EPIC Pc vs Mac Battle: FOR ALL TIME

[Crossroads Inc.]

Because PC's are wieners and MACS are overly mass marketed products for hipsters.... RIGHT?

[Praxis]

Saw it ages ago.

Has it's funny moments.

[Xisiqomelir]

"I'm sorry for being such a wiener"

[General Zod]

Because PC's are Winies and MACS are overly mass marketed products for hipsters.... RIGHT?

Winies? What the hell? Is that even a word?

[brianeyci]

Time for Mac versus PC rant! Man I've waited a long time for a thread for this.

Every time I go to lecture and see someone pop out a Mac, I laugh. How much did mommy give you to buy that piece of shit? Steve Jobs saying in that parody "macs are hip and help you get laid" is exactly what some people are thinking. Now I don't think that there's anything wrong with spending one's own money to be hip, or to get laid. But the idea that a person would get laid easier because he's using a prettier computer is pretty lame, even if it is true. The computer science labs all have PC's, and guess who is using macs. The artsy fartsy types who never have to work to university ever, who mommy or daddy pay for everything. And that is supposed to mean you're cool? Give me a fucking break, I'll take the computer science nerd who built the computer with his own two hands over the mac loser any day.

Don't even get me started on iPod. Kids going around with portable music devices is fucking bullshit. Adults are responsible enough to use them, children are not. I see no benefit to being immersed in popular culture enough that you think the main reason in life is getting an iPod and listening to garble all day.

The one thing I'll be giggling about is when the American economy goes to shit and peak oil happens, pure luxury companies like Apple will be the first to die. At least governments will keep buying cheap PC's. I see no use for overexpensive status symbols.

[Xisiqomelir]

Time for Mac versus PC rant! Man I've waited a long time for a thread for this.

Every time I go to lecture and see someone pop out a Mac, I laugh. How much did mommy give you to buy that piece of shit? Steve Jobs saying in that parody "macs are hip and help you get laid" is exactly what some people are thinking.

We (those who know how to zap the PRAM/rebuild the desktop/battled NVIR) have a word for those people: switcheur

[General Zod]

I will give Macs credit for having a fantastic battery life and good productivity/video editing packages. That's about all I can give them credit for though.

[InnocentBystander]

I will give Macs credit for having a fantastic battery life and good productivity/video editing packages. That's about all I can give them credit for though.

If iWeb and iPhoto are part of this "productivity" package I would be hesitant to call them 'good'. My experience with them have been less than stellar, heck even the built-in camera software has caused me grief.

[General Zod]

I will give Macs credit for having a fantastic battery life and good productivity/video editing packages. That's about all I can give them credit for though.

If iWeb and iPhoto are part of this "productivity" package I would be hesitant to call them 'good'. My experience with them have been less than stellar, heck even the built-in camera software has caused me grief.

I was thinking of the higher end editing software that you have to shell out almost $1,000 for. Since macs are often used in the multimedia industry.

[ANGELUS]

Don't even get me started on iPod. Kids going around with portable music devices is fucking bullshit. Adults are responsible enough to use them, children are not.

Indeed

[rhoenix]

Time for Mac versus PC rant! Man I've waited a long time for a thread for this.

Oh, good. Comedy.

Every time I go to lecture and see someone pop out a Mac, I laugh. How much did mommy give you to buy that piece of shit? Steve Jobs saying in that parody "macs are hip and help you get laid" is exactly what some people are thinking. Now I don't think that there's anything wrong with spending one's own money to be hip, or to get laid. But the idea that a person would get laid easier because he's using a prettier computer is pretty lame, even if it is true. The computer science labs all have PC's, and guess who is using macs. The artsy fartsy types who never have to work to university ever, who mommy or daddy pay for everything. And that is supposed to mean you're cool? Give me a fucking break, I'll take the computer science nerd who built the computer with his own two hands over the mac loser any day.

Instead of happily traipsing along in the land of fallacies here, have you ever actually used a Mac running OS X?

I don't use it because it makes my nipples hard, gives me a free black trenchcoat in the mail or gives me Pimp powers. I use OS X because it pisses me off far less to use on a daily basis than Windows.

Don't even get me started on iPod. Kids going around with portable music devices is fucking bullshit. Adults are responsible enough to use them, children are not. I see no benefit to being immersed in popular culture enough that you think the main reason in life is getting an iPod and listening to garble all day.

This is part of a greater problem. Get parents to stop buying their bitsy-precious-ookums a new Dodge Ram for graduating high school, and we can come back to this one.

The one thing I'll be giggling about is when the American economy goes to shit and peak oil happens, pure luxury companies like Apple will be the first to die. At least governments will keep buying cheap PC's. I see no use for overexpensive status symbols.

