Is an apple computer a good idea or not?

[MrsFogi]

I've decided I need a computer at home so that I can spend hours at home on MN as my new job has severely curtailed my ability to spend hours lurking and (sometimes) posting.
So......I want a computer to surf the net and also to manipulate images (both photos and video). I haven't bought a computer since I was a student so have no idea where to start (so any suggestions welcome). I was thinking of an apple ibook or powerbook (as they look lovely - not a great reason for choosing, I know) but a friend suggested that this might be a bit of a shock to my system as I'm used to using windows/normal pc - has anyone got any views good or bad on apple computers?

My DP has an Apple but I'm a PC girl...I have tried and tried and I absolutely hate the apple as it is totally different to work to a PC, bear this in mind when purchasing...although obviously the Apples come in lovely girlie colours!

Love apples!! I've used many operating systems ... windows, dos, bbc basic, linux, unix, mac and although I think the linux/unix ones work the best, macs are definitely the only truly user-friendly systems (imho). Yes it is very different to win, but what I found was that once you get out of the habit of looking for the hard way to do things, and just use your intuition instead, everything works as you'd expect. Plus if you're wanting to do photo and video editing, mac is def the way to go.

I'm v. jealous. I'd love a powerbook!! Maybe if you don't like it you could flog it to me!!

I preffer macs to PC and would love to have one myself but DH is used to PCs and all his work is done on PC (as he works from home quite a bit he uses it a lot), but if I was to reccomend would deffinetly say Mac. Very easy to use actually. Could you have a try on one before buying? A friend's computer? Just to see how it's like.

Don't know any details but when my Dad was wanting a computer my brother persuaded him a Mac was best (brother is graphic designer) even though dh told him that for him a PC would be better.

Mac lasted about a year then he gave it to brother and bought himself a PC!

Hmm, maybe that was brother's plan all along?!

My DH (IT Consultant in the City) absolutely detests Apples with a passion - always advises people against them.

When I used to work on a IT Helpdesk in my days before children - we NEVER supported Apples (having said that, this was 9 years ago so things may have changed).

Thanks for the views, I think I'll try to have a go on a mac (the last time I tried one was in the era of BBC comupters). Does anyone know if I'll be able to attach my Ipaq to it or does everything attached to/loaded onto a mac have to be mac stuff?

yes, ahve to say it's probably better for graphics, that might be one of the reasons I preffer them as I use graphics software.

my music producer, dj, graphic designer DP would take a Mac anyday over a PC. Must say I have used to his now and it's great.

Plus macs dont need as much tech support because they don't go wrong as often!

Dh would sell his soul for Apple and I'm typing on an iMac (gorgeous blue colour) atm.

I'm not a techy person, but I do know that it's fab for managing your photos and video. Surfing is fine and crash proof. You never get viruses cos geeks only make them to destroy Windows using machines. If you want to play games then don't get a Mac, if you want to use your computer then a Mac is for you Dh will be proud of me!

Not being able to play games sounds good - means dh won't monopolise it!

ds1 is a graphic designer - swears by them!

we had one and he filched it!

You can run Windows on a Mac - we've got a program called "SoftWindows" for opening up shoddy Windows email attachments

Mudda, I am very proud of you, but you knew that .... darn, where's this forum's loveheart smiley?

Give me an Apple any day. Apple invented just about everything you do on Windoze anyway, so why settle for a poor copy when you can have the original? (Did you know that the winblows recycle bin is so called because Micro$oft couldn't call it 'trash' - Apple invented the idea of a trash can first and patented it).

Apple Macs are inherently more stable than PCs firstly because the operating system, Mac OS X, is more stable than Window$, and secondly because the machines are sold as complete units, whereas many PCs have components manufactured by a dozen different companies and merely assembled under the brand name you see on the box. That means you risk incompatibilities between bits of hardware, especially if the manufacturer of one bit of the PC (say, your DVD drive) updates its driver software and suddenly introduces an incompatibility with your graphics card.

Most IT helpdesk jockeys who denegrate Macs do so because they don't understand them, so I wouldn't put too much emphasis on that kind of opinion ... ask someone who has used both systems for years and has watched them develop, and ask which they prefer.

There is nothing you can't do on a Mac. You can play games, but there aren't as many Mac games so if all you want is to play games, then fine, get a PC. But if you want to edit your home videos, or create a digital photo library, then get a Mac. If you like digital music and you want an iPod, then remember, iTunes, its companion software, was designed for the Mac. If you want Word, Excel and Powerpoint, then M$ Office is available for Mac. If you find an application for Windoze that you really want to use, there are Mac programs that will allow you to run your Windoze stuff on Mac (we have used both Softwindows and Virtual PC, both are good). If you want to avoid viruses, worms and trojans, then get a Mac. Almost none of the nasties currently circulating on the 'net can affect a Mac. I could go on, but then I'll only convince myself to go and buy one of the lovely new iMacs and Mudda wouldn't like that.

Dangerous link - I could end up buying one online by the end of the day!

We have 6 macs in our house, I haave just bought a powerbook for myself, DS has a 14" ibook, DD a 12" iBook, I have a 17" iMac on my desk, DH has a 21"on his desk and DD and DS share a 15" iMac.

They are all wirelessly connected to broadband, we all have iPods.

I have just bought a wireless mouse and think I will have to go a for a wireless keyboard as everytime I write anything I have to go back and put spaces inbetwen words as my cup of tea I spilt made the keys stick and it hasn't worked properly ever since!

