Thinking about ditching my PC for a Mac

[morcar]

@morcar...so, after 6 pages of advice...are you aready for the switch ?

First off thank you all for helping and putting together what i find a very interesting thread. I have to admit there are pros and cons in everything in life but this issue i think everything's been covered. It shows me people on this forum are very passionate about computers and what they believe in.

Reading all of this really has made me think about how I use a computer and why I get so bored with it. I know for me part of it is my depression playing tricks on me, but another is that every day I do the same things over and over and it gets boring fast.

Its time for me to change the way I use the computer in general because I feel I am not getting the most out of it.

I know the Mac is not the greatest gaming machine although it does have some great games for it. Not as good as the PC as that's more mainstream for that kind of thing. As I never heard anything bad about it then it seemed to be a natural choice. That is why I asked about it on here.

I am currently using Zorin OS 5 and I have to say I am really enjoying it. Its quick, smooth and i am finding out a lot of new stuff about Linux like how to do stuff like installing from a tarball and I know there are other

I will get a Mac before too long once we move house this year and get all of the sorted. Of course I will be getting one because I am very interested in computers so I look forward to new challenge that lurks with in the Mac.

As for Windows I think it just wasn't me as I found it too .... helpful

Everything is in your face and there is no tweaking or messing about and that's another part of my puzzle. I love to tweak and mess about with programs that's the joy of computers in my eyes.

So anyway for now I will be sticking with Linux and Zorin and seeing how it pans out.

Again thanks for one of the best threads I have seen in a longtime.

 

[Powerpie5000]

Neither are a logical choice for gaming. Go pick up a used 360. They're much cheaper than a gaming PC and play all the same stuff. Anything PC exclusive worth playing is old enough to run on gran's emachines.

I find my PC to be much better than my Xbox 360 and PS3, but all 3 are still better for gaming than a Mac

...Why?

Do bad ports make your willy tingle?

??

Even a bad port on the PC is usually still better than the console counterpart, it's just some could have been 'much' better if devs made better use of the extra horsepower. I still use consoles for exclusives, but *most* multiplatform games i buy for the PC... Maybe it's just a personal preference for me as i like to have more detail, higher resolutions, faster framerates, better audio, faster loading times etc... And i can choose between keyboard & mouse or a control pad for almost any game

... Also my PC can do so much more than a console

 

[Justin]

agreed, i do use my consoles a lot, but when i want to play a game properly then it is PC all the way, high rez texture packs, extra levels and add ons, more detail, smoother more responsive.

quite why the aggressive tone i don't know, just because someone thinks different, it doesn't make it wrong

 

[morcar]

I find my PC to be much better than my Xbox 360 and PS3, but all 3 are still better for gaming than a Mac

...Why?

Do bad ports make your willy tingle?

??

Even a bad port on the PC is usually still better than the console counterpart, it's just some could have been 'much' better if devs made better use of the extra horsepower. I still use consoles for exclusives, but *most* multiplatform games i buy for the PC... Maybe it's just a personal preference for me as i like to have more detail, higher resolutions, faster framerates, better audio, faster loading times etc... And i can choose between keyboard & mouse or a control pad for almost any game

... Also my PC can do so much more than a console

If you want a prime example of PC better than console you have to look at Gears of War. PC version had an editor and an extra chapter but to really add the icing on the cake the game played far smoother, quicker and the graphics were a lot better too.

 

[Powerpie5000]

agreed, i do use my consoles a lot, but when i want to play a game properly then it is PC all the way, high rez texture packs, extra levels and add ons, more detail, smoother more responsive.

quite why the aggressive tone i don't know, just because someone thinks different, it doesn't make it wrong

I completely forgot to mention the countless 'free' expansion packs, level editors and texture packs etc. I find the people who bash PC gaming usually only own consoles or don't have a good enough PC for gaming.

 

[johnim]

i have just installed this on my pc with vmware from various guides just to sort sound out

 

[tokyoracer]

Neither are a logical choice for gaming. Go pick up a used 360. They're much cheaper than a gaming PC and play all the same stuff. Anything PC exclusive worth playing is old enough to run on gran's emachines.

I find my PC to be much better than my Xbox 360 and PS3, but all 3 are still better for gaming than a Mac

...Why?

Do bad ports make your willy tingle?

