MAC or PC?

[Josée]

Hi all,

I have a few friends who are diehard MAC fans, and hearing about how great these things are, I've been pondering making the switch...my concern is, I've always used a PC, and I'm worried I won't understand how to use a MAC or be able to use files interchangeably between home/work, (we have PCs at work)...any users out there or anyone who'd care to share opinions?

I'm planning on visiting a MAC retailer soon to 'test drive' one...any thoughts as to what I should look for?

[Mao]

Aside from having to buy programs such as Office, PS 2...3, etc. YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED with Macs.

It's not really any different. I interchange between PC and Macs, sometimes I have to stop and think, lol but love my Macs.

[Rudi]

What Mao said! :D Switching to Apple was the best computing decision I have ever made (and that was over 3 years ago). No regrets here, and no problem with file compatibility either - in fact I find that my Macs are more compatible with a lot of websites - stuff that I couldn't play or view on my PC is easily available on my Mac! I realise that the incompatibilities were most probably due to some hardware mismatch inside my PC, but I also realise that this is not a rare occurrence in the PC world - there are just too many hardware combinations for everything to work properly all the time. (Then there is the typical Microsoft arrogance, where they ignore accepted standards just because they feel they can - I find my Macs are more compatible with open source and other software and Internet standards than my PC ever was! Not that Apple is perfect, they're not, just much better. :) ).

[Josée]

Thanks for the info gentlemen...another question:

Apparently the new "Leopard" OS is coming out in October...based on your experiences, would it be wise to wait until then to buy a MAC, or is the current OS worth the plunge now?

[prairiefoto]

As others have said...switching to mac was the best computing decision I ever made! The OS is a joy to use and once you've used it for a while there is no way you will ever go back to a PC! Expect a few bumps in the road in terms of the learning process...macs are not perfect but they are IMO much more enjoyable to use than PC's (and that's coming from an x-diehard PC user)

I would not wait for the new OS...the existing OS is excellent and once Leopard is out the upgrade process will be a breeze.

I just setup a friend's 20" Imac last weekend and what a sweet machine it is! I'm running a powermac and a mini and one thing the macs do beautifully is home networking..ie sharing files, printers etc. Much easier than in the PC environment.

[Josée]

I just setup a friend's 20" Imac last weekend and what a sweet machine it is! I'm running a powermac and a mini and one thing the macs do beautifully is home networking..ie sharing files, printers etc. Much easier than in the PC environment.

That's good to know, because I was looking at the 20, and one of my goals is to be able to set up a home network...I tried to do it on our PCs and mine up and died....I lost EVERYTHING...

[ricwis]

I have to chime in too and say its the best computing decision I've made and that was threee years ago and no regrets. Even switched to a MacBook laptop. I have iWork and have not had a problem with Word documents people send me. One of the best pieces of software out there is a product called Shutterbug (from www.xtralean.com) that lets us photographers, and others too, build a website that is geared for photography. I've even used it to do two store website not related to photography. Can't get much easier than Shutterbug and I can do it myself. All done on a Mac. Check out my site for an example.

A friend of mine switched on Tuesday. Really liking it.

[Jeff M]

I bought a Mac last year, and still have a PC. I use the Mac for digital imaging, and other personal work. The PC is the "family computer". I have no trouble switching back and forth between the two.
When the PC goes, or needs replacment, I'm buying a Mac. That's what I think of them.
The more I use my Mac, the more I like it.

[Ron W.]

This is very informative and helpful to me too. I have been considering converting to a MacPro tower and a 24 inch monitor strictly for my photo work. I plan to keep the PC for writing and emails.

[Roger]

I work in IT for a local health care provider for a living. What type of work do you do on the device? Are there games or applications that you must use on a daily basics?

Using dual boot capability, you can dual boot MAC OS and Windows XP, If you need windows XP applications, just reboot and you can use them that way, but gaming can be harder.