is a mac really worth the money?

Question

I have Vista and I like it, but I'm thinking about getting a Mac. Is it really worth the extra money?

I'm not really a gamer. I wouldn't use it much for gaming. I want to make movies, listen to music, make photo albums, browse the web, watch videos, word prossesing etc...

Answer 1

Most certainly, yes. And as a matter of fact, in the long run, you will save a lot of money with a Mac. I would highly recommend a refurbished Mac- if you'd like a laptop I would recommend a refurbished Black for $999 at store.apple.com in the Refurbished section.

Apple computers do not require antivirus or firewall software- they already have wonderful ones built in. They have a longer warranty than typical Windows PC's do, as well. And for the money, they actually have a lot more features. I have only had mine crash once, and I only restart it once a month. That is right, you almost NEVER have to reboot. Not after installing software, not after installing updates, and not after installing drivers- Oh Wait! That is another benefit! You DON'T NEED DRIVERS.

Apples also have higher resale value than Windows PC's. You can purchase one, use it for a year, and assuming you took good care of it, sell it for a small amount less than you paid for it.

All in all, in my opinion, Windows and Apple are not even comparable- Apple blows Microsoft away incredibly.

Answer 2

There's ABSOLUTELY nothing you can do on a Mac that I cannot do on a PC.

Don't believe the whole HYPE thing and do not fall into the I AM COOLER THAN YOU CAUSE I HAVE A MAC crap. Most Mac owners have this ego that just needs to be slapped right out of them.

And before the Mac fanatics start up, I have one of the new Intel iMacs and Mac G4 plus two iPods. I think OSX is a very elegantly designed OS, but underneath it all, it's just OpenBSD with a pretty GUI. Really like the idea behind BootCamp because that helps out... but as a hardcore PC gamer, a Mac can't cut it. And as the creative side goes, Photoshop works just as well on a PC as it does on a Mac. Quark is a little nicer on Mac but pretty much still the same on PC. Mac does have Final Cut Pro, but Adobe Premiere or Canopus can do pretty much the same thing.

Bottom line it all comes down to what you like... just don't believe that a Mac can do stuff a PC can't.

Here's the other thing... Mac people are going to talk about all the insecurities of Windows... but here's the scoop, it's all about NUMBERS. PCs / Windows make up about 90-95% market share, where as Macs are itching up to 5%. So any one who wants to hack or attack computers is going to go where the most fish are. If Macs made up 90-95% market share, you can bet your boots, Macs WOULD need ANTIVIRUS and all that crap. If you take the time, you can make Windows very secure and not ever have to worry.

Also, I love the Mac commercial with the PC in the hospital gown... and he's all scared about upgrades... but at the end, they show an iMac!!! Try upgrading an iMac... best you can do is add some more ram... that's pretty much it. They sort of force you into dropping another $1500 to upgrade by buying a whole new box. Where as a PC I can pretty much slap in and out about anything that I want and not have to worry about EXTREMELY SPECIFIC HARDWARE that will work with Macs.

Seriously, if you know what you are doing on a PC you will have no problem. I have never gotten a virus, never been hit with spyware/adware and my system runs just as good today as it did when I first built it. The majority of Windows problems are USER related!

Answer 3

Not really, no.

Though the Mac advertisements would have you believe otherwise, a PC is more powerful, versatile, and reliable than a Mac.

You have the advantage of being able to upgrade easily, if there is a problem with your machine it's far easier to fix, and virtually every program that is released is designed to run on your machine.

That said, if I were talking to someone with absolutely no prior computer experience, I might consider the Mac for them. It's easier to get started on, and tends to be a good choice if you're only interested in email and some web browsing.

If you want to do anything more than that, or have prior computer experience, the PC is going to offer you a more powerful interface and operating system, it's more customizable, and will give you a far better product.

Answer 4

Every... single... penny.

You'll forget all about Vista. If you have any specific Mac questions, send me a message.

