Whats funny is Mac Mobos are intel as well as the CPUs, the memory is no different and all the other technology that makes up a Mac.... Its just a PC running in a aluminum case running a core of BSD....

So what makes a mac different????

The OS. nothing wrong in general with the architecture of the average PC (except some built by comlete idiots) but the OS is the obvious answer.

Windoze is a piece of antiquated crap in comparison. Even Vista is just a 1915 Camel biplane with a 1918 Fokker triplane bomber grafted on top with a 1924 mail plane grafted on top with a 1938 supermarine spitfire grafted on top with a 1945 DC3 grafted on top with a 1955 Viscount grafted on top with a new skin with a 1977 Concorde grafted on top with a 1986 Airbus 300 grafted on top with a 1996 Blackhawk grafted on top with a wehacking great engine grafted on top, with a 2002 plan for a dreamliner grafted on top of that. Simple OS, really, until you break a wingstrut on the 1918 Fokker.

Oh, and my first Mac (184 512K) still works like a charm, as does my second Mac, a 1995 7500, as does my latest, a MacBook.

And i can run all my Unix prottein structural modelling programs right on my laptop, instead of the Sparc. and i can run XP for those old legacy PC programs, or to run PC versions of IE so i can actually use some of the more poorly designed websites like Toporoute.

I didn't switch to Mac until Mac OS X. I was running FreeBSD at the time. The way I look at it, you get "easy" access to most free unix software, with WAY less headache. There are also neat user interface enhancements that will all end up in Windows at some point. The whole system just seems more polished. The software that comes with the Mac is good too. I use iPhoto, iSync, Address Book, and iCal, and all of them are nicely integrated with the rest of the system.

I have no problem using Windows, but Mac is worth a little extra money to me.

The big difference is the Mac operating system.

A noticeably more stable, easier to use and more friendly user-interface, not to mention very little annoying pop-ups and viruses (at the present time). Of course if you've been using only Windows for some time you'll get use to all the quirks and annoyances.. BUT if you had the time and actually own one of these Macs.. you'll really notice how well it functions with very little fussing & troubleshooting needed.

Windows is a big attention *****.. for example, you plug in your usb flash drive.. it'll tell you it's working...and then you'll need to go click the msg to get it out of the way. When you need to remove the flash drive.. you'll need to right-mouse click the thing at the bottom to disable it... what a hassle. And then you'll get all these annoying pop up messages about driver not installed and every windows update is always a critical update.

Windows is a copy of the Mac OS back in 1984... and even today Microsoft failed to come up with their own stuff.. their recent Windows Vista is practically a copy of the Mac OS that's been out for several years.. and yet, they still can't get many of the things right. To make matters worse.. Windows Vista comes in different versions, Basic, Home, Business, Premium, Ultimate, Enterprise.. so damn confusing... and why would you pay $400 for an OS when you can get the Mac OS with everything for $129? Windows Vista is so bloated.. you'll probably need to buy a recent cpu to make it run. Microsoft is a company with lots of cash and nerds, but no innovation. Apple on the other hand is the underdog, and with Steve Jobs at the helm is helping to push the computer industry to another level of user-friendly interfaces and innovative products for the masses.

Most likely I will not be able to convince you PC users how much better Mac is.. because computer preferences is like a religion.. you basically have to experience it yourself to know the difference. But I know that the friends around me who were so anti-Mac have come to embrace and love their Macs and hate their PCs.... this is no accident or my doing. :D

Could you explain this statement?

I used to work with a Mac tech geek, my job was to fix the PCs because he was clueless in that department plus he would develop a chronic rash just by touching them, lol. I know Macs looks "nice" and are over-priced like most road bikes, BUT as long as it takes me from A to B its all good fro me with a PC.

MACs are used for graphic design, photoshop, etc while PCs are extremely reliable with AUTO CAD. Here at work the computers used are PCs, reliable, take a beating from the frequency of users day in day out. When I go on vacation most Cyber Cafes have PCs and work extremely well. The good thing about PC is it has even out across the board and MOST hardware seems to be compatible and is a matter of the proper drivers.

I am and will be PC 100%, I think I still got a copy of Windows 3.1 when it was 6 or 7 floppies and it was amazing to create graphics on Paint.

Currently I got it setup for PC gaming; crisp clear graphics with very high quality Creative 5.1 Sound System. The parts are cheap, rarely get hit by a virus or bug as long as Symantec has the updates, Adaware SE is run frequently and the firewall is up blocking intruders. Anything that has been installed on the DELL XPS 400 runs well; I even have Adobe Livemotion, Photoshop 6.0, Illustrator 9.0, Visio, Office etc; they all run with no glitches.

Like I said, I saw all kinds of MAC operating systems and small networks with the nice looking clock etc.

I will finish it with this; here at this networks facility all we have are PCs; from user workstations to servers, very reliable stable system at all levels; I will not go into details, but the statistics speak for themselves.

Besides we always tend to blame dear Bill for "robbing" the OS from Apple. Honeslty I really dont care, its like all inventions; someone makes it, somebody else makes it better and like it is known the United States is good at that.

