Time for a new computer, MAC OR PC?

[blargh]

I never knew the exact dollar figures on what macs cost, and I never knew you had to spend 2k just to get into something with a 15" screen, something that HP offers for around $500 dollars.... As for you laughing at me for buying a Saab, it has been an excellent vehicle. Fast, reliable, very fun to drive, and very sharp looking. Yes, Saab is owned by GM, but my car was still built and imported from Sweden.

or you can spend $750 and get a refurb macbook with a 13.3" screen which isn't that much smaller

[jlc1587]

or you can spend $750 and get a refurb macbook with a 13.3" screen which isn't that much smaller

Yeah but what he's saying is for 750 he get a brand new pc that has really good specs.

For 750 with a mac he has to get a used one with less specs and a smaller screen.

[Joeytpg]

when you buy a mac you're paying for the OS, and trust me it's well worth it

[Ron Burgandy]

Tell me, does VW offer a 100k warranty under their program? I hear ya and agree fully. I like Jettas but the autos suck in a lot of them, they start to feel old after not too long. At least my sisters does and my drummers does too.

I wasn't trying to say the VW was better. I'm certainly not holding on to mine much past the warranty expiration date.

Anyway, try harder. You completely missed my point.

[jimijam]

They do pretty well, but again, is it worth it? Same parts, same materials, different os. In the end it's just a name and a device that gets you from point a to point b. For me, as a designer and web developer I need to have a windows machine and a mac machine, so why not get two for the price of one.

I need both:
MAC would be a dedicated music/video machine always crunching and the PC would be for games and downloading lol
I have uses for both

[jlc1587]

when you buy a mac you're paying for the OS, and trust me it's well worth it

 

 

To some people. For some people windows is fine. They do everything they need to do on windows with no issues.

 

I'd rather play a 600 dollar Ibanez than a 1500 dollar les paul.

[Chrisjd]

when you buy a mac you're paying for the OS, and trust me it's well worth it

 

 

All valid points.

 

I am torn

 

I could spend 7-$800 and get a bitchin pc laptop, like JLC has, but I will always wonder what it would be like to own a nice macintosh that apparently has such a fluid and effortless operating system.

[code_blue]

I plan to drop around $2200 for my next computer.

GTX295 x 2
i7 2.66Ghz OC'd to 3.6Ghz
3GB DDR3 2000
Solidstate 64GB drive

It will be a beast. Water cooling for CPU.

I don't even want to think about how much that would cost just to have OSX aswell. It would probably be twice the price just for the Mac OS alone.

Don't over pay.

[jlc1587]

All valid points. I am torn I could spend 7-$800 and get a bitchin pc laptop, like JLC has, but I will always wonder what it would be like to own a nice macintosh that apparently has such a fluid and effortless operating system.

 

 

You just have to ask yourself how important it is to you.

 

For me theres nothing I can't do on windows. And I'm not having any issues and my system is really fast. I'm doing everything that I want on a computer.

 

If you get a mac it's going to be laid out a lot different. It's just a preference thing really. Now that they have fixed vista I mean it's really just a preference. They are both going to run smooth and do whatever you want.

[Ancient Mariner]

I need a new laptop , my current 4 year old HP has served me well, but is getting too stuffed up and I need more power. Things I need/want: Big hardrive-At LEAST 250 GB Processor that can handle having multiple programs open, such as itunes, internet explorer or safari i guess, bittorent, and maybe play a youtube video at the same time. Decent size display(preferably 15 inches or more). Great for the internet. I DO NOT NEED: Protools or any intensive graphics/editing program. I do NOT want to spend more than about $1300.00, which I know I can EASILY, EASILY do with a pc. Is Mac reasonable enough to consider, or are their egos inflated to the point where they can't offer comparable specs for a comparable price?

 

 

A Mac cannot come close to your price point, and speaking as a Macbook owner, the OS slows down just like windows and is sometimes dead annoying (just like windows). You want a PC.

