The difficulties in switching to a mac and are the benefits worth it?

[Psyrin]

Yes, I got snagged by those mac vs. pc commercials running around. I want a mac laptop, but I've never so much as touched one (not even the mac desktops actually).

Are they really that good? Is it worth it to buy an iBook, thereby escaping the vista which everyone seems to be complaining about? And what difficulties can I expect if I were to make this switch?

and damn those really cool commercials.

 

[Thelis]

Well, look at it this way.

Mac is more stylish, and is sort of easier to use, however their Mac OS does not give nearly as much control as PCs do. You will notice a huge difference in the interface, user settings, etc... It will be a pretty hard switch. Then, one of the best features of an iBook is boot camp which lets you dual boot Vista and Mac OS incredibly easily.

I do not see a reason to switch to Mac, because you will loose out on a lot of gaming and a lot of other opportunities. Even if you do dual boot Vista, you will still be stuck with Mac's bad hardware.

Just my two cents.

 

[Psyrin]

But aren't macs better for gaming and general fun stuff? (photoshop, film-making, etc.)? so say the commercials at least. I'm trying to get a mac to escape vista, cause I've been hearing such horrible things about it

 

[Thelis]

A lot of 'horrible stuff' about Vista is BS. What have you heard that makes you so against it?

As for gaming, that is false. For one thing, you cannot get a GPU for a mac, since they have built in graphics which are OK now, but will suck majorly in the long run. That and their CPUs are not even comparable to C2Ds, or even some of the Pentiums. Also, with the quad cores already out and soon to be affordable, there is no reason why you WOULDN'T get a CPU that is actually respectable.

Photoshop you can buy online or 'get hold of'. There are plenty film making freeware and software. Plus, Vista Home Premium and Ultimate both come with film-editing software already installed.

The commercials are made for the general public who knows nothing about computers.

 

[compguy91]

Vista is a great OS, over 90% of what you hear are either generalizations or false informaton. I believed those myths until I got vista, I love it and it's much more stable and yes even a bit faster than XP. I'd say go for a mac, if you're into multimedia or just want one. But don't be so quick to completely eliminate windows, I'd still keep a decent windows PC. You could always dual boot vista and OS X, but I'd say give vista a shot before switching to a mac.

 

[GreatHype]

Heh, Macs better for gaming, first time I've heard that one.

 

[Thelis]

That's almost like saying that you should get a Dell for great Overclocking.

 

[Jesusfrk611]

Then, one of the best features of an iBook is boot camp which lets you dual boot Vista and Mac OS incredibly easily.

The iBook has the G4 processor, therefore it's can't run Bootcamp or Windows. What you are thinking of is the Macbook or Macbook Pro which have Intel processors. Just to clear things up...

I recommend buying a used iBook just to try out the OS (selling for around $400-$600), and then once you get used to Mac you can upgrade to a new notebook.

EDIT: I want to get an iBook just to try out OSX, but will never eliminate Windows as I use too much software that's only compatible with Windows.

 

[Thelis]

Oh man I must have read that wrong. If you are thinking about getting an iBook then like... don't. Seriously, if you want to try it out go to an Apple store or something. I don't want to be cynical or anything but iBook is just... horrific. The only acceptable Mac computers are the Macbook and the Macbook Pro as Jesusfrk said.

 

[Jesusfrk611]

What's horrific about the iBook? If you just want to try OSX out and don't need to install Windows on your Apple, why pay full price for a system? Once you get used to OSX and know you like it, then you can move into something faster. I've used an iBook before and there's nothing horrific about it...