Charlie'smom

I’ve owned one PC. It lasted 2-3 years before I gave up and went back-to-Mac. My current iMac is seven years old, and still running strong, although I’d like to add more memory with all my photo editing.

Festus Loc: North Dakota

There is no advantage. Unless you feel spending around twice as much for a MAC versus a PC.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

I agree with your first point. Once you learn one OS, it's really easy to transfer that knowledge to another.

On your second point you most certainly can beat the image quality - watching movies and viewing pictures on a small, high-res screen is fine. but font scaling and gamut issues plague MBP screens. If you look at this Apple page -

https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro?product=MPTT2LL/A&step=config#

- it talks about using an unspecified 7th gen quad core Intel chip (old tech, new Windows machines are being populated with 8th gen 6 core cpus. It talks about wider gamut, but buried lower in the page is a description of it's wide gamut standard - DCI-P3 - a projection video standard - and not RGB, a photo standard. It also talks about how great the experience is when editing in Final Cut Pro - which I totally agree with, but there is no mention of using it with Photoshop. I would rather have an Apple machine with DCI-P3 color gamut than an Adobe RGB system for editing video. Apple has embraced video viewing and editing at the expense of photo editing. They boast about how bright and clear the display is - but for photo editing you don't need such a bright screen - you want just the opposite, otherwise your prints end up being too dark. Besides, if you want a Retina display, it's really just an LG re-branded as Retina.

Component failures are relatively uncommon to both platforms, and that is because the parts vendors - have made great strides in the area of reliabililty. Apple uses the same internal components as other machines, with one exception - they usually pick middle of the road components - to save money. They will use old tech cpus, old tech graphics (Radeon 555 is almost 2 yrs old), and insufficient ram to run photo editing apps like Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro without spooling off to disk. More than 16 gb of ram isn't even an option. Oh and the 1 TB SSD drive, presumably an m.2 form factor - costs an extra $400. And if you want a slightly faster cpu, that will cost you another $200 - for a total cost of $3400.00.

This is compared to a middle of the road MSI workstation laptop -

http://www.xoticpc.com/msi-we63-8sj-233.html?startcustomization=1

The standard cpu is a 6 core i7 -8750 and the graphics is a Nvidia Quadro P2000 with 4 gb vram.

You can custom configure the rest of the system to include the following:

32 gb DDR4 24000 ram
1 TB m.2 PCIe NVMe SSD AND a 2 TB Seagate Firecuda hybrid drive (small SSD cacheing a larger mechanical drive)
Overclocking on both the cpu and the gpu for maximum performance.

For a total of $2318.00 and you get a 3 TB system, compared to a 1 TB system, that has more ram, faster 10 bit workstation graphics card, and MSI reliability

You can get a machine that forces you into IT'S box, or get a box that you can configure to your needs, and save over $1000 in the process, with some degree of future proofing that does not include replacing the machine - only some of the components.

As you can see in the chart below, of the 13 popular machines tested, Apple was solidly in the middle of the pack and below, behind Dell, Lenovo, and MSI. Important to note, these were tested last year, and Apple has not yet released it's newer machines, so this might change a bit. But it's hard to avoid noticing that the bottom half of the chart pretty much contains all Apple products with the exception of 1 Dell and 1 Lenovo.

In my opinion, buying Apple is like using a D850 or a EOS 1DX II in P mode. Buying any of the various Windows machines is like using either of those two wonderful cameras in manual or any of the other exposure and focus modes - hands on - configured to suit you and not the other way around.

(Download)

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

In contrast to your kid, I have had a MacBook Pro that has never failed me in any way. I have no idea if the failing keyboard is common on these machines, as you say. Do you place your judgement on your son's machine or is there some solid evidence to show a common problem with keyboard failure on Mac machines? I have never heard of that specific problem or any other, for that matter, with Mac machines.

Dennis

leftj Loc: Texas

You sound like a fake news reporter on CNN.

leftj Loc: Texas

The kid probably dropped it.

xt2 Loc: British Columbia, Canada

Like everything in life, nothing is really for free. Choose what interests you and meets your needs, in the end, as usual, you get what ya pay for...

leftj Loc: Texas

Amen to that. Some people go through life and never learn that.

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

Who knows? Certainly none of us. My only point was that we hear about problems being, "common", on some merchandise when actual users seem to have no problem with the merchandise at all. I am just wondering if the one anecdotal incident of the son's keyboard not working is the only evidence the poster has of the common problem.

Dennis

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

Heck go to the Dell outlet, check the coupons. Current coupon for 17% off the refurb price is XPSLD17

A refurb XPS 15 with:
Intel Core 7th Generation i7-7700HQ Processor (Quad Core, up to 3.80 GHz, 6MB Cache, 35W)
Windows 10 Pro
1TB M.2 PCIe Solid State Drive Class 40
32GB DDR4 Non-ECC SDRAM 2400MHz (2x16GB)
15.6 inch 4K UHD (3840 x 2160) InfinityEdge Touch Display
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 4GB
is $1,792 before the extra 17% So you are down below $1,500 for a nice package in a laptop. If you are OK with Windows 10 Home instead of pro it drops to $1,625 before the 17% or around $1,350

http://outlet.us.dell.com/ArbOnlineSales/Online/InventorySearch.aspx?c=us&cs=22&l=en&s=dfh&brandid=2201&sign=PXhcOSHtr1T4IOw%2fPR7UddCsz65hzk1AEsPh5btDa2cTUpjXzOtC2hOXTz7iC%2bWcRMloHYi9sKoaIIoH1HqginOOAj7LqJs%2fL0IFl1CIl3jL3aD9CAm9c4X%2fVPU3zZU5jPejqWdciHUbsq3dA78YeDmXtRcAIQpwR%2bbz6tKivfD1XEatQW5vhtjXcgX2Uby24I%2fBgSRSktBWc2EwHfSOmPPH4HZeI0d3xboz5M5VEz0QteSyGabpaKbd%2bFstgtJ4CPVZfPeKqKOiypqSPdy7js3JWIQlYKq%2bCbVVT5MY%2fOQ%3d

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

He's not wrong, actually. Only very slight hyperbole. The Apple machines are more and more a lifestyle "niche" machines, with better support for video and multimedia streaming, video editing, and they are finally trying to tap into the gaming industry, but they've got a long way to go before they come up with even an entry level gaming computer. For games you need horsepower and fast, hi-res, multi-display capability. It hasn't happened yet with Apple. I guess that is a bit more fake news that you are going to criticize. To each his own . . .

