Mac or PC?

[wolfiefrick]

This thread probably existed a long time ago, but what is your stance on computing? Mac or PC?
I'm personally more of a Mac person, and as they all say, "Once you go Mac, you never go back." 

[SignGeek101]

I've never owned a Mac, but I see them commonly at school. I've looked at them myself, but I doubt I'll get one in the near future.

[triplemultiplex]

Windows is doing it's damnedest to make me a Mac customer.  But their shit is so much more expensive.

I've been regularly using both OS's for a decade and over most of that time, I can say good and bad things about each.  But in recent years, I find myself grumbling about Windows more.
I associate Mac with work and Windows with home, which is the reverse of most people.

[jakeroot]

I have been using both since 2007. My first Mac was running Leopard, which was a huge jump from the Mac OS before that. Damndest thing is, I still have that computer. And while it has slowed down since those first years, it's still a really good web browser. If I didn't play games, I'd use a Mac. But, since I do, Windows 10 is my choice at the moment.

[realjd]

Both. My work laptop is Windows 7. My personal laptop is a MacBook. I bought the MacBook because I passionately hated Windows 8. My desktop PC runs Windows 10 because games and my Oculus Rift work better on Windows. I also have a macmini that I use as a server.

Windows is better for games; there are more of them, and there is much better hardware support. I do like Windows 7 and Windows 10. I prefer OSX for everyday use though, largely because it's UNIX-based and has a full featured terminal.

I use Linux also both for work and personally. Mint is my favorite distro lately. It's not my main OS though because it's not as polished as Windows or OSX. I find myself spending much more time mucking around with OS configuration on Linux than I do with OSX or Windows.

[Thing 342]

Neither. I use Linux Mint as my primary OS, mostly because it runs smoother and is more configurable than either Windows or OSX. Plus, it makes a few programming - related tasks such as using the Android SDK much easier to accomplish, and comes with a reduced threat of viruses. I'll admit that it's far less polished than W10 or OSX, and that it requires much more finagling in the command line than should be necessary. However, I also have a Surface 3 running Windows 10 that I use for school stuff.

Nexus 7

[sammi]

This should be a choose-all-that-apply poll.

My laptop is a Windows, but I don't really use it as much as my desktop. I basically really only use it for driving trains.

My desktop runs Ubuntu with i3wm. It's just much more comfortable for me, and is nicer to program in than Windows.

[Rothman]

PC.  I have both, but I definitely prefer the PC, if only because of how much broader the software market is for PCs.

Have a friend who's a filmmaker and she is always touting Mac's abilities in that regard.  However, I can't tell you how many times that she's set up her fancy-schmancy rig to do a render and having the wheel of death cause her to do the Darth Vader "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

[wolfiefrick]

This should be a choose-all-that-apply poll.

I haven't seen the option in the 'edit form' panel to make it this way. Is there a way to modify it that I don't know about?

[Pete from Boston]

PC, but iPhone.  There's a limit to which I'm willing to surrender control.  Macs are fun, but after a few decades of PC use (with a five-year affair with a Mac) I just find PCs more fixable and affordable.

[kurumi]

I do a lot of coding, writing and research (and almost no gaming), so the SSD MacBook with 16GB RAM is it. There's a Win7 VM that I sometimes have to use, and I always get annoyed when I have to go fix AD or Windows-based vCenter, etc.

Linux distro of choice is Ubuntu, probably out of inertia/familiarity/laziness. There might be better options out there.

[kkt]

Funny you should ask that, as I'm just swearing at Windows because this supposedly managed update process is demanding that I reboot it, when it's supposed to do its update processes at night when no one is using the damned thing.  This is at work, I wouldn't use Windows voluntarily.

At home, PCBSD.  That's FreeBSD with a desktop environment.  However, I may switch to Mac or some Linux distribution, PCBSD's rough edges are a little too rough for me.

[hbelkins]

First computer I ever used was a Mac Plus, with a 20 MB external hard drive. That was back in 1987.

When it came time for me to buy a home computer, I went with a Mac because that was what I was familiar with (and also had access to a bunch of fonts, software, etc.)

