Re: PC or Mac?

[Brian Hyer <bmhyer@ameritech.net>]

> I'm planning to buy a new computer in the near future. My present computer
> is a Pentium with Windows95 running on it, but I was thinking of switching
> to the MacOS.

Aside from this being a non-Mac group, which I'm sure you're sick of hearing
by now <grin>, that's a great decision.

> Is this a good idea? What are the pros and the cons? Is it easier to work
> with? Is it more stable? Can you do more with it? How about the new OS X?

Pros - ease of use, stability, much cooler looking hardware if that's a
factor... Cons - initial cost is a little higher, Apple service *can* be
difficult to deal with (not always though!).

You can do the same things on a Mac that you can on a PC 95% of the time.
Maybe even more now... People are always writing new software, and with OS X
you have access to a lot of *nix programs too!

OS X - I want everyone to hurry up and get native versions of their apps to
market. I use OS X in a graphics production environment, heavily and every
day, and I love it.

> What kind of Mac should I buy? Is it worth the price?

It's worth the price - Apple hardware is very reliable. For around $1500
give or take a little, I'd recommend the new iMac with a G4 processor.
Flat-panel LCD display on a stick, and powerful enough to run circles around
lots of PC's. Double that to $3000 or so, and you can get a dual-processor
machine that's on a par with any server in its price range. As a bonus,
higher-end Macs come with DVD *burners* in 'em now...

> Is it easy to find software for the Mac?
> Is there a good compatibility between Windows and Mac? Can you put a Mac and
> PC together in a network?

Yes, yes, and yes. Macs and PC's get along just fine these days. I regularly
move files between platforms without even a second thought.

> How come a Mac user loves his computer and a Windows user does not?

My two cents: PC manufacturers make hardware that performs tasks. Apple
makes hardware that seems almost 'transparent' to the process of doing work
on a computer. It's much more intuitive to use, it does what you want it to
do without interference from you, and it does it fast.

Happy hunting!