PC vs Mac

[pcfan123]

I said if you want to do more stuff and have a more versatile machine, I would go for mac. It is just my opinion....

Thats an old stereotype. There is nothing a Mac can do that a PC cant. There are a million things PCs can do that Macs cant

 

[punterpupnroy]

Thats an old stereotype. There is nothing a Mac can do that a PC cant. There are a million things PCs can do that Macs cant

:sarcasm Honestly can anybody read? I said if that was the case, I (myself personally) would buy a mac. And btw can you list the millions of things that a PC can do that a Mac can't?

 

[Kshitiz_Indian]

:sarcasm Honestly can anybody read? I said if that was the case, I (myself personally) would buy a mac. And btw can you list the millions of things that a PC can do that a Mac can't?

Forget millions, can you list the few things a Mac can do a PC can't?

 

[omkarjere]

Forget millions, can you list the few things a Mac can do a PC can't?

PC's can't run FCP its only for Mac :laugh

 

[Kshitiz_Indian]

PC's can't run FCP its only for Mac :laugh

I didn't ask specific applications. Of course applications are rendered for specific operating systems. ::doh Both windows and Mac can't run applications designed for Linux. :sarcasm

I meant actual real life tasks.

 

[King Pietersen]

PC vs Mac discussions are so dull. Seems to me that PC owners care far more about people owning Mac's than the other way round. Don't see why we're continually asked to justify our reasoning behind the purchase, constantly have the price stuff shoved down our throats and have so many people that care so much about what we want to buy. If you want to own a PC, good for you, I really couldn't care less; I've got a Mac, I love it but I'm not suddenly going to start harassing PC owners giving them reasons why they should fork out for a Mac. You buy what you want, don't try and shove stuff down our throats about how your PC can do so much more than our Mac for less money. I. Do. Not. Care.
/rant.

 

[MattW]

Mac can't run applications designed for Linux.

Actually, most stuff can run. OS X has an X11 subsystem and is otherwise POSIX compatible. So recompiling is often enough, especially after the shift to x86.

I just find the argument 'now Macs can dual boot Windows' as a good one for getting a Mac. After doing it with Linux for years, I can honestly say I'm sick of it.

That said, I own a mac (an eMac specifically, and had an LCII before that), but at the moment it is being used to keep a jacket off the ground.

As for build quality, there's a reason I use an IBM keyboard. Now there's a company that do build quality.

 

[Kshitiz_Indian]

Actually, most stuff can run. OS X has an X11 subsystem and is otherwise POSIX compatible. So recompiling is often enough, especially after the shift to x86.

I just find the argument 'now Macs can dual boot Windows' as a good one for getting a Mac. After doing it with Linux for years, I can honestly say I'm sick of it.

That said, I own a mac (an eMac specifically, and had an LCII before that), but at the moment it is being used to keep a jacket off the ground.

As for build quality, there's a reason I use an IBM keyboard. Now there's a company that do build quality.

Yes but how many end users you know who can recompile stuff for their own Matt?

 

[sohum]

Seems to me that PC owners care far more about people owning Mac's than the other way round.

Really? In my experience Mac owners are always the ones instigating the issue with the elitist attitude that they have a better computer because they paid more for it. Even in this case, it was punterpupnroy who dug up a 3-year-old thread to justify his purchasing decision.

 

[King Pietersen]

Almost always been the opposite in my experience, with Mac owners being content with their purchase, not feeling the need to lord it over PC owners and the PC owners intent on making it clear that they could purchase a far superior system for the same amount of money. Very, very dull.

 

[sohum]

Almost always been the opposite in my experience, with Mac owners being content with their purchase, not feeling the need to lord it over PC owners and the PC owners intent on making it clear that they could purchase a far superior system for the same amount of money. Very, very dull.

Well, given our sample size of 2 in this thread (the original poster and the bump), we'll just call it even at 1-1.

My personal opinion, as I have mentioned before, is people can choose whatever system they want and I don't give a crap. I will give a crap, and will in fact throw my crap around, though, if people try to make judgment calls about which system is better--especially if it's on the basis of FUD rather than fact.

