"Macs Are Better" Mentalities

I just had a kid at college walk up to me while I was browsing Newegg and try and tell me that Macs are higher quality and faster than PC's... I laughed to myself and thought... ever hear of overclocking?

the OS is likely faster in ways due to it's roots (on BSD), is all the same hardware...

overclocking or not, you need to look at the software side of things.

So what makes a computer fast, hardware or software? If you're saying Macs are faster because they have superior software, then you say that Mac OS is faster than Windows, not that Macs are faster than PCs.

Most people jus think of Macs as Macs and have no clue what hardware is running under the hood.

you can have a 4Ghz computer, what runs fast, Windows or LInux? pending which distro and what is installed one can be faster then the other.

the *nix kernal is alot lighter then windows over all, when not bloated with extra crap.

OSX is likely faster because it is coded for a set hardware platform, where as windows is not, so it has moer overhead, but with that comes more options and compatibility with software and hardware.

it is like a console, the OS is made sepcfically for it, so it is good at what it does and efficient at it.

I guess to me a fast computer = how much work it can do in a given period of time / calculations per second. Basically, I judge a computers speed based on hardware, not on its operating system or software.

The higher quality argument is a matter of opinion, I've seen Macs suffer from the same bad caps issue that has plagued PC OEMs and Taiwanese boards alike as well as entire product lines of Mac systems needing repair extension programs for pieces of hardware prone to failure (iMac G5, iBook G3/G4, etc.). I've seen more Mac laptops suffer from overheating issues and case cracking then I've seen in the various PC OEMs, or maybe just Apple owners speak up about it more often then PC owners. Apple has been no stranger to battery recalls (as the other OEMs have been hit by that issue too, primarily due to Sony's batteries).

I can't find any reason to say a Mac is faster or slower then a comparably spec'd PC, they use the same hardware. I guess one could install Windows or Linux on both and run some benchmarks to compare to the two. With the overclocking argument it at least may be possible to overclock Mac Pros via pad-mods as they use LGA 771 server sockets and I've read that there are pad mods for those processors. Most OEM systems don't allow for overclocking anyways, but it can be done as Joe showed with that Dell Vostro on the front page.

juane414 said:

So what makes a computer fast, hardware or software? If you're saying Macs are faster because they have superior software, then you say that Mac OS is faster than Windows, not that Macs are faster than PCs.

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Don't oversimplify the problem.

Mac OS isn't intrinsically superior; it does have certain things that are much more sensibly done (anyone who thinks the Windows approach is right has never really tried to do any "real" work under Windows) just like every other nix ever developed.

Right, but if you can work faster on a Mac then you can on a PC its because the software is less efficient, not that the hardware is less adequate. An E6600 in a PC is identical to an E6600 in an iMac.

juane414 said:

Right, but if you can work faster on a Mac then you can on a PC its because the software is less efficient, not that the hardware is less adequate. An E6600 in a PC is identical to an E6600 in an iMac.

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Actually sometimes they're downclocked. A 9600 mobile in a PC laptop is faster than the 9600 mobile in my powerbook G4.

juane414 said:

I just had a kid at college walk up to me while I was browsing Newegg and try and tell me that Macs are higher quality and faster than PC's... I laughed to myself and thought... ever hear of overclocking?

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And that is why I refuse to buy apple products. They have trained people to think their products are better and that people who do not see that should be ostracized. Apple makes good products, its the people I would be grouped with that bother me.

FireMogle said:

And that is why I refuse to buy apple products. They have trained people to think their products are better and that people who do not see that should be ostracized. Apple makes good products, its the people I would be grouped with that bother me.

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Hahaha, so true. Reminds me of these:





Everybody jump on the Apple Wagon!

FireMogle said:

And that is why I refuse to buy apple products. They have trained people to think their products are better and that people who do not see that should be ostracized. Apple makes good products, its the people I would be grouped with that bother me.

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LOL, was just about to say something like that. I don't mind the computers, I don't mind the ipods, I don't mind ANY of the hardware, its some of the users I cant stand. It's impossible to get into a simple discussion with some of the mac users at my school since they are so brainwashed by the commercials that if you say that your third cousins girlfriends uncle had a mac that rebooted at random once back in 1991 they call you a liar and freak out. This is why when I see its turning for the worse I say I like PCs better because "they just work." Sometimes they don't, its just funny to see them start shaking because Ive used their trademark phrase and they get stuck in an endless loop of muttering "no they don't, they don't work, they don't"

IMO... Macs = overpriced PCs with different software.

I use Mac from time to time... I like the OS and before you ask-- no, I am not one of the idiots that worship it. As the actor for Steve Ballmer said in "Pirates of Silicon Valley", "When did this stop being a business and start being a religion."

Hardware is physical and gains speed as time and technology advance, but software can be defined all the way down to the binary, so that no 0 or 1 is wasted and software should be optimized this way. I am not saying that Mac is perfect but it is a bit more streamlined and Windows is just a bit sloppier.

I had a Mac user try to tell me that Mac didn't run off of a hard disk, instead it resided "on top" of the hard disk that it was installed on. Is it just me or is that sentence an oxymoron. I LOL'd...