First time I ever used Windows was in 1995, and Windows 3.1. That was when I started a new job where the PC culture dominated. Wasn't long before they upgraded to Windows NT.

Currently, I'm using a older white MacBook (because my MacBook Pro bit the dust last year and I can't afford to replace it) and I also own a little netbook that runs Windows XP. My work machine is a Dell PC that runs Windows 7 Professional.

I prefer Mac for the interface, but there's a lot more software available for the PC, most definitely.

[realjd]

I do a lot of coding, writing and research (and almost no gaming), so the SSD MacBook with 16GB RAM is it. There's a Win7 VM that I sometimes have to use, and I always get annoyed when I have to go fix AD or Windows-based vCenter, etc.

Linux distro of choice is Ubuntu, probably out of inertia/familiarity/laziness. There might be better options out there.

I stopped using Ubuntu when they introduced that stupid Unity desktop. Mint, which is my current distro of choice, is basically Ubuntu with a much better GUI front end. The ISO download is a live boot. You should give it a look sometime.

[doorknob60]

I'm not a fan of the way you worded the poll. I use a PC with Linux installed. Windows is not my primary OS (though I do have it for when I need it). Obviously I voted Linux in the poll, but the poll is a bit odd. You could also say the same thing about Mac. A Mac is a PC made by Apple with OS X preinstalled. I blame Apple's "Mac vs. PC" ads for all this nonsense, so I'm not mad at the OP.

[1995hoo]

I'm not a fan of the way you worded the poll. I use a PC with Linux installed. Windows is not my primary OS (though I do have it for when I need it). Obviously I voted Linux in the poll, but the poll is a bit odd. You could also say the same thing about Mac. A Mac is a PC made by Apple with OS X preinstalled. I blame Apple's "Mac vs. PC" ads for all this nonsense, so I'm not mad at the OP.

Once upon a time we may have said "IBM" instead of "PC," but IBM ceased to be a significant player in that market a long time ago. The term "PC" in this case is derived from the 1980s, though, and the original IBM Personal Computer (quickly shortened to "PC" in popular usage). You had the PC and "clones" on the one hand and the Macintosh on the other. The term "PC-compatible" endured after IBM introduced the PS/2 line, which was largely perceived as a flop even though it sold really well.  You can be forgiven on this one due to your youth! 

To answer the poll, I've always been in the PC camp, but if I need to buy a new machine it'll likely be a Mac because they can now run all the PC software. Last weekend my PC got bricked by the Windows 10 "upgrade." A major item on my to-do list this weekend is to install a new boot drive and do a clean install of Windows 7. If it doesn't work, I may be computer shopping, but I want to avoid that if I can. I'm really down on Microsoft after this experience.

[Pete from Boston]

I'm not a fan of the way you worded the poll. I use a PC with Linux installed. Windows is not my primary OS (though I do have it for when I need it). Obviously I voted Linux in the poll, but the poll is a bit odd. You could also say the same thing about Mac. A Mac is a PC made by Apple with OS X preinstalled. I blame Apple's "Mac vs. PC" ads for all this nonsense, so I'm not mad at the OP.

Once upon a time we may have said "IBM" instead of "PC," but IBM ceased to be a significant player in that market a long time ago. The term "PC" in this case is derived from the 1980s, though, and the original IBM Personal Computer (quickly shortened to "PC" in popular usage). You had the PC and "clones" on the one hand and the Macintosh on the other. The term "PC-compatible" endured after IBM introduced the PS/2 line, which was largely perceived as a flop even though it sold really well.  You can be forgiven on this one due to your youth! 

To answer the poll, I've always been in the PC camp, but if I need to buy a new machine it'll likely be a Mac because they can now run all the PC software. Last weekend my PC got bricked by the Windows 10 "upgrade." A major item on my to-do list this weekend is to install a new boot drive and do a clean install of Windows 7. If it doesn't work, I may be computer shopping, but I want to avoid that if I can. I'm really down on Microsoft after this experience.

But how well can they run "PC software" if that software is for windows?  I've known a few folks to try and have far less than stellar performance.

[AsphaltPlanet]

I've always been a Windows guy, though I do own an iPhone.

