ID:184006
 
I was watching television today and saw one of those Macintosh Commercials. I have never actually used a Macintosh before so I was wondering how exactly do Macs and PCs differ?
Shlaklava wrote:
I was watching television today and saw one of those Macintosh Commercials. I have never actually used a Macintosh before so I was wondering how exactly do Macs and PCs differ?

I started writing a detailed description of all this, but it's hard for me not to be called biased (my job is related to the subject), so instead I'll point you to an excellent resource I encountered recently:

http://www.roughlydrafted.com/

This site is a set of easily digestible interlinked articles about the history of the computer industry. I was there for a bunch of what he talks about, and unlike most such discussions, I didn't find anything inaccurate in the stuff I was personally involved in.

Touching on your question, you might find this series of articles interesting, as it pretty much covers the entire history of Mac and Windows development:

Tech: The Rise and Fall of Platforms
In response to Deadron
When I get the chance to read those (I have some housework) I will. Thanks.
Macs are completly internal works.
Everything is already installed, you can download the next versons of things just like PCs.

Macs are only good for graphics and thats about it. PCs are more smart user friendly. You can open them and tinker around if you need to. Macs you have to send off to some repare shop and never see it again for a month or so. PCs you can send pretty much everywhere. And PCs are less picky on what you put in them.
In response to Hikki
Hikki wrote:
Macs are completly internal works.
Everything is already installed, you can download the next versons of things just like PCs.

Macs are only good for graphics and thats about it. PCs are more smart user friendly. You can open them and tinker around if you need to. Macs you have to send off to some repare shop and never see it again for a month or so. PCs you can send pretty much everywhere. And PCs are less picky on what you put in them.

I'd suggest maybe not posting if you're going to post complete falsehoods or you don't know what you're talking about.
In response to Mike H
Mike H wrote:
Hikki wrote:
Macs are completly internal works.
Everything is already installed, you can download the next versons of things just like PCs.

Macs are only good for graphics and thats about it. PCs are more smart user friendly. You can open them and tinker around if you need to. Macs you have to send off to some repare shop and never see it again for a month or so. PCs you can send pretty much everywhere. And PCs are less picky on what you put in them.

I'd suggest maybe not posting if you're going to post complete falsehoods or you don't know what you're talking about.

Macs are good for movie editing too and they are pretty usr friendly. Everything else is true in his statement so....what do you mean Mike?
In response to Hikki
Hikki wrote:
Macs are only good for graphics and thats about it. PCs are more smart user friendly. You can open them and tinker around if you need to. Macs you have to send off to some repare shop and never see it again for a month or so. PCs you can send pretty much everywhere. And PCs are less picky on what you put in them.

Calling PCs more "user friendly" than Macs is rubbish. That's one of the big selling points of Macs: They're very user-friendly. Most of the time, they just work. Apple has a huge advantage in that their hardware and software is very standardised (unlike PCs), so it's a lot easier to make everything work reliably.

Yes, you can tinker with PCs more than with Macs. Thing is, for the most part you don't need to tinker with Macs much. =)

Macs do have less software than PCs. However, you can still run most of the important stuff - and what you can't run, you can probably emulate, unless it's a recent 3D game.
In response to FriesOfDoom
FriesOfDoom wrote:
Macs are good for movie editing too and they are pretty usr friendly. Everything else is true in his statement so....what do you mean Mike?

  • [About PCs] You can open them and tinker around if you need to.


  • This implies that you can't do so with Macs. Mac laptops and all-in-one desktops can be opened and tinkered with just as well as most PC equivalents. Mac towers are quite a bit easier to open and tinker with than most PC equivalents. No tools are required, and everything's laid out nicely with no cables getting in the way.

    http://www.apple.com/macpro/expansion.html
  • Macs you have to send off to some repare shop and never see it again for a month or so.


  • Of the very few issues I've ever had with my Macs (I've owned 4, and I'm responsible for 3 at work), I've had:
  • A dead hard drive replaced under warranty at the local Apple Store, taking about 20 minutes total with all the paperwork done.
  • A defective logic board (stopped recognizing one of the DIMM slots) replaced in 3 days round trip to and from the repair depot. I called on a Monday, they overnighted me a shipping box arriving Tuesday morning, I sent the machine that same day, and had it back in my hands on Thursday. I was surprised at the quick turnaround, and that's probably quicker than the average. Still a far cry from "a month or so."

