Mac vs. PC

phospher- Hey, I should try installing freebsd!

A little geek humor never hurt anyone :-)

EDIT: while I type this on slackware :-\

Best of luck.

May your passwords be secure and your RAM unused. :-)

and thanks dad, im not a geek

Steve;

I did call the Eastern Illinois U. bookstore. They had a similiar deal going on....buy a Mac and get an ipod for free (after rebate). We don't really need the iPods, but, sounds like a neat deal.

I just went to pick up my boat, and was discussing computers with some folks at the farm where I stored it. They work in education. One person was a PC person, and the other indicated Mac (for all the reasons that have been discussed here). They definately said to go with the additional warranty.

Joel....I have been looking at so many machines that I am starting to drive myself (and my son) crazy. Trying to find a machine that meets his needs, has up to date technology, and isn't priced too high is a tough task and time consuming. (Did I mention that I throw nickels around as if they were man-hole covers:)? That one is more than I wanted to spend, but, maybe its worth it at the end of the day.

On that warranty, I went back and read the ad again, and it didn't say how much longer it had to go. The guy did say he bought an extended warranty, and that it is transferable. I will have to check on exactly how much time is left.

Well, its time to go get the Southwind out of storage this morning, and start putting the old girl back together again.

Yeah, I am thinking this one is a bit high powered for what he needs. If I may use an analogy, why buy him a 2000 hp Ferrari, when he just needs a solid Chevy Impala to get him around town. I may actually buy him an iBook G3 or G4 to get him started, and then move up from there.

Chris....Thanks for the advice on the Mac. What model Mac did you go with, and which one would you have gone with if you had it to do over again? My son only wants it for word processing, iTunes, and surfing the web primarily. No heavy duty video editing, etc.

I have now started to focus in in the iBook, and MacBook. I just don't want to spend money for a unit that will be too much for what he really needs.

I did find a MacBook here in the Chicago area that may be too much for what he needs. What do you guys think of the specs on this one? It sounds like its got all the up-to-date goodies on it that the guys on this post have recommended. The guy wants $900 firm. It also includes the remaining three years of the four year warranty.

Comes with:

* Apple MacBook with 13.3" Display

* MagSafe power adapter, AC wall plug, power cord and lithium-polymer battery

* Software: Time Machine, Quick Look, iLife '09 (includes iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, iWeb, GarageBand) and more

* Display cleaning cloth

* Owner's manual

* original box

* Microsoft Office Home and Student Edition 2008

* Apple Care Protection Plan !!!!!

Specs:

# Intel Core2 Duo mobile processor

With 1066MHz frontside bus, 3MB shared L2 cache and 2.0GHz processor speed.

# 2GB DDR2 SoDIMM SDRAM

For multitasking power, expandable to 4GB.

# Slot-loading multiformat DVD±RW/CD-RW SuperDrive

With double-layer support records up to 8.5GB of data or 4 hours of video using compatible DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media.

# 13.3" widescreen TFT-LCD display

With 1280 x 800 resolution to bring your games and movies to life.

# 160GB Serial ATA hard drive (5400 rpm)

Provides plenty of storage space and fast read/write times.

Hi 91Nautique,

One of the guys in the TV studio here at work also works part-time at an Apple store. He's the one that told me that, at the time, my Mac with the version of iLife I had wouldn't take video via USB.

The other issue we discovered was with the Sony camcorder I had, it transmited the video using MPEG2, which iLife did not support.

My big complaints were that it wasn't a simple 'plug and play' process, like Apple’s Ads suggest. And, of course, the kid in the Apple store should have taken the time to explain things to his technologically challenged customer...

My original post was meant to warn davidg to be sure, if he gets a Mac, to be sure it does what he wants it to do… I should have been clearer in my original post.

Kyle

If you get a pc, get one with XP. Vista was rushed out to compete with Macs latest OS. You can go to Office Depot and see that XP cost more than Vista. A Mac will not get a virus because there is no viruses written to work. Bill Gates likes viruses, cause every anti virus that works with windows has to pay royalties to microsoft.

Dave, Talked to my son last night, he has a Mac Book Pro 2.4g with iWork. Absolutely loves it. Only thing he said to think about was to get the microsoft office package instead of Iwork as it's a little easier to open files than import and convert them, not a big deal but thought it should be mentioned. The price included the laptop, software and a four year warranty that included everything even if it's dropped it gets repaired or replaced.

I'm not very proficiant on a Mac but when I use it I feel like I'm driving a ferrari then I get back on pc laptop and strap into the horse and buggy.

The guy is misinformed and/or lying to you on several fronts.

The first generation Apple with Intel Chips were released in January 2006 and that was in the Mac Pro.

Apple has no exclusive agreement with Intel for use of the Pentium chip. Most of the world used the pentium chip. Apple did decide that it would move forward exclusively with the Intel chip as opposed to the IBM/Motorola chip it has used for years.

I would stay far away from this used computer.

BKH

#1 sounded OK but if it's Intel it should be called a Macbook.

Cary IL huh? Does your kid go to Cary-Grove? Search Chicago craigslist for only the word "Macbook". Should be plenty of solid sub-1000.00 offerings there. OSX Leopard + iLife 09 + iWork comes in one package for around 175 bucks so I wouldn't be terribly worried about the software. I'd just get the most horsepower Macbook or Macbook Pro that you can find.

Now that's funny Joel. You and I both know I can barely operate a computer. But, I have been in the business for years and lived through the OS change at Sun. BKH

M3Fan wrote: Only Apple has (had) the guts to trash an entire platform and start from scratch with OS X! That move pissed a lot of people off who had to buy all new software but it was well worth it.

Well, not exactly. Sun Microsystems trashed Sun OS in favor of Solaris in the Mid 90s. It caused a huge uproar, but it was necessary to go to the next level in performance and reliability. Sun also spent billion ensuring backward compatibility of every version of Solaris thereafter. Hardware did not have to be compatible, but software did.

I would argue that Microsoft trashes the OS everytime it comes out with a new flavor. Pretty much everyone I know is looking at big upgrade or migration costs of their application packages if they make a decision to move to the latest release of the Microsoft OS.

BKH