent of OSX, because they quite seriously are going to need to fix their dock so it works in a more logical, effective manner.

 

 

Windows 7 is nothing more than Vista with a few tweaks.

I've been using it since the alpha release. I don't plan on purchasing it. I'd rather use Leopard any time.

I'm no Apple bigot by any means. I have a macbook that's dual booting OSX and Windows XP, and I've got VM's of OpenSolaris, Haiku and DekstopBSD on it. My desktop is triple booting Ubuntu, XP, and Windows 7.

[Im Your Man]

The thing with Macs in my experience is that they easily break. I've had around 5 different ipods and every one of them got trashed somehow. But every time it happened I got a totally new one. Sometimes it was the same product but sometimes it was a newer version of the ipod etc. Good stuff.

I have the same iPod since many years, never had any problem.

 

The 1st computer i bought was a pc, eventhough there was an antivirus on it it got a virus during the first few days and never worked after this. I gave it for repair 3 or 4 times, they always gave it back to me saying it was fine now but it wasn't at all, sometimes worse, and each time I had to pay, finally the last time they said nothing could be made unless I change the motherboard, hard disk and everything. I bought a Mac instead and with no antivirus at all in years of internet never had any kind of problem at all. Sold it to buy a more performant Mac and never got problems either in years. Now I have also a PC laptop and its always slow, I ran a scan and it says there's 75 infections.

[Ducati]

iPod's aren't macs but they are computers made by Apple.

 

Macs are just terribly overpriced, which isn't something anyone can argue against. You can lookup production costs for them, the markup is insane. And now, their operating system feels like it was designed by a chimp compared to Windows 7.

 

I'm interested to see what comes out in the latest advent of OSX, because they quite seriously are going to need to fix their dock so it works in a more logical, effective manner.

 

 

Windows 7 is nothing more than Vista with a few tweaks.

I've been using it since the alpha release. I don't plan on purchasing it. I'd rather use Leopard any time.

I'm no Apple bigot by any means. I have a macbook that's dual booting OSX and Windows XP, and I've got VM's of OpenSolaris, Haiku and DekstopBSD on it. My desktop is triple booting Ubuntu, XP, and Windows 7.

 

 

This article agrees with you. http://www.pcworld.com/article/153624/under_the_hood_windows_7_is_vistas_twin.html

 

I think MS needs to put more effort into their flag ship product. Snow Leopard has almost no new features and I would have gladly paid full price simply because it is like doubling the horsepower in your car and using less fuel.

 

I picked up a time capsule and I am very impressed. It will backup my entire drive wirelessly in about 4 hours. Then, hourly backups of any changes. I don't have to worry about backing up ever again:)

[Storms]

I bought a MacBook last year. It was the first time I had really used a Mac and I fell in love with it. I just recently upgraded to a MacBook Pro which is beautiful

The only issue I've had was that on my last MacBook the disc drive broke. It would just spit all the CD's/DVD's I put in right out. I took it to the Apple store though and they fixed it right there in the store in about 10 minutes. So I've been pretty happy with my laptops so far!

[Addai]

Would you two get off it?

 

Windows 7 is the next installment of vista, of course it is similar. But it is FAR different, and FAR better in many, many ways. Let me give a quick list off the top of my head, that I hope you mac lovers will give consideration. I'm always amazed how defensive and stubborn people can be about their software:

 

 

 

First off, the taskbar is the best I've ever seen in any operating system, and seeing as that basically dictates the entire user experience for every day tasks, not to mention how much it matters in terms of productivity, that is a MASSIVE change. OSX should take a tip from Microsoft on how they might change their dock's functionality.

 

Second, a big past complaint was driver support. Windows 7 auto-magically finds and installs drivers like you would not believe. No small task considering the OCEANS of legacy hardware and new components constantly being released. This will be an enormous plus for noobs.

 

Third: Their security systems as a whole have been integrated into a single, easy to use and cohesive interface. It's damn good. It features their same improved firewall from vista, windows defender, and now they have a new antivirus client that is supposed to be one of the best on the market [free]. (Don't even begin to start with me that you mac users don't have security problems. Macs get cracked faster than anything at hacker conventions, though I will give apple kudos for FINALLY putting out security patches). Again, this feature is going to be excellent for noobs.

 

Fourth: Libraries. Best file management system yet in windows or mac world, in my opinion. So easy, so simple, so effective.

 

Five: Jumplists. Common users will love these, but if you're like me and work in a production environment, constantly are working on different projects with files spread across a suite of multimedia applications, constantly writing different papers, letters, etc. -- your life is going to see a vast improvement should you use jumplists. Or, you might just use libraries, easily accessible from the windows explorer taskbar button.

