The Great Mac vs. Windows Debate

[Miss Neecerie]

The other thing..

is if there is an Apple Store anywhere near you, they are there to help.

They have classes on learning to use Macs, plus more advanced classes.

The genius bar, where you can literally go when you need help, carry your laptop, ipod etc in and a live person standing in front of you will help out. I have always had really good service that way.

 

[MK]

.

....and if it has trouble....just give it a happy meal....it will keep the hamburglar away.

Sorry.....I couldn't help myself.

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

is if there is an Apple Store anywhere near you, they are there to help.

They have classes on learning to use Macs, plus more advanced classes.

The genius bar, where you can literally go when you need help, carry your laptop, ipod etc in and a live person standing in front of you will help out. I have always had really good service that way.

Yes, the genuis bar is really great. I have utilized them a few times for little problems that I had with my iBook G4. However, I don't know if it is like this at the store near you, ours gets booked up pretty fast. Some people use the genius bar for every little thing, even simple questions that can be answered on-line. This makes it difficult to get an appointment when you really need a genius. If you have ProCare, the warranty for Apple, you can make an appointment up to two weeks in advance. If you don't have it, they only give you a 12 hour spot. So, if you are up at midnight, I'd suggest trying to get your appointment then, that way you will have your pick of times. Otherwise, make your appointment first thing in the morning, they tend to get booked up pretty quickly. I don't think this is because they are having technical problems. I think it's because some people are just to lazy to teach themselves how to learn to use the machine. They rely a little too much on the genius bar.
As for the warranty, we have 4 laptops and a desktop. I got the warranty for 2 of the laptops and the desktop. I have only had to use it once. But, I still think it's good to have a warranty on any expensive device that you buy. It is really a great warranty. I did something to one of my laptops, and thank goodness for the warranty, they fixed it for me for free and quite fast too. Other than that, I've never had any sort of problem with any of my systems. I can't remember the last time I even shut any of them down. The operating system is great too.

 

[herringbonekid]

random question: anyone know if you can unlock the inbuilt mac DVD drive if you happen to have been stupid enough to accidentally lock it to region 1 ? :eusa_doh:

 

[Salv]

random question: anyone know if you can unlock the inbuilt mac DVD drive if you happen to have been stupid enough to accidentally lock it to region 1 ? :eusa_doh:

As far as I know, no, you can't. I'm pretty sure that once it's locked after 5 (or is it 6) changes, there's no going back.

Depending on your particular Mac though, you may be able to play non-Region 1 DVDs with VLC - it's a free download so it's worth trying it. The drive on my PB (bought in May 2004) is now set to Region 1, but VLC plays other region discs. Newer Macs have - I think - firmware restrictions written in so the optical drive will only play DVDs for whatever region it is currently set to, regardless of the application accessing the drive.

 

[herringbonekid]

thanks Salv, i'll check that link out !

 

[scotrace]

.

Actually, you can set the region up to six times:
Read Here.

or better, here.

 

[Hemingway Jones]

Sorry to pile on; I do so hate being a follower, But I love my MAC. I bought my first one in the 1980s. I went through a period of buying PC laptops in the late 90s. I bought a new one about every 18 months. In 2000 I bought an iBook that I only retired last year, though I still use it sometimes. I replaced it with another.

I trade files back and forth with my PC at work seamlessly. My PC at work crashes about once a week and I get error messages all of the time. Those messages are indecipherable.

I use Apple because their products work.

 

[Lady Day]

random question: anyone know if you can unlock the inbuilt mac DVD drive if you happen to have been stupid enough to accidentally lock it to region 1 ? :eusa_doh:

Regions are written into the firmware which means it is software instructions given to a part of hardware. Ive looked for weeks on how to get a 'region free' drive, and alas have found no result. You can 'switch' regions a few times on a Mac, but then the firmware is set and you wont be able to do it.

That is why I have 2 optical drives in my tower. One region 1 one region 2. [huh]

LD

 

[matei]

Thanks again for all the helpful responses, as well as the lively debate! :eusa_clap

For what it is worth, I think Windows XP is the best OS that Windows have come up with. In my experience, it is very stable. Very rarely do I have lockups or issues. I've been around Windows-based PCs for so long that I can fix 99.9% of the problems without major effort.

However, I've found that Windows has pervaded even my thought processes now! When mentally going through a "to do" list, I often find myself envisioning going to the ol' Start Menu, going to Programs... arghghhh! lol

However, I feel it is time for a change for me.

At the end of the day, I just want to get on with my life and for my computer to do what it is supposed to do. I work in IT all day long, so when I get home I want something different.

There was a time when I had the patience to much about with my system running Linux, but I no longer have said patience. I still prefer Linux to Windows, but I'm tired of the hardware compatibility issues, zillions of different distros and lack of consistency across the board. That being said, Ubuntu is great... but... sometimes too much choice can be a bad thing. Must be the Lefty in me. I dunno - it gives me "option anxiety"!

