Mac vs new Windows 8

General General Discussion
1

We have some sharp people here when it comes to comps, so wanted to get some input on this topic.

Rules of the thread: Do NOT turn it into a Mac bashing fest or give “PC rocks” type comments.

If you don’t like Mac, exit => thread here

If you use PC with touch screen Windows 8, and or have some relevant and objective info regarding my thread topic below, by all means, add it. :cool:

Onward:

I have been a Mac person since they were sold as Apple Macintosh prior to the 'net existing. That’s how far I go back with Mac and to me, Macs were far and away the comp I liked using vs any PC. I’m typing this from a 27" IMac now…

Always liked my Mac’s but I have to say, there’s less difference than ever between brands now and the extra cost of the Mac getting hard to justify. About the only thing inside a Mac these days that can’t be found in other comps is the OS as far as I know.

I was looking at a Samsung lap top yesterday with specs better than the Mac Pro (which costs big $$$ over the Samsung…) , which had the new Windows 8 touch screen OS.

It was very nice. I hate to jump ship on Mac, but the cost differences are now very tough to justify the cost of the Mac pro lap top these days and the Windows 8 touch screen tech = win.

Experiences good and bad with this tech? Thoughts on current Mac comps vs competition?

Right now, the deal breaker for me is I used IMovie a lot for my vids and like it, and know it, and don’t wanna learn a new system for making vids.

2

Windows 8 appears to be very good system. I believe that actually Mac users can find it easier to jump Win8 that seasoned Win users. Win8 is not next evolution (like Win 3.11>95>98>Me>XP>Vista>7) but it it whole new concept of user interaction. As Mac user, you will only need to learn new system. Win users are entrapped into un-learning old Windows - not easy process.

3

I test drove the Release Candidate of Win8 on a desktop and thought every day that I used it, which was every day for a few months, that it would be well suited for a tablet because of the way the panels and the new start screen as a whole works. If I had the extra cash laying around for a Surface I would have one in a heartbeat.
After using 8 on a desktop for a few months, I feel that Windows 7 is better for a PC and 8 is perfect for a tablet with a super lightweight keyboard, like the Surface.

ETA: Win 8 is pretty much Win 7 with a radically different start screen (I’m sure someone with real expertise can tell me I’m wrong and that’d be fine). I say screen because its not the start button. It takes the whole screen over and is able to run apps from within the screen. Its neat. The traditional desktop is still there, but Windows 8 boots into the start screen. And you sort of launch the desktop as an app from the start screen, but all its really doing is hiding the start screen. You can tell once you get in there the desktop is still the desktop. It still has shortcuts and a taskbar, just no start button. You get to it by going to the very bottom left of the screen and clicking.

I don’t like Apple as a company. Their marketing is fantastic but their products are not worth the money. The best thing Apple ever did was adopt x86 processors so they could then dual boot into Windows. Which is funny because Windows still wins in that case lol

Our company IT guy is a fan of Apple so one day we priced 2 laptops just for fun in a fun argument we were having. We checked Dell vs Mac and at the time, we priced a Dell with the same construction and same hardware or better for around half the cost of the Mac. Then you have to worry about most of your software not working on a Mac. This is getting better for Mac users, but the easiest thing is to boot into Windows. And at that point, why would you spend double for a Mac to run windows?

4

I use Windows, Mac, and Linux (Ubuntu & Fedora) all on a daily basis. Windows has been slowly getting their shit together over the past few years, and Windows 8 certainly is a step in the right direction with features like built in encryption (with some versions). However, the GUI is an abortion.

As for touch screens, well, I don’t like finger prints all over my screen. They are necessary for tablets and phones, but my screens get dirty enough without my rubbing my dirty hands all over them. I still think I can navigate faster with a command line than I can through a touch screen anyway.

