I Bought A Windows PC....Is Something Wrong With Me?

I have a 5 year old iMac. I started on Leopard, now I have Lion.

I need Windows for 2 programs and yes, they were must haves. So here's the deal. Running VMware every time Mac gets updated on the OS I go and purchase updated software to handle Windows, or my TiVo. And now Mountain Lion is almost here and I haven't blown the dust off Lion.

So I thought 5 years old. Its slowing up on me. VMware is using a GB of real memory and I bought the memory app and although it is better I still get that little annoying spinning thing.

When I upload something from my computer to Drop Box like an MP4 File it takes an eternity to get it uploaded. But when my wife who has Comcrap where she's at uploads, bam, it's there in 20 minutes.

I've gone round with the cable company and the manufacturer of my Router. And after reading many reports I came to the conclusion that it is indeed a computer issue.

Now right away I'm thinking it is time yes but I don't think I can afford another iMac, and I look and they still only have 4GB of memory. Yes, I'm aware they can add more memory. For a price. So for the price I paid for my current iMac I'm getting a (gulp) Dell.

It has same size screen 16 GB of memory and that super fast latest greatest Pentium quad processor. But I look on conversion methods on the internet and no matter how you search for every 1 person that switched from Mac to PC there have got to be 30 PC to Mac threads.

So ladies and gentlemen. am I a fool or what? And here's the kicker. My Mac ain't going anywhere it's just going to be relocated to my left.

Sorry if I'm in the wrong spot, but this seemed like the best place to post thiis.

Expecting any bites?

At the end of the day it is your cash so good luck and enjoy your Dell. I got one but don't have to post about it!

I have to say if it meets your needs then great!

For me, after putting up with my windows machine all day at work I am glad to come home to my windows-free house. If I get the urge for something different I drag out my Linux box.

I will admit that if I were retired, I might pick up a PC just for grins.

So, long answer, but no, I wouldn't say you were a fool. If a PC is your best soloution, I agree with Harry, enjoy it.

harryb2448 said:

Expecting any bites?

At the end of the day it is your cash so good luck and enjoy your Dell. I got one but don't have to post about it!

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I guess you aren't seeing it as I meant it to be said also known as possible buyers remorse.

Matter of fact I'll pull VmWare off of tehe so that will boost the memory and I don't see any reason for oving my iTunes. I'm backed up by Amazon cloud so I really don't need to add another iTunes. and I do have an iPad 2.

So if you were indicating am I bragging about the Dell, no, not at allI am goint to run the network to the PC and work drop box over there.

Actually it's an enhancement to my current computer experience.

I do appreciate the kind responses . I thought I might get a bash and I really thught maybe I need one but hey, now that they are on the same processor. Mac is still easier to work with.

I wish you luck on the dell. Hopefully, you won't experience the buyers remorse, it isn't pleasant.

When it comes to money, I've been there quite often. Everytime I shell out nearly 3 grand for a new macbook pro (I like the bells and whitles and gobs of ram too), I often look over my shoulder and look at the samsungs, the toshiba laptops, they look sleek, and more of them GHz things and bytes and all.

But I shell the extra, because of mainly, 2 things. no viruses/malware/spyware problem, which is worth huge to me, and the stability of the OS.

If you can deal with those 2 items well, then sure, save some money I say. Afterall, they are, just boxes with wires and gizmos in them.

And, there is always linux.

Groovetube said:

I wish you luck on the dell. Hopefully, you won't experience the buyers remorse, it isn't pleasant.

When it comes to money, I've been there quite often. Everytime I shell out nearly 3 grand for a new macbook pro (I like the bells and whitles and gobs of ram too), I often look over my shoulder and look at the samsungs, the toshiba laptops, they look sleek, and more of them GHz things and bytes and all.

But I shell the extra, because of mainly, 2 things. no viruses/malware/spyware problem, which is worth huge to me, and the stability of the OS.

If you can deal with those 2 items well, then sure, save some money I say. Afterall, they are, just boxes with wires and gizmos in them.

And, there is always linux.

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To be honest I didn't realize how much I spent on my iMac. But all I kept thinking was PC less expensive.

