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Antievolution.org Discussion Board > From the Panda's Thumb > After the Bar Closes... > should i switch to mac, or stay pc?

stevestory Posts: 13407 Joined: Oct. 2005 (Permalink) Posted: Mar. 08 2006,15:34    I've been toying with the idea of switching for a year now. Pros: elegant OSX Ease of setup/reinstalls pretty hardware cons: less software much more expensive steve jobs's occasional insanity dependant on one company The machine i'm using at home is a Dell from 1999. At work I run lots of MatLab etc, but at home I just chat and read webpages. So I haven't been forced to upgrade. But I will need to decide, sooner or later, whether to switch. anybody got any helpful advice?

sir_toejam Posts: 846 Joined: April 2005 (Permalink) Posted: Mar. 08 2006,15:52    Quote but at home I just chat and read webpages. then buy whatever you can get the cheapest, which is likely the PC. by the time you figure you might have some specific serious needs, you'll probably want to upgrade again anyway, and then you'll have more info to make your choice with. bottom line, I can't see any reason for you to switch away from what you are already using.

stevestory Posts: 13407 Joined: Oct. 2005 (Permalink) Posted: Mar. 08 2006,15:57    but the apple's so pretty....

sir_toejam Posts: 846 Joined: April 2005 (Permalink) Posted: Mar. 08 2006,16:02    oh, well then... One thing i would note is that the new apples with the intel chips are getting fantastic reviews; evidently the best combo of hardware/OS ever. mucho dinero. It's like buying a car. you have to decide whether you really need a ferrari to drive to the grocery store.

Wesley R. Elsberry Posts: 4966 Joined: May 2002 (Permalink) Posted: Mar. 08 2006,16:38    If you want the stability that underlies OS X, then just go to freebsd.org and get the latest FreeBSD distribution for the i386 platform. You don't get the specific Mac window manager, but you can select from a variety of X Windows window managers. Plus side: It's free. It's stable. It's well-documented. It has an amazing number of ported applications that you can install if you have an internet connection. Minus side: The FreeBSD install and configuration assumes that you have some clue what you are doing. You can avoid some of the minus side by getting the FreeSBIE distribution, which is a live-CD (you can boot your machine directly from the CD-ROM) that you can also install to your hard disk. -------------- "You can't teach an old dogma new tricks." - Dorothy Parker

Michael Tuite Posts: 12 Joined: Nov. 2005 (Permalink) Posted: Mar. 08 2006,17:16    For me, a preference for the Windows operating system is not unlike support for intelligent design: I cannot fathom why any intellectually honest, thinking person would willingly choose such a demonstrably pernicious product. If your job, or your faith, forces one or the other on you and you lack the virtue and fortitude to resist then you deserve to wallow in the shadow of ignorance. Windows, like ID, is bad and bad for you.   That being said, every Total Cost of Ownership calculation I have seen puts the price of a Mac well below the cost of a comparable PC. Just think, no more time and money spent battling viruses, trojan horses, spyware, addware, etc. As for the volume of software argument, who cares if there are 50 versions of solitaire for the PC? There is a tremendous Mac free/shareware community, especially in the sciences.

MidnightVoice Posts: 380 Joined: Aug. 2005 (Permalink) Posted: Mar. 09 2006,03:20    I use a Mac at home (where I have to look after it myself) and a PC at work (where I have an IT person who will do for me - eventually - all the things I don't have to do at home because I have a Mac). I prefer the Mac to be honest.  It was plug and play before the term existed, it is very fast and a delight to use. -------------- If I fly the coop some time And take nothing but a grip With the few good books that really count It's a necessary trip I'll be gone with the girl in the gold silk jacket The girl with the pearl-driller's hands

stevestory Posts: 13407 Joined: Oct. 2005 (Permalink) Posted: Mar. 09 2006,03:26    yeah, in terms of easy use/maintenence the mac seems to be the winner. now that they've moved to intel hardware it'll be better. my 1999 500 mhz dell running XP is faster than the eMacs I used at NCSU running OSX. I think I'll wait for them to iron out any bugs from the hardware change, and then get a Mac mini or something.

cogzoid Posts: 234 Joined: Sep. 2005 (Permalink) Posted: Mar. 09 2006,08:02    I'll throw my 2cents in as well. I switched to Mac two years ago, and I love it.  I think the effort they put into design really pays off.  Using my computer is easy and rewarding.  I won't say it is optimal, but what is?  It was worth the money for me.

Henry J Posts: 5760 Joined: Mar. 2005 (Permalink) Posted: Mar. 09 2006,08:15    "design"? design??

MidnightVoice Posts: 380 Joined: Aug. 2005 (Permalink) Posted: Mar. 09 2006,11:12    Some of the (free) widgets are really cool   -------------- If I fly the coop some time And take nothing but a grip With the few good books that really count It's a necessary trip I'll be gone with the girl in the gold silk jacket The girl with the pearl-driller's hands

jeannot Posts: 1201 Joined: Jan. 2006 (Permalink) Posted: Mar. 09 2006,12:10    I've always had Macs and I can only recommend you to switch.

Jason Spaceman Posts: 163 Joined: Nov. 2005 (Permalink) Posted: Mar. 09 2006,21:31    Out of curiousity, is it possible to install Windows on one of them new Intel Macs, like the MacBook Pro?

jeannot Posts: 1201 Joined: Jan. 2006 (Permalink) Posted: Mar. 10 2006,03:57    It's not possible, currently. XP does not support EFI (the new mac equivalent of BIOS), and vista won't (except vista server). However, I think it will be possible with some hack.

Tim Posts: 40 Joined: Sep. 2005 (Permalink) Posted: Mar. 10 2006,04:42    Oh dear. Another opening of the Windows/Mac can of worms. Quote That being said, every Total Cost of Ownership calculation I have seen puts the price of a Mac well below the cost of a comparable PC. Just think, no more time and money spent battling viruses, trojan horses, spyware, addware, etc. Time and money spent battling viruses, trojan horses, spyware, addware etc? All that's needed to fully and safely protect any system (windows or not) is ZoneAlarm (free) for a firewall and AdAware (free) for all spyware. As for viruses/trojans/worms, all that is needed is common sense (don't open email attachments from unverifiable sources or run unverified executables etc) No time or money invested. Here in the UK, Dell is now knocking out brand new PCs for less than £250, leaving Mac struggling (and so far failing) to reduce the price of their most basic systems to less than twice that. Quote As for the volume of software argument, who cares if there are 50 versions of solitaire for the PC? Ah, but its not just for solitaire that windows has a broader and better established software base. It is every type of software there is out there, except arguably desktop publishers (DTP); for whom Macs have long been the system of choice. The software I use for instance (development, software design/engineering and software analysis tools) are simply not available on the Mac. Quote There is a tremendous Mac free/shareware community, especially in the sciences. There is a tremendous free/shareware community for all types of utilities and software in all types of fields, no matter the OS.

jeannot Posts: 1201 Joined: Jan. 2006 (Permalink) Posted: Mar. 18 2006,10:31    Steve, in case you haven't followed the news from the mac world, you can now install windows xp on an intel mac. 3D acceleration and bluetooth are not working yet, but I think a solution will be found soon. http://windowsxp.onmac.net/

stevestory Posts: 13407 Joined: Oct. 2005 (Permalink) Posted: Mar. 18 2006,10:45    Yeah, I just saw that. Since I don't do anything technical at home, I think when it comes time to upgrade I'll probably switch

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