It's best to do the research, from good, unbiased sources, before you call anything real or fake, btw.

Martino Loc: Northwest Florida

Regrettably there will always be the Mac haters, just as the Canon v Nikon, Ford v GM etc., etc.

I’ve used both PCs and Macs. In my business life I found PCs needed to be replaced every 18 months or so, Macs appear to run on and on.

Personally I have a Mac laptop that has travelled all over the worLtd since 2004 and is still going strong. I have an iMac that’s been going strong since 2011 and still performs brilliantly. Plus iPads (3 since the first model) that are all still performing, plus iPhones that have never had a problem.

My wife’s series of Dell PCs have had multiple problems and the constant updates are a pain.

I am very pro Apple, but only because they just work, keep going and are simple to work and understand. Same way as I’m pro Canon, Honda and Mercedes. Not to say that things don’t go wrong, I’m sure they do, but my loyalty to brands is as a result of experience.

G. Crook Loc: Linden, TX

Went from a PC at home to a MAC at work many years ago. A little frustrating at first but finally tossed my home PC and got a 21” iMAC and have never looked back. Now use a MacBook Pro, iPad and iPhone. Have never had a “blue screen” episode or any kind of failure. Macs are not nearly as prone to viruses as PC’s. I did get an attempted intrusion a couple of years ago, Apple fixed it in a matter of minutes over the phone. I see no reason to ever go back to a PC. Yes, a MAC may cost “twice” as much as a PC but will last infinitely longer IMHO.

Tomcat5133 Loc: Gladwyne PA

I have had Mac's since the early 80's. Overall the experience with these intuitive creative machines has been
great for my graphic work, photography work and as a video editing machine for the last 5 years. I have had
PC's and wanted to enjoy and work with them and I have never had a good experience trying to update the
OS's and not being able to. The expense and confusion of Microsoft. I have an HP budget laptop I bought
and it said I could upgrade to Windows 10. Tried online a few times told me the machine couldn't do 10.
I too am sitting at a 27" Mac which is a sensational machine. The monitor is not calibrated but is so good
I trust it that my video/stills will look like the display. It is 6 years old I upgraded the RAM and it handles
4K video with a few issues with 3D rendering.
I would really like to have a beefed up PC. They are much more affordable and i could build a super machine.
Mac machines need to ship with more RAM for modern graphics work. And they are expensive.
Final Cut Pro after I bought it the updates have always been free. Mac has the their version of office
software and Microsoft office runs on the Mac. Apple changed computing to and easy experience and
a reliable one. This is my opinion. Good luck.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Ok, anecdotal stories are interesting but cannot be extrapolated to describe a bigger number of users on either side. If you want a hero story, I built a PC back in 2011 that has never had a day, or even 5 mins of downtime, other than the couple of times I opened it to upgrade the CPU, hard Drives and add some memory. And it's not even a Mac.

So, within my experience - (I have personally spec'd and built over 3,000 PCs for high-end engineering applications, like 3D finite element analysis and simulations, 3D renderings, applications like Autocad, SolidWorks, etc. for the architectural and engineering communities in and around the NYC area. Many of these firms had Apple machines which I also supported.

This is what I can say about both. Apples are hard to custom-tailor for specific applications. PCs are way ahead in that department.

Choosing the right components either by custom spec/build or by selecting from the mfgr's offerings - you can end up with a Windows machine that is just as reliable as a Mac. No advantage to either platform, though for some reason the urban myth that macs are more reliable persists, even in the light of current user experiences.

Macs do not provide the ROI of PCs - yes, they last a long time, which is good, but running current applications on even 6 or 7 yr old systems is very expensive from a time value point of view. Small upgrades, like the ones I did on my system - gave it a new life each time I upgraded. The cost was not prohibitive, either.

Since Apple decided to abandon Motorola cpus, their computers have become more vulnerable to malware. Apple has even released new OS updates that have removed previous anti-malware code. They are still pretty new to this game, and have a lot of catching up to do.

Once you are in an app that runs on either machine, it really doesn't "feel" any different when switching from one platform to another. I do remote support with some clients, some of which have Macs, and I have no issues. One high end real estate photographer I mentor just completed a switch from iMac to PC about 5 months ago, just because the iMac lacked the performance and the upgradeability. He is totally happy with his choice, and is enjoying the performance. His daughter inherited the iMac and she too is very happy. He is a total power user, using as many as 30-50 layers per image. His machine has 64 gb ram and 13 TB of internal storage, and dual 27" Eizo HD displays.

I have read in recent months, here and in other forums, of incompatibilities between new OS updates and current software/hardware. Printers no longer working, software not opening up and crashing, etc etc etc. To some degree I suspect it is user confusion, but such was never the case. Mainstreaming a product can have many pitfalls as the user base expands.

Macs are generally prettier than PCs. But glamour and glitz do nothing to enhance the user experience.