PC vs. MAC

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Sauce

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Current dental students,

What would you recommend for dental school, a pc or mac? I have used PCs most of my life but feel comfortable with MAC as well. Do MAC users have any compatibility issues? Is there a distinct advantage for a dental student to own one over the other?

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Top 10 Reasons Why Mac Sucks

1. The one and only business model for Apple is narcissism. Its true. And for what its worth, the only "geniuses" that work for Apple are the members of their marketing team, because holy hell, we all know that the best way to sell a product in this day and age, especially to Americans, is to patronize their self-righteous beliefs.There are only 2 types of people that buy a Mac:

1) Wannabe nerdy-types that are trying to prove how knowledgeable they are about everything in the tech world
2) Wannabe hipster-types that are trying to prove how knowledgeable (read: trendy and/or "not trendy") they are about everything in general

Either way, people who are confident enough in their knowledge, self-image, and skills rarely find it truly necessary (or justifiable) to buy one of these disgustingly over-priced machines. Which brings us to…

2. Macs are ridiculously overpriced. Not only do you get much less for your money when you buy ANY type of Macintosh computer compared to your other options, but you get royally screwed whenever you want any halfway-decent Mac machine. Compare 17-inch MacBook Pros starting at an astounding $2500 with thousands of 17-inch alternatives starting at just $599. This is partly because Apple price-fixes their products so drastically, but is mostly because they'd rather tell you what packages are available instead of letting you decide what works best for you. Hmm… what does that sound like?

3. Macs regularly ignore mainstream industry trends. Where to begin? Because of all the political (read: snobby) games that Steve Jobs gets involved with, most Macs still don't have HDMI ports, eSATA ports, or BluRay drives, among other mainstream technology standards. Instead of HDMI, for example, they opt for out-of-date DVI ports (but of course only on the MacBook Pro models). This attitude is best summed up by Apple's 2-decade-long push for world-wide FireWire data ports, which Apple finally dropped many years after its defeat to USB 2.0 was already obvious. (P.S. Apple invented FireWire…)

4. Mac OS X is merely a locked down version of open-source Linux. Its easy to assume that over 90% of Mac owners are not only unaware of this, but don't have a clue what Linux is. Turns out that back in 1996, after Steve Jobs' short-lived company NeXT stole its OS base from open-source (read: FREE) BSD Unix, it resold the now proprietary OS to Apple which then became OS X. Perhaps if OS X had the flexibility of Linux, or if Mac fanboys didn't use Linux concepts (i.e. Terminal) as reasons to brag about OS X, there wouldn't be so much smearing to do. (Warning: do NOT attempt ask any Mac fanboys about this, or they will ignore your question and start babbling about things like Firefox.)

5. There is no right-f*cking-click! Mac fanboys will respond to this by saying "actually you CAN get a 2-button mouse now!" but even when that is true, the EFFING RIGHT CLICK STILL DOESN'T DO ANYTHING. Oh, cool, I can copy and paste! Oh wait, but I can't perform any other damn functions in Photoshop or otherwise. And crap, I forgot which combination of 5 keys I need to hold down for right click to work on my 1-button mouse? (Don't even ask how to make the Delete button actually delete something…)

