a modest mac review by a modest man

[Adabiviak]

Good heavens, what are Windows users doing to their systems? I'm running XP Pro stock and I've probably seen two blue screens ever, both of which when I was playing with the hardware so I don't think it's an OS instability problem. Maybe I got the magic version, but I don't buy the "more stable" argument for Macs - I've seen my share of Mac crashes. They are a bit more elegant than the blue screen about it though, but the reboot is about the same.

The 'better performance and better "everything"' argument needs some qualifiers. I'll start with this one: "PCs are cooler and look better, so they are a better computer."

 

[JellyWorld]

When my friend's iBook crashes it starts flashing red green and blue at 5 second intervals.

 

[jondy]

for the mac:
for plug and play i have yet to see a digital camera that didnt sync with iphoto right out of the box(the mac)

only seen one camera that didnt work plug and play with imovie and it was a model that the firewire prot didnt work well anyway.

xgrid allowing a version of osx tiger server edition to assign tasks to any other mac running tiger of the network with minimal user set up.

and also price compairing systems photoshop does run a bit smoother, but not by much.

and i dont knwo what version of windows you are using, but i have never had a printer/wireless device/ digialtal camera/ video camera that didnt need a driver installed before or after plugging it in.

Meh, means jack to me, I don't need everything handed on a plate; I'd rather have the flexibility in both hardware and software that PC offers. In passing, though, you don't need drivers to interface with most modern digi's on a file level, my Olympus Uzi is testament to that

 

[Kangy]

I'm tempted to buy a Mac Mini when I go to Phoenix this year. It'd be like £220, which is ridiculously cheap for such a product. If I don't get a Mac Mini then, I might get a 17'' iBook or a 20'' iMac when I go to uni, and sell this off. It sounds ridiculously easy to just do what you want with any Apple product.

 

[CptStern]

have used macs for almost 10 years ..still have one in my office. Great for everything except games (only cuz there's a limited selection)

 

[gh0st]

I'm tempted to buy a Mac Mini when I go to Phoenix this year. It'd be like £220, which is ridiculously cheap for such a product. If I don't get a Mac Mini then, I might get a 17'' iBook or a 20'' iMac when I go to uni, and sell this off. It sounds ridiculously easy to just do what you want with any Apple product.

it is a good price. i'd definitely recommend it as long as youve got a usb keyboard and mouse (i got a really worthwhile mac keyboard for 3 dollars at goodwill, and im using an intellimouse) and a (preferably) lcd moniter. im going to get an adapter so i can hook up my xbox and 360 into the moniter so ill basically be set.

 

[MiccyNarc]

I want an iBook. Probably get one next year.

 

[DreamThrall]

Note on the no-agp issue... looks like the newer power mac G5's come with PCI-E, since you can get them with an x850.. course the power g5's also start at $2k, but that's beside the point... well, no its not...

Here's what you get for $500:

1.25GHz PowerPC G4
512MB DDR333 SDRAM
ATI Radeon 9200
32MB DDR video memory
40GB Ultra ATA hard drive
Combo drive (DVD/CD-RW)
DVI or VGA video output
Optional AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth
Built-in 56k Internal Modem

$175 for factory upgrade to 1GB RAM
$50 for factory upgrade to 80 GB HDD
$40 for factory upgrade to 4x DVD+/-RW drive

no keyboard/mouse
no monitor

+ low price, if you don't mind spending $500 on hardware you could get for much less in PC form.
- 1000 points if you want a machine that compares in any favorable way to the PC you have now.

 

[Revisedsoul]

I'm tempted to buy a Mac Mini when I go to Phoenix this year. It'd be like £220, which is ridiculously cheap for such a product. If I don't get a Mac Mini then, I might get a 17'' iBook or a 20'' iMac when I go to uni, and sell this off. It sounds ridiculously easy to just do what you want with any Apple product.

id sudjest to stay away from the 20" imacs. and og with the 17" the extra size might be nice but they have had some problems with the psu's on those

 

[StardogChampion]

We have those Mac G4's in my design class. They're insanely slow. You're tying to apply a filter to an image bigger than 2000x2000 and it takes an age compared to any decent PC, you have to sit there watching that stupid rainbow icon spinning around.

 

[Krynn72]

http://www.happynowhere.net/mac_parody.php

Here is the low down on Macs.

 

[DrDevin]

I have no problems with macs. I do second the fact that most schools use macs, but I only know the ones in my city. Every school here uses them including the universities and colleges. I can attest to that because I have been to all of them and know a teacher at each one and they all have to use them.

They are fine for most users but I personally dont like their expensive conponents, non user built and slow performance. I do intensive work on my PC and dont have a lot of money so they are not practical for me (and I'm a gamer).

An extra module of ram, a wireless router, keyboard, hard drive, monitor or videocard is more expensive (usually by far). Although the mac mini has me interested I can do everything it can on my Windows PC for less money and faster.

Still dont hate them people they have their uses they just arnt for everyone!

 

[chewyxx]

you have to sit there watching that stupid rainbow icon spinning around.

hahahahah

 

[Krynn72]

My highschool and college have both used mainly PCs, but for graphics they both had "Mac lab"s. I dont like macs though, I have had many a bad experience with them.

 

[Milkman]

I hate Apples, maybe if 99.9998% of PC game developers supported them and they didn't cost 3000$ for shit, then maybe... MAYBE I would think about it. I use a state of the art G5 at school for electronic media and my biggest beef is the OS. The only thing that I have found to be better on Apples than PCs is that the desktop loads alot quicker.


Worst thing ever: Bouncing icons on hidden taskbars.

STOP BOUNCING

 

[gh0st]

yeah i got tired of the bouncing very quickly, though i found given the nature of the OS it was handy to see alerts. i keep them on not because they are cute or quirky but useful.