Why should my next computer be....?

Question

... a PC or a Mac?

Anyone got any good arguments for or against either one?

I am deliberately leaving this vague in he hope of hearing as many arguments as possible,

Answer 1

We've got a mac at home, took a while to get used to the difference, but I must say - I wouldn't go back. Very reliable, never crashed or 'frozen' which happened a lot with my last pc which was only about a year old, and a lot less susceptible to viruses. Some very nifty software too, plus you can get Microsoft office for Mac and can also get Windows too.
We started with an old e-mac which was reduced to clear in John Lewis (about £400) and now have an i-mac (bought the same way)

There's probably good arguments for both though - try a few out and see what seems best for you. Have fun!

Answer 2

the classic vague response to the vague question posed is: WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO WITH YOUR NEW COMPUTER? The bulk of computer users have little need for software except an internet browser (and for internet browsers, the votes are in, FireFox is the way to go on either platform, linux too) and the all inclusive write, paint, draw, present office type packages and whatever software goes with each individual's likes and dislikes.

On the surface the Mac computing platform is significantly stronger (frontside bus speed, dual core technology, maximizing RAM usage, 128 bit packet processing,) BUT THE QUESTION IS will you ever notice any of that? Chances are if you are even asking the question you are a probably just a basic USER like most of us. Then I would tell you buy the cheapest computer that will satisfying your most demanding application as the technology is changing so fast at the moment, the old adage my grad school IT guy said is completely true. THE COMPUTER YOU CAN AFFORD TODAY IS THE ONE THEY WONT TELL YOU IS OBSOLETE THE DAY YOU BUY IT, THE COMPUTER YOU CAN'T AFFORD IS THE ONE THEY WONT TELL YOU IS OBSOLETE TOMORROW.
So finally the recommendation: BUY SOMETHING YOU CAN UPDATE EASILY. Get a Dual-Core something and a Motherboard that has many PCI-e slots for added functionality, without having to buy a new box. SATA hdds are the fastest right now so one or more of those (always double the amount of storage you think you need. I remember buying my first 20gig external storage for my first mac (1989) I thought I would never need to buy storage media again) and juice the RAM to maximum and you should be good to go and have money left over from your budget.

Answer 3

mac only make mac machines and use mac dos.pc use windows or linux and you can build it yourself. the mac g4 a midget would have a struggle trying to get a hand inside to fix the hardware. apple seem to be more concerned about style over content when all modern computer users want is power for a good price. pc is the way to go. in 20 years ive only ever bought 2 branded comps hewlett packard and fuji. the rest i self built.

edit: dont ever buy a dell machine, they suck! the machines all right but the tech helpline are absouletly pathetic and it costs you more for help via phone than it would cost to have it fixed inshop. any wonder micheal dell is one of the richest men in the world.

Answer 4

Jesus, you really want to open a can of worms on this one don't you ? All you will get in reply is personal opinion - fact.

Depends on a number of things, how much cash you want to blow, what you'll be using it mainly for and whether you want to play any newish games on it.

To be fair, you'll always get better bang for buck with a self built PC than any mac, because of the stupid profit margins apple have.

For example, for £600 you could build youself a nice Core 2 Duo setup, with a decent graphics card, 2GB of ram, generous hard drive capacity etc etc, the ability to run any x86 operating system you fancy, be it windows or a linux variant, use a much wider variety of software etc

In contrast, for £680 you'll get yourself a relatively crippled iMac 17" jobby with a much lower specification.

All i'm saying is that you'll get a much faster, better specified Pc for the equivalent amount of money you'll be spending on a Mac.

Figure how much cash you have to spend in total, then weigh it up, if you don't have the skills to build your own computer, check out online companies such as Dell and Novatech, they do offer some very competitively priced bundles with pretty good internals (Dells tech support is especially good if you actually need it - so i've heard (i've always built my own)

There'll probably be a number of drooling apple hordites claiming that I am satan below this post, it won't be too long before they get off their iArse to stroke their shiney white iPods though.

Make your own mind up is essentially what i'm saying, but you can see from a simple common sense view how the two sides stack up

Answer 5

It is up to you the user, both are good, but I guess people use PC more because more soft ware available for PC and more people know about PC than mac, that does not make mac any less than PC.

Answer 6

A Linux based X86 computer.

Hardware is cheap.

No cost for the operating system, many software titles are free.

Answer 7

pc

Answer 8

just go with a pc. more softwares available for it

Answer 9

Pc is much better.