Mac vs. PC

[Wesley]

All I heard last month was that the new MAC OS has huge security holes. I also believe the comment above that exploiting MAC may be more difficult. That said, warning signs are now up about the new MAC OS.

I am currently being bombarded by Norton/McAfeed security center suite package needed to protect us from ourselves (such as san trois V1) is one typical outside attack on plug and play ports 5000/5001. This is one of their common selling points.

 

[dmclone]

I'm a bit confused. If the Mac and it's OS are so good why are all these people with Mac's talking about how good XP runs on them?

As far as quality of components, build your own and then you decide how good of quality your components are.

I doubt the mac has

a better case than my PC (Antec Solo)
a better power supply (Corsair 620HX)
a better mobo (Asus P5B)
better ram (G Skill 2gb DDR2 800)
a better HD (Seagate SATA)

This is on a PC that's nearly a year old. I bet mine was cheaper and I bet it is also faster even before I overclock.

 

[jumbopackage]

I was a life long PC user until I bought a mac last year. I probably will never go back. Macs are extremely easy & intuitive to use and aestetically pleasing. Many people dislike macs because they are unfamilar with the system, but the programs and OS are awesome and always ahead of the curve. If you think about it, the people who designed the hardware for mac are the same people who are designing the software. Therefore, they know specifically what users want and how to make the best fitting programs. Because of this, mac programs and computers rarely have problems and the designers can spend more time designing and innovating instead of spending time fixing problems and play catch up. PC's have tons of different hardware makers and tons of different software makers and therefore there is lots of room for errors and microsoft spends all of its time playing doctor. Because of this, they can't spend as much time doing creative research and development. If you look at window's "new" operating system, it is basically a knock off of Mac's last OS.

This is not true. There are hundreds of different software builders for Mac. Microsoft, Adobe, etc. etc. etc. The only difference between Macs and PCs at this point, in terms of hardware, is that Mac limits the types of hardware to reduce compatibility issues. They also control the production of this hardware. This maintains a hardware "monopoly" on behalf of Apple. This also allows them to control the hardware drivers and whatnot, which results (generally) in greater stability for the system. It really has nothing to do with 3rd party software.

My experience on my pc over the last month would certainly make me look at a mac more closely. Since there are so many computer brains on this thread - heres one for you.

Any idea why a PC would suddenly 1) not be able to run task manager 2) WMP can't play anything no matter what it is 3) McAfee can't be removed in order to reinstall and in the meantime claims to not be working 4) the latest windows update wont finish installing...

To say that PCs are throwaway isnt far off. If I have to take this in to fix and it costs me more than about 75 bucks I'm better off saving it to put down on a new PC... :sad:

You've got some malware that's set the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
“DisableTaskMgrâ€￾ to 1, more than likely.

McAfee is also probably jacked up. This is yet another reason I don't like those programs. Anything that has those kinds of hooks into the OS is more than likely to screw your system up with it inevitably frags itself.

 

[Cyclone62]

As far as quality of components, build your own and then you decide how good of quality your components are.

And for many people, that's like asking to fit a square peg into a round hole.

 

[jbhtexas]

All I heard last month was that the new MAC OS has huge security holes. I also believe the comment above that exploiting MAC may be more difficult. That said, warning signs are now up about the new MAC OS.

My MacFanatic friends keep telling me that the Mac can't have virus problems, because OS X is based on Unix, which has been around for 40 years and is hacker/virus proof...

 

[dmclone]

I've been on the internet before the web even existed (prodigy) and I've never installed any type of anti virus software. Never once had a virus. The only thing I run for protection (on my PC) is the free zone-alarm.

 

[dmclone]

And for many people, that's like asking to fit a square peg into a round hole.

Have someone build one for you. There are people like myself who like doing these things and will do it for little or no money.

 

[Jeremy]

It can be hacked and attacked but nothing has ever been proven to get through yet that could also replicate along email or the internet. It's possible and innevitable but not yet done. Just like Unix/Linux - it's far easier to keep MacOSX clear of that stuff just by the structure of the kernal and corresponding packages. It can be done and it will be done - just never to the degree of Windows by the nature of their code.

 

[Cyclone62]

Have someone build one for you. There are people like myself who like doing these things and will do it for little or no money.

I know, that's likely what I'll do, but I like throwing holes into people's statements. :wink:

 

[Jeremy]

I've been on the internet before the web even existed (prodigy) and I've never installed any type of anti virus software. Never once had a virus. The only thing I run for protection (on my PC) is the free zone-alarm.

Anybody remember gopher?

 

[jbhtexas]

I'm a bit confused. If the Mac and it's OS are so good why are all these people with Mac's talking about how good XP runs on them?

Along the same line...will the virtualiziation capabilities of OS X actually limit the development of native software for the Mac?

On a funny note, where I work, we have literally hundreds of drawings that were done in ClarisCad on Mac 68xxx machines back in the late '80's and early 90's. To access them, we run the Mac simulator BasiliskII on our PC's...

 

[Clone9]

According to whom?

There's really not much money in it for hackers right now. As Macs gain marketshare, it might become more lucrative for spyware programmers to start cracking that OS. Saying it's more secure because it's coded different is really pretty meaningless. Hackers have this really irritating record of hacking the "unhackable".

According to the word on the street.

I never said it was "unhackable". I'm sure it could be gotten to, but, whatever the reason, it is more secure now and likely will be for a while. Just how it is.

 

[jbhtexas]

Anybody remember gopher?

Yup! and Compuserve before that...

 

[jumbopackage]

Anybody remember gopher?

I sure do.

I think UMN had the best gopher. I think there's still some gopher sites running around somewhere.

 

[Jeremy]

I think there are less than 100 gopher servers now - such a tragic end to a beautiful era:laugh:

 

[jumbopackage]

I think there are less than 100 gopher servers now - such a tragic end to a beautiful era:laugh:

Remember Archie and Veronica? Who needs google, when you've got those two?

 

[TykeClone]

Anybody remember gopher?

I remember browsing the internet on the "lynx" text based web browser.

 

[jumbopackage]

I do that on a fairly regular basis still. its pretty amazing how much more useful the internet is without all the ads and pictures.

 

[superfan]

I really don't care one way or the other, I'll stick with PC's because I don't think I'm trendy enough to own a Mac.

Had to share this though, my favorite Mac vs. PC spoof:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0gRgls2eYc]YouTube - Mac PC 1-Money[/ame]

*Edit: Also, if you want a chuckle, Maddox has a good rant about Mac users (read: fanboys). I'm not going to post a link because it's NSFW (language), but if you Google: Maddox PC Mac

It'll be the first link.

 

[Cyclone_Power]

My parents always grew up on Macs and forced me to use them. Then I got into middle school/high school where all my friends had PCs (this is around '98-'00). At this time, Macs had such limitations for programs, with zero cutting edge games. I just started getting into PC games, so I got an Inspiron for a graduation present. Haven't looked back since - absolutely love XP. My laptop is now about 5-6 years old and I have had zero problems with it.

Personally, I never understood the whole "Macs are easier to use" argument. I used a Mac for several years, and hated the OS. Moving to XP was a dream come true. And now, with all the annoying Apple commercials and fanboys, I'm glad I'm not part of that crowd. It's enough with my Dad being a fanboy.

For me, it's simply what can a Mac do for me that my PC can't? Nothing. There is no reason for me to spend more on a Mac for a trendy looking computer that costs twice as much.