What makes a pc better than a mac?

Ethan3.14159 · Dec 1, 2009

I bought myself a Macbook Pro just this week. While the price is a bit steep, it's obvious you get what you pay for. Amazing design and build quality is noticeable right from the start. Apple have created a lot of interesting things that PC's don't have. Like the multitouch feature on Macbook's, for example. Not really a huge thing when you think about it in passing, but it's really quite innovative. The OS is great for stability, and the software that comes with Mac OS X is very clever and intuitive.

However, I would never own an iMac myself. I have my PC desktop with all of my games and documents and work and so on. I spend most of my time on my PC, so organizing files and stuff like that isn't a big deal. I wanted a laptop that just worked when I turned it on, with rock solid stability, and will also last me ages. I don't want to spend ages on my laptop organizing and moving around files. I want to just chuck everything in and let the OS do the organizing. And I wanted something I could use time to time for music or photo editing on the go, while keeping a great battery life. The only solution was a Macbook Pro.

All in all, there are pros and cons to both. I like using Mac OS as a casual user, not so much all of the time. I like Windows as a power user and the fact that I can really push the system. But sometimes I want to just stay in bed in the morning, pop open the laptop and have work quickly and efficiently without waiting for the OS to load up and get 8,000 notifications before I even get to start Firefox.

Also, it's impossible to find a windows laptop with substantial computing power, sturdy and elegant design, and great battery life. Macbook Pro has all of those things, and they are selling so well because they have no real competition in that area. If I see an aluminum laptop that's quick, beautiful, with 7 hours battery next to a bunch of plastic laptops with GB's worth of bloatware, ugly as can be, and 3 hours battery, which one would be the logical choice? And is it worth the price premium? In my opinion, yes.

tlarkin · Dec 1, 2009

Ethan3.14159 said:
I bought myself a Macbook Pro just this week. While the price is a bit steep, it's obvious you get what you pay for. Amazing design and build quality is noticeable right from the start. Apple have created a lot of interesting things that PC's don't have. Like the multitouch feature on Macbook's, for example. Not really a huge thing when you think about it in passing, but it's really quite innovative. The OS is great for stability, and the software that comes with Mac OS X is very clever and intuitive.

However, I would never own an iMac myself. I have my PC desktop with all of my games and documents and work and so on. I spend most of my time on my PC, so organizing files and stuff like that isn't a big deal. I wanted a laptop that just worked when I turned it on, with rock solid stability, and will also last me ages. I don't want to spend ages on my laptop organizing and moving around files. I want to just chuck everything in and let the OS do the organizing. And I wanted something I could use time to time for music or photo editing on the go, while keeping a great battery life. The only solution was a Macbook Pro.

All in all, there are pros and cons to both. I like using Mac OS as a casual user, not so much all of the time. I like Windows as a power user and the fact that I can really push the system. But sometimes I want to just stay in bed in the morning, pop open the laptop and have work quickly and efficiently without waiting for the OS to load up and get 8,000 notifications before I even get to start Firefox.

Also, it's impossible to find a windows laptop with substantial computing power, sturdy and elegant design, and great battery life. Macbook Pro has all of those things, and they are selling so well because they have no real competition in that area. If I see an aluminum laptop that's quick, beautiful, with 7 hours battery next to a bunch of plastic laptops with GB's worth of bloatware, ugly as can be, and 3 hours battery, which one would be the logical choice? And is it worth the price premium? In my opinion, yes.

You are looking at overall cost of ownership, which actually makes the Mac cheaper in that regard. Apple is ultimately a hardware company, they are not a software company. They spend more money designing their hardware than they do developing their OS or software products. They use engineering techniques that many other hardware companies do not.

newguy · Dec 1, 2009

tlarkin said:
If you want to be fair and compare a Mac to a PC, that you custom build you must include all specs. We won't count the OS at this point either, but here is a quick comparison:

The latest iMac:
# 2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5
# 4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB
# 1TB Serial ATA Drive
# ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB
# 8x double-layer SuperDrive
# Built in ABGN Wireless (broadcom chip)
# Built in iSight Web Cam
# Built in Bluetooth 2.0 EDR
# Built in FW 800 ports
# 27inch TFT LED back lit screen with IPS support

* Not really a feature, but the Mac computers are all rated as "Green Technology"

Price: $1,999.00

Someone want to build a PC spec for spec (including the 27" display) on a PC to compare prices? I don't frequent Newegg.com every day so it would take me some time to find all the good prices.

Also mind you that the motherboard in that iMac is pretty top notch. For example, the CPU (all cores) have a direct bus to the memory, ie there is no memory controller slowing down the process. Now some of this new technology ties into OS 10.6 and their Grand Central Station technology, but that is something that I will keep out of the comparison at the moment.

