Mac or PC?

I'm with Jeff and Rich. I build my own PCs and upgrade only those pieces that need it when they need it. Why do you need a new monitor, keyboard, mouse, and DVD drive every time you buy a new PC? Rip off!

Bat-mite said:

I'm with Jeff and Rich. I build my own PCs and upgrade only those pieces that need it when they need it. Why do you need a new monitor, keyboard, mouse, and DVD drive every time you buy a new PC? Rip off!

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Or RAM or video card or SSD or CPU or heatsinks, fans, cables, etc. etc. The list goes on and on. Modularity wins for those willing to go under the hood (and deal with the hassles/fun that entails).
-Ken

I'll toss in a different, perhaps unwelcome thought. I use PC's and prefer Linux over Windows. I ABSOLUTELY REFUSE to spend my money on anything Apple. Having dealt with them on a professional level has jaded my opinion of that company forever and I'll leave it at that.

Wow...a more balanced discussion on Mac vs Win vs Linux than I've seen in a long time. I've used and purchased zillions of computers over the years (professional SW developer and formerly ran IT depts). Over the years I've ended up preferring Mac laptops (now have MacBook pro for work/home) and desktop modular machines running Linux. I have next to no need for Windows now either professionally or personally and ditched my last Windows laptop at work a few months back. The Apple laptop BIOS integration is vastly superior, with way fewer problems after repeated suspend/resumes. We have a large and growing population of MBP's at work and there are *relatively* few HW problems compared to the rather troublesome fleet of HP high-end laptops. For simulation/analytics work I have a tower workstation with a higher end video card, tons of RAM and an SSD running Ubuntu. It's all good...

I have a Lenovo Y50-70. 16GB of RAM, Nvidia GTX 560M graphics, 1TB HDD+8GB SSD. Absolutely love it.

I am always astounded by the Mac users who claim superiority in the realm of personal computing after they spend 1500 to 2000 on a Mac but will only spend 700 on a PC.

I have two MacBook Air laptops, one 2011 and the other 2013, both top of the line models. The 2011 drops the sound card almost all of the time, well known issue on the Mac forums, tried all the fixes but still persists. I also have a top of the line 2013 iPad that has had intermittent battery issues, again well known. My wife has had 4 iPhones, gone though 3 digitizers, well known to fail and created an entire industry. China sells them by the lots of 10-50,000 at a time, just go to Alibaba.com. Her current iPhone has no sound for the telephone only, profile says its on but no sound, all other device sounds work, again do a Google, many hits.

I run a small IT company and currently manage well over 3,000 MS Windows Desktops, as well as a handful (growing) number of Macs, mostly Win 7 with more Win 8, and I have very little issues. When we do have issues the manufacturer ships us the part and we do a quick swap out, or in worst case rebuild, but we do it and we do it immediately. Now the big difference is all of my clients budget 1,000 per desktop and 1,500 per laptop. We also support Mac, when they fail we have to make an appointment with the local Apple store, wait at least a few days, go in and speak with a representative and either get talked into an upgrade or leave the system there to be worked on when they have time. Off warranty devices we fix ourselves and the difference between servicing a Apple product and a PC is night and day. The Apple products are much less flexible, and require more specialized knowledge and tools to get into and repair. With close to 25 years in the industry this has convinced me that the PC is hard to beat if you have a decent grade system...we do not work on consumer grade products only commercial grade and there is a difference.

One other thing that makes me shake my head is the notion that Mac users are infallible to security threats. That is a cultural misnomer and simply false. One of the first viruses documented on a modern computer was written for Apple II and the threats have grown since then. No denying they are no where near as prolific as Windows based systems, however threats today are not written by a bunch of propeller heads looking for bragging rights. Threats today are all about business. In some countries in eastern Europe you can get a job, dress in your suite and tie, go to your office building and work your way up the corporate ladder hacking rich North Americans or any country that has no jurisdiction on you. It's not illegal, as a matter of fact it is only illegal to commit cyber crime within your country. Now if you're a business owner are you going to dedicate resources and write code to attack 5% of the market, or 95%. If you are smart you are going after 95%. Having said that, because Mac users are lulled into a false sense of security, I predict we will see a higher proportionate increase in Mac threats than Windows, as they gain in popularity.