BrianEyci, I'm using a Mac, and therefore I'm better than you.

More seriously, I am going to be saving up for another computer here soon, and unlike my current computer, it will be a desktop instead of a laptop. It too will be a Mac, though a Mac Mini, since one can run damn near anything on one now, given the proper virtual machine. And, if you'll check the price of a Mac Mini, they cost considerably less than most other Macs, though granted one can't upgrade a Mac Mini very easily.

Then again, I moved to a Mac for a much different reason than most do - I thought the new windowing environment on top of Unix was just nice. Even though e17 is officially now more sexy than OS X, OS X still works a bit better as an integrated whole - for now.

[Ace Pace]

Don't even get me started on iPod. Kids going around with portable music devices is fucking bullshit. Adults are responsible enough to use them, children are not. I see no benefit to being immersed in popular culture enough that you think the main reason in life is getting an iPod and listening to garble all day.

This is a strike against Apple, or relevent to Mac VS PC somehow?

Please, I'm trying to see the point here.

Guess what, people don't use OSX because it helps them get laid, it's because for many people, OSX just works, unlike winXP, Vista, or Linux.

[brianeyci]

There really is no point: it's only connected to the idea of i-anything as a status symbol.

Beside a suave, cool looking guy is a guy in a suit with glasses, who can barely talk without stumbling, a nerd. Macs obviously have their uses, and some people have less problems with macs. But my rant was only half serious. If you look at the big picture, people get macs because pcs are perceived to be nerdy and have more problems. I am no computer buff, but I know that's not necessarily the case. Before anybody tries to argue with me, Apple products are marketed that way. There may be people who do not consider their Apple products as status symbols and use them for functionality, but nobody can seriously disagree that i-anything is considered a fashion statement.

Since Apple products are marketed as anti-nerd, pro cool more functional products, all of which is not necessarily true, I'm going to view Apple with distaste unless someone shows me that most Apple users don't buy into this marketing. I have an open mind -- if you convince me, I'd be willing to consider OSX.

[phongn]

Every time I go to lecture and see someone pop out a Mac, I laugh. How much did mommy give you to buy that piece of shit?

Why? That seems rather silly - and maybe the student bought it themselves? For that matter, if you're going to mock a student about having their parents buy a laptop, doesn't that count for the vast majority of students?

Steve Jobs saying in that parody "macs are hip and help you get laid" is exactly what some people are thinking. Now I don't think that there's anything wrong with spending one's own money to be hip, or to get laid. But the idea that a person would get laid easier because he's using a prettier computer is pretty lame, even if it is true.

Your point being?

The computer science labs all have PC's, and guess who is using macs. The artsy fartsy types who never have to work to university ever, who mommy or daddy pay for everything. And that is supposed to mean you're cool? Give me a fucking break, I'll take the computer science nerd who built the computer with his own two hands over the mac loser any day.

Have you perhaps considered that Macs are industry standard for a lot of video editing, composition and 2D art/image manipulation? Maybe they're carrying around Macs because that's what their department requires?

Oh, and not a few CS types like Macs, too.

Don't even get me started on iPod. Kids going around with portable music devices is fucking bullshit. Adults are responsible enough to use them, children are not. I see no benefit to being immersed in popular culture enough that you think the main reason in life is getting an iPod and listening to garble all day.

And you blame the iPod for this, why? I don't see your rants about generalized MP3, MD, tape or CD players?

Since Apple products are marketed as anti-nerd, pro cool more functional products, all of which is not necessarily true, I'm going to view Apple with distaste unless someone shows me that most Apple users don't buy into this marketing. I have an open mind -- if you convince me, I'd be willing to consider OSX.

That sounds ass-backwards. Shouldn't you actually try how it works (at a store or using a friend's computer) and then make the conclusion rather than based on marketing?

[rhoenix]

There really is no point: it's only connected to the idea of i-anything as a status symbol.

Beside a suave, cool looking guy is a guy in a suit with glasses, who can barely talk without stumbling, a nerd. Macs obviously have their uses, and some people have less problems with macs. But my rant was only half serious. If you look at the big picture, people get macs because pcs are perceived to be nerdy and have more problems. I am no computer buff, but I know that's not necessarily the case. Before anybody tries to argue with me, Apple products are marketed that way. There may be people who do not consider their Apple products as status symbols and use them for functionality, but nobody can seriously disagree that i-anything is considered a fashion statement.

Since Apple products are marketed as anti-nerd, pro cool more functional products, all of which is not necessarily true, I'm going to view Apple with distaste unless someone shows me that most Apple users don't buy into this marketing. I have an open mind -- if you convince me, I'd be willing to consider OSX.

