Peekayoh wrote:
Yes, I go along with this and what Gene51 posted. I think this old, old argument is a bit like choosing to wear designer jeans. If you want the cachet of belonging to a smaller herd and want to pay the extra, go with the MAC, no doubt it will work for you.
From a hardware perspective and since Apple were obliged to move over to Intel processors, there's nothing to choose between the two apart from price. There is a difference in the O/S but again, it's just six of one and half a dozen of the other and mainly comes down to what you've got used to.
In the same way that folk tend to maintain that their choice of camera system is the best (no one likes to admit to a mistake), the MAC user will always claim that illusory high ground. By the same token and as a committed PC user, I'm always going to claim my choice is better; at least I can prove it's less costly and more flexible with wider choices.
There is the argument that MACs are less subject to viral attack by security through minority which has some truth in it although viruses on MACs are a reality, they are not as common in the profit-driven world of malware. Having said that it's pretty easy to make your PC bombproof by using software like Deep Freeze and/or a virtual machine without resorting to expensive and resource consuming AV solutions.
Yes, I go along with this and what Gene51 posted. ... (
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Windows machines are targets of over 100,000 viruses. When I worked at a large lab, we had several instances where a virus took down the entire operation over 150 Windows computers for a day or more. We had Symantec AV running on every Windows box, and still got hit, multiple times!
We never had any issues on any of our Macs, which NEVER ran ANY anti-virus software.
The Mac OS X system is based on UNIX, and has several layers of extremely good anti-VIRUS protection built into it. If you can name ONE actual, successful *virus* attack *in the wild* on OS X, I would love to know what it is. When people ask the same in computer forums, the answer is usually, "Umm... Uhh..." and they point to what's actually *Trojan horse malware*. Big difference!
Macs themselves simply have not been the targets of *successful* *actual VIRUS* attacks.
Mac MS OFFICE has been subject to MS Office Macro viruses from time to time (they rely on Visual Basic, and work the same across platforms). However, these are going to screw up Office data files, and not the rest of the Mac system. You can protect your Office system by locking the Normal.dot(x) template, and any other templates you use.
Just like Windows, Macs are vulnerable to various "Trojan horse" malware schemes, but on the Mac, these require users to do something to "invite" the invader into the system by clicking on an installer button of one sort or another, and then entering an Administrator password! True viruses install themselves.
If you run Windows on your Mac in Parallels or VMWare Fusion, as I do, be sure that the Windows instance is protected with AV and anti-malware and anti-adware packages, the same as it should be on a stand-alone PC.
I always had both a Mac and a Windows box in my office from 1990 through 2008, when I sucked my Dell Latitude D610's hard drive into my Mac with Parallels Transporter.
I used the Mac because I wanted to, and Windows because I needed Windows software such as AS/400 Client Access, various HR time keeping systems, Kodak DP2 Print Production Software, the Windows version of FileMaker Pro, and various company proprietary applications. All of these ran fine on the early 2008 MacBook Pro, in emulation. In fact, running Windows on the MBP was about 2 to 2.5 times faster than running it, and the same apps, on the (admittedly older) Dell!
So I was happy to have just one computer to carry, with my entire suite of training content creation and delivery tools in it. I could cut and paste between operating systems, do still and video screen captures from either operating system, edit videos, audio podcasts, still images, and PowerPoints, and handle every database update chore I needed to handle, all in one box, and back it all up to one external drive.
There is absolutely no comparison when it comes to ease of use, AT THE OS LEVEL. The Mac is layers and layers of elegance deep. When you get a Windows error message, it is technically correct, but functionally useless to anyone but a programmer. When you get a Mac error message, about nine times out of ten, it TELLS YOU WHAT TO DO TO CLEAR THE PROBLEM.
I've seen Windows users move to the Mac and get confused at first, because what took ten steps in Windows only takes about three in OS X. The simplicity takes some getting used to.
I've had folks come up to me a year later and tell me my advice to "Get a Mac" saved them hours of agony, and enabled them to do things they hadn't thought possible. My own sister, a municipal judge, can use an iMac just fine, but won't touch a PC at the courthouse unless she absolutely has to.
Mac users ARE willing to pay more. The total cost of ownership over the full life of the machine is usually less than it would be for a comparable PC. The upfront cost is higher, the service and repair costs lower. Add-on costs are usually lower, since most Macs already come with what you need. In a corporate setting, there is much less support needed for Mac users, unless they run Windows, too. Then, it is about the same.
In my 28 years of using Macs and PCs, I've spent far more time fooling around trying to get a PC to work the way I needed it to work than I had to spend to get the Mac to work the way I needed it to. I've spent far more time USING the Mac, because I don't have to THINK about using it.
The Apple "walled garden" may offend some developers and power users who just want to do their own thing. Yet there isn't much snob appeal in it Those of us who see computers as tools that should never get in the way of the task are happy to have Macs, and the premium that saves us the time, energy, distracting thought, and frustrations certainly is worth it.