So, any newegg wizards want to build a desktop that compares spec to spec?

bomberboysk · Dec 1, 2009

mep916 said:
I accidentally posted in a mac vs. pc thread.

that's right.

+1, apple is not a monopoly.However, some may consider the OS tied to the hardware an unfair business move(however by doing such the platform can be much more stable than an OS that has to be run on diverse hardware).

tlarkin · Dec 1, 2009

newguy said:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131606
279.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215
199.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227346
72.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148278
159.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136176
199.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129138
116.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004
89.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009165
249.99

ok so this doesnt include a case, bluetooth, wireless, or os but im out of time someone else can look that stuff up. total so far: $1369.92

I would say that is pretty comparable. Except maybe that the PSU may be a bit higher in the Mac since it also supplies power to the built in LCD, but that is debatable. Apple also uses ungodly expensive RAM, which is why I always buy third party RAM.

I would call this build pretty comparable. The bluetooth, firewire 800, ABGN wireless are also needed to make a fair comparison. Even though we are also comparing an All-in-One to a desktop.

However, I doubt that bluetooth, FW800, a web cam, and ABGN wifi will add up to $600.

I also left out features that you can't add to a PC like ambient light sensor. The Mac can sense the brightness level of the room and automatically dim and brighten your display according to the amount of light in the room. If you wanted to put a dollar value on stuff like that, sure go ahead.

I know a lot of people will dismiss stuff like that, but in all honesty once you start utilizing them you tend to really like them. I can't stand to touch a PC laptop since they don't have multi touch touchpads, and I don't use an external mouse anymore on my MBP since I am way more efficient with the track pad gestures. There are a lot of little things you may dismiss with a mac but once you have enough time with it you realize how important these little details can be.

To give you an assessment too, I pretty much did not like Macs at all until about OS X 10.2, which would have been around 2003ish? That means I would have been using and supporting Macs for about 5 years at that time. It took me a long time to come around because I also hated all the stupid little pointless things a Mac does. Once I was given a choice at work to pick my own laptop I chose a MBP, and never looked back. It is still, in my opinion, the best laptop ever made, and I have owned about every single brand out there.

Jet · Dec 1, 2009

tlarkin said:
I would say that is pretty comparable.

I would have to disagree somewhat.

Yes, it is a 27" monitor, but the resolution difference is huge--the 27" iMac's monitor has 56% more pixels...and it is an IPS monitor. It's easy to get a cheap TN monitor panel--but you pay money (and lots of it) for a quality IPS.

Also, to reiterate--we are comparing a desktop to an amazing all-in-one--even moreso, we're comparing the cost of a build-it-yourself computer to an iMac. That fact alone is enough to realize that Mac has done something amazing--Apple has made a computer that's on par with other well-known pre-built manufacturers--I'd even argue beating them.

Back to your part selections--you can cut out quite a bit from the motherboard (~$100+), hard drive ($60+), cut the BR drive ($170), but we're comparing apples to oranges as far as form factors are concerned.

tlarkin · Dec 1, 2009

Oops I didn't notice it did not have in plane switching, I was assuming that the poster researched it spec for spec....

Google shows this as the most comparable screen I can find...maybe someone can find IPS monitor for cheaper?

http://www.adorama.com/VDLA526CABE.html?sid=1259703648227337

###Edit

I can't even find an IPS 27" display on newegg or Tigerdirect. I can find some larger ones, but they are like nearly $2,000.

Jet · Dec 1, 2009

tlarkin said:
Oops I didn't notice it did not have in plane switching, I was assuming that the poster researched it spec for spec....

Google shows this as the most comparable screen I can find...maybe someone can find IPS monitor for cheaper?

http://www.adorama.com/VDLA526CABE.html?sid=1259703648227337

Even that's only 1920x1200--it's somewhat of an interesting situation, because the only comparable monitor would be a 30" Dell or Apple--the cheapest of which would be the 30" Dell:

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...etail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=222-7175

mep916 · Dec 1, 2009

bomberboysk said:
+1, apple is not a monopoly.However, some may consider the OS tied to the hardware an unfair business move(however by doing such the platform can be much more stable than an OS that has to be run on diverse hardware).

Microsoft sorta does the same with the off the shelf machines, and they have a ton of leverage with hardware vendors. If a truly competitive OS for the PC were released, M$ would apply a ton of pressure on all the vendors and PC manufacturers not to support the product. Is that illegal? Probably, but they've used these methods in the past.

