The Mac is Just Another Computer
Those of you who’ve known me for a while know I used to take a hard line against Apple. It was mostly the fan boys who would buy things solely because they were made by Apple that annoyed me. Then a little over a year ago, I made the switch from Windows to Mac. I was caught up in the shine of this new relationship and new OS and everything was new and excited, and new. But I’ve got some news for you: the Mac is just another computer.
Let me start by saying this: I like my Mac. It’s nice- it’s got great features and very cool ways to navigate through applications and Coda, a Mac only program, has changed my life. However, I miss Windows’ superior file system and resource management, as well as it’s overall compatibility with more things. Essencially, though, I think the Mac is just a grossly overpriced PC.
Anyone who has ever said they’ve never had a problem with their Mac falls into one of three categories: They just got it, they don’t use it that much/for that much, or they are a liar. I’ve had to restart mine several times because it has frozen on me, I constantly get bothered for updates, and sometimes it runs slow as hell. Two of friends, whom I see on a regular basis, have had theirs crash on them. That’s just the nature of having a computer, and a Mac is just a computer.
It’s for that reason that I still don’t recommend them for general use. If you’re doing some very specialized thing, maybe it’s for you. Good luck upgrading it when you want to though- that is a huge problem for me. I will keep my Mac until it dies and I can’t say for sure if I am going to buy a new one. I am building a new PC soon, and am very excited to try Windows 7. If Windows 7 works for me, probably not. I can guarantee that I will probably never be a solely Mac OS person.
I have always found the Mac to be way too expensive for its own good. Dell, HP, Toshiba, Compaq, etc., now offer Windows-OS laptops for ~$600. As technology gets better, and cheaper, we can expect this trend to continue before it eventually levels out (and we are not quite at that point). Mac, because it has no Mac-OS competition, can set its price at $2000 per product. Since purchasing a Mac requires learning an entirely different computer set, it’s amazing that Mac is so popular: high cost, the necessity to learn new programs, difficulty in repairs, and so on; who sees allure in that? I’ll stick with the Windows-vista $600 laptop. If it breaks in two years it means I paid the equivalent of $300 per year. I can then buy a new and better laptop while not feeling burdened by the cost, nor extremely upset at the loss of equipment.