Fookin' hell! This Mac vs PC debate is as old and as out of date as the Ark!
A friend of mine runs a graphic design company, and the company has LOADS of work involving digital photography and high level graphic manipulation.
For years the company used Macs, but have now switched over to PC's. Why? Because in their experience, the differences between a modern PC and a modern Mac are virtually non-existant. A Mac running at the same speed as a PC will cost more, and all the software that was once the domain of the Mac is available on the PC.
From a financial point of view, PC's make more sense. Price per Ghz is cheaper, hardware upgrades are cheaper, way more software available and with far, far, greater support and knowledge bases.
For me, Apples are too 'designer'. They seem to be selling these days as fashion icons, and there's still that old Apple elitism of looking down at PC's even though there's bugger all difference any more. I have some friends who have Apples and they are still pushing the same old brainwash about 'superior' Macs and quoting statistics. What do I care? My PC does its job way cheaper then their Macs do! It might be slow, but a 6 year old Pentium II 233mhz can't be expected to compete with a G4 or Pentium 4. Besides, the number of times I've seen their Macs crash or refuse to open up QT programmes makes me disbelieve the 'stable' operating system claims of a Mac over a PC.
Ten years ago yes, the Apple was far superior to (and more expensive than) an equivilent PC. Today? I doubt it. Surely 90% of the worlds computer users can't all be wrong for using PC's? And how can Apples be so much better than PC's when Apple has recently used Intel processors
At the end of the day, a computer is a tool for doing a job. It's not how good it looks, how fancy it is, how many split seconds quicker it can do certain jobs or how apparently superior it is. The crucial factor is whether it does the job required at a price and speed that the user can afford. If it does that reliably and without problems, then it has achieved its objective. Therefore it really doesn't matter whether it has 'PC' or 'Apple' written on the front, as long as the user is happy.
Me, I will be very unlikely to buy a Mac. 10 years experience with owning and working with PC's means it will be more of an effort to relearn how to use a Mac than to stick with PC's and a platform I am fully conversant and happy with. Plus with some high power PC's available at rock bottom prices (3.2Ghz Dell package for £399!) I cannot afford a Mac of equivilent power. What's the point in me going for a slower computer when I can afford one that works faster at a price I can afford?
At the end of the day, whether we use Macs or PC's we all end up at the same place. Such as the Fiat Forum! Does a Mac make the Fiat Forum run any better? Does a PC make it any worse? Nope, they are both the same when it comes to accessing and using websites on the 'net.
We're all in this together, whatever computer we use :hug: