My 2 cents

whunt18885

New Member
Right I need to vent. I have been working in IT for 10 years and I have seen many things, however the single biggest bug bear for me is Apple.

I will say right from the off that I am not a PC loyalist. I own a iPod as I respect the fact that its a better music device than most other music players and I have had a iPhone in the past which was jolly nice.

My gripe here is with Apple computers and the complete A*$e that Mac terrorists bang on about. I therefore wish to bring to your attention the following responses I have to dispell some myths:

1. "Macs just work" - This is clearly not the case I have had to repair and reformat at least 100 macs of all shapes and sizes in the last year alone. So that's that.

2. "Macs dont get viruses" again false. Macs make up a very small part of the worldwide computer market. People who make viruses want to infect as many people as possible so they aim at PC users. Simple

3. Upgradeability - I recently swapped a graphics card on my gaming PC. Total cost was £60 and about 3 mins fitting time, even someone with fingers made of cheese could accompolish this task. To do the same on a Mac well you can't you get what you're given and that is that now stand in line to receive your bowl of gruel like the rest of the Mac fraternity.

4. Cost. Currently a Macbook air is selling for £999 from a popular high street PC store. My acer laptop cost me £500 lets look at a comparison:

HDD - Mac is 64GB Acer is 500GB
Processor - Mac is a 1.6ghz i3 my Acer has a 2.3ghz i5
USB - Mac has 1 Acer has 6
Graphics - Mac has built in upto 256mb Acer has standalone Nvidia 512mb
RAM - Mac has 4GB Acer has 6GB

Basically you pay twice as much for less customisation and less spec.

I am tired of people banging on about how PC's are rubbish. Its time that people actually looked at the facts, Windows 7 is just as likely to crash as OSX and they are just as stable as each other.

Dont give me the idividuality guff either go into any starbucks and I can bet 70%will be shamefully whoring themselves out to the gods of Apple. Where are all the PC users then. Doing what we do best keeping calm and carrying on.

I am working on a Windows 7 PC now and the last time I needed to reboot was 32 days ago.

Get a mac if you want be at least admit that the only reason you are getting one is because you think they are 'cool'. At least be honest, there is no other reason why you would buy one its certainly not for price or spec
 

tremmor

Well-Known Member
If thats what the majority used i would have one. Industrial use won't happen and not standard like for plc's, motor control devices, troubleshooting industry. Time and a place for one though. Picture editing and graphics. No problem with it. Never owned one.
 

Troncoso

VIP Member
Those arguments are horrible...

100 macs a year? That's not a lot compared to how many are sold....Either way, macs on their own will rarely mess up and you will never have compatibility or driver issues. Most errors on macs are user-generated.

They don't get viruses because people don't make viruses for them...either way it's still a plus....

Why don't you try upgrading the video card in a laptop and see how that goes. You can't compare upgrading a gaming pc to a macbook or an imac.

And research the parts a bit better. The processors are i5's and i7's. No i3's. The harddrive they use is made up of flash storage, which is much faster than your hard drive. The screens on a mac are much much higher quality than a regular laptop, not to mention the higher resolution. The 13.3" has the same resolution as some 17.3" laptops. the 15" is full 1080.
The aluminum casing is also of above average quality. Oh, and find me a laptop as thin as the air at a cheaper price.


I'm not a mac user, nor will I ever be. But, I definitely see the benefits of owning one and I can also tell when people just want to jump on the anti-mac bandwagon and make claims about things they don't know about.
 
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PohTayToez

Active Member
100 macs a year? That's not a lot compared to how many are sold....Either way, macs on their own will rarely mess up and you will never have compatibility or driver issues. Most errors on macs are user-generated.

I too hate the mentality that Macs are full proof. While I would definitely concede that Macs are more reliable as whole vs PCs, in part because you have so many cheaply made budget PCs, Macs definitely have their share of hardware problems. Macs are getting better and better quality however I remember entire product lines that were defective. Apple has lost numerous class action law suits over iPod defects, and then there's the iMac G5s which have a huge rate of motherboard failure. These are just two examples that come to mind, there are others.

I don't think Apple has a much better track record than any other major company if you're comparing similar products in the same price range.

