I’m back to agonizing over the purchase of my next computer. This is something I do periodically before shoving it to the back burner again because I can’t decide between a Mac and a PC. I blame it on my indecisive Libra nature.
I’ve been using PCs for about 20 years now. My current PC is five years old and starting to sag and get wrinkles. For reasons too boring to go into, I have to buy either a new computer or a new monitor before Wednesday.
I’m totally straddling the fence on the PC vs Mac thing. I keep hoping I’ll just wake up one morning with the decision firmly made and a sense of clarity and peace, but it hasn’t happened yet and time’s running out.
What do you think I should do? (If you’re reading this from a Feed Reader or email, you’ll need to click over to the blog to vote.)
Bonus question: If you’ve made the transition from a PC to a Mac recently, could you please tell me how it went? Was it as painless as the Mac salesperson said it would be? Were there any unpleasant surprises or unexpected expenses? Is there anything you miss about your PC?
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I just went from PC to Mac this summer and I doubt I would ever go back to using a PC. I wanted a computer that would just work efficiently without a lot of hoo ha and the Mac was perfect because you just turn it on and it works! Great for photos, music, internet stuff etc. The only reason why it took me a while to get used to the Mac is that I find most functions to be so straightforward I drove myself crazy making things more complicated than they actually were.
J.
Well, I’m a Mac girl, always have been. I have to use a PC for work, and I must prefer the Mac interface.
The Man switched from Mac to PC and he loves them too. However, it is an adjustment and I have heard of people having issues making the conversion. Shrug.
Moved to Mac after the last of numerous PCs bleeped its last blip 18 months ago.
Have never regretted it and wonder why, oh why I waited so long. Each time, I agonized over the decision, just like you and defaulted to what I knew fearing that the adjustment would be just too stressful. Took me only a few hours to adjust to Mac’s simpler way of doing common tasks.
Bought myself a Mac mini. And Junior and I couldn’t be happier together.
I was a dedicated Mac user until about 18 months ago when it packed it in (it was old and owed me very little) and because my financial situation was less brilliant than before, I opted for a Dell. I have no regrets, actually, and Vista has made the transition from Mac to PC very smooth for me. It’s such a personal decision; mine had to do with finances more than preference, but I must say I love my new 19″ flat panel monitor and a lot of the features I have. I’ve had very few problems and it didn’t cost me an arm and a leg. Next time…Who knows?
I switched over to the wonderful world of Macs about a year and a half ago. I love how easy Macs are to use and how streamlined the interface is. Only having one mouse button on the trackpad threw me for a loop in the beginning, but I adjusted. I love how easy they are to customize, how they don’t care how you arrange your icons on the desktop (no nagging to delete unused things! woo!). I like how they don’t get (as many) viruses.
That being said, PCs are fine computers too. I’m not particularly biased in one direction or the other. I just kept having problems with my PCs and said enough is enough. Good luck with your decision!
I use a PC at work and switched to a Mac at home about 3 or 4 years ago. The PC lumbers along and the corporate IT software more or less takes care of the virus updating and unending patching and security problems.
But those unending security problems drove me to a Mac at home. Patching my PC drove me crazy. Especially when I missed one and got one of those nasty worms.
I’ve indulged a couple of Mac upgrades since the first machine and only occasionally wished I’d gone for a full desktop model. Bought mine painlessly online. Grumbled about the cost. Gritted my teeth about buying new versions of Microsoft applications. Had a fair amount of nerdy pleasure learning how to make the new machine go.
I’m ridiculously tight with my money but I’ve never regretted shifting from a PC to a Mac.
I have two Macs and wouldn’t consider buying a PC.
That being said, I don’t do any serious gaming. Computer games are the only reason I can think of to buy a PC instead. The low-end Macs aren’t even more expensive than PCs with comparable specs.
i switched over to a mac about 2 years ago. there is only one thing i miss and requires a little paragraph to explain:
Say you have two windows open. for purposes of explanation, lets just say one is a word document and one is a web browser that displays a long internet page full of text that you want to read. the word document is open because you want to take notes from the web browser. the word document window will be active, as its the one that is being typed in to make the notes.
On a PC, when the word window is active and you want to scroll down in the inactive web browser window, all you have to do is put your mouse over the web browser and scroll. On a Mac you have to click on the window. No scrolling through inactive windows, which can be annoying.
That’s pretty much the only thing I miss about working on a PC.
wait, that was two little paragraphs plus one sentence.
Two out of three of my kids (5 out of 6 if you count my bonus kids) use Macs and swear by them. Traditionally Macs have been used for graphic design, audio-visual work etc and have been more stable than PCs. I think now you can do anything on a PC that you can do on a Mac. There used to be lots of software that was not supported by Macs. I don’t know whether that is still the case.
Macs are very cool from a style point of view; but come at a substantial premium.
I wouldn’t buy one; but that may be because I am so used to PCs I would be resistant to learning the new system.
Have fun shopping, though!
Also depends on how much peripheral software you think you might want to get into. With a Mac you pretty much have to buy it all from Apple or a few of their affiliates (unless you’re into the pirated stuff). With a PC you’ll have a vast and growing open source community for all the free quality software you could possibly want.
