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thinking about going to the apple side

WildWestDesigns

Active Member
Why pick one brand over the other? Aren't they all made the same just like a Mac supposedly is? Is price is the only issue when all other components are equal?

I don't really think components are really all that equal. Some might have heat issues, some power supplies aren't up to snuff especially if you are talking about consumer level goods. Maybe the business ends are better, however, if I'm in the market for a business computer I would just build my own. Some brands are really better known for one or two things even though they make a wide gamut of products.
 

2972renfro

New Member
Everyone might hate me for saying this, but Addie's right.

Not exactly. Compare most laptops to Apple laptops. Have you seen how the Macpro laptop is machined out of a solid single piece of aluminum for rigidity? Most PC laptops are cheap plastic. The difference is in the details. Sure there are PC laptops made from aluminum but they don't have the same fit or finish or attention to detail. The build tolerances are very tight. Think of a expensive car with perfect seams, no wide wavering gaps like a cheaper model

The case for a Macpro desktop is also a beautiful thing. Now some of you don't care about the case but you must appreciate the design that went into this model. The inside is very clean and well thought out. There are no PC companies out there that can compare. Sure some niche PC mfr's may have cool case designs but they are not mainstream compared to apple
 

WildWestDesigns

Active Member
You want a thing of beauty, I like the looking at the build of the Asus Maximus IV MBs. Put one in on my dad's computer, I was just blown away at the looks of that board, but then again that could be just me.
 

2972renfro

New Member
I don't really think components are really all that equal. Some might have heat issues, some power supplies aren't up to snuff especially if you are talking about consumer level goods. Maybe the business ends are better, however, if I'm in the market for a business computer I would just build my own. Some brands are really better known for one or two things even though they make a wide gamut of products.

Right. That is one difference. Apple does not make a mediocre computer. They don't skimp. Apple has the capability of building a $300 computer but they won't do it

If you offer a crap computer in your lineup then that can put a sour taste in someones' mouth. Someone buys a cheap dell and they have problems with it. So when it goes bad they blame the company for putting out mediocre products when in fact they are to blame for choosing the cheapest version
 

signmeup

New Member
OK. Going to throw something out there. For those of you that choose PC, what makes you decide to go with a particular brand? I am not talking about a build your own but rather retail machines like Acer, Dell, Toshiba, HP, Asus, etc.

Why pick one brand over the other? Aren't they all made the same just like a Mac supposedly is? Is price is the only issue when all other components are equal?
Mine was on sale and had the features and specs I was looking for. (3.1 gig quad core with 4 gigs of ram. No floppy drive though) Plus it's a very small computer so it now fits on my desk instead of under it. (more room for my feet):loveya:
Forgot to mention... it's also really quiet. I like that.
 

The Vector Doctor

Chief Bezier Manipulator
Ahahah. This forum is crazy!
Here.. Let me end it

Friends Mac= 15,000$
My custom 64bit PC= 4,500$

Full scale 300 dpi trailer wrap:
His comp- 15 mins to open
Mine- 1 minute to open

So... What's more cost effective and faster? OH.. The PC

And... He still has his slow *** Mac. We bought 2 more PC's.. And still saved more money then his garbage.

what are the specs on this $15,000 Mac? Your $4500 PC?
 

mopar691

New Member
OK. Going to throw something out there. For those of you that choose PC, what makes you decide to go with a particular brand? I am not talking about a build your own but rather retail machines like Acer, Dell, Toshiba, HP, Asus, etc.

Why pick one brand over the other? Aren't they all made the same just like a Mac supposedly is? Is price is the only issue when all other components are equal?

I think retail machines are geared for the average consumer for home use. These can nowhere meet the demand of a graphic heavy user and designer. Sure they will work but its like using a screwdriver to pry the cork from the wine you bougt a page or 2 ago.

Would you but a plotter from walmart? Why get your main tool in your shop from there. Most shelf units are put together with the cheapest componets and loaded with bloatware so you have to give them all this information just to start up.

Someone mentioned a few pages ago comparing booting a new mac vs a new windows pc. He said he had to enter all kinds of info on the win box but just his user name on the mac. Here is a good example of someone who had a bad experience with a cheap off the shelf bloatware kmart box trying to do something it was not designed to do. And then comparing it to a semi purpose built mac. In that cheap 600 dollar price range all your paying for is the advertising that you are submitting your self to.

Have a pro put one together, get a spec rig from a manufacturer or build your own and you will see all you need to do in a windows based machine is enter a user name too.

Keep the acers and compaq's for the kids. Apple has done 1 thing very good, not subject themselves to third party vendors and any builder under the sun from using their os and kept it clean.
 

signmeup

New Member
I think retail machines are geared for the average consumer for home use. These can nowhere meet the demand of a graphic heavy user and designer. Sure they will work but its like using a screwdriver to pry the cork from the wine you bougt a page or 2 ago.

Would you but a plotter from walmart? Why get your main tool in your shop from there. Most shelf units are put together with the cheapest componets and loaded with bloatware so you have to give them all this information just to start up.

Someone mentioned a few pages ago comparing booting a new mac vs a new windows pc. He said he had to enter all kinds of info on the win box but just his user name on the mac. Here is a good example of someone who had a bad experience with a cheap off the shelf bloatware kmart box trying to do something it was not designed to do. And then comparing it to a semi purpose built mac. In that cheap 600 dollar price range all your paying for is the advertising that you are submitting your self to.

