PC or Mac?

Here we go…

I think it’s time to upgrade our home laptop. Our HP is about 6 years old and still functions, but I am tired of using Windows Vista, and from past experience, I am waiting for the day the battery stops working.

I want something that functions. The wife wants something shiny. To her, that means a Mac.

I have never owned a Mac, but obviously they are well liked by the Mac crowd. We have iPhones, although I don’t know if compatibility between iPhones and any laptop is much of an issue anymore.

I’m tech savvy enough to feel comfortable troubleshooting most issues that arise. Since I’ve never owned a Mac, I’m afraid I may be starting over. Thoughts on troubleshooting? Is it less with a Mac? Is a trip to the Apple store necessary when issues arise?

I’ve used HP Elitebooks for work and have been very pleased. I’d probably go this route if I went PC.

Bottom line, PC’s start at $300 and Macs at $1,000. If I spend a $1,000 on a laptop, how does an above average PC compare to an entry level Mac?

Macs are nice if you have money burning a hole in your pocket. You can buy 2 or 3 Windows laptops for the cost of a Mac. They all do the same thing.

If you are going to shoot and edit a LOT of video, get the Mac. Otherwise a PC will work just fine for occasional video editing.

-J.

Your wife wants a Mac. There is your answer.

What is the purpose of the laptop? What do you and your wife do on it? That will help you with your decision. As a musician I choose to have Macs.

Trouble shooting? They will each have issues. Neither is perfect, but I think you will find the OS on a Mac much more stable.

FDR

The other thing is, if you are sick of Vista, you are going probably going to hate a Windows 8 machine, unless you have a Surface type laptop where you can use it like a tablet.

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What is the purpose of the laptop?

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She will be doing some digital photo editing, but mostly just standard home use. Nothing too draining.

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Your wife wants a Mac. There is your answer.

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That will weigh heavily into the decision!

I don’t know about HP but I just bought a Dell with windows 7 on it. Go online to do it. You should find them in the business section. I’ve heard from t separate repair and corporate IT guys, they agreed that getting Win 7 was smart.

I’ve never used a Mac, so I vote for a PC. I would stick with Windows 7 though and not get Windows 8. I can’t find anything in Windows 8! Windows 7 reminds me more of XP. (I avoided Vista altogether.) I prefer ACER brand laptops and have purchased many of them for my work over the years.

I might be helpful for both you and your wife to visit Best Buy and play around with some Macs and PCs. Then you both can get a feel for what you like and don’t like. I did this when deciding on an e-reader, then purchased it from Amazon for a better price.

Can’t find anything? I use the search function in the “Charm Bar” and even find things I wasn’t looking for.

Oh yea, I’m sure you were wondering, Dell Inspiron 17R. Intel CORE i7, Windows7 (Professional I believe), 8meg ddr4 memory, Office 2014 Business addition, 1tig hard drive, Bluetooth built-in, McAffe 1 year, 4 year all inclusive warranty (parts, labor, accidental damage), Case, Logitech PerformanceMouse MX, Quicken for Home and Business, and I don’t remember what else. Delivered to my door, 1600. I believe the laptop started at 800 and change.

Your Mac that starts at a 1000, is like the one that my daughter bought last Christmas. She ended up spending 1600 on it before she was done and does not have the software, case mouse or the warranty for the length of time that I have!

Here is one of the best tips I can offer for PC users. If buying a new one, get one with a SSD drive or swap in a SSD drive on a old or new computer.

We did it at work and I am far more productive. I can boot up from shut down and get to IDO in about 10 seconds.

Well I don’t see any one with Mac experience chiming in so here goes. I have had my Mac since 2008 and am as pleased as punch. get ready to dummy yourself down if you are real tech savvy. This advise was given to me when I was looking at changing from the old PC. Macs are way simpler to operate and maneuver around. Stay away from the so called mighty mouse it is about worthless. Just go out and get a mouse that has the left and right click. I will never go back to a PC unless something miraculous happens with them (Ya right). I am not sorry at all for the extra money spent.

From what I understand Macs are much more resistant to virus’s. And these days that is saying something

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From what I understand Macs are much more resistant to virus’s. And these days that is saying something

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Mac, to mee seems to be a much more stable operating system and much faster boot up.

I began using them 9 years ago with schools. I will say that I have had many less issues with Mac than PC’s of various breeds.
There are some programs that are not Mac compatible however.

Last week wife just ordered a MacBook Pro, she had a duo core processor installed which will allow PC format programs to be used (has a windows side of the hard drive) and a faster processer and burner added. She spent $1300 on it. I am completely happy with that due to my confidence that over the lifetime of the Mac I will have many less issues with it than a PC baced computer.
It really a Ford/Chevy thing kinda.

