What IS a mac? X)

Hello!

All my friends ar anti-mac (Not sure why) and I have used Windows OS all my life. I've never even touched a Mac. I hear that Macs are good for multimedia stuff like videos and images etc... better at it than Windows.

I'm just wondering if someone could fill me in on what makes a mac better than using a PC?? Mainly in the multimedia department but any other nifty features that I may want to know about are welcome! I know they will both have their advantages but could someone try and give me a non-biased reply if poss? XD

Thanks for any info, guys

A non-biased reply?
Uh... good luck with that. ;p

Well, I'm someone who uses both Macs and PCs, so here goes.

The main advantage of Macs (according to most people anyway) is basically the OS.
Now that Macs use Intel processors, Macs and PCs are pretty much the same in terms of hardware, although some people would argue that Macs are made with better quality parts. (Bah, I say! All made in China! ;p )

Now the OS.

Mac OS X is generally more stable than Windows. No missing DLL issues; "unknown errors" are rather rare.

Better security too. 2 reasons for this:
1) Because the OS is more secure, being built on UNIX. 2) Malware writers don't bother making viruses or spyware targetting Macs because its market share is around 5%.
To illlustrate this: most Mac users (myself included) don't even bother getting anti-virus or anti-spyware software.

In terms of usage, well, what's "simple" is purely subjective.
But personally, I find Mac OS X to be generally intuitive and easy to use.
I will admit that some things will probably confuse newcomers at first, such as installing apps.
I find that for things like these, once you "get it," you're like, "Oh! That makes a whole lot of sense!"
Well, that's how it was for me. Who knows for you? ;p


As for the multimedia stuff, I'll have to let someone else fill you in; I don't know all that much about that.


I'll say one more thing though.

It's easier now more than ever for a PC user to switch to Macs.
1) There are Boot Camp, Parallels, and many other "run Windows on a Mac" solutions now, so if there is that one Windows program you just need to use, then fire up Windows, and there you go.
2) Multi-button mouses are standard on Macs now. While before they supported 3rd-party 2-button mouses but by default came with a 1-button mouse, now all Macs come with a 4-button mouse called Mighty Mouse.

k-chsssstt... you hear that? can of worms... open. i'm new to Macs, so in my limited experience, I can vouch that it is much easier to do A LOT of things. In a PC, you have two entities that know nothing about the other until they meet and go through the Pass / Fail meeting. Hardware, meet software. Software, meet hardware. wait, what do you mean you don't like his scroll wheel?? whereas, in the Apple, the two were born together and made to fit togehter seamlessly.
The OS is more intuitive by design. whereas windows has stuck to the same mess for years and years that YOU the user have to tell it to do everything... the program installation procedure and process never really changes, but for some reason, you still have to point and click and name and route and do all kinds of other garbage to get the program installed. how do i install my programs on OSX? click, drag, release. done.
in MY personal opinion, if you want it to work right the first time, and you don't want to have to search code and chase settings and decipher MS cyberbabble just to post a picture on your website or make a quick video, you want an apple. it's designed for real productivity --> achieving as much as possible with as little effort as possible.
HOWEVER, (not aiming this directly at you) if you like to super-micro-manage settings, bus speeds, overclocking (to get any usable speed...), rearrange your harddrive and chase viruses and load new programs every other week to block adware and contantly defrag and check the registry because some program didn't uninstall totally and left bits of garbage cluttering everything up and negating some other programs file check retardation that doesn't work since the newest windows update so you can waste four hours to get one picture to save as a jpeg vice a bmp before you load ANOTHER program which is SO AWESOME becuase now you can put MUSIC on your slideshow online using some hack of a website to show your friends what an awesome trip you had down to TacoBell in the spare time that you weren't sealing your PC case before filling it with anti-freeze and dropping some sweet strobe lights so you're the only one that sees how cool it is... if that's your gig, by all means stick to PC's...

Maybe this will make it clearer...

mind you, none of this is pointed at you as a person or the entire PC community as a whole that all do the same thing, but i am SOOOO done with PC's and windows since i got my first G4 tower. i quickly moved to an iMac (intel) and the ability to 1)make a slide show 2)with music and 3)some quality effects, (unlike the standard cheesy wiff sounds on windows) and then 4) burn it to a DVD 5)with a nice DVD menu system and previews and 6)do it all in less than 15 minutes and 7)not have to open 8 different programs and figure out how to intermesh the different results together and finally 8)do it ALL on programs that come standard on a Mac...

better package, better program, seamless integration... job done, lets go play.