That's a strong bit of vitriol there, Brian. Consider Apple from a different perspective - they are the longest-lasting commercial alternative to Windows that I'm aware of. They've managed to not die out against Microsoft for quite a while now, which is rather impressive, their marketing, hardware, and software aside.

[RThurmont]

Much as I hate to appear to be coming to the defense of Apple, IMO dismissing the creative professional segment in which Apple dominates (graphics designers, journalists, composers, et cetera) as "artsy fartsy types" is just retarded (and for the record, most creative professionals do have university degrees). I'd like to see you do one tenth of what a good graphics designer or composer could do.

To be fair though, I also do not understand Apple's dominance in that area. I suspect it has something to do with a combination of the elegance of Apple hardware and graphics design creating an illusion of performance, which, coupled with the lack of technical knowledge on the part of most creative professionals, creates for them a compelling reason to believe that Macs are superior (when in fact, OS X is at best, on equal footing with Windows XP, and is clearly inferior to Linux). However, the other problem is that the Windows and Mac proprietary creative software is not availible on Linux, and the open source alternatives are not mature enough to replace them.

[phongn]

To be fair though, I also do not understand Apple's dominance in that area. I suspect it has something to do with a combination of the elegance of Apple hardware and graphics design creating an illusion of performance, which, coupled with the lack of technical knowledge on the part of most creative professionals, creates for them a compelling reason to believe that Macs are superior (when in fact, OS X is at best, on equal footing with Windows XP, and is clearly inferior to Linux). However, the other problem is that the Windows and Mac proprietary creative software is not availible on Linux, and the open source alternatives are not mature enough to replace them.

For a very long time Apple was the best game in town - superior performance, native color-calibration and an easy-to-use operating system. It also helped that Macs had a PostScript printer early on. It became entrenched in the market, though at the very high-end IRIX dominated (and since replaced by Windows)

[Covenant]

Much as I hate to appear to be coming to the defense of Apple, IMO dismissing the creative professional segment in which Apple dominates (graphics designers, journalists, composers, et cetera) as "artsy fartsy types" is just retarded (and for the record, most creative professionals do have university degrees). I'd like to see you do one tenth of what a good graphics designer or composer could do.

It's also a myth. I'm a graphics guy and I wouldn't use a Mac for what I do. And I know quite a few IT and CS people who swear by the Mac, both at home and professionally. The 'divide' is just some sort of fictional marketing ploy to attract people to the 'trendy' side of the computer scene. Anyone could claim to be artsy, I suppose, but for those who are actually in the art community there's really no reason to use one or the other outside of familiarity and compatibility with what your employer has. Some prefer Macs. Some prefer PCs. Outside of a few software packages, it generally doesn't matter.

Even video editing, something that people have long claimed is simply superior on a Mac, isn't a Mac stronghold anymore. AVID used to be a Mac program, but now is cross platform. And the other big hitter, Adobe Aftereffects, is another cross platform post-production suite. Professionally, both platforms are good. There's no artsy versus nerdy divide, and I think that is a lingering negative influence of this Mac advertising.

[Praxis]

Time for Mac versus PC rant! Man I've waited a long time for a thread for this.

Every time I go to lecture and see someone pop out a Mac, I laugh. How much did mommy give you to buy that piece of shit? Steve Jobs saying in that parody "macs are hip and help you get laid" is exactly what some people are thinking. Now I don't think that there's anything wrong with spending one's own money to be hip, or to get laid. But the idea that a person would get laid easier because he's using a prettier computer is pretty lame, even if it is true. The computer science labs all have PC's, and guess who is using macs. The artsy fartsy types who never have to work to university ever, who mommy or daddy pay for everything. And that is supposed to mean you're cool? Give me a fucking break, I'll take the computer science nerd who built the computer with his own two hands over the mac loser any day.

Then you're a freaking retard. I used my Mac in my CS class on occasion, and we did the rest of our work on Linux machines; the code was easily portable since Macs are UNIX-based and I can run all the same tools (make, gcc, etc).

You're an absolute idiot. Your entire rant is, "Macs are pretty, therefore I hate them and everyone who uses them!" Did it ever occur to you that they might be FUNCTIONAL? My Mac is a UNIX-based workstation running VMs of multiple other OSes, HD-video editing software, GCC and multiple programming tools, ripping DVD's to my iPod via Handbrake, while actually having a friendly GUI (unlike most Linux machines).

Don't even get me started on iPod. Kids going around with portable music devices is fucking bullshit. Adults are responsible enough to use them, children are not. I see no benefit to being immersed in popular culture enough that you think the main reason in life is getting an iPod and listening to garble all day.

