Macs vs Laptops

Discussion in 'Which Laptop should I buy?' started by Norjak71, May 1, 2016.

  1. Norjak71

    Norjak71

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    What does everyone here use? Personally I'm in the market for a laptop and I've heard great things about Mac's but I don't know if i can justify spending that kind of money unless it's truly worth it. Can I run my regular windows programs on it with some kind of emulator? If you do have a Mac, is there a reason you do? Does it run things better than a laptop or is it just the brand name that attracts you, or the aesthetic appearance? Also, is it true that they are nearly impossible to get virus', or so I've been told.
     
    Norjak71, May 1, 2016
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  2. Norjak71

    nytegeek

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    It isn't a valid comparison. Apple makes laptops. Are you trying to compare a laptop running Windows or Linux to a desktop Mac? Are you trying to compare a Macbook to a Laptop using Windows? What are you asking here?
     
    nytegeek, May 1, 2016
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  3. Norjak71

    Corzhens

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    You are like my husband who is salivating for a Macbook but couldn't justify the high cost. His main point in a Mac is the speed of processing particularly for graphics and videos. But the cost of a Macbook is more than double that of an ordinary notebook or laptop. Their office bought a Macbook for 80k pesos that has an equivalent Acer laptop for less than half of the price. Now my husband is considering an HP but not a laptop anymore. He was enamoured to the desktop mini with a very small CPU that can be placed inside the monitor stand.
     
    Corzhens, May 1, 2016
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  4. Norjak71

    spence88

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    That's also what I've been told. Sorry to burst the bubbles, but that's marketing BS. There is no OS that will fit that description. That "nearly impossible" phrase is definitely an exaggeration. But to be fair, Mac OS is a lot safer than any Windows OS or less likely to be infected by a virus :)
     
    spence88, May 1, 2016
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  5. Norjak71

    Jonathan Jenkins

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    Most people who have Macs don't use any kind of anti-virus software at all. So that is one less thing to worry about. Obviously you have a firewall running, but that's about all that you need on a Mac, just as with Linux. I've used both Apple and Microsoft systems for work and home for many years, and also enjoy experimenting with different Linux setups.

    I personally like the Macs because they look and feel like high-quality machines, quite apart from the fact that they run the software I use very well. Until last year, I worked in TV audio post-production, where we recently upgraded several studios. We compared PC and Apple operating systems for running our applications, and the Macs came out narrowly in front. For similarly-specified hardware, there was not a significant difference in cost. Then again, if you're buying for business use, you can claim the cost as a business expense and reduce your tax bill.

    If you want to run PC apps on a Mac, people either go for Parallels or Fusion. Running a VPS is an option if you're not worried about the speed of the interface. You could also consider running a full virtual machine, or dual-booting the Mac.
     
    Jonathan Jenkins, May 2, 2016
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  6. Norjak71

    IBMPC8088

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    Macs still get viruses all the time, but because people don't use antivirus software for it, they never realize it and Apple wouldn't bother to push the issue for them to do so because it would hurt their image to. Originally, OS X was built off of Darwin, an offshoot of BSD unix (which is stable). However, the similarities ended there and all of the things Apple added on top of it made it as insecure as Windows (worse in the arena of data loss by the way. It's harder for users to recover data from a Mac at times than a PC with a live CD since you have to use the limited Mac OS X recovery utilities unless you want to use a better third-party solution that can read the drive raw or in any format you need to).

    Macs are overpriced. You are paying shopping mall prices for standard intel equipment. That being said, there are ways to make Mac OS X run overtop of equally or more powerful PC hardware with an intel or AMD chipset and run Mac OS X on it natively as well as emulating it any time you need it.

    Yes, you could use Apple's Bootcamp to dualboot more than one OS and Parallels to emulate Windows over a Mac, but you'd be better off (and save a ton of money) by just getting a good "PC" laptop with the right specs, and then emulating anything you ever wanted or needed with Virtualbox or VMware instead.

