Gaming Computer's dying, Are Mac's worth it?

[Somegirl]

My computer?s on its last leg here. It started with internet problems. The internet would go out every 10 minutes (literally, I timed it) and I would have to reconnect it. I got in the habit so it didn?t bother me too bad after awhile but then none of the virus protections were able to update and before you knew it I had a virus that was from the schools computers and probably a couple more.

The only MAJOR problem I have right now is if I lost this computer I lose about $1500 in just files alone. Another $800-$1000 in programs and an *** load of time.

I need to buy a new one. Are Macs really worth their price? The notebook I was looking at was $1099? which is outrageous to me but I am going into Graphic Design for college in 2009 and I will have to have a laptop.

Another thing that bothered me was how fragile they look. I?ve dropped this one at least twice and it withstood but if I drop a Mac is it going to total it?

[CENTER][IMG]http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/136649-03_appleMacBookPro.png[/IMG][/CENTER]

[Raiha]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]Before the non mac people get on here and bluster and pontificate about how great their non macs are and how EVIL macs are as someone who has used both Windows and Mac her whole life [started at 5], I can safely say that I have less problem with macs than I have had in the past with windows.

Dell laptops, depending on what you do with them, are prone to viruses of all kinds, crashing, blue screens, and my idea of a good laptop is not one you have to give a debugging enema to every five minutes. My laptop from a software standpoint has yet to piss itself and die in a virus induced haze.

I use a 17 inch Mac Powerbook G4 and I dropped it multiple times before only the sound fizzled. Everything else still works, I merely pinched the wire that connects the audio system. It's kept in its case when I'm traveling which probably helps it survive the typical bumps and bruises naturally acquired in backpacks, and considering how old it is, it's in remarkably good condition.

You can get a used laptop similar to mine, or perhaps smaller for about 1000 or less or just spring for a new one and get that new iPod if you're a student. And considering the time and effort you'll spend shredding your brain over a virus ridden Windows laptop that has lost all of your data, I suggest you swallow hard and get the mac. It will be good to you if you're good to it. [And don't download foolishly].[/FONT][/COLOR]

[Allamorph]

[FONT=Arial]I tend to view Macs the same way I view Casio calculators. We've all been raised on the TI (Windows) format, so it's familiar to us, but despite the minor confusion when starting to use a Casio (Mac), they are much better.

Plus, I have heard a lot of people comment that Macs are the way to go for art program compatibility and usefulness. And since I know how into art you are, Jae, I'd say go with Mac.

And if you [I]really want[/I] Windows stuff later on, Apple has stuff to scratch that itch. :p[/FONT]

[Korey]

[FONT="Franklin Gothic Medium"]Mac's vs PC's. I've used both of them and currently I own a Gateway laptop that works perfectly fine. I have no qualms about using either Vista or OS10 as far as Operating Systems go. Both OS's run imaging programs fine, although Macs tend to lean more towards artsy stuff, where as PC's would be good for gaming and the like.

As far as durablity goes, either one is fine. As long as you're not dropping it from a 5 story building, you should be fine. Mac products generally are very sturdy and can withstand a bunch of punishment. Also, there are programs to have your machine dual boot for Windows and OS10. So if you just HAVE to use a certain OS, you can go with both. Pretty nifty little function.

The only qualm I would have is with the price of a Mac. New Macs are expensive. I got my laptop for around 600 dollars and it works beautfifully for me. So don't worry so much as to if Mac's or PC's would be worth it. Get what is gonna do it for you and fits in your price range.[/FONT]

[James]

[font=franklin gothic medium]I've owned PCs my entire life, but I now own two Macs.

I have an iMac and a MacBook. I got the MacBook first, then the iMac later.

For me it was really a bit of a gamble - there was no real reason why I moved away from Windows XP. It's easily the best version of Windows, especially with Service Pack 3 (which I haven't yet used, but have read good things about).

Now I really don't regret my decision. The biggest reason for this is Windows Vista, which is a horrible OS. It's a massive step backwards from XP, which is why a lot of people are trying to downgrade their system from Vista to XP.

I'm so disinterested in Vista that I'm skipping it completely. OS X Leopard is infinitely better, for a variety of reasons (particularly stability, security and even - surprisingly - compatibility).

OS X has many great native applications now. You can even get the latest MS Office for Mac (which was just released recently). The general consensus is that Office is actually [i]better[/i] and nicer to use on Mac than PC, which is slightly odd.

