To take a second away from the iPad, my friend just got a regular MacBook and OMG. Those things are so cool. I can't wait until my girlfriend gets one. Sorry, I just had to get that out. They are sweet little computers.

 

No doubt about it! My brother has a nice MacBook pro that I have admired over the past year. I talked my wife into the updated iMac and it has been wonderful. I work in the printing industry which has always been dominated by Mac and I have always liked them. We have some Mac Pros with the quad core intel chip and a whopping 16gb of ram, now those are SWEET! I see they have an 8 core chip available now.

 

Those Mac Pros are beasts.  My dream setup is a Mac Pro and a 13 inch or 15 inch new MacBook Pro.  I wouldn't mind having a 13 inch but I always wonder how editing photos would be on one.

I plan on at least upgrading from my MacBook Pro to a new one in a year or so...

Blue Line, you're notorious for taking things out of context on this site and you didn't fail here either. Of course I wasn't referring to  Tbideon, he's an anonymous member on UO. I'm referring to Apple and At&t. You - chill out.

 

I beg your pardon?  Don't patronize me.

Blue Line, you're notorious for taking things out of context on this site and you didn't fail here either. Of course I wasn't referring to Tbideon, he's an anonymous member on UO. I'm referring to Apple and At&t. You - chill out.

 

I beg your pardon? Don't patronize me.

 

you've been patronized! (and called out)

I just want to harp on the backlight issue for a minute.  The ipad really has an opportunity to begin a true transition for newspapers and journals to become natural parts of the electronic medium.  Yeah you can read the New York Times and Wall Street Journal online right now, but a computer screen is simply not the same experience.  It's not as comforting; the LCD monitor and backlight are too straining on the eyes for longterm reading, and it's a chore to a limited degree.

 

If anyone has ever used a Sony Reader or Amazon Kindle, you will see how E Ink is a different way of reading electronic news that is closer to hardcopy than LCD monitor quality.  I've used both readers before, and it is simply much more comfortable reading books on them than a computer screen - no one's going to argue that, I'm sure.  And so I'm just shocked and disappointed that the ipad does not utilize that technology, at least as far as we know so far.  Reading the NYT or WSJ on the Ipad will simply be akin to reading them on a laptop in terms of eye strain, and we can do better than that as seen with the ipad's competition.

 

If it turns out that there's a way of maybe activating electronic ink on the ipad, then you can sure I'll buy that thing as an electronic book reader first and foremost.  500 bucks is definitely an acceptable price - who needs 3g?  But as it stands right now, it really is just a suped up ipod touch and my iphone does more than enough.

 

 

Is E-ink technology even available in color yet, or is it still grayscale only?

Well board, I got an iPad today.  Little awkward to type on for long periods of time, but overall pretty amazing.  The response time is incredible.  I am pretty happy so far with it.  We will see how long I can survive on it without flash.

I have a friend who works at an Apple store in NJ and he told me the iPad is beyond amazing.  At first I didn't think much of it but now I'm starting to slowly change my idea about it.  I guess I'll just have to see it for myself.

Congrats. It will be interesting to see how it gets used in the long term. I heard it called a family device, where it would get passed around the household depending on who is doing what.

 

I see it being used a lot for web surfing while watching TV and checking fantasy baseball while watching games, etc. People have complaint it doesn't multi-task, but people will probably be doing several things at once while using it.

My friend said that he opened up a large sized photo and it looked absolutely amazing. That led me to an idea of it being a neat way to digitally display your photos in a gallery. Let's say you have people over looking at your photos, and someone takes interest in one. You can hand them the iPad and show them the digital version of the photo, let them choose different options, and then order right from the iPad. That is a pretty neat concept. It could be an efficient, and trendy, way to sell and promote your photos in a crowd without saying, "Hey check out my website!"

Well board, I got an iPad today. Little awkward to type on for long periods of time, but overall pretty amazing. The response time is incredible. I am pretty happy so far with it. We will see how long I can survive on it without flash.

