Mac vs PC for a new laptop

[NJ_Car_Owner]

By today's standards there isn't much difference in hardware between an Apple or Windows based computer - Intel, Western Digital and whatever else is in the computer are the same in both. Maybe years ago it was a different story but not today. I have a 6 1/2 YO HP Windows desktop with an I5 processor. I recently added a SSD drive, went from 6GB to 16 GB of memory all for around $200. I was also given as a Christmas gift a Nvidia GT730 video card so I had an more up to date and more memory GPU for photo processing. My son has a HP Windows laptop that he started college with 7 years ago that he still uses today when need be. Other than buying a replacement battery for it and getting the update for Windows - nothing has been done to it. He also has a IMAC as well and uses that for whatever ... both systems have their uses.

Not saying liking a MAC is bad but I think it is a little hyped by people REALLY liking MACs. If you buy a $350 Windows computer new and it lasts 5 years and then buy another $350 Windows computer new it is still cheaper than buying a $1000 Apple new and having old hardware 5 years down the road.

 

[dishdude]

I don't understand these longevity comments about PCs, I'm using my Dell laptop from 2009 and it still does everything I need it to do, I'm on it all day so it gets a lot of use and it's held up great. Thinking about replacing it only because the processor is a bit dated...I'm sure a lot of progress has been made in 8 years!

 

[Andrew1972]

The comment about longevity comes from the vast differences in quality across windows computers. Apple makes high quality stuff only while PC makers make low end junk to likely on par or better quality then Apple.

 

[wander2039]

Originally Posted By: madRiver
The comment about longevity comes from the vast differences in quality across windows computers. Apple makes high quality stuff only while PC makers make low end junk to likely on par or better quality then Apple.


There's that but also the Windows connection. Apple seems to do better updating operating systems but still maintaining capability with older models, to a certain age anyways. Now the Dell laptop being replaced, I currently use a Presario A900 with 4Gb and a SSD running Ubuntu. Should be able to run it at least 3-5 years or more in this configuration.

 

[IndyIan]

I went with an Asus PC as my poor brain can only remember one operating system, and I wanted to try some games. If you get a decent PC the screen can be almost as good as a Mac, and I certainly don't mind the difference. Also the cheapest 15" mac book is $2500! up here, twice as much money...

 

[NJ_Car_Owner]

At work there is a computer running DOS and the people using it need it to run. It runs!

 

[bunnspecial]

I just sourced a Pentium 3 era computer for some legacy equipment at work, so the need is definitely out there.

With that said, I've handled my fair share of high end PC laptops and most would beat a contemporary MBP in at least one area. Thinkpads are solid pieces of equipment and will run forever, but I find them a bit "industrial." HP Envys have great screens and can probably eat an MBP for lunch when it comes to benchmarks, but they're hot, have miserable battery life, and to me feel cheap. The Dell XPS is a solid competitor in the Ultrabook category, but they are more expensive than any comparable Mac.

To me, Apple seems to consistently hit a sweet spot of performance, build quality, and price that works for a lot of people. There are folks that a MacBook/MacBook Pro/MacBook Air doesn't suit, and for those folks going to a different maker is the right decision.

Just be away that comparing a $500 PC laptop to any Macintosh portable is senseless. I've owned $500 PC laptops, and use to get about 2 years out of them. The build quality isn't there, the screens are generally terrible if you're picky about that(I am) and they often use lower end CPUs.

 

[sleddriver]

OP: Much has to do with your own preferences, age, how it's used and your willingness to change.

A decade ago now, I repeatedly tried to talk older relatives into buying an Apple vs. a Dell. Despite my background, they all ignored my advice. Result is they found themselves in Dell H$ll.

My rationale was they were older, didn't know a thing, would only use it for email, photos & internet, wanted minimal fuss. Further, Apple support far exceeds Dell + they could always make an appointment at an Apple store.

Made sense to me.....