Example of thing that is easier:
To install an application:
1. Open the DMG file
2. Drag the application in to the Applications folder
3. yOuR dOnE!

To burn a CD:
1. Drag files into the CD
2. Click Burn
3. Type in the name of the CD
3. yOuR dOnE!

I also find it nice that there is no stupid black-and-white BIOS code when you turn it on.

Also, Macs don't make a fan noise. All Macs are completely silent. It's really cool.

smurfy said:

Also, Macs don't make a fan noise. All Macs are completely silent. It's really cool.

Click to expand...

Hmm, I wouldn't say COMPLETELY silent, my iMac occasionally makes a fan whir, just after an update, etc.

Apple are still seen as the best in multimedia work, because Apple invented the desktop production market and introduced video on personal computers. These things can now be done on Windows; but most of the people involved in that work have stuck with Macs. Apple also makes an industry standard video post-production suite, making them the best choice for video editing. Through all this experience they've managed to include some top-notch software on every Mac called "iLife", which is meant to be your "digital media hub". Apple have always been at the forefront of digital media; even in the "dark ages", they retained their media customers.

More than anything Apple is passionate about providing great products. They're not bothered about competing in the lower ends of the computer markets because they'd have to offer rubbish stuff like everyone else does. They're more motivated by being the best, instead of being the richest (think Ferrari... they're not going to offer a $20,000 car because it would be rubbish. They want to make the best cars, not sell the most).

2) Malware writers don't bother making viruses or spyware targetting Macs because its market share is around 5%.

Click to expand...

Sorry to off at a tangent, but just thought I'd correct this myth.

A vulnerable OS will become attacked regardless of market share. OS X is SECURE and not affected by malware which usually rely on vulnerabilities such as ActiveX and the Windows Registry, which appear in the creaking Windows architecture.

Switch to Mac, you'll never go back.....




<blush!> sorry

A lot of it's marketing, and marketshare.

Not the whole virus vs marketshare issue, but most home pc's run Windows so you're going to have more in the way of computer illiterate people using computers unprotected and visiting sites that they shouldn't be. I think that's where a lot of viruses come from.

I've ran my 17" Dell notebook with Vista on it since January with just the Window's Defender and do not have any visible problems with viruses and spyware/adware. It runs just as fast as the day I installed everything on it. It just comes down to being smart about it. I don't browse porn sites, warez sites, etc...the ones that are known for propegating viruses. I don't open strange e-mails or click on strange links...you get the idea. But I also use the same practices on my MBP. It just may be out of habit, but I have no need to visit any of those sites anyways.

And some one said something about micro-managing bus speeds and over clocking and etc... to get any usable speed, that's bull. My only upgrades in the Dell are 2gb total of RAM and a 7200RPM HDD. The same upgrades I'm going to be making/have made to my MBP. The Dell smokes the MBP when it comes to running games and I can run some modern FPS games as well as pretty much everything else I throw at it at 1920x1200 resolution and with full graphical effects and it runs pretty much without and hiccups at all.

That being said. I like using the Mac because of the way everything is setup and the way programs work ((No, not "Just work", that's definitely a load of bull. Visit any mac tech forums and you'll see. Everything has it's share of problems)) and how something like Photo shop, which I have on both computers, lets you work without boundaries, letting you place everything in a different location on the screen and not where it's stuck within a window. I also use it for recording music because the program I wanted to use, Logic, is an OS X only program. In fact, that was the #1 reason I purchased it.

The program installation and deletion is easier, but you still have to erase parts of programs from other locations on the drive. It mainly only applies to larger programs, but files can be placed in preference folders and other system folders that do not delete when you just drag the app to the trash can.

Vista also offers drag and drop CD burning as well. I think XP did too, just Vista allows for DVD support. The whole finding drivers thing could be a pain if you didn't know what you were doing, but with Vista, it will go and find the drivers on it's own if you tell it to search the web for them. M$ is at a disadvantage here because of the sheer number of hardware configurations they choose to support. Between just the current crop of ATI and Nvidia GPU's, there's something like 15-20 different models, and that's not including anything older than the Nvidia 8xxx xx series or the ATI 2xxx xx series. That's a lot drivers. That's also not M$'s responsibility to write drivers, it's the Manufacture's, but M$ includes them in the OS's anyways.

