Buying an Apple Mac. What's the frozen prawns?

[D4VOW]

Will probably be upgrading to a new Mac later in year when Snow Leopard emerges.
Another point, Macs are harder to upgrade yourself [but not impossible].

Snow leopard is already out, I'm running it now

I've had my Macbook Pro 19 months, no issues in that time and it's a pleasure to use. I won't be going back to the troubles of Windows.

 

[kyuss]

In the 5 years I had my eMac, my flatmate had to replace the motherboard on his pc once, replace the graphics card 3 times, the sound card twice, and we lost count of how many times he had to re-install windows in the first year. In the end he spent nearly as much as I spent on my mac just keeping his PC running and had the hassle of fixing it every time it disappeared up it's own arse. That eMac of mine now gets used by my nephews, 7 years later, and still works perfectly well.

That's not to say Macs don't go wrong. I recently had to replace the graphics card on my one and a half year old Mac Pro, which wasn't cheap (£324, though I did go for a significant upgrade or it would have been less than half that price), but that's the first hardware failure I've experienced in 15 years. I've not even experienced a crash since OS X 10.3 came out and I've only ever had to re-install the system software once (caused by a dodgy internet connection during a security update). Buy the extended Applecare warranty and you're laughing.

The real beauty is the operating system. It's just so intuitive. When my mac was out of action for the graphics card replacement I was using my dad's PC and it was a nightmare. Once you've tasted Mac, you'll never go back.

Snow leopard is already out, I'm running it now

I'm looking forward to upgrading, especially since it's only £25. Slightly worried that Adobe aren't offering support for CS3 on it, as I need it for work and can't afford the upgrade to CS4, but past experience suggests there's unlikely to be a problem. Might still give it a month or so before I bite the bullet.

 

[Campfire]

I'd be interested in what screen you use with your Mac Mini Andrew-the-Tortoise & what model you have as I'm thinking of getting one.

 

[GrasB]

Campfire, at work I'm using a base model Mac Mini with Core Solo & a Sun 24" display, I have Leopard server on it to admin out iMac fleet. We got it to evaluate the Intel macs when they first cam out & has been in daily use ever since. Besides being forced to use an external 3.5" HDD for HDD performance reasons it's nice to use.

In terms of reliability get the discrete graphics card 24" iMac or the MacPro (if you can get your head around the price tag of the latter) & make sure you get the 3year AppleCare pack.

 

[soulful dog]

Can I just say Mr Pig, how refreshing it is to read someone actually give some sensible advice on the Mac/PC question instead of the usual "get a mac it just works" nonsense. I guess there just aren't that many people that own both, and can give a balanced opinion on them!

 

[Horsfall]

i have an aluminum macbook and ill never go back to windows, they just work perfectly. have recommended macs to so many people.

 

[Randochap]

One person's story can never be considered the gospel and no one piece of technology can be claimed perfect, however ...

You couldn't pay me to go back to suffer in PC hell.

This house has an iMac 20" and this MacBook. Three years with no major problems. And, incedentally, networking Macs is pretty much a matter of turning them on and logging in.

And no one has mentioned iLife, which comes bundled with every Mac. This alone is worth thousands. Make movies, sort and tweak you photos, record DVDs, make music, download and compile tunes. These semi-pro applications all "free." Here's what a complete novice, for instance, can create with iMove and GarageBand (The rest of VeloWeb is authored w/ DreamWeaver and who would want to work in any graphics environment on anything other than a Mac?)

Everything about the user interface is friendly and simple. My 80 y/o father found the switch from PC to (i)Mac as much of a relief, and so did every other family member and friend who has made the switch.

As my computer engineer/riding buddy (who works on both) says: Don't worry about it ...

Just do it.

 

[GrasB]

soulful dog, I'll never recommend & disregard an OS just give opinions of the OS & it's usefulness. Personally I use a Mac as my home desktop PC to have *nix apps & proprietary apps running seamlessly in the same environment.

And, incedentally, networking Macs is pretty much a matter of turning them on and logging in.

Tell me about it, it's a complete nightmare! OS X doesn't seem to care what over which IP version it sends & receives a reply on, not only that but it will quite happily swap between IPv4 & IPv6 for certain services if it's having problems. It's great for connectivity but OS X often confuses the hell out of servers & has lead to some head scratching at times.

 

[soulful dog]

GrasB I didn't reply in response to your post, it was more just a general comment about the thread as a whole because it's just so rare to see someone who owns a Mac and is willing to accept that it has pros and cons!