    I'll never buy a Mac since I'd be wasting my money and throwing it to the wind. Whenever I need to use Mac OS X, I emulate it full screen over my PC and it works beautifully that way. I can develop for society's fad of Apple devices that way, without ever having to pay for the MLM scheme of Apple prices. ;)

    P.S: I was given a Macbook Air (original version) a few years ago as payment for computer services when someone wasn't able to pay in-full. The very first thing I did was put Windows XP on it and it worked better with that than it did OS X lol
     
    Last edited: May 2, 2016
    IBMPC8088, May 2, 2016
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  7. Norjak71

    SirJoe

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    Macintosh has really done an excellent job in it's promoting department. Everyone seems to want one, but what are you really getting for your money?
    In the past macs had there own CPU's and would run faster with lower speeds, because the whole thing was made as one unit. Now days Macs outsource their more important parts, and you can get better performance out of a laptop for far less money.
     
    SirJoe, May 2, 2016
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  8. Norjak71

    IcyBC

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    I am a new user of Apple products for about a year now, and to confess the true, I don't have anti-virus on my laptop. But you have to understand that I am also an average user, I don't download anything, or using it to play games. I haven't had a problem so far. My two sisters and their entire families are using MacBook for years too, and no one gets virus or problem.

    It is an expensive machine, but I think it is worth it when you take into consideration that a smart phone can cost your around $600--800 bucks nowadays!
     
    IcyBC, May 2, 2016
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  9. Norjak71

    nytegeek

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    Those of you that rely on the OS to protect you from malware instead of yourselves probably need antivirus on a toaster. Sophos is a good antivirus solution for Macs and I suggest you use it. There is less malware for OS X than there is for Windows, but there is enough out there now to be of concern.
     
    nytegeek, May 2, 2016
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  10. Norjak71

    Sefie

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    I don't own a mac, but a friend of mine does and to be honest I don't see the big fuss some people make about it. Sometimes his is so slow he has to use his iPhone to talk with me on Skype. It doesn't sound too good to me to be honest, plus I've heard that when something starts to malfunction you need to go directly to the apple store... unlike with laptops, with these is easier to fix any issue on your own or anywhere else.
     
    Sefie, May 2, 2016
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  11. Norjak71

    Sm0key

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    I own a Macbook from late 2008 and it's on it's last legs as of this year. It still works but the keys aren't too responsive anymore. I've used it exclusively for 4+ years. It depends on what you need to do with your laptop/computer in general. They are built pretty well, but they are quite overpriced. You can get a windows-based laptop that is on par with a top-end macbook for half the price. At the end of the day, the specs and technology inside the macbook is the same, you're paying for the brand name & logo of a product.
     
    Sm0key, May 2, 2016
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  12. Norjak71

    gmckeebiz

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    I'm a Mac guy. I've used quite a few Windows based laptops and I'll never go back to them. Yes, there's a pretty big difference in price, but even the higher end laptops don't tend to perform at the same level as my MacBook. I've never had a single issue out of it. Always done what I've asked it to do. Never had to get it repaired. Only thing I'll say in favor of the laptops is that if you do a lot of gaming and such it's probably better to go with the Windows based laptops, as MacBook are a little weak when it comes to that.
     
    gmckeebiz, May 14, 2016
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  13. Norjak71

    nytegeek

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    Comparable hardware to a MacBook is available at better quality and price from other manufacturers. Why would anybody buy one unless they are misinformed or trying to make some sort of statement?
     
    nytegeek, May 15, 2016
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  14. Norjak71

    Sworden

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    Personally I use Windows, and until recently I used to be pretty anti-mac. Looking at other people using different macbooks slowly convinced me that Mac, while not for me, is still a pretty viable option for those that have the money to spend.

    I mean you can talk about this all day, but it all comes down to what you want from a PC. Do you want more customization? Or do you want to spend a large sum once, then not have to worry about it again (which isn't true, even for macs.)