 

Especially considering more than 80% of the internets websites are running Flash.

 

The HP Slate comes out this Summer ... webcam, USB ports,multitasking, and the best part ... I'm going to partition the HD and install Mac OSX on that bad boy! Oh, what the iPad could have been. Sigh ...

Where did you get the statistic that 80% of sites are using Flash???

personally I don't like the ipad.  I don't want to carry anything that big. However, on a plane or train, it's good for watching a movie/tv show.

Where did you get the statistic that 80% of sites are using Flash???

 

More than 90% of the web's RIA's are using Flash, is this that hard to believe?

 

 

Uh oh ... looks like the Slate couldn't keep quiet...

 

NEW! HP's Slate Device: A Full Mobile Experience

No wonder Apple doesn't want Flash ;)

 

http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/05/editorial-ipad-prices-are-out-of-control-and-will-kill-us-all/

Comparison, leaked from HP, of the Slate vs Ipad

 

http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/05/hp-slate-to-cost-549-have-1-6ghz-atom-z530-5-hour-battery/

 

HP Slate to cost $549, have 1.6GHz Atom Z530, 5 hour battery?

^ $100 cheaper than iPad version on 64GB hard drive, 1080p, and all of the ports I need. Plus, I like the front facing camera and 3MP on the back as well, 3G ready (with my own SIM card).

 

 

 

Here's another ... The beast of all tablet PC's ...

 

Someone said this is what the iPad spec sheet should've looked like, I agree:

 

http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/06/icds-tegra-2-powered-gemini-is-the-most-feature-complete-tablet/

I am sure that other tablets will eventually be better.  But for the most part the ipad does exactly what I want it to do.  Surf the web and buy shop online.

 

The biggest complaint, which I already new about, was the lack of flash.  I am hoping there is a work around for Hulu and other comparable websites. 

 

As for the lack of multitasking, it really isn't that noticeable.  The pad remembers where you are at and goes back when you reopen the program.  Like I said before it is fassssssst.  Overall 3 days of CONSTANT playing and I am more than happy with the money I spent. 

 

I will probably buy an HP as well and make the pad the lady's device. 

 

Like I said before I am a PC/Linux person, that's not going to change, but I am more than happy with the pad.  Does it do everything? No, but it does a lot of what I want it to do. 

make the pad the lady's device.

 

I see what you did there...

How much time do you guys have? I have some questions since I just bought this MacBook Pro. I'm not used to this operating system other than using it sporadically for design software.

 

1.) How do I make the resolution bigger and make the aspect ratio proper? I don't like seeing things stretched.

 

2.) What are some common shortcuts? For example: On the Dell Latitude I would just hit Ctr - + to make the screen bigger.

 

I need to get some work done on this thing so your help would be greatly appreciated.

 

More questions will be forthcoming if you guys are helpful lol

 

Thanks guys <3

 

Try these links.

 

shortcuts:  http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1343

 

 

I use a mac and pc and I try to remember the "alt" key on the PC is the "apple key" on the Mac.  Most of the commands are the same.

Ahhhh, that makes sense. Thanks brother!

 

It is kinda funny how the OSs are increasingly similar. I'm just afraid of hitting "hot keys" or something and a page disappears and deletes or some non-sense like that.

 

I'm transcribing recordings for a biography and there's so much typing I have to do it's ridiculous - the program sucks and does a terrible job of voice recognition because of this guy's dialect. I cannot lose this stuff though. I see it did auto-save some notes I took but I want to be sure of all the bs involved, just like with windows.

 

What security measures do you take for Mac to ensure privacy? IT would take too long to get here. I signed a confidentiality agreement and if someone is recording my keystrokes, it's over for this project since the guy has a lot of enemies with a lot of resources.  The other computer I use has really tight security and remote IT assistance through the company who would intercept that sort of thing but this is an average Joe computer. I really want to use this one though, as it's faster and has more memory.