By the way, Macs run Windows, too. Just in case you hadn't heard.

iKill2: Trust me, a PC with Vista is slower than a Mac, with the same processor. Vista is well known for being a resource hog. With this in mind, to see any comparable performance from a PC, you'd have to buy a $3,000 Vista PC to get the same performance as a $1,000 Mac. Windows.... more reliable? Please stop, you're going to make me wet my pants out of laughter. If you don't think Macs are capable of gaming, come to Drippy's 2fort on Team Fortress Classic, I'll be the one handing out free headshots. Media Center "kikes" what? Photoshop is faster on a PC at the moment because they haven't released the Intel native version for OS X yet. It's coming this spring.

Answer 5

As both a Mac and Windows PC owner, I can answer yes and no. Apple's software and OS is very elegant, easy to install and uninstall versus Windows counterpart, but harder to learn to use. One responder said that Apple offers longer warranties, of course they do, their hardware is where they lag behind Windows boxes. Apples hardware fails more often then that made for Windows, and I think it is intentionally built that way, so Jobs has a steady income stream coming in, as Mac users do not upgrade their computers as often as Windows users do. This is a difference too, a Windows machine can be upgraded to run the most current OS and software, while with a Mac, you have to purchase the latest Mac if you want it to run well, or at all. Hollywood uses mostly Windows boxes for all of their animation scenes as they are faster and more efficient at it then Mac's (despite what Mac fan boys say). You can game on Mac's, but you will not be able to run the most current games and hardware to do so. Mac's are years behind Windows in this. If a piece of hardware fails on a Mac, like a DVD burner, you cannot just purchase any burner, you have to purchase one made specifically for the Mac, which can cost more then a Windows component. As far as Mac's being more stable, I have had more apps crash on my G4 then I have ever crashed under Windows XP. And my Vista box has been running non stop (without reboot) since November, no crashes from either the OS or apps. Itunes will eventually run on Vista, asa Apple is readying a Vista release, if itunes is your sole concern for switching, then purchase an iRiver as it does not need software and works across all platforms.

Answer 6

For all the things you have mentioned you want to do, Macs already have software that does it, and does it elegantly, and with stability. Consider the cost of the software you would have to buy for your PC to accomplish the same tasks when you are asking yourself what's worth the money. One example: If you have a Mac, you just connect your camera to it, and all of your photos are automatically imported into iPhoto, which came bundled on your Mac. You can now rate, tag, organize, and touch up your photos with a few clicks. What do you need to make that happen on your PC?

It's true that Mac owners don't upgrade as often as PC owners, but it isn't because it's hard to do. It's because they don't need to. You can run the latest operating system on computers 8 years old and it works like a dream.

Answer 7

The person above who said PCs are easier and more reliable is nuts and obviously hasn't had much exposure to the Mac environment. I use a Mac at work and have one at home - love them. Macs don't get hit with virus problems like PCs do, and they are incredibly user-friendly. It's a different environment and the lingo is a bit different, but you will be nothing but pleased. The extra money is definitely worth it!

How does that saying go?...once you go Mac, you never go back...or something like that :o)

Answer 8

HELL NO. VISTA WOUPS MAC. PCs are faster, can do a ton more, way cheaper, and a lot more reliable. not to mention easer. and if you want to play games, then you need a pc. expeshily if you have vista. and brian, iTunes is for pc's to, but media center kicks its ***. and there has been a test by c-net, and the "mac worthy" adobe photo shop worked 3 times faster on a pc with the same configuration as the mac, and if any thing, mac is a huge ram hog. and also, in my histroy of using vista (more than a month) i have never gotten a program "unexpectedly quit" on me. on my mac, system preferences quit like 20 times and its a G5. also, macgeek, photo shop is not a game. in the sources list i have posted some funny mac vs. pc videos. i suggest watching "gaming"

Answer 9

I'd so no. The mac adverts make macs sound great, and they are pretty good but I don't think they are worth the extra money.

Windows is more compatible, cheaper, the software is usually cheaper, there are many more games available, and just about everything released works on windows. With Macs this isn't true.

Answer 10

Not unless your freinds all have macs.
Otherwise software is more expesnsive.
Hardware is limited and twice the price and it has about 5% of the software available.
Try linux (ubuntu or Fedora)if you want something better and cheaper.