(Vanity) Is an Macintosh Laptop Good, Does It Run Windows Apps

[shellshocked]

Oh, ok, hahahehehehahahohhoho. There, now I feeeeel betterer.

[Unknown Freeper]

17" PowerBook here.

I have used ThinkPads, Dell laptops and a few other brands. This PowerBook is the easiest to use. I have Office Applications for the Mac. Use Safari as the browser and iChat to talk to AIM friends.

PhotoShop Elements came with my scanner. (That's the scanner with the cable I just plugged into the USB port. I don't know what that other person was talking about earlier.) I have a printer, a scanner, a digital camera and a high end camcorder. All just plug in and allow me to very easily transfer data. Creating DVDs using iDVD is easy and fun.

I go to visit family and it is no effort at all to log in wirelessly.

Full Disclosure: I bought my first PowerBook last summer. The drive was dead five days after I bought the machine. I took it to the Apple store. They didn't replace the drive. They gave me a brand new PowerBook.

I would highly recommend the 17". As others have said, having this much real estate and being able to have so much open and visible at the same time is sweet.

[Swordmaker]

If you do get VPC, make sure you have virus software for it. I know of a person who got a virus on theirs, but the Mac OS was fine.

There is a distinct advantage to using VirtualPC in avoiding viruses... and other problems. Set it up to save your documents to the Mac HD instead of the PC Virtual HD. Then simply make a complete copy of the Virtual C: HD file when it is fresh and un-infested. Use the original C: drive file for your VirtualPC operations. DO NOT USE IT TO GET EMAIL OR FOR SURFING THE NET!!!

If it gets infested, delete it, make another copy from your back-up and off you go. Takes about two minutes.

[shellshocked]

"I would highly recommend the 17". "

No kidding. 17" seems almost as good as a 21" monitor.

[shellshocked]

I use the same technique in high risk environments. Virtual PC is a fantastic.

[CheneyChick]

FACT #6: PC users are typically cranky.

Cheers, CC :)

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks again for the Mac ping list, BTW. I let my MacAddict subscription lapse (I never read the mag, just mined the disk, and I've got broadband now; what I really need is an e-version of the mag available to me) but the new issue has a freebie (Mac OS X) office suite, a knockoff of Photoshop, etc.

[olde north church]

I was waiting for such a comment. I don't mind coming to kick some ass and eat some cookies. I'll won't bring the cookies, though.

[stormbringr]

Lets look at these facts:

Mac vs. PC FACTS!

FACT 1: Macs are more expensive.
There are no bargain-basement stripped-down OS-less Macs

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The initial cost of a Mac is more, that is true. However, the total cost of ownership over the life of that machine makes it comparable or less than the total cost of ownership of the pc. Mac users normally keep their machines longer than their pc using counterparts, mostly because even my 1999 vintage G4 tower can run the newest version of OS X. Most pcs of that vintage would have trouble running Windows XP.

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FACT 2: No one where you live supports Macs.
Had I ever needed to call someone, I'm not sure who I would have called.

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I live in a fairly small town and have several options for Macintosh help or support, one is less than fifteen minutes away the other is less than 45 minutes away for hardware problems.

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FACT 3: There's nothing written for a Mac.
Duh! Nothing that runs on a PC will run on Mac OS. Some vendors like Microsoft, Adobe, Quicken and others write products for both platforms, but who knows about tomorrow as Apple continues its 20 year slide into oblivion.

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Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premier, Microsoft Office, QuarkXPress, Macromedia Dreamweaver/Flash/Fireworks, Roxio Toast, Firefox browser, plus a host of Linux programs will run if you load X11 on your Macintosh, all of this and more works on a Mac, that is hardly nothing

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FACT 4: Macs do not work with PCs.
Of course not! Remember, Macs don't have a floppy disk drive and a completely different chipset. Want to transfer files? Don't be silly. See #3.

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Welcome 2005 where I can easily transfer files from my Macintosh to Windows XP/2000 through a shared folder just as I do from another Windows machine. Not only that but I can put a Windows formatted disk in my Macintosh and read it, but Windows cannot do the same for a Mac formatted disk. Why would I want a floppy drive when I can put information on a 128mb USB keychain drive, faster access and more data.

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FACT 5: Macs DO crash.
My Powerbook crashes at least three times a year. You call that stable?

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I would call that more stable than most of the Dell laptops I spend my time working on at my place of business. I work in corporate IT and have spent time the last 3 years working on Dells both laptops and desktops. They are good machines, the hardware is usually very high quality, I however cannot say the same for the Windows OS. But, I would agree Macs do crash won't say that they don't but I have had fewer crashes on a Mac than on a Windows pc.

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And you Mac users out there can't argue with this either! Don't be fooled by the Mac user lies.

[anonymous_user]

I hate to burst your bubble, but I was being totally and 100% sarcastic. I wanted to point out the silliness and 1980s-era thinking of some of these Mac-bashers.

[stormbringr]

sorry about that, its just those are the exact same arguments I here all the time from my Windows using friends

[anonymous_user]

No problem -- You defended things well. I just chose to defend things like a PC user for a laugh. Take care!