Does OSX Slow Down?

Perhaps this is the wrong forum to post this question. I have recently moved from winxp to Linux because I got fed up with the continuous cycle of rebuild, slow down, crawl of the winxp OS. It seems no matter what you do to a win machine it will eventually get slower and slower, boot times, launching apps, etc. Linux claims not to suffer from this and in my 12 months experience it does what is says on the box - it runs like a dream. My mother-in-law has recently purchased a mini mac, son a Powerbook and a friend has asked advice on a new laptop because their current machine (winxp based) is now crawling along! I feel like advising my friend to move to mac/OSX but I have no long term experience - does mac/OSX suffer slow down over time as per windows machines?

the quick answer is NO!
....assuming you keep it clear of clutter, and leave plenty of room on your HD, etc, it just keeps on purring along.
Keep in mind, as good as a mac is, just like a good car, maintenance and occasional trouble shooting is part of the deal

As for your friend, there are many mac models and configurations to choose from, so do the research (work, music, gaming, etc.... what are the requirements?).

This is a tricky question. I think the user is the reason most machines need to be rebuilt. Period. I have had a Windows machine run like a top for years. I have seen pals screw up a fresh Windows install in minutes. The nature of Linux and OS X makes them more resilient to this type of thing. That being said - I have seen people blow them up as well.

mdfuller said:

This is a tricky question. I think the user is the reason most machines need to be rebuilt. Period. I have had a Windows machine run like a top for years. I have seen pals screw up a fresh Windows install in minutes. The nature of Linux and OS X makes them more resilient to this type of thing. That being said - I have seen people blow them up as well.

Click to expand...

I have to agree, and that brings me back to the good car analogy, .... I have seen people blow them up as well

Thanks for your reply - that helps a lot. As said - I'm a newbie when it comes to macs. Are there any reasonable 'housekeeping' utilities that you can run to keep is in good condition. There are many many (ranging from no good to OK) of these housekeeping utilities for the windows platform (including virus scans) but are there any for the mac? (I understand OSX does not really suffer from virus/spyware/mailware as per win so perhaps I'm asking/looking for a simple(?) housekeeping type app).

rds

The only one I use is Onyx:

Apple - Downloads - System/Disk Utilities - OnyX

basic housekeeping for a mac is self maintaining with disk utilities, and checking mac site and forums before treading into waters that you're unsure of before you proceed.
The main thing is to keep working external backups, and enjoy.
There's no need to worry about anti virus software for macs, but, if you use windows on mac, it is possible to pass on something to others using windows. (hehe)

Thank you all for your comments - just what I hoping to hear! Another win lost sale!