People with MAC computers....

[terpkeg]

anyone have any advice in purchasing one? My wife wants one but I have been a PC user all life and dont know where to begin.

should i buy from the apple store? a quick search didnt yield many better options. it appears Amazon was cheaper, but not with my 50.00 student discount.

[UntilTheNDofTimE]

I have a mac and i hate it. PC far superior. Most prgrams are non compatible with a mac. Programs you have are not compatible.

only benefit is less viruses. But if you have a peanut sized brain you wud back up computer files on your PC to a external drive and re-cal and wipe your hard drive every 6 months to keep it running super fast so a virus is not a problem for me. I can get rid of any virus in under a hour.

[flyingillini]

I have 2 Macbooks and an Imac. They are by far superior to anything else. Anything you want to know about them pm me. I get new ones each new model. Macs are the best!

[Boner_18]

I am a mac user and I too will probably go back to PC. If you do buy one get one refurbished from mac here. Cheaper and just as good

[Jericholic]

I have a mac and love it. I would suggest just going through either an Apple store if there is one near you or just do it on apple.com

[13th Inning]

You can run Windows on a Mac now, so it really gives you the best of both worlds.

[terpkeg]

You can run Windows on a Mac now, so it really gives you the best of both worlds.

Do you have to purchase windows, or is that something you just download?

Anyone else get a refurbished one? Any problems/downside to going refurbished?

[tltaylor89]

Mac and PC user I wouldent be caught dead in public with a pc just my Mac

[rm18]

Used to use Macs when I was young, but they really suck now except for the physical screen, can't download anything or play poker.

[jjgold]

Macs superior, the narrow minded people like PC's

MACS running much smoother also

Buy at a mac store

[flyingillini]

I have two old Macbooks just sitting in the closet. They are both in brand new condition. Only 2 years old

[minet123]

No go to mac mall and you can buy it with windows pre loaded or go to Apple store and the geeks there will fall all over themselves helping you
NOW TO BE HONEST
When I bought my first mac I though Why the puck did I just spend an extra $500 for this
THAN I USED IT FOR A WEEK
I will never go back to PC
You will never regret buying one just takes a week or two to get used to it

[williams22]

Don't waste your money on an overpaid Mac. The flexibility and cost-effectiveness of a PC beat the hell out of any Mac, plus Windows 7 is the best OS out right now.

[jjgold]

I have two old Macbooks just sitting in the closet. They are both in brand new condition. Only 2 years old

I will buy one

Illini your making money on the side some how and I will find out

[UntilTheNDofTimE]

I own a mac and a PC. The people that say they will never go back to a PC from a mac, can you explain why? i own both and dont see any benefit in owning a mac besides not being as prone to viruses.

Which as ive said arnt a problem for me.

Much more program downloads on a PC

More flexibility with additions and add ons

More compatibility with websites

ETC...

[QB_Disruptor]

If you want some help getting acquainted with using a mac, buy from the apple store. With your purchase, you will get a personal tutor/guide to show you how things work. This is especially useful it you purchase and have them load software. And it is a must if you plan on running windows.

[flyingillini]

I don't understand why you would want to run windows on a Mac. I want nothing to do with a PC or windows.

[podunk]

macs are for the hipsters

[flyingillini]

I will buy one

Illini your making money on the side some how and I will find out

JJ, I wouldn't sell you one. If you want it just let me know. I will give it to you, all that you have done for me it is the least I could do. I will get it out to you this week.

[UntilTheNDofTimE]

Illini answer my question above

[bobbyfk]

macs are good if your into graphics work and things like that, I personally don't use one

[Jive]

I know it is different strokes for different folks, but as someone with PC's and Macs, I have a hard time believing anyone who has used a Mac for more than 5 days can say they suck. Prefer PCs? I can understand that, but not because Mac's are bad. For my money, Mac's are 10x the machines that PC's are and I cringe every time I use the Windows boxes in my home.

