As someone who has just taken the plunge and gone from a PC as my main workhorse to a MAC, i thought i'd give my views on both and what i've found since using the MAC (2 weeks now).
Firstly, both machines were of the same spec. Both the same amount of RAM, Same processor speeds (both intel 2.7 i5's, 8gb ram) and the PC probably had a slightly better graphics chip. My reason for switching was that when purchasing the PC i unfortunately went for a machine that was cheap, an Advent that I was persuaded to get and save myself £300 by going for the equivalent HP or other higher spec brand. It was a big mistake as the Advent was a piece of crap, constantly freezing and pulling up all sorts of blue screens, due to hardware faults and conflicts. It was just so badly put together. When it worked it was great, but it just wasn't reliable.
I decided to go for a MAC as i'm currently a Macbook Air user for web browsing and I love how fluid it is. I don't use it for anything else apart from a few presentations though.
Firstly, the plus points-
- It is a sheer beauty of a machine, looks the part in every way.
- Just having one plug and one lead is a good thing, no getting caught up in endless miles of cable.
- Programs do load quicker, and I find the dock good, gets everything i use at hand.
- MAC App store is fantastic, being able to download a range of software is very handy, plus a load of great cheap games for downtime.
- Love how notifications are displayed on the dock, much like the iPhone and the ipAD in style. LOVE IT!
Negatives-
- Start up time is not any faster than my PC, not a huge one but this is so often shouted out by MAC fanboys.
- I'm NOT finding the MAC has increased my workflow, programs such as Adobe PS and other programs i use are exactly the same, if not easier on the PC.
- Simple things like copy/cut/paste/renaming folders are a little more complicated on the MAC, and not straight to hand like on a PC (i.e. on a PC right click allows you to do almost ANYTHING!). Again not a huge problem, but not as 'fluid' as Apple fanboys would have you believe. I loved being able to copy and paste files etc from within a 'save as' window for example, which i can't now unless i use the 'finder'.
- Things such as the magic mouse and the keyboard are, in my opinion, terrible for working on. The size of the mouse is far too small to make continued use comfortable, it is not ergonomic in the slightest. The caps lock key on the keyboard needs to hit harder than other keys in order for it to register at times, when speed typing you often miss that you've typed the whole sentence in CAPS. This isn't a fault, as my Air is exactly the same. Style over substance in my opinion.
- MACS DO FREEZE/CRASH! I don't care what anyone says, my MAC (both the air and the iMac) often freeze for several seconds, and I have had to force quit programs about twice in the 2 weeks i've had it. Saying that I would have had that happen on the PC as well.
- I very much miss the fact I could open up my PC 'my computer' and I would know that I could access any folder i wish. My mac seems to display different folders to me in the finder as it does in real life, I was told by an Apple tech person that this is to protect you from opening up any folders that may effect how the apps run etc, which is crap.
Overall I wouldn't switch back to a PC at the moment as I do love the way the Apple looks, as well as things like the Dock, OS and notifications etc. However, I have paid a premium for this machine (£1300) and a lot of the reasons many speak of for switching haven't been forthcoming with me. This is bearing in mind a PC that was the same spec as my new apple (the Advent was £500). If I was short of cash and had made the switch hoping that my workflow would have sped up, i'd be pretty miffed.
Love my air though, that was 1k well spent. In client meetings people love it! (again, more pluses on the way it looks and the extra KUDOS you get??) I'm a photographer and I meet marketing managers etc, it's almost expected that use MACS.
Firstly, both machines were of the same spec. Both the same amount of RAM, Same processor speeds (both intel 2.7 i5's, 8gb ram) and the PC probably had a slightly better graphics chip. My reason for switching was that when purchasing the PC i unfortunately went for a machine that was cheap, an Advent that I was persuaded to get and save myself £300 by going for the equivalent HP or other higher spec brand. It was a big mistake as the Advent was a piece of crap, constantly freezing and pulling up all sorts of blue screens, due to hardware faults and conflicts. It was just so badly put together. When it worked it was great, but it just wasn't reliable.
I decided to go for a MAC as i'm currently a Macbook Air user for web browsing and I love how fluid it is. I don't use it for anything else apart from a few presentations though.
