N.A. asks from Portland, OR on April 06, 2009
PC Or Mac???
My PC is approaching the end of its life and I am trying to figure out what my next computer will be - a PC or a Mac. To be honest I am leaning toward a Mac because I love the photo & video programs on the Mac. Plus the whole Vista thing on the PC really scares me. I know Macs cost a bit more, but what do you think, is it worth it? I use my computer for internet, email, address book, word, excel, publishing, music, photos (lots) & some video. What would you do?
1 mom found this helpful
So What Happened?™
Thank you for all the great feedback. I would say 98% of the responses were encouraging me to get a Mac which I totally want to do eventually. What I ended up doing was getting a netbook at Costco for $350. Very economical, very portable and very much providing a great solution until I can afford the kind of Mac I would like. The netbooks still come with Windows XP, however they do not come with the MS Office Suite - Word, Excel, Outlook, etc. so I have had to pay extra for that. Again, thanks so much for all the wonderful feedback!
Featured Answers
A.B. answers from Seattle on April 07, 2009
Mac!! all the way! I cannot tell you how pleased I am that I changed from a PC to a Mac. The only issue and I really mean the ONLY issue is email has been a bit of a challenge for me and this is only because I haven't taken the time to really learn how to create "groups" to email to, arrange my address book (I don't even know where that is) and overall I think it is just a little more difficult than a PC. But really that is my only complaint. Apple has fantastic free classes to solve all of my issues, I just have to go there and take the class - Alderwood Mall in Lynnwood. I vote for Mac! - A.
1 mom found this helpful
K.T. answers from Portland on April 07, 2009
I didn't read all the others, but I'm all for Macs. We have a PC laptop for home. For the past 6 years, my school district has provided every teacher with a Mac for school/personal use as well. In my opinion it far exceeds the capabilities of the PC and has far more shortcuts to use with programs. I'm not crazy about "pages" the writing document and there really is no clipart that I've found--just google images. For what you're using it for though, PC sounds great. My students create podcasts, keynote presentations, and we use garage band for reading books aloud.
K.
S.R. answers from Seattle on April 07, 2009
Buy the Mac. Totally worth the money. It is a better built machine with better software available. I use three operating systems in my life right now, Windows, Mac OS X and Gnome (Linux based). Windows constantly crashes on me and the programs are not as easy to find things in. Please note that, I am not doing major stuff. Pretty much I need email, word processing, chat, financials and spreadsheets. I love my Linux computer and programs but since so few people have them and use the corresponding office programs I don't do collaborative work on that one. I do use it to run my business. My Mac is great and as far as I am concerned the best of both worlds between Windows and Linux. It is really stable and reliable and yet you can get the really common office programs, like Microsoft Office, for it. (I personally use the iWork suite to work in and then pdf things that need to go to other people, but that is just me.) The other Mac software is awesome as well and not hard to learn. Just remember on the Mac the "close", "minimize" and "expand" buttons are on the left side of the window, not the right.
Good Luck!
S.
More Answers
A.B. answers from Seattle on April 07, 2009
Mac!! all the way! I cannot tell you how pleased I am that I changed from a PC to a Mac. The only issue and I really mean the ONLY issue is email has been a bit of a challenge for me and this is only because I haven't taken the time to really learn how to create "groups" to email to, arrange my address book (I don't even know where that is) and overall I think it is just a little more difficult than a PC. But really that is my only complaint. Apple has fantastic free classes to solve all of my issues, I just have to go there and take the class - Alderwood Mall in Lynnwood. I vote for Mac! - A.
1 mom found this helpful
D.S. answers from Seattle on April 07, 2009
Hands down, Macs are better computers. They rarely need to be fixed, and when they do you can fix them yourself. I love my Mac. I use both, but Macs are far superior! And a heck of a lot more fun. There are no issues with compatibility with Word, Excel etc. Good luck!
1 mom found this helpful
W.C. answers from Seattle on April 07, 2009
I am a Mac person--I do graphics. I bought a G-4 11 years ago. I was able to up grade it to 10.3os and it died last year. I paid $1,400. That is $140 a year. I bought a Imac last year and it cost $1,500.
I love mac's frankly. They are intuitive, functional, and responsive to the creative mind. Don't believe the PC quote that macs and pc's can't interface. They can. Macs have a built in function for that.
A.L. answers from Seattle on April 07, 2009
MAC even though we live in a PC area. Hands down MAC is better.
L.H. answers from Seattle on April 07, 2009
I'm a little biased because I used to work for Apple, but I'd say a Mac. You just can't beat the Mac for creative purposes. I wouldn't give mine up for anything.
P.M. answers from Portland on April 07, 2009
My husb and I publish books from home – he writes, I illustrate. We've had nothing but Macs from the beginning, so it's hard to say whether I would have liked other products. But our Macs have been so sturdy, servicable, and versatile, we have only updated computers a few times in over 25 years.
Macs run fabulous, user-friendly software programs. And they are fairly immune to viruses like PCs. I don't think you'll ever regret spending a little more to get a Mac.
K.I. answers from Spokane on April 07, 2009
N.,
My hubby is a computer programmer and we have SEVERAL PC's and I have a Mac. I went to school in CA in the era of Apple so thats what I learned on, therefor I think they are more user friendly. Hubby has always been a PC guy, but bought me a Mac laptop when we first started dating (10+) yrs ago and they are so much "fun" we have had atleast one ever since.----I say get a Mac...try something new!---FYI- the Vista thing is not that big of a deal, it is buggy but dont base your choice on only that, its not that scary!
K.
Z.A. answers from Seattle on April 07, 2009
Ahhhh...the great debate.
We have almost as many computers in our house as guitars (which is a LOT since my husband's a programmer and a muscian. Ummm...I would say by day/night, but anyone else here married to or is one or the other? 24hours a day thing.)
We've had the lot, but we're gradually transitioning over to all Mac. ;) This also means that we can get rid of our TV....eventually we'll just get a big monitor (since with Mac it connects wirelessly) that we can put anywhere. We watch nearly everything either online or with netflix anyway. Why pay for cable or upgrade the TV?
While I LOVE my laptop (the modern day version of "a room with a lock and a key"), the desktop Mac versions really aren't that expensive (and unless you're looking at Alienware, about a gazillion times more powerful then the average Dell.)
I do have to say...it takes some getting used to. I've had my laptop for about a week and I'm still figuring it out. For me it's worth it though. I can use WORD & ADOBE, in CONJUNCTION with Pages & Aperture. There's also a ton of storage, and backup, which for someone else who has a lot of photos...is a huge deal.
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