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?

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.

Answer 11

Yes, totally

Answer 12

well, i would say yes because there are certain things you can do on macs that you cant do on pcs an vice versa, like itunes for instance, but its your money so you deside.

Answer 13

No, Mac is not worth the money. Mac is about being trendy and is alot of hype.



Since you aren't a Gamer I would seriously recommend trying Linux. It can do everything a Mac can do and more. The best part is you can still use the PC you already have. You can either dual boot Linux and Windows or you can use the entire hard drive for Linux.



There are over 100 Linux distributions, so you should be able to find one that fits your needs.



Some good distributions for beginners are:



Ubuntu http://www.ubuntu.com

Xandros http://www.xandros.com

SuSe http://www.suse.com

Linspire http://www.linspire.com

Mandriva http:www.mandriva.com



To learn more about the various distibutions go to http://www.distrowatch.com



Mandriva might be a good choice because it comes with the only 'legal' Linux DVD player (LinDVD) and Cedega (easiest way to explain is Direct X for Linux) already installed.



Mac users will go at length about how Macs are better than PCs without really understanding what it is they are actually comparing or how system security, hardware compatibility, software stability and so forth really work.



First, when Mac users are thinking PC they are picturing Windows and the ugly IBM styled box many budget PCs come in. They will tell you things like Macs look so much sexier than PCs, what they don't realise is how much variety and style really exist in the PC world. The reason is that only gamers and geeks care enough about their PCs to avoid buying major PC brands.



Second, they never mention things like limited hardware support, limited software selection, and the lack of games. Almost all hardware on the market is designed specifically to work with Windows. A very small portion of that hardware will work on a Mac.



Third, they will tell you things like Macs can't get viruses. This is not true of any Operating System. All OSs can get viruses. What makes Unix based OSs like Mac and Linux safer than Windows is in Windows users are the System Administrator by default, and in the Unix based OSs all users are restricted by default, but can log in temporally as an administrator to make system wide changes. Windows can be set up much the same way if you know how to properly set up user permissions. What all of this means is that on a Unix based system since the user can't make system wide changes or delete system files niether can the virus. This however does nothing to protect user files or settings. If you somehow manage to install a virus while you are logged in as the administrator it will have the same effect as a virus on a Windows PC. While this is not much of a problem now it will become more noticable as less knowledgable people move to Unix based systems.



Forth, they stress Macs don't crash without ever really understanding why. When you have hardware or software conflicts they will cause your computer to crash. Yes, Unix is very stable but so is the Windows NT platform. The reason Macs don't crash is because the hardware and the OS is made by the same company and it doesn't have enough software available to create stability problems. Linux is also Unix based. Will a Linux expert ever tell you Linux can't crash? NO. They will tell you that it will be stable as long as you only use supported hardware and software, otherwise it is use at your own risk.



Mac users will tell you Macs last longer than PCs. That is a load of BS. Sure they last longer than a budget PC, but if you buy a PC in the same price range as a Mac they will last just as long. The parts are basically made the same.



Windows and Mac are both highly proprietary, and overpriced.



Mac users always seem to forget to mention if you want to play the latest and greatest games Mac can't do that. Over 95% of all software on the market is for Windows.



As far as hardware upgrades, it is gaming and 3D graphics that drives the need for more memory, faster processors, and better graphics cards. If all you wanted to do was word documents and look at the internet all modern computers are overkill. Windows PCs get upgraded more often because they are where the games are.



Mac users will talk about installing Windows on a Mac and running Windows applications on their Macs. Honestly, if Windows is so bad and Macs are so great, why would they want to do this?



Mac users will tell you that you can't install Mac on a PC, but it can and has been done. The difference is most PC users lack the knowledge and most importantly the desire to even try. If you want to go to a Unix based OS on a PC you just install Linux, which can do everything a Mac can do, without the high price tag.



Linux can be easily installed on a Mac or PC. Almost all Linux distributions can be downloaded for free, with most commercial distributions costing less than $60. Linux can work with any computer processor unlike Mac and Windows, which are both limited to just two. Linux is Open Source. What this means is that you have full rights to alter and distribute your software as you wish. If you buy a commercial version of Linux you can install it on as many computers as you want whether you own the computers or not. With Mac and Windows you are restricted on the computers you can install on.



Linux also has many of the advanced features that Mac and Windows Vista boast. In fact many of those features were on Linux first. Linux can be set up to look and feel like a Mac or Windows computer or something entirely different.



If I were to take a Linux distro that is designed for Windows migration and a Mac and have a Windows user that has never used Linux or Mac try them. Chances are that person will find Linux easier to use than a Mac.



Remember when Mac users say Mac is more secure than a PC, they mean it is more secure than Windows. Mac users think PC = Windows without it ever occurring to them that Unix is PC based and there are many different Unix OSs that run on PCs, Linux and Sun Solaris being the best known.



Whether you are buying Windows or a Mac you are still making either Bill Gates or Steve Jobs rich. The only reason that Windows was able to dominate the computer market that was dominated by Apple and IBM was because of Intel, which was at that time the only major computer processor. Now that Pentiums are available on Macs, Mac users are installing Windows on their Macs. A bit hypocritical don't you think?



Mac users make up less than 4% of all computer users. Less than 1% of servers are Macs. Windows users make up about 90% of computer users, with about 5% of the total servers. Linux users are about 5% of the total computer users with about 90% of the total number of servers running Linux.



If you want to use something other than Windows try Linux. After all without Linux there would be no internet. Mac OSX is based on FreeBSD which is very similar to Linux but it is not a true Linux distribution.



I would never waste my money on a Mac. If I didn't play games I would switch to Linux full time for my OS and still use a PC. It is very important to remember PC means Personal Computer (the design and layout of the components are referred to as an IBM clone). Contrary to popular Mac beleif PC is the not the same as the operating system. PC = Windows is a Mac concept. In reality PC = Options which is something Macs just don't have despite all the hype.



And a response to MacGeeks 22 million Mac users can't be wrong. Over 100 billion people thought the Earth was flat and flight was impossible at one time. You see where that logic gets you. Just because large numbers of people have the same stupid way of thinking that you do, does not make it any less stupid. Macs are all about hype and being trendy.

Answer 14

yep. i love mine. i work on one all day for my job and own one :)