Some one made me laugh today when they posted that "Apple computers don't use drivers". They do. It's just most of what you'll need is included unless you start using outside devices, like an audio interface that I installed on mine.

Both OS's have automatic updates, Windows, usually patching bugs and security flaws while OS X does the same along with program upgrades and stuff.

OS X has a really convenient drag and drop feature that allows you to drag and drop files that works for more than just moving files around in the Finder like Windows does with the Explorer. You can drag from the finder to iTunes, burning programs like Toast, and I think even Photo Shop and other Adobe programs use this convention. When I want to import a track an artist brought in with them into the project I'm working on, I copy it to the computer, then drag the file icon to the track number in Logic and it imports it without having to select anything in any of the menus.

The Finder is a little ackwards imo. It can be a pain navigating on a rare occasion and I like how Explorer is setup in that it's always easy to just drop out to different over views and everything else. Just my opinion...and not a very well described problem...

My next computer will probably be a 17" MBP since the 15" MBP has become the studio workhorse. The MBP finally has an offering that will allow me to do everything I want and have the options I want that they didn't in their last iteration and that made me choose a Dell as my personal notebook. My Dell has a Nvidia go 7900 gs with 256mb of VRAM, and a 1920x1200 resolution 17" screen, something that was not offered in the last iteration of the MBP when I purchased the Dell. The last gen MBP's GPU's paled in comparison and the 17" MBP didn't offer a resolution that high. Now that it has a GPU that benchmarks slightly higher and allows DX10 support and offers the higher resolution I'm sold. I can finally play games on a MBP like I do on the Dell.

It's really up to the individual user. I'd say hit up an Apple store if you want and go play with what ever models you want and then ask questions until you can decide for yourself. Keep in mind, you'll hear a lot stuff that's just marketing for both sides, so do some research too.

Alexis said:

remain said:

2) Malware writers don't bother making viruses or spyware targetting Macs because its market share is around 5%.

Click to expand...

Sorry to off at a tangent, but just thought I'd correct this myth.

A vulnerable OS will become attacked regardless of market share. OS X is SECURE and not affected by malware which usually rely on vulnerabilities such as ActiveX and the Windows Registry, which appear in the creaking Windows architecture.

Click to expand...

That's why I gave two reasons ;p
the first being:

remain said:

1) Because the OS is more secure, being built on UNIX.

Click to expand...

But despite this, don't think that Mac OS X is 100% foolproof. No system, no matter how "secure" is resistant to all attacks.

If Macs had around 50% market share, it's a sure bet that there would be viruses written to target OS X.
Probably nowhere near as many that target Windows, because as I've said, OS X is more secure.
But still, there will be some.

Only a "perfect OS" can be completely invulnerable, but alas, as we all know, there is no such thing as a perfect OS. ;p

DJ Slink said:

Hello!
I hear that Macs are good for multimedia stuff like videos and images etc... better at it than Windows.

Click to expand...

Mac ox and Windows don't out do each other in the multimedia field, They both use the same programs But if you want to get technical I would say a Windows box is better for multimedia because you can config the parts for higher specs and be a lot cheaper than a Mac.
Although Final Cut pro is the best video editing program I have come across. if your concentrating on Video editing than I say Mac is better.

smurfy said:

To burn a CD:
1. Drag files into the CD
2. Click Burn
3. Type in the name of the CD
3. yOuR dOnE!

Click to expand...

Windows is Drag and drop as well.

smurfy said:

I also find it nice that there is no stupid black-and-white BIOS code when you turn it on.

Click to expand...

Some people like having control over the computer. I for one am one of those people.

Levi said:

More than anything Apple is passionate about providing great products. They're not bothered about competing in the lower ends of the computer markets because they'd have to offer rubbish stuff like everyone else does.

Click to expand...

Mircosoft don't make the computers they make the OS. Not everyone need a computer that cost 1.5k. you can get a Windows box for $300.

Levi said:

They're more motivated by being the best, instead of being the richest (think Ferrari... they're not going to offer a $20,000 car because it would be rubbish. They want to make the best cars, not sell the most).

Click to expand...

Whats wrong with begin rich? Money is what make the world go round.
http://www3.sympatico.ca/truegrowth/gates1.html
http://www.wired.com/gadgets/mac/commentary/cultofmac/2006/01/70072

I cannot seem to find anything on Jobs that makes him the better man.

