Apple v PC

[Daveybot]

Okay, I'm not a computer nerd. I'm really not. I couldn't give a Tos about Dos, and frankly the less said about networks the better. I know nothing about what how my computer works, and I don't speak binary. I'm perfectly happy for my computer to look after the ones and zeroes while I do some thinking of my own.

When all is said and done, asking for the right computer is like asking for the right pen - everyone uses a different one, and they'll punch you in the face if you don't like their choice. My response is normally along the lines of 'meh - whatever works for you'.

However...

My Dad got his first mac in 1984 (ie: as soon as they were available) and he's been a loyal cult member ever since. He is not a highly involved computer user - he's a graphic designer. He doesn't care why they work, but he cares that they work. My first experience of using a computer was at the Oxford Univeristy Press when I was incredibly small, and I'm sure it was an Apple. But I also grew up with an Atari ST, and have long been a Wintel PC user. I can see advantages to all camps, and saying that one attribute, say 'looks', is unimportant is to miss the myriad of perfectly valid reasons why people chose their computers. With that in mind, the following are only my opinions.

First off, wintel machines are just downright ugly. I'm sorry, but they really are. I mean plenty of people think that the deisgn of a computer or a kettle is unimportant, but they're wrong. No, it's not a matter of opinion - they're wrong. A computer screen is the single item I look at more than anything else on the planet - it had damn well better be beautiful. Jonathan Ive deserves a knighthood for his work at Apple if you ask me, and let's not forget that design is about more than appearances. The main reason the iPod is the best mp3 player out there is because it's so frickin intuitive to use, and the same goes for most of their other products too. Ever compared the power draw between an iMac and Dell's or Gateway's simlarly specced offerings? Guess which uses the least - it's the one that's been designed properly.

Many people regard the sickeningly cheerful UI of OSX incredibly annoying, and sometimes I count myself amongst them. However, as others have pointed out, when you see a mac being used by someone who actually understands computers, it's hard to make an argument against them - they are powerful machines these days - very powerful. Part of this is probably down to the fact that the operating system is just so much more efficient than Windows, and has always been married to the hardware it comes with.

Actually, while we're on the subject of power, I'll tell you what I can. I'm one of the most intensive computer users at my office. Myself and a few other guys do a lot of 3D CAD modelling, mostly using Sketchup, AutoCAD, and 3DStudio. It's not animation or movie editing, but it does require some hefty hardware - normally a lot of RAM and a beefy graphics card. Processor power only really comes into it when it comes to rendering. For years we've been using Dells running Microsoft Windows, and have been pretty happy with em. Our IT guru Johnnie, on the other hand, has always used Apples. He plugs himself into our network every friday and fiddles with buttons and types magic command lines that are well beyond my understanding, but he knows what he's doing and he's able to talk fluently in both languages. He reckons Apples are the best and he can actually tell you why - I don't understand the technicalities of it all, but I'm happy to believe him.

At any rate, when Apple announced a while back that they were going to start using Intel Processors, he and the CAD monkeys decided we'd try something out. We were ordering a new uber Dell anyway, so we got a new iMac at the same time. We got the top specs of each, and the Apple came in about £600 cheaper. We installed Windows on the iMac using Boot Camp, and we raced them against eachother at a rendering task. Obviously this is a particular kind of task that is associated with creative works, but it was processor-heavy and the operating systems were the same. The Apple hardware knocked the socks off the Dell, and we now have about eight or nine of the things all running Windows and looking very sad about it. Probably not a perfect comparison, but it was enough to change our minds.

It should also be noted that the screens are lovely, and you only have to plug em in once. Want a mouse with a more clicky wheel and more obvious buttons? Just plug it in, for crying out loud - they all use USB. Rumours of incompatibility are greatly exagerated.

Now we don't really care who makes our machines, we just want the job done, and it so happens that these days Apple are doing a good job for us. We'd be very happy to change into the OSX system if AutoDesk (the makers of the main software we use) ever get around to writing for Apples, but for now we'll go with what works. Heck, if someone comes up with a good CAD package on Linux I daresay we'll get in there and give that a go too.