 

Six: Home groups. This is the easiest way probably ever implemented for a commercial operating system to create a network between computers. Now, with a couple clicks, you can be sharing all your music, videos, etc. with other systems. My roommate, for instance, is accessing my music library to play songs on his massive speakers. I'm accessing his video library. Everyone will love this, noobs and tech savvy alike.

 

 

 

 

There are probably a host of other things I'm forgetting, but to call this little more than Vista is ignorant. The user experience is massively different. This is the first operating system I've used in my life that I like.

[sinisterkungfu]

It's funny, most of the things you consider positive aspects I find to be annoying.

I hated the home groups, and I really didn't like way things were grouped on the task bar.

I hate, hate, HATE Windows Firewall and that's usually the first thing I disable on any system.

Free A/V is great and all, when it works but there have only been like 2 viruses in history that affect Macs.

Aero Peek was kinda cool.

I had a lot of problems with the entire desktop freezing when I opened certain non-Microsoft programs (like Firefox), to the point where you couldn't even kill it with task manager.

Their pricing scheme is flat out retarded and I'm not giving a dime to the evil empire.

Don't get me wrong, Macs definitely have their flaws as well, but like I said before, I'd use Leopard before I used Windows 7 any day of the week.

[Ducati]

The thing I hated about any PC I ever owned. You have a problem with it, so you call MS. They claim it is a hardware problem and tell you to call the manufacturer. The manufacturer says it is a Windows problem and tell you to call MS. I have run into this on almost every PC I have ever owned except Dell. Dell will actually provide support for Windows.

 

My display I am selling is up to $1280! Anyone need a 30 inch Cinema Display? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330366547153&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT#ht_1388wt_1165

 

I loved the 30 inch display, but it simply doesn't compare to the glossy screen. I might consider getting the 24 inch LED display, but I have to make sure I get the commission I am expecting. And then make sure I really want the display.

 

The only think I don't like about my Mac Book Pro is its replacement cost. I would rather have a smaller cheaper laptop for traveling. I am going to consider getting a tablet if and when Apple comes out with one. Otherwise, I am going to look into a used Macbook.

[Fallen_Horse]

MAC 30" LED Display

Resolution * 2560 x 1600 pixels (optimum resolution)

Display colors (maximum) * 16.7 million

Viewing angle (typical) * 178° horizontal; 178° vertical

Brightness (typical) * 400 cd/m2

Contrast ratio (typical) * 700:1

Response Time * 12ms

Pixel pitch * 0.250 mm

Price: $1800

 

 

LG W3000H-Bn 30" LCD

Recommended Resolution: 2560 x 1600

Viewing Angle: 178°(H) / 178°(V)

Display Colors: 16.7 Million

Brightness: 370 cd/m2

Contrast Ratio: 3000:1

Response Time: 5ms

Pixel Pitch: .25mm

Price: $1160

 

Game over Apple...

[Ducati]

MAC 30" LED Display

Resolution * 2560 x 1600 pixels (optimum resolution)

Display colors (maximum) * 16.7 million

Viewing angle (typical) * 178° horizontal; 178° vertical

Brightness (typical) * 400 cd/m2

Contrast ratio (typical) * 700:1

Response Time * 12ms

Pixel pitch * 0.250 mm

Price: $1800

 

 

LG W3000H-Bn 30" LCD

Recommended Resolution: 2560 x 1600

Viewing Angle: 178°(H) / 178°(V)

Display Colors: 16.7 Million

Brightness: 370 cd/m2

Contrast Ratio: 3000:1

Response Time: 5ms

Pixel Pitch: .25mm

Price: $1160

 

Game over Apple...

 

 

No such thing as a 30 inch LED. And I will pay a LOT more for customer service.

[ivanv06]

PC's you need to constantly update your virus protection . Mac computers are virtually virus-free . The price is ridiculous , but saving the headache's of repair and down-time without a computer is great . I have had my iMAC for 3 1/2 years problem free . To use Vista functionally you probably need to go through afew tutorials . User friendly it is not . My fiancee has had her macbook for the same amount of time problem free as well . No problems ever . When I was young we had one of those original prehistoric big looking imac structured apple computers . We had that for many years as well .PC's have been nothing but problems for me .

[Vegan Joe]

PC's you need to constantly update your virus protection . Mac computers are virtually virus-free . The price is ridiculous , but saving the headache's of repair and down-time without a computer is great . I have had my iMAC for 3 1/2 years problem free . To use Vista functionally you probably need to go through afew tutorials . User friendly it is not . My fiancee has had her macbook for the same amount of time problem free as well . No problems ever . When I was young we had one of those original prehistoric big looking imac structured apple computers . We had that for many years as well .PC's have been nothing but problems for me .

 

Just wondering how many PCs you had and for how long did you have them?