6. The Dock, and general screen layout, is ******ed. Again, where to begin?…

■The clock doesn't display a date. That's cool, cuz I only wanted to remind myself again that today is Monday.
■The Dock concept is cute, yet still, ******ed. You not only can't see any of the windows that you have minimized, but you also can't truly adjust the way The Dock behaves or appears. According to Stan, its based on 1984 technology when only 1 program could run at a time. Pretty sweet.
■Trying to "X" out of a program doesn't close it, it simply minimizes it. Just like the minimize button. Except it begins to kill your CPU after you've done it a few times by keeping programs running as ghosts. (Total genius.)
■Trying to alt-tab through your windows cycles through every single window of every single application one at a time instead of cycling between alternative applications (read: time-killer).
■Maximizing a window doesn't actually maximize it. This is fun, cuz then I get to constantly click on things on the Desktop that I am definitely not interested in.
■Opening 100 images in the Mac image viewer opens 100 separate windows. (No comment.)
■You can't drag files around to new destinations such as applications on The Dock or other directories without first preparing both source and destination windows so they are both visible. (Still, no comment.)
■etc, etc, etc
7. "It just… doesn't work." (Macs crash, freeze, and have evil viruses.) I thought I would dispel all the Mac lies in one sentence, so there you go. If you have ever tried to open Photoshop along with a few other programs on a Mac, you will know this frustration well. More often than not the little rainbow wheel will starting spinning like crazy – that, or your Mac will simply freeze. This is because Macs can't handle multi-tasking very well (although the issue has been improving, according to some). What hasn't been improving though is the increasing amount of viruses being found on Macs. Sure, we could play the word game and clarify the difference between trojans and viruses, but the point is that Macs are no safer than any other computer, especially since they ship with their firewall turned off.

8. Software and hardware options for Mac are lame, or slim at best. This is not an overstatement. I am the first to admit that the iTunes/iPod combination is pretty tight (with AAC disabled!). But that's about it. Mac Mail, iPhoto, GarageBand, iChat, Quicktime, and the rest of the bundled Mac software mostly just sucks, or is extremely limited in what it can do. Luckily some programs like VLC and CuteFTP have recently started to offer Mac versions of their software, but good luck trying to find Mac versions of most popular freeware. Not only that, but their claim that "no hunting for drivers is needed" is only true because barely any hardware is made for Macs! For example, only the Airport Extreme card works with Macs but other PCI cards will not. Thus, if someone needed 802.11a, they would need to buy a (very) costly Ethernet adapter.

9. Gaming, and graphics in general, suck on Macs. All true gamers already know this, so it really doesn't require much explanation. Let's just say that GizModo's latest check confirmed that this is still true, even on the most expensive graphics card that MacBook Pro currently offers.

10. Macs are not flexible or customizable. This is a vague way to end things, but mostly because its the only way to sum up all the things that are wrong with Macs. We've already seen that you can't customize their hardware or software, and that you can't even use the Linux functions that *should* be present on any Linux distro. But even within Mac's little world itself, you can barely change any options on their OS, user interface, The Dock, directory layout, etc. But hey, as long as the only thing you want to do is change your desktop wallpaper to be the photo you took at the latest indie rock show you attended, then by all means, buy a Mac.

For being so "progressive" Apple sure does seem like one stubborn-ass company. Oh, and please note that hating Macs doesn't make you a Windows fanboy. It just makes you a reasonable person. =)


http://collegetimes.us/top-10-reasons-why-mac-sucks/

:D:D:D:D

In medical school, all they use is MAC, which really sucks for people like me who only want to use PC... lately though they've been coming up with these screens when you log on where you can click if you want to use windows or MAC...
 
It doesn't matter, just choose the platform you like (check with your school first to make sure they don't require you to have a specific model) and go with it.
 
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Our school is definitely pro-PC, and I love PCs so I'd recommend a PC
 
Most of our instructors use mac. Probably about 40% of our class uses mac. We use parallels for anything that we need that only works on windows.
 
Personally I like PC, but it doesn't really matter. They're both computers, on essentially the same hardware, and unless you're going to be doing some gaming, either is just fine. One issue my class came upon was that the software we use for Dental Anatomy wasn't made to work on Mac's, but someone made a workaround in my class.

I just can't get over only having one mouse button.... though I love the new mac scroll ball

Also, if you're looking to save money, don't go with a mac.
 