You can do absolutely anything on a Mac that you can on a PC. No disrespect to others, but if you have a Mac and think there are things you can't do on it that you can on a PC, you aren't looking hard enough or in the right places. In fact, some of the bigger programs (like Photoshop) are better on Macs, not to mention that most of these major programs have free alternatives available for use on Mac(LOTS of great free OSX programs). As mentioned, you can run full-blown Windows on your Mac, or you can use virtual machines or other technology to run Windows programs from within OSX. Plus, the great thing about OSX is that it doesn't use a registry and all programs are self-contained. Just by the nature of how Windows operates, it will degrade over time because of registry bloat and DLL files tossed all over the place. OSX will be as good 3 years from now as the day you bought it (not saying it won't be out-dated in some ways, but the operating system will still be running as new).

That isn't to say that OSX doesn't have issues, and some of them are very irritating. There has been a sleep issue with some models that has gone on for years that Apple hasn't gotten around to fixing, for example. My main computer (a Mac Pro) has problems where it swaps monitor settings every time I reboot (which fortunately is only every 4 or 5 months when updates force me to). There are problems and OSX is far from perfect, but I would take its stability and performance over cheaper alternatives 8 days a week.

Bottom line, as a PC and Mac guy, I would encourage everyone to get a Mac unless they are heavy into gaming. Games will slow down in a VM or emulator, but will run normally if you directly boot into Windows from your Mac (but you will need to purchase a copy of Windows to install to do this).

You can get some great deals on refurbs from Apple, as well as discounts when they are about to update the product. I would say some things you should be aware of if you buy a Mac directly from Apple, though. First off, their prices for RAM are insanely absurd. Do not, under any circumstance at all EVER buy RAM from Apple. They will charge you 4x-5x what you can get from places like OWC. Ditto for buying extra hard drives, and installing these on a Mac takes about 3 minutes so you aren't saving yourself a hassle by having it done for you.

Go here and read and ask questions to see what you think. Check out the deals that are being discussed, read the issues that people are having with their Macs, and see what you think.

http://forums.macrumors.com/

[Jive]

NOW TO BE HONEST
When I bought my first mac I though Why the puck did I just spend an extra $500 for this
THAN I USED IT FOR A WEEK
I will never go back to PC
You will never regret buying one just takes a week or two to get used to it

[flyingillini]

I know it is different strokes for different folks, but as someone with PC's and Macs, I have a hard time believing anyone who has used a Mac for more than 5 days can say they suck. Prefer PCs? I can understand that, but not because Mac's are bad. For my money, Mac's are 10x the machines that PC's are and I cringe every time I use the Windows boxes in my home.

You can do absolutely anything on a Mac that you can on a PC. No disrespect to others, but if you have a Mac and think there are things you can't do on it that you can on a PC, you aren't looking hard enough or in the right places. In fact, some of the bigger programs (like Photoshop) are better on Macs, not to mention that most of these major programs have free alternatives available for use on Mac(LOTS of great free OSX programs). As mentioned, you can run full-blown Windows on your Mac, or you can use virtual machines or other technology to run Windows programs from within OSX. Plus, the great thing about OSX is that it doesn't use a registry and all programs are self-contained. Just by the nature of how Windows operates, it will degrade over time because of registry bloat and DLL files tossed all over the place. OSX will be as good 3 years from now as the day you bought it (not saying it won't be out-dated in some ways, but the operating system will still be running as new).

That isn't to say that OSX doesn't have issues, and some of them are very irritating. There has been a sleep issue with some models that has gone on for years that Apple hasn't gotten around to fixing, for example. My main computer (a Mac Pro) has problems where it swaps monitor settings every time I reboot (which fortunately is only every 4 or 5 months when updates force me to). There are problems and OSX is far from perfect, but I would take its stability and performance over cheaper alternatives 8 days a week.

Bottom line, as a PC and Mac guy, I would encourage everyone to get a Mac unless they are heavy into gaming. Games will slow down in a VM or emulator, but will run normally if you directly boot into Windows from your Mac (but you will need to purchase a copy of Windows to install to do this).

You can get some great deals on refurbs from Apple, as well as discounts when they are about to update the product. I would say some things you should be aware of if you buy a Mac directly from Apple, though. First off, their prices for RAM are insanely absurd. Do not, under any circumstance at all EVER buy RAM from Apple. They will charge you 4x-5x what you can get from places like OWC. Ditto for buying extra hard drives, and installing these on a Mac takes about 3 minutes so you aren't saving yourself a hassle by having it done for you.