So you've got some great Apple applications but you've also got many excellent third party apps that are compatible with both Mac and PC. That the newer Macs are Intel-based seems to have helped things a lot in this regard.

Also now there's far less of a performance difference between Mac and PC (although if you were wanting something purely for gaming I'd go with a PC).

I mostly use Apple apps these days, but there are a few programs I use that are really only compatible with Windows (like Paint Shop Pro).

So for this reason I use Boot Camp and Parallels (the former comes with Leopard, the latter you have to purchase).

It all works very well. I can run Windows XP and OS X simultaneously (Windows XP just appears in a window within OS X, as if it's a native program). I can then use Windows-only programs while I'm also in OS X.

Another great feature is that I can drag and drop files between both systems. So I can just pick up a file from my Windows desktop and drag it into OS X. Very easy.

It basically means that I get the best of both worlds. I get the stability, performance, ease of use and flexibility of OS X... but I can also use Windows for games and Windows-specific applications.

So really you can't go wrong there. Price is an issue, but you probably don't need a MacBook Pro in all honesty. Just go with a MacBook. They're still expensive, but less so than the Pro. And you can still upgrade your MacBook to some extent anyway.

It really depends what you're looking for. You can do graphics on any machine - I don't believe that Mac or Windows is necessarily better for graphic design. It's just that Mac is probably a bit more conducive to graphics due to some of its features.

As far as durability, I think it really just depends on the model. The MacBook is pretty good - you could throw it across a room and it wouldn't flinch. Same as the iMac.

But then again, I've had two Dell desktops and a Dell laptop that were all pretty damn durable. So, you know, I wouldn't base it too much on the brand - no matter what, you will need to treat your computer with care anyway.

If you have any really specific questions I'm sure the Mac/PC owners here would be happy to answer them. Hopefully you've got some helpful info here already though.[/font]

[Red]

[quote name='Somegirl']The only MAJOR problem I have right now is if I lost this computer I lose about $1500 in just files alone. Another $800-$1000 in programs and an *** load of time.[/quote]

There is nothing stopping you from hooking up your hard drive to another PC or mac and rescuing your files, even if it's a laptop. Neither is there anything in the way of re-installing your software on another PC (or mac if you use boot camp) if it is legitimate, just use the cd-keys.

[quote]I need to buy a new one. Are Macs really worth their price? The notebook I was looking at was $1099? which is outrageous to me but I am going into Graphic Design for college in 2009 and I will have to have a laptop.

Another thing that bothered me was how fragile they look. I?ve dropped this one at least twice and it withstood but if I drop a Mac is it going to total it?[/QUOTE]

Everyone here has pretty much covered it; macs are the don when it comes to design work. Boot camp is there if you ever desperately need windows, while there isn't really anything for windows that allows you to boot OSX as easily.

If you do go for a mac search the model number you're interested in on google, they've had some recalls and cracked case problems recently. Other than that, though, they're as sturdy as any other laptop.

[Petie]

[LEFT][FONT=Verdana][COLOR=blue]Pretty much everything of importance has been said but I would like to throw in one extra point about viruses. Yes, you are less likely to get a virus on a Mac than a PC but Macs are not immune to viruses. What it really comes down to is how you use the computer and especially what you download and run. You have to be very careful with downloads from unknown sources because you never know what you'll get, regardless of platform.[/COLOR][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana][COLOR=blue]I don't personally own a Mac but I've been using them for a long time (elementary school straight through high school) so I know them pretty well. I think James said it best in terms of the differences between the two systems for graphic design. You can get programs like Photoshop for both platforms and it will run fine on both. For reasons I'm not entirely sure of though, a lot of people going into any sort of media major go with a Mac (especially if you're doing video, which pretty much requires a Mac for Final Cut).[/COLOR][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana][COLOR=blue]The only thing I'm going to disagree with James on is the Mac vs. PC MS Office suite. I have used both extensively and I find the PC version to be far more useful, albeit a little harder to learn because of the number of features. However, Office will serve you well on either platform so this isn't really a sticking point for me. Plus, there's always OpenOffice if you don't like the MS suite. It's free and compatible with all MS Office applications.[/COLOR][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana][COLOR=blue]I'm personally not a fan of the new MacBook design so if I were going to buy one, I'd go with a Pro though unless you're running some pretty powerful applications, you won't need the extra power the Pro provides.[/COLOR][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana][COLOR=blue]I'm pretty sure that covers everything I wanted to say. I was a bit distracted while typing this up though so let me know if you need anything explained better or simply want more information. I'm sure there are plenty of people here who would be happy to share their experiences until you've come to a final decision.[/COLOR][/FONT][/LEFT]

[Somegirl]

[quote name='Korey'][FONT="Franklin Gothic Medium"]Mac's vs PC's. I've used both of them and currently I own a Gateway laptop that works perfectly fine. I have no qualms about using either Vista or OS10 as far as Operating Systems go. Both OS's run imaging programs fine, although Macs tend to lean more towards artsy stuff, where as PC's would be good for gaming and the like.

