Would anyone NOT recommend a Mac, and why?

[vanimal]

Hiya,

Need to buy a decent laptop fairly sharp-ish, I have been told by quite a few people that Macs are wonderful, but as I am not that familiar with them, I am a bit hesitant (esp at the price).

I am not really 'into' laptops and IT/crisis management when things crash etc - I can't stand it and take ages to fix it - so I like the idea of buying something that just works and won't give me any hassle.

I work as a freelance writer and so don't want to be messing up deadlines etc with PC problems, but nor do I want to buy something that might not be compatible with my clients PCs.

Any advice/experience to share?

I have a mac and like it, but have had to buy a PC for work as some of the stuff I needed for a client was not mac compatible.

Do you mean Word/Office/MS stuff was not compatible, or something more specialised? That is my biggest fear - things not being compatible.

OH is being v stingy wary about coughing up for a MacBook, I would hate to see him do his 'told you so' face!

No, it was some security software they wanted. MS Office for mac is fine.

Buy it! You will make yourself happy, I promise. If you ever need something to work that's superobscure and runs only on Windows, you can buy emulation software that will allow you to run a copy of Windows on your Mac, and then run any applications you need from within Windows.

But never mind all that, the MacBook is an absolute joy to use. It lasts forever mine is four years old and despite a battering from the kids is still going strong, with a battery that still lasts 5 hours and recharges quickly the new ones are even tougher because they have no seams (the body is a single piece of polycarbonate). It does amazingly simple but important things really really well, unlike my work PC laptop, which is much newer, more expensive and much more rubbish. For example, the MacBook will go to sleep instantly if you shut the lid, and awaken instantly if you open the lid. Every Windows laptop supposedly does this, but in practice none of them do. Instead, you shut the lid and the hard drive continues to whir and eventually after 30seconds you open it, and see it was just about to go to sleep, but you interrupted the process by opening it, and now the open applications have crashed etc etc.... a great big hassle vs a "just works" experience on the Mac. There are dozens of similar examples of how fab my MacBook is.

slhilly, thank you, your post is very persuasive. Everyone who has one seems to rave about it.

Second question - I know nothing about specs - I'll be running a 5 or docsat the same time, Word, Excel and Powerpoint mostly and will be needing decent internet at the same time.

Some watching of videos and trawling through folders containing huge(20-30Mb) files, and accessing intranets on this.

Is it RAM, or processor speed or something ele I need to be looking for when I buy?

Sorry for the numpty-ness of my post, I have not got a clue on specs and am somewhat overwhelmed by the choices out there. I aim to spend on something v good and then not have to change it for a good 4-5 years.

Looking to spend around £700 I should say, so am looking on ebay first before considering the apple store.

Here are reasons not to buy a MAC

1: they are over priced.

2: since switching from PowerPC to Intel they are now no different to PC's.

3: they have Windoze on them and Windoze is a bloated, outdated, insecure, hacker/virus friendly joke of an operating system.

If you don't like dealing with crashes, defrags, anti-virus, re-installs and recovery discs then use a different operating system, like a nice free Linux don't blame the machine for the short comings of the O.S.

Ryoko, what you say is rubbish. Macs do not have Windows on them (unless you put it on)- their operating system is Mac OS X, which has the same UNIX underpinning as your favourite Linux. Do you really not know that?

Macs are not "no different from PCs"- apart from the operating system, they are better designed, and made with better components, by the same people who wrote the operating system, which is why they work better.

You may consider them over-priced, but you do in fact get what you pay for- in the case of a Mac, you get a computer that works better and looks nicer and works better than an equivalent PC, and suffers from NONE of its viruses. Most people simply want a computer that does what they want, when they want to do it, and if you don't mind the expense, a Mac (not a MAC- that's something else) fits the bill very nicely.

Incidentally if you're looking on eBay I'd recommend ScrumpyMacs in Suffolk who do very reasonably priced S/H Macs. (I don't work for them- just bought one recently!)

Vanimal, sorry, I lost this thread for a while.... re specs, I think that you would be fine with a MacBook (the cheaper, consumer line of laptops) rather than a MacBook Pro -- but really the best way to answer your question would be to go to an Apple Store and ask one of the staff. Here's a list of them: www.apple.com/uk/retail/

Re: shelf-life. I am typing this on my four-year old MacBook. I keep looking for an excuse to get a new one, but can't find one...it's still as good as new.

Good luck and enjoy!

People tend to use Windoze on em now, there is no point spending money on a whole over priced machine just to have an updated version of BSD.

The components inside are no better then a PC they are PC parts now, components are not made by people who make Unix what are you on about?.

my PC is 7 years old, it's a dual boot, I've never even had to re-install the Windoze partition because that part is not allowed to go online, only the Linux part is.

If you buy good quality components or a good laptop it will last, obviously if you are comparing a MAC to a Dell or Packard the Mac will last longer because Dell and Packard use rubbish in there machines (especially Packard , Dell Laptops are OK).

