maybe its best to start telling Isaac what will you be doing mostly with it. Id say if your a creative kinda guy then Mac is the way. in all honesty I can work on both systems on XP and OSX but OSX somehow clicks better with me so maybe someone else with an XP system says he clicks better with XP then OSX for me its OSX and I have used XP reasonably long aswell for me OSX Rocks. Id also advice you Isaac go to any Apple reseller store. and simply walk in and sit behind an Apple and play with it. just go in and tell them your about to buy a new comp but dont know which way to go and if they could show you some stuff.
I always ask the same question when a someone asks me for advice on what to buy for a computer. "What do you intend to do with it?" or "What do you do with your computer now?"
My main intent...for a computer....is Internet/Music/Movies/Gaming Plain and simply...i dont have to do any type of Excel/Powerpoing stuff at this time. Word is always nice..other than that...those are the big 4 demands
I like both, to be honest. Windows is great if you know how to keep it clean and running and there's loads of freeware out there for nearly everything you wanna do. I'm also in love with the easiness of using a mac - the first time I worked on one was to solve a problem with an internet connection :rofl Everything was just self-explanatory. Nowadays you can do everything on a mac you can do on a PC- the MAC-Freeware/OpenSource-Community has grown too and the machines have dropped in price. Another great thing is that you buy a Mac and it works. Why? Because the hardware of each machine is chosen, tested and configurated by Apple - designed to work in other words. My brother has a 13" IMAC and I sometimes borrow it for using it at university or other occasions - I love the design and the way its built, pure class When I leave university and get a job I'll most probably buy me a mac too :: As far as Dell-computers are concerned: I'll never ever get me a Dell and nor can I recommend them. Why? Because they customise everything so that standard-replacement-parts won't fit, you HAVE to get the much more expensive stuff from Dell if you wanna exchange your graphics card for instance. Well, at least that was the case a few years back when I wanted to repair a Dell-machine. P***ed the owner off pretty bad when I had to tell him the new power supply would cost double the amount of money of a "normal" one...
So now that we have that out of the Way Isaac , I think Klaus summons it up pretty nicely. the next big Question would be your budget. if your willing to spend a little more on a mac or not because thats one thing that hasnt changed unfortunatly my Mac costed me an arm and a leg. I could have gotten me 2 Dell machines. Software is not an issue anymore readily available for the MacOS even freeware.
I like the new iMacs......that all the hardware is held within the monitor. But I wonder how that is in upgrading memory and what not.
The way I typically look at it is by use, and also by customization. I can always open a PC and change whatever I want, I don't have that luxury with a Mac.
Much as I love Apple stuff, I doubt I'd buy a desktop from them. They are, however, the only place I'll buy a laptop from. Biggest problem with Apple stuff is I can't really tweak it as much as I can a PC desktop. And there's no kind of TV tuner that's any good that works with a Mac. My MacBook is the greatest thing ever, especially for dragging to and from college.
What I like about PC is I can assemble them myself and maximise cost savings. I just have no idea if I’ll stay on XP or upgrade to Vista when I buy a new machine.
Dude, get a Dell. I got one, had it for 3 years. No problems and I still have no need for an upgrade. Best part it only cost 300 USD! As for Laptops, I have a hand me down HP, not bad.
Dell makes a fine machine, but pray you never have to deal with tech support. If you're able, build your own. You know what you're getting inside that way. IMHO, the prebuilts are of pretty equal quality. Price shop em, pick the best deal. I can vouch for the tech support for gateway begin great. I needed a part for an older laptop (years out of warranty). I called em up, asked for the part, and they said they'd be happy to give me the part for free, and even install it for me. They overnighted a box from texas, prepaid with overnight shipping back. I had it back and fixed in less than a week, and I didn't even have to turn a screw. Do pay attention to those "extended warranties". IMHO it's never worthwhile to spend 1/4 the price of the machine on a warranty. They all come with some kind out of the box, and the money spent on that warranty, can fix alot of broken stuff. Apple: The prices on apple stuff has really dropped since they went with the intel processors. Apple has some really nice design features, and lots of really useful FREE software. Unfortunately the gaming selection sucks. If you're a computer gamer, don't get a mac.