Firstly, the plus points-
- It is a sheer beauty of a machine, looks the part in every way.
- Just having one plug and one lead is a good thing, no getting caught up in endless miles of cable.
- Programs do load quicker, and I find the dock good, gets everything i use at hand.
- MAC App store is fantastic, being able to download a range of software is very handy, plus a load of great cheap games for downtime.
- Love how notifications are displayed on the dock, much like the iPhone and the ipAD in style. LOVE IT!
Negatives-
- Start up time is not any faster than my PC, not a huge one but this is so often shouted out by MAC fanboys.
- I'm NOT finding the MAC has increased my workflow, programs such as Adobe PS and other programs i use are exactly the same, if not easier on the PC.
- Simple things like copy/cut/paste/renaming folders are a little more complicated on the MAC, and not straight to hand like on a PC (i.e. on a PC right click allows you to do almost ANYTHING!). Again not a huge problem, but not as 'fluid' as Apple fanboys would have you believe. I loved being able to copy and paste files etc from within a 'save as' window for example, which i can't now unless i use the 'finder'.
- Things such as the magic mouse and the keyboard are, in my opinion, terrible for working on. The size of the mouse is far too small to make continued use comfortable, it is not ergonomic in the slightest. The caps lock key on the keyboard needs to hit harder than other keys in order for it to register at times, when speed typing you often miss that you've typed the whole sentence in CAPS. This isn't a fault, as my Air is exactly the same. Style over substance in my opinion.
- MACS DO FREEZE/CRASH! I don't care what anyone says, my MAC (both the air and the iMac) often freeze for several seconds, and I have had to force quit programs about twice in the 2 weeks i've had it. Saying that I would have had that happen on the PC as well.
- I very much miss the fact I could open up my PC 'my computer' and I would know that I could access any folder i wish. My mac seems to display different folders to me in the finder as it does in real life, I was told by an Apple tech person that this is to protect you from opening up any folders that may effect how the apps run etc, which is crap.
Overall I wouldn't switch back to a PC at the moment as I do love the way the Apple looks, as well as things like the Dock, OS and notifications etc. However, I have paid a premium for this machine (£1300) and a lot of the reasons many speak of for switching haven't been forthcoming with me. This is bearing in mind a PC that was the same spec as my new apple (the Advent was £500). If I was short of cash and had made the switch hoping that my workflow would have sped up, i'd be pretty miffed.
Love my air though, that was 1k well spent. In client meetings people love it! (again, more pluses on the way it looks and the extra KUDOS you get??) I'm a photographer and I meet marketing managers etc, it's almost expected that use MACS.
Last edited:
Upvote
0
Upvote
0
S
Sue De Nimes
I have always used bothmacs because I wanted to and PC's because I had to. I dont see any other reason to use PC's other than price... Macs are more comfortable to use, more reliable, more secure, more user friendly, more everything. not a fan boy, thats just the way it is
On what basis do you think they are more reliable or more secure? Everything else you have mentioned is subjective.
From my own experience they are most certainly less reliable. I haven't had any sort of security breach in the last 20 years under Windows or DOS or in the last 3 months with OSX.
Upvote
0
360 makes some interesting points. I think your experience is isolated Sue, I did have one imac that crashed a few times but have been using macs (alongside PCs) since 2003 with no issues. Is it the same app?
I have just upgraded to Mountain Lion and its getting better but I was really hacked off to start with, everything seemed slower and to me its going the Microsoft route, basically adding a load of crap to the OS that is not necessary.
As for the last comment regarding developing, untrue, I use mine for app development as to build iphone apps you have build on a mac and they make great development machines.
Gary
I have just upgraded to Mountain Lion and its getting better but I was really hacked off to start with, everything seemed slower and to me its going the Microsoft route, basically adding a load of crap to the OS that is not necessary.
As for the last comment regarding developing, untrue, I use mine for app development as to build iphone apps you have build on a mac and they make great development machines.
Gary
Upvote
0
We've been running 20+ iMacs for over 3 years now and, apart from knocking one off a desk and smashing its screen, we haven't had a single hardware issue. (Which shouldn't be a surprise as Apple have total control over what hardware is in them and they cost twice as much as an equivalent spec PC.)
