Windows 7 or Mac
Discussion
Leithen said:
What's the usual cycle for one of these threads? Two months, possibly three? Whichever, we were probably overdue it's inevitable return.
If a mod were to sticky a thread titled "Tired, It's all been said before, Mac vs OSX / Apple vs Microsoft, circular willy waving contest", at least the argument would stay in one place.....
2 or 3 months? Probably once a week truth be told. If a mod were to sticky a thread titled "Tired, It's all been said before, Mac vs OSX / Apple vs Microsoft, circular willy waving contest", at least the argument would stay in one place.....
6655321 said:
Leithen said:
What's the usual cycle for one of these threads? Two months, possibly three? Whichever, we were probably overdue it's inevitable return.
If a mod were to sticky a thread titled "Tired, It's all been said before, Mac vs OSX / Apple vs Microsoft, circular willy waving contest", at least the argument would stay in one place.....
2 or 3 months? Probably once a week truth be told. If a mod were to sticky a thread titled "Tired, It's all been said before, Mac vs OSX / Apple vs Microsoft, circular willy waving contest", at least the argument would stay in one place.....
6655321 said:
Noger said:
No. You have to know the "trick".
Which isn't "just working" now is it.
Even on my 3GS it is a slow old scroll down.
Why can't it just show the scroll box ?????
Scrolls down quite quick for me. Which isn't "just working" now is it.
Even on my 3GS it is a slow old scroll down.
Why can't it just show the scroll box ?????
Why not on the iPhone !
Noger said:
6655321 said:
Noger said:
No. You have to know the "trick".
Which isn't "just working" now is it.
Even on my 3GS it is a slow old scroll down.
Why can't it just show the scroll box ?????
Scrolls down quite quick for me. Which isn't "just working" now is it.
Even on my 3GS it is a slow old scroll down.
Why can't it just show the scroll box ?????
Why not on the iPhone !
OP here. I did not intend to start a huge debate off about what is best but merely to ascertain if someone used to Windows machines would be able to get on with a Mac. Bear in mind this is purely a home system for me and I am not greatly IT literate. However I can be fairly impulsive and after reading quite a few posts and doing a bit of net research (without tissues) I popped out and got myself a Mac 950.
First thoughts are it is not as foreign as I half expected and I am beginning to get to grips with it. I have downloaded some of my pictures and have had a play around with them........hugely impressed with what can be done so far. As soon as I can find out where my iTunes library is stored on my old pc I will get that uploaded. Also pleased to see that it has a built in spell check which should please the PH spell police. I think I will get along fine with it but no doubt will have some (many) questions over the coming weeks.
Thanks very much for the input so far.
Think it might be a late night tonight
First thoughts are it is not as foreign as I half expected and I am beginning to get to grips with it. I have downloaded some of my pictures and have had a play around with them........hugely impressed with what can be done so far. As soon as I can find out where my iTunes library is stored on my old pc I will get that uploaded. Also pleased to see that it has a built in spell check which should please the PH spell police. I think I will get along fine with it but no doubt will have some (many) questions over the coming weeks.
Thanks very much for the input so far.
Think it might be a late night tonight
I think Cyberface makes a lot of sense. At work I manage a huge number of windows machines which only run one app and run the same OS build for years on end without any problems.
However at home I just want to buy a machine and use it for about 4 years without any hassle. OS X does just that, if I want to install an app I copy over the files. If I change my mind I just delete the files.
With Windows I have to a) rebuild my new machine to remove the crapware (don't tell me Microsoft couldn't sort this out if they really wanted to), b) purchase additional anti-virus and firewall software and c) rebuild it once a year or so to prevent it grinding to a halt under the weight of half-removed ('Uninstalled') software.
Now many users are happy enough to do all of that, indeed I was one of them but these days I really can't be bothered and so OS X is my choice. It's not a matter of 'can't maintain' as don't want to have to.
To the OP: If my aged parents can pick up OSX with next to no assistance then you'll be fine. Just stick with it and you'll never look back!
However at home I just want to buy a machine and use it for about 4 years without any hassle. OS X does just that, if I want to install an app I copy over the files. If I change my mind I just delete the files.
With Windows I have to a) rebuild my new machine to remove the crapware (don't tell me Microsoft couldn't sort this out if they really wanted to), b) purchase additional anti-virus and firewall software and c) rebuild it once a year or so to prevent it grinding to a halt under the weight of half-removed ('Uninstalled') software.
Now many users are happy enough to do all of that, indeed I was one of them but these days I really can't be bothered and so OS X is my choice. It's not a matter of 'can't maintain' as don't want to have to.
To the OP: If my aged parents can pick up OSX with next to no assistance then you'll be fine. Just stick with it and you'll never look back!