Don't get me wrong, this is not an Apple/Mac bash, as a matter of fact I will buy another MacBook, Air or Pro, I am just trying to put some perspective on the topic.

I can only speak from experience. Thirty years without a breakdown or need for a repair. This includes Apple IIe, 4 Macs, and 8 apple laptops between my wife and I. In fact, three of the laptops have survived a dusty, sandy combat zone and still run 3, 5, and 10 years later.

Thirty years without a virus also. I understand the theoretic risk to a virus, but it just has not happened to date for me. I have scanned for them, but they never hit my Mac. I can not say the same for the PCs I have owned.

I can not say the same for the Asus, HP, Compaq, IBM, Acer, and multiple others from work. Maybe I have just have bad luck, bit I have noticed a trend and a lower level of quality in my opinion. For $700, you get what you pay for.


I understand

I built my current Windows PC for about $1000 about 4 years ago - I use it approximately 12-14 hours a day for work and in the evenings (my wife and kids also use it). I finally had to replace the graphics card a couple of months ago - no dramas. I'll probably build another in a year or so (more for the fun of building with all the new components that have come out) and give this one over to the family full time.

I prefer PC's for the ability to decide on each and every component I want to use. I dislike Apple for the way you are locked into their format for everything (software and hardware) - data cables, chargers, itunes, the works. If I want to put some music on my android phone I plug it in and drag and drop the file. I think Apple is finally catching up on that but having to use itunes for everything is just ugly.

My current windows HP laptop is 5 years old - still works well and is fast enough to run everything I want. I might upgrade it next year too.

I think some of the issues folk have with windows stuff is that there is so much variety that you do end up with some bad manufacturers, and some bad components and some bad models even from good manufacturers. What it means is that you have to do your research and chose the right things. Apple has no choice - they have to get it right or they are sunk but you pay the price for that too - on the purchase and in the limitations and lack of flexibility/upgradability/repairability.

Re: getting something on the iPhone lock screen. Anything on your camera roll can be made the lock screen. Just pick the share icon in the lower left. So all you have to do is either edit a picture or take a picture of whatever you want it to look like or even email it to yourself on the phone and save it, then go to the image and set it for the lock screen. You can move and scale the image as part of that process as well.

On the "nothing like the Linux command line" comment: Of course there is a command line interface to the MacOS as well.....which as others have noted goes back to a UNIX base as well.

I agree, at least philosophically, that Apple's hardware approach can be constraining. Of course comparing an iMac to a traditional PC desktop isn't really a fair comparison. I expect the difference is rather less stark between laptops built by Apple and those built by Dell or Lenovo or Acer. I know for sure it' the case with Acer - I speak from experience there.

One other thought: Windows 10's assumption that you want to share everything (including your wireless password) with anyone you know and from there anyone they know does not endear me to Windows 10. Though to be fair one can, if aware, opt out of all that: https://askleo.com/setting-up-windows-10-for-privacy/

One of the issues I see with Windows based PCs is MS insists on turning on every service possible, whether you require it or not. On top of that the manufacturers have a tendency to bundle all kinds of 3rd party bloatware, more so with consumer systems. This alone tends to lead to poorer performance and more issues.

With clones the users tend to be a bit more savvy and will lean out the system for performance as well as install just what they need, at least in the beginning. Unfortunately most users tend to accumulate crap or fall into the old manufacturer bundling additional software with their "freeware". This again leads to performance degradation and interoperability issues.

I would say what is "best" for the user depends on the user's preference as well as their needs, more than one generally being better than the other.

new2hpr said:

Or RAM or video card or SSD or CPU or heatsinks, fans, cables, etc. etc. The list goes on and on. Modularity wins for those willing to go under the hood (and deal with the hassles/fun that entails).
-Ken

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Heh - I thought the same the last time I thought about just upgrading rather than replacing. But a new MB and processor almost always requires a new set of RAM (it seems they change the standard/interfacing every six months for just this very reason). Video card? Naw - it can't keep up with the new codecs! Power supply? Nope - MB draws more power - replace that! Wait - now the power supply won't fit in the old case (redesign on profile there too) - need a new one of those!

Seems like one of those "There's a hole in the bucket, Eliza" situations!