I've had my windows 7 desktop for about 5 years and it still works fairly well.  It does crash once in a bloom moon every now and again which it never did when it was newer.  However, I do push it to its limit from time to time with photography stuff.

I also have an HP laptop that I upgraded to Windows 10 back in the fall.  At first I wasn't that much of a fan of Windows 10, compared to 7, but the more I've used it, the more the operating system has grown on me.  Since upgrading, I've never had any stability issues with Windows 10 on my laptop.

[US 41]

I've never been a big Apple fan. I prefer Windows 7 over the newer Windows models, because I don't use all that other junk anyways.

I got a new hp Notebook 15-F211WM for Christmas and I would have to give it a 1.5 out 5 stars. It works fine for a while and then the mouse pad quits working (it will zoom in and do nothing else). The only way to fix it is to shut it off and turn it back on which gets old. I guess it is a $300 laptop. It makes me wonder how much a "good" laptop costs. 

[wolfiefrick]

It makes me wonder how much a "good" laptop costs.

A minimum of $899 for an 11-inch MacBook Air with a 1.6 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of PCIe-based flash storage, all of which are soldered to the logic board and not upgradable. People often ask me why I'm such a Mac fan and tell me that I'm an Apple sheep, but I really just appreciate the fit and finish they put into their products, and, in a way, it helps to justify the heavy price tag on most of their products. I've invested myself so heavily into the Apple world that it's kind of hard to even think about going to Windows or a Linux distro.

I'm usually a pretty platform agnostic person. I have no problem using Windows or Linux - I'm not a heavy gamer, nor am I an industrial worker or an architect who uses Autodesk Revit all day long - I'm a designer and a filmmaker, not for a living (I'm 14), but for school and mostly for fun. And Macs are usually better in that aspect than other machines running Windows or Linux.

I'm not a fan of the way you worded the poll. I use a PC with Linux installed. Windows is not my primary OS (though I do have it for when I need it). Obviously I voted Linux in the poll, but the poll is a bit odd. You could also say the same thing about Mac. A Mac is a PC made by Apple with OS X preinstalled. I blame Apple's "Mac vs. PC" ads for all this nonsense, so I'm not mad at the OP.

Yes, I probably should have worded it a bit better. Apple's "Mac vs. PC" ads have given me many a laugh over the years. I'll amend the poll; you need not vote again, however.

[1995hoo]

I'm not a fan of the way you worded the poll. I use a PC with Linux installed. Windows is not my primary OS (though I do have it for when I need it). Obviously I voted Linux in the poll, but the poll is a bit odd. You could also say the same thing about Mac. A Mac is a PC made by Apple with OS X preinstalled. I blame Apple's "Mac vs. PC" ads for all this nonsense, so I'm not mad at the OP.

Once upon a time we may have said "IBM" instead of "PC," but IBM ceased to be a significant player in that market a long time ago. The term "PC" in this case is derived from the 1980s, though, and the original IBM Personal Computer (quickly shortened to "PC" in popular usage). You had the PC and "clones" on the one hand and the Macintosh on the other. The term "PC-compatible" endured after IBM introduced the PS/2 line, which was largely perceived as a flop even though it sold really well.  You can be forgiven on this one due to your youth! 

To answer the poll, I've always been in the PC camp, but if I need to buy a new machine it'll likely be a Mac because they can now run all the PC software. Last weekend my PC got bricked by the Windows 10 "upgrade." A major item on my to-do list this weekend is to install a new boot drive and do a clean install of Windows 7. If it doesn't work, I may be computer shopping, but I want to avoid that if I can. I'm really down on Microsoft after this experience.

But how well can they run "PC software" if that software is for windows?  I've known a few folks to try and have far less than stellar performance.

From what I understand, since I don't have a Mac, you install software that lets you dual-boot to either the Mac OS or Windows, and you run PC software in the Windows box. So it essentially runs natively, though I have no idea how it is performance-wise. This wasn't an option in the 1980s and 1990s.

My clean install of Windows 7 on the new drive is working fine so far. Hardware driver downloads were simple enough. Next comes the long process of software updates and reinstalling, or repurchasing, applications. Pain in the butt, but less expensive than buying a new computer, whether it be a Mac or a PC.