Have a pro put one together, get a spec rig from a manufacturer or build your own and you will see all you need to do in a windows based machine is enter a user name too.

Keep the acers and compaq's for the kids. Apple has done 1 thing very good, not subject themselves to third party vendors and any builder under the sun from using their os and kept it clean.
Seriously? I checked your website. I make nicer signs than you do with my $500 Acer from Staples. My computer runs my software just fine. I don't enter anything when I boot it up. I deleted all the bloatware. It was easy.
 

Locals Find!

New Member
A computer Mac, Windows or any other is only as good as the person using it. Computers are tools to accomplish a task. Whether you spend $125 (like I did) or spend $25,000 makes no difference to the output. Garbage in creates garbage out. (I have produced enough garbage from time to time to know this)
 

bayviewsignworks

New Member
Mac/PC

I have the best of both worlds - Parallels. I use my Macs for just about everything except VersaWorks which is PC only. No viruses, ease of use, easy updates and fast enough for me.
 

nashvillesigns

Making America great, one sign at a time.
mac

do it. i worked at a FASTSIGNS for over 15+ years. loved the job, hated the computers. crashing, disk errors, viruses, P.I.A.

i got into a sign shop that is all macs all the time. LOVE IT. I have Flexisign, adobe, corel..
The only problem that MIGHT cause my macs to go haywire? a bad font. haha.

SO, the only recommendation is get a top of the line font management software
catalog all the fonts and you should be all set!

Sidenote: a customer brings in a 1g file. dell dual 2.2G, 4 gigs of ram windows XP pro and photoshop cs2 can't open it. slide disk into imac 1.8g with 2 gigs of ram and photoshop cs2
opens in one minute and 30 seconds. Save as a compressed .tif file and print file.

Good Luck!
 

Techman

New Member
Sidenote: a customer brings in a 1g file. dell dual 2.2G, 4 gigs of ram windows XP pro and photoshop cs2 can't open it. slide disk into imac 1.8g with 2 gigs of ram and photoshop cs2
opens in one minute and 30 seconds. Save as a compressed .tif file and print file

Doesn't mean anything. How many background programs were running? How much ram was the video using? Did the software have all its updates? Was the disk formatted right? Too many variables to make a comparison for any specific machine.
 

Sublimefly

New Member
Wow there are a lot of PC fanboys on here. I used to be one of them, But when I went to college and was forced onto a Mac I hated it. But now I don't think I could ever make a Windows system my daily driver again. Wanna know how many times I reset my Mac in the last year? 4 times and all for updates... It doesn't crash on me, it doesn't get insanely slow and I get 7 hours of battery life as advertised. I can't find a PC laptop out there that even comes close. Not to mention the well designed keyboard, giant trackpad, and magsafe connector. No PC maker puts half the love into a system that Apple puts in theirs and you have to pay for that. Not to mention the customer service, what PC manufacturer would overnight your system to the repair shop and then overnight it back to you? The longest I've waited for a repair in my history with Apple was 5 days and most of that was because of a snow storm... Heck they just replaced the logic board, battery and hard drive on my last Macbook Pro for free and it went out of warranty back in June. My first intel Mac had some issue with the USB ports and they tried twice to fix it, so when that didn't work rather then keep putting me through the repair process, they decided to upgrade me to a brand new Macbook Pro and all I had to do was pay for any upgrades I wanted. I've never dealt with a company that has customer service like Apple, that is something you have to factor into the price when you buy an Apple. You also have to think about the fact that Macs run windows now if you want and all you have to do is restart the system to switch, so really if something you do can't been done in OS X then just restart into windows and away you go. Bad mouth them all you want, but they are doing something right or their stock wouldn't have gone from $13 a share to $392 a share in less than 10 years...
 

David Wright

New Member
Wow there are a lot of PC fanboys on here. I used to be one of them, But when I went to college and was forced onto a Mac I hated it. But now I don't think I could ever make a Windows system my daily driver again. Wanna know how many times I reset my Mac in the last year? 4 times and all for updates... It doesn't crash on me, it doesn't get insanely slow and I get 7 hours of battery life as advertised. I can't find a PC laptop out there that even comes close. Not to mention the well designed keyboard, giant trackpad, and magsafe connector. No PC maker puts half the love into a system that Apple puts in theirs and you have to pay for that. Not to mention the customer service, what PC manufacturer would overnight your system to the repair shop and then overnight it back to you? The longest I've waited for a repair in my history with Apple was 5 days and most of that was because of a snow storm... Heck they just replaced the logic board, battery and hard drive on my last Macbook Pro for free and it went out of warranty back in June. My first intel Mac had some issue with the USB ports and they tried twice to fix it, so when that didn't work rather then keep putting me through the repair process, they decided to upgrade me to a brand new Macbook Pro and all I had to do was pay for any upgrades I wanted. I've never dealt with a company that has customer service like Apple, that is something you have to factor into the price when you buy an Apple. You also have to think about the fact that Macs run windows now if you want and all you have to do is restart the system to switch, so really if something you do can't been done in OS X then just restart into windows and away you go. Bad mouth them all you want, but they are doing something right or their stock wouldn't have gone from $13 a share to $392 a share in less than 10 years...

Too bad it can't convert your posts to paragraphs. No return or enter key?
 
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