Anyone using an Apple Mac ?

[Saffaroo]

I'm thinking of getting an Apple Mac desktop or maybe a laptop.  I've heard great things about them but I am concerned with making the change from ordinary pc and wondered if anyone had done just that    I will still have a Dell laptop as a backup, but I design websites as a freelancer and keep getting told that an Apple would 
suit better given the fact I have lots of photos and graphics to work with.

Any help or advice much appreciated 

[Helen]

back in the steam driven days there was a massive difference, now there's not - couple of keys are different really and that's about it.
I have an i-book (my second) and I love my macs....

I use Microsoft for Mac, so have excel, word, powerpoint etc which i can easily email to non-mac users - sometimes there are font issues but that's about it.

[lexi]

Hi Saffaroo

I have a Mac PowerBook G4 and set up my own site www.lexis-spaniels.ch (an update is long overdue!) with the freeway4express program. I don't have any background in computer science and everything I know today I learned as I went along. We've always been Apple aficionados in this family so I can't comment on the change from PC to Mac. I find Macs to be extremely user-friendly. I'd be lost without mine.

[SimonThePhotographer]

While you're deciding, why not check out the latest funny Mac vs PC ads....

http://www.apple.com/uk/getamac/ads/

[lexi]

While you're deciding, why not check out the latest funny Mac vs PC ads....

http://www.apple.com/uk/getamac/ads/

I'd forgotten about these Simon - they say it all in a nutshell!

And here's the American version:
http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/

[SimonThePhotographer]

Yeah unfortunately these adverts ARE representative of the differences between PC and Mac, but I've been programming PCs now for 15+ years and it's near impossible to find some of the kit that I rely on, on a Mac.

I think for me, the deciding factor to stick with PC is purely because of the variety of software you get on a PC compared to Mac.  And game support too.  But the Mac is great for music authoring which I also love.  These days the performance of both Mac and PC aren't too far apart.

It's a tough call - but the ad's are funny!  :-)

[White Bryony]

We have always used macs at work but we have a pc at home.  TBH I much prefer the mac at work, it seems a lot more stable and runs a lot quicker that our pc.

Along with the usual database, word processing packages we mainly use the macs for designing magazines and they cope with lots of images/photos much better than any pc I have used.  You can also have lots of programmes running simultaneously without it slowing it down.

[SimonThePhotographer]

I think that by design, the Mac is genuis in it's build. It's software is well written and it's hardware is designed to squeeze every bit of juice from the processor.  But even at the top end of the scale, there are PCs which are easily twice as fast.   The difference, is you dont have to buy a high end Mac to get good performance.  But to be fair to PCs - the speed of the machine usually equates to the knowledge of the user.  If the user is inexperienced they will usually have lots of bloatware installed, along with some malware / viruses.  All of these things along with general condition of windows install affect the speed hugely.   Also, anybody buying their PC from larger places like PC World are usually given something in one hand while the store take with the other.  For instance, they trade off having a faster speed harddisk for more memory because they KNOW that the public are looking more at memory.  In fact, the speed of the harddisk is cruical to operation.

OK, im waffling.  But Like I said, I prefer diversity of software on a PC - which is something the Mac has never been big on.  Otherwise I may be persuaded to shift to the dark side!   

[Saffaroo]

Thanks guys for your thoughts - they really are much appreciated and have helped us reach the decision that we won't be getting a Mac , at the moment anyhow.  I think a big factor is that I have lots of graphics/software that I really rely on and some of this just won't go onto a Mac.  So, I am going to get the best 'fit for purpose' (don't you just hate that phrase ) pc set up I can afford and be satisfied with that..........

......but thanks again everyone

[michelle123]

Just going to stick my two penneth worth in 

We always had Macs, going back 12 years we had a performa, then an iMac then a really snazzy one which I cant remember the name of maybe a G4 or something

For some things they are perfect, hardly ever crash etc however, we really struggled getting software and always ended up either paying the earth or finding something in the bargain bins in PC World which were about 5 years out of date   

As this was our family computer we felt that our daughter would be held back IT wise as everything at school etc was pc orientated.  In fact I remember when we first went on the internet and Argos wasnt MAC compatible which is bizarre.   We therefore changed to a pc and havent looked back. 

I must admit the styling of Macs are so cool.