Mac Pro

[JW Dewdney]

what i like about the state of computers is that they've hit a kind of plateau for people who aren't doing cutting edge work. i outgrew my 7 year old mac and replaced it with a 5 year old mac. i was able to get all the computer i need, with an excellent monitor and tons of memory for well under a thousand dollars on craigslist.

A few years ago this wasn't possible--a five year old computer was a doorstop back then.

That's the way to do it, Paul - I'm looking to upgrade to G4 pretty soon! Just waiting for a $500 MDD 1GHz unit to show up on CL!!

[Frank Petronio]

I think the Kurzweil scanner was meant to assist blind - err, let's be PC and call them visually impaired - people with text reading. It was the artists who hot rodded them and tried doing graphics. But I think mine was something of a break through, one of the first inexpensive scanners -- $3600 or so.

Funny thing is that scanning software hasn't improved much since. Oh, they added a RGB control plane but that looks like about it. Even the interfaces look like 1989!

Yep, Republicans use Macs. Even Rush Limbaugh is a Mac fan, and Macs play prominent roles in Tom Clancey novels. And out in the field, our sometimes brain dead military does use some Macs for secure communications. I think Jobs is Taxocrat and Gates is out in Bono-land...

[Michael Graves]

Hey Frank,

Political orientation doesn't dictate who uses a MAC. Democrats, Republicans and Independents ALL use MACs. In fact, just about anybody who is sick and tired of the sound of crashing Windows applications, daily virus updates and downloading 160GB of Service Packs each week has moved over to a MAC.

[Charles]

Hey Frank,

Political orientation doesn't dictate who uses a MAC. Democrats, Republicans and Independents ALL use MACs. In fact, just about anybody who is sick and tired of the sound of crashing Windows applications, daily virus updates and downloading 160GB of Service Packs each week has moved over to a MAC.

All the PC bashing here is entertaining but the assumptions are far overstated. I use PCs and have considered MACs at various times over the years, and for various reasons remained a PC user. That isn't to say with the new MACs I may not reconsider at some point. Perhaps I've been lucky. I don't see the blue screen of death anymore often than my friend down the street sees the grey screen of death. He s a graphic designer and his Mac system has given him more grief over the last year than my PC.

As for the virus updates, they happen tranparently and automatically. My AMD dual core based machine runs just fine and is very stable. And you can laugh at the service pack updates but they help keep the machine secure and contrary to what others HERE may say, the hackers are coming to MAC land. At a recent convention of hackers in Las Vegas, a supposedly secure MAC was hacked in five minutes in a public demonstration. PC owners may ultimately have the last laugh. Apple has refused to publicly and agressively acknowledge they do have some security issues while Microsoft has taken steps to combat the problem head on.

[robc]

I always thought the biggest selling point of macs was that they were foolproof.

[paulr]

I always thought the biggest selling point of macs was that they were foolproof.

No such thing!

I think the real promise of the Mac is that you'll spend far fewer hours screaming at it than you did your PC. But you still spend too many hours screaming.

As far the Mac that got hacked in Vegas, you have to get the details on these reports. The last time someone won one of thos hack-a-mac contests, it turns out they were given a local account on the machine. Which is like taking credit for burglaraizing Fort Knox when you a key to the front door.

[Bruce Watson]

I'll need one later, when Adobe finally takes Photoshop 64 bit so it can take advantage of what this machine and Leopard can do.

I've got some 1.1 GB files to work on, and Photoshop is amazingly slow -- each operation takes minutes (and yes, this machine is fully optimized for Photoshop). It spends far too much time going to disk. I'd love to try it with a 6 or 8 GB machine...

Maybe in another year, eh?

[Marko]

As for the virus updates, they happen tranparently and automatically. My AMD dual core based machine runs just fine and is very stable. And you can laugh at the service pack updates but they help keep the machine secure and contrary to what others HERE may say, the hackers are coming to MAC land. At a recent convention of hackers in Las Vegas, a supposedly secure MAC was hacked in five minutes in a public demonstration. PC owners may ultimately have the last laugh. Apple has refused to publicly and agressively acknowledge they do have some security issues while Microsoft has taken steps to combat the problem head on.

Yeah, Microsoft takes those steps every day, and head-on, all right. I don't know about you, but I would certainly not take the number of security and other patches for the OS as a measure of its quality.

Any computer platform can be hacked or made to fail in so many other ways. It's just that in my experience (and apparently not only mine), Macs do it much less often and in fewer ways.

And I've been a dual user for the last ten years. Before that, I was PC-only guy. Did tech support for a living, obtained a few certifications along the way.

There are three main reasons why I prefer Macs over PCs:

1. OS - There's just no comparison. In the last ten years, I had a Mac crash on me twice, both times before OSX and both times due to bad third party memory. That's it. Two (2) times in ten years.

2. Build - their build quality is way above an average PCs. There are PCs' built on the same level, but they also cost the same or more.

3. Design - I am not buying the usual come-back that design does not matter. It does matter to me. It's just like with cars - design doesn't run your car, but you still have to walk to it every time.

But that's just me - If you prefer a PC, than the best computer for you is a PC, period.

Then again, if you really were that happy and confident with your choice, why are all PC users on this forum writing caustic comments in every Mac-related thread?

Both of you...

[fred arnold]

>>I think the real promise of the Mac is that you'll spend far fewer hours screaming at it than you did your PC.

I find my self screaming at it less, and often settling for, "Now, now, stop that...". Windows generally causes me to channel Longshoremen. We will pass on the phrases that SGI used to inspire.

[Charles]

But that's just me - If you prefer a PC, than the best computer for you is a PC, period.

Then again, if you really were that happy and confident with your choice, why are all PC users on this forum writing caustic comments in every Mac-related thread?

Both of you...

There are probably more PC users here than you might imagine. Some may prefer to forgo the abuse they're likely to receive by admitting it. As for me, my PCs work fine, my prints look the same coming out of my printer as they do on my screen, I sell my work, and my customers don't ask if I did it on a Mac or PC system.

As for this forum, it's really no different than others I've frequented during my industry career. There are always those that immediately circle the wagons to defend a brand for technical and emotional reasons. I've witness this phenomena in high end audio, video and photography. I've seen it happen with groups of BOSE owners who believe it's the best audio gear in the world (No highs, no lows, it must be BOSE) and of course, the Nikon vs Canon debates. It's no different between PC and MAC owners.

I attach no emotions to any piece of hardware that I own whether it be audio, video or photographic in nature. I've long gotten out of the exotic (make that expensive)automobile thing. They are tools for me, period. When one ceases to do the job for me or is no longer competitive, or gives me lots of grief, I look for new alternative solutions. I haven't had to do so with my PCs. Your mileage obviously has varied.