My old PC died and I have a Ipad. I now use the ipad for everything, finances, taxes, documents. With assorted apps, I can do anything I need to. I really don’t want to buy a new laptop, so I’m sticking with this until I find something I can’t do with it.

I have been using Macs for over 30 years and swear by them. I am currently on my new 27″ iMac that has both Mac and Windows 8.1 running on it. The learning curve is so much easier and when it comes to video/pictures/music it is great. Never have had any virus problems and they really are user friendly. I know they cost a little more initially, but I like to think worth it over time. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it…Good luck on your decision, just my 2 cents worth.

We own 5 macs in our household. You asked about troubleshooting and having to relearn how to do it. I honestly don’t do ANY troubleshooting, they just work.

We have 4 mac laptops, the oldest is probably 20 years old, next oldest 10+ years old, and 2 fairly new ones – they ALL work great (the ancient one is just used for a few kids games).

I have 2 degrees in Computer Science and worked as a programmer for 16 years at IBM, so I can handle any complexity a computer throws at me. Given that, I HATE windows and dread when my wife’s parents have trouble with theirs, since I’m the helper guy.

Both from a hardware quality and software quality point of view, the Mac is far, far superior.

As someone else suggested, go to Best Buy or somewhere equivalent and play around on a Mac.

They just work. I don’t even know the last time I have rebooted any of ours, and we have never had any need for service or support in 20+ years of owning Macs.

Good luck,
Dave

I’ve been a mac guy since 1999, I love these things. Ive never had one crash, get hit with a virus. It just works!!! What I like as well it the fact if you get a new mac one usb cable and about a hour later all of your files are uploaded. My father-in-law is a hp guy and it took him two days to upload for his old hp to his new hp. Also the cloud is cool.

I must have bad luck. I’ve used Macs at workplaces and there have been issues from time to time.

You could either spend all of your money up front with a mac, or buy the pc at a fraction of the cost and let it nickel and dime you over the years with upgrades, anti virus fees, and wanting to throw it through the wall with it slowing down. I switched 2.5 years ago and have a macbook pro. I will never look back again. It is worth the extra money. Hard to swallow at first but well worth it.

PS, I swore I would never switch to apple a day in my life! My wife caught me using hers and boom it was over. I held out for a strong 6 years, can’t believe I was so naive not to make the switch.

If you need inspiration to buy a Mac just watch the movie Jobs.

I was a PC guy for 2 decades… switched and bought a Mac Air tricked out memory and processor. This thing is like lightning in a bottle with zero viruses, zero error messages and it looks cool. First time I have ever had a computer I am proud to own and I plan to use it for many years… I would have bought 2-3 cheap PCs in the lifetime this thing will give me.

That was a late Mac rally in the thread! .

Makes sense if you think about it as the Mac crowd tends to sleep in a little bit later than us PC guys for the most part.

Us Mac guys are very loyal.

I’ve had Macs since the Mac+ days. Anyone remember the Lisa computers?

One of my Mac’s had the ability to switch between the Apple operating system and DOS. That was cool at the time. LOL!

I can’t say I haven’t had a Mac crash or haven’t had a virus…oopps, that was a pc that had the virus. Nope no viruses but they are out there.

Now a days I have both a pc and three Macs. Dumped my Android phone and went with an iphone because it was so much better. It does take better pictures…but that’s pretty much it.

If I was planning on buying new today I would still go with a Mac if I could afford it.

My .02 Good luck!

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Dumped my Android phone and went with an iphone because it was so much better. It does take better pictures…but that’s pretty much it.

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Which takes better pictures? Stop provoking me.

The iphone takes better picture then the T-Mobil Google G2 that I now use as an alarm clock in my camper.

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Dumped my Android phone and went with an iphone because it was so much better. It does take better pictures…but that’s pretty much it.

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Which takes better pictures? Stop provoking me.

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I think it’s pretty cool a guy can call someone with a camera. Very Matt Helm.

“…because it was so much better”

So you are saying the iPhone is a better point and shoot camera. Which iPhone do you have?

my brothers have been diehard mac users for the last 20 years. that being said, they are over it for the most part. many programs they’ve needed or wanted to use over the past few years they’ve been unable to get. one has moved on back to windows 8 machines and the other now has a windows 8 machine that he uses along side a macbook. i’ve owned 2 macbooks that have had many more problems than my toshiba and fujitsu laptops. both hardware and software. a few years ago, i would conceed that macs were “built better” with the same hardware specs but today, it doesn’t seem that way anymore.

for me its just not worth the added costs. macs used to run more efficiently so working with video and stuff they were tops. but today’s pc’s can run just as fast. my work dell has a solid state hd and just flys when editing/rendering videos.