So AFTER my purchase I go to look at the iMacs. I'm like what the…and I see I paid the same for this Dell that I paid for an iMac.

I guess the problem I had with purchasing another Mac was that now they want to change the OS every year. Well, at least they are doing that this year. Price for update to latest OS is reasonable but its what you have to do with your other stuff that makes it costly.

I use 1 Password and they haven't charged extra for the latest version like they did with Snow Leopard because it is a little on the buggy side. At least I'm underwhelmed by it. Maybe because it's taking so long with Lion they are already looking forward to Mountain Lion.

I have a lot of programs that I use like Py TiVo for Mac that are old with no updates and thank God they work. But TiVo forces you to purchase Toast Titanium to move from TiVo to computer. If you purchase TiVo's software or install py TiVo for Windows you don't need to pay every time there is an upgrade.

Like I said my iMac isn't going anywhere. And I honestly feel more like I'm betraying Apple by doing this, but to get a Mac like this PC it would have been over 2000.00. From what I read Windows 7 is a good product. Yes, viruses do have to be looked after that's true and Windows is constantly updating but at least they don't make you have to buy all new software after an update.

But don't worry, I'm still loyal. I'm waiting for the next iPhone with a 4 inch screen, then bye bye Android.

Some things are easier to do on the Windows platform.

I may give this Airbook to one of the kids and go back to a Windows notebook.

You're not alone.

CanuckBoater said:

Some things are easier to do on the Windows platform.

I may give this Airbook to one of the kids and go back to a Windows notebook.

You're not alone.

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Eh, it's not so much the platform as that there are more developers on that platform. But yea, if somethings not meeting your needs.. use something that is. They're tools. To be honest, if I could run Photoshop/Illustrator etc on a linux box, I probably would.

3 days now and I'm still wondering. I have to go through the whole thing to understand it, lol. But there is some good news about doing a switch. Since I do run Quicken on Windows Vista on my Mac via VMware and I have that backed up to a flash drive, piece of cake. Download Quicken (link is in my gmail) unplug flash drive from Mac, install Quicken to Windows and use back up from Flash. Finished.

I'm still a bit perplexed about music. I have iTunes on my Mac but I never buy music from Apple, I always get mp3 from Amazon. I have 29.7 GB of music on iTunes and as a result of purchasing from Amazon some of it is in different folders and I personally have done some things as well. So I could just leave as is in my Mac which will have more memory to support it when I use Airport to play music. And then there are the playlists. Looking at my Droid Bionic however I can see that Amazon MP3 has my music organized in the cloud just like it is on iTunes so I could, if I wanted to, install iTunes on Windows and download from the cloud. But why do that? I mean if the Mac does cork off some day I have the music in the cloud and I can do it then.

I'm kind of talking to myself guys, hope you don't mind.

I understand that Office 2010 can convert ODT documents, thats cool. Even if it didn't I could still convert with Open Document and save in the proper format.

Bottom line though is I'm hoping with a better network card that my Modem will have a consistent download speed if I'm uploading something. If that doesn't happen, well, I'll have a new Windows computer and remorse.

I have a Belkin.594D Router and Crime Warner Cable. When uploading a file on the Mac the download speed drops under 3GB sometimes (with Road Runner Turbo). My brother uses the cheapest internet he can get from Comcrap and he gets faster speeds then I do. From what I read it is a failure on the part of the modem companies to keep up with Mac OS. That's not to say All routers don't, but most from what I read.

It's always the same. PC gets update first, Mac when they get to it.

Ramble is over.

hookbill said:

So ladies and gentlemen. am I a fool or what? And here's the kicker. My Mac ain't going anywhere it's just going to be relocated to my left.

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Use what you like, like what you use. Anyone who has a problem with your choices has serious personality issues.

hookbill said:

I guess the problem I had with purchasing another Mac was that now they want to change the OS every year. Well, at least they are doing that this year. Price for update to latest OS is reasonable but its what you have to do with your other stuff that makes it costly.

