Mac vs PC... pulling the trigger

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Firstly, let me say that Im computer-retarded...

Im having a hard time with making the decision to switch to mac...

People who have them all swear by mac and I must admit I really like the computers... The price is really kicking me in the nads though.

Im getting into video editing (well planing on it) and have been told that mac is way better for those applications... I guess Im just curious where the extra money goes when getting a mac vs pc. $500 is not chump change for me and that extra money could go to a video camera, some kick butt paddling or new kayak gear (my true addiction is whitewater)... plus Im holding on to see if there is a new macbook coming (darn rumors).

I guess what i am hammering at is I would like to know why mac is better, outside of "they kick butt" I dont have a computer at all (im at work) and could really use one, I could go to bestbuy today and get a laptop for $500 that will be wireless, and surf the web etc. Id liek a mac but all this sittign about has me doubting my decision to save a little longer

Thanks for your input

Laddie
 
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MacBook 2.1 Ghz 4GB RAM 120GB HDD, iPod Touch 16GB, iPod Shuffle 1GB, BB 8130
Firstly, let me say that Im computer-retarded...

Im having a hard time with making the decision to switch to mac...

People who have them all swear by mac and I must admit I really like the computers... The price is really kicking me in the nads though.

Im getting into video editing (well planing on it) and have been told that mac is way better for those applications... I guess Im just curious where the extra money goes when getting a mac vs pc. $500 is not chump change for me and that extra money could go to a video camera, some kick butt paddling or new kayak gear (my true addiction is whitewater)... plus Im holding on to see if there is a new macbook coming (darn rumors).

I guess what i am hammering at is I would like to know why mac is better, outside of "they kick butt" I dont have a computer at all (im at work) and could really use one, I could go to bestbuy today and get a laptop for $500 that will be wireless, and surf the web etc. Id liek a mac but all this sittign about has me doubting my decision to save a little longer

Thanks for your input

Laddie


For video editing, you can't get anything at $500. Your really going to need to at very least commit to approx. $800 for a Powerbook (older gen MacBook, they go for around 600-700) or just bite the bullet and get a MacBook. It depends though, what type of video editing? Is it just a little home video or a job?

Just remember, you get what you pay for.
 
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Id like to start a production company. or at least offset my paddling costs :p

I totally agree that you get what you pay for, but what do you get for the extra price of an apple? It appears that there is a substantial cost extra to go mac... where is the extra money going?
 
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24" 2.8ghz IMAC, MB Pro
There actually isnt a cost hike to go mac. As said above you get what you pay for. The hardware in a mac is NOT the same as the hardware in a 500 or 800 dollar laptop.

As far as video editing you need a macbook pro if you want to do any real video editing. For the dedicated video card.

Next time you compare to a PC look alittle beyond the wireless and web browser.
 
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Id have to say the extra money is going into attention to detail.

Dont quote me on this but i dont think there are many $500 laptops with built in webcams and microphones. Also the operating system come with so many useful application already built in.

Being as new to computers as you say you are a mac would be perfect for you. It's extremely simple to get to grips with, fully compatable with windows, and you wont need to worry about virus' and hacks etc.

For $200 (i think) you can get Final Cut Express which is extremely advanced for its price, offering you many many options in video editing and letting you create excellent movies for such a low cost.

In conclusion, id say the extra money goes into the little bits you dont notice so much: a fast and secure operating system, direct support from apple whenever you need it, the peace of mind that you own an excellent piece of hardware that will last you years to come!
 
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Mac Mini Core i7 2012 | White 2009 MacBook 2 Ghz | 733 Mhz G4 Quicksilver
The extra over a cheap PC goes on many things, that will eventually make the extra 500 look like a bargain

Better build quality and longer life: if you don't want to replace it after 2 years it will still be going strong after 4 years

Lower cost of ownership: Less maintenance, wiping and relaoding and general troubleshooting

No viruses and scant little chance of malware: saves you in both lost time and the cost of anti malware apps in both terms of cost and processor overhead

No slackware: But tons of free quality apps included. iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iCal to name just a few. As well as built in Apache web Server, MySQL, and FTP server.

All the commercial software you need, but also a vibrant world of developers making excellent quality shareware and freeware apps. THere is always going to be more windows software but you will be pleasantly surprised by the care and attention that even freeware and open source apps on the mac are made.