 

One more question: Is it harder to hack into Sprint Mobile or broadband cable (without wireless set up)? I'm thinking about trying to use the Sprint 4G card on here but I don't even know if it's standardized for all computers.

^My advice to you is if this is as sensitive as you're making it out to be, to use only the hardware /software provided by your employer (unless you're freelancing). They're going to have their security protocols in place, and if, for some reason, they're breached, you're covered as an individual. If you start messing with your own systems and something leaks, it's on you.

Ahhhh, that makes sense. Thanks brother!

 

It is kinda funny how the OSs are increasingly similar. I'm just afraid of hitting "hot keys" or something and a page disappears and deletes or some non-sense like that.

 

I'm transcribing recordings for a biography and there's so much typing I have to do it's ridiculous - the program sucks and does a terrible job of voice recognition because of this guy's dialect. I cannot lose this stuff though. I see it did auto-save some notes I took but I want to be sure of all the bs involved, just like with windows.

 

What security measures do you take for Mac to ensure privacy? IT would take too long to get here. I signed a confidentiality agreement and if someone is recording my keystrokes, it's over for this project since the guy has a lot of enemies with a lot of resources.  The other computer I use has really tight security and remote IT assistance through the company who would intercept that sort of thing but this is an average Joe computer. I really want to use this one though, as it's faster and has more memory.

 

One more question: Is it harder to hack into Sprint Mobile or broadband cable (without wireless set up)? I'm thinking about trying to use the Sprint 4G card on here but I don't even know if it's standardized for all computers.

 

"Thanks Brother"??  Who are you, Desmond from LOST?

 

Wow are you paranoid.  Cut back on the weed man.

^My advice to you is if this is as sensitive as you're making it out to be, to use only the hardware /software provided by your employer (unless you're freelancing). They're going to have their security protocols in place, and if, for some reason, they're breached, you're covered as an individual. If you start messing with your own systems and something leaks, it's on you.

 

Yeah, it's sensitive. This is freelance. I guess I better not mess with the Mac for that. Thanks for the advice. I guess I'm just too excited to use this thing.

 

 

"Thanks Brother"?? Who are you, Desmond from LOST?

 

 

I was thinking more Lamont from Sanford and Son.

I will probably buy a 7 inch ipad, but it is a little silly that we (will soon) have a 10 inch, 7 inch, and 3 inch ipad to choose from (ipod touch is close enough to an ipad).  I'm thinking the 10 inch ones will be phased out since that's a tad big for tablets.  7 inches just seems perfect.

 

And yes, that's what she said

Ahhhh, that makes sense. Thanks brother!

 

It is kinda funny how the OSs are increasingly similar. I'm just afraid of hitting "hot keys" or something and a page disappears and deletes or some non-sense like that.

 

I'm transcribing recordings for a biography and there's so much typing I have to do it's ridiculous - the program sucks and does a terrible job of voice recognition because of this guy's dialect. I cannot lose this stuff though. I see it did auto-save some notes I took but I want to be sure of all the bs involved, just like with windows.

 

What security measures do you take for Mac to ensure privacy? IT would take too long to get here. I signed a confidentiality agreement and if someone is recording my keystrokes, it's over for this project since the guy has a lot of enemies with a lot of resources.  The other computer I use has really tight security and remote IT assistance through the company who would intercept that sort of thing but this is an average Joe computer. I really want to use this one though, as it's faster and has more memory.

 

One more question: Is it harder to hack into Sprint Mobile or broadband cable (without wireless set up)? I'm thinking about trying to use the Sprint 4G card on here but I don't even know if it's standardized for all computers.

 

Wow are you paranoid.  Cut back on the weed man.

 

 

 

It was information that could easily get a lot of prominent public figures indicted and it still might. It also involves people in National Security.

