Mac buying tips

[Rythonn]

Originally Posted by Cryptin

So the retardation begins.

Yeah there are a few of us on here who are mac users. The resale value on macs are excellent. Friend sold his 1 year old macbook pro on EBAY for about less than $500.00 what he paid for it. Despite the lack of games/gaming support I see no reason not to own a mac but that is my personal opinion.

I think most would agree on the macbook but the desktop versions are not worth the price.

[Lorrac]

Originally Posted by Rythonn

I think most would agree on the macbook but the desktop versions are not worth the price.

You gotta consider both the mini and the imac use laptop parts which tend to be pricier than their desktop counterparts and they also come with both wifi and bluetooth radio. Additionally the imac packs a really nice screen under a sheet of glass, something very useful you rarely see on computer screens.

Anyways, it's all about buying them at launch and installing your own ram - hell, the current macpro at launch was one of the cheaper xeon offerings, many were sold just to become windows workstations.

All things considered, there is definitely an overprice but it isn't that big (for the first couple months since model launch) and macos just makes it worthwile. For the past two years I've had a mac at work and a wintel at home, I've seen the difference daily and it's just so much better.

[Rhaze]

I heard Commander Keen can finally now be played on mac, they are totally with the times when it comes to gaming!

[Gigfc]

Haha,

[Cad]

Anybody moderately technically competent can build a computer more powerful than anything you can reasonably buy from any PC vendor. The only question is OSX vs. Windows, but again a reasonably technically competent person probably uses the computer more as a tool than a style appliance, and therefore will care about which tool gets more jobs done. This is obviously windows, and since you can build a much nicer computer than a Mac for less money, Macs simply make no sense.

If you want a Mac because you think it's stylish and you enjoy the company of people who think Macs are cool, by all means, buy one. Thats a totally valid standpoint. But don't try to justify it to technical people by making statements about Macs superiority that hold no water.

[Darus Grey]

That logic holds no water when you have 10-20yr old PC veterans making the switch.

[Kaxmax]

As I said in another thread, their laptops are the best out right now for a variety of reasons, in my opinion as a 'technical competent person'.

I wouldn't buy one of their desktops, but I can certainly see the appeal of an imac or mini. There's very little in the PC world that compares to the imac in form factor, and for some people an all in one package is appealing. The "lolz I can build a cheaper pc that's 27 times faster" is completely irrelevant, because the gamer/power user is not their target demographic.

[Cryptin]

Originally Posted by Darus Grey

That logic holds no water when you have 10-20yr old PC veterans making the switch.

Heh

[Foradream]

Originally Posted by Darus Grey

That logic holds no water when you have 10-20yr old PC veterans making the switch.

You're assuming these veterans switch for technical reasons. Here's a hint: they don't.

[Cad]

Originally Posted by Kaxmax

As I said in another thread, their laptops are the best out right now for a variety of reasons, in my opinion as a 'technical competent person'.

I don't think so, and I'll tell you why. They are more expensive than T61/X61's, are arguably slower/more encumbered by proprietary crap, and can't run the exam software required at schools to use your laptop on exams. For the workplace using a mac laptop is laughable unless your company supports it, and I've never worked at a place that does. So, for people who are in college who can't use your laptop on exams, I guess it's okay. I bought a T61 and I couldn't be happier.

Originally Posted by Kaxmax

I wouldn't buy one of their desktops, but I can certainly see the appeal of an imac or mini. There's very little in the PC world that compares to the imac in form factor, and for some people an all in one package is appealing. The "lolz I can build a cheaper pc that's 27 times faster" is completely irrelevant, because the gamer/power user is not their target demographic.

If that user isn't their demographic, why do people keep trying to justify macs on technical superiority? Just say, "we like OSX and are willing to pay for it, the end" and we might laugh at you for being silly but we can't really argue with that.

[Lorrac]

Originally Posted by Cad

Anybody moderately technically competent can build a computer more powerful than anything you can reasonably buy from any PC vendor. The only question is OSX vs. Windows, but again a reasonably technically competent person probably uses the computer more as a tool than a style appliance, and therefore will care about which tool gets more jobs done. This is obviously windows, and since you can build a much nicer computer than a Mac for less money, Macs simply make no sense.

