the Mac advantage

[dmcantrell]

Awesome reply, thanks very much.

Originally Posted by Brains

- Resale value. Nobody can deny that a Mac holds its value significantly better than a PC. That's nice come upgrade time, you can sell your old unit and recover a decent amount of money.

LOL, resale? I have built MANY PCs over the years and never once even thought of trying to resell something -- it all just becomes e-junk in my closet. This is a nice surprise -- that there's actually a resale market.

[d2creative]

Another tip to help you save a few bucks, don't buy your memory from apple. It's usually VERY easy to install yourself and you can get great prices on quality chips at Apple Compaq Dell HP Sony Gateway Computer Memory - Data Memory Systems

Another tip is you might want to think about the apple extended care. Hey, nobody is perfect. And this way if you do have a problem after the first year, your local mac store will take good care of you.

[d2creative]

Another tip to help you save a few bucks, don't buy your memory from apple. It's usually VERY easy to install yourself and you can get great prices on quality chips at Apple Compaq Dell HP Sony Gateway Computer Memory - Data Memory Systems

Another tip is you might want to think about the apple extended care. Hey, nobody is perfect. And this way if you do have a problem after the first year, your local mac store will take good care of you.

[srwatters]

Originally Posted by Brains

A lot of it is preference, really. But the biggest selling points for me were:
(snip)

This is probably the closest to perfect I've ever seen the comparison made. I've been working with Windows since version 1 (which was useless BTW) and before that with DOS since version 2. My first job was programming the IBM 5110 micro which was two generations before the 5150, the first IBM PC. I switched in 2004 to the first G5 iMac and OS X Panther and have never looked back. In fact, my 8 year old daughter still uses that 1.8GHz G5 iMac daily running Leopard. Not bad for a 5+ year old machine...

I always tell people who ask me, "I'd rather work with the computer than on it." ©2005 Scott R. Watters

Of course, YMMV.

[texkam]

LOL, resale? I have built MANY PCs over the years and never once even thought of trying to resell something -- it all just becomes e-junk in my closet.

That's what xubuntu is for. :)

[dmcantrell]

Well, I've thought long and hard about this and for now I am going to upgrade my Windows O/S and buy some more RAM. This should give my current setup some more life. Next time I'll consider the Mac, but right now the lower capital investment is more attractive to me.

Newegg has Windows 7 OEM for ~$100 and 2GB of RAM for $65.

[Brains]

Definitely can't argue with a $165 upgrade if that accomplishes what you need.

[Rson]

Originally Posted by dmcantrell

Awesome info, thanks!

build your own, you can have a monster for around 1200.

[dmcantrell]

Originally Posted by Rson

build your own, you can have a monster for around 1200.

Yeah, that's typically what I do. I made this thread just to be sure I explore all options.

Luckily, the last time I built one (~2 years ago) I chose a CPU/mobo combo that would lend itself to the 64-bit upgrade I am considering now.

[ronocnikral]

i bought my last mbp refurbed, and they didn't send the right computer. mine was suppose to have a glossy screen, it came with a matte<--didn't bother me, i actually prefer the matte. the machine i ordered was suppose to have 2gb ram, the one i recieved had 4gb. it arrived the night before we were leaving for asia. after spending 1 night in my own bed during 6 weeks and traveling to 3 different countries i finally got around to calling them to let them know they sent me the incorrect machine. i still have the 4gb machine. i flirt with selling it b/c who needs a mbp w/ 4gb of ram to surf the internet? and i want a blu ray player in my laptop. other than office totally blowing (for me, i'm a shortcut person, and unfortunately, i know all the pc shortcuts) on macs, i have no real complaints. but, i have no real complaints about my other computers either. i used a mac through college, but if i could do it again, i would have a pc. engineering sofware and macs don't mix.