 

Weed? I never liked weed BECAUSE it makes me so paranoid lol. I have experimented (but I didn't inhale) and I remember thinking, "Everyone in the room doesn't like me! They're turning on me!" This is a drug people like? And even get addicted to? I never understood its appeal at all. Every time I've tried it I end up at the fridge, stuffing my face and passing out immediately after. Anyway, that's neither here nor there.

 

I have another question. I have a bunch of songs on my itunes and I'm trying to make a playlist out of some of them for when I work out. I created/named the playlist folder and opened it. My intuition said, "click and drag each song from the main music folder into the new playlist folder" which is in a window. I tried it and it didn't work. I've been screwing around with iTunes looking around for different ways to copy it but I don't see any easy way to do it. Why can't you just click and drag the songs to the folder? I thought easy sh1t like that is the reason why people got these things. MTS how do you do it when you create your "Fierce and Powerful Female Singers", and "Disco" playlists and such?

 

 

 

"Thanks Brother"??  Who are you, Desmond from LOST?

 

 

Hah! Coming from a guy who inappropriately called me "Bubbles" and "sweetie" all in the same sentence. You're awfully strange.

 

Ahhhh, that makes sense. Thanks brother!

 

It is kinda funny how the OSs are increasingly similar. I'm just afraid of hitting "hot keys" or something and a page disappears and deletes or some non-sense like that.

 

I'm transcribing recordings for a biography and there's so much typing I have to do it's ridiculous - the program sucks and does a terrible job of voice recognition because of this guy's dialect. I cannot lose this stuff though. I see it did auto-save some notes I took but I want to be sure of all the bs involved, just like with windows.

 

What security measures do you take for Mac to ensure privacy? IT would take too long to get here. I signed a confidentiality agreement and if someone is recording my keystrokes, it's over for this project since the guy has a lot of enemies with a lot of resources.  The other computer I use has really tight security and remote IT assistance through the company who would intercept that sort of thing but this is an average Joe computer. I really want to use this one though, as it's faster and has more memory.

 

One more question: Is it harder to hack into Sprint Mobile or broadband cable (without wireless set up)? I'm thinking about trying to use the Sprint 4G card on here but I don't even know if it's standardized for all computers.

 

Wow are you paranoid.  Cut back on the weed man.

 

 

 

It was information that could easily get a lot of prominent public figures indicted and it still might. It also involves people in National Security.

 

Weed? I never liked weed BECAUSE it makes me so paranoid lol. I have experimented (but I didn't inhale) and I remember thinking, "Everyone in the room doesn't like me! They're turning on me!" This is a drug people like? And even get addicted to? I never understood its appeal at all. Every time I've tried it I end up at the fridge, stuffing my face and passing out immediately after. Anyway, that's neither here nor there.

 

I have another question. I have a bunch of songs on my itunes and I'm trying to make a playlist out of some of them for when I work out. I created/named the playlist folder and opened it. My intuition said, "click and drag each song from the main music folder into the new playlist folder" which is in a window. I tried it and it didn't work. I've been screwing around with iTunes looking around for different ways to copy it but I don't see any easy way to do it. Why can't you just click and drag the songs to the folder? I thought easy sh1t like that is the reason why people got these things. MTS how do you do it when you create your "Fierce and Powerful Female Singers", and "Disco" playlists and such?

 

 

 

"Thanks Brother"??  Who are you, Desmond from LOST?

 

 

Hah! Coming from a guy who inappropriately called me "Bubbles" and "sweetie" all in the same sentence. You're awfully strange.

 

 

Sugar, dont you just love the apple's website?  It's full of information.  ;)

http://www.apple.com/itunes/how-to/#video-playlists

 

 

Say hello to the newest Mac user on Urban Ohio, after using Windoze since the days of version 3.1. Feels like I just ended an abusive relationship.

Say hello to the newest Mac user on Urban Ohio, after using Windoze since the days of version 3.1. Feels like I just ended an abusive relationship.

