Why should I switch to Mac?

I have a PC that is very powerful. It runs all the modern games and editing software I use regularly (Photoshop, AfterEffects etc).

The way I see it, a PC can do anything a Mac can do and more.

For example,

A PC can run all the high end applications. It can be easily upgraded without having to take it back to a retailer to do a simple task such as replacing RAM.
There is generally more support for PC from developers due to its monopoly. It is FAR CHEAPER. My PC costed me around £1,200 but a Mac with similar specs (the only one being the Mac Pro) runs you like close to £2,500.
That's about double the price.

Also, Apple lies when they say they create all the hardware and software together. The hard drives and RAM are made by big manufacturers (WD/Corsair etc). The processors by Intel. Graphics by ATI.

Apple pretty much only builds the case and the motherboard to go with their OS.

I'll agree that the OS is alot more intuitive and just better than Windows 7. I'll also agree that you can dualboot to Windows.
But if I'm buying a Mac, why should I have to also run Windows? Might as well just get a PC if I'm gonna run Windows anyway. Lack of viruses are pretty nifty but nothing a good Antivirus won't solve.

So, basically, does an Operating System, a case and a motherboard qualify for double the price? I have high doubts. OSX Lion may be brilliant. But it's not that good.

I'm not bashing on Apple here. I'm just curious as to what value a person like me, editor and gamer, has in purchasing a Mac.

Thanks alot.
Annie.

angelina said:

I have a PC that is very powerful. It runs all the modern games and editing software I use regularly (Photoshop, AfterEffects etc).

The way I see it, a PC can do anything a Mac can do and more.

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Sounds like a plan...stick with your Windows computer!

- Nick

Its horses for courses, you are paying for decent hardware that is well put together, and of course if you like OSX above windows that that is a deal breaker.

But if you are fine with your current set-up, can be productive and happy, and dont see a strong appeal in running OSX - then that's fine. You are happy with your set-up, then stick to it.

Keep your PC. It's the Best!!

So is Windows 7.

T......R.....O......____......._____

Fill in the blanks....

No-one is forcing you to change.

For the record though, you do not need to return a mac to a retailer or anyone else to upgrade RAM - it's a DIY job.

Sawday said:

No-one is forcing you to change.

For the record though, you do not need to return a mac to a retailer or anyone else to upgrade RAM - it's a DIY job.

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The Apple store in my area said it voids warranty to do that.

I know that nobody is forcing me to change.
I want to ask what reason is there to change? Many Mac users say how great Mac is and how they would never go back.

I'm curious.

It does NOT void the warranty.

dtravis7 said:

It does NOT void the warranty.

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I was misinformed then. My apologies.
Still, my question stands unanswered.

angelina said:

The Apple store in my area said it voids warranty to do that.

I know that nobody is forcing me to change.
I want to ask what reason is there to change? Many Mac users say how great Mac is and how they would never go back.

I'm curious.

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It's a choice we all make. It's called competition. Some items work really well for some people, and some people prefer other brands. Such is the debate between the Windows and Mac platforms. I guess you'll never really know unless you try both of them, though, and use both of them consistently. Until then, you can't make an educated decision.

I had been a Windows user since the get-go of computers. I teach all of the software you mentioned on the Windows platform, so I have used Windows for years, and continue to use it daily. Two of my children, however, have Macs. One of them had been telling me for years that I needed to get a Mac, since I do quite a bit of photo editing and web work. She sited its ease of use, intuitiveness, along with its ability to sync beautifully with my peripherals (Apple and non-Apple branded).

Yeah, I listened to her, but kept using my powerful Win machine. When that finally started to die, I decided to get a MBP. I like to learn new things (keeps us moving forward technologically), and I figured that I had nothing to lose. So, I bought a 15" MacBook Pro in March of this year. I had never owned or operated a Mac before.

Now I see what my daughter was talking about. Adjustment to the OS took time, but now it's second nature for me. I love the system. I am able to complete tasks (such as updating my websites and working with/organizing my photos) much more quickly than I could before. I can't quite put my finger on all of what I like about the Mac, but I'll just say that chances are I will probably stick with this platform.

Installing an old scanner was a snap; syncing my iPod and iPhone is effortless; navigating around the OS is logical and easy. I like it.

Again, I still use Windows machines (we have 2 in our house and I still teach on them every day), but I much prefer the Mac.

angelina said:

I'm just curious as to what value a person like me, editor and gamer, has in purchasing a Mac.

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Absolutely none. There is no value in switching to the Mac if a non-Mac does everything you want it to do.

To answer your question - there is no reason for you to switch from a Windows machine that you are satisfied with.