BTW, I'm not necessarily a Microsoft hater, just pointing out that they, more than apple, are more aggressive and have more power within the entire industry. Without question, though, Apple is the most innovative and they have a great business model and marketing strategy.

tlarkin · Dec 1, 2009

Jet said:
Even that's only 1920x1200--it's somewhat of an interesting situation, because the only comparable monitor would be a 30" Dell or Apple--the cheapest of which would be the 30" Dell:

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...etail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=222-7175

Yup, you're right I can't find one either, so technically the iMac actually ends up being cheaper than what you would pay to build one spec for spec.

hahahaha, that is funny since the whole reason people always blast them on this forum is because they are too expensive.

Jet · Dec 1, 2009

mep916 said:
Without question, though, Apple is the most innovative and they have a great business model and marketing strategy.

Competition between Apple and Microsoft is amazing--one of the reasons I love Apple so much. Without Apple's competition, there's a very good chance we would be missing quite a few of the features that Windows 7 has.

mep916 · Dec 1, 2009

Jet said:
Without Apple's competition, there's a very good chance we would be missing quite a few of the features that Windows 7 has.

haha. Yup, they copied a lot from OSX. Even in Vista they borrowed the sidebar from Apple's gadget feature. I love my iPhone, which would not have happened if jobs didn't come back.

bomberboysk · Dec 1, 2009

mep916 said:
Microsoft sorta does the same with the off the shelf machines, and they have a ton of leverage with hardware vendors. If a truly competitive OS for the PC were released, M$ would apply a ton of pressure on all the vendors and PC manufacturers not to support the product. Is that illegal? Probably, but they've used these methods in the past.

BTW, I'm not necessarily a Microsoft hater, just pointing out that they, more than apple, are more aggressive and have more power within the entire industry. Without question, though, Apple is the most innovative and they have a great business model and marketing strategy.

Yeah, the entire operating system market is a cutthroat business barring open source

Ive been called a microsoft hater myself,as even though my main os is windows i realler prefer OSX to windows. Honestly i couldnt care less what happen to microsoft if apple were to bring OSX out to the PC market, id be the first one in line at the store to buy a copy.

mep916 · Dec 1, 2009

bomberboysk said:
Yeah, the entire operating system market is a cutthroat business barring open source Ive been called a microsoft hater myself,as even though my main os is windows i realler prefer OSX to windows. Honestly i couldnt care less what happen to microsoft if apple were to bring OSX out to the PC market, id be the first one in line at the store to buy a copy.

I've never really used OSX. I've thought about buying it and installing it on my PC (don't give me an infraction

), but I really want a macbook pro. I'd love a laptop and that would def be my first choice. When I go to the mall, I always go to the Apple store play around with it for awhile.

bomberboysk · Dec 1, 2009

mep916 said:
I've never really used OSX. I've thought about buying it and installing it on my PC (don't give me an infraction ), but I really want a macbook pro. I'd love a laptop and that would def be my first choice. When I go to the mall, I always go to the Apple store play around with it for awhile.

*issues infraction*

tlarkin · Dec 1, 2009

mep916 said:
I've never really used OSX. I've thought about buying it and installing it on my PC (don't give me an infraction ), but I really want a macbook pro. I'd love a laptop and that would def be my first choice. When I go to the mall, I always go to the Apple store play around with it for awhile.

Unix > Windows, that is pretty much a fact. OS X = Unix, therefore by transitive property, OS X > Windows. See, math is very important kids!

Jet · Dec 1, 2009

mep916 said:
I've never really used OSX. I've thought about buying it and installing it on my PC (don't give me an infraction ), but I really want a macbook pro. I'd love a laptop and that would def be my first choice. When I go to the mall, I always go to the Apple store play around with it for awhile.

I love my 13" Macbook Pro--once you get used to multitouch, everyone else's trackpad seems horribly cheap and low quality.

bomberboysk · Dec 1, 2009

Jet said:
I love my 13" Macbook Pro--once you get used to multitouch, everyone else's trackpad seems horribly cheap and low quality.

Before college i think im going to get myself a mac of some kind for a laptop, i love the aluminum construction hehe.

tlarkin · Dec 1, 2009

Jet said:
I love my 13" Macbook Pro--once you get used to multitouch, everyone else's trackpad seems horribly cheap and low quality.

I know exactly how you feel, no multi touch track pad = trash - DO NOT WANT

mep916 · Dec 1, 2009

tlarkin said:
Unix > Windows, that is pretty much a fact. OS X = Unix, therefore by transitive property, OS X > Windows. See, math is very important kids!

But will unix run Crysis? omgomg!

What makes a pc better than a mac?

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