I would stick to the Mac. It has most of the capabilities of a Linux machine but is much more user friendly to the lay person. My recommendation, if you’re looking for a laptop to carry around, the Macbook Air is the best. It’s lightweight and almost indestructible due to the SSD and aluminum case (mine has been dropped out of my truck more than a few times). I’ve never missed the lack of an optical drive. If you want a desktop replacement, then the Macbook Pro is a better choice, but to actually get a pro that is significantly “better” than an Air, you have to go up to the higher-end ones.

Any Windows machine I build gets set-up to dual-boot Ubuntu, and only runs Windows when I really need to (basically for games only).

5

Apple as a company is terrible and Steve Jobs was a fascist when it came to how he wanted to design computers. That being said, the construction and integration of Apple’s hardware with it’s software is second-to-none. With a Windows or Linux machine you get a Frankenstein computer, which allows for better performance if you put it together yourself, but the quality of the parts that most big name brand computers use is terrible for the price they charge. Remember the hardware “specs” are one thing, but the quality of components is another. For example saying “This computer has X amount of RAM and X amount of hard drive space.” is the equivalent of saying a rifle has a 16" barrel chrome lined barrel. Do you know anything about the construction or quality of materials that went into the barrel? Same with the computer. I’m not saying Apple uses super-high-end parts, but Apple hardware has failed much less than hardware designed to be universal (Windows/Linux), even from good, reputable companies.

In my field, the software problem is reversed. Most runs on Linux (and therefore usually Mac), and either runs poorly, or not at all on Windows. Also, even without dual-boot there are ways to get Windows software to run on a Mac or Linux machine.

6

I have a PC with Win8 and a MacBook Pro. It’s probably enough to say that my kids got the PC and I took the Mac. I like the Mac because the OS can’t be beat, it still has better security and better reliability. It’s tightly integrated with the components inside which, unlike PC’s, are all new. Most PC’s use refurbished components like hard drives and stuff like that. I think the PC with Win7 is better so I modified our PC to boot into that instead of Win 8. If money is a big factor you can find a PC that will meet your basic needs, but if you want a better computer Mac’s are still on top. Good luck.
Macfanboy, Darrin

7

I just bought a Retina MBP yesterday, and it’s my first personally owned Mac. I used them in school but that was over 10 years ago.

I was using a Samsung (non-touch) Series 9 15" which came with W7 and I loaded W8 onto it.

I have used touch W8, and that is really what W8 was designed to be used with. Non touch laptops or desktops aren’t just as good of a user experience.

I do think W8 is a big step in the right direction but it fails because the Start Screen is basically just Windows RT (tablet OS) mated with a dumbed down W7 desktop OS (no start menu). There are some performance and UI improvements in the desktop mode and it does look better to me than W7 with more functionality in Windows Explorer.

I ended up not liking the whole experience because I can’t stand jumping back and forth between the two OS’s, and there are redundant programs. You can click the Internet Explorer tile on the Start Menu, and it brings up the RT IE version which is a dumbed down browser that is slow. To use the full IE you have to go to the desktop. I don’t get why I need multiple versions of several programs. I primarily use Chrome, and there is a Google Search tile for the Start Menu. That would be good for a tablet that can’t run a full desktop version of a program. You can put shortcut tiles on the Start Menu, and that takes you to the desktop. In the end you don’t really know if you’re going to jump to an RT version or a desktop version. It really is like having two OS’s running together. Theres two ways to a do a lot of things. You can go to Windows Update from the charms bar or through the desktop via Control Panel, and the UI is completely different.

With regards to hardware the PC guys are catching up in build quality but that’s because a lot of them are simply copying Apple. We have a place here in Austin called The Domain, and it’s basically an outdoor mall with apartments/condos above the stores. There’s an Apple Store, and a Microsoft Store. MS copied Apple’s design theme, and MS sells various brands of PC’s there, Windows Phone’s, tablets, ect. All the laptops they had on display are copies of Mac’s with the silver aluminum build with the black around the screen.

And I would not say the cost is really that different. My Samsung cost $1399, you can get a MBA or 13" Retina MBP for about that. If you look at a ‘like for like’ comparison, say something like an Asus UX51 which is their top of line PC comparable to a Mac it’s not much cheaper than a Retina MBP, and doesn’t have as good of a screen even though its still 1080P. The Google Pixel is the only competing product that has good of a screen as a Retina, and that thing is a joke as its a web based browser with no other functionality.