Can't really comment much on the OS except to say it works. There seem to be far fewer updates and when they arrive, they're simpler. I personally can't remember any crashes - the odd programme occasionally hangs but it's easily killed and restated.
They're much less fun if you like tinkering - PCs are built to be fiddled with, Macs are designed so that you can't (and don't need to.)
Macs are fine for development work - of course.
For us, their most impressive and valuable asset is their server which doesn't require user licences.
Can't really comment much on the OS except to say it works. There seem to be far fewer updates and when they arrive, they're simpler. I personally can't remember any crashes - the odd programme occasionally hangs but it's easily killed and restated.
They're much less fun if you like tinkering - PCs are built to be fiddled with, Macs are designed so that you can't (and don't need to.)
Macs are fine for development work - of course.
For us, their most impressive and valuable asset is their server which doesn't require user licences.
Upvote
0
M
Muffiee
Your probably running lots of flash enabled sites or some plugin you've enabled is causing these crashes, do an error report and post it here so we can see why your mac is crashing so much and how often.
Or easy option is to just call or take it to a genius bar and provided you haven't been naughty with it (regarding voiding warranty) they will fix your mess for you.
No matter what machine you get if you install plugins/software that are prone to crashes they will crash, this is not Microsoft or Apples fault.
Last edited by a moderator:
Upvote
0
'take it to a genius'???? Queue up for hours with other morons who don't understand technology to pay for an grossly over-priced service by so called geniuses how are little more than pretty boy salesmen with a little training.
So really you're a typical fanboy blaming Flash or any other 'plug-in' for the reason Apple crashes? The whole point of Mac OS restrictions and limitations is to stop this happening as often than an less restricited OS like Windows. Although Flash is not a completely reliable media how come Windows and Linux seem to able to run it efficiently?
Last edited by a moderator:
Upvote
0
Upvote
0
These so called Genius's are a waste of space, after just a few weeks of running my iMac I found that when approaching these people I knew more about the product than they do. I've lost count of the amount of times i've gone into an Apple store and ended up helping a consumer when there so called apple experts have given them a load of crap advice.
As much as I do like Apple products I detest the apple stores, a load of stuck up pretentious 'trendy' dimwits who feel they have really achieved something by getting a job at apple. The type of people who high five each other when receiving their uniform, and no doubt they wear it 24/7 as to them the thought of people knowing they work at an apple store gets the foaming at the mouth.
Flash is the get out of jail card for fanboys, it something doesn't work just blame flash!
Upvote
0
Mac or PC is a personal choice, usually based on what you're doing for a living and what kind of person you are
I'm a PC guy, because that's what suits me.
I grew up with Windows shortcuts and can't live without them.
Most of the guys I work with have Macs, but that's because they're typical designers or minimalist web users.
Each to their own. There's no right or wrong really.
I'm a PC guy, because that's what suits me.
I grew up with Windows shortcuts and can't live without them.
Most of the guys I work with have Macs, but that's because they're typical designers or minimalist web users.
Each to their own. There's no right or wrong really.
Upvote
0
Agreed, if I'm doing SQL Server development I use a windows box, if its iPhone development its a mac. Both of these things *have* to be done on the 2 different machines.
The only thing I do like is I run parallels on my macbook so can actually do windows dev work on it.
Gary
Upvote
0
Latest Articles
-
When the Algorithm Gets It Wrong: What eBay's AI Moderation Problem Tells Us About Platform RiskA thread appeared on UKBF this week that, on the surface, looks like a...- Ozzy
- Updated:
-
Should you crowdfund? A framework for UK founders in 2026Three articles into a series on what crowdfunding actually costs, the...
- Ozzy
- Updated:
-
The polls, the reframing, and the billion dollarsHow three letters from the early years of Star Citizen's development...
- Ozzy
- Updated:
-
The values trap: what the Punks actually ownedWhy BrewDog's Equity for Punks investors were structurally locked out...
- Ozzy
- Updated:
-
When belief is the business modelWhat BrewDog's collapse and Star Citizen's billion-dollar climb are...
- Ozzy
- Updated:
