UKC

Not needing anything amazing, just basic office for keeping files etc , I know a basic pc would Do the job, but I also know macs are very good quality and I don't mind spending the extra through the Buisness for something that's going to last (is it worth it ?) any help appreciated.
 

In reply to cliffanger:

No.

Buy a P.C. or the cheapest iMac you can, preferably second hand, or wait until just before Apple update there line (twice a year) and get a 'bargain' - they are nice but not worth the money, especially since windows 7 came out.

(written on an iBook)

Regards

D

In reply to cliffanger: Just got a brand new i5 iMac 27 inch. Best computer I've had by a long shot. However, I would definitly reccomend Applecare - the software is bombproof, but the hardware is rubbish, the same as any PC.

In reply to cliffanger:

The bird just bought a £1,500 macbook air the other day. As a PC user I must say I'm impressed. The thing starts up in 15 seconds or less, thin, light and as it has a solid state hard drive is damn solid. There are cheaper ones out there.

Only downside is the screen quality isnt as good as I would expect. Its also abundantly clear from a trip to the apple store that you are paying a substantial premium for an over priced location, excessive customer service staff and general Appleness.

In reply to LJC:
I'd have to disagree with the idea that Apple hardware is rubbish, having only in the last year phased out a G4 from 2001. Not many PCs last that long. It is possible to buy duff gear from Apple, but you usually find out pretty quickly. If it works over the first few months it usually lasts for a long time.

In reply to Bob Kemp:


yes pretty much all technology hardware does, its the bath tub curve. i have a PC from about 2000 waiting for more space to be rebuilt into a linux only box.
Apple dont manufacture their own hardware and since they switched to Intel chips for desktops in particular it wouldnt take much effort to build almost identical PC.

In reply to cliffanger: Depends what your requirements are, especially if you need any specialty software. Unless you enjoy fiddling with computers, I wouldn't bother getting a mac and then trying to run windows-only software on it (using Boot Camp, Virtual Box, VMware or Parallels): it's perfectly possible to do so but always needs a bit of setting up and it can be fiddly to use at times. Not the easy mac OSX experience...

If you just want a box for email, t'internet and general stuff the mac is likely to be easy to set up, use, and not need a lot of upkeep by comparison to the PCs, which habitually needs antivirus updates on a daily+ basis anyway.

When you say files, what do you mean? Excel-type databases, documents, accounts packages, or something else? OpenOffice will run on either PC, mac, or anything else and not cost anything, but is less polished than MS Office still which remains the industry standard. The Mac version (iWork) looks very nice - and KeyNote is (for me) much better than Powerpoint - but is generally still style over substance for 'serious' use. But then if you want easy, smart looking invoices or whatever it may be just what you need.

Given your phrasing of the original question I would keep well away from Linux

HTH
B

I would defo go for a Mac. I have had an iBook G4 for over 5 years, its still working fine and I also have a little Mini Mac that's 4 years old and still going strong.

I am a PC user by day, as I have to for work, but with regards to reliability and build quality, you can't fault the Apple gear.

In reply to cliffanger:
said it once, and ill say it again

Aplle products are very pretty, but they don't really do anything special do they

In reply to hairy51:

Are they worth 60% price difference with next to no upgrade potential.

I would say not - especially since WIndows 7 is actually useable compared to vista or xp.

What do you get for that extra 60% apart from a pretty / and stable (ish) OS.

Regards

D

In reply to cliffanger:

I bought a MacBook Pro in April 2008 and its still going strong, no issues whatsoever with the hardware, except the powerpack thingy, that was due to one of my bairns damaging it and Apple replaced it without quibble.

The only software issue I ever have is when using Microsoft Office for Mac, had I read the reviews before purchase I would definitely gone for iWorks (I've used it on the wife's iPad and its beautiful).

In reply to Dauphin:


A computer that works.

In reply to Stefan Kruger:

It's just not true anymore - and probably was true only for a very short period of time with a limited amount of software. OS 7 for example crashed repeatedly.

I've been a Microsoft hater for decades - generally they made buggy needlessly complex GUI O/S and awful bloated utility software. But for whatever reason they caught up. Competition? I'm not going to recommend Linux for someone who wants to switch the machine on and access the web and manage a few office files.

Regards

D

In reply to Dauphin:


If we're honest, there hasn't really been a lot of innovation in desktop computers in the last ten years. Mobile computing has seen some amazing developments, not least by Apple, but desktops and laptops have pretty much stood still. Microsoft have had ample time to fix their problems.