Better resale value when you do opt to part with it

A fully modern operating system that is still able to run on 6 year old machines, at least you know that the next version of OS X isn't going to make your 2 year old mac run like a 3 legged dog
 
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I guess what i am hammering at is I would like to know why mac is better, outside of "they kick butt" I dont have a computer at all (im at work) and could really use one, I could go to bestbuy today and get a laptop for $500 that will be wireless, and surf the web etc. Id liek a mac but all this sittign about has me doubting my decision to save a little longer

Thanks for your input

Laddie


A $500 laptop will be about as effective at video editing as a George Forman Grill would be at it!

It will have a rubbish processor (Probably Celeron), be made with the cheapest components available and will have a terrible overall build quality.

Surfing the web and word processing are about the limits of these machines.

To actually compare the price of Macs to PCs you need to compare machines with similar specs, as stated by the earlier poster look beyond the fact that it also has wireless etc. and look at the processor etc. as these are far more important when performing extremely demanding tasks like video editing.

The price difference is a common misconception, as many people tend to see the cheapest Mac laptop at X amount and the cheapest PC laptop at X amount, then deduct the difference. These are not similar machines. When compared to similar specced PC laptops (From major brands with a decent build quality) the price difference is nowhere near as significant.
 
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The Mac is far superior in build quality, as well as the OS. Leopard is better than Vista or XP HANDS DOWN. I switched a couple of months ago and I love my Macbook.

I'd also consider the software that you get with the computer. It is all integrated, works flawlessly, and is very intuitive. I had never edited video before and now I feel like a seasoned pro.
 
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Hey,
Well I bought a Mac Book Pro around 6 months ago. I'm going to get shot for saying this on mac Forums, but if I were to buy a new computer right now, it'd be a Dell Inspiron 1500!

Reasons? Dell have "copied" a lot of Mac's features - there's something similar to 2-finger scrolling, and the main gripe I had with Windows laptops (e.g. Sony Vaio) was the glossy screens were awful - the Dell's isn't as good as the Mac, but it's a whole lot better than a friends new Sony Vaio screen. It's got a built in webcam, HDMI slot and all that jazz, and costs about a third the price of this MBP.

I can't comment on the quality of hardware used, but both Dell and Apple mass produce and they're bound to use some cheap components to cut costs! Even if there is a difference, I've never noticed one. My previous Dell laptop is doing great after 5 years of purchasing it.

So why did I buy a Mac? Well, it's more for the sheer joy (wow, I sound like a geek already) of trying out a different OS and getting to grips with it, and after using Vista, I hated it! I also dabble in photo/video editing but for my basic needs and having used Windows till now, I'd say it's just as easy (if not easier) in Windows to do these things, for me at least. One thing the Mac does better is looks and size wise. The physical size/weight is great and perhaps something I'd struggle to get in a Windows counterpart. Oh, and you get that tingly feeling every time you see some movie star use a Mac Book in the movies too, and it stars on the Tesco (UK Wallmart/ASDA rival) advert too :D
 
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One way to run the numbers is to look at how much you'd be spending (upfront and in subscriptions) for anti-malware software with a Windows machine over its lifespan.
 
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Hey,
Well I bought a Mac Book Pro around 6 months ago. I'm going to get shot for saying this on mac Forums, but if I were to buy a new computer right now, it'd be a Dell Inspiron 1500!

Reasons? Dell have "copied" a lot of Mac's features - there's something similar to 2-finger scrolling, and the main gripe I had with Windows laptops (e.g. Sony Vaio) was the glossy screens were awful - the Dell's isn't as good as the Mac, but it's a whole lot better than a friends new Sony Vaio screen. It's got a built in webcam, HDMI slot and all that jazz, and costs about a third the price of this MBP.

Here we go again!

You are comparing the price of a cheap home laptop with integrated graphics etc. against a professional level laptop that it cannot hope to compete with on demanding tasks. This is totally misleading.

At least compare it to the Macbook and when you have customised the specs on Dell's site I can assure you that there isn't a great deal of difference price wise (I know because I've just checked myself).
 
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I made my jump from a PC to an I-mac last weekend and I'm not looking back ;D !

I can't believe I waited this long to make the switch. Yeah price is always an issue, but when you look thu the quality lens, it made sense to me at least, to pay a little more for something I know is more capable and has greater functionality for the long term...
 
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Your Mac's Specs
Macbook (black)- 250 gb, 2.4 ghz
I definitely agree with many of the posters above. I came from an IBM Thinkpad T42p, which was an amazing laptop. I loved it for everything except the OS: XP. It cost over 3000 plus the fees for antivirus etc. I made the switch recently to the Macbook and I love it. I can't speak to the longevity, but the overall experience is exceptional compared to Window. Not to mention the build quality is at the very least just as good as lenovo/IBMs top of the line notebooks. So basically I purchased a far superior notebook for over a thousand dollars less. Hope this helps.
 