As far as durablity goes, either one is fine. As long as you're not dropping it from a 5 story building, you should be fine. Mac products generally are very sturdy and can withstand a bunch of punishment. Also, there are programs to have your machine dual boot for Windows and OS10. So if you just HAVE to use a certain OS, you can go with both. Pretty nifty little function.

The only qualm I would have is with the price of a Mac. New Macs are expensive. I got my laptop for around 600 dollars and it works beautfifully for me. So don't worry so much as to if Mac's or PC's would be worth it. Get what is gonna do it for you and fits in your price range.[/FONT][/QUOTE]

What about Two story buildings?

[Petie]

[quote name='Somegirl']What about Two story buildings?[/quote]
[FONT=Verdana][COLOR=blue]Haha, I'm pretty sure the result will be the same. To be safe, I'd suggest you avoid dropping your laptop at all (and especially off of buildings).[/COLOR][/FONT]

[James]

[quote name='Somegirl']What about Two story buildings?[/QUOTE]

[font=franklin gothic medium]What Petie said. :catgirl:

Speaking of all of this, my dog actually knocked the MacBook off my desk once...it flew across the room and crashed on its side into the floor. I'd only just bought it and I was getting ready to kill the dog, haha.

It was actually fine though. It landed on a really awkward angle so I was expecting something to be damaged but it was pretty sturdy.

Of course, avoiding dropping any expensive electronics is generally a good thing.[/font]

[Sabrina]

[FONT="Tahoma"][quote name='James][font=franklin gothic medium'] I'd only just bought it and I was getting ready to kill the dog, haha.[/font][/quote]You know you'll look at her cute expression and lose right? :D

Anyway, everyone covered it really well but I did want to add one thing here. I have friends in college who are into graphic design and some of them went exclusively mac and others stuck with pc's. And both of them would argue as to why the other is better. XD So no matter what you have, you'll be able to work on your education since often the schools will have the computers at labs that you can use for what you don't have.

One thing I know they would tell you though is if you don't have a lot of money, stick with what you can afford for college. That way you can save up for what you really want when you graduate. And if you're like one of my friends, you'll get lucky and your new employer will supply you with a nice new mac that has all of the programs you need for your job. ^_~[/FONT]

[Quoth Serenity]

[COLOR="DarkSlateBlue"]ohh - one more important point that hasnt been made, macs are so completly blindingly WHITE, and all of the icons and menus and everything are soo shiny and they reflect everything!

Too shiny i think, i mean if you want to be able to do your hair in the safari icon, and if you dont mind only using the mac when your wearing sunglasses then they tend to be ok (apart from the above reasons)

Personally however, I think they look bad, and the UI is terrible but i wont go into that =p[/COLOR]

[Ellerby]

[FONT="Tahoma"][COLOR="DimGray"][quote name='Quoth Serenity'][COLOR="DarkSlateBlue"]ohh - one more important point that hasnt been made, macs are so completly blindingly WHITE, and all of the icons and menus and everything are soo shiny and they reflect everything![/COLOR][/QUOTE]
There are [url=http://img155.imageshack.us/my.php?image=designgal0320080226nk2.jpg]black macs[/url] you know.

Honestly it seems to me that a mac would be perfect for you. You would likely get zero viruses, it doesn't cost much more than a regular laptop, and you're going into graphic design.

Last year I got the opportunity to work along side a team of graphic designers through the cooperative education program at my school. They do all the graphics and designs for a website (HR.com) and all of them use Macs. They even had an extra Mac sitting around that I was able to use.

At first it was hard to get used to using a Mac, especially in regards to photoshop. It was a short learning curve though because after a week I got used to it and was using photoshop faster than I ever have before and with much more attention to detail.

