Should I buy a MAC...???

[Arne]

I'd say, go buy a Mac....... this conversation is just starting to churn and is going no where, as topics like this tend to do.

[toypusher]

Hey, it's your money! Just buy what you want!

[Boodro]

Toypusher , I agree , thats what I pretty much said in my previous post . I consider the discussion closed as it is up to Larwyn now.

Good luck Larwyn in your search.

Sorry GeorgeTelford, you'll have to find somebody else to play with.

Ya'll be cool!

[GeorgeTelford]

Hi Boodro

Wise move, giving up I mean.

In your first post you came down heavily against Macs, but now you claim to be impartial?

20 Years experience and yet you change your position over the course of three posts?

[madjack]

my congratulations BOO, afterall the Tango is much better done with a beautiful woman
madjack

[Boodro]

Got that right Larry ... err I mean Madjack!

[dacrazyrn]

Depending on how you are using it for internet. Plugging into someplace (hotel, etc.) Mac may be better. Most everything is plug and play...no need to load up drivers, etc.
I took a trip to CA for my sisters wedding in 2001 and the hotel had high speed internet through a cable line. Had my G3 iBook. Just plugged it in and off it went.

[toypusher]

That's funny, I do the same thing with my Dell Laptop!

[mikeschn]

You know, it's ironic that we are talking about Macs right now. Chell just brought me home a "Cube". Remember those funny looking little boxes, with a plexiglass enclosure, plexiglass speakers, and a flat panel display.

We have to get an ethernet board for it, but then the plan is to park it alongside the Wintel.

Wish me luck.

Mike..

P.S. I hear that Cobalt runs on both the Wintel and the Mac!!!

[ssrjim]

It's time for a new laptop computer.

I've been using Windows for years but am considering changing over to a Power Book.

Just wondering if any of you MAC users could clue me in on what I may be giving up or gaining by making the switch. I've never used a mac before so any comments are welcome.

My job is to teach people how to use a Windows machine but when it come to my own money I use a Mac. The only thing you give up is virus and popups. Office is office. Photoshop is photoshop, you get the idea.

[BufordT]

Thought I'd pass this along.



Hardly a week goes by that I don't hear from a friend or colleague with a monumental Windows problem.

I tell them I'm glad to help, on one condition: Next time they buy a computer, they agree to consider a Macintosh. A year ago, after a particularly trying week of spyware, adware, viral attacks, lock-ups and reboots, I changed my primary computer to a Mac. I've dabbled with Macs since the late 1980s but never felt a need to change from Windows.

For the first couple of months after the switch, while I transferred e-mail and contacts to Mac programs, I was firing up Windows almost daily. Gradually, though, I found fewer reasons to go back. It was a snap to export text and data files to the Mac, then convert them to Mac applications. And programs such as iTunes, iMovie, Safari and iPhoto, which came with the Powerbook, were easy to learn and use.

The exception was e-mail and contacts. There are ways to get the data from Windows to a Mac, but they're cumbersome and not always successful. Gradually, though, the important correspondents and contacts got into the Mac mail and address-book programs simply through daily use.

When I made the switch, I thought I was a relative rarity. After all, we're constantly reminded of the Windows desktop monopoly and how little market share Apple has.

But what I found surprised me. A lot of techies I know, including some former Micro-softies, have switched. Among holdouts, I kept hearing their next computer would be a Mac.

"There's huge awareness among the general public about how much [Windows] PCs have been compromised," said Tony Bove, author of a new book, "Just Say No To Microsoft" (No Starch Press, $24.95). "My mother knows about it, and she's not even a computer user."

Note that we're talking mostly about personal use, not corporate. Most newspaper reporters and other enterprise workers I know use Windows because their employers supply them with Windows.

Custom Windows applications also keep users from switching, Bove said. But he expects many apps will become Web-based over time, meaning any computer can access them.

How much switching is going on? Commenting on Microsoft's recent quarterly earnings report, some analysts speculated the Redmond giant might be losing market share to Apple.



If that's the case, it might be a historical first. I can't think of any time Apple stole share from Microsoft (as opposed to Apple users simply upgrading).

For now, anecdotal evidence suggests something is going on. Bove likes to tell Windows sufferers, "It's not your fault. But it is your problem."

The easiest fix is simply to change brands.

Seattle freelance writer Paul Andrews has written about technology for more than two decades. He can be reached at [email protected].

Bufordt

[toypusher]

The easiest fix is simply to change brands.

Not everyone can afford MACs and all the associated software that they would need to get to have what they already have on their PC!!! If I switched it would cost me thousands of dollars to get a MAC setup with all the software that I have and use on my PC. I can not afford it! Now a switch to Linux might be possible, but not likely. I am not advocating Windows based systems over MACs, just stating a fact that seems to have been overlooked in this thread!

[mikeschn]

Every now and then Michelle has an older Mac for sale. If anyone is interested, let us know, we'll keep our eyes open for you...

Mike...

[ssrjim]

The easiest fix is simply to change brands.

Not everyone can afford MACs and all the associated software that they would need to get to have what they already have on their PC!!! If I switched it would cost me thousands of dollars to get a MAC setup with all the software that I have and use on my PC. I can not afford it! Now a switch to Linux might be possible, but not likely. I am not advocating Windows based systems over MACs, just stating a fact that seems to have been overlooked in this thread!

Macs start at 499.00 and they include must of the software that you need. I'd buy office for another 100 but one could run open office if funds are really tight. So if you factor in that the software is included they really cost less.

[TonyCooper]

In the FWIW dept,

Gates funded Apple to the tune of $200 million to keep them afloat years ago so that the OS monopoly charge couldn't stick to him.

MS is a formidable competitor. If they felt threatened by Apple they would simply buy them. They have a track record of doing just that.... Remember Stacker disk compression?

Apple is around today because MS wants them around. Better to have 95% of the market and no government intervention in your business then to have 100% and be broken up. They know just how hard to squeeze to maximize ROI.

There is change in the wind and Gates has already alerted his team to the next big shift in computing. He is much more worried about the likes of Google then he is about a hardware manufacturer.

Apple makes a nice box. They took a different tack and imbedded large chunks of the OS in the system bios. This makes the system more solid but more proprietary. Apple is a closed system.

How many Apple clones do you see out there? Ever wonder why?

Open source is the future... It may even be Internet based, but it will be open sourced...

My .02 on the subject...