In addition to the debunking, I'll simply add that current Macs can run everything an equivalently specced PC can (Windows, Linux, BSD, etc), plus it can run Mac OS X. I'll take my cake and eat it too, thank you.
In response to Mike H
http://www.apple.com/macpro/expansion.html

Up to 3TB of Internal Storage

Nice when most (MOST) PCs don't have cables for more than 4 or 2 i like it how this has no cables.

I hate cables so much.
In response to FriesOfDoom
Maybe you should get your facts striaght. PCs are a bit easyer to repare. Software and hardware wise.
In response to Crispy
Crispy wrote:
Macs do have less software than PCs. However, you can still run most of the important stuff - and what you can't run, you can probably emulate, unless it's a recent 3D game.

Whilst I have nothing against macs, I have to comment: If you're using WINE or some other Windows emulation on your mac, you should probably be using Windows in the first place. :p
In response to A.T.H.K
Most good new PC's have 6 SATA ports, 2 ides. Mine has 8 SATA ports and 2 IDE ports(each can use 2 drives). Assuming I filled each of these ports with a 750GB hard disk, I would have a total of 9TB. Most old computers had 2-4 places where you could connect hard disks/dvd drives.
In response to Hikki
Hikki, Mike obviously knows what he's talking about. Stop making a fool out of your self.
In response to XzDoG
And yet I`m still right....amazing.
In response to Hikki
and where exactly are you right? I've owned both Apple and PC hardware from as far back as the 1980's, and more often than not, the Macs were easier to repair and tinker with than comparable PC.

currently PCs cannot do anything better than a modern Mac can. many of the games and applications available for one is available for the other. Mac OS X-capable machines also include a more Linux/BSD-like core, inheriting (when done right) a large collection of software available for those Operating Systems too.

the latest Mac hardware (pre-intel G5s) still look to be far-and-away better in many areas than a comparable PC- quieter, faster, and easier to 'pimp' your way. besides how many dead PCs do you know that can retire as functional fish aquariums?

while graphics and desktop publishing have been an area where Macs have always excelled, games and productivity software are now there as well, with more titles being introduced fairly regularly.

since both Deadron, Mike, and myself have been messing with PCs and Macs probably longer than you've been alive (i'm 39, the others are in the same ballpark i believe), i think we have a better understanding of what Macs are capable of than you are.

don't believe the hype. buy one yourself, or actually use one for a few months, and take the time to learn the true differences. i'm not saying Macs are perfect, but PC-based architecture ain't the 'be-all-and-end-all'.

liquid-nitrogen-cooled super-computers ownz all! :)
In response to digitalmouse
However you don't address the one big negative factor of the Mac: That every mac owner seems to have an innate desire to proclaim how simply brilliant and amazing their macs are...

:p

In response to Elation
Elation wrote:
However you don't address the one big negative factor of the Mac: That every mac owner seems to have an innate desire to proclaim how simply brilliant and amazing their macs are...


Now thats one person that KNOWS what we`re talking about.
PC people can talk about their hardware with other PC people.

Macs "Yeah mines purple"
In response to digitalmouse
digitalmouse wrote:
currently PCs cannot do anything better than a modern Mac can.

Can we quit it with the cruft? That statement is totally ridiculous.

I would say that non-Apple hardware repair is probably more universally accessible than Apple hardware repair is. This is because relatively few cities have Apple stores, whereas many cities offer a variety of PC repair solutions.

Does this make Macintosh computers "easier to repair ... hardware wise"? For most people, yes. If an individual does not do their own hardware repair and the PC repair store is significantly easier to access than the nearest Apple store, then repair ends up being much less of a hassle than PC repair.

Capabilities? You can only talk about capabilities for the money - and whereas Apple gives you a pretty good ratio, non-Apple hardware is all over the board on that one -- so it's not at all fair to compare Apple to "the rest".

You gotta take hardware choices on a case-by-case basis.

Addendum: the nearest Apple store to me is an hour and forty-five minutes away, whereas there's a PC repair shop within 15 minutes. Convenience can buy a lot of loyalty; and having built only one store in all of Wisconsin, Apple hasn't done a lot to buy mine in that arena.
In response to Hikki
Hikki wrote:
Now thats one person that KNOWS what we`re talking about.

Whoa- don't associate me with you, man. I'm on no-one's side here. :p
In response to Hikki
I call FUD!

Mac is to (other) as FireFox is to IE

:P
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