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So what if they are going to update it yearly? You don't HAVE to update. Lion isn't going to stop working when Mountain Lion is released, nor will the apps running on it now. Lots of people still run Windows XP, an 11 year old OS that is about to see its 3rd replacement, yet it still works. There are lots of people in these very forums who are still happily running Snow Leopard, or even Tiger/Leopard.

I use 1 Password and they haven't charged extra for the latest version like they did with Snow Leopard because it is a little on the buggy side. At least I'm underwhelmed by it. Maybe because it's taking so long with Lion they are already looking forward to Mountain Lion.

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What bugs you are talking about? It works great here. And I don't know why you think they didn't charge for the latest version. Version 2.x to version 3.x was a paid upgrade. Version 4 will be Mac App Store only and will be a paid purchase, and would have been a paid upgrade if it wasn't MAS-exclusive. I believe they updated 1Password when Lion was released, but it was a trivial compatibility update, not a complete software re-write or overhaul with new features. Most developers provide simple compatibility updates and ongoing bug fixes for free, and charge for major revisions.

But don't worry, I'm still loyal. I'm waiting for the next iPhone with a 4 inch screen, then bye bye Android.

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You'll be waiting a long time. An iPhone with a 4-inch screen has been a rumor for a couple years now and has never materialized. With Apple selling every single iPhone that they can make now as it is, a 4-incher isn't likely to happen, but this has been debated in other threads.

1Password sometimes doesn't come up with the correct recognition of the window, however with the drop down they are using now that is better. For a while it was constantly asking me to quit Safari. That seems fixed.

I understand about the latest upgrades. I don't know I'm one of these guys who always wants the latest. Phones area a real pain in the butt and my wallet.

But after all is said and done, considering my options Mac has some decent resale value, as far as computers go. I think I might be able to pay off about a 1/4 or more of my new system by selling it. I may regret this, I know but at this point it looks like the best recourse.

I really need help with this. I don't want to make as much money as I can, I just want to give someone a good deal. A fair price. My thinking is my iMac is early 2008. For hardware I would include the keyboard, original mouse and the magic mouse.

I have to wipe it if I sell it, but I would love to restore Lion as opposed to Leopard. If anyone can tell me how to do that I would appreciate it. Other software I would like to keep available its Toast Titanium and PyTiVo, but I don't know if anyone would really care about that. The other software would be VMware Fusion and Aunsoft TiVo converter, which allows you to convert .tivo to .mp4.

I'm sure I can recover VMware and Aunsoft TiVo PyTiVo, I don't know.

Just realized, if I reinstall Lion my password would be needed. can't do that then. I'd also hoped to keep the 22 gb of music, but again password and iTunes.

As far as my new system goes I would reinstall iTunes for Windows and just download my music from Amazons cloud.

Well, at least I could offer the VMware. I'm thinking $500.00 opening bid.

Oh and sorry about the 4" iPhone but I've got a good source about that and I don't think it's too far away.

Oh and sorry about the 4" iPhone but I've got a good source about that and I don't think it's too far away.

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Unless Tim Cook's your personal friend, all you have is an unsubstantiated rumor. (Like the rest of us.)

chscag said:

Unless Tim Cook's your personal friend, all you have is an unsubstantiated rumor. (Like the rest of us.)

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Well, I use to be a moderator at an Android Forum and we had one guy there who always seem o be on top of anything, Android Apple. He has however made mistakes as well.

Anyway I can't afford a new phone. But if Anyone is interested in buying my iMac pm me. Sorry mods, I know wrong area won't post about it over here again.

hookbill said:

Well, I use to be a moderator at an Android Forum and we had one guy there who always seem o be on top of anything, Android Apple. He has however made mistakes as well.

Anyway I can't afford a new phone. But if Anyone is interested in buying my iMac pm me. Sorry mods, I know wrong area won't post about it over here again.

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The only "quotable" source that is anything reliable would be John Gruber of Daring Fireball. If he doesn't say it, I highly doubt it.

If this thread had a point, I'd comment. Since it doesn't, a simple "Meh" and caption picture should suffice.

Honestly, OP - in the nicest possible way - it kinda feels like you're trying too hard to fit-in here...

