To Mac or not to Mac....that is my dilemma.

[grant_464]

My situation: I own a Athlon 1700 with 198megs of RAM, and some shitty motherbaord with a bus of like 111MHz.

I need a new computer, regardless whether its a Mac or PC, but I've been curious about investing in a Mac.

I use my computer for web browsing, gaming, php programming (which I do a great deal of), and a ting bit of image manipulation every so often. I am also a big fan of tunes while I work. I watch movies on the computer every so often, but rarely edit them.

So would it be worthwhile to own a Mac? I have always wanted to own one simply becuase they look cool (the hardware and software that is!).

Your thoughts? Thanks so much!

-Grant

 

[dziner]

Definately get a Mac. OS X runs Apache and it's easy to install MySQL (php is already installed). I've been wanting to teach myself PHP/MySQL for a long time now but haven't seemed to get the motivation or found the right way to teach myself these things.

The new iBook has a G4 processor (same as the 12" powerbook) so if you want to save money, this would work fine. Check out the Apple store on their website and you can price them and see the differences.

 

[grant_464]

One more thing...

Thanks for the info, but I have one more question for you guys...

I am well aware of the speed advantages of Mac over PC when it comes to compiling/editing music, video, pics, etc. What about for browsing the web, using office programs, etc. (More everyday casual uses).

The only Mac benchmarking I can find is for compiling and editing applications that involve music, video, etc. So what about for other computer uses?

Thanks again for your help,

-Grant

 

[MacAddikt]

for web browsing, ive found that plain html, php, etc are much snapier (in loading) in windows than mac, but any animation really bogs down in windows. Also, the mac looks a lot smoother, and isnt as stressful on the eyes as any windows machine i use.

i dont really look at benchmarks since people use and optimize their system for productivity. but even if my mac loads a website 0.5 secs slower than a windows machine, i would still much rather use my mac. i am biased? OF COURSE! but after using a mac, who can blame me?

 

[jerodhusvar]

When it comes to day to day activities like you talk about, there's no great difference. I have an iMac 333 at home and a P4 1.8ghz. When it comes to surfing the net, checking email, or using MS-Office for most average things (balance the checkbook, write the letter to Grandma...) you're going to find that there is not really any major difference between the two. Now when you start talking about running Photoshop... (and even that is not horrible on the iMac.)

Jerod

 

[dziner]

Surfing is easier on the Mac. Safari is very fast and actually the only browser I use now. The fonts render so much better on Mac. And Microsoft Word looks 100 times better on the Mac then the PC.

 

[grant_464]

Lol...great guys. I love your incredably biased replys! It shows your passion for Macs...

 

[trpnmonkey41]

as a recent switcher i can say that everything that has to do with speed especially on day to day takes (email, word, internet, itunes) is much quicker on the macs

 

[StarManta]

I too am a recent switcher... my 1 GHz powerbook is considerably faster than my 1.5 GHz PC at home for the tasks you mentioned. And unlike my PC, it doesn't seem to get slower as time goes by. I've heard that Macs automatically optimize themselves every time they boot up, so despite the fact that I have been using the machine heavily (13ish hours a day) since early September, and installing/uninstalling boatloads of crap, it still runs as smooth as the day I got it.

One point though, is that you mentioned "gaming"... the mac's achilles heel, to be sure. However I find playing with the OS to be more fun than most games on windows..... ok i'm lying. ;-) but giving up a few high-end games for the sake of using mac os is more than worth it for me... I bet you'll find it's worth it for you too. And there's always Yahoo games ;-)

 

[Aristarchus]

A recent switcher here as well. My parent's place has a PIII- 2800mhz, and a iMac G4 1 Mhz. I basically visit and provide technical support.

Gaming will be the major drawback in my opinion. Notably, no CounterStrike. Still a lot of great games though, including NWN, Warcraft III, MoH, etc.

Some people claim that web browsing if faster on the PC, but I think it's more perception. On the windows machine you just stare at a blank screen for a little longer and then everything pops up at once (well it sometimes doesn't pop up at all). I really like the Mac browsing experience, and I seem to get everyday things done faster on it. I know that I always end up using the iMac, and ended up buying a Mac for myself after seeing the two computers side by side.