MAC vs PC -- sound off -- need a little help

[kaneboats]

OK, my daughter is an Iphone person who wants a MacBook Air for Christmas. I am looking at the specs on these and am unimpressed for what you get for the money vs a low to mid budget laptop. Putting aside that I can't stand windows 8, I still don't get why they pay so much for these things.

So, I'm trying to decide whether to bite the bullet or to convince her she's nuts. I'd like thoughts from anybody with experience here. Let's keep this civil. I know there are fruity types who love their apple stuff but I'm more interested in why they believe the value is there.

Thanks to everyone who contributes.

[drb59]

I was in the same "boat" but my son's university use Mac's. Also, they can set up their Iphones and computers together. My son did get a discount from the university as well.

[kaneboats]

Also, if anyone has a good source for refurb or other deals on MacBook please let me know.

[bergermaister]

Been in your shoes. Sorry in advance - kinda wordy here.

Ok, been a PC guy since college days in 1994 when my first one landed in my dorm room. Grew to be a power user- work for a software company currently. Had never cared for the fruit - no interest.

Burned up, rebuilt, reinstalled, custom built, upgraded, desktops, laptops, you name it over the years. Been there, done that too many times. Last Windows machine went through 3 power supplies, 2 hard drives, sound card, wireless card, and a flaky video card over about 4 years. I kept upgrading and fixing and keeping it going since it was a beefy machine. After the last "issue" with a possible hack (thanks to naive kids) I took a step back and a long, hard look at this history. What a pain. Not the hardware per say, but the constant updates, reinstalling, configuring, etc.

Enter the Mac. Nice all-in-one design, simple, elegant, but spendy. HOWEVER - for a comparably outfitted PC the cost was very close. (I'm talking desktops in this case). At $1700 for an iMac, a comparably loaded PC and monitor were coming in at just over $1600. Plus the majority of exploits and attacks are Windows focused. Right now I don't even bother with anti-virus...

Macbooks definitely come at a premium but they are also built with premium components compared to a lot of off the shelf pc laptops.

Having a little over a month of experience in the Fruity world of computing I have no regrets making the change thus far. You do things a little differently than in PC world but the transition is rather quick and painless and there are a bunch of helpful how-to's out there. Setup was absolutely simple. The few if any updates needed were simple. My old dual monitor PC setup had a ridiculous gaggle of cords for power, sound, video, etc. All kinds of crap. The iMac - just one cord for power.

Plus the design of the Macs is just damn sexy. We have other Windows laptops floating around the house but since this thing arrived they rarely seem to get used much...

I work on a PC during the day but run a Mac at home now. Our head of development (we're a Microsoft Certified Partner company) is a Windows developer but only has Macs at home. Hmmmm, interesting.


The Apple store often has decent refurbs in their outlet section with good warranties.

Also -
http://www.macmall.com/
http://www.megamacs.com/

[VA LSV]

2nd Macmall. Not may "Deals" available on Apple products.

[Jason05216]

I second Berg's comments. I use PCs at work and Macs at home. The Macs are so much easier to deal with on a day to day basis. I've had 2 of the iMacs and my wife uses a Macbook and the only problem I have ever had with one is the hard drive failed and had to be replaced. If the software that we use for work was built for Mac we wouldn't use PCs at all.

Apple has a education discount program so you can probably get something a little cheaper if you purchase it that way. Go to http://store.apple.com/us-hed to see that pricing. If her school is like my son's she is using Apple every day so it would be seamless for her.

[zabooda]

I've Macs and PCs and prefer the Mac as it boots up faster, no viruses, and does videos better. There is software where you partition it for PC emulation but I never used it.

[csm]

PCs at work and iMac at home for me too. The biggest thing for me is PCs eventually get so bogged down and end up taking forever to boot up and shut down. I know you can do certain things to fix this, but that always annoys me. My iMac is still as fast as the day I got it 5 years ago. Wife has a MacBook Air and same thing there. So fast compared to my work laptop.

[bergermaister]

Don't get me wrong though - I would love a speedy pc with a big screen too. At work they just built a custom box for one of our developers with all high end stuff that is probably the fastest I've ever seen. Boots up in under 12 seconds! (I clocked it) However they have $2700 into it in parts alone.