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Thanks every1

Im gonna hold out for mac... going to see if the rumors are true about sumfin new in a few weeks...that way I will have saved up a bit more too

good looking out!!!!!1
 
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Aloha laddie,

Here's my switcher story. I used to be firmly in the Windows camp, so much so that I would refuse to even consider a Mac (just ask my wife - I used to laugh at the Mac geeks, because I KNEW that Windows was so much better). I was into recording TV, editing the video files, then archiving it onto DVDs. While recording Le Tour de France, I attempted to get some of the mountain stages, each around 6 hours unedited, onto a dual-layer DVD. I was using Nero to edit and burn the discs and was not really new at this process, as I'd been doing it since 2003 (this was 2006).

Out of seven attempts, I only had two successes, and at $2.50 a pop, I had just wasted $12.50 - not a great amount, but I absolutely hate making coasters. I knew there had to be a better way, or at least a more successful procedure I could follow, and that's when I started to give the Mac platform a fair shake. That was just the straw that broke the camel's back, with respect to the number of "issues" for which I had to create workarounds.

After objectively looking at the hardware and considering the software package that comes with each new Mac, my decision was made. To even further sweeten the pot, CompUSA (sadly, no longer around) had a great offer - get their charge card and use it for your purchase on anything over a certain amount of money, then pay it off within a 24-month period with no interest.. I bought my iMac then and there and have not looked back.

I also purchased 1GB RAM, as it only came with 500MB RAM, so once I got it home, I installed the new RAM, hooked up the keyboard, mouse, power cable, network cable, and fired it up. Once I got through the initial user account setup, I finally got to see my first Mac desktop. I noticed a window pop up and was shocked to read that updates had been downloaded and were waiting to be installed. I had yet to even think about setting up my networking!

Of course, there is a learning curve - I was used to doing things the "Microsoft way", but I've really gotten to appreciate the "Apple way" of doing things. You have a consistent look and feel, especially with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, with not only the appearance of the actual Apple application windows themselves, but mostly all app windows. Furthermore, most keyboard shortcuts are system-wide, although there are exceptions. As the hardware and software were both created to with in concert with the other, the computer operates in a much more smooth fashion than anything I've experienced on the Windows side.

As has been mentioned, the quality of the supplied software, combined with the quality and extreme attention to detail of the supplied hardware, make it extremely difficult to justify any other purchase. The TCO, or total cost of ownership, is lower than a comparable PC, primarily due to the lack of viruses/malware for the Mac, as well as the rather excellent resell value. The system requirements are also not as demanding as that of Windows, as the OS and its underlying frameworks much better utilize the existing hardware.

Lastly, but most certainly not in the least, is the OS on which everything rides. Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard has been certified as a UNIX, making it one of the most stable and secure platforms available, and it's only $129.00 for an OS upgrade. While PC advocates point out that Apple comes out with mere upgrades every year to year and a half, insisting that the total cost is more than one upgrade of Windows, the technologies utilized in the Mac upgrades is at least equal to what later rolls out in Windows upgrades. I was never so acutely aware of all of the little niggling aggravations with which I bothered on the Windows side, as I was at only two days into my Mac conversion. One of my first thoughts was, literally, "the shackles are off!" I am finally able to use my computer how I want, as opposed to how Microsoft wants.

I apologize for going on so long, but this has been the absolute best thing I've ever done in my computing history - switching from the Windows PC platform to the Macintosh platform, that is. If Windows is your thing, more power to you, but before you shut the door on the Mac, do a 180 from my former position and at least give the Mac a fair shot. Go to an Apple Store and get hands on with a Mac - after all, the store employees actually encourage it. Remember, once you go Mac, you'll never go back!

HawaiiMacAddict
 
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Here we go again!

You are comparing the price of a cheap home laptop with integrated graphics etc. against a professional level laptop that it cannot hope to compete with on demanding tasks. This is totally misleading.

At least compare it to the Macbook and when you have customised the specs on Dell's site I can assure you that there isn't a great deal of difference price wise (I know because I've just checked myself).

Right, I don't game so the graphics card really doesn't matter to me. Let's compare it with the MacBook. The Dell is still half the price. They both have 2GB RAM, neither have seperate graphics, the MacBook probably looks nicer and I'd guess the processors weren't greatly different either.