I think I would reccommend a Mac!

ah muddahubby I forgot to ask my mac question- and this is the place for it (and I can answer Mrs Fogi as well).

Ok I am mac girl- love macs- hate PCs. DS1 is now getting into the computer- he's severely autistic and the computer is really making a difference to everything at the moment. We currently have a very ancient imac (still running os 8.5!) and an ibook (with OS X). A lot of the special needs software is windows only. They're not fast games but they are graphics iykwim. So what to do I do? Do I replace the ancient mac with a super dooper new mac- and would a windows emulator cope with the graphics (I guess I could get one and try it on the laptop- it would be useful anyway)- or do I get ds1 his own windows PC and spend my evenings cursing it. He really does need access to this SN software- so I guess I'm asking how well a PC emulator works...... The PC option would be cheaper I guess......

Have you looked on the Apple refurb site? I have bought 2 laptops and an iMac from there. They are guranteed for a year and any problems are sorted out really quickly.- Not all the stuff is refurb, sometimes just opened boxes, cancelled orders etc. It is well worth a look , it opens on a Wednesday about 10 ish,but generally 10.30, accces it from the main apple site. Stock changes weekly. My powerbook cost me £750!

The 14" iBook I bought , the logic board went in the 11th month, they sent a box which arrrived next day by courier, and the iBook was returned 5 days later by courier.
Thehelpline service is very good and very patient, I went through endless start ups with a chap on the phone for over 1.5 hours and they'd called me back.

Hi Jimjams,

My husband is a Mac guy. He says that VirtualPC for the Mac works really well and is very fast with OSX. It should come bundled with the Windows operating system. He says you could either get VirtualPC for her iBook, or upgrade the iMac with more memory and run OSX on it (depending on how old the iMac is). But he agrees that PCs are pretty cheap, so that may be a better option in the end....

HTH, and sorry for butting in!

I am a complete apple devotee and have used them for years. Started out self employed this year, working from home, dealing with most people on PCs. Thought about going over to a PC, but couldn't resist the sexy new iMac. Now have a lovely lovely iMac and just put Office on it which makes me compatible with everyone I need to be. They are truly lovely. Kids can use them very well. My 6 and 2 year old manage to find their way around, think it is the single click mouse that helps.

sorry, forgot to say re expense - I really thought I couldn't justify another mac when PCs so cheap, but what I never realised is how little software you get on your PC. Once you add on everthing the mac comes with as standard it doesn't make it much cheaper IMHO (or maybe I just kidded myself)

Ooh, a thread to warm the cockles... LOVE Macs. Helpdesk bods diss them because they don't know the first thing about them, and it makes them feel inadequate. We are just getting the latest op system at work (is it OS 10 or something?) and it is soooo cool. Just wish they would let me upgrade my home IMac for free though (chances: sub zero).
Bizarrely, though, everyone v. happy to sacrifice Quark for Indesign. Had thought would be a similar thing to asking Mac users to migrate to PCs but no, art editors v. happy with Indesign.

Hi Jimjams,

As maomao has said, Virtual PC is a superb piece of software. You do need a fast Mac to run it on though. No matter how much additional memory you stuff into your iMac, if it's a model old enough to be loaded with OS 8.5 I'm willing to bet its processor won't be good enough to cope. Our iMac came with OS 9, 64mb of RAM and a G3-450 processor. It now has OS 10.2, 640mb of RAM, but still the G3-450, 'cos you can't change that part. It upgraded to OS X a dream and all Mac native stuff runs on it wonderfully, with the exception of Virtual PC, which runs tolerably well for what we use it for (Quicken home finance, and very little else) but is hardly zippy.

Virtual PC is a massive piece of software when you consider what it is: firstly, a program that imitates an 'x86' based computer system (that's a PC to you and me), and then allows you to load an entire operating system onto the virtual x86 computer you have created inside your Mac ... heavy stuff. Your iBook might cope with it (tell me, if you know, the processor and memory you have in the iBook), but TBH your iMac is getting close to the end of its useful life anyway (it must be at least five years old) and you ought to think about replacing it. Any new Mac will run Virtual PC very well. Plus, we bought VPC version five, and not long afterwards they brought out version 6 which is supposed to be 20% faster anyway...

One final thought about special needs educational software: Macs are used far more extensively in the USA than they are here, especially in schools. Have you looked to see what software is on sale in the US that you might be able to import? You might find that there is more Mac software of the kind you need than you thought. The problem is often lazy marketing in the UK because of a perceived lack of interest in Mac products. This is why we have to run Quicken under Virtual PC on our Mac; there is a Mac version in the US, but Quicken UK refuse to localise it with pound signs etc and sell it over here as they claim there's no market for it.

Thanks for all your help everyone. if VPC is an option then we might be better upgrading the imac (it is on its last legs anyway). I think that'll need upgrading soon anyway - and I reallly want to stick mainly to macs on the internet (because of viruses etc). So could be cheaper to have 2 macs (making sure one is fast enough to run VPC) rather than 2 macs plus cheap PC. Also means I don't have to learn to use a PC There's something about PC's that depresses my soul .......

So now I'll have to start researching desktop macs...... More fun than researching PC's. Will check out the refurb store as well.

My ibook has 384MB RAM with a 700MHZ PowerPC G3 processor......It's running 10.2.8

The sort of software I need for some reason seems to be more PC orientated - not sure why- even the stuff from the states. it isn't fast games though so would hopefully be OK.

Hi everyone. My new EMac is being delivered in about half an hour! Will let you know what I think...