# Why not get a mac



## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

I came across this, and thought it an interesting read.

I am neither for or against Macs, as I have never used one, pretty things though.

See pic


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

I cant read it Kev!


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Kev_n_Liz said:


> I came across this, and thought it an interesting read.
> 
> I am neither for or against Macs, as I have never used one, pretty things though.
> 
> See pic


You summed it up in the last sentence. People like them because they are shiny and pretty unlike an ugly PC.

There is also the appeal that they are a "Designer" computer and "upmarket" and they can brag about them in the same way for some reason people think that Hymers and BMW cars are somehow superior. They are not.

I have worked in IT since the 80's and work with both Mac and PC platforms. I work a lot in the print and design industry and Mac's traditionally offered better solutions for this type of work. However most of the programs and utilities for this type of work are available on a PC platform.

Ok so they are less likely to get a virus. Big deal. If you have decent virus protection and don't spend your life downloading porn there is no reason to get a virus on a PC. People say they don't crash all the time like PC's do. Oh yes they do when they are hammered to death in a new media or design studio environment and they can be just as time consuming and devastatingly expensive to put right.

I met someone the other day who said his iPad had changed his life! When I asked him to explain why, he couldn't tell me anything actually useful he could do that I hadn't been doing for years with a laptop.

The Apple crowd are dedicated though and Apple know that. They could create a plastic **** and put the apple logo on it and people would flock to buy it. Good luck to them I say.


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

teemyob said:


> I cant read it Kev!


Sorry that's the size of the pic, have you tried clicking it, if so, try using CTRL & +


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## mikeT (May 1, 2005)

At leased the battery does not go flat on my Mac if I don't use it for 5-6 weeks !
Not had any problem with any of my Mac's been using then for 10 years +They do cost more that PC's to buy but last longer !! and I think worth the extra money 
Mike T 

barryd 
" The Apple crowd are dedicated though and Apple know that. They could create a plastic **** and put the apple logo on it and people would flock to buy it. Good luck to them I say."

I your dreams you may be a plastic **** buyer I am not


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## rayrecrok (Nov 21, 2008)

teemyob said:


> I cant read it Kev!


Hi.

Press and hold down the Ctrl button and scroll your wheel on your mouse, it will make it bigger or smaller to your taste :wink: ..


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## Pard (May 1, 2005)

Am I the only one to open this in *Jokes and Trivia *anticipating a dirty raincoat joke....


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## spykal (May 9, 2005)

Pard said:


> Am I the only one to open this in *Jokes and Trivia *anticipating a dirty raincoat joke....


Thats the trouble with Apple Macs.... it is so difficult to decide whether they are a joke or trivia 8O ..... Kev could not lose by putting his thread in here :lol:

Mike


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

spykal said:


> Pard said:
> 
> 
> > Am I the only one to open this in *Jokes and Trivia *anticipating a dirty raincoat joke....
> ...


 :lol: :lol:


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## BillCreer (Jan 23, 2010)

At the end of WW2 some of the Team who built the computers that decoded the German Enigma codes at Bletchley Park moved to Manchester University where they developed the first electronically programmable computer. (don't let any American tell you they did it first)
Alan Turing was a key member of this group and was regarded by most people as an eccentric genius.
Alan Turing was Gay at a time when being Gay was illegal and he was persistently persecuted because of his sexuality. Eventually poor old Alan could stand it no more and committed suicide.
He always had a Snow White fixation and when he planned his suicide he decided to follow her example so he laced an apple with poisoned and ate it.
It's a true story and it obviously impressed the makers of Apple Mac enough for them to pay tribute as they have.
It’s not a good enough story to make me buy one though.


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## sallytrafic (Jan 17, 2006)

In a way I wish my iMac would fail then I could buy a new shiny one.

Its now six and half years old. Has never failed or crashed. Once I think it locked up when the mouse battery failed as I was doing something complex, but I did a restart because I was bored waiting for it to sort itself out. It is showing its age a bit now, it won't run the very latest operating system version 10.6, and the screen needs cleaning 

There have been the occasional glitches with third party software and sometimes I have to come out of the browser when flash content has disagreed with it but that's all. 

I should say that macs are designed so that one software failure/hang can't take the computer into lockup or crash. It can happen but its unusual.

A neighbour has been in IT for a long time and recently retired from running a firms IT dept, he's always joked with me about macs. I was amazed that he's now the proud owner of a nice shiny new mac. When I asked why(?) after all that he said previously, "well" he said "I ain't got an IT department to fix it for me anymore".


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

sallytrafic said:


> In a way I wish my iMac would fail then I could buy a new shiny one.
> 
> Its now six and half years old. Has never failed or crashed. Once I think it locked up when the mouse battery failed as I was doing something complex, but I did a restart because I was bored waiting for it to sort itself out. It is showing its age a bit now, it won't run the very latest operating system version 10.6, and the screen needs cleaning
> 
> ...