Another guy here at work has always got laptops for his daughters when they started college and the last one, a year ago I believe, opted to go with a Macbook. He said he dealt with the same sticker shock but finally gave in. Had a problem with the display just recently and were able to make an appointment with a local Apple store. I guess the tech sat there with them to troubleshoot it. They left it there and came back 2 days later to pick it up all fixed and ready. No charge. He said that right there, not having to deal with warranty claims, shipping, waiting, etc. or avoiding the goobers working GeekSquad in BestBuy was awesome.

[jester]

The question really is not MAC vs PC. It is what is she going to be using it for. This is an age old topic on who is better and everyone has story's on both sides. You also have to think about skills in the long term also. Most company's use PC's were schools use Mac's. I am all about the right computer for the right applications and user.

Now just to keep things clear I am a PC guy. Have been for more years then I can count. Built lots of gaming computers in my life but now at home I like to just use my cell phone when I can.

The Mike breakdown on computers and applications.

Application Type of computer
Word products PC. Lets face if Microsoft office products work better on PC's
Listening to music and have a iphone Mac. You already have your music there and Itunes works better on a MAC
Gaming PC
Web browsing Google Chromebook
Graphic design / video editing Now that is a topic on its own

[kaneboats]

I had same daughter's Iphone 4s get slightly wet about 3 years ago. It shut down about a week later. Gave her a backup phone. No I-store within 250 miles of Tallahassee. About a month later I was in Boston for work so I went to the I-store. They Sh*t me a new (refurb) phone with no charge. No real explanation. I was sure it was a gimmick for loyalty cuz I was a Dad or something. One of my other kids is still using that phone.

So, I'm a little swayed with the C/S you can get. But, there's no I-store within a long way of here. I wonder what kind of service you can get from a Best B*y our the like. Not been impressed with any of these entities in the past and do all the WIN stuff myself.

[bergermaister]

This could almost turn into a "how much ballast should I get" or "how big of a stereo do I need" type of thread. Hehe... How much $$$ can we spend for you?!

On service or repair I'd be lost on the mac, except for maybe swapping a HD or adding RAM. Other than that I don't think they're much you can do DIY, and even those may be a stretch.

Jester has a good point though. What's it used for?

But probably the most important point that hasn't come up yet....

WHAT IS GOING TO MAKE YOUR WIFE HAPPY...

[DOCDRS]

But probably the most important point that hasn't come up yet....

WHAT IS GOING TO MAKE YOUR WIFE HAPPY...

AND DONT FORGET ...... Do you want to see a frown or a big wide smile on your cute daughters face?

hope she doesn't see this post as she knows she's getting another piece of fruit.....such a nice dad. :):):)

[Woody929]

I agree with Jester. I couldn't do my job on a Mac, but I can screw around with my wife's at home. Too many things in my professional environment just don't cut it on a Mac.

In 2011 my wife was in need of a new laptop. I had a hard time justifying the cost for the Mac since it is essentially another flavor of Unix, and always seemed to be running on last year's PC specs. We decided to bite the bullet though for a change. She has to run Parallels on it with Windows 7 because the main software she uses is Win only. There are things with it that frustrate her, and if she were to get another computer, I don't know if it would be a Mac.

For my daughter I could see getting a Mac because she wouldn't be doing anything that would require anything different.

[BobP]

You can set up a windows boot partition to boot directly to windows, no need to use parallels (but we do on an old Mac mini). But, if you use it for work and you only use windows software then not sure it makes sense for a Mac, for most people. Personally I would always choose one over a windows pc.

[kaneboats]

Broke down or gave in or whatever you want to call it. I'll report back on Xmas morning. This one is 16 and it's getting where there isn't a whole lot left I can do for her.

[bergermaister]

Was wondering what direction you went. Good Dad.

Never know, you may find yourself sampling the fruit... :p

[kaneboats]

They'd have to dip it in caramel . . .

[jzelt]

Seeing the route you took, is one I would as well, even though I have had very limited Apple use. For boot-up speed, simplicity, integration...
But I am more a Linux guy at home (which keeps a pc from 2001 still running today). Windows PC at work (cause it's mandatory), and Mac ipad, which, before having internet connection on my Samsung phone, is what I would use for internet browsing instead of booting up laptop with Windows on it waiting for it to get access.