Not really that much to do with orienteering but there are lots of computer buffs on here so I thought I'd get some informed replies.
I've only ever worked with windows, use it at work and on the main computer at home. Current portable is rubbish so are thinking of replacing it with either £700-800 new pc prob HP 15" or a £1500 15" Mac so we don't fight over the computer as much, particularly when kids trying to do homework.
1. Is it worth the extra money?
2. Will my orienteering stuff on the main computer including condes work on it? Will I be able to open all my Word minutes etc?
3. Will it take me ages to work out how to use it?
4. Lots of people seem to be either Mac fanatics or never used Macs. Do many folk use both? We have a wired router and home network we'd connect it to for file sharing, connection to printer, broadband. Anyone bought a Mac and regretted it?
New laptop. Windows or Mac?
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Re: New laptop. Windows or Mac?
Disclaimer: The below is entirely my personal opinion. I have Windows on my laptop and Ubuntu on my work PC. The missus has a Mac.
Mac OS is pretty intuitive, and it shouldn't take you too long to get used to it if you switch from Windows. However, after the disaster movie that was Vista, Microsoft have really got their act together with Windows 7, and frankly for most home users there is no longer much advantage to using one over the other (backup software is the only area where the Mac still has a real edge). It really just comes down to personal preference, and if you are used to Windows you will probably find it easier to stick with that. I would definitely try to have a play on somebody else's Mac before committing to switching.
OCAD can be made to run on a Mac, but the setup does require a fair bit of technical skill, and even then it is not without its problems. I have heard rumour of people getting Condes running on a Mac but have never seen it in action.
Microsoft produce a special version of the Office suite (Word etc) for the Mac; it looks pretty much like the Windows version.
Macs and PCs generally talk together quite nicely over home networks - there shouldn't be any problem sharing files or printers.
For me, the key thing is the price: you could get two of the PCs that you are looking at for the price of the Mac. The Mac would have to do something pretty special to justify that price difference. Personally I don't think it does.
Mac OS is pretty intuitive, and it shouldn't take you too long to get used to it if you switch from Windows. However, after the disaster movie that was Vista, Microsoft have really got their act together with Windows 7, and frankly for most home users there is no longer much advantage to using one over the other (backup software is the only area where the Mac still has a real edge). It really just comes down to personal preference, and if you are used to Windows you will probably find it easier to stick with that. I would definitely try to have a play on somebody else's Mac before committing to switching.
OCAD can be made to run on a Mac, but the setup does require a fair bit of technical skill, and even then it is not without its problems. I have heard rumour of people getting Condes running on a Mac but have never seen it in action.
Microsoft produce a special version of the Office suite (Word etc) for the Mac; it looks pretty much like the Windows version.
Macs and PCs generally talk together quite nicely over home networks - there shouldn't be any problem sharing files or printers.
For me, the key thing is the price: you could get two of the PCs that you are looking at for the price of the Mac. The Mac would have to do something pretty special to justify that price difference. Personally I don't think it does.
Last edited by Scott on Mon Oct 04, 2010 11:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Scott - god
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Re: New laptop. Windows or Mac?
Good call on Dell, by the way - they are definitely one of the better home PC companies (and one of very few to still include a proper Windows disc).
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Scott - god
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Re: New laptop. Windows or Mac?
Scott wrote:D The Mac would have to do something pretty special to justify that price difference. .
You mean like work - and not get viruses?
i'm pretty sure Mr H has got all that O stuff to work on his Mac. the kids used to have PC working off the same network but eventually begged us to buy them Macs.
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Mrs H - god
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Re: New laptop. Windows or Mac?
Mrs H wrote:You mean like work - and not get viruses?
Windows is less secure because it is used on a lot more computers - especially by big companies - and so there are many, many more nasty bits of software written for it.
Mac OS is less secure because it has a record of suffering from more (serious) security vulnerabilities, and because Apple can be very slow about fixing them.
It's a pretty boring argument. Install some decent antivirus software, set your firewall properly, exercise a bit of common sense, and you will be reasonably safe whichever operating system you use.
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Scott - god
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Re: New laptop. Windows or Mac?
Unless you have a specific task that is going to be much easier/better with a mac (I've heard that graphics/movie editing is easier on a mac than a pc for example) then I wouldn't bother, stick with familiarirty.
Andrew Dalgleish (INT)
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Re: New laptop. Windows or Mac?
Macs are for arty f*y designy sort of people. I never really understood or appreciated how or why until my step-daughter (arts student) bought hers home.
If you need e-mail, office, internet, spreadsheets, ease-of-document-sharing-with-others etc then MS is the business.
I bought a new windows laptop last year and was asking around the geeky hardware boffins at work. I had a bit of a Dell fixation, but they advised me to go for ASUS (can't remember the other one, might have begun with A also). They supply other big names (Sony?) so for less ££ you get a higher spec.
But get 64 bit and 4gb RAM.
If you need e-mail, office, internet, spreadsheets, ease-of-document-sharing-with-others etc then MS is the business.
I bought a new windows laptop last year and was asking around the geeky hardware boffins at work. I had a bit of a Dell fixation, but they advised me to go for ASUS (can't remember the other one, might have begun with A also). They supply other big names (Sony?) so for less ££ you get a higher spec.
But get 64 bit and 4gb RAM.
Last edited by mappingmum on Tue Oct 05, 2010 9:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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mappingmum - brown
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Re: New laptop. Windows or Mac?
Another thing about the Mac we bought. It hung on the second boot-up which meant I had to raise a support call with Apple and re-install the OS. On a Mac re-installing the OS takes ages ie 1/2 a day. I have heard that Macs are susceptical to OS corruption.
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Re: New laptop. Windows or Mac?
PC's running Windows however are not susceptible to any corruption what so ever...
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mharky - team nopesport
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Re: New laptop. Windows or Mac?
mappingmum wrote:Macs are for arty f*y designy sort of people. .
You mean people who want to get it right before they start hefting enormous pieces of wood around to build something only to find that it doesn't work
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Re: New laptop. Windows or Mac?
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Re: New laptop. Windows or Mac?
just what the internet needs - another mac vs pc argument.
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Re: New laptop. Windows or Mac?
Decided a Mac had too many uncertainties with it, although I did love the way the Mac version of Word worked and the easy way you could wrap text round pictures. Would make editing magazines etc much easier.
The uncertainties re using condes etc on a mac sounded too complicated.
We decided to go for a Samsung R590. Mainly because "What Laptop" liked it.
The uncertainties re using condes etc on a mac sounded too complicated.
We decided to go for a Samsung R590. Mainly because "What Laptop" liked it.
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Re: New laptop. Windows or Mac?
You could have gone for a Mac because the latest models have Intel chips which allows you to run Windows too using Bootcamp or Parallels. Hence the best of both worlds (you can't run Mac OS X on a Windows machine).
The downside is that you have to buy a copy of Windows to load on it.
The downside is that you have to buy a copy of Windows to load on it.
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Re: New laptop. Windows or Mac?
redpossum wrote:(you can't run Mac OS X on a Windows machine)
You can run OS X on most modern Intel-based PCs, but it's a little fiddly to set up and sadly not legal - the OS X licence agreement forbids you from installing it on non-Apple machines
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