As far as justifying the price goes, there have been plenty of cost comparisons done here. In many cases, direct comparisons generally favor the the generic PC-box assemblers (HP, Dell, etc.), but the premium is only slight when all factors are considered. Regardless, there is a difference between price and value. Macs tend to hold up well, are built with better materials and always have significantly better resale value.

But to each their own. We all make choices to suit our needs. If you find Windows works well for you, there is no reason to switch.

cwa107 said:

To answer your question - there is no reason for you to switch from a Windows machine that you are satisfied with.

As far as justifying the price goes, there have been plenty of cost comparisons done here. In many cases, direct comparisons generally favor the the generic PC-box assemblers (HP, Dell, etc.), but the premium is only slight when all factors are considered. Regardless, there is a difference between price and value. Macs tend to hold up well, are built with better materials and always have significantly better resale value.

But to each their own. We all make choices to suit our needs. If you find Windows works well for you, there is no reason to switch.

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The premium is only slight?

£1200 for a good desktop PC that runs anything currently on the market vs £2500 for a Mac Pro with similar specs?

I don't think that's only "slight".
The only other thing you need is a display and you can get a good 1080p for £200 vs an Apple Cinema display for, what, £900?
Sure, the Mac Pro looks gorgeous but there's no way aesthetics and a good OS qualify for double price.

What better materials are they built with? All the hardware is made by third party manufacturers. Only really the motherboard and case are Apple's.

angelina said:

The premium is only slight?

£1200 for a good desktop PC that runs anything currently on the market vs £2500 for a Mac Pro with similar specs?

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I'm really not particularly interested in arguing with you. But I think if you do a direct comparison (make sure you're including workstation-class boards, chipsets and Xeon processors), you'll find the disparity not to be as extreme as the generalization you present here.

I don't think that's only "slight".
The only other thing you need is a display and you can get a good 1080p for £200 vs an Apple Cinema display for, what, £900?

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The ACD is horribly overpriced, we can agree on that piece.

Sure, the Mac Pro looks gorgeous but there's no way aesthetics and a good OS qualify for double price.

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It really depends on your priorities. Again, I'm not trying to sway your very apparent preconception, but I will tell you a bit about my personal situation.

I'm an IT professional - I've worked as a network admin for the past 12 years and I babysit roughly a thousand PCs in various forms and a few dozen servers, all running Windows. I found myself not wanting to look at another machine when I got home from work.

Then, several years ago, I went to a management meeting where I sat down with several managers and directors to go over budget and planning. To my surprise, two of those people sat down with Macs.

I was befuddled. One of these gentlemen was the architect of our data center - built our Citrix infrastructure and was generally a proponent of all things Microsoft. I asked him why he was toting a Mac. His reply was "after a day of troubleshooting Windows machines, when I get home, I just want it to work".

That stuck with me, and in time, I found myself growing increasingly frustrated by the trials of dealing with Windows at home. After a particularly nasty bout with trying to scan an old photo and fighting with drivers, I decided to buy a Mac notebook.

Ever since then, I've been hooked. I do maintain a Windows desktop PC for gaming, but most of my computing is done on a MacBook Pro. What do I like about it? Very simple - when I want to work, I open the lid. When I'm done, I close the lid. And that's about it. I don't even reboot the darn thing. I don't defrag, run AV scans, update definitions, clean registries, fix disk errors, dredge through logs, update drivers or flash the BIOS. To me, that is well worth the price premium.

My 2GHz Core i7 MacBook Pro ran me about $1700 shipped. I could have bought a comparable (plastic) Dell notebook for about $1500. But with the Mac, I didn't have to spend any time removing crapware, stickers, or removing any other branding. I was able to instantly port all of my software/settings/docs/data/music/movies using Migration Assistant. I didn't have to go through product activation for any piece of software that came preinstalled. Set-up took me about 45 minutes, most of which was unattended.

To me, that's worth a $200 difference. Maybe it's not for you.

What better materials are they built with? All the hardware is made by third party manufacturers. Only really the motherboard and case are Apple's.

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I can't really speak to the desktops, because I don't buy Mac desktops. But the laptops are built with aluminum and glass, they're much sturdier and have a far more substantial feeling. Most of the HPs, Dells, ASUS and Acers I've encountered tend to feel far more flimsy, are bulkier and lack many of the thoughtful features, like the MagSafe connector, backlit keyboard or Ethernet jack that instantly senses a crossover connection and auto switches.

So, with that, I'll leave this thread. I've wasted enough of my time here already, since the answer in your case is quite clear. Further discussion is pointless, since you clearly have your mind made up and are here mostly to troll.

I'm not a troll at all.
I actually am considering buying a Mac.
But I really was curious as to why they are so highly priced.

I did do a price comparison actually. It does come up to about double.