...And this is perhaps the main point. You have to ask yourself what you're going to use that computer for. Word processing? A bit of spreadsheet stuff? Most offices in the world use Microsoft Word, Microsft Excel, and Microsoft Outlook. Why do they buy high-spec machines? Heck knows. Do they all use the full capacity of Microsoft Word? I doubt it - I certainly don't. I want basic formatting and spell-checking facilities. Any more page layout requirements and I'll use InDesign, thanks.

I daresay if you need to manage a university department or a vast network of stuff then there is very special software out there, and no doubt everyone has there favourite, but I figure a home computer's functions mostly consist of:

• writing stuff on a word processor
• browsing the web
• writing emails
• sorting out your photos
• playing games
• managing your finances

...Well, surely you can use any operating system you like for any of that?

A housemate of mine has just installed Ubuntu on their machine and they're loving it - especially the cost! My Dad uses OSX and he loves that. I use Windows and I'm happy enough. I think the most important thing is not your choice of platform - it's learning how to use it. The biggest flaw I see in many Apple users is that they think they don't need to know how to use a computer, and they're idiots if they think so. but this phenomenon is not exclusive to Apple, and anyone who thinks so is likewise an idiot. I've never seen an idiot using Linux, on the other hand. Hmmm... could be the way forward.

The next computer I buy will be for home use, as I'm finally going to be finished at school and can banish all this 3D modelling gubbins. I'm going to buy an Apple laptop, because I think they're nicer product designs than the alternatives, and shove BootCamp on it so I can carry on playing Half Life. but Photoshop and Word and Firefox and everything else runs perfectly happy on whichever platform you buy them for, and I'll probably use OSX mostly because it's prettier and less prone to viruses. There isn't anything radical or religious about my decision, and for the most part I don't think there needs to be with anyone elses. I'd say go with whatever you like - they all work fine.

[jim]

Right - so from what I can understand of that - I'm an idiot. The rest is gobbledegook.

[Wavid]

I would honestly advise you to get a PC, John. I'm no zealot, and don't really have anything against Macs. But I don't think they are value for money, and there are performance issues with them. There's also the fact that Apple's design is lovely but their engineering isn't quite so good, and getting stuff sorted through Apple is a nightmare when it goes wrong.

I like the fact that PCs are made of bits from lots of different people, and that if something goes wrong, you can just buy a part from anywhere, no matter what the manufacturer, and it'll be working in no time. You can even do it yourself, if you want.

Daveybot has a good point, in that unless you are a serious gamer, there is little point in getting a top spec machine. You just want plenty of RAM and plenty of hard disk space. You could get a good quality desktop PC, with a monitor and all the other bits for about £400 that'll do everything you want it to. The equivalent Mac would cost at least twice as much.

As for the operating system question, well, as I have discovered to my cost, you're a man who Likes Things The Way They Are. So you may as well stick with Windows, there really isn't that much wrong with it. If you fancied a challenge, you could try installing a flavour of Linux on it, but I'd advise you against it, while they are pretty easy to use these days, they are generally still a pain in the bum and stuff like getting your broadband to work with it will drive you mad.

On the Office front, I wouldn't shell out for a full copy in any case. If you know anyone who works in education, they can generally get a copy for pretty cheap which can often be installed legally on more than one machine. OpenOffice.org is amazing, given its free-ness, but it is still pretty slow and sufficiently different to Office to be annoying to those who aren't really keen.

Last point - value and longevity wise, get a desktop, not a latptop. Unless you move around with your computer a lot, I'd really advise you to get a big box. You'll get much more power for your money that way.

[John Self]

Thanks Db and Wv.

It's definitely a laptop for me though, W. My current machine is a laptop (or are they 'notebooks' now?) and I wouldn't dream of going back to all that three-or-four-parts-and-wires-akimbo nonsense.

[Wavid]

What!!

But the stupid little keyboard! The fact that if the keyboard goes so does the rest of it! The expense! The crummy sound quality! The fact that it's really really hard to upgrade them!

Aaargh!

[Noumenon]

Originally Posted by John Self

I wouldn't dream of going back to all that three-or-four-parts-and-wires-akimbo nonsense.

