Do you own an Apple Mac computer?

[rakeshagrawal]

If you don't own one, I'd be interested in hearing why you would or wouldn't consider buying one.

If you do own one, I'd like to understand what the "division of labor" is between your Mac and Windows PC (I'm assuming that most people that browse our forums are Windows users first)

[cfaslave]

I don't have anything against Apple, but I already have several PC's and would prefer all of them to be completely compatible.

Brent

[pvrguy]

I don't have one because of the price mainly.

[mapleleaf]

There is couple of reasons why I would not consider Mac anytime soon:

• Overpriced hardware
• Very limited variety of available applications
• Minimal or non existent hardware expandability

PC is just so much more versatile in usability and upgradeability compared to MAC. I like to build and tinker with my computers and I believe that is what most people coming to this forum do and there is hardly anything you can do with MAC. Just mine opinion…

[TomSwift]

This will be my first post on this forum , so, greetings. I've used PC's for years and did, for a year or so, have to use a Mac for some video editing and authoring projects. I recently purchased a used G3 (got it for $59) in order to properly support my customers with one of our products which is used extensively in the pro audio/video industry. Granted, early on, the Mac was faster and more reliable than the PC but in recent years that gap has ceased to exist.

Mac is a good platform and the OS is very stable but I find the interface to be extremely inefficient. I can do things with right mouse clicks on the PC much faster than having to use a modifier key AND the mouse on a Mac. Also, the proprietary nature of the Mac has made it more expensive than I felt like spending. I think I've only bought one off the shelf PC over the last 25 years. All the others I've built myself and saved a lot of money. They both work, they both can crash, they both get the job done.

[ClamsTheCat]

The problem is the price. I can build a rockin' HTPC or desktop for far less than a Mac. And now that Macs are using Intel stuff I really do not see the advantage of the Mac. If it is for basic productivity apps, Linux, Macs and Windows platforms are all about even at this point. Even if you give a slight edge to Macs for Video/Imaging, the costs are not justified.

[btvfreak]

I own an older PowerPC 17" PowerBook. I don't use it for any HTPC activities. It's just for casual use at home.

[gbranche]

Hi, my name is Greg, and I use a Macintosh.

(Hi, Greg!)



First, to clear up a misconception:

Originally Posted by TomSwift

I can do things with right mouse clicks on the PC much faster than having to use a modifier key AND the mouse on a Mac.

Mac OS X has been able to recognize the right mouse button, as well as the scroll wheel along with it's scroll-wheel click, since the beginning. Even Mac OS 9 recognized the right-click event. Unfortunately, for years, Apple didn't provide an out-of-the-box right-click experience, and one was forced to purchase appropriate hardware. That's changed recently, with the introduction of the Mighty Mouse.

-----

I have 4 Macs and 3 Windows machines at home. One of the Windows machines is the HTPC, because there was no Mac-based solution for that task at the time. (El Gato's EyeTV is available now, but there's a certain value in maintaining the status quo.) Another of the Windows machines is for use by the kids, because there's some educational software that only runs on Windows. The third machine is a laptop with a PC Card slot, since that's the only way to update a GPS database card.

I also have 4 Macs at work, but that kind of comes with the territory. (see expanded sig line)

I've learned to use the appropriate tool for the job. Some jobs require that tool to be a Windows-based machine. In the majority of cases, though, the right tool (for me) is the Mac.

Greg Branche
Senior Software Engineer
Core Technologies
Apple Computer, Inc.

[rugby]

I won't go into the Mac myths that many PC users have such as price and multi-button mice not working. I own 4 Macs and 3 PC's in my home. I am a computer consultant who focuses on Macs and am pretty successful at it. I have always thought anti-Mac people were funny because Macs have always been EVERYWHERE, you just don't see them. If you get a printed publication such as a magazine, then chances are it was produced on a Mac.

Anyways, I use my g5 to rip my dvd's to .avi files (Handbrake rocks and there's nothing even close on the PC) I put in a dvd, spend 30 seconds naming the output and then wait an hour or so and get an extremely high quality .avi file that plays great on BM. It's also my main workhorse at home as it has 1TB of storage in it for DV files.

I use my 15 " MacBook Pro as my traveling computer. I have installed both Bootcamp and Parallels workstation for when I need to run Windows.

My wife uses a 12" powerbook as her main workstation.

My domain email and web are powered by a iMac G4 700mhz running OS X Server. SUre it's slow, but it's web and email serving.

I too used to work at Apple, but as a retail employee until I became a Mac focused consultant.


