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Windows vs. Mac: I'm starting to change.

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icekin:
I've read through the interesting discussions in this thread and here is my view:

I have personally disliked macs for a long time and for one good reason: its closed source. I can't choose my hardware. Sometime last year, I came across the Hackintosh on Lifehacker which changed my opinion on this. I also had a chance to play with my friend's macbook when he left it with me for a few weeks. I made it my primary machine so that I could get the Mac experience.

My 2 cents:

Compared to Windows XP 32-bit SP3, Mac OS X does feel somewhat more stable. I can't speak for Vista and I never plan to install that on any of my machines. In my practical day to day experience, OS X is not faster than Windows. All my applications run at the same speed. Windows has the advantage of a wide selection of applications and while software manufacturers are improving Mac support, Mac is still ages behind Windows in terms of software choice. I agree that most people only need one good app for one job rather than a dozen and I am no different. But what should that one app be? When it comes to music for example, most Mac users are happy with iTunes. I cannot live without foobar2000, which will probably never be natively ported to Mac due to its dependence on Windows libraries. Of course, there is Parallels and VMware, which I am aware of. But that's another memory and CPU intensive application I need to run to just an extremely light music player (i.e. foobar2000). There are many other such apps that I can think of.

I understand that its not Apple's fault if software makers don't want to support it, but the same can of Linux and the whole driver fiasco with hardware manufacturers. From my experience, OS X is no better than Linux in terms of speed, security and stability, but does have a few more programs that can run on it natively (Adobe, Solidworks etc).

I also don't care how cool or not a machine looks and personally, I hate the one click mouse button. I know that I can plug in an external mouse, but for a laptop, that's another piece of hardware I have to remember to carry around in addition to the charger and its just a hassle. I think that whether we like it or not, Windows is here to stay and will continue to enjoy the majority of the market share. I would like to see Linux (probably Ubuntu) emerge as the main competitor to Windows in the future, something that can be easily achieved with better driver support and a few more software applications.

cmpm:
Yeah the mousepad is different on the macbookpro.
Interesting even.

1 finger or two fingers operating it.
It knows how many fingers you have on it's pad.
It's a different way of operating the computer.
My son likes it a lot! He had a good wireless but opts for the pad.
I doubt if I would.

Not sure how that pad really works.
I've used a windows laptop pad and hated it.

Innuendo:
Windows has the advantage of a wide selection of applications and while software manufacturers are improving Mac support, Mac is still ages behind Windows in terms of software choice. I agree that most people only need one good app for one job rather than a dozen and I am no different. But what should that one app be? When it comes to music for example, most Mac users are happy with iTunes. I cannot live without foobar2000, which will probably never be natively ported to Mac due to its dependence on Windows libraries. Of course, there is Parallels and VMware, which I am aware of. But that's another memory and CPU intensive application I need to run to just an extremely light music player (i.e. foobar2000). There are many other such apps that I can think of.-icekin (November 07, 2009, 09:06 AM)
--- End quote ---

This sums things up quite nicely the focus of what this thread should be about. Choosing a computer is not about the hardware. It's not about the OS. It's not even about the UI. It's all about the software. Foobar2000 is the perfect example of this as well. Love it or hate it (and I confess I can't decide which camp I fall into), Foobar2000 has capabilities that are not available in any other audio player on any computing platform.

People drop by the Foobar2000 forum all the time begging for a port to Mac or Linux and it's just never going to happen due to the way the app has been written. Even running it through Wine & Crossover is a mixed bag and doesn't give you the full capabilities of the program because of the way it is written.

Thanks to those irritating Mac commercials (and I call them irritating not because they are about Macs, but because they tell a person absolutely-frikkin'-nothing about the product they are selling!!!) I get asked a LOT by people if they should buy a PC or a Mac. The first thing I tell them is look at the software for both platforms. Find the software you want (or need) to use and then buy the appropriate computer to run the stuff on. The second thing I tell them is if their circle of friends are computer-centric (discuss computers, software, the internet, etc. a lot) it might be best to buy what your friends have if you want to be included in all the conversations as if you are the odd man out you might feel like an outsider when these topics come up.

tomos:
The second thing I tell them is if their circle of friends are computer-centric (discuss computers, software, the internet, etc. a lot) it might be best to buy what your friends have if you want to be included in all the conversations as if you are the odd man out you might feel like an outsider when these topics come up.
-Innuendo (November 07, 2009, 10:20 AM)
--- End quote ---
of course that's where people will get help first, so logical to consider the same as they all have - unless you of course you know a helpful friendly forum ;)

Darwin:
The second thing I tell them is if their circle of friends are computer-centric (discuss computers, software, the internet, etc. a lot) it might be best to buy what your friends have if you want to be included in all the conversations as if you are the odd man out you might feel like an outsider when these topics come up.
-Innuendo (November 07, 2009, 10:20 AM)
--- End quote ---

I'm my parents' go-to guy for computer and tech support. I'm a confirmed Windows guy and yet my parents insist on running a Mac. I've been repeating the above advice to them like a mantra for years. Falls on deaf ears!

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