One other thing I’ve learned over the years of using other Apple products is I really like having a store to go if something breaks, and they are usually very helpful. They gave my wife a new iPhone after she went in there expecting to buy a new one after she gave hers a bath on accident. They just handed her a new one, and said don’t wash this one. A lot of these other brands are foreign owned, and you have to mail your hardware in. I’ve not heard good things about some other company’s support. My BIL works for Apple’s CS department here in Austin. They hire Americans you can call when you have a problem. I’ve called MS a few times, and get Indians I can hardly understand. I think a bit of a premium to get MUCH better support is worth it these days.

If you were going to jump to W8 I would look at one of the convertable’s like the Lenovo Yoga. I’m not sold on the functionality of a touch screen in a traditional laptop form factor. Or something like the Surface RT or Pro (pro runs x86 desktop apps RT does not) with a keyboard you can attach and detach I needed. I would not buy a traditionally setup laptop with W8 on it…saying that after using one for months now. You will have a lot better user experience when you can use the tablet OS Start Screen like you have a tablet in your hands. That means some sort of convertable or a tablet to begin with.

8

Try them out make sure you can return it might be best to try for extended outlet :slight_smile:

Specs on paper are one thing reality is another

While a bmw vs a hyundai might be the same specs they wont feel the same ? If the Kia had better specs on paper would it be the better machine ?

Not sure I would want some frankengun with specs from the lowest quality stuff vs the same from a quality builder

Unless you are really pushing a machine most computers will do what folks need with no issues :slight_smile:

Often comes down to you a win user or OS X user ?
Most hardcore win users are rolling back or stuck to 7

9

If you want a Win based laptop and touch screen I would look at the Lenovo models and the one that has that built in wacom digitizer/screen setup
Those seem to be pretty cool and kinda create a computer you can use like a tablet or input with pen

10

So we are a mac family at home (phones, ipads, macs). At work I am a Windows user. I have a ASUS laptop and a Surface. I like them both.

I will say that if I had a windows 7 PC, I wouldn’t upgrade to Win 8. I had to upgrade my Win 7 laptop to Win 8 and it was a tough UI. With a touch screen, its a totally different UI Very easy to use. The ASUS has an excellent screen that doesn’t seem to show fingerprints at all.
The chief advantage of the Mac platforms at this stage is ITunes, and the extensive app catalogue. The Win 8 Marketplace is growing quickly, but it still doesn’t have the critical mass of developers yet, although the more people buy them the more apps there will be.

Damien

11

It’s about the OS, not the HW.

Use the OS that works for you.

–

12

I’m a Mac guy at heart to be sure, but I admit the cost differences got even my attention. I have been traveling a fair amount, so the 27" IMac I have sits in my office going un used for months and I’m using my older Mac lap top with minimal hard drive space and small screen when traveling, and that’s getting problematic.

Considering a consolidation to one higher end lap top (15" likely) and before I drop the $$$ on the higher end Mac Book Pro (after selling the Imac desk top) I wanted to at least see what the latest options are.

I know and like the OS of Macs, but did enjoy the Windows 8 touch screen set up.

13

Without a touch screen I would avoid W8.

The system interprets finger movement across the touch pad as if they were touch screen inputs; so as you move you finger it will often change screens.

14

I disabled that.

15

Give me some real numbers and real example machines in both camps you have been looking at. (I am not disputing that cost differences exist – I’d just like to see what you are comparing).

