The Mac thread

[ThinkAnarchy]

My whole issue is not MS vs. Apple as I don't see MS as a competitor to Apple.  My issue is PC vs. Mac.  Whatever software works on either is not the issue to me.  It's the system these work on.  To me, Mac simply works better with less frustrations and complexity.

I have friends in the music and film industry.  These seem to use the Apple line predominantly, but not exclusively.  I've had a few tell me they've worked on both PC and Mac in the industry and it seems the preference is Mac.

Maybe it is the case that in the sciences (as The Big Bang Theory seems to joke at), PC's work better.  I don't know.

Every individual I know who is into making films raves about Final Cut Pro. I think in that industry it's the program that is available for the Mac that leads them to get it. Like you said though, PC's may be better for scientific minds.

I know a lot of people prefer PC's because their easily customized. I looked into Linux based systems before buying my new Mac for that reason, but decided it wasn't worth the learning curve.

[Tom62]

Every individual I know who is into making films raves about Final Cut Pro. I think in that industry it's the program that is available for the Mac that leads them to get it. Like you said though, PC's may be better for scientific minds.

I know a lot of people prefer PC's because their easily customized. I looked into Linux based systems before buying my new Mac for that reason, but decided it wasn't worth the learning curve.

With Final Cut Pro lots of professional users were upset and angry, because Apple dumbed down the software and made it incompatible with previous versions. Here is a funny clip about the software from Conan 'O Brien http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxKYuF9pENQ. Backwards compatibility is something that Apple is definitively not good at. Many people don't switch over to the latest OS version Lion, because their older software won't run on it.

Here is my subjective list of pros and cons

Mac Pros
----------
It works straight out of the box
It doesn't contain any crapware and crippleware
It is intuitive and easy to use
Great build quality
User support is in general excellent
Not very popular (yet) with virus makers

Mac Cons
-----------
It is pricey
Open source, shareware or freeware software are rare
Many software titles are not available for the Mac  
Hardware cannot easily be extended or replaced (or it comes with a huge price tag at Apple)
Secretive and too late responses from Apple, regarding security threats and other problems
Backward compatibility doesn't have a high priority
Apple fandom/zealots

PC Pros
---------
Great variety of different hardware combinations are supported
Huge amount of software is available
Much lower price tag
Works in general out of the box

PC Cons
---------
Stability issues with some hardware and software combinations
Many PC's come with loads of crap- and crippleware pre-installed
In general PC's have a very boring design
Still the main target for viruses and Trojans
Practically no user support available