I have used Front Row myself and have some clients using it in conjunction with Mac Mini's powering large plasma tv's for slideshows and presentations. Front Row rocks bigtime for what it does, it's a killer interface on your music, movies, and pictures. It simply works out of the box and looks great. Too bad there's no DVR otherwise I might consider switching. I use BM a lot and the interface needs a good kick in the....butt.

[cosiz]

I own a PowerPC running FreeBSD that I'd like to use to learn Linux but never have the time, a Mac that is a little bit old and slow but still gets semi-regular use, and a PC that is my primary work station/HTPC. (then there's the bevy of old PC and Mac boxes that are too old to do much with and require upgrades before they'll even be suitable for use as NAS)

I don't spend a great deal of time on a Mac anymore, but that is mostly because I don't do much other than work and any leftover time is usually spent messing around with BTV. I'm considering buying a new Mac and then I suspect I'd be splitting my time a bit more equally again -- especially after seeing BTV running on Parallels in the blog.

<skip the rest if you're not interested in reading a little Mac myth rebuttal >

Prior to XP (or rather until XP became stable), I always had a PC but I would have stuck up for a Mac over a Windows machine without any hesitation because it always seemed to be more efficient and did things like networking and printer sharing with hardly any effort at all. And then about the time that XP really became solid there was a period where the Macs just weren't keeping up with processing power and I would have chosen a Windows box solely based on the strength of CPU. Video, Audio and Graphics editing was generally much easier to deal with on a Mac, but PCs always had the edge on freeware being developed to do the latest and greatest trick like authoring VCDs, etc.

While they have swapped back and forth over the years, they are really on equal footing these days. So in my opinion it's more a matter of what you started with as to which platform might be more comfortable. There isn't much in the way of hardware or software that isn't available on both, except for some specialty type stuff (unless you're a gamer). And the Mac interface is no more or less difficult/intuitive to deal with than a PC (unless you're a PC guy switching over to a Mac).

And if you compare the pricing on a new Mac and a new PC with equal hardware/software configuration, you might be surprised that they aren't as far apart as they might appear. For instance, I've been running multiple monitors on a Mac out of the box for about 6 years (before it was in vogue :-)

[TomSwift]

Originally Posted by gbranche

Hi, my name is Greg, and I use a Macintosh.

(Hi, Greg!)



First, to clear up a misconception:

Mac OS X has been able to recognize the right mouse button, as well as the scroll wheel along with it's scroll-wheel click, since the beginning. Even Mac OS 9 recognized the right-click event. Unfortunately, for years, Apple didn't provide an out-of-the-box right-click experience, and one was forced to purchase appropriate hardware. That's changed recently, with the introduction of the Mighty Mouse.

Greg Branche
Senior Software Engineer
Core Technologies
Apple Computer, Inc.

Glad to know that. I haven't had the opportunity to use OS X.

[Mistergq]

My brother is a photojournalist and has a Mac laptop and desktop. That has given me the opportunity to play with Mac. Having played with his macs, I plan to eventually buy a mac, probably when I have a need to record videos.

BTV is the only product that is holding me back from switching to Mac. All the other applications I use on a personal level can be used on Mac. Compared to a distro of Linux, I have BTV and Photoshop holding me back from the change. (Sorry, GIMP is not the same as Photoshop).

[Sato]

I have one of each. I'm probably going to keep going Mac for personal use and PC for HTPC setups. Though, the Mac Mini running Win XP to use as a BTV Link machine is tempting! Why a Mac Mini vs a PC solution? I've tried hooking both machines up to the plasma and the Mac had zero issues, where the PC couldn't manage the hookup. Also for home networking, the Mac is "smarter" in my book. Read: smarter than me, cuz I hate network troubleshootig!

[tjstraz]

In a house full of PCs, I bought my wife a Mac Mini when it first came out. It was a smart move, as my wife does not have the patience for the maintenance that a PC requires. We have a htpc setup with Beyond Media and TV 4.4. I'm sure my wife would appreciate the opportunity to view her favorite tv shows on her Mac with a Mac version of Link .

[Bigbird999]

I have always had at least one Mac in the house since 1985 (128K of Ram). Currently running an eMac. Never even used a PC until 1998 when a job change forced me to adapt and learn windoze. FWIW, IMO, over the last 20 years we have seen the PC becoming more Mac-like as Windows has evolved, with features like PnP that the Mac has had since day 1.

It is interesting to note that the price of a new, Mac has not changed, in $ of the day (about $2000 - $2500 Canadian), since I started buying them in 85.

For guys like me who like to tinker, a Mac is no fun at all, because they work so well and there is nothing to "tinker". If you want a rock solid, works out of the box, intuitive system, for a person new to computing (like seniors or young children), you can't beat the Mac.

BB