PC vs MAC, TELL ME.! Options

[Uronacid]

They're light and have a kickass battery, perfect for class.

But just about every laptop these days has a good battery. Now that LCD's have LED back lit screens the battery life for all laptops has been extended... :/

[sixfive]

Not in my experience. All that shit says it'll last 3-4 hour or whatever, but when I'm running word and an internet browser, it drops to barely over 2 and a half hours. I went through 4 bullshit hours of class today and still have another hour left, at least, and I was running firefox itunes vlc word and adium.

[Uronacid]

Not in my experience. All that shit says it'll last 3-4 hour or whatever, but when I'm running word and an internet browser, it drops to barely over 2 and a half hours. I went through 4 bullshit hours of class today and still have another hour left, at least, and I was running firefox itunes vlc word and adium.

I never have a problem with my Lenovo. It usually lasts me about 5-6 hours.

[brooklyneast05]

i agree with steven. my macbook is lighter and has a better battery than the pc's i've used. even though i know there are light pc laptops...typically when i looked at those it seemed i was getting up in the macbook price range anyway so why not. mac is all i use in all my art classes anyway so i prefer it for my major.

[heyo-captain-jac...]

My old Gateway laptop, which had a Core 2 Duo overclocked to 2.8 GHz, lasted six hours on battery with Firefox, mIRC, and Second Life running.

[mipadi]

I always get a kick out of these "PC vs. Mac" debates, because I feel that the discussions are almost invariably flawed in a couple ways:

Choice

First of all, when approaching these discussions, Windows users generally approach them from the context that Windows is the choice, and anyone who chooses differently is deviating from the status quo and thus the responsibility is on them to justify their choice. In other words, Windows is the default, correct choice. But I've been using Macs since the early 90s, so from my perspective, switching to Windows is a choice that would have to be justified.

Quantitative Measurements

The PC vs. Mac often ends up in a discussion about technical merits (e.g., technical specifications), and all other aspects of the discussion are simply ignored. I think this usually happens because the participants in this discussion are geeky, and geeks love numbers; at any rate, it's easier to compare and contrast quantitative measurements, as opposed to qualitative attributes. So the discussion branches into two areas: capability and tech specs. Capability is a matter of generating a list -- "Can you browse the web on this computer? Can you play games? Can you use Microsoft Office?" -- and then ticking things off the list, and comparing the results -- "Oh! Your Mac can't play games! My PC is better." or "My PC can read email, too, so why should I buy a Mac?"

Then the conversation invariably turns to tech specs. "Your iMac is $1400. I can build a Dell with the same specs for $800. Why buy a Mac?"

What's Missing

Of course, such a discussion leaves out a very important aspect of computing: aesthetics. Because aesthetics is not easily quantifiable, it is generally left out of these debates, but it's every bit as important as the other areas (maybe even more important). By "aesthetics", I mean questions like "Is the UI attractive? Is the UI intuitive? How easy is it to install/uninstall applications? Does the UI expose powerful tools when necessary, but hide them away when I don't need or want them? How easy is it to change my (network settings, desktop settings, etc.)? Is it easy for the common developer to design attractive interfaces for their applications?" Or even more trivial aspects: "Is the form factor an ugly piece of molded plastic, or a gently-sculpted piece of aluminum?" (And if you argue that PC users don't care about that "nonsense", why do PC builders sometimes spend hundreds of dollars on a "pretty" case?)

So what the argument really boils down to is taste and priorities. What's important to you: price/performance ratio? whether the UI is pixel-perfect? ease of use? expandability? There's really no right answer here, but those questions are the basic fundamentals of the discussion -- even though everyone always focuses on capabilities and specifications.

[heyo-captain-jac...]

http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm

It's Linux vs Windows, but since Mac is a UNIX OS and Linux is UNIX-like, it's the exact same concept.

[batman]

Idk, I've had PCs up until 6 months ago when I got my Macbook and I honestly don't think I'll ever go back. I'm not a computer person by far and don't really know shit about the technicalities, so aside from statistics and what runs faster and all the other pros/cons about viruses, running programs, prices, etc etc etc... one of the main reasons why I prefer a Mac (or any Apple product) is because of excellent customer service.

All my previous laptops have crashed at one point or another and I've had to deal with over-the-phone idiots who tell me shit that I already know and tell me to do shit that I've already tried, then tell me to send in my product to the factory only to return it with all the same problems.

I love that if anything goes wrong with my Mac, I've got the apple store that is open 24/7 ready to help me out in person.

[heyo-captain-jac...]

Because I live in an obscure tourist city, where everyone goes, and no one actually stays, if I want a Mac, I would have to order it from the Apple website. Nobody really stays here long enough to buy something more expensive than a novelty mug, so I don't have the luxury of having an Apple store any closer than Alabama.

tl;dr Your customer service argument doesn't apply to everyone.