[realjd]

I'm not a fan of the way you worded the poll. I use a PC with Linux installed. Windows is not my primary OS (though I do have it for when I need it). Obviously I voted Linux in the poll, but the poll is a bit odd. You could also say the same thing about Mac. A Mac is a PC made by Apple with OS X preinstalled. I blame Apple's "Mac vs. PC" ads for all this nonsense, so I'm not mad at the OP.

Once upon a time we may have said "IBM" instead of "PC," but IBM ceased to be a significant player in that market a long time ago. The term "PC" in this case is derived from the 1980s, though, and the original IBM Personal Computer (quickly shortened to "PC" in popular usage). You had the PC and "clones" on the one hand and the Macintosh on the other. The term "PC-compatible" endured after IBM introduced the PS/2 line, which was largely perceived as a flop even though it sold really well.  You can be forgiven on this one due to your youth! 

To answer the poll, I've always been in the PC camp, but if I need to buy a new machine it'll likely be a Mac because they can now run all the PC software. Last weekend my PC got bricked by the Windows 10 "upgrade." A major item on my to-do list this weekend is to install a new boot drive and do a clean install of Windows 7. If it doesn't work, I may be computer shopping, but I want to avoid that if I can. I'm really down on Microsoft after this experience.

But how well can they run "PC software" if that software is for windows?  I've known a few folks to try and have far less than stellar performance.

From what I understand, since I don't have a Mac, you install software that lets you dual-boot to either the Mac OS or Windows, and you run PC software in the Windows box. So it essentially runs natively, though I have no idea how it is performance-wise. This wasn't an option in the 1980s and 1990s.

My clean install of Windows 7 on the new drive is working fine so far. Hardware driver downloads were simple enough. Next comes the long process of software updates and reinstalling, or repurchasing, applications. Pain in the butt, but less expensive than buying a new computer, whether it be a Mac or a PC.

Bootcamp is the name of the tool that ships with OSX. It helps you partition your HD and install Windows on the second partition for dual booting. Since you're booting Windows natively it runs just as well as on any other laptop. It's actually faster than OSX for anything involving 3D graphics.

Parallels is a tool that lets you run Windows and OS X at the same time. It creates a virtual machine that you install Windows into and run on top of OSX. Since newer Intel processors support virtualization natively it runs surprisingly well, but not as fast as using Bootcamp to boot natively.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Whatever works I'm fine with, although the Mac fanboys acting like they're some kind of superior people puts me off from Macs for that reason.

[wolfiefrick]

Bootcamp is the name of the tool that ships with OSX. It helps you partition your HD and install Windows on the second partition for dual booting. Since you're booting Windows natively it runs just as well as on any other laptop. It's actually faster than OSX for anything involving 3D graphics.

Boot Camp Assistant is very useful for running Windows on a Mac and it runs faster than it does on most non-Mac PCs. I'm currently dual booting OS X and Windows, OS X getting the larger partition, on my Mid-2011 iMac. On my Early 2014 MacBook Air I'm running OS X only, as it only has a 128 GB SSD.

[/font]
Parallels is a tool that lets you run Windows and OS X at the same time. It creates a virtual machine that you install Windows into and run on top of OSX. Since newer Intel processors support virtualization natively it runs surprisingly well, but not as fast as using Bootcamp to boot natively.

While Parallels gets a lot of fame, I actually think that Oracle's free VirtualBox is a much better alternative, as it allows you to customize nearly every aspect of the virtual machine's settings. On my iMac I've got several virtual machines running different Linux distros. On my MacBook Air I have only one relatively small virtual machine running Windows 10 Pro, which I use for engineering/tech at my school, as we're working with Autodesk Revit and Inventor, programs only available on Windows.

Whatever works I'm fine with, although the Mac fanboys acting like they're some kind of superior people puts me off from Macs for that reason.

Yes, I hate that too. Even though I use Mac, I don't believe it's something to be pompous and stuck up about. Wake up people; it's a PREFERENCE.

[1995hoo]

Whatever works I'm fine with, although the Mac fanboys acting like they're some kind of superior people puts me off from Macs for that reason.

Yeah. Same thing is true when people talk about their mobile phones.