BEC said:

Re: getting something on the iPhone lock screen. Anything on your camera roll can be made the lock screen. Just pick the share icon in the lower left. So all you have to do is either edit a picture or take a picture of whatever you want it to look like or even email it to yourself on the phone and save it, then go to the image and set it for the lock screen. You can move and scale the image as part of that process as well.

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True. The problem is the lock screen he's currently using isn't in the camera roll... it's a default apparently, and there's no way I've found yet to access that particular file so I can get the text on it with the app. I'll just find a similar picture elsewhere and move it to the camera roll... presuming the phone lets me!

Marc

gpoehlein said:

Heh - I thought the same the last time I thought about just upgrading rather than replacing. But a new MB and processor almost always requires a new set of RAM (it seems they change the standard/interfacing every six months for just this very reason). Video card? Naw - it can't keep up with the new codecs! Power supply? Nope - MB draws more power - replace that! Wait - now the power supply won't fit in the old case (redesign on profile there too) - need a new one of those!

Seems like one of those "There's a hole in the bucket, Eliza" situations!

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Erhm... no. Standard RAM has been 240 pin DDR3 for 5+ years, and that means that unless your computer is ancient, there is still a RAM upgrade available for it. Unless you play games you don't need a graphics card, and if you do, then you would know that even the newest cards will work with motherboards with PCI-e 2.0 and up, so anything newer than about 2007-2008. As long as you bought a reasonable power supply originally (and I don't mean expensive, $50 vs $25 makes a world of difference) it will serve you well for a very long time. The standard for power supplies has been identical for decades now, and a good reliable unit should still be humming along for at least a decade. Cases are like power supplies, you get what you pay for. That $20 case with all of the fancy LEDs may seem cool, but it is probably junk compared to a $50 case. Again though, power supplies have been the exact same form factor since the mid 90's, so no compatibility issues there, unless someone didn't do research and bought a very unusual case with a non-standard PSU bay, like some very compact prebuilts (the mistake in this case is buying a prebuilt).

I'll get a Mac when I start wearing scarves while watching independant foreign films at the oxygen bar.

Marc_G said:

True. The problem is the lock screen he's currently using isn't in the camera roll... it's a default apparently, and there's no way I've found yet to access that particular file so I can get the text on it with the app. I'll just find a similar picture elsewhere and move it to the camera roll... presuming the phone lets me!

Marc

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I know that this is not what you want but iOS8 has the Health app and the emergency data can be accessed from the locked screen touch pad. Once everything is set up press the emergency which brings up the emergency phone screen. At that location there is the Medical ID access. It is a bit out of the way but it is there and it is complete information.

Marc_G said:

True. The problem is the lock screen he's currently using isn't in the camera roll... it's a default apparently, and there's no way I've found yet to access that particular file so I can get the text on it with the app. I'll just find a similar picture elsewhere and move it to the camera roll... presuming the phone lets me!

Marc

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A round about way would be to take a screen capture of the lock screen. Just press the power and home buttons simultaneously (this is the general way to take an iPhone screen shot whenever/wherever). You'd then have to edit out the current date/time and "slide to unlock". This is a screen cap of my current lock screen.

You're right in that I have no idea where those stock wallpaper files are hidden. Of course if he wants to use one of the "dynamic" ones we're all out of luck I think......

Marc_G said:

RE: iphone lockscreen "if found text":



You'd think so. Been a standard feature on Android and Windows phones for years. But not available on iPhones. There are apps to do it. The app I got takes a jpg file and burns text into it, then sets that as the lock screen.

My son decided to change lockscreens to one of the other ones that are standard on iPhone. But, it's not accessible as a JPG for the app I've got to work on it to put the text on. Spent lots of time trying to figure out where it is... even installed iTunes on my PC to see if I could find it there. Nope. Installed "iFunbox" which gives access to the file system on the phone... couldn't find it...

Eventually gave up. Will find a different similar picture on the web, move it to photos, then it will work with the app.

Marc

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Oh my gosh, that is completely obnoxious. I was at a company that received custom IOS builds and ours had this feature. I cannot believe it is not part of the regular shipping product.

Well, score one point for every other mobile OS.