DJ Slink asked our opinion on whats better for Multimedia not all the BS surrounding the 2 companies. So I am sorry Slink for this post I just wanted to Correct a few "opinions" people had.

vxd said:

Mircosoft don't make the computers they make the OS. Not everyone need a computer that cost 1.5k. you can get a Windows box for $300.


Whats wrong with begin rich? Money is what make the world go round.
http://www3.sympatico.ca/truegrowth/gates1.html
http://www.wired.com/gadgets/mac/commentary/cultofmac/2006/01/70072

I cannot seem to find anything on Jobs that makes him the better man.

DJ Slink asked our opinion on whats better for Multimedia not all the BS surrounding the 2 companies. So I am sorry Slink for this post I just wanted to Correct a few "opinions" people had.

Click to expand...

Well. No one said Jobs was a better man, just that Apple refuses to sell products they aren't proud of because they have standards. They won't sell the equivilant of Vista Home Basic because they know that it isn't something consumers want. Nothing is wrong with being rich. There is something wrong with getting rich selling crap because consumers have always "loved" Windows (read: have never known anything else).

And a Mac Mini can be had for $600. Again, Apple isn't a pseudo-Dell that forgot to sell a really-low end computer, they are a premium brand that sells premium products at a premium price (and, especially at the higher end of the spectrum, that price is not always noticably higher.)

Mac ox and Windows don't out do each other in the multimedia field, They both use the same programs

Click to expand...

Show me Aperture on a Windows box. Or Final Cut. Or Logic. Yes, there are lots of cross-platform programs, but Apple is the leader in several multimedia fields- and their programs run on their computers.

Sandwichman said:

Show me Aperture on a Windows box. Or Final Cut. Or Logic. Yes, there are lots of cross-platform programs, but Apple is the leader in several multimedia fields- and their programs run on their computers.

Click to expand...

vxd said:

Although Final Cut pro is the best video editing program I have come across. if your concentrating on Video editing than I say Mac is better.

Click to expand...

Did i not say Final cut pro is the best video software I have used?

Gee, there's too many replies now. I'm left with nothing to say.

But I must agree with the 2nd post. The Mac is very much secure comparing to Windows. There are no viruses (correct me if I'm wrong) made for the Mac, so you won't be bothered about worms and all the other malware.

The Mac is made for the net. No OS ever surfed and downloaded faster than the Mac. You can synchronize with the internet very easily, compared to other OSes.

Actually, everything about the Mac is very much synchronized because the hardware and OS is made by one company, so you won't have problems about integration unlike in Windows. In a PC, your RAM, HDD, processor, fan, and even the power switch is made by different companies... so you can have issues with hardware/software integration.

And an Apple Computer is the only computer capable of running ALL OSes ever made. You can run Windows and Apple simultaneously using Parallels, or BootCamp. I think you can also run Linux.

And what more can I say? The Mac just works! Buy it, take it home, bring it out of the box, turn it on, just make a few customizations if you prefer... and you're ready to go! You don't need to bother with all those automated wizards that won't even help.

This might seem biased, but I am a satisfied switcher. I still use Windows though, but I like the Mac better. Need I say more? =)

vxd said:

Mircosoft don't make the computers they make the OS.

Click to expand...

Brilliant observation; but I don't see what that has to do with what I said.

vxd said:

Not everyone need a computer that cost 1.5k. you can get a Windows box for $300.

Click to expand...

See above.

vxd said:

Whats wrong with begin rich? Money is what make the world go round.

Click to expand...

Nothing's wrong with being rich... but there are some people/companies who aren't willing to ditch their beliefs in order to make a bit more money; and I think that's more important than just being rich.

vxd said:

I cannot seem to find anything on Jobs that makes him the better man.

Click to expand...

No body said Jobs was the better man. Both Steve Jobs and Bill Gates have their good and bad moments. Judging either man is not what I'm here for.

vxd said:

DJ Slink asked our opinion on whats better for Multimedia not all the BS surrounding the 2 companies. So I am sorry Slink for this post I just wanted to Correct a few "opinions" people had.

Click to expand...

Did you even read my post? I was explaining why Apple is seen as the best in the multimedia field. The only time I faintly mentioned Windows/Microsoft was when I said: 'These things can now be done on Windows". That's BS?

And I think the OP got his answers. I'm locking this before it spirals out of control.