Re: MACs are like Pocket PCs... ahead of their time.
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Originally Posted by WiredGuy
first to have DVD writable standard (PCs still have many different standards there)
Lol, the dvd writer that is used in the mac is just one of the standards that is used in the PC world. So this translates into : on the PC, there are mutltiple standards that can be used, on the Mac, they picked out one of those standards for you and you can't choose to use another standard. Is this bad, no. Is this good, no. It's just a way of thinking. But you hardly can say that they had the first dvd writable standard.
Jason, I am sure that you just trolling for activity, but you are wrong. I wrote a paper for my operating systems class, that sheds just a little light on PC vs. Apple CPU's, and PC's vs. Playstation II. This is only 1 of many examples: http://www.michaelalanjones.com/micr...ight_tool.html
It is not just about doing a particular render test in Photoshop, etc. It is about quality, reliability, usability. My wife has a 2-year old 366MHz iBook with AirPort and I have a 9-month old 800MHz PC.
I hate my PC, but I cannot get her to let me use the iBook. The PC is very unreliable, and I have lost data on it several times (where? who knows?). It shuts down all the time (power-saving), and crashes XP. I hate it, dang it. It's all I have, though. I am hoping Santa will bring me a new iBook for Christmas.
She loves the iBook, and surfs the web all the time, with no effort. Always works.
PC users just don't get it - besides all that, she (as other Mac users) thinks it is funny when PC's fail, and doesn't care if you like Macs or not. A lot of PC people feel threatened when they see a Mac, because they only know what they know, and they hate what they don't understand.
Michael
You are the one who doesn't get it. Less than ten percent of all computers are Macs. That is for good reason. Why? PCs are standard. You can get any PC from any vendor and run almost any software on it and it will work. I own one PC with an Athlon XP CPU. One has a Pentium 4. One has a Rise 266 (hacked i-opener). They all can run the same software. With a Mac, you are locked into an Apple world.
Want better speakers? You can't just get any pair of computer speakers. You have to buy Mac-compatible USB speakers.
How about a new DVD burner? Sorry, if you didn't buy it with your mac, you're screwed (G4s excluded)
Scanner? Printer? MP3 player? Palmtop computer? Better make sure it's Mac compatable.
Software? Better make sure that's Mac OS X compatable - unless you particularly like "classic" mode.
Apple is selling systems that just don't stack up favorably to PCs. When you run the numbers, PCs are simply more cost effective for the money. Macs don't even have DDR memory yet (excluding the $3000 XServe).
PCs are everywhere because the platform is so open. There are hundreds of companies that produce PC hardware. With PCs, you're not locked into a single vendor. Dell, Gateway, Compaq, HP, Sony, eMachines, and thousands of smaller companies can sell you a PC.
Apple is an island. It's seperate from anything else. Many people like islands - they don't like the way PCs do things. And that's fine. But you must remember: being on an island is limiting.
Oh, and as for "reliability" - Windows 2000/XP solves the problems that Windows had in the past. It's not perfect, but neither is Mac OS X.
I have several PCs and one Mac. In general I prefer the PCs, but use the Mac for some things like video editing.
In my experience, Macs (and Mac software) have far fewer features than do PCs, however the things that they do do, they do very well and are often easier to use than PCs.
Of course, that doesn't make most of the Mac fanatics any less annoying.
I hate Mac with a passion since the day it ate my mid term paper in school's lab. And strangely they also start to replace those useless quadra with PC's.
I just recently decided to get a laptop and after much research, I purchased an new ibook (the small 12.1" model - more on that in a bit).
I'm a PC guy, use PC's at work and have 5 desktop PC's (various configs and speeds) at home which are all networked. I like to think I know a little something about them but didn't know much about the Mac side.
When I started looking around at laptops, I found the PC laptop market to be pretty bland. Very short battery life, uninspiring designs, heavy form factors, etc. unless you get one of those small Sony's or Dell's but you have to leave the dvd drive in it's docking station. I had seen the new(er) ibook's in the local computer store and thought they looked cool but didn't even consider them because all my software and accessories are PC centric.
Speed wasn't a major issue as long as the main apps I wanted to use would work - I was willing to be a little slower than a desktop for the sheer convenience of being on my couch instead of at a desk. But the ibook has been fine performance wise so far. Gaming isn't a requirement for me as I have plenty of other options for that (consoles, a few full size arcade cabinets, etc) although it doesn't hurt.
A friend recently bought a top of the line Toshiba laptop which is pretty killer in specs and truly is a desktop replacement. But it would almost be easier to lug around a tower than his laptop as it weighs a ton and he can't even watch a complete 2 hour dvd movie on it without killing the battery. While that's not the reason you buy a laptop, it's certainly something you want to use it for when you're on a flight or away from home. His screen is very nice too and a few inches larger than the ibook but I wanted something smaller and very portable.
I then went to a Web Design conference (for my 'day' job) a few weeks ago and got to see first hand the ibook (and all the other flavors of Apple laptops and a few PC based models) in a real world enviroment away from the showrooms and was pretty impressed - as impressed with it as I was when I saw my first Pocket PC after being a palm guy for a few years.