    If you go through a few of the pros that people say macs have, a lot of times those pros are exaggerated. "Macs have no virsues", this literally just isn't true. Macs can get viruses and the hard drives can fail, and the screen can crack or malfunction just like any other electronic. Macs aren't some magical device that never fail you, and you also have to pay quite a bit of money to fix a Mac hardware wise. That's not even counting that its next to impossible to fix Mac hardware on your own unless you really know what you're doing, and you have the tools for it.

    Windows laptops, for the most part, might not be as perfectly reliable as Macs, but if uses right and if maintained well, you get the same hardware for a fraction of the cost.
     
    Sworden, May 15, 2016
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  15. Norjak71

    Vash

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    There is no comparison like someone had already pointed out.
    Macs are computers too, and they come in the form of desktop and laptops.

    So you must be saying
    OSX (Macbooks) vs. Windows based laptops

    It really depends on what you need if the budget is not an issue.
    Even the "need" part comes in two forms.
    1. The need of running certain software.
    2. The need to show off. :D

    For #1,
    Unless most of the software you must have are available on both operating systems, you have to choose one over the other based on the availability of the software for each platform.

    For #2,
    The Apple logo is a way to show off to some people, since most Apple products are made to be premium (expensive). If this is very important to you, then you can certainly choose a Macbook/Macbook Air/Macbook Pro depend on how much power do you need.


    Personally, I was also in the market for a new laptop sometimes just in last October when my old Dell Vostro died on me. Macbook series was on my thoughts for some moments, but I decided to go with a Surface Pro 4 since majority of the software I use are only available for Windows. The fact Macbooks do not have touchscreen also sealed the deal for me. After using smartphones and tablets for so long, it just feels weird for me not be able to do a thing when my finger touches the screen. :)

    Anyway, it is still your own choice to make. After all we can only make suggestions.
     
    Vash, May 18, 2016
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  16. Norjak71

    BlueText

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    I had to have a Mac for college and they lasted two to three years longer, still on the second one, than the Toshiba I had before it. I'm an illustrator so I just find it easier to work on a Mac and that it handles bigger programs better. I do enjoy the aesthetics of the Mac. The biggest thing for me though is that I'm not really a techie so it's nice that I can go to an Apple store and have someone look at my computer without expecting cash unless they're fixing something. I feel like I don't have to deal with as many of the problems I had with my Toshiba though that could just be because of experience. I have a tablet so I don't need a touch screen laptop. As for viruses, I don't get as many viruses and I don't get them as bad as I did with my Toshiba laptop.
     
    BlueText, Aug 29, 2016
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  17. Norjak71

    Krissttina Isobe

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    Have you ever used a Mac? Mac has different apps, different search engines, great graphics if you know how to use them and even Mac's mouse is different. When I went back to college and got computer literate back in 2004, there was the computer lab and they had everything, including IBM, and we could use them all. I only use MACs when all other computers were taken and Macs was the only one open to use in the lab. I prefer today HP or Galaxy tabs, that hopefully I can find a 2 in 1 laptop. If you put in the search button all the things you want, pages pop up of different kinds of computers, sweet, now you can see what's available, cost too etc. Try all the computers in stores and see what you like. I went to Mac stores and tried things and I decided to get another brand of computer.
     
    Krissttina Isobe, Sep 2, 2016
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  18. Norjak71

    fcuco

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    You can't run your regular windows program unless they have OSX versions, there are some emulators and you could have some virtual machines running windows to run your programs. You could also install Windows on a Mac using Bootcamp and dual boot, but that's a stretch... it makes no sense to buy a Mac and then install windows on it.

    Mac look good, no doubt about it, and are quality builds, overpriced, yes, but they are well made. Just go with a Macbook air or a Macbook Pro, the Macbook is an underpowered joke right now.
     
    fcuco, Sep 2, 2016
    #18
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