I could go through the other points, but in general I agree with the OP. Overall I think Macs are good computers that are definitely easier to use but harder to customize in some aspects, but I've never really thought that the benefits of Macs outweigh the the large difference in price and the disadvantage of not having any sort of budget option.
 

Dngrsone

VIP Member
I think a better argument would be that Macs are built and designed for use by people who prefer not knowing what goes on under the hood. These people want an appliance, and that is exactly what they are buying.

Microsoft has been trying for years to keep up with Apple's talent for making the user interface utterly transparent, with mixed results.

Personally, I like to not follow the crowd. I was content with Windows machines while I could still hack the interface to a certain depth, and then I left. I do not use default anything-- part of that is for security, but a lot of it is because I am a mechanic and I like to 'fix' things.

But really, all this back-and-forth nonsense about which is better is just that-- nonsense. To use a car metaphor, a muscle-car and a sedan will both get you from point A to point B, in the same amount of time; it is up to the individual user to determine which vehicle would provide them the most enjoyable experience in the process.
 

funkysnair

VIP Member
ive always liked the look of macs but there spec to price ratio is horrible!!
to me a mac is priced like alienware pc's.
ive built many pcs and i find a little effort from user can result in years of pc use with no problems...
i have nothing against apple and i think all there users are boring lol (joke)
 

PohTayToez

Active Member
I think a better argument would be that Macs are built and designed for use by people who prefer not knowing what goes on under the hood. These people want an appliance, and that is exactly what they are buying.

Microsoft has been trying for years to keep up with Apple's talent for making the user interface utterly transparent, with mixed results.

Personally, I like to not follow the crowd. I was content with Windows machines while I could still hack the interface to a certain depth, and then I left. I do not use default anything-- part of that is for security, but a lot of it is because I am a mechanic and I like to 'fix' things.

But really, all this back-and-forth nonsense about which is better is just that-- nonsense. To use a car metaphor, a muscle-car and a sedan will both get you from point A to point B, in the same amount of time; it is up to the individual user to determine which vehicle would provide them the most enjoyable experience in the process.

I completely agree, but it seems to me that the average PC enthusiast has a realistic view of Mac (good but expensive), while the average Mac enthusiast thinks their computer is on some higher plane above the hardware and software problems of the lowly PC peasant.

And then there is some of Apple's business practices which is probably the main source of my aversion to them.
 

Dngrsone

VIP Member
I completely agree, but it seems to me that the average PC enthusiast has a realistic view of Mac (good but expensive), while the average Mac enthusiast thinks their computer is on some higher plane above the hardware and software problems of the lowly PC peasant.

That is mostly because Jobs was a marketing genius. Also, though, you have to look at the Apple user demographic in the early decades-- the people who could afford to spend a little extra money for an Apple device were the trend-obsessed yuppies. They would fixate on a brand for whatever reason and then build it into a cult-like requirement for admission into the clique.
 

funkysnair

VIP Member
That is mostly because Jobs was a marketing genius. Also, though, you have to look at the Apple user demographic in the early decades-- the people who could afford to spend a little extra money for an Apple device were the trend-obsessed yuppies. They would fixate on a brand for whatever reason and then build it into a cult-like requirement for admission into the clique.

my girlfriend has an ipod and an iphone - im going to buy her an ipad 2 16gb but there is no way in a million years is she getting an apple mac etc...
kinda begrudge getting her the ipad but its the only way i can get my laptop back off her lol
 

Dngrsone

VIP Member
my girlfriend has an ipod and an iphone - im going to buy her an ipad 2 16gb but there is no way in a million years is she getting an apple mac etc...
kinda begrudge getting her the ipad but its the only way i can get my laptop back off her lol

Well, like I said, the early demographic was like that. I'm talking pre-iPod. That, as can be said for most of Jobs' innovations, was a game-changer.

The iPod pulled the Millennial generation (and not a few Gen-X) into the fold and made for a much larger audience when it came time to pitch more Macintosh machines.