 

good decision

Say hello to the newest Mac user on Urban Ohio, after using Windoze since the days of version 3.1. Feels like I just ended an abusive relationship.

 

LOL, the only time I've ever had a good relationship with windows was at work where you have a team of highly skilled IT people to back that up.  Unfortunately at home, you don't.  So it's all downhill from the first day you boot up windows.

 

I ran windows on a Mac for a year.  I eventually uninstalled it when it kept asking me to change my password, and at about the 10th time.  I completely forgot it.  I'll probably put it back on eventually to run 3D Studio Max, AutoCAD, and Revit, which perform quite well on a Mac machine.  I was even able to remotely access my company's rendering farm from home without any problems (which didn't work on my PC)

 

I've never been required to cultivate a relationship with Mac. My first exposure to remote-access computing came with teletype-like terminals and then dumb CRTs, with remote access via a dial-up 300-baud modem. I got my first PC - genuine IBM - in 1983. It had a monochrome monitor, 256K RAM, two 5 1/4 floppy drives at 360K per disk, no hard drive, and ran DOS 2.0.

 

Later I worked in the insurance & financial services industry and then for IBM providing on-site user support for OS/2 and various iterations of Windows from 3.1 on up. Windows 95 and 98 got a little squirrely at times, but for the most part I had little trouble after those. In the workplace probably 75% of support calls came from people who brought trouble on themselves by installing some screen saver or game that a friend or relative gave them, that turned out to be contaminated with a virus. Other than that and the agents who took their laptops home and let their kids surf the internet with them, we really didn't have many problems related to hardware or operating systems.

I think it might have made a difference to have a Mac fifteen years ago, but any difference between Macs and PCs now is pretty negligible.  A PC may crash a bit more often than an Apple, but the versatility you gain with a PC outweighs any problems with the OS.  In my opinion.  Oh, and a comparable PC will cost about $1k less.

After my second PC got the blue screen of death, I switched to a MAC. So far so good, but the real test will be in 2-3 years if it still runs the same.  It seemed like it was the same deal with PC's...slows down over time, I upgrade some RAM, then it just gets to the point where it runs so slow its not worth using or just dies.  And I don't really use computers for too crazy of things...email, news, fantasy sports, store pictures, music and documents, contacts,  etc. I don't really download anything and feel like I keep up with basic maintenence.  So we'll see...if my MAC lasts 10 years instead of the 5 or so my PC was lasting, the extra money will be worth it.

I think it might have made a difference to have a Mac fifteen years ago, but any difference between Macs and PCs now is pretty negligible. A PC may crash a bit more often than an Apple, but the versatility you gain with a PC outweighs any problems with the OS. In my opinion. Oh, and a comparable PC will cost about $1k less.

 

So a computer comparable to a macbook pro would be only $200? After getting my mac its hard to use a PC. Macs run so much smoother and dont have weird crashes and jams. Everything has been really good since i've got it.

I think it might have made a difference to have a Mac fifteen years ago, but any difference between Macs and PCs now is pretty negligible. A PC may crash a bit more often than an Apple, but the versatility you gain with a PC outweighs any problems with the OS. In my opinion. Oh, and a comparable PC will cost about $1k less.

 

So a computer comparable to a macbook pro would be only $200? After getting my mac its hard to use a PC. Macs run so much smoother and dont have weird crashes and jams. Everything has been really good since i've got it.

My bust.  I guess it's closer to $750 bucks less.  I've got a newish Gateway laptop with a 2.4 Ghz processor, 500 gigs of hard drive, and 4 gigs of RAM and it cost $450.  I download lots of stuff to it, run difficult programs (Protools), and generally abuse it. I have absolutely no complaints.  My wife has a Macbook and the only real difference I can tell is that her desktop icons look a bit more sleek.

Macs run so much smoother and dont have weird crashes and jams.