Only some are ports but many of them play as good or even better then the 360 counterparts. Often improved visuals too. Not always but all that I have personally seen so far...

 

[Hell_Labs]

Hackinthosh on PCs doesn't really work properly- almost.. many features are missing or poorly implemented. i have tried most of the distro's in the past and used them on modern Pcs.

lots of issues so i wiped it and bought a mac. best thing i ever did.

Only thing broken on mine is sleep. And only because I'm too lazy to install the fix.

Doesn't bother me, why would you use standby on a desktop?

 

[woodycool]

With the greatest of respect to morcar (and this isnt aimed at you either buddy ), I often read threads on Amiga forums about people "sick of PCs/ Windows" and how their PCs are always crashing and slow etc etc (oh god the world is going to end and Macs are here to save us type stuff :roll. And then these very same people are full of know how with all things PC/Windows?! If they are so clever, then why are their PCs "slow and always crashing"??

My reasons are differnet to others ..... I never really have any major issues with my Windows PCs ..... yeah I've had the odd quirk and the odd bit of Windows 'crapness' but I fix it and move (I do this for a living anyway) but my major problems with Windows are the following:

1. Licensing costs for legitimate software (I know you can pirate Windows but it's not really the way to do it, is it?)
2. Microsoft's new 'design concepts' - I think Windows 8 will alienate a lot of Microsoft's customer base - I absolutely detest that Metro UI crap that's intending to be forced out of people.

At the end of the day, my computer should work the way I tell it to, not the other way around. If MS get their way, they will be dictating the way we work.
My reasoning for looking at alternatives is based on me not liking the way the Windows is going at the moment. I never had any major issues with Windows XP and I maintain (until recently, it seems that a lot of Windows Updates actually break Windows rather than fix it) that it is a very stable OS.

The thing is, as long as Windows still exists, I still have a job and although I'm looking and moving elsewhere for my home environment, I will still use Windows in the working world (and probably keep at least one PC running Windows at home)

Amazingly, people say Vista is crap, but my old PC running Vista still does, it runs at an acceptable speed and it's still running the same installation of Vista SP2 since at least 3 or 4 years ago ...... I haven't got the heart to upgrade it as I'm a believer of "if it isn't broken, don't fix it"

That's my 2p worth.

 

[commodorejohn]

1. Licensing costs for legitimate software (I know you can pirate Windows but it's not really the way to do it, is it?)
2. Microsoft's new 'design concepts' - I think Windows 8 will alienate a lot of Microsoft's customer base - I absolutely detest that Metro UI crap that's intending to be forced out of people.

I solve both by reusing the same copy of XP Corporate I've had since 2008

 

[morcar]

I can see it where in windows 8 you have to do a yearly sub to use it or they shut it off knowing M$.

 

[commodorejohn]

I can see it where in windows 8 you have to do a yearly sub to use it or they shut it off knowing M$.

Oh, they've been planning that since the mid-'90s, and just waiting for a point where people will go along with it...if not Win8, then probably not too far in the future...

 

[Justin]

if it costs the same as Mac why not?

OS X to Lion? nope you got to buy Snow Leopard first £30 a pop please oh by the way you need 2gb to run Lion, no worries click here for a memory upgrade KERCHING!! £80 lol £80 for a £20 memory upgrade, oh and did we mention Mountain Lion is on it's way this summer..... stump up

they really are all as bad as one anothericard

 

[Buzzfuzz]

Never had a problem with licensing Windows, as I always buy OEM with new hardware, Windows 7 Professional was 120 euro's and I find that acceptable.

 

[AmiNeo]

I can see it where in windows 8 you have to do a yearly sub to use it or they shut it off knowing M$.

That'll happen when internet speeds reach that of LANs as standard. You wont even need to install it to a hard drive and will have the option to 'rent' licenses of software for your PC which runs remotely via the interwebs. Think 'cloud gaming' for mainstream computing. Then they'll have control of everything. :roll:

 

[woodycool]

Never had a problem with licensing Windows, as I always buy OEM with new hardware, Windows 7 Professional was 120 euro's and I find that acceptable.

