PC vs Mac

[Buff]

So I'm being pressured into getting a Mac at work. It is my choice to go with a PC or a Mac but I worry that it would be a disadvantage if I choose a PC over a Mac since I'm in IT and we plan to let people get Macs if they so choose. Being an IT guy I guess I'm supposed to know how to support a Mac.

I've poked around on a Mac but never got the hang of it. I feel like I'm in a foreign land and I hate it. One time I was supposed to get somebodies printer to work again with their Mac. This incident actually made me hate Macs as I couldn't figure out the problem and the only support I could find was "It should just work, it is a Mac".

I'm told that Macs are supposed to be easy to use, but it hasn't been the case in my limited experience. So for you Mac users, sell me on a Mac. I'm not looking for the "It's easy", "It's better" or "You won't regeret it" answers. I'm looking for actual features and reasons why a Mac will be better for me, an IT guy to use. Keep in mind that I've only worked in windows only shops and have very limited experiences with a Mac.

[HotHotHeat]

Maybe we should throw religion and politics into the mix as well?

For me, my three years on a Mac has been a very pleasant experience. I don't think there is any doubt left (though I'm sure PC people will link to some website made by a guy claiming Windows is still better) that Apple has a superior OS. MS has been so caught up trying to keep backwards compatibility alive that they've lost focus on creating smooth working computer software. There is no right answer here, everyone has different needs. To each their own. All I will say is there's a reason Apple's market share has been exploding the last couple years.

[CubicleGeek]

Originally Posted by HotHotHeat

I don't think there is any doubt left (though I'm sure PC people will link to some website made by a guy claiming Windows is still better) that Apple has a superior OS

It's comments like this that turn a PC vs. Mac discussion into a religious war. It comes down to comfort level and nothing else.

@Buff: In your case, there might be a business case to go Apple, since you require both and can easily virtualize Windows on top of the Mac OS, but not so easily the other way.

[WhiteTom]

Would your company consider giving you both? I would think since you are in IT, and for all the reasons you stated, you might be able to make a case to do something like get a PC desktop and and iMac or something like that.

Unfortunately I'm in the same boat as you, as I haven't touched an Apple computer since I was in grade 5...So sorry I can't really give any insight.

@HHH
I'm pretty sure most of what you just said there is exactly what he didn't want to hear.

[maverickstruth]

Two things that jump immediately to mind on the Mac side of things...

Apple hardware can dual boot both Windows and OS X -- with the Intel machines, you don't even need a VM anymore. Since you can install both natively, there'd be no need to choose if you get the Apple hardware and can get the OS's for both. Poke around on the Mac to learn it, still have Windows for when you need it as well.

The second depends on what kind of IT work you do -- terminal access in the Mac is a full UNIX shell -- sorry can't remember which variant is default, I know most of the major ones are available. So rather than trying to work with the Windows command line (or installing cgywin/msys/etc.), you get a lot more power for shell scripting and the like, without being constrained by the limitations of Windows batch files.

[Wookie]

I'd say if your more comfortable go with a PC. Why change something good?

Now - I'll wander into the realm of religious debate. I'd wager the recent increase in apples sales has more to do with Ipods and Iphones than Apple's being that superior. They use the same hardware now and it's all a difference in O/S. Hey, one may be better, one may be more safe, it may have to do with use/popularity etc. Endlessly debatable.

[Traditional_Ale]

Macs are lame.

I can build a PC to do anything a Mac does better on 1/3 the price ($$$). Does not mean I necessarily use Windows.

[Barnes]

Well, if your an IT person that supports Apple hardware and software you should probably learn to use one. What better way than to make it your primary machine? You could always run Windows if you needed to. If you walk into a Mac centric office hating Macs, your coffee cup is going to spend a lot of time in the toilette.

Are they easier to use? Yes. However, in an office environment any system gets a lot more complex when you throw domains, exchange, print servers etc.. in.

An IT response to a Mac question is 'no' which typically translates to 'yes but I don't want to have to deal with it'. With the exception of Garmin GPS devices, I have never had a problem that I couldn't solve.

The community of Mac users is such that answers to your questions are easy to find and the development community creates a far superior product IMO.

So, to answer your question; as an IT guy a Mac would not normally be a good choice but if you need to support them, I think its your only one.

Actual features?

I think Apple's key technologies is superior.

Mach Kernal, BSD UNIX, Carbon, Cocoa, Aqua, 64 bit, multicore aware

OpenGL, Core Graphics, Core Animation, Core Audio, Core Video, Quartz Extreme

PHP, Ruby, Rails, Python, Perl, Java JDK, Apache...........

[MJK]

Originally Posted by Traditional_Ale

Macs are lame.

I can build a PC to do anything a Mac does better on 1/3 the price ($$$). Does not mean I necessarily use Windows.

You obviously have zero experience using a mac.

As someone who has used BOTH a PC and a MAC for a number of different applications, the Mac is much smoother and MUCH easier to use.

The Mac will cost more overall but you are paying for quality and performance.

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by Traditional_Ale

Macs are lame.

I can build a PC to do anything a Mac does better on 1/3 the price ($$$). Does not mean I necessarily use Windows.

Take the other 2/3 and buy yourself a trophy.

[Traditional_Ale]

Originally Posted by MJK

You obviously have zero experience using a mac.

