IMac/Mac book

[420benz]

How many Mac users are out there?
My grandson just got a Mac Book for xmas and it is so cool.Are there any cons. about Mac?

[Jorn]

No

[jaoneill]

We have had macs since '82, currently have six in use here in the office and haven't found a downside yet.

Jim

[Botnst]

They're so good at what they do, they make hair grow on your palms.

[123c]

I have had my refurbished iBook since august of 2006, and virtually no problems, the case is cracking some, but my glue job is holding so far.
I think I am going for an eee pc with Linux next.

[neanderthal]

macbook since about this time last year.

not going back to windoze

[Da Nag]

Originally Posted by 123c

I think I am going for an eee pc with Linux next.

Might want to check out the Dell Mini 9...there are some screaming deals in the Outlet store right now, not to mention it has some selling points over the eeePC. The ASUS is nice, but the build quality of the Mini 9 is pretty sweet...feels very solid, a little better than the Asus, IMO. It's also very upgrade friendly, unlike all the other netbooks I've seen - everything is pretty accessible.

Mine arrived yesterday, with XP installed - none of the Outlet deals have Ubuntu. No big deal - had 8.10 running on it in short order, with just a couple minor tweaks necessary to get all the hardware working.

And if you're up for such things, it reportedly runs OS X very well...haven't tried that yet.

[Mistress]

Originally Posted by Botnst

They're so good at what they do, they make hair grow on your palms.

Grass never grows on the playground....

[Honus]

My experience with Mac products has been mixed. I got my wife an iMac last year. It's not horrible. Locks up about as often as the PC she used to use. A friend who does a lot of photography spent about $5,000 on a Mac a couple months ago. He has spent a lot of time on the phone with the tech support people trying to figure out why it freezes up. The only answer they have come up with so far is to turn it off, disconnect everything, wait, reconnect everything, and turn it back on. He does this on a regular basis. The wife's iPod Nano also has had its problems. First, the design is not user friendly. Second, some of the controls are intermittent. Third, and most egregious, it has no on-off switch. Holding the "Menu" button down and holding it will usually turn it off. Works about 90% of the time.

I was beginning to think that Microsoft was going to catch up to Apple, or that Apple was going to fall back to Microsoft's level. Then Microsoft came out with Vista.

I don't know what to think now.

[raymr]

The early macbooks had cases that cracked and discolored, as well as random shutdown problems due to over-heating. Most of that has been resolved. A liquid spill on the keyboard will nullify any warranty you have, and repairs through Apple will cost you as much as a new alternative brand laptop.

The good news is that if you are handy, there is a website, http://ifixit.com, that gives detailed repair instructions for any MAC out there.

[Botnst]

So far I've been lucky. My Mac+, MacSE, Mac II, MacII fx, Mac II si, PowerPC 6400 (IIRC), G3 and current iMac never, ever failed (hardware failure). I gave the 1st 3 away to schools, the Mac IIsi I gave to a student and still have the PowerPC and G3, still working. The iMac seems just as bulletproof as the others so I'll probably use it more or less unmodified for 3-6 years. Like the others.

I use PC's at work and they function as advertised.

For me, they're all appliances. We have a microwave and fridge at work. I don't care who made them or how much they cost. They work. For home use I choose appliances that my kids and my grandkids can use, no sweat.

B

[The Clk Man]

I have been using Macs since 89 and they are GREAT. I have a Printing & Sign Shop and use macs every day. My current mac is 7 years old and is still running fine.

You know what they say. Once you go MAC you'll never go back.

[420benz]

My grandson just got his Macbook for Xmas and i was totally convinced that i must get one.Where can i get a late model with an aluminum case referb?

[jaoneill]

Originally Posted by Botnst

So far I've been lucky. My Mac+, MacSE, Mac II, MacII fx, Mac II si, PowerPC 6400 (IIRC), G3 and current iMac never, ever failed (hardware failure). I gave the 1st 3 away to schools, the Mac IIsi I gave to a student and still have the PowerPC and G3, still working. The iMac seems just as bulletproof as the others so I'll probably use it more or less unmodified for 3-6 years. Like the others.

I use PC's at work and they function as advertised.

For me, they're all appliances. We have a microwave and fridge at work. I don't care who made them or how much they cost. They work. For home use I choose appliances that my kids and my grandkids can use, no sweat.
B

Appliance is the operative word. When I first looked into computerizing our business back in the late eighties I put in a call to my son, a computer systems engineer. His comment to me was "get a mac, they are an appliance, like a toaster, plug them in and they work, day in and day out."

I am here to say that he was 100% spot on. I have never had apple hardware fail, the only reason I have ever had to buy newer machines is to keep up with the technological demands of the business. Over the years we find that the machines are generally 6-8 years old before they become obsolete for our purposes. We currently have four newer 20" imacs and an older 17" emac in daily use. I still have a circa 1993 Quadra that the grandkids use for gaming, works fine.

From an economic point of view I don't think macs can be beat. In 25 years I have spent exactly zero, nothing, nada, on IT support for all of the macs we have had. Conversely, I spend $500-$1000 a year on support for the one windows PC that we use 8-10 hours a week to access the government sites and software that aren't mac compatible; and it's not the pc hardware, it's the windows operating system.

My $.02

Jim

[pawoSD]

Buying a MAC is like buying a PC except you're paying a $500 "look at me, I have a shiny computer" fee. This fee is directly deposited into Steve Jobs' "look how many people I can sucker into these things" bank account.



There is no point in owning or buying a mac....its just linux, if you want linux, build your own fast pc for way less $$ and load on any of many great distributions.