(also remember, you will probably use it for 2-5 years – if the cost difference is $500, and you use it for 5 years, that equates to about 27 cents a day to not have to use Windows :wink: if you only use it for 2.5 years, that comes to a little over 50 cents a day to not have to use Windows! Well worth it in my opinion :wink: )

16

one thing often you can sell a used mac for the difference in the price and end up in the same spot as you would have been

try to sell a 3-4 year old PC :slight_smile: hahaahha
3-4 year old macs can still fetch a few bucks mac pros a decent amount

and comparing a cheap crap PC to a mac is like saying I can buy a AR15 for way less than that Noveske as example :slight_smile:
heck bubba got one of them for $1100 new and the guy said its all mil spec and exactly like the gun they used to shoot osama with cause a mil spec gun is just that !

a Mac Pro is not expensive when you compare it to a workstation from Dell or HP ! Xeon workstations are not cheap ! and sometimes the Dell ends up being more specd the same !

the iMac you get a pretty decent monitor about the same as the Dell 27 XP or whatever that is usually around $1000 sometimes $900 on sale and with the new one being profiled and such maybe a touch better than the Dell so count that $1000

now their is a pro con to built in monitor for sure ! but again PRO and CON so one is not better than the other just a dif choice !

the mac mini is a cool setup not for gaming (or photo video use no GPU) but great setup and does not draw a lot of power and is quiet etc…

look who is on top most the time for laptops and happy customers would they buy again and reliability and its apple :slight_smile:

even when I worked for HP as one of their head technology guys I used special built HP units or Apple :slight_smile:

do you want a Bushmaster or some other really nice rifle like Noveske or BCM, KAC etc… :wink:

also look at some of the refurb stuff they have and get apple care ? 3 years no worries at all :slight_smile:
previous models were still kick butt machines

17

Touch screen only works for me on a phone or tablet (I prefer Android on both) and I don’t care for the live tile design of Win8. The Android UI resembles the MS desktop until Win8 and it still works fine for me. I personally would get tired of having to reach to touch the screen on a laptop then transition back to the keyboard or touch-pad/mouse and so on. Microsoft really messed up IMO when they didn’t allow you to disable the tiled start screen.

There’s a small free app download to re-enable the start button so that’s a good compromise to me, otherwise I still advise people to try to find laptops even cheaper with Windows 7. Windows 7 is still great. There aren’t many improvements from 7 to 8 AFAIK.

I develop software some on a Mac mini for the iPad and iPhone and it’s a good machine for what I do. I can’t speak for their laptops or typical user needs so Chad is right, use the software that works for you especially if you don’t want to lose iMovie.

Another option is to dual boot between Windows and OS X. You could possibly buy a more basic version of Windows on the cheap depending on what features you need. The downside is you’ve still spent major cash on the Mac then on top of that buying a copy of Windows.

The cheapest and best compromise to me if you want both OS is to buy a Windows PC with plenty of RAM for much less, get a copy of OS X which is much cheaper than Windows, install Oracle Virtual Box, then run OS X in a virtual machine on your Windows PC. You don’t have the expensive Mac hardware to deal with.

http://lifehacker.com/5583650/run-mac-os-x-in-virtualbox-on-windows

Most PC brands have become a lot more reliable from a hardware and software standpoint in the last few years.
As long as you have good antivirus/anti-malware software and don’t look at too many porn sites that are shady you’re GTG :smiley:

18

I have a Lenovo X1 Carbon Touch at work running Win 8 and recently got a 128 GB Surface Pro. I think Win 8 is a solid OS and using the Surface Pro especially makes me feel like I’m on Star Trek or something.

That said, if you’ve been on Mac a long time and have an investment in the ecosystem, I’d stick with it personally. As others point out, the price difference amortized over a few years is pretty negligible.

I thought this editorial on Win 8 mirrored my feelings:
http://betanews.com/2013/03/05/how-i-came-to-love-windows-again/

19

That’s pretty much it - under the hood it’s 7, but to actually use it I might as well learn MacOS - even though Win8 is decent as an OS, this is the first time I’ve ever seriously looked at Mac for non-gaming uses just because it is so different.

20

I agree and disagree with that author’s points. W8 is a big step up for MS but falls short, and I don’t think its intuitive because you are basically running two OS’s at once, and with multiple ways to do the same thing with different UI’s.

The next step up to combine both will be a lot better, and as touch screens get better and people learn to interact that way.