mac or pc

i am looking at buying a laptop, and i cant make up my mind whether to go mac or windows. if i was going mac i would get the new MAcbook pro and if i was going windows i would prolly get some AMD athlon. Anyway what i am asking is which should i get?


p.s. i plan on keeping it for a couple of years so i dont want it to go out of date to quick. and i keep hearing bad things about windows vista

thx for your help

 

If you are looking for opinions here; in my view Macs are far easier to use and they have fewer problems [crashes, security problems while browsing the web, etc.] and therefore they are far more "user friendly," and are consequently IMO, easier for even a novice user to learn how to use in a relatively short period of time.

However, almost always [for the average user, that is] a PC system is going to be cheaper to buy and the vast majority of software developed - particularly freeware - is programmed for Windows Operating systems exclusively. These are the two big advantages of choosing PCs. Another advantage – for better or worse – is that most business oriented companies use PCs.

Here is another HUGE difference in my opinion: The PC is simply a far more "customizable device." A skillful and relatively experienced user can pick and choose the proper components from a variety of sources to suit their needs. All PC components can be chosen from multiple brand names, many different manufacturers, and varying degrees of quality and price. For practical purposes, you can build a solid system for about $500 to $1000.

The Mac, on the other hand, is in reality an "as-is" piece of equipment. You purchase the system and it’s pretty much unchangeable after that. Though there is some choice as to the levels and specifications of the components, you are in essence buying everything from one company: Apple Computer.

I'm certainly NOT knocking Mac's here - I actually have two MAC towers; a G3 and a G4 that I primarily use to test old and new MAC graphics programs with. My own personal opinion is that Macs are far superior when using graphics types of programs, film editing, photo editing, etc; although both can be used for this purpose.

But my primary work is done on PC computer desktops only because of the incredible abundance of freeware that is available for use on a PC. If I go to downloads.com or ZNet or larger sites that have freeware on any given day - there are literally thousands of PC-Based freeware programs and utilities to choose from and I'm usually lucky to find only a few dozen freeware programs for Macs – and most of them are the same older versions that I saw there last time I visited those sites. The Major Geeks MAC Area is a good example of the "paltry pickings" out there for Mac-Based freeware software applications and utilities.

Apple - Boot Camp, a new beta entry might change all that, but who knows.

Additionally when deciding whether you want to go with Mac or PC; it all depends on what type of files and programs you need or want to use and what the primary goal of your computer utilization is. There is just about nothing that a PC can do that a Mac can not do. This does NOT mean a Mac can run the exact identical software title as a PC - for example many PC's use programs like WinZip to zip and unzip files. A Mac can use a program called StuffIt to zip and unzip files. Therefore both can use zip files.

Both Macs and PC's can be used to download files, surf the web, send and receive e-mail, as well as be networked together - both Mac to Mac as well as Macintosh to PC – in order to share files, printers, CD-ROMs, etc. You can also even run Windows on a Mac computer using a program called Virtual PC an application that makes it possible for you to access PC-only software, files, networks and devices from your Mac. And like I mentioned before the BETA Apple - Boot Camp.

Good Luck!

 

Mac Book Pro. The MBP 2.0ghz performs on par (and sometimes better) with an AMD 3800+ X2 desktop CPU.

Get Apple Boot Camp, or OSX Leopard when it comes out, and dual boot it with XP or Vista.

Note, you WILL pay a premium buying a Mac, and a Pro (vs. iMacs, and iBooks) product at that..