PC or Mac - which to choose

One important thing to think about is not generalizing 'PC' into one category. That is a figment of Apple's marketing department.

Personally, I would avoid Dells. When I was in rez, friends of mine all seemed to have hardware problems with their Dell computers. They provide you with control over the creation of your laptop, but I would advise against it. My parents have a Dell desktop, and over xmas, their harddrive broke on it, thankfully since they are owners of a small business, they have a couple of laptops in which they also store files on.

My University roommate had a Toshiba laptop for about 4 years and is a big fan of it. He recently bought a second one. My parents too have a Toshiba laptop which they tend to use quite often, and travel with. But because of its size, 17 inch screen, they have recently bought a HP netbook.

Me, I'm a Lenovo man. My desktop is Lenovo, and have had no problems with it. I have had it for about a year and a half. My father also has a Lenovo laptop for work, although I plan on buying it from him, as he has too many computers already.

But someone you should talk to is Shabbs. He seems to be extremely tech savvy. I'm not sure if he works in the industry, considering his knowledge base I would not be surprised. He just bought a Lenovo laptop, top of the line, drool worthy. He also managed to get some deals on it, so he didn't even pay nealry as much as the actual price. I would definitely suggest, if you are interested, in PM'ing him.

EDIT: sorry i started the message at 3 ish, and finished it at 3:45 ish, cause my dad called and needed me to go pick him up.

The whole Mac-PC kerfuffle is marketing BS.

It really depends why you need a laptop and what you use it for.

In the publishing and media world, for example, it's not uncommon to employ both platforms, interfacing them for appropriate tasks.

Graphic designers and motion picture people like the Mac because that operating system seems to have been developed with those functionalities in mind.

The PC operating system has become the standard for the majority of commercial businesses, partly because the document/memo aspect of corporate communications have migrated to the PC.

I've used both.

For me, it has always been a question of compatibility with my professional environment (being media and corporate consulting), so PC has been my platform of choice.

While IBM (now Lenovo), Compaq, HP, Toshiba and Dell were the predominant names for years (with Sony Vaio making major inroads in the last ten years), the Korean firms like Acer are now making a very competitive product.

After using Compaq, IBM, and Toshiba laptops over the past fifteen years, I purchased an Acer Aspire (based on a recommendation) which has proven so far to be an excellent decision.

But there is so much to select from, so you really have an unprecedented ability to pick the laptop that fits you best...and that makes you happy.

I suggest you consult CNET.com among other sites that can provide you with extensive product information; and some even offer you the ability to ask their experts what might be the right choice for you.

Have fun!

shabbs wrote:

Blazer wrote:

shabbs wrote:If you can, go to an Apple Store and talk to them about the various notebooks and the software that comes with it.

Unfortunately, there's only two Apple Stores in Alberta - Calgary and Edmonton.

See here: http://www.apple.com/ca/retail/

Thats because there a many apple "licensed" dealers. I know of at least three that are not big box retail stores: Mcloed close to Stampede, Centre St N between 16th and the bridge to Chinatown, and the University.

Btw, I always recommend against buying a computer at Futureshop or Bestbuy if you dont know what you want/are doing. NEVER buy the extended warranties from those stores (you always get a warranty from the manufacturer for "free" and they generally pay for shipping and handling; and in most cases they just replace the items) !!!

Do those licensed stores offer the same type of service and knowledge that the Apple Retail Stores do? Like migrating your data from PC to Mac etc...

Most of them do. But when in doubt just head to the Apple store close to stampede grounds.

Some very good feedback thank you. I was down to the HP HDX series and a Macbook. I am so stuck on which way to go. Thanks again. I am in edmonton this weekend and the nearest Apple store is in WEM. Dam it sucks being on the oppposite side of the city. I've had bad experiences with Future Shop with my past desktop and I haven't been impressed at all by Best Buy so far....I guess its off to the West Edmonton Mall after work tonight to learn more about Macs.

Good luck!!! Im sure you will love what you see.

Windows has come a long way over the years, and Vista certainly looks to be a move in the right direction. XP has become the de-facto standard business platform, even though it's outdated, but it's now stable as a rock.

The decision between Mac and PC usually comes down to the primary applications you plan on using. If you are a "business" user that needs to interface with many clients that use WinTel platforms, a PC is your most likely choice. If you're a "media focused" user - graphics, web, video etc... the Mac is the best choice and comes bundled with software that will let you do everything you need.

Cost is still an issue, but Mac's have come down in price over the years. And you can't simply compare CPU speed and memory... it's not apples to apples (heh heh) as the architecture between the PC and the Mac is very different.

I'm a PC guy and I'm a big fan of the ThinkPad - been using them for YEARS. But they can get up there in price too. Lenovo does offer a lot of different models, so do your research. You can get ultra cheap laptops from Wal-Mart these days - pretty incredible and versatile. HP, Toshiba, Acer, Asus etc... all have good offerings.