I have a lap top for ease of writing purposes. It rarely leaves the desk. And, because it is so hard to upgrade, I've just bought an external hard drive - so I'm back to the multiple wires and nonsense anyway.

[youjustmightlikeit]

I agree John, a laptop is the way to go. It's hard to relax on the couch with your feet up with a 21 inch crt resting on your lap. Laptops rule!
To all those who say their laptops never leave their desks, i say, stop sitting at your desks.

John, i know where you're at, because i've been there myself. You're considering an upgrade, you've been diverted by all the Apple bunkum you've been reading on the net as you've delved ever deeper into it's darker recesses and started to read the musings of the Apple "cult" members (and it is just that - a cult). But eventually, you'll get a standard laptop. You think you might want an Apple, you think you want something new, fresh, and exciting, something WHITE. But you don't, not really, because you don't want to end up alone, deserted on some technological desert island, populated only by the quirky, and graphic designers.

What you really want is to have access to everything, now, and to have it work. For that, you need a pc. You want ease of use without worrying if it's going to be compatible, you want a life unblighted by feeling the need to defend your choice. In short, you want not to have to think about your computer. The computer is a means to an end, not a lifestyle choice. In short, you want TRANSPARENCY.

Two solutions.

For your memory woes visit here: http://www.crucial.com/ , good, cheap memory, for the right laptop. Just choose your make and model, and click GO. It's dead easy to install even in laptops. Go for 1Gb, your laptop will fly.

For your capacity woes buy an external hard drive and dump your iTunes directory on it, and everything else for that matter. You've instantly freed up 10Gb on your upgraded laptop and created a backup of everything else in one go. You can pick up these things cheap nowadays (a quick PC World search gives 80Gb for £50, i'm sure you can get it even cheaper).

[HP]

One question on the laptop front, though, folks: do any of you have problems with them overheating and cutting out or seizing up because of it? Or is there a way to overcome this (sensible suggestions only, please!) or is it just that some models are more prone to the overheating prob than others, as I suspect? And if you have a laptop you like, which make and model is it? As I mentioned earlier I'm soon going to have to acquire one, like it or not.

[John Self]

Thanks yjmli. Yes, I must admit much of the temptation of an Apple is for something that's truly 'new' to me, in the same way that getting a laptop was new for me last time.

Honey: my laptop doesn't overheat or seize up. It's an Acer Aspire. I think they're largely built with economy in mind rather than cool factor, but it's worked fine for me - until its memory filled up. And as I've discovered, you really do need 1GB of memory (RAM) to get the machine going and make it halfway future-proof.

[youjustmightlikeit]

I've got two ends of the laptop spectrum, a flashy Sony Vaio, and a cheaper Acer Aspire. Both are great in their own way; but if there's one thing i would say is the difference between the two, it's not the memory, the CPU, the graphics, or even the screen.....it's the keyboard.

Honey, make sure, above everything else, that the keyboard is nice for you to type on, otherwise you'll hate it, no matter how cheap or expensive, fast or slow it is. My Sony Vaio is lovely, slightly graduated in height, not as much as a normal keyboard of course, but enough to make a difference, it's a joy to type on. It feels solid, the keys are in the right place, and are the right size, perfect.

The Acer on the other hand has a totally flat board, the keys are awkward sizes, feel a bit plasticky, and the board behind the keys depresses slightly if you type too hard, which feels wrong. It's nasty. In every other way it's a perfectly good laptop.

As for the overheating, barring the obvious moves like making sure the air intakes/outputs (or whatever they're called) are clear and unobstructed, which i'm sure you've already done, yes, some will be more prone than others. It certainly shouldn't be getting to the point where it cuts out though.

Maybe you've got a problem with your fan? Maybe you've got your CPU running at 100% all the time with some rogue process, which will heat the laptop and run the fan at top whack all the time. You'll be able to hear this as the laptop sounds like it's taking off even when you're not doing anything on it. Check the list of processes running when you go into Task Manager, and sort by CPU% time, and watch for a minute or so. Or, if you're one of the distributed computing set and run something like SETI, then that could be blowing your CPU. Drop it. Good luck.