All my PCs are custom built, I have to buy a Windows version every time I build a PC (either OEM or Retail, usually OEM though) but it still adds up.
MacOS X is cheaper at Retail cost than Windows is for OEM usually, unless I trawl ebay for a cheap OEM XP.
I'm trying to ditch XP now, as MS are not really supporting it that much, there's only security updates now and a lot of software manufacturers are no longer supporting XP. If I recall corrently, MS are dropping total support for XP in 2014 - that may seem a long way off, but that'll come round rather quickly, and once XP drop support for it, so will most software companies.
At the moment, I have an OEM Vista on a custom built machine, I have a MAPS license for Windows 7 on my another desktop (I did have an OEM key, but some reason, it won't activate any more :roll: maybe all the hardware changes due to dodgy hardware on the initial build ???) and as for my laptop (which I dual build XP / Ubuntu) I have activated it via OEM SLP certificate (the machine came with Vista, but Vista is too slooooooooow on this cheap s**t hardware)
All machines have a legit license of MS Office 2010 (no, I did NOT buy it Retail, it's too expensive considering my want of Outlook)

So, there's only really one version of Windows I have that is still considered 'proper'

1. Licensing costs for legitimate software (I know you can pirate Windows but it's not really the way to do it, is it?)
2. Microsoft's new 'design concepts' - I think Windows 8 will alienate a lot of Microsoft's customer base - I absolutely detest that Metro UI crap that's intending to be forced out of people.

I solve both by reusing the same copy of XP Corporate I've had since 2008

Without sounding too much like I'm splitting hairs, but 'Coporate' is not an official title for XP - I'm assuming you mean that you are using a 'Volume License' version of XP Professional - most of the keys for which have now been blacklisted on Windows Update's 'Genuine Advantage' tool.

 

[commodorejohn]

Without sounding too much like I'm splitting hairs, but 'Coporate' is not an official title for XP - I'm assuming you mean that you are using a 'Volume License' version of XP Professional - most of the keys for which have now been blacklisted on Windows Update's 'Genuine Advantage' tool.

If that's what it's called, yes...and blacklists only matter if you allow WGA to be installed

 

[woodycool]

and blacklists only matter if you allow WGA to be installed

.... or if you want to update Internet Explore, Windows Media Player and a some other stuff that's built in to the OS.

Although I do not use IE as my main browser, IE is so tightly integrated in to the OS, it's actually part of the OS ..... by upgrading IE, you are also upgrading OS components.

 

[commodorejohn]

and blacklists only matter if you allow WGA to be installed

.... or if you want to update Internet Explore, Windows Media Player and a some other stuff that's built in to the OS.

Well, that's basically it, I don't use IE and wouldn't touch WMP with a ten-foot pole (Winamp Classic all the way!) so it's not an issue...anyway, the security updates for IE6 go through with no problems; it's all a matter of catching and killing that first WGA "update" and setting it to never bug you about it again...

 

[woodycool]

Well, that's basically it, I don't use IE and wouldn't touch WMP with a ten-foot pole (Winamp Classic all the way!) so it's not an issue...anyway, the security updates for IE6 go through with no problems; it's all a matter of catching and killing that first WGA "update" and setting it to never bug you about it again...

Some of that stuff is tightly integrated in to the OS though, and by updating it, it updates Windows and some of the DLLs used for stuff like previewing documents in Windows Explorer and providing advanced infomation for files in the 'Properties' dialog box. On top of that, updates to later versions fix some of the bugs/features (delete as appropriate) with said functionality.
Granted, there's a few cracks to get around WGA, but I'm very cautious about any cracks etc. for Windows, as if it is a virus/trojan/malware/etc. then it's gonna be a bugger to get rid of when it's tightly wound in to the OS (which most cracks are)
On top of all this, is it even worth going to all this effort for XP? It's an outdate OS that first hit the shelf late 2001, I've only got XP on my laptop as driver support for 7 is dire on this cheap **** hardware and all I use it for is web browsing, email and iTunes .... everything else is done on my Win7 Desktop.
Either way, once MS have pushed XP users out and stopped support, so will software vendors and then it'll be a dead OS along with some of Microsoft's great products and utter failings (Win2000 was awesome imo, and WinME was their biggest mistake)

As for third-party alternatives, I use Firefox as my browser, but keep IETab and an installation of IE for those odd sites that don't work properly. As for Meida Player, no, I don't use it anymore, I'm a recent convert to VLC Player as it plays everything I throw at it out of the box without messing around with codecs.
The only MS software installed is the OS and Office (I have a likeing for Outlook)