Read reviews of the machines you're looking at:
- http://www.notebookreview.com/
- http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/

I recently bought a ThinkPad T500, loaded up pretty nice and it cost me just over $1200 after all was said and done. I took advantage of some deals that Lenovo had going on at the time.

See thread here: http://www.gmhockey.com/random-thoughts-f5/new-laptop-t2193.htm

The most important thing to start with is to really know your budget. Figure out how much you really want to spend and then go from there. As soon as you start to add things in or upgrade items (more memory, faster hard disks, better video card, higher res screen etc... ) it adds up fast. Tax and delivery charges need to be accounted for.

Good luck!

I'm typing this on my new 17" Macbook Pro :-)

I was PC for many years but my photography hobby put me onto Mac.

Vista is just a cheap imitation.

Mac OSX is just so well done.

The thing I like about Mac's is that their apps just work. The control they have on their hardware and app development cycle results in stable, solid apps.

I build my PC myself and never had any crashes in years. I paid around 1000 bucks and my PC is faster than any Imac Ive seen (that my friends use) that costs around $1500. Im also a gamer, so Mac is really not for me. I edit HD videos too, along with some music encoding (mostly guitar) softwares and to be honest, my video card can handle all of that with no problem. I think there are so many softwares that I use on my PC that dont have a MAc version, I cannot leave Windows for OSX.

The Problem with PCs is the retailers are selling $hitty desktops with components that aren't even tested to work well together, therefore to get the best result. For instance, they have huge Hard Drives and a ton of ram but with an absolutely ridiculous video card.
Anyways,

Number Twenty Nine wrote:I'm typing this on my new 17" Macbook Pro :-)

I was PC for many years but my photography hobby put me onto Mac.

Vista is just a cheap imitation.

Mac OSX is just so well done.

Pretty easy to get an OS working fine when you don't let anybody use it, don't you think?

If Microsoft made cars:

At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates
reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated: "If GM
had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving
twenty-five dollar cars that got 1000 miles to the gallon." In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release
stating: if GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with
the following characteristics:
1. For no reason whatsoever your car would crash twice a
day.
2. Every time they painted the lines on the road you would
have to buy a new car.
3. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn,
would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to
re-install the engine.
4. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun,
was reliable, five times as fast, and twice as easy to drive, but would only run on five
percent of the roads.
5. New seats would force everyone to have the same size
butt.
6. Occasionally for no reason whatsoever, your car would
lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle,
turned the key, and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.
7. GM would require all car buyers to also purchase a deluxe
set of Rand McNally road maps (now a GM subsidiary), even though they neither need them
nor want them. Attempting to delete this option would immediately cause the car's
performance to diminish by 50 percent or more. Moreover, GM would become a target for
investigation by the Justice Dept.
8. Every time GM introduced a new model, car buyers would
have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in
the same manner as the old car.
9. You'd press the "start" button to shut off the
engine.

If Apple made cars:

The PC/Mac divide can get quite personal...

Maybe you should buy a top end Windows-based laptop, and partition for a Mac OSX install somewhere so you can take advantage of the awesome software they have (Adobe Suite, Aperture, iMovie, etc...).

Also, another thing you should look into is how easily upgradeable the unit you are buying is. If you're buying Mac, you will most likely have to go to a Mac store to install more RAM or a bigger HDD; whereas with a PC, you can buy the pieces you need and have them installed pretty much by anyone.

See here for guides on how to install OSX on a PC:

http://osx86.thefreesuite.com/

shabbs wrote:See here for guides on how to install OSX on a PC:

http://osx86.thefreesuite.com/

I did that on my ex PC - made me want a REAL one.

Number Twenty Nine wrote:

shabbs wrote:See here for guides on how to install OSX on a PC:

http://osx86.thefreesuite.com/

I did that on my ex PC - made me want a REAL one.

OSX on a PC... the gateway drug to Mac's.

marakh wrote:

Number Twenty Nine wrote:I'm typing this on my new 17" Macbook Pro :-)

I was PC for many years but my photography hobby put me onto Mac.

Vista is just a cheap imitation.

Mac OSX is just so well done.

Pretty easy to get an OS working fine when you don't let anybody use it, don't you think?

That's Apple's genius for you. They control everything and it works extremely well.

I used to build my own PC's too. You know, liquid cooled and all that...

Before I had the Macbook Pro, I had a Mac Pro desktop that would wipe the floor with any PC.

I bought it for $2200, sold it for $2000 a year later. Try that with a PC.

It's interesting to see what happens when Apple opens things up to external developers. You can see this with the iPhone/iTouch Apps. Some of them are written pretty badly and can crash or hang the OS.

I have an iTouch and it's pretty amazing. Very slick interface, very well done.