I still daily use a 2008 black MacBook. Years ago, I saved it from a neighbors trash when her kid dropped it too many times and tango uniformed the HD. I put in a new one, took it to an Apple store, they loaded the latest OS on it in about 15min for free. No problems since. Hard to beat that.....

 

[bunnspecial]

Originally Posted By: sleddriver
I still daily use a 2008 black MacBook. Years ago, I saved it from a neighbors trash when her kid dropped it too many times and tango uniformed the HD. I put in a new one, took it to an Apple store, they loaded the latest OS on it in about 15min for free. No problems since. Hard to beat that.....


Once again going back to the fact that I'm a Macintosh collector....

I have two "Blackbooks" as they are often affectionately called in my collection-one a late 2007 and the other an early 2008(last gen BlackBook). I bought the 2008 from its original owner, and updated the installed OS from Leopard(shipping OS) to Snow Leopard. It's a peppy machine, and I've loaned it out several times because it has some software on it that is expensive but often needed by folks in my field. It's a lot easier to loan out than my G5 Quad

. My late '07 is running Mountain Lion(not officially supported) and with an SSD it's fairly peppy.

I still do a lot of film photography, and have a couple of different scanners that I use. I use 3rd party software for the most part(Vuescan) which is still updated and current, but to get the most out of my Nikon Coolscan I sometimes have to use the PPC-native Nikon software. That means Snow Leopard or earlier. In addition, I have one scanner that excels for one particular appplication and interfaces through SCSI. For all of those reasons, my scanning workstation is a dual 2.7ghz G5(I can't use a Quad because compatible SCSI cards are essentially non-existent). It still treats me well.

 

[pandus13]

Originally Posted By: bunnspecial
In addition, I have one scanner that excels for one particular application and interfaces through SCSI.


OOOh, that brought back some HP really heavy scanners and film/photo slides memories.........

wasn't easy on the Windows side toooooooooooooooooooooooo.... oh the joys of pairing scsi scanner with Win NT3.51

 

[Kuato]

Originally Posted By: bunnspecial

...
BTW, as a small correction to the above-the MacOS(formerly OS X) is BSD Unix based and not Linux. The difference is small and all *nix OSs share a common lineage, but they're not the same.

Typed from a 2012 MBP that's still going strong.


Thanks for the correction; it didn't sound right when I typed it, now it does.

 

[bunnspecial]

Originally Posted By: pandus13
Originally Posted By: bunnspecial
In addition, I have one scanner that excels for one particular application and interfaces through SCSI.


OOOh, that brought back some HP really heavy scanners and film/photo slides memories.........

wasn't easy on the Windows side toooooooooooooooooooooooo.... oh the joys of pairing scsi scanner with Win NT3.51


In general, SCSI is actually pretty seamless on older Macs. Up until around 1999, everything had an external SCSI port and the higher end computers used SCSI internally. In fact, through the G4 era, you could order the desktops with internal ultrawide drives. Heck, with the right card(which I have but haven't installed) I can use SAS in the internal drive bays in my Mac Pro.

With that said, I was given a PowerBook 170 not too long ago(high end version of the very first line of PowerBooks) and it had a bad hard drive. 2.5" 50 pin SCSI drives are in the unobtainium category, but I got lucky and found someone selling NOS Quantum/Apple 40mb drives on Ebay at a little over $1/mb

(sometimes collectors do funny things to feed their habits). In any case, I've been fighting "SCSI Voodoo" with getting it to see the new HDD even though it will spin up and access.

I've also been fighting on and off with getting my Mac Plus to boot off an external SCSI drive. The Mac Plus was released before SCSI standards were fully codified, so the implementation is somewhat non-standard. After trying a couple of different externals, I bought an Apple HD20SC(contemporary to the Plus), although the original 5 1/4" full height Seagate drive in it was toast(it would read, but couldn't write to it). I put in an IBM branded NOS Apple 160mb drive(the Apple branding is important due to special ROM in the drive). I finally got Apple HD SC set-up to see the drive from the Plus with a weird combination of termination and got System 6 installed, but I still can't get the computer to boot from it. I can boot my Mac II from the drive, but not the Plus.

