PC verses MAC

I NEED a new computer and my family all have Macs. I am very comfortable and like my PC but they are trying to tell me a MAC is better.

I HAVE found some programs won't run on a MAC but for the life of me I cannot remember what they are.

Will you all give me YOUR input about which is better and why?

so sorry,.. .. all my life I worked with PC and never been tryed with MAC... so I don´t have opinon about it! ... ....

I work on both a PC and Mac at work. I do all of my email stuff and expense forms on the PC since the rest of the office are PC users. But I use the Mac for all of my graphic design and ITunes downloads. I would go for a Mac if you work on graphics, videos or large files. Go for the PC if you're basically using it for email, MS Word, Excel.

Even tho I am a physician, I do a significant amount of work involving technology (eHealth et al) and much prefer PC's. I think any computer science dept will tell you the same thing. Unless you are a graphic designer, a PC is by far the preferred option and even there, there are excellent graphic programs now for the PC. For the casual user, PC's have many more compatible programs (apps) while Macs have few. Mac owners tend to be true believers though. PC's might be a lillte less user friendly but now with Windows (I am old enuf to recall DOS and even just Basic in Commodore 64's, lol), that gap is closing too.

Don't forget Linex or UNIX either!

Honestly in a home setting it depends greatly on what you plan on doing with your computer. I wound up going with a PC mainly because I do a lot of gaming and find it is easier to find the games I want to play on PC.

I have heard MACs are very reliable though, maybe even more so than PCs and that the operating system has fewer bugs but since I don't work with them I don't know that first hand.

Originally Posted by GrayKittenLove

Honestly in a home setting it depends greatly on what you plan on doing with your computer. I wound up going with a PC mainly because I do a lot of gaming and find it is easier to find the games I want to play on PC.

I have heard MACs are very reliable though, maybe even more so than PCs and that the operating system has fewer bugs but since I don't work with them I don't know that first hand.

Click to expand...

I TOO play a lot of games (WHEN<sigh> I get money I want to buy the Pogo games) and I love my PC but it IS 7 years old!!!!

So do you or can anyone tell me what a PC can do that a Mac cannot? I NEED amunition!

It all depends on what you want to do on your new computer. If games are one of your favorite things to do, then you should definitely choose a PC.

I'll throw in my $.02 fwiw. The way I understood it in the late 80's was that the PC is more powerful, more adaptable/upgradable and more popular (which is significant as this will affect the number of programs and aftermarket accessories i.e. 3-D video accellerator cards, etc, that are available. On the other hand, the PC is less stable, requires more technical knowledge, is less user friendly and more expensive.

So the way we looked at it was the mac is like a Honda, efficient, reliable and easy to maintain, (albiet boring to the true 'puter geek), yet lacking in power, support, accessories and flexibility. Whereas a PC was like a Chevy (or Ford) SUV. Powerful, with a wide range of accessories and aftermarket parts, yet tempermental, requiring more regular maintenance etc.

Now this was many many many years ago, and from what I understand MAC has been catching up slowly but steadily (just like Honda? See the new Ridgeline heh heh). So things may (probably) have changed significantly, however I know it is still much easier for me to find off road accessories for my Dodge 4X4 than it is to find same for a Honda Passport.

<EOM>

I love PC's but my friends MAC's are pretty cool, but I couldn't live without my HP!

Originally Posted by CyberKitten

Even tho I am a physician, I do a significant amount of work involving technology (eHealth et al) and much prefer PC's. I think any computer science dept will tell you the same thing. Unless you are a graphic designer, a PC is by far the preferred option and even there, there are excellent graphic programs now for the PC. For the casual user, PC's have many more compatible programs (apps) while Macs have few. Mac owners tend to be true believers though. PC's might be a lillte less user friendly but now with Windows (I am old enuf to recall DOS and even just Basic in Commodore 64's, lol), that gap is closing too.

Don't forget Linex or UNIX either!

Click to expand...

Hey ya dont have to be old to know DOS , I learned it at age six ...

I like PC just for tranferability ... Mac is good for music and art type stuff ... or speciality programs...

I have always owned Mac at home, but I use PC at work. I would never, ever own a PC at home. I have seen so many of my computers at school infected by all sorts of spyware, malware, trojans, viruses, you name it. I have never had problem one like that, and I've been on the net almost 10 years.

If you are a big gamer, PC would be your choice. But any real computer geek would tell you that Apple has really always had the superior operating system. I just got a brand new Mac last week, and I love it!

PC Here!!

The first computer I used was an Apple IIE. We always had a Mac in the house. They're more user-friendly, powerful and durable than PCs. My dad and brother are Mac "true believers". lol My BF's best friend has a REALLY sweet Mac with all kinds of graphic design, art and music software on it. He does some really amazing stuff with that Mac.
Oh, and as Deb25 pointed out, Mac systems are MUCh more secure than PC.
I'd take a Mac any day.
BUT....
Macs are pricey. Their software is pricey. We can't afford one. So we support the evil empire that is Microsoft.

