Why is it that some of the most simple things to do on my PC end up being so damned complicated ! My friends swear by thier Mac's, and i'm really begining to see the light. They just sound so user friendly !!! I see a MAC in my future. Home model or Macbook, that is the question.
I have been lusting after that new all in one home MAC, however as an artist looking for show space a MACbook might make better sense as it is portable and I could share my art in person instantly.

Feedback please

SHAPE

I have a 17" Powerbook. I absolutly love it. I will never own another pc. Go with laptop. I would only say maybe get a 15" because the 17" is a bit of a hassle to carry around all the time. If you just want a bigger monitor at home you could always just buy a nice flat panel and hook it up to that.

I went through the same issues.

I decided on a Mac Pro. The thing is a beast. I bought it bare and filled it with muscle through Newegg. Primary hard disk 250GB, but added 3 500GB drives, installed four 2GB ram modules, and this thing will do everything and anything al at once. A Macbook Pro will never hold 1.75 TB of hard disk space and 8GB of RAM.

A big factor for me was that I already owned a 26" 1920x1200 display (and was using it as an external display for my Powerbook). That setup gets old real fast. I am real happy with my decision. Best advice is to get both, unfortunately. Maybe a simple Macbook for presenting work, heck maybe even an iBook, those are pretty cheap now. But I definitely like having a dedicated machine that actually works efficiently.

EDIT: Also really think about the portability aspect. I think this is an area that really is over-rated. How often do you really take your machine somewhere to do photoshop work, or Indesign layouts? For me, the answer was "not often." And I don't like hanging out at cafes and drinking lattes n crap. Seriously think about the value of "portability."

I dislike Macs. I would never recommend that somebody get one, nor would I ever get one for myself unless I absolutely had to for work. My opinion is based mainly on my mom's experiences with hers.

The customer service experience was awful. Before she even purchased the machine, they told her that if she bought the additional Applecare service they'd pick it up at her door if she needed it serviced. She double-checked her address with another salesperson in the store, who confirmed that yes, she was outside the radius where she wouldn't have to bring in the machine herself.

Unfortunately, she got a lemon, a machine with a persistent problem where the backlight for the display doesn't come on. When she placed the call to have the machine serviced, they told her they wouldn't pick the machine up. We took the machine to the store five times to have it serviced. Three times they said that they replaced the entire video system, even though they could never reproduce the problem. To this day, the backlight still doesn't come on one time in ten.

The icing on the cake was when I discussed her problem with a contractor who had access to Apple's service database. He checked, and there were only two service incidents opened for it, one of which they replaced the video system. The fuckers were basically lying to us to keep their service call numbers down, or so it wouldn't cut into their time playing Quake, or whatever.

As far as the product itself goes, it's been a never ending source of frustration. With a PC I never would have dreamed of having to buy an operating system upgrade just to do something as simple as use a different model printer, but that's what we had to do. Music that was purchased through iTunes stopped working, because iTunes needed to be upgraded, which also required an OS upgrade, etc. Usually one buys something thinking that three years after you've purchased an item, you can do the same exact things with it as the day you bought it.

I also think that the inconsistency between user interfaces with even the basic utilities like iTunes, iPhoto, their text editor, their Works package, etc. causes a lot of problems for computer newbies who are attracted to the Mac, but admittedly this is something that many people don't even notice and don't have a hard time adapting to.

I'd also like to add that portability is a wonderful thing. The computer has made my life so much easier when traveling across the US or abroad.

My recommendation: get a Thinkpad at lenovo.com, they're actually on sale right now. Go for broke and load it up with all of the hardware you'll need so it all shares the same warranty. And don't shy away from Windows Vista. Upgrades are admittedly problematic but factory installations run smoothly.

What were you trying to accomplish with your computer that you got so frustrated with anyway?

I am not going to get into a debate of PC's versus Macs, but I have never had any of the problems you are speaking about. I have been using Macs for years and I have always found the architecture to be totally solid and incredibly intuitive. My Powerbook, and desktop machines have never crashed.

That said, Apple really pushes for the Applecare product, honesty, if you are buying a high end laptop, you'd be crazy not to buy a warranty for as long as possible.

I would discount single users stories and look at the bigger picture...
check out what Consumer Reports has to say about Apple and their support..

Always #1.

Thank you all for the info ! I will check things out carefully before I ever purchase

I'd base it on what you're using the computer for. If you play a lot of games on your computer, you're going to want to stay with a PC. I've managed to crash either platform but then again it's what I do. I have a PC at home and would like an Apple to use for photoshop and what not, and have my PC for gaming.