But again, it's largely marketing. They got the ball rolling from early on-- donate machine to schools, get the kids learning on Apple machines. Aggressive ad campaigns, conspicuous brand-placement in film and television... hell, even when they mask an Apple appliance, you still know what it is (a pear? are you guys that creatively stunted, or do you think you are being cute?).

All the big Hollywood stars own an Apple, all the 'cool' people do. If they don't, it's only obvious that it isn't an Apple.
 

funkysnair

VIP Member
i do hate how the ipod is only linked to itunes and in that sense i will not buy an ipod, would rather buy a creative zen or such... i dont like the feeling of not having a choice!!!
 

CrazyMike

New Member
i do hate how the ipod is only linked to itunes and in that sense i will not buy an ipod, would rather buy a creative zen or such... i dont like the feeling of not having a choice!!!

Thus is Apple products. Apple limits you to what they want you to do / can do with the product.
 

StrangleHold

Moderator
Staff member
Mark my words. With Jobs gone, Apple will be in the same shape they were in 1996 within 5 to 7 years. Without the man that could make his followers think a average piece of hardware was gold, its doomed.
 

PohTayToez

Active Member
Can't run a PS3 disk in an xbox 360

Right, PS3 and XBox are equally closed systems, and you can make the same argument against them except their products aren't really meant to have such a broad use, and having a closed system helps prevent cheaters and video game pirating which isn't really an argument you can make about a computer.
 

Troncoso

VIP Member
The reason for their proprietary design is for those who just need a computer that works without having to worry about maintenance. If you need a lot of customization, or want to periodically upgrade hardware, or what have you, then no, a mac is not for you. If you just need a fast computer that will take care of all your school/work/video/photo editing needs without worrying about getting viruses or keeping drivers up to date, then yeah, a mac is a really good option.
 

whunt18885

New Member
Ok I need to re-iterate my points:

firstly I agree 100 macs a year to fix is small but that is because I work for a small company duh! In comparison I would say I have had to fix around 300-400 PC's which whilst more given the ratio of PC to Mac users it does not look good for the "macs never go wrong" argument.

Secondly whilst I did not get my spec stats perfect the point I was trying to point out is that bang for buck you get far less from a Mac than you do a PC. Show me a Mac that will handle most everyday tasks and has the ability to upgrade for less than £400 ! Oh that's right they don't exist. Mac = Epic Fail

I do not hate Apple I just loathe the idea the everyone is stupid and as a result we have to use jumped up early learning computers to get by. Why would you honestly pay twice as much for something that is half the spec of a PC equivalent other than to say I have a MAC,

Surely on this generalisation almost all MAC users are pretentious socialites, prove me wrong.

The End.

P.S Just taken a call from a MAC user who can't get their Mac book to work on the wireless at the local Cafe Nero. Nuff said
 

Dngrsone

VIP Member
Ok I need to re-iterate my points:

firstly I agree 100 macs a year to fix is small but that is because I work for a small company duh! In comparison I would say I have had to fix around 300-400 PC's which whilst more given the ratio of PC to Mac users it does not look good for the "macs never go wrong" argument.

Secondly whilst I did not get my spec stats perfect the point I was trying to point out is that bang for buck you get far less from a Mac than you do a PC. Show me a Mac that will handle most everyday tasks and has the ability to upgrade for less than £400 ! Oh that's right they don't exist. Mac = Epic Fail

I do not hate Apple I just loathe the idea the everyone is stupid and as a result we have to use jumped up early learning computers to get by. Why would you honestly pay twice as much for something that is half the spec of a PC equivalent other than to say I have a MAC,

Surely on this generalisation almost all MAC users are pretentious socialites, prove me wrong.

The End.

P.S Just taken a call from a MAC user who can't get their Mac book to work on the wireless at the local Cafe Nero. Nuff said

I reiterate my answer:

I think a better argument would be that Macs are built and designed for use by people who prefer not knowing what goes on under the hood. These people want an appliance, and that is exactly what they are buying.

...

But really, all this back-and-forth nonsense about which is better is just that-- nonsense. To use a car metaphor, a muscle-car and a sedan will both get you from point A to point B, in the same amount of time; it is up to the individual user to determine which vehicle would provide them the most enjoyable experience in the process.

:cool:
 
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