Mac Or Pc

[Giant Ninja Robot]

At some point this year we will be getting a new computer. Our system we are running now is from 99 and runs windows ME....upgrade time lol. And our refund is a good 2 grand larger than we thought would be, so it might be soon.

I've spoken to a coworker of mine who also works for Apple at an Apple store and he pretty much talked me into a mac. But one of my best friends is all types of certified and could help us put together a badass PC for a reasonable ammount of money I'm sure.

Here's the deal, I will be using the machine primarily for music making and graphic design. As a family I think having a good photo program and video editing program would be good, which I know Macs come with.

I DON'T wanna have to buy any expensive ass programs howEVER if we get a Mac I'll need to get a Mac version of Illustrator and Photoshop, if we go PC I'll have to invest in a program like Reason for better music editing and mixing capabilities....

I'm a casual user, I don't want to have to update my machine constantly, I know NOTHING about hardware and specs etc etc, I just want a puter that will last a long while and do what I need it to, I have NO desire to let putering consume my life or brain lol.

And despite the extra cashola, money is still a major factor and less spent is better. I know that they've done research into Macs having much more longevity than PCs without constant upkeep and all that and the relative virus free nature is appealing as well. I've been told the music software (garageband?) is pretty darn good and easy to use (right now I only have cooleditpro). I make hip hop music and sample and loop alot and will prolly get a midi and mpc etc etc to make my own beats in the relative near future. The most attractive software I've seen is Reason by Propellerhead which is used by some very respected underground hip hop djs and producers (one being Babu of Dilated Peoples).

Oh and we're looking at a desktop not laptop, so far iMacs have been recommended the most...

I could go on and on but I think that covers the basics...

What should we do? HELP!

[SimplexCoda]

Im going to say apple. Heres the reasons:
1. Its stable.
2. Its extremely user friendly.
3. Anything you want for windows, app wise, you can find for mac. Trust me on this i have been trying since i bought mine 3 years ago and have yet to find something for windows and not for mac.
4. If you ever want to create some sort of video or whatever it comes preloaded with powerful, stable, userfriendly software for such things.

[indian_villager]

Go to the apple store and play around with the software and see if you like it. There are plenty of PC apps for music making and such and you can easily install photoshop on a PC. It all depends play around with the two and see which one you like. I'm a hardcore PC guy but if all you plan on doing is Music and Graphics I'd say go with the Mac.....and take a look at the program.....protools or something like that for music making from my understanding it is the serious music making software.

[SimplexCoda]

Go to the apple store and play around with the software and see if you like it. There are plenty of PC apps for music making and such and you can easily install photoshop on a PC. It all depends play around with the two and see which one you like. I'm a hardcore PC guy but if all you plan on doing is Music and Graphics I'd say go with the Mac.....and take a look at the program.....protools or something like that for music making from my understanding it is the serious music making software.

IV is right about about protools, But the thing about it is that if you get the education version its a couple grand. If you get the HD version of protools its about 10k. I would suggest logic pro. Its a way more cost effective way of doing most of the same stuff.

[cotsi95]

LAMO

[blastoffbrett]

Being a mac user myself I would want to say buy a mac not because I recommend them to everyone that's looking for a new computer but because you're going to be using Illustrator and Garage Band. That being said, if you want more bang for your buck you can't go wrong with a custom build PC from a reliable friend. Replacing Apple parts can be expensive especially if they're all jammed into one tiny area (i.e. iMac) If something goes wrong with a custom built PC it's a hell of a lot cheaper to replace something and you could probably do it yourself. A lot of Apple fanboys will say get a Mac because of what you're planning on using it for and you can put Windows on it (via Boot Camp, Parallels, VMware etc.) so you can get used to the transition to OS X. I wrote all of this not to sway you one way or the other but just to give you some more pros and cons. I about as unsure about your decision as you are.


P.S. I don't know if you've heard of Girl Talk but he does all of his mixes on a PC.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUVAA1cGREo

some more PC propoganda.

[SimplexCoda]

Being a mac user myself I would want to say buy a mac not because I recommend them to everyone that's looking for a new computer but because you're going to be using Illustrator and Garage Band. That being said, if you want more bang for your buck you can't go wrong with a custom build PC from a reliable friend. Replacing Apple parts can be expensive especially if they're all jammed into one tiny area (i.e. iMac) If something goes wrong with a custom built PC it's a hell of a lot cheaper to replace something and you could probably do it yourself. A lot of Apple fanboys will say get a Mac because of what you're planning on using it for and you can put Windows on it (via Boot Camp, Parallels, VMware etc.) so you can get used to the transition to OS X. I wrote all of this not to sway you one way or the other but just to give you some more pros and cons. I about as unsure about your decision as you are.


P.S. I don't know if you've heard of Girl Talk but he does all of his mixes on a PC.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUVAA1cGREo

some more PC propoganda.

I would dissagree about expensive to replace parts. I basically rebuilt my lappy for about 200 bucks. Not tryin to argue with your statement im just tryin to say my personal experiences.