Lurch said:

I'll toss in a different, perhaps unwelcome thought. I use PC's and prefer Linux over Windows. I ABSOLUTELY REFUSE to spend my money on anything Apple. Having dealt with them on a professional level has jaded my opinion of that company forever and I'll leave it at that.

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If you see any difference at all between the tactics and ethics of each of the mega successful long time corporations, you are not yet jaded enough.

PC guy many moons since even before Chicago.

I have hand picked my hardware and shopped to always get more PC for my money .

Currently Apple uses Intel based components in their products just like a PC , but you will not find a Devils Canyon or Xeons there .

I will admit that my next PC will take an Apple turn and be smaller and more power efficient than my Overclocked systems ..dropping down to Mini ITX and going to utilize onboard video.

Kenny

mkadams001 said:

I know that this is not what you want but iOS8 has the Health app and the emergency data can be accessed from the locked screen touch pad. Once everything is set up press the emergency which brings up the emergency phone screen. At that location there is the Medical ID access. It is a bit out of the way but it is there and it is complete information.

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Thanks. I was unaware of this, but it is interesting. Still, what I really need is just to make a jpg for the lock screen so that anyone who picks up the phone can see who owns it. It's not hard to do, just annoying that the specific picture my son chose from the built-in ones is so hard to access.

I'll sort it out. Sorry to the OP for the minor thread hijack on the subject. Still it is stuff like this that explains why I'm not a fan of Apple stuff.

Agreed. Even though I am generally a fan of Apple stuff, it has been my experience that it's either very simple and generally intuitive to do something with an Apple device or software or you just can't get there from here. There is seldom any middle ground as there can be with other platforms and operating systems.

....which is somewhat relevant to the OP's question .

It never fails when the "what do you prefer, mac or pc" topic appears that there are strong opinions about the two platforms. There seems to be a group of pc diy'ers who love to build and fix their computers while the apple fans haul it do the genus bar. I am not sure if this reflects the normal consumer who has a computer. I think most people just want to buy a computer, have it work they way they expect, have an interface that compliments the operator, be able to install software or updates without hiring someone, and if it fails have great customer service or a place to take it to get it repaired.

I have to say that the apple genius bar and customer support at their stores (including product training) is in a league of their own. Of the few times I have had to use the genius bar the experience has been great, the cost of the repair was much lower than I expected, and in one instance, free which was an out of warranty logic board. It made my day and then some.

MAC running windows

I prefer the mac because I am more comfortable with a unix based platform. Currently use a MacBook Pro with a Windows 7 VM.

Native OSX: TeleMega ground station, some custom flight and test stand apps, SDR, browser, office apps, etc.

VM Win 7: SDR, Burnsim, APRS software, Soft TNC, and few other Windows only apps.

The setup works well. However, be prepared to mod some files to get your USB devices to connect where you want them and how you want them in the VM.

Also have a backup tracking computer running Linux.


Sent from my iPad using Rocketry Forum

I do Overclocking competitions and go for world records... Microsoft just develops the OS it's up to vendors and hardware manufacturers to make their components compatible via drivers. The problem with apple was Steve Jobs... A man who claimed to have invented things, when in fact that is not the case. Plus, have you ever talked to someone who "loves" apple? You can't tell them anything about the flaws in the products...

Alethins said:

The problem with apple was Steve Jobs... A man who claimed to have invented things, when in fact that is not the case. Plus, have you ever talked to someone who "loves" apple? You can't tell them anything about the flaws in the products...

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I presume that you are setting bait with that statement.

It must be a problem to have created the most successful company in the world. I don't know if he actually made claims of inventing anything. Much like every other mac vs pc debate there is always the fanboy vs fanboy pissing contest.

mkadams001 said:

I presume that you are setting bait with that statement.

It must be a problem to have created the most successful company in the world. I don't know if he actually made claims of inventing anything. Much like every other mac vs pc debate there is always the fanboy vs fanboy pissing contest.

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There most certainly is, and not bait. It's an anecdotal statement. If by creating a sucess full company you mean being a thief and suing anyone for anything, than yes he was great. I like Windows and I like that iOS is Unix based. It's going to boil down to personal preference. I'm going to be switching to Linux on one of my machines here very soon. Again, no bait set just my opinion.