Just like the iPhone 3GS's awesome battery malfunctions and "mostly poorly executed of all time" encryption. For $1,000, you can buy a nice PC or a mediocre Mac. At the high end, PCs are much more powerful still. I can live without iLife and whatever else, but I couldn't part with PC games. Sure, I can install Windows on Macs now, but that defeats the purpose.

Oh, if only you could install OSX on a custom built PC. Oh wait, you can. Except if you're that smart, you'd already be using linux with cubez and exploding windows.

I think the depressing part about Macs in this regard is that the average Mac user doesn't know about any hardware in the actual computer. They see a stock 160GB 5400-rpm HD and only think about the space provided (disregarding the silly RPM number) and funny enough 160GB seems like a lot to them. They may recognize the name NVIDIA if they dream of gaming, but don't really know how the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M GPU with 256MB of DDR2 SDRAM compares to current available graphics cards (or really what the funny 256MB means).

I didn't know squat about computer hardware until I built my PC. I'm assume more than half of the trendy coffee-shop-loitering MacBook Pro users have no idea what's inside that machine, and how Apple will charge twice the actual cost to upgrade any bit of hardware.

oh man, I didn't even know anything for a good 5 months after I built mine. Had I bought ahead, like I should have, I would be sitting pretty under a duo2cuo, but I bought around the p4 era pricerange (which athlon>p4). It was then that I decided on my universal truth of life: nobody knows anything about anything.

I have a Mac, and i find it much better then a PC. However, I'm not saying it's the best, because there are probably a great amount of free alternatives that are just as good as OS X. But I didn't pay for this computer.

Just saw this, and I felt the need to lay down a little rant. A WINDOWS computer, is NOT a PC. Anything that is a Personal Computer, is a PC. Windows is windows, Mac is Mac, Linux is Linux, with all having an equal share of being a PC.

But onto more related news, I'd say the Windows. Its supported more wildly, and I've know friends who have been quite.. Limited with a Macintosh as their main computer.

Encore + After Effects > Final Cut Pro. Seriously. It's like comparing Photoshop to the GIMP. The only problem is, you actually have to learn to use them to get anything out of it. Which takes awhile.

It took me about a year to learn how to properly rotoscope in After Effects.

Only one of my friends has a Mac. We laugh at him consistently for this purchase because, a) His HDD died within 6 months of buying it, b) since then, he has had to replace the RAM twice, c) all of us have better laptops.

If you want a good laptop for cheaper, go with a non-Apple hardware company. Period. IMO, Windows 7 is better than Mac OS X as far as usability is concerned, but if you want to use it, just install it on your nice cheap laptop.

I disagree, especially when you can easily use a combination of After Effects and Final Cut.

Yeah, I's have to agree. Final Cut + After Effects is the best (when AVID is not in the equation). And frankly Final Cut is the closest thing you can get to the AVID, which is the standard in this business.

EDIT:
Isn't Encore a DVD authoring tool? Did you mean Premiere?

Most people refer to a Windows computer as a PC though. But my mistake.

And yes, it's limited in some ways (Don't get a Mac if you like playing games other then Starcraft) but it's also very good for work or for family use. I find the people who usually "bash" Macs are either gamers or Windows enthusiasts, but if you want a good computer for school, or one that would be shared by many people, I would get a Mac. If you're looking to play games, or have a lot of third-party software, then I would probably get a PC.

I think this is fair, is it not?

Ya, I meant Premiere. Adobes really has way too many products.

Why not just get both?

Buy a Windows based laptop and then dual boot OSX onto it.
There's a lot of guides out there that will teach you how to (illegal however).

It works pretty well~ Youtube it!
(Be sure to find an Apple styled logo sticker to apply on top of your prexisting laptop brand if you want to look 'cool')



Or you could get a Mac and run Windows using a program called Boot Camp (which is legal),
Or you can dual boot it the same way as you would with the windows (which is illegal).



As with both methods... compatibility and functionality may suffer!
But there are a few laptop models that will perform almost flawlessly.


I personally suggest Windows (XP if possible)... since it's just more universally used.
I go to college as well and personally... the only time I see a Mac is...
1) If you're in an art class (Macs screens are beautiful... O_O)
2) You're that white chick who sits in the back and has no idea what a harddrive is
3) You're an old professor


The end. <3.

Windows XP is shitty.

Vista is much better, and 7 is much better than that.

I didn't think there was anything good about Vista. But then again I've never used it.

I want to buy 7

And there's another point which i forgot. You could always get both. Vista actually works best on Mac then any other computer

Why just get one? Get them all. I'm currently using an Apple Macbook with a 2.4 Ghz processor. 2GB ram. I have Mac OS X Leopard, Ubuntu 8.0.4.1, Windowx XP Professional (WinLite), and Windows 7 Beta (7100) installed. Crysis runs on Windows 7, but quite laggy. If you're expecting to run Crysis I suggest that you get a MacBook Pro if you're really wanting to get a mac; Otherwise don't bother with the extra money.

I've been using macs all my life, and am used to how they run. Make sure you really want to use a mac before you get one, because it's not easy to get what you want right away.

I use my Mac for all varients of productive activities. University work, programming all sorts of programs and games on all platforms, developing websites and hosts. Graphics & Media on all platforms. Hacking, hexediting, changing memory offsets, and modifying config files to customize my computer the way I want it.

My laptop was purchased through Apple.com (CA). Costed me $1200 + $379. iPod rebate, and unvirsity student discount. Spent a total of $1100. Works pretty good for everything I need it for.

No, it doesn't.


I am currently using a Dell Inspiron 1545 with a Dual Core 2.2 GHz CPU, and 4 GB of RAM. It just has Windows 7 installed, because quadruple booting is just stupid. It cost me $700 before taxes.

This is why you don't get a Mac.

Are you going to buy virus protection?

Only idiots need virus protection. Those who buy virus protection are completely inept.

They don't put much care into making repairs easy for the repair crowd.. I don't care if they made changing a MacBook HD a three minute process- that's three minutes it would take someone who wanted to steal your HD to do so.

Why the hell would I buy virus protection?