[blargh]

Yeah but what he's saying is for 750 he get a brand new pc that has really good specs. For 750 with a mac he has to get a used one with less specs and a smaller screen.

a smaller screen isn't a bad thing, you know laptops are meant to be portable and light. as a matter of fact i want an even smaller screen than what apple offers but unfortunately then you start taking serious performance hits with those tiny netbooks. for the OP I think a PC might be the slightly better choice since seems like portability isn't a big factor, but the entry level macbooks aren't that pricey, considering you get OSX and what I'd say is better designed hardware than HP (though this is a subjective matter and something best investigated in person). Going with refurbs, it's $900 for a 2.4ghz macbook ($750 for a 2.0ghz), will get you a solid 2gb of RAM and decent sized hard drives, which is plenty for most laptop applications, an extra $130 or so in aftermarket parts will bring that up to 4gb RAM/500gb hard drive.

[code_blue]

All valid points. I am torn I could spend 7-$800 and get a bitchin pc laptop, like JLC has, but I will always wonder what it would be like to own a nice macintosh that apparently has such a fluid and effortless operating system.

Macbook = around $1300
Insane Vista laptop = around $1300 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220483

lets take a look at the specs :

4GB > 2GB
2.53Ghz Core 2 Duo > 2.0Ghz Core 2 Duo
Nvidia 9800m > Nvidia 9400m
320GB 7,200rpm >160GB 5,400rpm

The Vista laptop I posted beat it in every way. You should spend extra for a more powerful windows laptop, instead of spending more for the Mac OS if you want a nice fast computer. Buy this, put Windows 7 on it, and you will probably like it.

[Ron Burgandy]

All valid points. I am torn I could spend 7-$800 and get a bitchin pc laptop, like JLC has, but I will always wonder what it would be like to own a nice macintosh that apparently has such a fluid and effortless operating system.

 

 

Go try one out at the Apple store. It would suck to drop any money on a system you won't like.

 

You may try OSX and absolutely hate it. I've been using it for years, but to someone that has used Windows their whole life, they may prefer Windows.

[jlc1587]

a smaller screen isn't a bad thing, you know laptops are meant to be portable and light. as a matter of fact i want an even smaller screen than what apple offers but unfortunately then you start taking serious performance hits with those tiny netbooks. for the OP I think a PC might be the slightly better choice since seems like portability isn't a big factor, but the entry level macbooks aren't that pricey, considering you get OSX and what I'd say is better designed hardware than HP (though this is a subjective matter and something best investigated in person). Going with refurbs, it's $900 for a 2.4ghz macbook ($750 for a 2.0ghz), will get you a solid 2gb of RAM and decent sized hard drives, which is plenty for most laptop applications, an extra $130 or so in aftermarket parts will bring that up to 4gb RAM/500gb hard drive.

Depends on what you like. I don't like the 13 inch screen. I've messed with them a lot. I had my friend try to sell me his for 700.

i dont like 17 inch either. 15 is perfect.

[jlc1587]

I took some pictures for you so you can see what it looks like without being like best buy pictures. I didn't go all the way around.

 

 

 

[Chrisjd]

JLC, that looks great.

[glenecho]

I think I've got a valid viewpoint on this...having been a PC user that just bought a MacBook Pro a few weeks ago.

 

First off, the Mac was needed partially for a work project so my employer paid for most of it.

 

I can honestly say that unless you want the computer primarily for music production get a PC. But if you want to do music stuff on it...the CoreAudio architecture {censored}s all over the PC architectures...ASIO...DXi...you name it. Way more stable...way faster...way better.

 

Since that doesn't seem to be your primary focus...I'll vote PC.

 

So yes...a Mac user is voting PC.

 

And ignore anyone who starts recommending Linux. You don't want to spend all your time trying to figure out why some package didn't install correctly or why something didn't compile right. And the editor you need for your Pod or whatever other unit you might have? Forget it. Drivers for that recording interface you have? Probably not. Linux is for people who love to tinker with computers and software...not for people who just want to get down to USING computers and software. Even running Linux software on a Mac using Darwinports or Fink can be messy, and compiling from source almost never works.

 

one last thing that will only be surprising to Mac fanboys...Mac software crashes too. I've had it happen more than once in the last three weeks. Just last night Firefox went on a memory leaking rampage. So don't give us that "more stable" bull{censored}. And can someone explain to me why you can't CUT files in MacOS? That's almost as retarded as the fact that Vista can't remember folder settings.