I usually try to discourage this attitude in Mac users I meet. It's a silly attitude and hasn't really been true since the 604e days where the CPUs are a couple MHz faster than the available Pentiums and were faster in floating point (this is before MMX sorta caught on and way before SSE).

The real problem with my fellow Mac users is that they only half understand the tech. I've had a lot of conversations that people on this forum would ask, "why are you bothering?" but I think it would be a disservice to not try to inform people, especially since Macs and PCs are basically the same thing under the hood these days.

Moto7451 said:

The real problem with my fellow Mac users is that they only half understand the tech.

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So true. A few I know still think their macs have 162gb of ram because they keep confusing hdd space and "memory" and just adding the two together. But I think thats just a common mistake (still have to laugh at this one guy, he used PCs, but 2 years ago he was still convinced it was physically impossible to get more then 64mb of video ram and a DVI out port on a laptop.)

Well you may all hate me but yes I am a mac fanboy. I love macs. I think they are awesome machines. They also put food on my table. I am a mac consultant/repair guy. BUT I will say I like windows/linux based pc's. As long as a computer can do what you need it to do then whatever fits the bill is fine with me. I actually still do a little work here and there on quote "pc's". I actually dont like when people say that macs and pc's are so much different. They are both personal computers but whatever. It has been beat into my head that macs are macs and pc's are pc's so I just give up sometimes and say it myself.

As a macintosh consultant I do have to deal with some of the most annoying customers that you have ever seen. My clients are so ridiculously stupid that its just hilarious but I just cant laugh in their face. They expect a Powerbook G4 to run as fast as a brand new macbook pro when you put Leopard on it. IT WONT HAPPEN!!! G4's are old and starting go really out of date. We are past the crappy processors now.

And yes I also laugh when a client asks me to upgrade their ram. They only have 120 gigs. OMG!!!! That is called a hard drive. Get it right. So yes I am a mac fanboy but since I live on the consulting/repair side of the mac I will say it so you all know from a guy that makes a living from them. Macs have problems too. Every once in a while the spinning pinwheel of doom pops up and guess what I have to do the almighty force quit.

Anyway I just have to laugh at how ignorant most mac users are. And yes most people that buy macs buy them for the wrong reason. They are pretty. We have a client that bought a 24" imac and a brand new Macbook Pro because they were pretty and then called us to install Windows on it. Some people have too much money. Anyway I will say that I love my mac. It is really fast for a laptop and it does everything I need it to do. I basically live on it so it has to do a lot. I no longer run windows on it unless I am troubleshooting for someone and then its only in vmware. I still will not say that my mac is better than anyone elses computer. As long as it can do what you need it to do then thats all that matters.

I will take this opportunity to apologize for most of my ignorant fellow mac users. They are brainwashed. They just cant help it I guess.

Do Macs even have superior quality components to say, a Dell? What exactly warrants the huge price difference, hardware wise?

[rant]
I hate when people say that Macs are better than PCs who don't know what they're talking about. When I explain to them that the hardware can be hypothetically similar and then ask them, they just say OSX is better than windows, which may be true for all the reasons above. However, a lot of them say "better" means faster or prettier, where if they really cared, a gentoo with compiz would technically suit their tastes better.

What they should really say is that the combination of aesthetics and security compared to Windows, and ease of use compared to Linux/UNIX, is why they got a Mac. But they never do .
[/rant]

bLack0ut said:

Do Macs even have superior quality components to say, a Dell? What exactly warrants the huge price difference, hardware wise?

[rant]
I hate when people say that Macs are better than PCs who don't know what they're talking about. When I explain to them that the hardware can be hypothetically similar and then ask them, they just say OSX is better than windows, which may be true for all the reasons above. However, a lot of them say "better" means faster or prettier, where if they really cared, a gentoo with compiz would technically suit their tastes better.

What they should really say is that the combination of aesthetics and security compared to Windows, and ease of use compared to Linux/UNIX, is why they got a Mac. But they never do .
[/rant]

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There is nothing to warrant the price difference. They use the same components. Dell and Apple used the same ram at one point. Hynix. Thought that was kind of funny. They even use the same exact ram but newegg has a section for mac memory which is stupid.

And I like your argument. As I said people buy them for the wrong reason. I got one because I like them as a whole. They are fast(since we have intel now) and I love OSX and I do love the fact that it is almost impossible to get a virus. I have never has antivirus software on my laptop(even though there are companies that make it for OSX). So yes. If a mac is bought for the right reasons then its great. I still hated installing Windows on those two macs for that guy. It just defeats the purpose.

I won't pretend to have alot of experience, per se, with Mac nor am I a software Guru, but I would like to add my thoughts on the topic. My younger brother had a Mac laptop for school, which I of course had to play with from time to time. It was the most problem riddled, non-user friendly, paperweight I have ever experienced. I think the HDD crashed a total of 6 times in 1 year. I have always found Mac to be a very odd creature. All hardware and software has its respective "quirks" but Mac, to me, is just ridiculous. I would never even consider buying a Mac-anything.

On the other side of the fence, I am quite fond of products like the Ipod and Iphone(before they screwed em up). Be that as it may, My Ipod has its issues as well, even though it is well taken care of.

Anyway, just my two cents.