This is an OS X (& other Apple software/hardware in general) appreciation site, not a Windows (and/or Microsoft) bashing site, per se. Discussion of "the other OS" is fine, where appropriate. Indeed, there is an entire forum dedicated to running Windows - among other OSes - on Macs in addition to OS X (or even, hypothetically, instead of OS X or classic Mac OS). There's no sin, even here, in using a PC rather than a Mac.

Of course, if you decided you preferred Windows to OS X & then came back here to bash Macs, you'd obviously not be very popular; but you'll not win any friends here by being an over-eager fanboy either. It grows tiresome surprisingly rapidly...

Enjoy your computer; and if you get too fed-up of it just swallow your pride, sell it on, and use that money to buy yourself a nice cheap second-hand Mac & an economy (Pentium 4/512MB RAM/WinXP type machine, like you can get on eBay for the same price as an Apple TV box these days) PC for the one purpose you've found Macs lacking in.

Best of luck

Ctrl-Opt-Del said:

Honestly, OP - in the nicest possible way - it kinda feels like you're trying too hard to fit-in here...

This is an OS X (& other Apple software/hardware in general) appreciation site, not a Windows (and/or Microsoft) bashing site, per se. Discussion of "the other OS" is fine, where appropriate. Indeed, there is an entire forum dedicated to running Windows - among other OSes - on Macs in addition to OS X (or even, hypothetically, instead of OS X or classic Mac OS). There's no sin, even here, in using a PC rather than a Mac.

Of course, if you decided you preferred Windows to OS X & then came back here to bash Macs, you'd obviously not be very popular; but you'll not win any friends here by being an over-eager fanboy either. It grows tiresome surprisingly rapidly...

Enjoy your computer; and if you get too fed-up of it just swallow your pride, sell it on, and use that money to buy yourself a nice cheap second-hand Mac & an economy (Pentium 4/512MB RAM/WinXP type machine, like you can get on eBay for the same price as an Apple TV box these days) PC for the one purpose you've found Macs lacking in.

Best of luck

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Well, whether or not you think I'm trying to fit in or not doesn't matter. I wasn't saying anything in regards to PC vs MAC, quite honestly when I started the thread I was literally in a state of shock over what I had done.

Now that it's been a couple of weeks and I've got a little familiar with this OS I would say that I prefer a Mac Lion OS but not to the point where I need to swallow my pride and get another Mac. I still have my iMac sitting on the desk next to me. It was not problem free, but it wasn't a big problem when I did have an issue.

I miss my magic mouse tremendously. When I first got this machine I was trying to switch browsers, home pages etc. to what I wanted and it fought me tooth and nail. Everytime I reboot it says it has files to burn to a disk but these files are nothing more then an iTunes short cut.

But overall I'm OK with it and until I get another Mac somewhere down the road. I won't be comparing OS. Anyway I still have my iPad. I'm still very much a Mac person. Don't post here much anyway.

So thank you for your commentary. Good luck to you and I wish you all well.

Hey, don't feel bad...I've purchased two PCs in my life -- both used to ensure that Microsoft wouldn't get my money. (Also, both dual-booted so that the default OS is Ubuntu.)

But really, I find that I DO need a PC within reach, as 1) I'm a freelance computer tech, and having the PC around helps me with troubleshooting, and 2) much as I love my Macs, there isn't an audio ripping program out there that can hold a candle to Exact Audio Copy in terms of accurate, glitch-free rips. I take my music seriously, so when I put my CDs onto my iPod, I need to have the best I can get.

about a month or 2 ago I had to buy a windows laptop... my iBook was stolen at the local coffee shop. couldn't find a decent used mac on my area's craigslist so I bought a acer that has windows 7 on it. it works decent which was a surprise since it has windows on it and microsoft is generally crap. I still use the acer but couldn't wait for the day I found my current laptop a 2007 macbook with lion. I am much happier with os x and don't miss constant windows updates and anti-virus updates a few times a day.

G4 ibookboy said:

it works decent which was a surprise since it has windows on it and microsoft is generally crap.

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Are you conflating Windows and Microsoft? If so, I (and many others) would likely disagree. Microsoft, like every company, has developed good and bad things.