What separates a Mac from a PC?

[Q Classic]

As I said, you don't have to control click. Most of that can be avoided by judicious use of the interface, or you can click and hold and it does the same thing.

why click and hold for two seconds when you can just tap the right mouse button? or ctrl and tap with the one mouse button? far quicker, and more efficient.
why muck around the interface when you can right click in just one second? or ctrl and tap with just one mouse button?

usb mice are plug and play in osx, and for that, i'm glad. it still irritates me, however, that they don't come default with macs.

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as for those apple design things? let's not forget the disaster that was that "cutsey" circle mice that came with the first series of imacs.
i also can't abide by the fact that the imacs and emacs, although designed for non-tinkerers, can't really be upgraded. i find that a reprehensible design flaw, and something which only damages a computer's utility.

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on the other hand, macs do have their uses. i tend to like them for video and sound editing (logic and peak are awfully nice, and they don't come for windows; final cut pro is a dream to work with~).

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stability is bunk. although i can use a system without having it crash on me, when someone tells me their system is rock-solid, i enjoy trying to make it crash~ a friend of mine mentioned that osx was crashproof--and about a minute later i forced a reboot because finder kept crashing. my windows xp installation is just as rock-solid; i've gone two to three weeks without having to reboot it.

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osx is almost idiotproof, while windows is not. the one problem with mac os is that most users don't realize that to close the program completely, you have to make sure it doesn't show up in the menubar at the top--and most people don't do that. on the other hand, in windows, it's slightly more intuitive: just click the x button in the upper right enough, and the program is, by and large, closed entirely.

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in conclusion, macs are easier to use for beginners, and fairly powerful--but it shines mainly in video and sound editing. windows has now become as easy to use for beginners, and is just as powerful, if not a little more (simply because of its lower price, greater selection of peripherals, and because it's a lot easier to chuck it and replace it with linux or other alternative oses), and it really shines in gaming.

all this macs are better than wintel pcs is absolutely silly. buy whatever computer you can afford and are comfortable with. as for me, i'd want a windows/linux x86 system with an apple laptop.

if i could afford it.

[Sava]

OS/X crashes are much worse than Windows crashes. I've had Zip disks erased by OS/X crashes before.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Agathon
I can't stand XP and I can't see any of these supposed "merits" you are talking about. It's ugly and has poor font support for what I want to do.

If you think it's ugly, have you considered themeing it with the thousands of XML-based themes out there? Or perhaps even creating your own with the available theme-builders?

I also don't understand the poor font support. Apple's font anti-aliasing is licensed from MS Research and the core fonts are actually MS TTF.

Are you referring to international support, in which case I have no idea but from what I've seen Windows works fine?

It works just fine. I played on a new PC a while ago and I couldn't detect much difference.

It's fine if all you do is internet & Word, etc.

Try doing encoding, gaming, 3D work, even Photoshop...there's a big difference.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Sava
Sorry, Drake, those half-second and second delays add up. If you're on the computer every day for a year doing something, seconds add up to lost days and lost productivity. I know I'll never convince you Mac-fanboys, but I've used both systems a lot and PC's are simply better. Sorry.

Again, I'll point out to you that I find using the mac to be much quicker - that's why I became a mac user. In some degree it depends what you are used to and the way you work.

Is there some magical reason why people shouldn't use the computers that they like and find easier to use and should be compelled to use computers they don't like and find to be a pain in the neck?

That's roughly what this discussion boils down to.

[Asher]

Mac users will continue to use Macs and insist they're well worth the (insane) price and limited software selection and awkward interface (although they're all used to it so they'd never admit to it being awkward) and general prettyness at the expense of even more CPU cycles.

The arguments do get pointless. PCs are more economical, let you do more stuff, and faster. Macs are different, and get the job done for lots of people albeit at a higher price.

*shrug*

[Q Classic]

that's all this discussion boils down to. it's a pissing contest between people who love macs and people who love windows.

i couldn't give a sh it about which one you guys think are better.

i love linux, windows, and osx. i use them all comfortably. each one has its strengths, and weaknesses. if i could afford it, i'd have two computers, one capable of the first two, and the latter capable of osx.

as for international support, i use japanese, german, and korean alongside english--and never have i had trouble with my windows setup. it's easy to click on the small button i have on my taskbar to switch between the input methods.

[Sava]

That's the jist of my response Agy-poo...

IMO, and for my uses, PC's are better.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Asher

If you think it's ugly, have you considered themeing it with the thousands of XML-based themes out there? Or perhaps even creating your own with the available theme-builders?

Alright, I confess - I hate the taskbar and the start menu.

I also don't understand the poor font support. Apple's font anti-aliasing is licensed from MS Research and the core fonts are actually MS TTF.

As far as I know XP uses a different system than OS X. I have to say I found Classical Greek harder to read on XP, but that may well have been the particular font used. It reads beautifully on OS X.

The real annoyance is that Office X doesn't seem to have as good font support as the rest of the X system (this is a pain when I want to change keyboards for typing greek). Other than that Office X is a pretty good suite and MS is to be commended for it (I like MS for the mac - they are just another software company to us mac users and they tend to work pretty hard for our money).

Are you referring to international support, in which case I have no idea but from what I've seen Windows works fine?

Sava was saying that he didn't care about Asian languages. I was just pointing out that many people do. My own interest is in having a computer display classical greek properly. If you've ever seen a classical greek text, you will know why.

It's fine if all you do is internet & Word, etc.

Try doing encoding, gaming, 3D work, even Photoshop...there's a big difference.

Presumably, if I wanted to do all that stuff I'd buy a Power Mac. The imac isn't really designed for the hard out photoshopping stuff.

Other than Civ and Falcon 4 I don't play a lot of games (I don't have the time), but even my old imac does a good job with these.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Asher
Mac users will continue to use Macs and insist they're well worth the (insane) price and limited software selection and awkward interface (although they're all used to it so they'd never admit to it being awkward) and general prettyness at the expense of even more CPU cycles.

Unless you are building your own the prices aren't that much different. If there is a difference it is that macs are rarely heavily discounted.

And again, there is nothing awkward about it if you can use it properly.

The arguments do get pointless. PCs are more economical, let you do more stuff, and faster. Macs are different, and get the job done for lots of people albeit at a higher price.

One could say the same about a piece of Jap cr@p versus a BMW.

[Q Classic]

which is precisely why i'll always favor the jap car.

[Willem]

Originally posted by monolith94
"I also prefer having multiple mouse buttons, Macs only have one. IMO it's much more convenient than using a combination of keyboard/mouse commands."

$20 for a multi button mouse.

First I've heard of it. How well is it supported within programs?

[Q Classic]

fairly well. the right mouse button functions as if you've already pressed the ctrl key.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Sava
OS/X crashes are much worse than Windows crashes. I've had Zip disks erased by OS/X crashes before.

That's weird. I've had precisely one kernel panic since I started using X, and that was in 10.0.3.

Other than that I've never had a crash.

And as for

BTW, I got a Nomad Zen today...about half the price of an iPod, more features, longer battery life, supports WMA, 20GB

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. The ipods have moved on a lot since this came out.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Sava

Hello??? When I'm watching pr0n... I need a free hand.

Hmmm, must be a small one. I need both.

[faded glory]

IMO your average Mac handles 3d applications (CAD programs etc..) way better than your average PC. OS 9/x is rock stable compared to windows running intensive applications.

That said. I still think mac's are a joke. . Maybe cause i dont understand them