need help with mac

[hallwagner]

Yeah...and they make a Microsoft Office 2008 made specifically for a Mac so school work is no problem. Not to mention, it's rare that a Mac is going to freeze up during school work and make you lose all your progress. I play CSS, WoW and Starcraft II on my Macs at full graphics and I don't have any glitches or lag during gameplay. Plus, as long as he gets the i5, i7 or whatever the 3rd option is, he will be on top of things for a long time (4gb ram, 1tb HDD, 512mb graphics, 3.0ghz+ processors...etc). Both of my macs are 3 years old and I still run everything, including new games...flawlessly. Oh, and some of the new Macs include an option to add the umm...express port or whatever to add higher graphics cards on top of the 512 they already have. Heck, he doesn't even have to upgrade for multiple years if he gets the top of the line when he first buys. Even new games that are out require very little out of a Mac to run well, and I doubt that anything will be released in the near future (5 years) that is going to be fucking INSANE and not be able to run on a top of the line Mac of today.

Oh and you don't have to stay on top of spyware, malware, virus protection and a lack of updates when there are glitches in a PC. I have yet to do anything to my Macs in 3 years and my computer turns on in less than 20 seconds and all programs including internet all run amazingly fast.

Also...if he gets a Mac, make sure he orders on the www.apple.com website and go to the STORE > REFURBISHED section. Both of mine are refurbished and were about $400 off the retail price. :-)

a pc shouldnt freeze during schoolwork, and if it does, maybe you should have spent more than 50 $ on it :P

[Jimbear]

Oh and you don't have to stay on top of spyware, malware, virus protection and a lack of updates when there are glitches in a PC. I have yet to do anything to my Macs in 3 years and my computer turns on in less than 20 seconds and all programs including internet all run amazingly fast.

While this actually may be true, you can't really call that a good reason to buy a mac. That's not even good advice. Just because people don't write viruses and other nasty things for a niche market doesnt mean that you should be lulled into a false sense of security, thats just asinine.

[Tickle Me Emo]

Macs are really getting a lot closer to PCs in capability... they're definitely still more expensive for what you get hardware-wise, but in my experience they run beautifully (my current laptop is a 15" Macbook Pro). I have WoW and Starcraft 2 on it, and they run fine. I haven't tried the new Steam for Mac - but more and more games are becoming available. That said, it is worth considering if he plans on doing a lot of gaming, some games just won't have the compatibility.

In terms of user experience, as familiar as I am with Windows, I would say that OS X is better. Windows 7 is Microsoft playing catch up to OS X, and while it is better than older Windows versions, I don't think it's up to the same standard just yet. Also, Apple customer support has been really great when I and friends of mine have had to use it.

Apple really does make good stuff, but their weakness is price and compatibility. If you can't get past those, go with a PC. My desktop is a PC for those exact reasons. I have the laptop because I got it lightly used off a guy at my old workplace for about 40% less than new retail. So, for the hardware, I paid about as much as I would have for a PC. Since I use the laptop for less broad activities (minor gaming and web surfing on the go, mostly, since I'm not in school anymore), compatibility is not an issue.

[RickJames]

I couldn't agree more with Tragedy and Tickle Me Emo. I previously have owned 2 Dells and an hp, now a current owner of a 17' macbook pro and a standard mac desktop. If your friend really only wants to do school work and play css, then I'd suggest Mac. I personally only use this computer for internet, music, and css, and I haven't had one issue with running source on here. I've found it much more reliable than any of my previous computers, and I've found that source runs much more smoothly on here. Seriously, this laptop has been a God-send, I was just about to throw my dell out the window after its 1 millionth bluescreen. I'll agree that if you want much more versatility, go with a pc, but if ya want something simple and reliable, go mac.

[XxMastagunzxX]

If you don't know how to maintain a pc then you are retarded...

[Tragedy]

I was a computer technician at my previous job and was in charge of the business server and over 23 different PC's...and I know how to maintain a PC.

If I am spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars on a computer, I don't want to maintain it...it better maintain itself.


oh and I don't feel like scrolling up, but whoever picked out ONE of my factual statements comparing a PC and a Mac and said it was stupid to post it...that's kinda dumb of you to say. It is definitely one of the good things about Macs...apple stays on top of their updates and security and makes it where the user doesn't have to worry about a thing. Wouldn't you want this if you just spent $1600 on a computer? No wait...you would rather have a virus that doesn't let you have internet access, change your proxies and force you to manually remove a virus right? No.

Not to mention...that is only ONE of the many reasons I listed as to why someone should by a Mac over a PC.



Hallwagner...don't make me start up steam and come own your ass in game

[hallwagner]

I was a computer technician at my previous job and was in charge of the business server and over 23 different PC's...and I know how to maintain a PC.

If I am spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars on a computer, I don't want to maintain it...it better maintain itself.


oh and I don't feel like scrolling up, but whoever picked out ONE of my factual statements comparing a PC and a Mac and said it was stupid to post it...that's kinda dumb of you to say. It is definitely one of the good things about Macs...apple stays on top of their updates and security and makes it where the user doesn't have to worry about a thing. Wouldn't you want this if you just spent $1600 on a computer? No wait...you would rather have a virus that doesn't let you have internet access, change your proxies and force you to manually remove a virus right? No.

Not to mention...that is only ONE of the many reasons I listed as to why someone should by a Mac over a PC.



Hallwagner...don't make me start up steam and come own your ass in game

ahha please do man i miss u :P

[Jimbear]

so let me get this straight, you're saying it's completely ok to NOT stay on top of your virus definitions and periodically scan for bad shit?

oh and I don't feel like scrolling up, but whoever picked out ONE of my factual statements comparing a PC and a Mac and said it was stupid to post it...that's kinda dumb of you to say. It is definitely one of the good things about Macs...apple stays on top of their updates and security and makes it where the user doesn't have to worry about a thing.

Mac doesn't deliver security, other than by virtue of the fact they don't attract enough attention.

Anyone that scoffs at security and leaves their thousand-dollar machine to someone else to protect is, in fact, kind of dumb.

I have yet to do anything to my Macs in 3 years and my computer turns on in less than 20 seconds and all programs including internet all run amazingly fast.

i call bullshit on less-than-20 second boot, My i7 920 doesn't boot Ubuntu that fast, and I have an SSD. And "amazingly fast" is about as relative a term as you can come across

[RickJames]

Mine boots in somewhere under 25 seconds, I can believe his in under 20 secs.

[Jimbear]

I have a friend at work with a MBP from last year with the core2duo, and his boots in about 40, so since his Mac is much newer than tragedy's (im assuming from previous posts) 3 year old mac, im still calling bullshit