It was a bit of a troll, but the gist is you spend more up-front for a Mac, but they are cheap in the long run. The user interface is very well-thought out, consistent, and simple, which saves time and aggravation. Since they have a fixed hardware platform, there are very, very few driver issues. Since the OS is a re-skinned Unix, it's had 30 more years of security design, so it's much, much less susceptible to viruses and spyware, and even if it is compromised the damage is much more localized. Since the OS gets *faster* every release (unlike Windows), their hardware stays usable - and holds it's resale value - much longer than a PC.

It also goes into subtle things as well; for instance, the Mac 'workstation' level towers use hardware often reserved for max-uptime server machines. They're 'clocked' conservatively. Apple pays a LOT of money to get the first 'bin' picks of the RAM from all the other vendors, so their failure rates are one of the lowest in the business. Their monitors are sealed and engineered to shed heat through the aluminum casing, so there's absolutely no holes for dust to get inside; this increases their lifespan. The OS is engineered to automatically de-frag files when you save them, so you don't ever have to run a dedicated de-frag program.

So, the gist is, the extra expense goes towards a lot of subtle things that add up to less time and frustration. You get what you pay for.

(Whoa, I geeked out pretty good here.)

Don't get me wrong, PCs are great because of their infinite flexibility and incredible scalability. There are many, many jobs that a PC does better than a Mac. I just personally have no use for them outside of some day-job b.s. and needing to test websites on Internet Explorer.

Magic faerie pixie dust.

I am a software designer (business accounting and custom applications). All my applications are written on Macs (I don't own a PC anymore) yet work on any PC (Windows or Unix). I remotely support all my clients (Mac and PC) using Timbuktu Pro from Netopia. It works great via phone lines, the web (TCP), or Skype. The speed is excellent as long as you and the remote site are using fast connections (T1, cable, DSL).

Does anyone have a website that was created using that web page designer software or the photo gallery software that comes with iLife? I keep trying to find different solutions for archiving my ride photos online for the family back east, but everything so far is just too clunky and annoying. So I usually just wind up sending them my photobucket site, ugh.

I'm fine with it being overly simple, in fact, I almost demand it.

Also, does iPhoto have basic image editing capabilities? (red eye, level balance etc)?

Sorry..I use Web Album Generator....quick and easy...

Yes. Brightness, contrast, saturation, temperature, tint, sharpness, straighten, exposure, all these with the histogram. Red-Eye reduction, "Enhance", retouch, B&W, sepia tone, and cropping. The iPhoto also stores all of your photos in a database, and never overwrites the original files, so you can always go back to the original picture if you don't like the edits. Since it's a database, you can tag/add comments to the photos, and then search the database later. You can also arrange the photos into albums and folders, or create "Smart Albums" that are based on search criteria.

I use Flickr Uploader. I just drag add drop the photos into Flickr Uploader. Tell Flickr Uploader to create a new photoset, and it also automatically resizes to 800x600. I recently found, however, that the free Flickr account only allows 3 "sets". That's annoying.

MacOSXHints
Ars Technica Mac Forum
MacUpdate

I did this in about five minutes.
http://web.mac.com/akasnowman/iWeb/Site/Library.html

Yes. http://www.apple.com/ilife/iphoto/#editing

Oh dang, I just checked out their site in detail. iWeb looks pretty slick. Curses, not time for a new machine yet. I'll wait for the next generation of MacBooks to come out and see how they look then.

edit...
Thanks Schnee, looks like useful links, and thanks for the link to your page.

Have been a PC user for over 20 years. Last year my 7 year old son downloaded a bunch of viruses while playing some games online. After a month of trying to fix it (trading emails with a techie in India) I finally gave up and re-formatted the hard drive. Ouch!:(

The next thing I did was go out and buy an iMac. Gave the PC to my son. There was definately a learning curve on it and I'm sure I still have more to learn. But the bottom line is that is just plain works. No more fiddling around with the computer (drivers, virus software updates, etc...) I can just sit down and use it. However, I'm still not used to the keyboard.

There are a few programs that seem to work better on a PC (excel, quicken) so I'm looking into either Parallels or the new program out called Fusion. If anyone has any experience with either I would appreciate any advice. (btw I've ruled out boot camp because of the whole re-boot thing.)

Parallels Desktop... i use it all the time. You can go and download their free trial. Make sure you have an intel-based iMac. =p

good luck!

Parallels is great. Excellent way to run IE6 and IE7 on one machine at the same time.

yup

You can also set up separate user accounts that minimizes potential damage from any virues, etc. Of course, you can do this in Windows, but it's not as secure as the Unix underpinnings of Mac.

Originally Posted by ronjon10
Also, does iPhoto have basic image editing capabilities? (red eye, level balance etc)?




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


It probably also has DRM for photos, so they can only be viewed on a apple system, and
limited to 3 copies.
that is apples MO....

Uh no. DRM only effects stuff purchased from iTunes Music Store. It's really not all that different from Microsoft's DRM. iPhoto uses totally standard formats. It would be silly anyway because the majority of things you would load into iPhoto would be things that you hold the copyright to.

Linux (ubuntu) running on a PC. Mac or PC..who cares...ther both closed, proprietary systems and deserve each other.

Bump from the past. Anyone going to be getting Leopard this weekend? I decided my next machine will be a Mac. I'll probably wait for the next MacBook Pro to be released and then decide between it and the 24" iMac.

Mainframe, ftw

Surf stuff, Windows or Linux, depending what laptop I happen to pick up.