One note to PC users: I would not recommend going to Windows Vista. It uses up a lot of your systems resources and just slows everything down. Give it another year or so and it should be fine. If you already have Vista, you might want to get more RAM, 2GB total is best. Vista doesn't seem to see more than 3.5GB of RAM unless you tweak it (it's dumb).

meh, RAM is cheap. get 4GBs!

my macbook has been one of my best investments..
completely reliable and user friendly, highly recommended.

i have a really nice pc here at home in my studio space..
however, i much prefer using the mac these days.

I have been using a Mac since the Apple ][. Can't remember why my Dad would get this when I was a young lad.
I used to also use the Amiga for games and they have a similar desktop system too. Then back to Mac again when I started work (IIe)

Apple has supported my work all these years and I have no complaints in general. I highly recommend anyone who wants a more user friendly interface and software for creative people in music, photography and design.

I am thinking of buying a MacbookPro but waiting for it to update in January. I need a computer I can carry to my studio, and then take it home so I don't need to sync with another machine...seems easier I think.

Currently I have a G5 desktop and haven't touched the Intel realm yet... but wanting to for a long time. I created some collage work recently which is about 200MB merged file using Photoshop CS3 and layered is about 2-3gb so it's really slow on a G5 nearly driving me crazy...

Now Leopard OSX is just out and it seems like the right time to buy! Also I am in love with my new iPhone.

Black macbook was definately worth the 1500 i paid. Got a free nano from apple to for being a student, slanged it for 200 so it was actually 1300.

Works on any wireless like a dream and can use for djing plus runs better than anything for net surfing.

Plus when you get one you are automatically in the cool kid club. At least thats what I think their commercials mean.

I play a lot of computer games too, so I just simply put my Mac Pro into Boot Camp and load XP (which runs native). I also run XP to check websites I am working on, just to make sure they are working correctly on the Windows side of the world.

I switched from PC to 24" iMac about a month ago with the intention of remaining dual-platform for awhile, but haven't turned the PC on once since firing up the iMac. I already knew that it was the superior computing environment, but it's gotten so much better than when I last had a Mac (well duh ... that was in the Performa days LOL.) I'm not much of a gamer and the few games I like are available for Mac anyway. I'm much more into graphics, and again, all the 3D apps and Photoshop and so on that I use actually work better on the Mac. Never goin' back.

10 years with a mac.

never use pc's , horrible virus prone ugly slow machines.

Used to use macs years ago w/out issue-on the other side of that i own a SONY VAIO PC and its a fucking piece of shit..Hard drive died 2 years into it-had it replaced and now the burner doesnt even register,the microphone doesnt work any longer and it is so friggin impossible to do any function on it easily i feel the urge to take a hammer to it daily..Also the cD trays never closed properly outof the box and the lack of any type of directions or instructions/literature that didnt come with it was pathetic-Possibly going mac soon but we'll see, or maybe a DELL this time but who knows what'll happen next..

it is a no-brainer,,if you are doing any kind of graphic/visual work,,MAC is the only way forward...

and if you are on-line a lot,,,MACs are much less prone to viruses...

i use both MAC & PC at work & only MAC at home...MACs are generally better & faster...

i honestly think the only real reason to own a pc was to game. with the lepoard release yesterday that may now be a thing of the past. pc's will always be priced better for the "wal-mart" minded consumer but i'd say mac is the future if you can afford it.

A point of consideration regarding affordability is that the Mac OS comes with so much pre-installed perfectly integrated software of the sort that Windows requires you to pay extra for that there are some built-in savings.

Since there are Mac users reading this thread, be cautious of the Leopard:

http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/27/1838248

Yeah, I'll probably hold off for now. But I really dig the feature "spaces" which is a much improved version of expose, it will be really, really helpful for productivity. Many of the other features look great too, but I'll probably wait a few months.

How are macs for gaming/media-thats my main use on my comp besides troling the forums and other asstd stuff..Some office/work deals too including some CAD software for CNC machining..

Macs simply lack the library of games. Every game developer out there publishes for Windows, and sometimes they release a Mac version, but it is not the norm. But all you need is a copy of Windows, download Boot Camp; having an Intel Mac is basically both.

Why buy a PC when a Mac can act like one if you really want it to? I have a Mac at work and have Parallels on it so I can run Windows when I need to (which is almost never). I absolutely HATE running it as a PC - I think I'll crumble and die if whatever my next job is requires me to work on a PC.