 

I have 2 PCs and a Mac, and I like all 3.  The Mac is easily the slowest of the 3 computers, but was the most expensive.  There is no way your statement is true.  The only reason there is this perception is because people who really don't know too much about using a computer end up with spyware and crap installed all over the place on their PC slowing it down and then blame Windows for it instead of blaming themselves for being dumb.  There are very few viruses that propogate themselves (I have never gotten one and have only seen a couple on the hundreds of PCs I've repaired).  Most were installed thanks to a user clikcing an ad and downloading some program from the popup or installing something out of an email attachment.

 

If you see a mass exodus from PCs to Macs, you will also see the hackers and spyware coders targetting those machines instead of PCs.  In this modern day and age of software and OSs, there is not much difference between the two, and certainly no reason Macs can't get viruses, malware, or spyware.  Mac OS X is a great OS, but so is Windows 7.  So enjoy paying for your Mac as an "exclusive club" while you can, but you probably don't want it to become too popular, because that is the point when you'll start getting crap installed on your machine.

Macs run so much smoother and dont have weird crashes and jams.

 

I have 2 PCs and a Mac, and I like all 3. The Mac is easily the slowest of the 3 computers, but was the most expensive. There is no way your statement is true. The only reason there is this perception is because people who really don't know too much about using a computer end up with spyware and crap installed all over the place on their PC slowing it down and then blame Windows for it instead of blaming themselves for being dumb. There are very few viruses that propogate themselves (I have never gotten one and have only seen a couple on the hundreds of PCs I've repaired). Most were installed thanks to a user clikcing an ad and downloading some program from the popup or installing something out of an email attachment.

 

If you see a mass exodus from PCs to Macs, you will also see the hackers and spyware coders targetting those machines instead of PCs. In this modern day and age of software and OSs, there is not much difference between the two, and certainly no reason Macs can't get viruses, malware, or spyware. Mac OS X is a great OS, but so is Windows 7. So enjoy paying for your Mac as an "exclusive club" while you can, but you probably don't want it to become too popular, because that is the point when you'll start getting crap installed on your machine.

 

Good post.  I don't really understand the Mac cult.

The "Mac cult" may or may not be pathetic, but it's certainly no more pathetic than people who show up on a thread just to make insulting remarks about people who choose to buy a certain brand of computer. For the record, I've built several PCs from scratch over the past 15 years and have used everything from Windows 3.1 to Windows 7 in a professional setting. I've never had a virus, and I'm smart enough not to click on malware links. There are many reasons I chose to buy a Mac, and I did lots of research before dropping a large sum of money on a new computer. I certainly didn't do it because I was dumb, or was interested in joining any cults.

 

You like Windows better than Mac? Fine, but quit making assumptions about other peoples' motives for buying a particular brand of computer. And yes, that's is an official request as a moderator.

I have had 4 PCs and they did weird things all the time and would run slow for no reason. And I am good with computers and im not stupid enough to click on those things so its not my fault that the computer is running slow. I can have more things running at once with my Mac and my experience has been way more enjoyable. It never jams or runs slow. When I go back and use my PC it drives me crazy how slow it is.

The "Mac cult" may or may not be pathetic, but it's certainly no more pathetic than people who show up on a thread just to make insulting remarks about people who choose to buy a certain brand of computer. For the record, I've built several PCs from scratch over the past 15 years and have used everything from Windows 3.1 to Windows 7 in a professional setting. I've never had a virus, and I'm smart enough not to click on malware links. There are many reasons I chose to buy a Mac, and I did lots of research before dropping a large sum of money on a new computer. I certainly didn't do it because I was dumb, or was interested in joining any cults.

 

You like Windows better than Mac? Fine, but quit making assumptions about other peoples' motives for buying a particular brand of computer. And yes, that's is an official request as a moderator.

 

So the Mac cult is a figment of my imagination, and you're going to play the moderator card because I brought it up?  :laugh:  Speaking of pathetic...