...so everyone who uses an iPod is a child?
Again. You're an idiot.

[Praxis]

There really is no point: it's only connected to the idea of i-anything as a status symbol.

Beside a suave, cool looking guy is a guy in a suit with glasses, who can barely talk without stumbling, a nerd. Macs obviously have their uses, and some people have less problems with macs. But my rant was only half serious. If you look at the big picture, people get macs because pcs are perceived to be nerdy and have more problems. I am no computer buff, but I know that's not necessarily the case. Before anybody tries to argue with me, Apple products are marketed that way. There may be people who do not consider their Apple products as status symbols and use them for functionality, but nobody can seriously disagree that i-anything is considered a fashion statement.

Since Apple products are marketed as anti-nerd, pro cool more functional products, all of which is not necessarily true, I'm going to view Apple with distaste unless someone shows me that most Apple users don't buy into this marketing. I have an open mind -- if you convince me, I'd be willing to consider OSX.

Eh. Apple's marketing never effected me. I hated the things based on my experiences with OS 9, until someone forced me to try OS X after Apple switched to UNIX.

Honestly, I really wish Apple would get around to advertising the systems for their strengths instead of for their cool. I buy Macs primarily for the vastly superior to Windows IMHO Operating System; the slick design is what keeps me from complaining about not being able to build my own systems.

I'm on a MacBook now, which I upgraded to 2 GB of RAM and a 160 GB hard drive. My next computer will be an iMac, though I'll wait for a future revision because my MacBook works so well now I probably wouldn't see a huge performance leap outside of the GPU.

Making the conclusion that you hate a platform and all its users because you don't like the advertisements is about the stupidest thing I have ever heard.

[Stark]

No no HE KNOWS that all Mac users are trendsters and cooler than him. That's why he's so angry! He's even smart enough to realise that if Kid A has a MacBook and Kid B has a highend gaming laptop, Kid A IS THE RICH ONE. I mean, that's some awesome analysis there!

[Lisa]

I support Mac using consumers at work. A lot of them are new to the Mac and have just switched from Windows. The number one reason most of them switch is because they heard it's easier to use and they agree it is and wouldn't switch back. These are the people that think the speed of the internet affects the speed of their computer... A number of them also are sick of the endless fight against viruses, spyware, adware and all the other crap you have to worry about.

Most of the engineering students I know (I only know a handful) use Macs. I do know a number of people who are professionals in the BSD community (developers, sysadmins, IT, etc) and for their personal machines they tend to run a Mac. The number one reason is "It just works".

Macs have their flaws, and they are subject to hardware and software failure just like anything else but I've found that they are easier to fix, the operating system is more efficient and the esthetics of the machine aren't bad either.

[Elaro]

The way I see it, the fundamental difference between PCs and Macs is that I can't install OS X on my PC. From what some people say here, it's better than Windows, so I'd like to try it, but I don't want to spend a thousand (or more) dollars to buy a Mac that's >= to my current PC. There's also the upgradability issue.

So yeah, Windows wins by virtue of being cheaper.

[Lisa]

The way I see it, the fundamental difference between PCs and Macs is that I can't install OS X on my PC. From what some people say here, it's better than Windows, so I'd like to try it, but I don't want to spend a thousand (or more) dollars to buy a Mac that's >= to my current PC. There's also the upgradability issue.

So yeah, Windows wins by virtue of being cheaper.

There are ways to try it but technically they're illegal (installing OSX on a regular PC).

as for upgradable it all depends on the system... the MacPros are fully upgradable, the iMacs and MacMinis are only upgradable for ram, hard drive, processor, and the laptops you can upgrade ram and hard drive only (to the best of my knowledge).

I tend to outright replace my computer every 2 to 3 years, so technically i'm upgrading everything at once instead of piece meal. But I use laptops exclusively and regardless who's laptop i use the upgradablitily is limited to hard drive/ram. though the express slot holds some promise for certain features.

[brianeyci]

Well well, the rant was pretty stupid I admit. My misconception about Apple and Macs were based on two things. Thinking that a Mac was out of my price range and only for rich people, and buying into their marketing hype.

I just surfed their education discount store, and it looks like I can get a Macbook for cheaper than I got my laptop a few years ago. I'm not a computer major, so I don't really care about the components inside. All I care about is lightweight and long battery life. It looks like had I checked out macs, I might have gotten a mac instead. In fact it looks like Apple caters exactly to my needs: lightweight, long battery life, easy to use, quiet, reliable. It looks like macs are made for me.

I'm not getting a new computer for a long time, but I'll be thinking about a mac next time. The only sticking point is games and Microsoft Office things, but I'll have a desktop and OpenOffice (or whatever macs have) for that.