 

[Cricketman]

1. The battery life sucks balls. My BlackBerry 8310 could go 3-4 days on a single charge. The iPhone barely survives one day.
2. With a BB, I could purchase an extra battery and keep it charged as insurance; with an iPhone I can't access the battery compartment.
3. I'm not a baby. I want to be able to install any program I want on my iPhone without it having to go through Apple's certification process. I paid for my phone and reserve the right to screw it up as much as I want to.
4. I want to be able to run more than one app at a time without relying on the application to save its state.
5. I want the ability to have multiple profiles with customizable ringtones, ring volumes, etc. This was a feature in my BlackBerry and nearly every other mobile phone I've owned. In fact, I searched for the feature for about 15 minutes on my iPhone before I googled it and realized there was only a silent/non-silent toggle switch.

Sounds like you would be pretty happy with Android if you ask me!

iPhone's bore me. Lack of customization gets on my nerves. I like the new Nexus.

Cricketman added 8 Minutes and 44 Seconds later...

Care to give some names instead of just abstract ideas of programs?

We used them a lot last year. Off the top of my head - ALICE (some super-powerful physics app), Datagraph, and a CAD application in our Engineering class.

Terminal, the native app similar to 'run', is used ALOT in our AP Computer Science course. I'm not in it but they do some pretty heavy coding in that class, i think. In our science/math based school, we only have Macs. It's a top ranked school that offers plenty of engineering/computer courses taught by actual engineers so obviously they are doing something right.

 

[McLOVIN]

forget mac! i went to Costco 2 days ago, and i saw the HP touch screen! only 999! i am about to get that! i just hope my semester grade is good enough, so i can ask my mom

 

[punterpupnroy]

Forget millions, can you list the few things a Mac can do a PC can't?

I never said a mac can do things a PC can't.....? I'm sure in day to day tasks a PC can do just as much.

 

[sohum]

Sounds like you would be pretty happy with Android if you ask me!

The Android platform isn't mature enough right now. I'll be in the market in about a year with HTC's then offering. It'll be about the time my iPhone contract ends.

We used them a lot last year. Off the top of my head - ALICE (some super-powerful physics app), Datagraph, and a CAD application in our Engineering class.

ALICE - couldn't find anything about it on Google. Having used an educational programming language intro software called ALICE, used by CMU, I think that may be what you're talking about? That was definitely supported on all 3 platforms, though. Please do let me know what app you are talking about, otherwise.

Datagraph - seems like a relatively small add-on written for Excel and statistical packages. In fact, it's cost-point of $99 suggests that it's not a major commercial or educational software. Of course, I have no knowledge of what the program does or how it works, but I would still wager that there are Windows alternatives available.

CAD app - I've never done CAD but I know AutoCAD is some pretty serious software and as far as I am aware it's only available for Windows (or running it on Mac through Windows). So...

Terminal, the native app similar to 'run', is used ALOT in our AP Computer Science course. I'm not in it but they do some pretty heavy coding in that class, i think. In our science/math based school, we only have Macs. It's a top ranked school that offers plenty of engineering/computer courses taught by actual engineers so obviously they are doing something right.

Terminal is not similar to "run", run is a simple command that attempts to execute the file you have entered in the search path. Terminal is similar to the Windows Command Line--both are shells into the operating system. If you want to emulate the UNIX command line behavior, you can download Cygwin for Windows and get all that.

I don't know what you mean by "pretty heavy coding" but if we're talking industry then I can tell you for a fact that most real software is written on Windows machines (or at least machines running Windows--they may be the x86 Macs). If you're talking about console-based applications then you can write stuff in C and all you need is a compiler to run it on different OS's. Most educational curricula tend to focus on Java since it's an easy language to learn and play around with, but for most real-world purposes, Java doesn't really cut it.

Having real engineers teach classes is probably something that most high schools can't afford, so that is pretty cool. However, I think they are doing you a great disservice if they intend in any way to suggest that Macs are the be all and end all of computer systems when it comes to engineering. In fact, I think it is more likely that they are part of Apple's discount program. My school back in Indonesia was part of the program and all we had were PowerPC's.