If you want a Mac because you think it's stylish and you enjoy the company of people who think Macs are cool, by all means, buy one. Thats a totally valid standpoint. But don't try to justify it to technical people by making statements about Macs superiority that hold no water.

You are blindsided by your own prejudices. Precisely because the computer is a tool, the lesser the hassle the better. Two years with macos at work, windows at home - unless you need at hand the system tweaking you can get done on windows , macos is much more useful as a tool.

But hey, it's totally cool to think there's no truth outside huh?

[Cad]

Originally Posted by Lorrac

You are blindsided by your own prejudices. Precisely because the computer is a tool, the lesser the hassle the better. Two years with macos at work, windows at home - unless you need at hand the system tweaking you can get done on windows , macos is much more useful as a tool.

But hey, it's totally cool to think there's no truth outside huh?

None of the VPN tools my companies used would work on OSX/Linux, most of the custom applications we had to use to do various things wouldn't work on OSX/Linux (outside of something like Wine, I guess).

OSX is totally fine for "general use" web/email/light games (if your game is supported) etc; it might even be more user-friendly.

MORE USER FRIENDLY IS NOT A TECHNICAL BASIS FOR SUPERIORITY. Furthermore, it is subjective. It might be more user friendly for you, it might just be dumbed-down and irritating to me. This boils down to "I like OSX better". WHICH IS FINE. IT DOES NOT HOWEVER MAKE MACS TECHNICALLY SUPERIOR. All I'm saying.

[Kaxmax]

Originally Posted by Cad

I don't think so, and I'll tell you why. They are more expensive than T61/X61's, are arguably slower/more encumbered by proprietary crap, and can't run the exam software required at schools to use your laptop on exams. For the workplace using a mac laptop is laughable unless your company supports it, and I've never worked at a place that does. So, for people who are in college who can't use your laptop on exams, I guess it's okay. I bought a T61 and I couldn't be happier.

I actually had a T61 prior to getting my MBP. As I said in the other Apple thread, the only laptops that I think are remotely close to the Macbooks are the Thinkpads. However, I would pay the extra $$ just for MBP trackpad, it's that good. I also prefer working in OSX to XP or Vista (lol), but obviously your mileage will vary.

Using a mac laptop in the workplace is far from laughable, I do it every day as a sys admin for an amlaw 100 firm.

If that user isn't their demographic, why do people keep trying to justify macs on technical superiority?

Who's making that argument? Certainly not anyone in this thread.

[Kaxmax]

edit: double post

[Malakie Torsade]

I used to think the #1 problem with Macs was Mac users. I now realize this is the #2 problem with Macs.

Where I work, we use those new iMacs with Parallels. Now, I've always hated Macs and Mac Users like any good, God loving American Commie hater, but I tried to approach it with an open mind. I'd heard stories of people who used them once and just couldn't go back, so I thought I'd see what the big deal was. However, after using one for the last 3 months, I can say I would never buy one nor would I recommend one.

First off, the mouse sucks balls. It has a right click, but not a distinct right "side." It's easy to try to do what you would assume is right clicking but the mouse counts it as left. This is made even worse when playing WoW (yeah, I get to play WoW at work... tough job!) Stop trying to be unique snowflakes and make a god damned real right mouse button you fucks. I bring my mouse from home in to work so I don't have to deal with it.

Locks up at least twice a week. The biggest culprit seems to be Parallels. At least one other person I work with have the same issue. Have to do a hard reboot. Firefox locks up about 3/4 of the time I try to close it, causing me to have to "Force Quit" it. I tried Safari and it sucks (IMO!)

The alt-tabbing annoys me as well. If I minimize a window and then alt tab to it, nothing happens. You know... if I alt tab to it, it probably means I want you to... I dunno... DO something. Why even give me the option to switch to it if it isn't going to open up the window? Also, when I alt tab out of WoW, the mouse sensitivity sets itself to "EXTREME!!!" I have to switch back to WoW and back out again to make it normal.

Which reminds me... I had to get a 3rd party app just to get it to allow me to set the sensitive for my personal mouse. Apparently, switching to my Logitech G5 makes the Mac assume that I want to turn on mouse acceleration without giving me the option to turn it off... even though it isn't on at all when the Mac mouse is plugged in.

There are a million other things I hate about it, but we'll stop there. I don't want to drag this thread (further!) into Mac slam fest. To end on a positive note, the monitor on our iMacs is bad ass.