[batman]

did i say it applied to everyone? i thought i was just stating my own experience.

[heyo-captain-jac...]

I wasn't talking to you. Everyone makes the customer service argument.

[sixfive]

sucks for you

[batman]

I wasn't talking to you. Everyone makes the customer service argument.

uh, ok... you used "your" in your post, you posted right after me, and you made a direct counterargument to the whole point of my post, so obviously i'm going to think you were talking to me.

tbh, you've got way bigger problems in your life other than living in a crappy ass city with no apple store. and yes, i'm talking to you, buttsex. YOU.

[heyo-captain-jac...]

It was a counter-argument to everyone making the same argument about customer service.

I know I have bigger problems than living in a city with no Apple store, because I don't give a f*ck that I live in a city with no Apple store.

Who are you anyway? I don't think I know your username.

[Uronacid]

To be honest I have had nothing but good customer service from Dell, Lenovo, Alienware, and HP. It's no surprise that apple would treat their customers any differently. I believe Mipadi hit the nail on the head when he said...

Apple = Aesthetics
Windows = Bang for Buck

[illriginal]

http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm

It's Linux vs Windows, but since Mac is a UNIX OS and Linux is UNIX-like, it's the exact same concept.

That's why I never really bother to argue Linux vs. Mac.


If you ever look at both OS, their capabilities, specifically, you'll realize they do the same ol' shit out of the box.

At least from what I've compared.

[heyo-captain-jac...]

That's why I never really bother to argue Linux vs. Mac.
If you ever look at both OS, their capabilities, specifically, you'll realize they do the same ol' shit out of the box.

At least from what I've compared.

The biggest difference is that Linux is open source, and Mac is ridiculously f*cking expensive.

[mipadi]

The biggest difference is that Linux is open source, and Mac is ridiculously f*cking expensive.

Don't you (or your parents, or whomever) pay several hundred dollars a month for an Internet connection, when you can get a speedy Internet connection for, like, $40-50/month?

[brooklyneast05]

maybe it's just me but i never really thought mac was OMG SO f*ckING EXPENSIVE. spending 1000-1500 on a laptop that i use every single day for years is not a big deal to me. it's not a bad price to me at all.

[heyo-captain-jac...]

So?

I'm comparing to other *nix operating systems, not everything you could possibly have with a computer

[mipadi]

So?

I'm comparing to other *nix operating systems, not everything you could possibly have with a computer

Is this in response to my post, or JC's?

[brooklyneast05]

pretty sure it's in response to yours cause we posted at the same time i think

[illriginal]

maybe it's just me but i never really thought mac was OMG SO f*ckING EXPENSIVE. spending 1000-1500 on a laptop that i use every single day for years is not a big deal to me. it's not a bad price to me at all.

Look at the specs.


Specs is priority. I've said it before.. I could build a bad ass machine with $2000. With those same exact specs, on a Mac, it would cost a SHIT load more.

And for what? lol... just throw Linux onto that bad bish and save mad loot.

[heyo-captain-jac...]

Is this in response to my post, or JC's?

Yours.

[mipadi]

Yours.

In that case, take a look at Internet connections for a second. Fundamentally, Internet connections perform the same task: they download a stream of bytes from a remote computer. The only real difference, then, is in speed. Now, a cable connection is clearly a big step up from a dial-up connection, but as you move to faster and faster broadband connections, the law of diminishing returns applies. The point is, you (or your parents) pay a few hundred bucks a month for, fundamentally, the same service as a person with a $40/month broadband connection -- the only difference is that yours is faster. Most people would say that they'd rather pay $40/month and take a few more hours to download a movie, but clearly you feel otherwise: you've weighed your options and decided that paying much, much more per month is worth the cost, even though you could accomplish the same goal with a cheap broadband connection.

The same applies to this debate, as far as price is concerned. Sure, you can do more or less the same thing with a cheap PC and a free OS like Linux, but a lot of people -- myself included -- weigh the options and say, "Hey, a Mac is a lot nicer to use, it has nicer software, etc. etc." and are willing to pay a few hundred bucks more for an Apple laptop. (Although I'd argue that OS X and a free Unix-like OS like BSD or Linux are hardly interchangeable; I don't have much trouble installing the same tools on OS X that I use on Linux or FreeBSD, but I'd have a lot of trouble trying to run some of my OS X applications on Linux! In that sense, the functionality of OS X is a superset of that of Linux, rather than an equivalent set.)

What it comes down to is priorities.

(I'd also point out that paying a few hundred bucks more for a laptop once isn't as astounding as paying a few hundred bucks more for an Internet connection every month, but I digress. )