 

I'm glad that you bought a Mac for apparently good reasons.  But a lot of people buy it because of the logo of the fruit prominently placed on the back of the hardware.

The "Mac cult" may or may not be pathetic, but it's certainly no more pathetic than people who show up on a thread just to make insulting remarks about people who choose to buy a certain brand of computer. For the record, I've built several PCs from scratch over the past 15 years and have used everything from Windows 3.1 to Windows 7 in a professional setting. I've never had a virus, and I'm smart enough not to click on malware links. There are many reasons I chose to buy a Mac, and I did lots of research before dropping a large sum of money on a new computer. I certainly didn't do it because I was dumb, or was interested in joining any cults.

 

You like Windows better than Mac? Fine, but quit making assumptions about other peoples' motives for buying a particular brand of computer. And yes, that's is an official request as a moderator.

 

So the Mac cult is a figment of my imagination, and you're going to play the moderator card because I brought it up?  :laugh:  Speaking of pathetic...

 

I'm glad that you bought a Mac for apparently good reasons.  But a lot of people buy it because of the logo of the fruit prominently placed on the back of the hardware.

 

No one is saying that it is a figment of your imagination.  There ARE Mac fanboys... BUT there is the equally annoying group that will criticize anything and everything about Macs and the people who own them.  That is what he is saying, and it's true.

 

Sure, people like that "logo of the fruit prominently placed on the back of the hardware."  So you are suggesting you never bought something with the brand prominently displayed?  Nikes or anything else?

My last computer ran windows XP, I have no experience with Vista or windows 7 so I cannot make a direct comparison.  I enjoy that Entourage controls my email from my desktop.  I enjoy iPhoto and how easy it is to organize and post my photos.  Macs have a spell checker that runs at all times and other nice features like expose, spaces and time machine.

 

Maybe windows has their own versions of those, and that is fine with me.

I love the constant spell checker, I use it all the time :lol:

So the Mac cult is a figment of my imagination, and you're going to play the moderator card because I brought it up?  :laugh:  Speaking of pathetic...

 

Moderator Note

 

I brought up the "moderator card" because you and jam4jeff were making personal insults, which is against the rules of the board that you agreed to when you created an account on UrbanOhio.com. Moderators' decisions are not open to second-guessing, and that's the final word on this matter. Deal with it.

Sorry, but if you run an .exe from an email b/c you think Bill Gates is going to send you $4 million from Kenya after you press F12 fifty times and forward the email to your closest 20 friends, you're probably also the type of person who will whine to me about how I need to come fix your computer for free b/c Windows sucks and your computer is running slow.  Based on the posts on this thread, I don't think it applies to anyone here (and thus why I wasn't "personally insulting" anyone on the board.)  The only personal insult directed at board members I've seen in this thread is someone calling me and Clevelander17 "pathetic."

 

If there was a PC Thread where people were making wild unsubstantiated claims that Macs suck and crash all the time and run slower than Cecil Fielder, I'm sure the Mac fans on this board would be there to defend what they feel are perfectly good computers as well.

I've used windows pc's my whole life, and I'm content with them. That said, I'll point to one compelling reason for Macs: the video editing capabilities. I was at a birthday party for a cousin where they presented a little slide show / movie, and it looked as good as anything I'd seen done professionally (by professionally, I mean similar type presentations...not something released for commercial purposes). Turns out she had just used the stock video editing software that came with her mac.  Now, I'm sure there's windows software that can do this just as effectively, but for someone like me, who isn't proficient in these types of things, the 'for dummies' benefit of some of Apple's software makes a strong argument for getting a mac.

 

As to viruses, someone on here who is more knowledgable can  correct me, but I remember reading once that many of the viruses that effect Windows are the result of Microsoft coming out with a statement indicating they've discovered, and then describing, a security issue with Windows. MS will release a patch, but many users don't update their software regularly (or at all). Hackers take that information, create a virus to exploit it, and release it with the idea that they'll exploit those users who haven't fixed the glitch.