As someone who has used BOTH a PC and a MAC for a number of different applications, the Mac is much smoother and MUCH easier to use.

The Mac will cost more overall but you are paying for quality and performance.

I use mac in a studio environment for audio and software synthesizers.

As someone who has used BOTH a PC and a MAC for a number of different applications, the Mac is much prettier and MUCH more expensive.

With no real benefits (at least to me).

Not to mention, with my PC, every install has been flawless whereas my guitarist's space-age mac sh*ts the bed with everything. Cubase, BFD2, East/West Orchestra...everything.

When one build's their own tower, nothing like XP-Pro SP3 for music.

[Traditional_Ale]

Originally Posted by Barnes

Take the other 2/3 and buy yourself a trophy.

I'll get the fat PC guy sitting on the skinny MAC guy with two hookers rubbing his head while he's doing a line of blow.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by Traditional_Ale

Macs are lame.

I can build a PC to do anything a Mac does better on 1/3 the price ($$$). Does not mean I necessarily use Windows.

I call bull****! I use both PC and Mac and the Mac works and runs much smoother. What are you runnin then, Linux? Garbage compared to Leopard.
If Macs are so lame then why are they used by everyone who does an important job on the cutting edge of technology or why are they used more by the media/movie/music industry far more then PC's? Not trying to start a war here but your post is based on ignorance. As for the original poster there are many self help books out there that Macs as simple as they are that much simpler. Maybe check your local library. Once you go Mac you will never go back!

[Traditional_Ale]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

I call bull****! I use both PC and Mac and the Mac works and runs much smoother. What are you runnin then, Linux? Garbage compared to Leopard.
If Macs are so lame then why are they used by everyone who does an important job on the cutting edge of technology or why are they used more by the media/movie/music industry far more then PC's? Not trying to start a war here but your post is based on ignorance. As for the original poster there are many self help books out there that Macs as simple as they are that much simpler. Maybe check your local library. Once you go Mac you will never go back!

See above post about studio applications.

Lots of people use Macs, true. But PC is where it's at for music as far as I'm concerned. Musicians don't have money, and I'd rather have the money for other things.

[WhiteTom]

Originally Posted by Barnes

Well, if your an IT person that supports Apple hardware and software you should probably learn to use one. What better way than to make it your primary machine? You could always run Windows if you needed to. If you walk into a Mac centric office hating Macs, your coffee cup is going to spend a lot of time in the toilette.

I don't think this is an issue of it being a Mac-centric office so much as they are allowing people in the office to make a choice, which means that there may only be a few people in the office that use Macs. In this situation I don't think that he is being slotted in to needing to have a Macintosh to do all of his work and therefore he is allowed to make a choice as well.

I think the point that you can dual boot is a good one, however this may or may not be an option based on budget/licenses for a Windows OS (although it would be cheaper than buying two computers).

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by Traditional_Ale

I use mac in a studio environment for audio and software synthesizers.

As someone who has used BOTH a PC and a MAC for a number of different applications, the Mac is much prettier and MUCH more expensive.

With no real benefits (at least to me).

Not to mention, with my PC, every install has been flawless whereas my guitarist's space-age mac sh*ts the bed with everything. Cubase, BFD2, East/West Orchestra...everything.

When one build's their own tower, nothing like XP-Pro SP3 for music.

As a musician who has his own home recording studio your choice of software boggles my mind! Cubase is garbage unless you are into just farting around. Pro Logic 7 owns it in all category's. Regardless, if you are serious about recording you should be using Pro Tools anyhow and it runs like on a PC compared to a PowerMac.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by Traditional_Ale

See above post about studio applications.

Lots of people use Macs, true. But PC is where it's at for music as far as I'm concerned. Musicians don't have money, and I'd rather have the money for other things.

Then we see things the exact opposite. Do you know when I first started out in music how many pieces of work I lost due to PC crashes??? Go into any professional recording studio and see what they are running, it won't be a PC.

[arsenal]

On the other hand, PC hardware can now support OS X. So you can dual boot OS X and Windows on the same PC now (not just on a Mac).

However the legality of that is questionable.

[WhiteTom]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

If Macs are so lame then why are they used by everyone who does an important job on the cutting edge of technology

I'm curious as to whom you are referring to.

[MarchHare]

At a former job, I also had to support both PCs and Macs, having previously been a 100% Windows user. I bought a Mac (G4 CPU, prior to the switch to Intel) for home and made it my primary box for a few weeks, which taught me 90% of what I needed to know to do my job. Google supplied the remaining 10%.

I use a self-assembled PC clone running Vista as my primary computer at home now, but if Apple made a headless desktop with hardware specs somewhere between an iMac and a PowerMac and sold it for under $2000, I'd buy one in a second. The ability to run both OS X and Windows on a single box without suffering the performance hit of virtualization is dreamy.

My biggest annoyance when using Macs, though, is the absence of a "maximize window" button a la Windows. I hate with the intensity of a thousand suns the stupid "zoom" function in MacOS; I want the option to have my window fill the entire screen with the push of a single button, not just what Apple dictates is the best use of screen space.

As to the "which is easier to use" argument, the definitive answer is whichever you learned how to use first. I suspect if someone had never used a computer before, they'd probably become more comfortable using a Mac sooner than using Windows, but someone who has been using Windows for 15+ years is going to find using Vista much easier than using OS X.