[SuburbanSmoker]

Well the two things i noticed from your post is you said family and graphic design. i would reccommend the mac just based on that. It is easy for someone who is a casual computer user to figure out alot of apples standard editing programs, as well as the fact that macs only have 3 "ugly" viruses out there to pcs hundreds of thousands because most people use PCs. not super expensive either.

[soldier92]

First off let me say I HATE Macs with a passion, I think that anyone that knows what they are doing with a computer will find nothing but limitations and restrictions on a Mac that prevent him/her from utilizing the computer to its fullest extent. But, that being said I am going to recommend you buy a Mac. It would definately better suit your purpose. On a PC you will find that making a mistake to your settings or installing something you didn't intend to will conflict with your other software and cause performance issues. A Mac will be more user friendly if you don't want to relearn a whole new operating system. My dad uses a Mac for similar purposes and even though I give him crap for it I have never heard of him ever not being able to do what he needed to do on it, or having it not work in any way. So considering your needs, and to save yourself some hassle. Get a Mac.

[erufiku]

Get a Mac. Sure, it's expensive and underpowered, but you'll get loads of customer support and it's pretty much impossible to f...lunk things up with OSX.

[MechAnt]

I use a Dell Laptop here at school but back home, we have two Macs one is a MacBook. I have plenty of experience with both and I can speak with confidence.

I am a PC user till I die but I'm not a pure Mac hater. I will give you honest and as unbiased as possible Pros and Cons.

Mac
Pros:
- Easy to use
- Quite literally take it out of the box and plug it in. Ready out of the box.
- Great hardware (although not components. I'm referring to the versatility of the touch pad on MacBooks for example)
- Chic styling
- Stable
- Low Maintenance

Cons:
- Overpriced for what you get
- Quite a bit is not compatible.
- The software (the OS) on Macs stink. Based on the Unix core which is FREE!
- Redesign/upgrade semiannually making previous ones obsolete.
- Not the most customizable thing ever.
- Defaming advertising and marketing.


PC
Pros:
- Most people have experience with it so it is familiar
- Compatible with just about everything
- Good computer can be had for cheap
- Easily upgradable
- If taken care of properly, it'll treat you well.
- Believe it or not, Windows is improving (don't believe the POS mac commercials. Vista is solid and I love it)
- New Windows (Windows 7) coming out soon and very highly anticipated. Beta testers love it so far including myself. Using it actually!
- Extremely high level of customization.

Cons:
- Bit of a learning curve in making one safe.
- Not quite as stylish.
- Windows always has room for improvement
- Bad reputation built up towards it.


All in all, I love both machines, they are just used in different ways if you know what I mean (most don't know what I mean). I just prefer a PC by a good amount because I am a gamer that likes to get the best performance for the money. It all boils down to what you're going to be using it for and which you like.

[echotc]

[obey]

what a useless post ^

mech..basically everything is compatible with a mac, i haven't run into one thing that is not compatible.
apple only comes out with a new operating system about year 1.5years.
what do you need to customize? everytime i see a pc person they customize their desktop to be exactly like a mac (dock, widgets, etc)

[Bye bye now have fun]

lol echotc posted the same thing in the last thread

[jellywerker]

With your set of circumstances, get an Apple desktop.

[echotc]

what a useless post ^

You're a useless post....

lol echotc posted the same thing in the last thread

still think it's true. I hate macs, but I guess I'm bias considering I play video games and I'm studying programing.

[jellywerker]

Why would anyone hate a Mac?

[K1024]

what a useless post ^

mech..basically everything is compatible with a mac, i haven't run into one thing that is not compatible.
apple only comes out with a new operating system about year 1.5years.
what do you need to customize? everytime i see a pc person they customize their desktop to be exactly like a mac (dock, widgets, etc)

really because ive never seen that....and i know a lot of windows users (my engineering school required that everyone bought the same laptop).

Why would anyone hate a Mac?

because they are overpriced, overhyped, piles of garbage?

sorry that my windows pc that i built cost my less than 600 dollars, 300 of which was for the processor which i really could have spent much less on, but decided that i wanted a quad core.

my laptop from school is better than any mac ive seen, and it cost 2500 dollars...except subtract 1500 of that for sotware which cant be run on macs. like maple and solid edge...at least i think those dont run on mac. oh and your going to say that there are comparable programs for the mac, but they are not the same

i digress, really it is matter of opinion and what you prefer. i grew up with windows, so i like windows. good for me because they are cheap and run everything.

and from a programming standpoint, you never see people using macs to program...so if the industry thats full of people that use computers all day, and probably all night, is windows or linux orientated...well thats just more proof that pcs are better.



sorry that i had nothing to say about ops post...well except that i started using computers when i was 5 or 6 or something and havent stopped since then. ive used windows, from 95-xp, and several linux distributions. ive even played around on macs. windows is just as easy and people friendly as any other os, so dont base your choice of computers based off of which one your kids will understand better. kids are going to pick up either like they were born already knowing.