[Addai]

It's funny, most of the things you consider positive aspects I find to be annoying.

I hated the home groups, and I really didn't like way things were grouped on the task bar.

I hate, hate, HATE Windows Firewall and that's usually the first thing I disable on any system.

Free A/V is great and all, when it works but there have only been like 2 viruses in history that affect Macs.

Aero Peek was kinda cool.

I had a lot of problems with the entire desktop freezing when I opened certain non-Microsoft programs (like Firefox), to the point where you couldn't even kill it with task manager.

Their pricing scheme is flat out retarded and I'm not giving a dime to the evil empire.

Don't get me wrong, Macs definitely have their flaws as well, but like I said before, I'd use Leopard before I used Windows 7 any day of the week.

 

Homegroups is an easy to use integrated option for people to share files. Noobs will love it. Non-noobs still have a host of other options.

 

The way it groups icons is the best use of real estate i've seen a taskbar have, HOWEVER, you can simply turn off the grouping.

 

How on earth could windows firewall annoy you? Mind you windows firewall of win7 is completely different from xp. I've NEVER seen a single message from it, and according to a couple networking professors I've talked with it's up to snuff.

 

As for firefox crashing...this might be microsofts fault, it might be mozilla's. Who knows? You're using a BETA operating system, you cannot expect stability with all programs. I personally had stability with all major modern browsers. I can understand if some didn't. That's why they label it beta!

 

The pricing scheme is pretty retarded, but it's still cheaper. Mac's way of doing things is offering a cheap operating system with the caveat that you can only run it on our massively marked up machines. Microsoft doesn't make any profit off hardware, so they need to recoup their money solely on the software, and thus it costs more. But seeing as the machine you put it on costs so much less, the savings is still tremendous.

 

For me it just comes down to usability...mac's windows management is not logical, windows systems have long been logical but incredibly shitty (hence why I used to prefer macs). Windows 7 is the first to get it sort of right (there are definitely some improvements I want to see, but finally somebody put something out that's on the right track).

[SyrLinus]

MAC 30" LED Display

Resolution * 2560 x 1600 pixels (optimum resolution)

Display colors (maximum) * 16.7 million

Viewing angle (typical) * 178° horizontal; 178° vertical

Brightness (typical) * 400 cd/m2

Contrast ratio (typical) * 700:1

Response Time * 12ms

Pixel pitch * 0.250 mm

Price: $1800

 

 

LG W3000H-Bn 30" LCD

Recommended Resolution: 2560 x 1600

Viewing Angle: 178°(H) / 178°(V)

Display Colors: 16.7 Million

Brightness: 370 cd/m2

Contrast Ratio: 3000:1

Response Time: 5ms

Pixel Pitch: .25mm

Price: $1160

 

Game over Apple...

 

 

No such thing as a 30 inch LED. And I will pay a LOT more for customer service.

 

Agreed. They have a 24 Inch LED but their 30 inch is a HD LCD: http://tinyurl.com/yz3gq26

[Ducati]

Yes, the 24 inch LED is one reason I want to sell my 30 inch. If I wanted a bigger monitor, it would be an LED. That is what is on my Macbook Pro, and it is wonderful. The colors are so rich and it can get very bright, so reading it in direct sunlight isn't a problem. Plus, they have a power cord, firewire, and USB cord that connects to the MBP, so it essentially becomes a dock of sorts.

[Addai]

jesus 30" is huge. i don't think i'd even want a screen that big, probably better off with smaller but still large dual monitors. largest screen i've used is 24" and that's about as much real estate as i care to manage.

 

screen size isn't quite all that matters too. picking out a screen for my sisters computer that i recently built i went with one that was an inch smaller but had more pixels. high density pixels. so you lose an inch of physical size, but the images are ultra crisp, and you actually have more space on your screen.

[ivanv06]

PC's you need to constantly update your virus protection . Mac computers are virtually virus-free . The price is ridiculous , but saving the headache's of repair and down-time without a computer is great . I have had my iMAC for 3 1/2 years problem free . To use Vista functionally you probably need to go through afew tutorials . User friendly it is not . My fiancee has had her macbook for the same amount of time problem free as well . No problems ever . When I was young we had one of those original prehistoric big looking imac structured apple computers . We had that for many years as well .PC's have been nothing but problems for me .

 

Just wondering how many PCs you had and for how long did you have them?

 

Vegan Joe we had a gateway , HP , and my brother currently still uses his Dell . The Dell has held up well and my brother keeps up to date with virus scans . The HP , i dont know what happened . It stopped working after 3 months , a virus . If anyone wants a HP with a pentium 3 i know its outdated , 200 bucks ill ship it . And the gateway lasted and we gave it to my uncle when it was outdated .