 

That said...I love this {censored}er...it screams. But for 2800 bucks it {censored}ing well should.

[HKSblade1]

I think I've got a valid viewpoint on this...having been a PC user that just bought a MacBook Pro a few weeks ago. First off, the Mac was needed partially for a work project so my employer paid for most of it. I can honestly say that unless you want the computer primarily for music production get a PC. But if you want to do music stuff on it...the CoreAudio architecture {censored}s all over the PC architectures...ASIO...DXi...you name it. Way more stable...way faster...way better. Since that doesn't seem to be your primary focus...I'll vote PC. So yes...a Mac user is voting PC. And ignore anyone who starts recommending Linux. You don't want to spend all your time trying to figure out why some package didn't install correctly or why something didn't compile right. And the editor you need for your Pod or whatever other unit you might have? Forget it. Drivers for that recording interface you have? Probably not. Linux is for people who love to tinker with computers and software...not for people who just want to get down to USING computers and software.

 

 

You have an AFX so you know the MAC editor delays!

 

See this is the {censored} that bugs me. I have a bunch of gear that has been on earlier OS versions and new updates are NOT coming. The hardware vendors basically say we didn't make this for Leopard or some other {censored}. Meanwhile, Vista and Vista64 updates are readily available. You contact that vendor's tech support and they have some excuse about "Mac is very proprietary with their OS"

 

My drummer bought SD2.0 and it won't run smoothly on his MBP. Toontrack suggested he get his Mac serviced since everything they tried failed.

[duncan]

ooooooooooo neck and neck.

[Mesa4x12er2]

Malto - Do you know if there are any good recording/sound editing suites for Linux? That's the only thing that's keeping me from making the switch, right now.

Just dual boot sucka. I have my {censored} around OS and my recording OS.

[glenecho]

 

You have an AFX so you know the MAC editor delays! See this is the {censored} that bugs me. I have a bunch of gear that has been on earlier OS versions and new updates are NOT coming. The hardware vendors basically say we didn't make this for Leopard or some other {censored}. Meanwhile, Vista and Vista64 updates are readily available. You contact that vendor's tech support and they have some excuse about "Mac is very proprietary with their OS" My drummer bought SD2.0 and it won't run smoothly on his MBP. Toontrack suggested he get his Mac serviced since everything they tried failed.

 

 

I just boot over to XP and run the editor there. I'm not so militant that the thought of booting to Windows freaks me out. I've seen people on the Fractal board that would "rather eat a bag of nails" than simply boot to Windows. {censored} that. I want to play Tie Fighter of Flight Simulator X once in a while...I boot to Windows.

 

And SD2.0 runs fine on my Macbook Pro. I do have the samples on an external drive...because it takes up so much space...but it runs fine.

 

And quite honestly...the whole editor situation with the AxeFX is a fiasco to begin with. They already had one that worked and pissed off the developer and now they have to start from scratch and give everyone a bs story about the old one "not being official". I'm rather disappointed with how Fractal handled that entire mess. The old editor should have just been updated...it was Java based and worked in any OS. Now we have this mess. I hope Cliff isn't reading this because he has a short fuse about this subject...and needless to say if I posted this on the nicey-nice world of the Fractal board I'd be banned...but that's how I feel.

[Rameumptom]

I took some pictures for you so you can see what it looks like without being like best buy pictures. I didn't go all the way around.

 

exact same one my wife has. very nice machine. she thinks the keyboard feels cheap, but other than that, it's a little beast of a machine.

[jlc1587]

exact same one my wife has. very nice machine. she thinks the keyboard feels cheap, but other than that, it's a little beast of a machine.

 

 

I have to disagree with that. Was she used to a desktop keyboard?

 

Compared to most laptop keyboards it feels really good. She might think that because it's not as firm as some and that's what I love about it. You barely have to touch the keys to type. I don't make typos anymore either on this thing.

 

It feels really natural too.

 

my last laptop had a firm keyboard. I hated that.

[kayman121]

If you value your money as little as you value your toilet paper, buy a mac.

[redeye5]

Macs are made by a company called Foxconn. They also make dells among other stuff. Foxconn is not considered one of the upper tier of parts manufactures. In fact they are considered near the bottom. Fact is that Macs have worse reliability than PCs.