Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

No danger of falling out Sean. I've enjoyed the debate with Brett, and respect his very deep technical knowledge of computers (and 928s come to that!).

Hope your purchase turns out to be an excellent one.

Cheers

Adrian

Mac vs Windows is one of those questions you should never ask on the Internet. It’s right up there with not talking about religion or football in a Glasgow pub.

Windows PCs are almost always going to be cheaper (at the lower end of the market) and if you’re used to using them then the familiarity is a big advantage.

Apple Macs are always going to be more elegant, better built, easier to use an all-round more pleasant experience.

Transitioning from one to the other is always going to be a pain, because it involves learning the differences and sorting yourself out from scratch with software to do all the things that you need.

In most cases, I’d recommend a Mac laptop with a big monitor for plugging into when you’re at your desk. If you’re after a media computer for plugging into your telly (playing music, videos, and web stuff) then a Mac Mini is the way to go.

There are certain things that you’re better off with a Windows machine for though:

Hooky software
Those who like to steal their stuff will find it easier on Windows.

Gaming
Macs are not games machines, full stop.

Microsoft Office
Office for Mac is actually better than Office for Windows, but tends to lag one version behind—so when everyone in PC-land upgrades they start sending you files that you’re not yet equipped to open. Easily solved with a convertor app, but it’s a niggling pain.

Specialist stuff
If you need to use one particular piece of obscure specialist software that is only available for Windows, don’t buy a Mac. That’s not exactly rocket science.

One point I’ll argue is the cost one. Yes, you can get much, much cheaper Windows PCs than Apple Macs. That’s not because Macs are unfairly expensive though. It’s because Apple only service the higher-spec end of the market. Every time a consumer magazine tries matching an Apple product with an identically specified PC alternative, the Mac always comes out slightly cheaper. The relevant question then, is whether you need/want the high spec or not. A £600 PC is not a performance/spec match for a £1,500 Mac … but if you don’t need the spec, you should probably think about the cheaper option!

Excellent summary Tony, but even though I'm an Apple fanboy, I don't agree Mac Office is superior to Windows version.

I think this was true up till about Office 98, but ever since the boys and girls at Microsoft have produced ever buggier, bloated and slower Office suites for Mac. Opening large powerpoint files especially is maddeningly slow on Mac.

Office 2008 on Mac is now superceded by 2011, but even 2008 was fully compatible with latest Windows ofice files ( the ones ending .pptx, .docx etc

Apple's own ofice software (Keynote, Numbers, Pages) is a model of intuitive simplicity by comparison and keynote creates very beautiful presentations in comparison wuth plug-ugly powerpont slides. It's fully compaible wuth Microsoft Office.

Cheers

Adrian

Well I think I'l add my 2 penn'th
I bought a Dell Top spec 17" laptop 4 years ago to see me into retirement, after using their desktops for years at work (& previously many hours using DOS windows 95 2000 XP and Linux on a P75 processor PC at home.)
18 Months later suffering unbearable waits for windows (XP) upgrades + 4 m/c breakdowns - under warranty but extremely frustrating spending hours on the Tech support/hardware/software help line for interactive checks on the laptop.
ENOUGH was ENOUGH -
July 2008 I purchased 2 2nd hand 13" Macbooks £450 & £400 (one for my Daughter) ran these to get the feel of Apples, very impressed, they are both still going strong now, can be booted into windows o/s but now never bother!
(the PC only gets used for updating old Saphire Snooper!)
Last Dec 2009 shortly after retiring I decided to do IMHO the sensible thing and purchase an iMAC , great piece of kit (admittedly expensive) with loads of inbuilt software included + based on Unix O/S never looked back 2nd best purchase to my current 944Turbo that I have ever made. Open office is available for your pseudo windows office software foc if required.
My advice (FWIW)
Youv'e bought the best make of car Sean so treat yourself to the best make of computer, have a look at the Apple Magazines Mac Format & Macworld, they have articles every month on How to buy a new Mac, also Apple web site have special deals on refurbished kit.

I've had a hand in both camps for a while now;
Mac stuff tends to be slick and 'just works'
IMHO, since Micro$oft brought out Win 7, things do work better (please dont harp on about XP being the best OS..)
I prefer the Mac 'feel' of the UI, and it does tend to run a bit quicker (similar specced machines), but I dont have a problem with Windows.
If you wanted a mega spec gaming, graphic style machine, then I go the PC route.
If it was for run of the mill stuff ('tinternet, mail, office ) then I'd get a lowish spec mac.
my tuppence
David