I have a PC. I've always been told MAC's are better for graphics, but I think I do all right with my PC, when it comes to graphics. Mac's are a lot more expensive, and I think everything connected with Mac is more expensive. If you can afford a Mac, go for it, but you will have less programs, available to use on it.

Macs are more expensive but they do tend to not get infected with viruses since there are about 6,000 known viruses that effec them, compaired to the 60,000 that effect PCs. Alot of programs availible for PC's are availible for macs, you can get microsoft office for macs you can get most games as well but i can tell you normally a new game for PC's is released then about 6 months to a year later the mac version is released. Just for an example, the sims 2 was released september 04 for PC's it was released for macs in may. Most programs are availible but the reason people think that you cant get something is because most retailers are PC only stores. So you have to go to specialty stores to get mac versions of the programs.

I also think that macs conserve energy better, they pretty much shut down when they go to sleep after being inactive for a certain amount of time, everything shuts down, to the point where it sounds just like it is off. With most pc's they still have their fan running.

With the fact that the price on macs are higher is not just because of the fact that they are macs. Most of the components that are put in to PC's are cheap compaired to Macs. Apple takes alot of time to develope new computers and put components in to the computer that will keep it running for along time. Most of their computers come with standard sound cards and internet capibilitys. They make their computers so that what you need you get from them so that they last as long as possible.

And now that i am starting to ramble i wanted to save this for last. If you are not a person that knows alot about computers i would recommend a mac. Simplist way to explain is when you hook up a new internet connection to a pc you have to manually enter your isp number. On a mac you connect the internet and your on the internet your computer does everything for you. Macs are made to be user friendly. And unless your computer desk breaks and your computer falls and smashes it will keep working for a long time. When you get a mac you also get a year of free support and i believe a .mac account for e-mail a homepage and alot of other good stuff. Apple takes good care of the people that support them.

http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/36120.html
A good artical on price cost it shows how if you get all the things that come standard in a mac, and put it in a pc the price difference isnt that different. The PC's always end up being more expensive.

I am done now =0)

Well, I have a PC at home, Windows on my work laptop, and two workstations, which have Linux and HPUX. And my boyfriend/fiancee type person has two Powerbooks which I love playing with when he's around.

If I had to buy a new computer (read: If I had the money to get rid of my crappy desktop), I'd buy a Mac.

I use my computer for web stuff, surfing, and schoolwork (I'm an Electrical Engineering major). I would do work (mainly programming) from my desktop, but it's not allowed to connect to the secure network, hence, the laptop. And I play several Blizzard games. And Windows isn't an OS which the tools I use is supported on.

Mac's are just as good as most pre-built computers (like the ones you can pick out at electronics stores) out there. The main difference that I see is that Mac's tend to need less upkeep. I can't express the amount of time that I spend on my two machines running Windows updating, as opposed to the time I would spend if they were Mac's or *NIX. And buying a Mac doesn't give money to Bill Gates and MS, which is a big bonus.

Learning to use a Mac isn't hard, especially if you're just going to be using it for email, music, and web surfing.

While there are some programs which can't be used on Mac's, there are equivalent programs. Like, if you don't want to pay so much for MS Office, you could use Open Office (on any major platform, actually, including Windows). And the big bonus there is that Open Office is free. You may spend a bit of time initially setting up your computer, but I don't see that as a bad thing, as I love tinkering. And I actually spend more time tinkering with local settings/installing programs/whatever on Windows than I have any other OS that I've used.

Have to agree that the MAC is the more stable one but if Games are your big thing, the PC is the better choice. I have both. The PC is my husband's game machine and the MAC is mine for everything.

So What is it I CANNOT do on a Mac?

I don't know much about the programs, but I do know that the word and powerpoint on a MAC have a somewhat different layout than on a PC. It took a bit for me to find things using these programs on the MAC.

I use nothing but PC at home. All teachers in our school have MAC. We also teach all of our computer stuff to the kids using MACs. We love our PCs here at home. I have had no issues using either. It took awhile to get the bugs out of the attendance program at school, but it was probably the program, not the MAC.


I have a lot of friends that work with computers, most love MAC, except those that like to build from scratch.

As others have said, games are the big thing that PCs have over Macs. Sometimes you find that software or even some web applications are not Mac supported. I don't find enough to make it an issue. In general, you can DO most things on both, the 'how' is just different.

There are some Mac programs that I find are huge advantages and aren't available for PC. For example, on my new computer, I was having trouble getting the MSN Messenger application to work. I went to the Apple Support site (another great resource) and posted on their discussion boards. The resolution I received was a free download idea - Adium - an instant messenging program that let you be on AIM, Yahoo, and MSN at once. It's fantastic!

I also love how anything I can print can automatically be converted to pdf format.