I got a MacBook about two months ago and am very pleased with it. (I had only ever used PCs before.) I use it for pleasure, not work, and there are a lot of things I haven’t really played with yet, so there is still a lot I don’t know about; and of the stuff that I have used, well, some of it took a little figuring out, just because it’s different from what I’m used to. When I do figure it out, it’s simple and makes sense. I find it clean, straightforward, sensible and elegant, with none of the byzantine layering of rules, exceptions and procedures that PCs seem to live by. It seems to be much more robust in its operations, no crashing, no error messages; and everything seems to work together in harmony. All the stuff inside a PC seems sometimes to argue together like a big dysfunctional family. No sense of that with the Mac. It’s just good design, and I really, really like good design.
I got a MacBook about two months ago and am very pleased with it. (I had only ever used PCs before.) I use it for pleasure, not work, and there are a lot of things I haven’t really played with yet, so there is still a lot I don’t know about; and of the stuff that I have used, well, some of it took a little figuring out, just because it’s different from what I’m used to. When I do figure it out, it’s simple and makes sense. I find it clean, straightforward, sensible and elegant, with none of the byzantine layering of rules, exceptions and procedures that PCs seem to live by. It seems to be much more robust in its operations, no crashing, no error messages; and everything seems to work together in harmony. All the stuff inside a PC seems sometimes to argue together like a big dysfunctional family. No sense of that with the Mac. It’s just good design, and I really, really like good design.
Oops, maybe the click button is a little sensitive!
On a PC, when the word window is active and you want to scroll down in the inactive web browser window, all you have to do is put your mouse over the web browser and scroll. On a Mac you have to click on the window. No scrolling through inactive windows, which can be annoying.
This isn’t true.
I am running Mac OS 10.5.5 right now, and can scroll in any window I put my mouse cursor into, by rolling the scroll wheel on my mouse.
Spend the extra money for VMWare Fusion. Then you’ll be able to run you Windows apps on you Mac desktop. If you’ve been using PCs for twenty years, you’ll find nothing magical about the Mac, except that they’ve gone to great effort to minimize the number of options the user sees, which is great for ease of use. The major benefit is the reliability of using an OS designed for specific hardware; however, you’ll get a similar benefit by choosing a Dell. I have both, so I’m somewhat agnostic.
Which Mac(s) are you considering?
I switched to Mac as my old PC was dying
No viruses, less spam, no blue screen of death.
The transition wasn’t very hard but there were times I didn’t understand how the mac was filing things etc.
You can run any PC software on it but since I don’t have to work with anyone else I am using pretty much all Mac software now.
I also have been considering a switch from PC to MAC. I have been told tho, by a friend, that you cannot put a large screen monitor on a MAC. If this is correct, I will be staying with a PC. Does anyone have any knowledge about this ?
Just say no to cults zoom.
I have a Mac Mini at home and use PCs at work now. (I learned to use a Mac at my former job, magazine editor, and found it much easier to learn than a PC.) The Mac Mini is great, ’cause you can use PC monitor and other peripherals, plus it’s really small (no tower, just a 6-inch-square by 3-inch tall box) and frees up a lot of desktop real estate. It has only frozen up to the point of restart twice in two years and has never gotten a virus, etc. LOVE IT!
I haven’t made the transition yet, but my next one is definitely a Mac!
I have used PCS since my family switched from the Commodore 64 (!) in the late 80s early 90s. I was obliged to use a mac through grad school as it was favoured by my area of study. I always had this feeling that it had been dumbed down for me.
Anyway, I happily went back to PC, have never had a bad experience with Dell, and am actually quite enjoy8ing Vista and have not yet had a problem with it at all. Wait, not quite true, a game from 1995 did not play immediately, I had to follow Vista’s suggestions and go to the game’s website and download a patch. So after that 3 minute interlude, it worked perfectly. And I have a 22″ monitor and the best computer I could need for $1,200!
I’ve been using PCs since I was old enough to sit in my dad’s computer chair and reach the keyboard, and have gone through a progression of them all the way through university until I graduated this spring and my family gave me the money for my very first non-hand-me-down computer.
I went for the black macbook, and it’s been awesome. I made sure to have bootcamp all set up so I could lapse into Windows as much as possible, and then went three months before I even switched to the Windows side and bother to download Service Pack 3 to make it go. I never really had problems using PCs, but everything on the Mac is just so… streamlined. And pretty. And I don’t have to scrub out the spyware or muck about with complicated installation or ctrl-alt-del to sort out which running application is eating my computer. It’s pretty great.
It also depends on what you want to use it for. I use my Mac for email, writing, organizing photos, the calendar and iTunes. There are some other apps but I don’t really use them. And I never play any games – I don’t even have any. P. got a Dell PC to run certain software that is only made for PCs but I wouldn’t even look at a PC. This Mac I am using is quite old and slow and my monitor is only 14 inches! So P. wants to get me a new Mac with the CPU right in the screen part with a nice big screen. And I may not argue with him. Except I’ll feel guilty rejecting my old MAC.
