Need advice from Freeper friends ( I'm a computer dummy ) : MAC or PC for me ?

[altair]

Ich bin Ihnen sehr dankbar für die Übersetzung. (more formal German)

:-)

Translation for those of you following at home: "I am grateful for the translation". I can count to ten in German and that's about it. Fortunately, Google has many tentacles into different languages...

Walang anuman. :-)

Sorry for hijacking your thread with this subthread Sushiman, but this has been a wonderful learning experience for me.

[SunkenCiv]

Bill Gates is a flaming liberal, and so’s his whole effin’ family.

See? Two can play that game.

[SunkenCiv]

Hate having to purchase anti-virus protection and get tired of all the annoying, daily updates. But PCs give you more bang for the buck, and money is tight for me right now.

There you go -- PCs don't give you more bang for the buck, because of software maintenance issues. I understand your point, that there are more software titles available, sometimes apparently cheaper, but the main reason for you to stick with Wintel is that you've always used that. I understand that as well.

Windows 7 is just around the corner, and by all reports it sounds like a winner. But I read just yesterday that Apple will release a re-freshed iMac very soon with more bang for less buck. I've been toying with the idea of switching to Apple for a while, and this new iMac might just be enough to make me go for it.

There are two approaches you might make with a switch to a Mac. One is to spend a little, get a Mac Mini, and use it with your existing monitors, keyboards, mice, and perchance your big screen TV. The other approach is to get an iMac. Dunno what you read about refreshed iMac product line, it's been getting refreshed twice a year for quite a while now; Mac OS just got a new version, dubbed Snow Leopard.

I am not a gamer. I use my computer mainly for basic stuff like internet, email, burning CDs, and watching Youtube videos. So I am thinking that I would not utilize a lot of the finer things Apple has to offer.

Whatever you get, make sure it doesn't add spaces ahead of every comma and period you type. ;')

I use my computer for the same kinds of things you do. One advantage of any Mac you buy is having the ability to boot into Windows as well as Mac OS, y'know, if you must. There's even CrossOver Mac, a commercial variant of Wine, which allows the user to run Windows programs *without* installing the OS. There's a recently annoying message at bootup of a Windows machine offering to check the machine to make sure it's all certified and cool is actually a war on Linux, which is where Wine emerged. It's an interesting idea, one which I'm prepared to try, but haven't yet.

If you're only doing that handful of things on your system, you may as well do it on a system that doesn't get bogged down with malware and crapware of various kinds, y'know, as we say, something that just works. :')

Another option (and I've considered it) is a netbook; they're cheap, very portable, one might even say cute, but the keyboards won't accommodate my hands. Same problem kept me from getting a Miata years ago. ;') I've often said my next machine (whatever decade that happens) will be a laptop / notebook computer. Recently I've considered making my next computer a Sony PlayStation 3, which is under $400 (if you shop), has a barnburner CPU, and there's at least one flavor of Linux written for it. I don't game either, but having the option of a ready to go game system has some appeal as well.

Hope this helps, and have fun picking out a system.

[sushiman]

My Fujitsu monitor bit the dust ( for the 4th and last time ...3 times they fixed it after I complained vehemently ) and I am now borrowing an old CRT type from the school at which I teach . Keyboard and mouse work but are old and dirty ,etc...and will no doubt crap out in the not too distant future ...Mini would mean I’d have to get a new monitor for sure which would bring the price up to 90,000 yen or so . I’d be better off with an iMac .

Still haven’t ruled out a PC , possibly even a laptop . $ 500 for a Lenovo here in Japan . If it last 3-4 years you get your money’s worth out of it .

Still procrastinating . I will wait until the refreshed iMacs are released before deciding on PC or MAC . That is unless my desktop bites the dust beforehand .

Thanks for your post !

[zeugma]

Testing new sig. :-)

[zeugma]

that apparently didn’t work out quite like I planned. oh well......

[altair]

I’ll have Mrs. Altair come up with something equally insulting in Tagalog or Visayan and I’ll let you know just as soon as I do ...

[Redcloak]

Go with the Mac. I'm saying this as someone who's sitting in front of a Linux box. If you were confident of your ability to maintain a Windows machine, I'd say try Linux (and perhaps have a little fun) rather than spending the money straight away on new hardware and a new OS; something you'll be doing with a Mac or Win7. Bottom line, the Mac will be less trouble.

[carolina71]

I vote Mac.

Used PC’s for years and bought an imac this year. No turning back !

Gay my foot.

[SunkenCiv]

I'd be better off with an iMac

I love those, actually, and the bigger the screen, the faster I get all sweaty and feel dirty afterwards. Oh, sorry... Not sure an overseas buyer would be able to get one of Apple's education discounts, might be worth a try. There are also the clearance / specials / closeouts on the Apple website. I got this PowerMac 7600 (along with the now-defunct monitor, kb, mouse) from the forerunner of Apple's refurb shop -- that was in the 1990s. I bought a new Rev B iMac (the original iMac, which was CRT) in 1999? Late 1998? After eight years of being on nearly continuously, it died a couple of years ago, so I pulled the hard drive, transferred the files to this here, and resumed. :')

[itsahoot]

Me Thinks you are pullin mee leg. As a matter of fact I have never met a Mac owner that said his Mac was a pile of junk.

There were some G5 iMacs that had failing capacitors, but that was a supplier problem, which affected many other products, Apple warrantied everyone of those, even extended the warranty.

[HAL9000]

Mac’ers claim Macs are trouble free. My daughter and a co-worker proved that wrong to me.

I'm not aware of those claims by any credible source. Macs do have troubles - but only a small fraction of troubles experienced by Windows users.

Windows is inefficient, unstable and barely usable. It is a huge productivity-killer. Our nation's economy would improve significantly if everyone switched to Macs. I don't advocate Cash-for-Clunkers program for computers, but if that program existed, Windows would be the clunker.