Edited by theaxe on Friday 30th October 22:41
6655321 said:
Noger said:
6655321 said:
Noger said:
No. You have to know the "trick".
Which isn't "just working" now is it.
Even on my 3GS it is a slow old scroll down.
Why can't it just show the scroll box ?????
Scrolls down quite quick for me. Which isn't "just working" now is it.
Even on my 3GS it is a slow old scroll down.
Why can't it just show the scroll box ?????
Why not on the iPhone !
Ah, a thread full of Apple fanboys who tell tails of evil PCs that crashed all of the time and lost all of their data.
Right, I'll grant you that until recently, OSX was definitely the nicer OS. However, think about this, does OSX have to run on literally thousands of different combinations of hardware? No, it runs on pretty proprietary hardware, so it bloomin well should be stable. And yes, I admit it is fairly nice to use, if you want to do things their way, the apple way, the way apple thinks you should do stuff.
However, having now used Windows 7 for several months now, it impressed me enough to actually go out and buy a copy. It really has come on a long way, and is now a superb product, which pretty much answers underhand criticisms I've seen several times in this thread. It just works. I installed my newly bought copy, it took 20 minutes to install, found all of the drivers for my hardware, prompted me to connect to my wifi network, put the password in, and away it goes.
It looks IMO just as pretty as OSX just in a slightly different way, and the user experience is every bit as good.
People who complain about instability just have rubbish machines (no disrespect). Every version of Windows since Windows 2000 has pretty much been very stable if set up properly on good quality hardware. W7 is no exception.
The end user experience of windows is a fantastic achievement by Microsoft when you consider that they have ALWAYS had to cater for a wide variety of hardware, and backwards compatibility in the business world. Apple didnt have such worries. They always know what hardware will end up going onto a machine, and when OSX came out, they pretty much just junked everything and started from scratch. MS have never had this luxury.
For me, windows is a more powerful and flexible platform overall. The variety of software available easily outstrips what is available on the Mac. Sure, you can still do almost anything on a Mac that you can on a PC, but generally the machine is aimed at people who want to do a few basic tasks, and do them Apples way. Sure, you can still get your hands dirty on a Mac, but generally, why would one (presumably a power user) then limit themselves to the hugely overpriced hardware that Apple sell? By and large, pound for pound, Apples machines are very poor specced for the price. Up until now, their get out of jail card has been their efficient OS which gives the illusion of a more powerful machine than it really is and fair play, but Windows 7 has now caught up, and unless Apple up their game again and come out with some truly innovative ideas, they're going to find it tough.
Having said that, they will always have their die hard fans who'll pay through the nose for overpriced hardware because "MS is evil and PCs are crap". Lets not let the truth get in the way of a good rant?
And sure, you can install Windows on a Mac, but really, whats the point? What you're then left with is a slow, crap PC in a fancy box. The whole point of getting an Apple is to use their OS, IMHO.
So it boils down to this really. Do you want an overpriced machine in a fancy box that is aimed squarely at people who dont care about computers enough to know about how things work and why, but offers a nice user experience. Or do you want a far more powerful machine for the same price, that may not look quite as pretty, but still offers a nice user experience, and has a far wider range of possibilities?
Anyone who has not yet tried the W7 touch screen interface should. Its really quite good. Not for me mind, but it is impressive.
And yes, I have used a Mac extensively, so I do have some experience to back up my opinions. I'll continue to use a PC, because I dont buy into the "Apple" way. I have nothing against Apple BTW as i have an iphone, but unlike some, I'll admit its not always everything its cracked up to be, and in many ways, it mirrors the computer market - overpriced, limited hardware with a pretty front end.
Right, I'll grant you that until recently, OSX was definitely the nicer OS. However, think about this, does OSX have to run on literally thousands of different combinations of hardware? No, it runs on pretty proprietary hardware, so it bloomin well should be stable. And yes, I admit it is fairly nice to use, if you want to do things their way, the apple way, the way apple thinks you should do stuff.
However, having now used Windows 7 for several months now, it impressed me enough to actually go out and buy a copy. It really has come on a long way, and is now a superb product, which pretty much answers underhand criticisms I've seen several times in this thread. It just works. I installed my newly bought copy, it took 20 minutes to install, found all of the drivers for my hardware, prompted me to connect to my wifi network, put the password in, and away it goes.
It looks IMO just as pretty as OSX just in a slightly different way, and the user experience is every bit as good.
People who complain about instability just have rubbish machines (no disrespect). Every version of Windows since Windows 2000 has pretty much been very stable if set up properly on good quality hardware. W7 is no exception.