To be fair Frank (and Im being serious this time) I think a lot of IT people are anti Mac simply because they don't understand them. You try ringing around the local IT service companies and finding a Mac expert. The traditional answer is "We don't do Macs!". I think thats changing though in the consumer market but not in the business market unless your in the media and print and design industry. I think I can count on one hand the number of consultancy jobs I have carried out outside of the Print and Media world that involved a Mac over the last 10 years.

They get a bit of a slagging off from IT profesionals because they don't understand them but they do know PC systems backwards and most can fix or tweak any problems. Its not so easy on a Mac and a lot of Geeks feel locked out with them as they are not designed to be fiddled with like a PC is.

Horses for courses really but I still maintain a lot of people buy Apple stuff because it looks nice and makes them feel superior.


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## peribro (Sep 6, 2009)

I don't buy clothes with designer labels and I don't buy Apple Macs. I like to get good value for money with my bucks and Apple Macs don't pass that test.


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## Stanner (Aug 17, 2006)

barryd said:


> Horses for courses really but I still maintain a lot of people buy Apple stuff because it looks nice and makes them feel superior.


........and they still feel superior years later when it is still working long after the PC either given up the ghost or more likely needed "upgrading" several times with a couple of "clean installs" thrown in for good measure.

If you want something that works straight out of the box buy a Mac - but if you are a geek who wants a pet that needs several hours of set up before it is even ready to do any work and then needs continuous "fiddling with" to keep it in a good mood for ever afterwards - buy a PC.

A Mac is a Porsche/Honda NSX a PC is a Lotus Esprit/TVR.

The big difference, as I understand it, is that a PC loads everything it thinks you might ever need (even if you don't know it's there and will never ever want it) "just in case" - but a Mac doesn't load anything much until it knows you want to use it.


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## Stanner (Aug 17, 2006)

barryd said:


> To be fair Frank (and Im being serious this time) I think a lot of IT people are anti Mac simply because they don't understand them.


Could it also be that if they dealt in Macs they would lose the most lucrative sector of their business? - So called "aftercare"? Given the choice which would you push the rubbish that is going to guarantee a continuous future revenue stream - or the "sell it and wave goodbye to the customer" stuff?



> You try ringing around the local IT service companies and finding a Mac expert.


For the same reason try to find a Quickshift/Comfortmatic expert at your local Renault/Fiat dealer - as I was told the other day "We don't see enough of them to get any experience working on them".

They don't have Mac experts because they don't need them very often.


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## spykal (May 9, 2005)

Hi Stanner

As you have compared the two to cars which is an interesting analogy in itself since cars do have a certain Kudos that the owners like to celebrate ( OK I do mean brag about :wink: ) I think I can continue to expand your analogy a bit further.

I would agree with you that the Mac is the Porsche/Honda NSX of consumer computers... but a Windows PC can be anything you want it to be from an off roader to a fast and sleek sports car.... we can drive anywhere we like, go anywhere we want. 

Windows drivers can pay for addon extras or find them for free. Bolt them on to a crappy cheapo banger of a computer and make a poor old PC into a fully loaded road burner. 

Those guys driving MACs can only ever folllow the Apple approved highway ...mind you they rarely, if ever have to get their hands all oily and dirty.. which is fine if you don't understand the mechanics!

But if I had to sum it up I think it is the sense of freedom, the on road adventure and challenge that keeps me with Windows :lol: 

Mike

P.S. I would not brag about it but my new main computer goes like a Buggatti Veyron on nitromethane :lol: whoops I just did 8O


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## sallytrafic (Jan 17, 2006)

We've known there was no hope for you Mike for along time.


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Stanner said:


> Could it also be that if they dealt in Macs they would lose the most lucrative sector of their business? - So called "aftercare"? Given the choice which would you push the rubbish that is going to guarantee a continuous future revenue stream - or the "sell it and wave goodbye to the customer" stuff?


Well there may be an element of trurth in what you are saying for perhaps the local home computer expert who makes a few quid fixing peoples computers but this is simply not the case in the business world of IT where I work. (I don't work with retail or consumers)

The reason is that nobody has Macs. All businesses have PC's. Very very few have Mac platforms. The reason being that most offices want to use MS Office. a file server and perhaps a bespoke or off the shelf and tailored accounts / MIS / CRM system.

Macs are now blown out of the water as they are way to expensive and as for bespoke software development or off the shelf business systems such as Sage that are the industry standards. Forget it. The file server of choice for SME's will be Windows Server.

Show me an office that isn't involved in design or new media that has a mac based office system and server with bespoke software on it and I will eat my motorhome!

Thats why 90% of PC support companies "don't do Macs"

Business doesn't use them.


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