Ever since then I've been saving up for one of these babies. [url=http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/][COLOR="Blue"]HOLYNESS[/COLOR][/url][/COLOR][/FONT]

[Raiha]

[quote name='Quoth Serenity'][COLOR="DarkSlateBlue"]ohh - one more important point that hasnt been made, macs are so completly blindingly WHITE, and all of the icons and menus and everything are soo shiny and they reflect everything!

Too shiny i think, i mean if you want to be able to do your hair in the safari icon, and if you dont mind only using the mac when your wearing sunglasses then they tend to be ok (apart from the above reasons)

Personally however, I think they look bad, and the UI is terrible but i wont go into that =p[/COLOR][/QUOTE]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]I'm not quite sure what you're referring to. Mac laptops come in black, silver, and white. Keyboards come in silver. You can't see the apple logo [which is usually in white] when it's open. These new fangled technologies all come with *gasp* dimmer buttons. And they're right there in the top line of Function keys. What a shock. The Safari browser logo is silver and partially blue. Now brace yourself. The firefox mozilla logo is.... ...also partially blue. Can I do my hair in that one too?

And menu background colors are, surprise again, customizable. Mine for example are mauve and icons on the [b]optionally invisible[/b] dock come in the colors god intended. So, every color of the rainbow. [/FONT][/COLOR]

[Quoth Serenity]

[quote name='Raiha'][COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]I'm not quite sure what you're referring to. Mac laptops come in black, silver, and white. Keyboards come in silver. You can't see the apple logo [which is usually in white] when it's open. These new fangled technologies all come with *gasp* dimmer buttons. And they're right there in the top line of Function keys. What a shock. The Safari browser logo is silver and partially blue. Now brace yourself. The firefox mozilla logo is.... ...also partially blue. Can I do my hair in that one too?

And menu background colors are, surprise again, customizable. Mine for example are mauve and icons on the [b]optionally invisible[/b] dock come in the colors god intended. So, every color of the rainbow. [/FONT][/COLOR][/QUOTE]

[COLOR="DarkSlateBlue"]ok then i was exaggerated slightly... well alot actually - they do come in many colours and the customisation of the UI makes quite bearable, my prejudice was unfounded. Allthoguh im still not a huge fan of the design - i guess that macs can work for some people, just not me.
And sorry about going berzerk earlier:animeswea i shall try to refrain myself, ahh well[/COLOR]

[visualkei]

My university dragged me kicking and screaming to purchase a Mac, and I am SO glad they did. I've had my Mac for about 3 years or more, and it's still running like new! It shut down on me once, and I freaked out, then realized it was because it was unplugged for too long and just ran out of batteries. There was one or two unexplainable instance where it shut down, and all it took was pressing the power button to get it back up again. All my work is automatically saved on my Mac, so whatever I have in Office just pops up again even if I didn't save it. When I had a customized Windows PC, that thing went berserko all the time, and majorly slowed down by the time I had it for the second year.

The iBook I have, it's made of the same material as [B]bullet proof [/B]glass on the outside. I don't know if they still do that for the newer laptops. Doesn't necessarily means it's bulletproof, but it's fun to tell people.

I don't think I can go back to a different computer brand.

[Gelgoog Pilot]

Used both, Macs were forced down our throats for the Graphic design associate degree. Much is always said about how artist depend on Macs to produce the best work, perhaps some of the only reasoning for this is the availability of programs dealing with graphic art. It more or less seems as that the more macs have been associated with art, the more companies invest in mac friendly software. The actual visual product from a Mac and a PC are nearly the same.

How I determine what I use for a computer is simply, what can I get at the cheapest. For myself I prefer to buy PC parts on Newegg.com and build it. Just let your budget decide what you should end up buying.

As far as viruses go, it has already been said. It depends far more on how careful you are than what company you buy your computer from. You can buy a mac and never get a virus, or you can buy a PC and do just the same.

[SunfallE]

[COLOR="RoyalBlue"][FONT="Lucida Sans Unicode"][quote name='Gelgoog Pilot'] You can buy a mac and never get a virus, or you can buy a PC and do just the same.[/QUOTE]This is true, despite the horror stories out there. If you take the time to make sure you have the necessary programs on your computer, getting viruses on a pc about never happens either. I've been using a pc exclusively for over 13 years and I've never gotten one. :/ So the get a mac and don't get a virus slogan is a waste of effort in my direction.

It really does come down to what you can afford vs what you really want to do with it. Look around and get comparisons to see what different computers offer in the price range you can afford. Then you can just pick the one that gives you the most for your money and meets your needs the best. [/FONT][/COLOR]