 

[PandaBear]

PC, because they did not solder the DRAM chips onto the motherboard (probably going to do this to SSD eventually too). You will be able to upgrade a few years down the road for cheap.

I love higher end PC and Mac, but I'd not pay for a Mac for this particular reason.

 

[delirious]

As mentioned before: hardware reliability relies on the manufacturer and the quality product you're paying for.

Windows: Well I used to be a HUGE windows fan. Really loved Windows 8. I thought it was brilliant and well thought out. I appreciated Windows' attempt to create a standardized gui that worked on all their flagship products. It was a breath of fresh air over the previous XP, dreadful Vista, and bland 7. Now, I avoid Windows like the plague. The only time I ever get on it anymore is for Microsoft Excel and Word, and even that is becoming less as I find Google is constantly improving their Docs and Worksheets. The only real benefit I see with Windows is it is the major player in PC gaming; period.

For the past 4-5 years I have been always on Arch Linux and am nestled down to it. I log into Windows about once a month, usually for something I need to do that I cannot on Linux. When I had an iPhone I used Windows for iTunes. I don't know if it's gotten worse or if it's because I have the luxury of Arch Linux rolling releases but I absolutely cannot stand it's updating. I understand that Windows goes with the slower approach to releasing updates, long testing and larger updates, but it's absolutely maddening. On Arch I will see that I have a few updates and I install them and then I'm good to go - all while continuing to do my typical routine stuff (browse for memes, read bitog, develop software, use libreoffice, et al.) where in Windows I get a warning message that it is going to restart soon, sometimes it won't even let me postpone it and I have no choice and then it has to go through a dreadful long (relatively to linux updates) process of doing updates, and I can't even work on the computer concurrently. I have to sit and stare at a blue screen having it tell me that's it doing the updating. I shouldn't have to join the developers group or insiders group (forget what it's called) to get Microsoft updates more frequently than the traditional pleb time schedules.

Not only that but they are version nazis. Try downgrading from 10 back to 8.1 or 7. Every update you receive will have a windows 10 upgrade sneaked in their without your knowledge unless you specifically looked at the upgrade list. My buddy tried that and had to constantly remove the windows 10 upgrade every time there was an update... long story short he gave up and succumbed to the windows 10 upgrade.

The only other thing I cannot stand with Windows is that I have a hard time finding AV software that isn't intrusive or bloatware. I thought Norton used to be pretty light and worked well, and then they came out with more bloatware that will speed up your pc and other such services. Not only that but it always had something to say to me regarding some form of protection service, whether safe browsing norton toolbar or hard drive backup or safe disk checker (don't remember them all). I have tried other AV software and it's pretty much the same thing across all lines. I notice it just hearing my laptop. My computer's fan blows hard and hot air constantly, even if the only thing I have open is a couple Chrome tabs and the AV running in the background. Yet when I'm on literally any other Linux OS, I could have the same amount of Chrome tabs opened, software development tools running, libreoffice

MAC: always seemed too high priced for me, but like others have mentioned, they are actually really good and like others note: they just work. I too like their visual asthetics and the gui seems to be the smoothest.

 

[Californiabob]

I have both a MBP and a touchscreen Acer. both have reasonable battery life, liftability,
and reasonable keyboards.

However for what I do the PC wins
1. development tools, free/paid, etc. are far better on the windows platform
there are even development tools for iOS. no VMs or Frankentoshes needed
2. sales tools (plugins) for outlook only work on windows versions of outlook.
3. incredible amounts of usb devices that work on PCs that require "thinking" on MBPs

but the most important for me is the touchscreen - looking at something then
using (no keyboard or mouse) pinch and zoom (just like the iPhone) to
get a larger view or to scroll up/down, leftright is priceless. especially
with a larger drippy sandwich in the other hand.

I would wait to see whether Apple does the Magnum Opus and merge MacOS and iOS
for a seamless experience and add touchscreen. I would then wait for the
paid or free upgrade kit since they "owe" all those MBP users for their
unstinting loyalty.