Mac versus PC

[8x10 user]

I have had a really bad experience with apple's G5 quad core computer and it has turned me into a hardcore PC enthusiast. I don't know why people buy mac computers. They are overpriced and you can build a much higher quality PC on your own. I know there are a lot of Mac users in this forum and I just don't get it. What is so great about a mac?

Inside it is just a regular nothing special PC, at best it is only slightly better then the very worse prebuilt PC's. There are much much better parts out there to build your own PC, and some companies actually sell prebuilt PC's with top tier parts.

For example there are dozens of companies always competing to produce the best possible cooling systems. Every year new innovative CPU coolers are brought to the market that surpass last years best. There are plenty of review sites that show actual benchmarks proving which CPU cooler is the best. It is said that a reduction of 1 degree Celsius increases the life of a CPU by 10%. Wouldn't you want the most efficient highest quality CPU cooler in your system? The stuff apple uses is no where near competitive with whats on the market. Why use a stock CPU cooler when a high end one might run your system 20 degrees cooler?

I just don't get it. Is it that the buyers of apple computers just don't know better or that they don't want to do any research into quality PC options?

[brianam]

yikes, if there was ever a message that merits the "Don't feed the trolls!" reply, this might be it.

but to actually reply to this (shouldn't, i know) : It's the OS, it's not about the hardware.

[Darin Boville]

To turn the topic a little (maybe into more interesting territory) even Microsoft has realized that there isn't and isn't going to be much innovation in the PC-world. If it wants to survive in the long term it needs to have its own hardware (thus the new tablet). Which raises the question, what are the top five technical innovations from the top PC makers, in the last ten years? I'm blanking...

--Darin

[8x10 user]

The hardware available for PC's was so much better that apple dumped IBM and started using mainstream PC components. All of the upgrades to Apples lines of computers are a result of advancing PC technology.

I'm sure I am missing a lot but here are a few innovations that PC's have brought us.

The invention of the tablet PC
PCI express 3.0
DDR3
Trim for SSD drives
Vapor chamber cooled video cards
USB 3.0
AMD bulldozer
Much better CPU coolers
Power caching in power supplies
All improvements to x86 and 64 bit CPU's
SLI video card's
iodrive from fusion io
E-sata
USB drives
open GL / CL
CUDA
OCZ's HSDL

To turn the topic a little (maybe into more interesting territory) even Microsoft has realized that there isn't and isn't going to be much innovation in the PC-world. If it wants to survive in the long term it needs to have its own hardware (thus the new tablet). Which raises the question, what are the top five technical innovations from the top PC makers, in the last ten years? I'm blanking...

--Darin

[jp]

I've got an IT related business that has lots of computers. We never suffer computer failure because the CPU wasn't cool enough with the factory cooling. Doesn't happen (statistically speaking) The mad CPU cooling craze is largely for overclocking hobbyist/gamer people; and yes, if you use the processor in a manner beyond what's it's intended, you will need extra cooling and risk the longevity of the machine. Computers do fail or exhibit problems when a cooling system gets clogged with dust or animal hair, but that is usually fixed with an air compressor cleaning.

Some people like their macs and will keeping buying them, even at a premium price. It's called brand loyalty. I'm kinda agnostic and use linux, windows, and mac. Mac has a good operating system for internet security that is worth a slight premium over microsoft. I would not dare let a kid (or morally loose adult) recreationally surf the Internet with Windows and all the spyware from "free game" sites, adult sites, etc.. and accidently landing on those sorts of sites. Mac or LInux would be far safer for those Internet unknowns. My home windows computer is used for photo editing/management and that only.

[Frank Petronio]

The Mac hardware has always been pleasingly designed and simple to integrate compared to a PC. And the OS is also easier to set-up and maintain. Mac apps are more consistent, and usually more stable. The user interface is nicer, even to the fonts, although Windows has come a long way from the old days. As a graphic designer it is really hard to forgive them for Arial....

Go look at laptops. None are as clean and tightly built as a MacBook Pro or Air, at any price.

Sure if you are an experienced PC user who likes building computers then great, go for it. But for a lot of us, it is worth a few bucks more not to build computers and to have everything pretty well specced and matched at a fair price. How much is your time worth? More than any price differential I hope!

Same for the OS, on the Mac they've tested and considered it far deeper than Windows, and if you watch an experienced Mac user with a reasonable system, they can fly through stuff at least as fast or better than a similarly experienced PC user with a system of the same value.

From quality fonts, Postscript printing, optical drives, color profiling, dual monitor support, etc. most of the tools we depend on originated on the Mac.

[roresteen]

Frank -

"Same for the OS, on the Mac they've tested and considered it far deeper than Windows, and if you watch an experienced Mac user with a reasonable system, they can fly through stuff at least as fast or better than a similarly experienced PC user with a system of the same value."

My experience has been the exact opposite. I often have said anything you can do on a Mac, you can do faster and cheaper on a PC. That's coming from a Mac/PC household of over 17 years. I have been in the trenches with both systems, literally fixing and repairing many hardware and software issues from both. Despite the hype that it is *easier* to use a Mac, I have found neither OS is immune to stupidity and or planned obsolescence by design. The examples are too many to get into here.

After using the very first Mac in 1984 and several Mac systems since then up to System 9, I have found nothing spectacular about Mac OS 10. I think your statement is relative to the ability of the individual user and their level of experience with the given OS. I know many a photographer who use PC's for extensive and heavy post process work load in both Lightroom 3/4 as well as CS5 PS with a PC. I doubt there are any here that could work any faster or "easier" just because they are on Mac OSX. It used to be, pre-Windows XP Pro SP3, that there were many advantages using a Mac both from a system perspective and of the specific ports of Photoshop, Illustrator and other image editing/creating programs. But times have changed, lines have blurred and the operational advantages Apple once could claim simple do not exist anymore, other than the particular bias and sense of familiarity the end user has with their Mac.

But at the end of the day, like your camera/lens/medium, use what makes you happy.

[Lenny Eiger]

After using the very first Mac in 1984 and several Mac systems since then up to System 9, I have found nothing spectacular about Mac OS 10. snip... But times have changed, lines have blurred and the operational advantages Apple once could claim simple do not exist anymore, other than the particular bias and sense of familiarity the end user has with their Mac.

rersteen,

What you are saying is blatantly incorrect. I have "early adopter's disease" and put up a server farm in 2002 with OS 10.1. It was hard to use, you had to do a lot of things in the Unix terminal app. In OS 9 we had to restart the servers once a month as they would fill up their buffers and crash. (Kinda like NT.) The OS X servers have been going for 10 years straight, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. It is true that new machines have been added and we have upgraded to the new OS'es as they were made available. But I have had a 10-year period with no need to ever restart one of my servers. They have never crashed!

OS X is so much more stable its ridiculous. I am currently running, in addition to the very buggy PhotoShop CS6, 15 other programs. This is not an approximation, I just counted. The Mac switches easily between them whenever I need to. My Mac doesn't go down. I leave it on all the time. You simply couldn't do this with OS 9.

Nothing is perfect. I can complain about one or another issues with the interface. However, basing the OS on UNIX was the best thing that Jobs ever did.

Lenny

[Light Guru]

Like has been said its the OS. OS X is so much more intuitive to use. in addition to that a lot of people like to have one place to go to for support. Being able to get face to face tech support for your hardware and software at Apples Genius Bar is HUGE for a lot of people. And on top of that Apples customer service has been ranked incredibly high for years.

Besides most people out there don't want to "build" a computer they just want to buy and use one.

[Bob Salomon]

So what you are really doing with this thread is trying to justify the custom PC you are trying to sell?
Right?