PC to MAC? price/virus/service/difficulty?
I wanna switch to Mac this year because this is probably my 4th PC and I'm tired of spending money on a PC and security softwares. I just wanna know when you switched, was it hard? Did you ever get a virus? How's the customer service? and is $2,000 (Macbook pro) worth it?
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I still use both but there are plenty of free antivirus and antispyware applications for both the pc and mac. You really don't need to be spending money on either. The security on the Mac isn't better per se, it's that the infection rate is rather small due to the relatively small amount of Macs in use. Malware writers chose to write malware for a greater populace systems but that doesn't mean that the Mac is less prone to infections.
MAC OSX is great and the latest version 10.5 is fantastic ... very secure and stable. You'll love it. If you don't want to spend money on an office system then download open office from http://www.openoffice.org.../ its free. It works on both pc and mac and can read/write Microsoft office documents such as excel and word.
Mac hardware contrary to rumors is not expensive. If you compare "apples to apples" meaning comparing a pc with the same hardware as the Mac, you'll find that the Mac is close if not less then the pc. The nice thing about Macs is that they don't end up obsolete within a year. I've used my 1999 Mac cube until early this year with Mac OSX 10.4. 10.5 wouldn't support that mac any more so I upgraded to the iMac for $1,500. The same model is about $1,100 now and you really can not find an all-in-one pc for that price that includes the OS.
With bootcamp you can duel boot Windows XP and Mac OSX or purchase a copy of Parallels with allows native Windows XP running with OSX. I use parallels as a test lab for my Windows servers setting up a windows 2008 server test with an XP client running with OSX 10.5.4 at the same time.
I'm a techie so I'm not sure how to relate the difficulty as what might be easy for me, could be difficult for you but here's a few instances where it's easier on a mac.
Connect a firewire camcorder to the mac and the software opens taking control with the proper application to capture the movies. It took a lot of configuring to do that on the winXp box. Installing software such as MS office or Open office. In the Install Window, drag the office icon over the applications folder... Install done! That's it... no answering endless questions. The latest MS office is on the mac as well office 2008. Office 2007 is the latest windows version.
In all...the iMac I have is the best computer in my office of (2) Dell D530 laptops, (2) dell dimension desktops and 1 dell poweredge server.
I play quake3 on the mac and the COD4 patch is due out soon.
We switched in 2004. It was the best thing to ever happen to us and is 100% worth it. It is IMPOSSIBLE to get a virus on a Mac. 100% IMPOSSIBLE. Not only that but there was a study done a couple years ago at some University where students tried to hack into an Apple versus a PC. It took them 5 mins to get into the PC and they could never get into the Mac. They came up with some figure like it would take 50,000 to finally get in the Mac. Now, if you need Windows for some ungodly reason, you are in luck, you can use Windows AND MacOS simultaneously on a Mac. All you do is log out of one and then log into the other. THe truth of the matter is, Windows runs better on a Mac system than any other computer out there! IF you are a student you will also get a free Ipod and print with your purchase from an Aplle Store. Cool!
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More advertising, a stronger marketing team, simple design, homogeneity. PC is basically any computer not a mac, and of course they will run the gamut in quality/price/design. Therefore the only thing that Macs really have over every PC is that they can run Apple proprietary software. There's also an image thing that I'm noticing with Macs. Due to their branding and advertising Macs are identified as "cooler" than their PC counterpart in certain subcultures. I'm seeing that a lot of you put down 'virus free' as one of the major pros of a mac. That however has to do with the Unix based operating system run on the Mac rather than the Mac itself. If PC users are so inclined, they can also get a virus free operating system in one of the many Linux flavors.
I like XP, I have tried Vista and don't like it, I have tried the mac and don't like it either, I mean they are good computers for regular watching video, looking at pictures, listening to music, checking email, you know casual stuff but I like XP better because I guess I am used to it and is easy to use, does not have all the fancy stuff that the mac and vista has but I don't care for the fancy stuff plus many things like programs and games (old, some new) are not compatible with vista or mac, mac is like a whole new language it might take a little while to get used to, and learn all the shortcuts, and about the virus security, I have never used an anti virus, yes I have gotten one or two before but a virus does not destroy your computer it makes it run unwanted programs and mess with your documents, I takes a smart user to avoid viruses don't click on every link, don't give out your information, don't run every .exe unless is from a trusted site. I have seen friends who had to reformat their hard drive because of viruses and lost their data and to avoid this in case it ever happens to me I got an 80G external hard drive where a I store all my precious documents I try to update it every 2 months so if my hard drive ever fails or i get a virus I know I could start fresh by formatting and know my data is safe on another hard drive.
And no, I don't think $2,000 is worth it for a mac or any other computer.
I just built my own PC with a 3850 ATI Radeon card, 2 Gs of DDR ram, really nice Foxcom motherboard, 2.5GH Core2 Duo Processor and recycled some drives and wireless internet and sound cards from my old computer and turned out to be less that $500
Bahaha.If I spent money on PC software I'd be living in a gutter...I pirate everything,and you should too...Why in the world are you PAYING for software,are you insane?
But I hate Macs personally,but my unbiased opinion would probably be to go for it.Once you get tired of a PC,a Mac is defiantly the next choice.
Customer support isn't bad,but is IS better then Microsoft's by a long shot.
It's less susceptible to viruses,but it operates horrendously.I have always hated how a Mac functions,but then Vista came out...Compared to Vista,Mac is a dream.
So yes,although I wouldn't pay 2 grand for one,I'd say go for it if you want some variations in stats
With Apple you are paying a premium for that fancy little logo. The claim that Mac's are more secure isn't holding so true anymore. Virus writers are starting to target Apple now just as Malware authors are. Apple had a flawed release of their last OS, which didn't go over so well with the Apple faithful.
In other words, it's created by humans so it's prone to failure. Pick your poison.
Lots of software choices vs. limited software choices (starting to change though)
Lots of hardware choices vs. limited hardware choices (starting to change though)
the only thing i know about macs is that they don't get viruses and its good if your not going to play games so yeah the only thing is you have to get used to macs and how they work