The Dell on the otherhand, has a HDMI out (great for connecting to a TV), it comes with software that replicated the dock and even though I'm not a fan of Windows Vista in the least, it seemed a better option.

Maybe you're right that this isn't an entirely fair comparison. However, for someone in my shoes (does a bit of video and graphics editing, uses 'Office' apps a lot, doesn't game) it's a much better option ;)
 
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Right, I don't game so the graphics card really doesn't matter to me. Let's compare it with the MacBook. The Dell is still half the price. They both have 2GB RAM, neither have seperate graphics, the MacBook probably looks nicer and I'd guess the processors weren't greatly different either.

The Dell on the otherhand, has a HDMI out (great for connecting to a TV), it comes with software that replicated the dock and even though I'm not a fan of Windows Vista in the least, it seemed a better option.

Maybe you're right that this isn't an entirely fair comparison. However, for someone in my shoes (does a bit of video and graphics editing, uses 'Office' apps a lot, doesn't game) it's a much better option ;)

The base model is half the price (It comes with a bottom of the line Celeron Processor, which is next to useless for video editing) but all I am saying is that when you customise the parts on Dell's site to the nearest equivalent to the Macbook then the price difference is much less.

On the UK site the base model Macbook is £699, the Inspiron, when configured to the nearest to this spec wise, is £538.

If the base model is adequate to your needs then that's perfectly fine, though if this is the case then you must have money to burn forking out on a MBP:) .

I apologise if I came across as having a go, this wasn't my intention. I merely wished to point out that you are not comparing like for like and that this may mislead the OP, who is wondering why there are such difference in prices.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
24" iMac, 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8800GS 512MB
i made the switch a couple of months back and can say now that im never gonna be buying a windows PC again...Macs just make your life so much easier and make computing, whether it be general day-to-day stuff or more demanding tasks, a million times easier....personally i just love the way it looks and also the fact that everything is integrated and works together, like for example, i recently found an application to put a facebook item in the menubar, i then found a way to link all my friends on facebook's birthdays to ical which i subsequently linked to their information in Address Book, overall that took around 5 minutes, how long would something like that take if you were using windows (if windows had anything like a menu bar....or ical......or an address book that actually works....or if it didnt freeze up every 17.6 seconds...[/rant])....imo you get what you pay for with computers, my previous computer was a £600 Sony Vaio running Vista (so you can imagine what that was like) but now i have this £1200 iMac which was 2x more expensive but its at least 10x better.........
 
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I'm new here and new to OWNING a Mac, I have used them on and off since the late 90's in recording studios. Here is my 2 cents on Macs and PCs...

Each one has there own place in the world, Microsoft makes some FANTASTIC business productivity software, which is why my Mac has Office 2008 on it instead of iWork. From the OS point of view, I think if Microsoft would get on board with making an OS with a Unix heart that you could port freeware applications to, and have Unix dummy proof security, they would be making steps in the right direction.

Macs have the BEST creativity software options out there, they care about the quality of the LCDs for guys who do Photo or graphics work, they have nice audio cards and lots of FW ports for audio engineers, and they usually won't brick out a legacy platform when updating an OS unless it's REALLY old. The machines just tend to chug away without much drama, switching if you have used a Linux distro is relatively painless, installing software is easy (the major difference between a Linux/Unix distro and OS X is this simple feature), removing software is easy, and now you can run Windows if you want, what more can a geek ask for?
 
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The base model is half the price (It comes with a bottom of the line Celeron Processor, which is next to useless for video editing) but all I am saying is that when you customise the parts on Dell's site to the nearest equivalent to the Macbook then the price difference is much less.

On the UK site the base model Macbook is £699, the Inspiron, when configured to the nearest to this spec wise, is £538.

If the base model is adequate to your needs then that's perfectly fine, though if this is the case then you must have money to burn forking out on a MBP:) .

I apologise if I came across as having a go, this wasn't my intention. I merely wished to point out that you are not comparing like for like and that this may mislead the OP, who is wondering why there are such difference in prices.
Nah it's fine, nothing personal! Bit of discussion is good too!
Well i take your point, hadn't researched the Inspiron properly but was going by one a friend has.

If you want a decent sized screen, the MBP is the only way to go unfortunately and the extra power comes in handy occasionally too. I was just trying to get at the fact that it'd be great if Apple would put more features people needed (e.g. card readers, HDMI output) especially after paying so much!
 

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