Mac vs PC

Ah.

I remember X Windows. Was the first GUI I used.

Last year I decided to purchase a Macbook Pro. I got an extremely nice Apple Student Developer discount which stacked with the student discount from my university.

At first, I was extremely pleased. I've long been a unix/linux user, and having a nice fully supported OS with a freebsd based kernel was very appealing.

Slowly my infatuation faded, and I realized what a terrible product I had purchased. To be honest, my Macbook Pro crashes more than any other computer I've ever owned. The build quality is absolutely horrible and materials are slowly disintegrating / warping. The integrated CD/DVD drive has given out, and can no longer burn anything.

These machines are not meant to last, and I really wish I had purchased a ThinkPad instead.

Sorry, I'm not a mac fanboi, but this is simply not true.

Most likely, if you've had a bad experience with Apple it's just bad luck. They get Monday morning/Friday afternoon machines, just like every other vendor. Build quality on all modern Apple hardware is second to none; far superior to anything in the PC mould, with the possible (equal) exception of something like AlienWare - again, a premium-priced product.

DVD drives regularly pack up on all kinds of machines. Apple are not unique. I regularly replace them.

As for not meant to last ... well, I'm writing this on a wonderfully fast PowerBook G4, 3 years old. Upstairs, I have an old clunker iMac G3; far from fast, but it still runs fine. However, I have done maintenance work on Apples (and ThinkPads, amongst other things) because occasionally there are problems here and there. But please don't go spouting things that aren't true, simply because you've had a slightly bad experience with a product.

rossored,

To claim that mac build quality is "far superior" to every PC with the (possible) exception of AlienWare. Interesting.

Don't you think that it fits into the criteria for:
"don't go spouting things that aren't true"

and would risk the spouter self classifying as a:
"mac fanboi"?

Come on here?

It's a bit odd, given that there isn't just one manufacturer of PC parts but hundreds. Assuming it is true, why is it the case? Surely, someone must be able to get it right!

Well, all I know:

Years and years of PC's were years and years of regular crashes, freezes and, on top of that, just one massive pain in the neck with clunky, unelegant software that was all kinds of things but not intuitive nor user-friendly.

Apple may not be perfect, but in the two odd years I've had it I have had had zero crashes and zero freezes, and software that a kindergarten kid could learn how to operate in a jiffy without having to look at a manual ever.

To me a computer is a means to an end.

As a user I shouldn't have to learn how to program nor be burdened by unbelievable and unbelievably unnecessary complexity, by a necessity to do endless fiddling around with step after step after step as with a PC to for example do nothing more complicated than delete a program, when an Apple allows you to do the same thing in one step (!), as a user I should have a tool that is self-explanatory and intuitive to use.

Apple may not be perfect, but from what's available right now they are as close as it gets to that ideal.

The ideal will be reached once you are totally hassle free, no more folders, ie like Flickr, you just tell the program what to look for, or a situation one day when you don't have to bother any more at all with keyboards, when you just tell it what to do.

Go find the pictures of last years March weekend trip to London, and attach to the email to XYZ.

All you have to do then is write it or dictate it.

User-friendly bliss.

Machines are just a means to an end, not an end in themselves.

If I want record a movie I do not want to sit there for an hour figuring out how on earth to program the machine.

I want it to be a simple, intuitively understandable and straightforward affair that you can easily achieve without a manual.

I think one of the things to consider is that Macs basically come in one flavour and are a proprietary product controlled by Steve jobs et al. On the other hand, IBM gave us the free blueprint for the PC and although there is commonality in hardware and software, it's not all the same in design, quality or build. Add to that the world-wide dislike of Bill Gates (why do people dislike success?) and you can see how the PC suffers.

As BSD rightly says, computers are just a tool. With home computers we're still at the stage of the automobile in the early 20th C - you need an expert mechanic on hand, need to grease it & change the oil frequently, and God help you if you don't understand what goes on under the hood!

Give it another 20 years and perhaps the Mac "ideal" will extend to just switching on and leaving the rest to the "automatics" like today's cars. You'll still need to understand support & resistance though.

Ok, assuming this to be true for many Mac fans...

1) My PC is a means to an end.

2) I don't program unless I choose to. I mostly choose not to. As for deleting programs, it isn't difficult to remove a program, but not so easy that you do it accidentally. You'll just remove the shortcut, which is a relief. I say this is good. I don't want to keep going back to my parents to fix their Mac because they accidentally removed an entire program, not just a shortcut.

3) Well, if the computer can suitably file everything in folders/directories, great. You could just put ALL your files on the desktop, then at least you'll know where it all is.

4) Yes.

5) I don't know if I've ever read a manual except to program. PCs are very obvious in their usage and when you get a new program, if it's designed correctly, then you shouldn't accidentally break something. It's those independent software houses I worry about - they make software thinking the idea is good and a slight change in protocol (bear in mind MS invest hundreds of thousands in getting user opinion on how they feel a program is to use) can make it more difficult to use.

In the real world, the only thing that currently annoys me about my PC is its inability to play games at full resolution. The simple fix is to buy a decent graphics card.

I can make music, publish professional material (books and magazines), email, surf the web, play games, trade, chat to friends on this PC. I fail to see why I need to spend another £500 to get an equivalent Mac. It is not that I'm a PC fan. I am a value fan (this doesn't mean cheap; it means getting the most for your money).

Oh and back to my previous post about build quality, tbh, I haven't had a problem with build quality, esp given that it was built by someone in a factory in NW London from component parts.