I don't know about laptops cause i don't really care for them.
But for desktops it's either a really low spec Mac Mini.
Or an obviously overpriced Mac Pro.

Yes, it's been shown over and over again that when you factor in the stability of OS X, which doesn't bloat and slow down over time like the Registry causes Windows to do, the included iLife software (Garageband, iWeb, etc), for which there is no real Windows equivalent, the fact that you never need to buy any AV software, the sturdy physical build of Macs which can last years longer than most plastic Windows boxes, among other things, the cost premium is not too much higher than that of similar Windows machines.

Again, cost and value are two different things.

And Apple doesn't claim to build their own hardware, they select the hardware that will best support OS X. When you buy a Windows machine, the various makers will mix and match hardware from various manufacturers. Macs are built uniformly with parts that are specifically chosen to run together smoothly and which OS X can make the most efficient use of. So if you ever need customer support, there's no question of what a user has configured on their machine.

I used to be an Apple hater, and I swore I'd never be one of those trendy, smug, computer illiterate Mac users. I thought Windows was way better and bashed Macs all the time... of course like most Mac haters, I'd never even used OS X. When I finally had to use a Mac for my job, I was like "OHHHHH! NOW I get it!" I was blown away and I will never go back to using Windows as my primary OS again.

But why are you here asking why you should get one if you don't want one? Why is it Mac users who are always having to justify their preference to Windows users?

angelina said:

I'm not a troll at all.
I actually am considering buying a Mac.
But I really was curious as to why they are so highly priced.

I did do a price comparison actually. It does come up to about double.

I don't know about laptops cause i don't really care for them.
But for desktops it's either a really low spec Mac Mini.
Or an obviously overpriced Mac Pro.

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I do think the answer in your case in quite clear - a Mac isn't for you. If you build your own PCs, are well-versed in Windows and aren't frustrated by it, there's really no reason to consider anything else.

I'm not trying to pin a label on you - but these discussions come up regularly and they're really quite pointless. It's roughly akin to coming to a Mercedes forum as a Ford fan, asking why you should buy a Mercedes. I could point out all of the benefits of a Mercedes over a Ford, but at the end of the day, the Ford will still get you from point A to point B, be just about as comfortable, and cost roughly half the price.

We all make brand choices based on our needs. That doesn't mean one person's choice is superior to the others. Different strokes for different folks.

Here are but a few of the many price comparison articles that are available online. But in the end, a trip to the Apple Store would be the best way to get answers to your questions.

Why Macs aren't more expensive than PCs | Onsoftware

The Apple Mac Cost Misconception : Macs and Their Prices

Why Macs Cost More Than Windows PCs - Associated Content from Yahoo! - associatedcontent.com

Remember, specs aren't everything. You can have the best specs in the world but if the OS is clunky and inefficient and your computer still crashes, bloats and freezes, they're useless. How a computer uses its specs is what's more important. My old Windows machine was showing signs of slowing down after 3 years, with VERY slow boot up times. I would turn it on and go do something else for a few minutes because I knew it would be useless at first. I thought this was typical and normal. I can't believe how smoothly my Macbook Pro is running after three years. Just as fast and reliable as the day I got it. I see myself using this computer for another few years too.

Too me, relying on specs to judge a computer is like judging wine by its alcohol content rather than by its taste.

But I do have to ask... if you like your computer, are happy with Windows and find Macs to be overpriced... why do you still want a Mac?

We have definitely been down this road before guys. Everything mentioned is spot on accurate...we've just said the same thing many many times before.

If someone's been eating hot dogs their whole life...it's tough to convince someone to start eating hamburgers...until they actually eat one!

- Nick

p.s. The Macintosh experience is about the operating system...not about the price.

And a real-life value comparison:

Daughter leaves for college in fall of 2004. Buy her a top-of-the line Dell laptop for over $2000 (then) before she leaves. Extended warranty. Within 18 months, it goes for repairs 4 times. Each time, it must be shipped to repair center for repairs. Each time, she's without the machine for 3 weeks. Remember, she's in college with no computer, so she relies on the college lab (not easy when class registration opens at midnight and the computer lab opens at 6 AM). Dell is based in Texas; we're in Texas, so why the 3 week wait? No answer. Tempers flare. When the hard drive crashes for the second time at the two-year mark, we give up. At this point, she's gotten used to the Macs at the college labs.

Purchased a MacBook in March of 2006 for about $1200 (half the price of the Dell) to replace the dead Dell. Purchase Apple Care, too. Used extensively. Each time she uses Apple Care, she goes to the Apple Store and they fix it on site. Once it stayed for 2 days (when it was nearly rebuilt). That old white MacBook is still working today.

Value? No brainer here. Wish we'd bought the MacBook in the first place.