Go here and read and ask questions to see what you think. Check out the deals that are being discussed, read the issues that people are having with their Macs, and see what you think.

http://forums.macrumors.com/

Great post! You know what you are talking about!

[jjgold]

I know it is different strokes for different folks, but as someone with PC's and Macs, I have a hard time believing anyone who has used a Mac for more than 5 days can say they suck. Prefer PCs? I can understand that, but not because Mac's are bad. For my money, Mac's are 10x the machines that PC's are and I cringe every time I use the Windows boxes in my home.

You can do absolutely anything on a Mac that you can on a PC. No disrespect to others, but if you have a Mac and think there are things you can't do on it that you can on a PC, you aren't looking hard enough or in the right places. In fact, some of the bigger programs (like Photoshop) are better on Macs, not to mention that most of these major programs have free alternatives available for use on Mac(LOTS of great free OSX programs). As mentioned, you can run full-blown Windows on your Mac, or you can use virtual machines or other technology to run Windows programs from within OSX. Plus, the great thing about OSX is that it doesn't use a registry and all programs are self-contained. Just by the nature of how Windows operates, it will degrade over time because of registry bloat and DLL files tossed all over the place. OSX will be as good 3 years from now as the day you bought it (not saying it won't be out-dated in some ways, but the operating system will still be running as new).

That isn't to say that OSX doesn't have issues, and some of them are very irritating. There has been a sleep issue with some models that has gone on for years that Apple hasn't gotten around to fixing, for example. My main computer (a Mac Pro) has problems where it swaps monitor settings every time I reboot (which fortunately is only every 4 or 5 months when updates force me to). There are problems and OSX is far from perfect, but I would take its stability and performance over cheaper alternatives 8 days a week.

Bottom line, as a PC and Mac guy, I would encourage everyone to get a Mac unless they are heavy into gaming. Games will slow down in a VM or emulator, but will run normally if you directly boot into Windows from your Mac (but you will need to purchase a copy of Windows to install to do this).

You can get some great deals on refurbs from Apple, as well as discounts when they are about to update the product. I would say some things you should be aware of if you buy a Mac directly from Apple, though. First off, their prices for RAM are insanely absurd. Do not, under any circumstance at all EVER buy RAM from Apple. They will charge you 4x-5x what you can get from places like OWC. Ditto for buying extra hard drives, and installing these on a Mac takes about 3 minutes so you aren't saving yourself a hassle by having it done for you.

Go here and read and ask questions to see what you think. Check out the deals that are being discussed, read the issues that people are having with their Macs, and see what you think.

http://forums.macrumors.com/

Great post

I have both and the MAC is a much better system. Fighting Illini turned me on to Macs. I think video is much better on macs too, much clearer, brighter.

[floridagolfer]

I wouldn't use a PC if I were able to buy it for a dollar. I don't know if you live near an Apple store; that's where I'd go, but you can also find most of the same machines at Best Buy. No, you won't find any massive discounts on Macs, but IMHO, the superior quality far outweighs the lower price you can find for something else. If you're able to afford the new Mac with the 21-inch screen, oh my God, the quality is unbelievably good!

Good luck with whatever you decide.

[jjgold]

Let's face it Apple makes superior products compared to other tech companies.

[Skidcom]

I am a first time Mac owner. The wife loves Apple and her laptop died before my pc laptop did. After a couple of months I have to say that the Mac is at worst tolerable and at best a pretty sleek usable machine. Worth the extra couple hundred? Probably not but I am getting used to it. I hate that Bodog poker doesn't work though. Have to play tournaments on my old laptop.

[Flying Dutchman]

Republicans use PCs, Granola-eating, earth-shoe wearing, Man/Boy Love Association Liberals use Macs

[Iwinyourmoney]

I'm a pc user, but other then pc I'm a apple fan (iPhone, iPod, ipad)

[Boscoe]

If you do get a mac, get a mini. They are actually somewhat reasonably priced and good for first time mac users.

[HustleGetPaid]

I've had my Mac Pro desktop (tower) for about 2 yrs and love it!!! I never use PC except for at work. Looking to get a Macbook Pro in the coming months. Don't do much computer gaming and use PokerStars for poker. Also if you are into music production, graphics, or video/film, Mac is absolutely the way to go!!!