Why should I buy a Mac??

[dfagdfsh]

Actually, I think having to go to a Mac store is a huge downside of owning Apple products. Have you actually BEEN to an Apple store?

 

[hamish5178]

Originally Posted by Teger

Actually, I think having to go to a Mac store is a huge downside of owning Apple products. Have you actually BEEN to an Apple store?

I have to agree with this. However, getting help for a PC problem is incredibly difficult. Most customer support is useless (Dell, Gateway, etc.), and if your computer savvy uncle/google doesn't know what's wrong you're screwed. With apple, you take it to the store and they fix it, they'll never tell you that they don't know or make you call someone else. If worse comes to worse they'll just give you a new computer*.



*if you're under warranty

 

[celery]

Originally Posted by Teger

Actually, I think having to go to a Mac store is a huge downside of owning Apple products. Have you actually BEEN to an Apple store?

Yes, I have. Many times. I'm not sure I get your point though. It's like any other store, you've got products on display and employees who will answer your questions and ring you up.

I don't know what kind of experiences you've had at Apple stores, but please, do tell.

 

[dfagdfsh]

Originally Posted by celery

Yes, I have. Many times. I'm not sure I get your point though. It's like any other store, you've got products on display and employees who will answer your questions and ring you up.

I don't know what kind of experiences you've had at Apple stores, but please, do tell.

And 200 random douchebags milling around, exclaiming over iPods and hanging out for hours at a time.

 

[Artisan Fan]

Originally Posted by Teger

Actually, I think having to go to a Mac store is a huge downside of owning Apple products. Have you actually BEEN to an Apple store?

Dozens of times. Great experience every single time.

 

[JustinW]

Originally Posted by Teger

Actually, I think having to go to a Mac store is a huge downside of owning Apple products. Have you actually BEEN to an Apple store?

Not often.

The Apple online store is excellent and good value. I've never had any Apple product break or need service.

 

[celery]

Originally Posted by Teger

And 200 random douchebags milling around, exclaiming over iPods and hanging out for hours at a time.

This usually happens when a new product is launched. I tend avoid stores when something new has just come.

If your local Apple store is like this all the time, then that's pretty nuts.

 

[lithium180]

I grew up in a Mac household and have always used them. I would say that the thing that I love about it is that I can remain relatively technically illiterate about the mechanistic aspects of my computer and still get the full, unencumbered functionality from the programs that I desire to enhance my daily life.

A lot of people in this thread (who own PCs) have made a lot of technical arguments about the benefits of the PC over the Mac. I don't have any idea what the difference between malware and spyware is (or what they are) but I know that my Macs (I've probably had 6+ of them by now) have never had viruses on them and have always been able to accommodate the functional tasks that I desire of them. Since OS10 came out, I cannot remember a single time that my computers have crashed or been unable to amenably run several programs at once. The only reason that I've replaced the computers is because the quality of software, file size, and web content continue to increase beyond the capacity of the computer's processor every 2-3 years or so.

I can understand why computer enthusiasts (people that like to write software programs or build the computers themselves) might prefer to customize their own PC hardware. But for someone like myself, I just want the computer to work every time I turn it on, just as it did the first time that I powered it up out of the package. I want to view and edit photos, do word processing, send and receive files, play and burn cds and dvds, manage my music, and so on. For these purposes, there is no company like Apple. Their focus from inception has been to break down the wall that separated the technically and industrially-oriented computer from the only semi- or non-technologically literate masses. That is the essence of good industrial design and it keeps me coming back for more.

M

 

[Dakota rube]

Originally Posted by lithium180

...a lot of people in this thread (who own PCs) have made a lot of technical arguments about the benefits of the PC over the Mac...
True. And their statements are generally true. The Mac, technically, is not a superior machine.

I just want the computer to work every time I turn it on

This is precisely why every computer I've purchased since 1984 has been a Macintosh.

It just works.

 

[Tokyo Slim]

Where are the inspirational posters and corporate propaganda?

I must be the only person in the world who's had problems keeping a Mac from freezing, losing all my work, and having to restart it. Several different machines, G4 tower, G5 Tower, Quad core intel tower. Several different points in time, OS9 and OSX. Frustrating as hell.

Sucks to be the only person to ever have problems with a Mac. Nobody believes me. I honestly sort of dread having to put together any video, because I don't want to have to get pissed off and destroy something out of Mac frustration.

Never had remotely as many problems with a Windows PC.

 

[Optimas]

Originally Posted by lithium180

I grew up in a Mac household and have always used them. I would say that the thing that I love about it is that I can remain relatively technically illiterate about the mechanistic aspects of my computer and still get the full, unencumbered functionality from the programs that I desire to enhance my daily life.
There are many reasons I could suggest for buying a Mac, but this is the one I always end up finding most important. After switching to Mac four years ago, I can get the stuff I care about done without having to care about the technicalities of my computer.

 

[Jumbie]

Originally Posted by Optimas

I can get the stuff I care about done without having to care about the technicalities of my computer.

I don't understand what technicalities you guys are talking about. Care to provide an example?

Besides maybe not having to worry about spyware or something.

 

[JoeWoah]

I'd was a Mac kid when I was little, but my formative years were spent with a PC. The better engineered laptops and Vista made me switch.

Sure, Vista can be kicked off just about any laptop, if you're lucky enough that there are drivers available, but when I spend a substantial amount of money on something I expect it to work.

As for the technical stuff. OS X is Unix. You can keep it as simple as you want or have some command line fun. With XP, I find myself missing DOS sometimes. The cmd is emulated.

 

[Optimas]

Jumbie: My explanation was a bit vague, sorry about that. Spyware/malware is one thing, few bugs and crashes another (I don't know what the statistics are like, just that my machines crashed more frequently when I used Windows). Software update is automatic, my photos pretty much organize themselves, as does my music and so on.

Quite a few apps are designed very well, for example, I think Apple's Mail application is extremely efficient, as is my "todo app" OmniFocus, my RSS reader Vienna and so on. There are many good apps in Windows as well, of course - specifically, when I do heavy Excel work, I would not work with anything but UK English Excel 2003, I just happen to like the selection available for the Mac.

On a slightly more geeky note, there are some nifty features built into the OS, and some that can be added fairly easily. Quicksilver (search engine/application launcher with lots of brilliant features, don't know if anything similar is available in Windows) saves me several hours every single week. Automator simplifies a few recurring tasks and keyboard shortcuts are generally valid across apps (eg command + comma opens preferences window).

Most of this is probably available in a Windows XP machine configured well (or maybe even Vista by now ... ?). It's just that most of my Windows PCs have tended to be less than optimally configured - I'm the main cause of that, but the point is that I don't need to make sure drivers and everything are up to date on my Mac.

 

[Jumbie]

Thanks for the explanation. Makes sense.

Like I said earlier, I agree that out of the box OS X tends to be much more "ready" and end-user friendly which is why I currently have my technology-marsupialed parents using a Mac. Truthfully, that represents the vast majority of users. For people like myself who know a bit more, I can get Windows working to my liking but it does involve a fair bit of setting up and applications such as Launchy, Auto It (or Auto Hot Keys), etc.