I have been told tho, by a friend, that you cannot put a large screen monitor on a MAC.
The MacBook laptops have a video-out port that you can connect to any monitor. The same goes for the Mac Minis.
The iMacs have integrated monitors – either 20″ or 24″ – and can also be connected to a second external monitor.
Apple sells cinema display monitors up to 30″ (that one’s a cool $2,099.00).
In short, you can definitely use Macs with big monitors.
I’ve used both platforms concurrently over the last 20 years. The Mac’s more elegant – more fun – and you can have both Windows and OSX running on one machine. [I second Brad’s recommendation to pick up VMWare’s Fusion.] My current setup is an iMac running Fusion for Windows applications. And I’m not bothering with Microsoft Office – I’m running Open Office (free – Unix) instead, and that’s working just fine.
If you do opt for the Mac and decide to use Open Office, you’ll probably need to load X11 from the Mac’s CD-ROM (it’s optional, and doesn’t always get pre-installed). That’s a one-time thing, and then it seamlessly kicks on whenever you choose Open Office.
I use both on a daily basis (PC at home, Mac at work) and I much prefer the mac
I, too, had been a loyal (by default…I knew no other programming box with buttons) PC user for years and years and years. Now I admit I’m not the most proficient at computers beyond word processing, internet and the odd game or two……that was, until I realized it was not my substandard skills at fault, it was my big box of buttons. A year ago I switched to the MAC (that sales guy is so slick) and I’ll never look back.
Pros of the Mighty Mac: never gets viruses. intuitive (no more downloading programs to get your comp to connect with other boxes like printers etc). video how-to’s right on the computer for just about everything you can do with your new box with buttons. I’ve had no problems with compatibility trying to switch my PC stuff to my new shiny MAC.
Cons: Price. But remember, it’s only a one-time cost that will give you eons of ease. You’ll leap tall buildings like you never have before, you’ll flick away with your baby finger long waits and delays caused by the evil virus. You will join our righteous world that is bewildered by anyone not impressed by the pretty desktop icons that only a MAC possesses.
Anyways, that’s just my two cents.
This is REALLY helpful feedback – thank you to everybody for your votes and especially your comments. Voting has remained pretty steady at 2-1 for the Mac.
Milan, you asked which model. I’m thinking about the middle of the road iMac. It’s on this page – if you scroll down, it’s the $1599 model. What do you think?
Get a Mac laptop which you could find through usedOttawa.com, if you want to experiment. Better still, come to the Mac meeting tonight at 7 at Ben Franklin Place beside the Nepean P Library. You can probably plug a second monitor in to a laptop too. Do come! There’s a fee, but you can apply it to a membership. I’ll be there with my knitting.
Gillian, I was wondering where you went! I don’t think I can make it tonight, but if I do, I’ll look for you.
Even if you drop in for a short time. i’ll introduce you to a Mac dealer and you can see the eqpt we have at the meeting. Honestly, get it from a local man that you form a relationship with as opposed to online, where you’re a number.
Oops. I should have said, the meeting starts at 7.30 mand I guess I’ll get there about 7.15
I just switched from pc to mac, forceably dragged their by my boss. She sweeted the pop by buy me an really decent mac. It did take some figuring, but I am really like it. The touch screen has a pile of cool options. I love the photoboth. And I like how it seems to not get it’s knickers in a twist as often. Money aside, mac has it
I changed a couple of years back and have, not really regretted it, but sometimes Mac gets up my nose. You can do everything, but sometimes you have to go and figure out how to do it. Specifically I had trouble getting the right plug ins for the video feature which was annoying. However, I was probably just as often annoyed with my PC, so the point is kind of moot.
If you do go with Mac, splurge and get the Windows software with it. It’s worth it.
I am on my second Mac Lap and adore it!!!!! AND now you can have the best of both. Get a Mac and you can run Microsoft Virtual Pc on it so you will never regret your decision!
MAC is the way to go. You know what they say, “an apple a day,”
AND btw my hubby works for Microsoft and i STILL use a MAC
:)LO
My partner and I bought a mac laptop each in the summer. Both of us were tried and true PC users — usng the PC for a lot of work and play. Four or five months in, things are going well. There are plug-in issues that creep up here and there, but as for stability and reliability — the mac is the way to go. We both have macbooks, which are good, but I wouldn’t enjoy so much if it was my primary computer. The true workhorse for us is still the PC desktop we own. That said, that is more an issue of screen size, than of a preference for a particular OS.
I would buy a 24″ iMac in a heartbeat if I could… They are so beautiful!
–Apo
I never thought I could go Mac, but since I did, four years ago, I’d NEVER go back. I still use PCs at work, and find going between them and my beloved Mac at home is easy, and YES, the salesman is right. It is perfect, and gorgeous, and on, and working, the second you take it out of the box. You will NOT regret it. My only regret is I didn’t move to Apple sooner. Keep us posted?
also, I love being able to connect it to any camera and any printer in the world and have it just GO. It knows (or finds) manuals automatically – no more uploading disks when you buy peripheral equipment. It’s come in handy more than I ever thought it would.
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