The end user experience of windows is a fantastic achievement by Microsoft when you consider that they have ALWAYS had to cater for a wide variety of hardware, and backwards compatibility in the business world. Apple didnt have such worries. They always know what hardware will end up going onto a machine, and when OSX came out, they pretty much just junked everything and started from scratch. MS have never had this luxury.
For me, windows is a more powerful and flexible platform overall. The variety of software available easily outstrips what is available on the Mac. Sure, you can still do almost anything on a Mac that you can on a PC, but generally the machine is aimed at people who want to do a few basic tasks, and do them Apples way. Sure, you can still get your hands dirty on a Mac, but generally, why would one (presumably a power user) then limit themselves to the hugely overpriced hardware that Apple sell? By and large, pound for pound, Apples machines are very poor specced for the price. Up until now, their get out of jail card has been their efficient OS which gives the illusion of a more powerful machine than it really is and fair play, but Windows 7 has now caught up, and unless Apple up their game again and come out with some truly innovative ideas, they're going to find it tough.
Having said that, they will always have their die hard fans who'll pay through the nose for overpriced hardware because "MS is evil and PCs are crap". Lets not let the truth get in the way of a good rant?
And sure, you can install Windows on a Mac, but really, whats the point? What you're then left with is a slow, crap PC in a fancy box. The whole point of getting an Apple is to use their OS, IMHO.
So it boils down to this really. Do you want an overpriced machine in a fancy box that is aimed squarely at people who dont care about computers enough to know about how things work and why, but offers a nice user experience. Or do you want a far more powerful machine for the same price, that may not look quite as pretty, but still offers a nice user experience, and has a far wider range of possibilities?
Anyone who has not yet tried the W7 touch screen interface should. Its really quite good. Not for me mind, but it is impressive.
And yes, I have used a Mac extensively, so I do have some experience to back up my opinions. I'll continue to use a PC, because I dont buy into the "Apple" way. I have nothing against Apple BTW as i have an iphone, but unlike some, I'll admit its not always everything its cracked up to be, and in many ways, it mirrors the computer market - overpriced, limited hardware with a pretty front end.
pbirkett said:
stuff.
I'm no Apple fanboy. I'm not a fanboy of anything. I don't care about "brand" or any of that cobblers, so the "Apple thing" means nothing to me. I don't go around smugly wearing a black polo neck and being an Apple evangelist.But I have an iphone, , Macbook pro and also a high level HP Laptop, loaded with RAM and acquired only 8 weeks ago because I believed that I needed to own a proper Windows machine.
I have just one thing to say really. Anyone want to buy an HP laptop ? I don't need it anymore. It does not do anything that I cannot do on the Macbook and the Mac is simply better - better keyboard, better battery life, better build quality, better OS, better everything really.
Still prefer firefox to safari however
I don't have a problem with doing things "the Apple way", it's usually the easiest way. If I want to go 'under the hood' then I can, it's Unix underneath.
[Editing this next paragraph to be clearer...]
I think Windows users are somewhere between the two, they're frustrated with the lack of options through the GUI (in OS X) but intimidated by the commandline/textfile configurations under the hood (of OS X).
[Editing this next paragraph to be clearer...]
I think Windows users are somewhere between the two, they're frustrated with the lack of options through the GUI (in OS X) but intimidated by the commandline/textfile configurations under the hood (of OS X).
Edited by theaxe on Saturday 31st October 13:50
t? I use both, both have good points, both have bad points so I use the one that suits according to my needs - seems simple enough to do without trying to preach the evils of one over the other.theaxe said:
If I want to go 'under the hood' then I can, it's Unix underneath.
'under the hood' bad case of too much kool aid - so what can't you do under the bonnet in windows 7.theaxe said:
I think Windows users are somewhere between the two, they're frustrated with the lack of options through the GUI but intimidated by the commandline/textfile configurations under the hood.
I think you are talking nonsense , do you actually believe what you wrote?Tell me something your average user needs to do at the command line that cannot be achieved through the GUI, does the OSX gui really have infinitely more config options than its Windows 7 counter part?
This is directed at theaxe so please let him answer..
TonyToniTone said:
theaxe said:
If I want to go 'under the hood' then I can, it's Unix underneath.
'under the hood' bad case of too much kool aid - so what can't you do under the bonnet in windows 7.theaxe said:
I think Windows users are somewhere between the two, they're frustrated with the lack of options through the GUI but intimidated by the commandline/textfile configurations under the hood.
I think you are talking nonsense , do you actually believe what you wrote?Tell me something your average user needs to do at the command line that cannot be achieved through the GUI, does the OSX gui really have infinitely more config options than its Windows 7 counter part?
This is directed at theaxe so please let him answer..
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