Ryoko, wtf: Windoze? MAC? There when you mean their? This is not adding to your credibility. Apple regularly comes top of the list for reliability of its machines, due to the fact that it tends to overspec components, applies more stringent QC to them, and due to its ownership of the entire laptop ie software + hardware ensures a consistently excellent experience for users.

Also not adding to your credibility is a description of Macs as overpriced -- while once this was true, like-for-like comparisons tend to show no premium for a Mac vs another branded laptop. Not true for no-name laptops, but no-name laptops don't provide you with the brand protection of a brand, obviously. Like-for-like, by the way, means a bit more than just processor speed and RAM. It means features such as integrated webcams etc.

Finally, "people tend to use Windoze" on Macs?? People sometimes buy Windows emulators if they have a specific need for one, but they tend to be few and far between. For the vast majority of people, the kinds of tasks they want to carry out on a home laptop are very well served by the core machine -- ie websurfing, email, photo management, webchat etc.

Linux is great -- on servers. But even die-hard Slashdotters have long ago confessed to liking the usability of a Mac and having access to the command-line just adds to the appeal (for them).

Macs are undoubtedly better, faster, more user friendly and virtually virus free as no-one bothers writing viruses for macs.

The downside from my POV, as the parent of an Apple-obsessed child, is the cost. It's all expensive. Apart from the initial outlay, we seem to need more in the way of peripherals. Lots of different sorts of cables to link the thing up to printers, and these seem to cost £25 a pop.

They do have all the microsoft programs - such as word, powerpoint, excel etc.

Ryoko, what are you talking about? Macs have the capability to run Windows, they're not bundled with it, no one holds a gun to your head. I've been using Macs for over 15 years and apart from a short-lived attempt to run Soft Windows back in the day on a PowerPC, I have never used Windows on them, have no reason to.

And you need to get with it a bit. By all means run and love Linux but your anti-Apple ranting is what we used to do with Micro$oft decades ago, but we've moved on...

The only thing I don't like about my Macbook is the need to buy an expensive cable to connect to my TV. Now the cable isn't as expensive but for HDMI output you need to buy a third party cable and an HDMI cable. SILs new laptop just needs the HDMI cable. This goes for any video output on the Mac. Makes it very difficult to watch iPlayer on the TV.

My mum finds it easy to use though.

Ryoko "If you don't like dealing with crashes, defrags, anti-virus, re-installs and recovery discs then use a different operating system, like a nice free Linux don't blame the machine for the short comings of the O.S."

I have been using Macs for 20 years and have not experienced any of those things. I would never use anything else.

vanimal the Apple refurb site is good, because you get a one year warranty as well, it may just have been a laptop that was returned and not wanted.

If yo are in Education you can also get a discount.

I have just bought DS a MacBook Pro for his birthday, last one I will buy him as he is an adult now!

Quattrocento your mac should pick up your printer wirelessly, we don't have any cables and have 6 macs working from the same printers. I can choose which printer I want to use from a drop down box, sometime I use the laser, sometimes the inkjet depending on how many copies I want to print.

ali, its will only pick up printer wirelessly if the printer is a wireless one. There are some people out there with non-wireless printers

I love my Mac and I cannot envisage going back to a PC. Ever. I never experience computer rage or indeed any problem.

the only shortcoming i can see is that the excel and ppt shortcuts i had learned to do in my sleep on an old work pc don't seem to work on Mac. But I admit I have been too lazy to figure out if there is a way to make them work via some software etc.

O brave new world, That has such people printers in't!

Are there really such things as wireless printers? Why don't I know this? Why don't we have some? There are four printers in this house and people are emailing stuff all over the house to print if their printers aren't working.

Yup, Quattro, there are wireless printers. DP treated himself for one uni so he'd have a new toy to play with and he loves it.

I love my wireless printer. Have had about 7 printers over the years and never really used them, they were such a faff. Wireless is a dream

I just wish there were wireless tv/dvd/blu ray etc. I detest cables and scart leads.

Quattrocento, I got one free with my last Mac Book, and there is still a deal on at the moment, but I declined the rubbish HP, they give away and have an Epson, which is brilliant.

You ar welcome to my rubbish HP as it is in a box in the garage after 3 months of use, - it ate cartridges, but then I was felling trees printing stuff off for Ofsted!

Seriously if you want it, its yours!

We have gone over to a Mini mac as our home PC about 6 months ago, running MS office Mac and Firefox on it. The children did manage to make it hang up once, but generally it's much more stable and hassle free. It boots up in seconds, keyboard is lovely to type on, everything is just clearer, simpler and more intuitive.

I haven't entirely relearnt how to use Word:Mac but probably would if I used it more. The worst thing is probably the learning curve with things like photo software, etc. But then I could go on a little course at the Apple Store if I had to.
We did need to replace our ancient HP printer which didn't have an up to date driver (it printed but not in draft).

Only downside is that some freeware/software doesn't have a Mac version, I lost MS Money (but found a good substitute) and Ikea kitchen planner

If you have small kids the inbuilt parental controls are great as well.

we have a macbook and a lovely new mac. its in the kitchen and it is used constantly. The dcs are on it all the time and the screen is so big I can always see what they are doing.
It looks great too.