In particular what impressed me was this guy sitting in front of me at the conference. He an ibook and throughout the whole day of sessions was able to do work in Photoshop, surf the web, email etc (don't know why he came to conference though since he was busy with his laptop) - this is all without having to plug into an outlet - maybe he did during lunch, I didn't follow him. There was wi-fi at the conference so he had full net access too. Long battery life seems to be the holy grail of pda owners and to me, this was equally important in a laptop.
Next obsticle was the software issue. I was concerned that all the apps that I use for my work wouldn't be available for the mac but that was pretty unfounded as a lot of the programs I use are identical on either platform. Haven't had the ibook long enough to find any incompatibilities with file formats but it's only been about 5 days. I'm sure that will crop up soon.
OS X seems pretty stable and software still behaves badly like it sometimes does in Windows so to me it seems to be a pretty level playing field. It just depends on what is important to you.
So, I based my purchase on a few key things that I just couldn't find in a PC based laptop, and those decisions seem to mirror a lot of the same choices everyone makes when deciding on getting a pda or a 'computer' for your mother - it's whatever works for you.
Two things you have to remember when looking at these results:
How old is Athlon MP/XP technology? (i.e. how long ago were the chips released?) 6 months to a year would be my guess, now if my memory serves me correctly the G4 is at least 2 years old now (possibly more?) so I'm not completly sure that Apples are being compared to Apples here (no pun intended - you know what I mean!).
Secondly in one case at least your comparing 1Ghz processors to 2.5Ghz processors - which one would yo pick to give the best performace? it may well be the case that a 1Ghz G4 would have simular to performace to say 1.5Ghz Pentiums but I don't believe that anyone woudl really try and claim that a 1Ghz processor could out perfrom one running at a full two and a half times it's clock speed (someone is right now going to prove me wrong I know it!)
In particular what impressed me was this guy sitting in front of me at the conference. He an ibook and throughout the whole day of sessions was able to do work in Photoshop, surf the web, email etc (don't know why he came to conference though since he was busy with his laptop) - this is all without having to plug into an outlet - maybe he did during lunch, I didn't follow him. There was wi-fi at the conference so he had full net access too. Long battery life seems to be the holy grail of pda owners and to me, this was equally important in a laptop.
Without a doubt, the G3 is much more power-friendly than most Pentiums, largely due to its much smaller and simpler core. Do note, btw, that G4 does require more power (though still less than a Pentium).
Re your other points: both Toshiba and Sony make small, cutting-edge laptops, so I don't know if I necessarily buy that. But the battery issue is legitimate.
So why can't they just accept that. We all started out in life drinking milk and eating mashed up peas - then we moved on and got a Windows PC.
One reason may be that PCs are about as exciting as eating mashed up peas. Even for someone like me who builds PCs, and plays around with the latest greatest technology, PCs just aren't fun anymore. It's the same old rehashed "eXPerience" over..and over..and over again.
I used to feel the same way you do, Jason. I was a dyed in the wool PC zealot, and I hated Macintosh. But that was before OSX..and Apple's sleek hardware..got me interested in the platform.
The PC platform is stagnant. And apart from an architectural change coming next year (Palladium), there isn't much to look forward to in the way PCs are designed and built. You criticize Apple for its "pretty" designs...but where are the "pretty" PCs? Everywhere you look, it's the same old generic box. Sony is the closest you can get to stylized desktops, and that's not saying very much. In spite of advanced chip architectures, super RAM bus speeds, and blazing video graphics technology, PC makers haven't been able to achieve one simple task: make a computer FUN to use! If auto manufacturers designed cars like OEMs design computers, no one would want to drive. :?
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Macs have some great things going for them, but raw CPU power is not one of them,
No argument there. My 1.7 GHZ Pentium 4 runs bloody circles around my 700MHZ G4 iMac.
PowerPC is CRAP!!! :evil:
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Apple should just accept that Motorola is focused more on low-power CPUs for mobile devices than high-powered CPUs for desktop computers, and accept the smothering embrace of Intel. It's inevitable.
I would bet money that Apple will move to x86 in the not too distant future. Perhaps as early as next year. AMD would be my bet. Opteron perhaps?
PowerPC has no future as a desktop platform. Motorola has focused its attention on the embedded market (such as set-top boxes) which is where it belongs.
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I know I'm just asking for flames from the Mac users that read this site, but this had to be said.
Well, when you cover yourself in gasoline, you have to expect someone to strike a match! :P
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Kent Pribbernow Elitist Snob, Contributing writer for Wired's Cult of Mac
I hate my PC, but I cannot get her to let me use the iBook. The PC is very unreliable, and I have lost data on it several times (where? who knows?). It shuts down all the time (power-saving), and crashes XP. I hate it, dang it. It's all I have, though. I am hoping Santa will bring me a new iBook for Christmas.
Why are you blaming Windows for this? How do you know you don't have a hardware defect? My three XP boxes (one at work, one at home, my laptop) never crash. I do reboot occasionally, but that's for software installs, etc.
In particular, if you are having APM/ACPI problems, a BIOS update might be in order...
Also, what brand PC is this? Is it a "discount" PC? Sometimes, some of the no-names use cheaper, less reliable parts. Apple does generally have good QA practices, so that's not necessarily a good comparison.
Re: MACs are like Pocket PCs... ahead of their time.
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