I've used windows pc's my whole life, and I'm content with them. That said, I'll point to one compelling reason for Macs: the video editing capabilities. I was at a birthday party for a cousin where they presented a little slide show / movie, and it looked as good as anything I'd seen done professionally (by professionally, I mean similar type presentations...not something released for commercial purposes). Turns out she had just used the stock video editing software that came with her mac. Now, I'm sure there's windows software that can do this just as effectively, but for someone like me, who isn't proficient in these types of things, the 'for dummies' benefit of some of Apple's software makes a strong argument for getting a mac.

 

Apple does have very nice video editing software.  I do tend to like the look and feel and usability of their software, but I'm getting more and more disappointed with iTunes with each release.  I don't like how they rope you in and then only let you play iTunes content on other Apple devices.  That's even more B/S than Microsoft tries to pull.  The software also feels like bloatware anymore.  More and more I'm liking Google software.  I just downloaded Picasa yesterday, and it's a nice "for dummies" photo organizer/editor.  I just wish Google would make video editing software to rival the Apple software, which is definitely best in class (in the "for dummies" class at least) right now.  I also do some basic video editing, and I don't want to pay the big bucks for and have to learn something complex.

 

As to viruses, someone on here who is more knowledgable can correct me, but I remember reading once that many of the viruses that effect Windows are the result of Microsoft coming out with a statement indicating they've discovered, and then describing, a security issue with Windows. MS will release a patch, but many users don't update their software regularly (or at all). Hackers take that information, create a virus to exploit it, and release it with the idea that they'll exploit those users who haven't fixed the glitch.

 

Apple releases information on security issues as well.  Both OS's now make it very easy to update the software (Apple Software Update for Mac OS X and Microsoft Update for Windows), so users not updating shouldn't be as much of an issue anymore.  What it comes down to is simply that 99% of all of the "bad guys" target Windows machines, since they by far are the largest user base (and especially in the business world).  Most of the problems users experience on their computer (and what slows them down the most) is more spyware and malware than actual viruses.  These must be installed through user interaction, so there's not too many things an OS can do to prevent it short of not allowing a user to even install software on their own computer.  The hackers have spent years perfecting techniques to trick people into thinking they need to install their junk (or not even knowing they are installing it).  This is similar to phishing websites, where users are tricked into "logging in" to what they think is a legitimate website, or entering credit card information, when in fact they are sending it to some other website that is doing bad things with their information.  No OS can prevent this from happening (although IE now maintains a list of known phishing sites and warns users when they are sent to one).  It requires the user to be aware of what they are doing.

Here's the specs for my work computer

 

Dell 64 bit, 20 GB of RAM Duo Quad Core (8 processors) each 3.2 Ghz.  Running Windows XP

 

At home:

 

iMac 2.93 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo  4GB of ram running Mac OS X Version 10.5.8 (I'm upgrading the OS soon)

 

 

At both locations I run all Adobe Products, Google Sketchup, 3DS Max, Autocad, and Revit.

 

I've noticed these programs have performed better at home on my Mac.  I can't recall a time I've ever had any of them crash on my Mac since I've been using this machine for about a year and a half.  I can think of plenty of times, my PC at work has crashed and it's supposed to be about 10 times better, if not thousands of dollars more than my Mac.  While my work machine runs fast, and I've never had viruses, and typically don't surf the internet at work, I still have to put up with regular crashes when such incidents do not occur on my home computer.  I also don't shut down my Mac.  It's just something I've never had a reason to do.  I think the last time I did was April.

 

I'm not trying to debate anything here.  I'm just putting forward my own personal observations.  I really have no preference over the other.  I look the look of my mac and the fact that I have very few wires and a clean desk...yet still have the power I need.  I'm fine with PC's and maybe even a bit more comfortable with them from a user standpoint, but I don't intend to switch back to them.