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

I may try a Mac someday, but only after they've dropped their current ad campaign. Apparently Macs are only for punks in T-shirts. lol

 

[matei]

Yeah... I caught that one. I thought it was rather juvenile myself... alas, there are lots of boneheads in marketing.

I may try a Mac someday, but only after they've dropped their current ad campaign. Apparently Macs are only for punks in T-shirts. lol

 

[matei]

:eusa_clap :eusa_clap

Good one!

....and if it has trouble....just give it a happy meal....it will keep the hamburglar away.

Sorry.....I couldn't help myself.

 

[Dr. Shocker]

looking up unlocking it depends on what drive you have some its easy some its near impossible......go to about this mac then more info hardware ata....copy that code and search that with region free and see what you get

http://www.macologist.org/showthread.php?t=2437


this is a great resource for copying your movies for your own use backups etc.....when it comes to DVD this is where i would ask
http://www.ripdifferent.com/

 

[Miss Neecerie]

and just for the record Wintel dvd drives have the same firmware issue with region switching.

It's not a mac exclusive problem/issue.

 

[Twitch]

Matei- same for me generally. I'm told 5 freeze ups on the same computer that runs about 12-14 hours a day for last 5 years is too much.[huh] But I can attribute those and slow downs to attempting to multi-task between too many tasks. I do the same stuff with my new machine with 2 gig RAM compared to 512MB RAM. My old video card was 64MB integrated and the new is 512MB in a PC express slot. 1.8 gig P-4 before and a 3.2 gig dual core CPU now. Power makes a difference.

When I started out in the early 90s in the print industry PCs were never used. The best, and very expensive, programs for all aspects of design and output of files to film were all Mac. Little by little software developers began coming out with the same stuff for PC. Must be from demand from somewhere. I can't think of any professional program used in graphic design with the idea of outputting files to film that are used to burn plates for color printing presses that are not both PC and Mac now.

I can remember PhotoShop, for example, when it cost over $600 in 1992 dollars for Mac and didn't exist for PC. The ability to market both platforms amortized the cost down and popularized the program so that PhotoShop Essentials was made for the "average" non-pro user for like $80. People that use it would never spend $745 for the pro PhotoShop 7.0.

The really good graphics cards compatible with the best monitors were only Mac. I vividly recall $8000 video cards and $2000 monitors in like 1994!!

It's been interesting to watch as things have evolved I was considering a Mac this last time for all the best reasons but found anything with comparable power to be up to double the PC price; the best seller was 50% more. Also I sure wasn't certain all my programs could be made to work on OS X. Everyone has told me that while the equivelant programs work fine PC programs attempting to run on Mac are problematic. I can recall that some years ago we found that too. Some didn't work, some sort of did, and others were fine

Heck folks should pay their money and make their choice. If they have a hankering to try a Mac and can afford it they should. They won't be disappointed. For the person with low use probability they can get a very low end PC for $400 that will do what they need which is more powerful than a monster PC costing $2000 in 1992

 

[Lady Day]

My repsonce in an earlier post:

One thing (side comment) youll notice now are remarks that people will say about you being a Mac user. Not necessarlly bad, but sometimes a bit uppity. Generally from people who dont know Macs, only the rumors or stereotypes they hear of them. Just grin and bear it. There are millions who do.

Thanks MK, Matei, and Tony in Tarzana for proving my point. lol

But as is happening again, this is rehashing older threads of the same vain. Id suggest weeding through (via a search) and pick up some reading on this Mac/Pee Cee topic.

LD

 

[matei]

Thanks MK, Matei, and Tony in Tarzana for proving my point. lol

LD

Huh - who, me? [huh]

 

[scotrace]

Analogies

Here's one:

You wear your off-the-rack suit from Penney's happily. It fits (the salesperson said so, and the tag has your size number on it), looks pretty good (hey, it's 60% wool, man!), and it looks like the suits the other guys you work with are wearing.

Then one fine day you pass a vintage clothing shop and pop in and on a lark, try on a 1930's suit in a remarkably good size that had been made by a London tailor. Someone there shows you why the arms are comfortable, that the fit, though it looks close, actually allows better movement. The trousers are comfortable and make you look like a million bucks. You buy it and wear it and your eyes are opened! You can never bring yourself to touch that old suit from Penney's again. When you see other men in their suits, you can't help but think "poor fellow, struggling along like that." They tell you their suits are better! They buy more of them! They seem to like them! What a peculiar lot of stubborn drones they must be. You think they just don't Get It. They think you are some kind of glassy-eyed nut case.

There's absolutely no doubt that there's plenty of software that can run on a Windows machine, and many offices feel very much like they are humming along fine with it. But I can personally, in under ten minutes, show you how to add a couple of hour's productivity to each working day by performing the same tasks on a mac. I can demonstrate how to shave a nice chunk off the annual cost of doing business.

But I am just a glassy-eyed nut case who takes the Steve Jobs Koolaid intraveneously, via pressure washer!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Scotrace, this is lovely. Pass the Kool-aid!