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I was a PC guy for a while. I even built one in college with a friend's help to save money. This thing was loaded full of memory and power. I was reformatting that thing constantly because, while norton could detect the virus, it couldn't do anything about it. My grandpa bought a desktop PC to burn dvd's. It came with a dvd burner, but no f-ing software to burn dvd's! In all honesty, everyone I know with PC's has problems one way or another (can't do things right out of the box, the need for constant virus software running in the background). Now that could be because they're not tech savvy, but seriously, ever since I've switched to mac (and ever since most of my family and friends have switched) I haven't had a problem. The thing is ready to go right out of the box. It does what the majority of people need from a computer (internet, mail, office apps, video/photo editing, music, movies, etc). Call them trendy (I disagree), call them overpriced (I agree), but they do exactly what they say they'll do, right out of the box, right away.
 
I got a Macbook Pro in November 2009 and I love it. I have used a PC my whole life but when they had a sale at my college's IT store (my brand new 2009 unibody macbook pro was $450 off!), I couldn't resist. I have never had any of the 'sluggish' feeling I often got on my PC and it's nice not to have to defrag my hard drive and keep up with virus protection. I also like the fact that there weren't tons of pointless programs installed when I got it... plus the battery life is insane.

Yes, Mac's are typically more expensive, but if you can find one on sale, go for it. If not, go for it anyway:thumbup:, it's well worth it.

With that said, you should check with the campus you will be attending and see what they recommend. At the OU Health Sciences Center where I'll be going, they suggest a Mac but as long as you can overcome compatibility issues, a PC is fine.
 
Most of our instructors use mac. Probably about 40% of our class uses mac. We use parallels for anything that we need that only works on windows.

Ditto here. Mac or PC will work great. I think a lot of people got the 13.3" Macbook Pro so get a good battery life. The cheap $500 PC's others have suck up battery too fast. Basically, YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.

Lots of people say PC's suck, but they are comparing the $2000 Macbook to the $500 PC. Well duh! If you want a comparable PC, get a nice one. And if you want one with a long battery life, get a processor with the "SU" designation (e.g. SU7300) in front, which should have a much longer battery life or one with an "atom" processor.
 
Don't listen to Phospho- a Mac will work out fine for most dental schools I'm sure.
 
I was a PC guy for a while. I even built one in college with a friend's help to save money. This thing was loaded full of memory and power. I was reformatting that thing constantly because, while norton could detect the virus, it couldn't do anything about it. My grandpa bought a desktop PC to burn dvd's. It came with a dvd burner, but no f-ing software to burn dvd's! In all honesty, everyone I know with PC's has problems one way or another (can't do things right out of the box, the need for constant virus software running in the background). Now that could be because they're not tech savvy, but seriously, ever since I've switched to mac (and ever since most of my family and friends have switched) I haven't had a problem. The thing is ready to go right out of the box. It does what the majority of people need from a computer (internet, mail, office apps, video/photo editing, music, movies, etc). Call them trendy (I disagree), call them overpriced (I agree), but they do exactly what they say they'll do, right out of the box, right away.

(Ok).

Hup
 
Any clue when the new Macbook will be out?
 
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I own a PC, the majority of my family has switched to mac, and I can't stand Macs for all the reasons listed above. But just buy whatever works for you.

Our school has had formatting issues both ways.
 
MacPC.jpg
 
It all boils down to, $ and cents. If you have the money go with a Mac, you won't regret it, in fact you'll regret going with a cheap PC that will fall apart on you. As far as people with negative opinions about Macs, they're usually full of jealousy, and envy, blinding them from the merits of owning a mac which can run windows natively in addition to OSX, which in my opinion is lightning fast, and super user friendly. The biggest plus to owning a Mac, is that they are damn near virus free.
 
It all boils down to, $ and cents. If you have the money go with a Mac, you won't regret it, in fact you'll regret going with a cheap PC that will fall apart on you. As far as people with negative opinions about Macs, they're usually full of jealousy, and envy, blinding them from the merits of owning a mac which can run windows natively in addition to OSX, which in my opinion is lightning fast, and super user friendly. The biggest plus to owning a Mac, is that they are damn near virus free.

I disagree, I've never had a virus on Windows PC in a long (5+) year's time. Vista runs great on my desktop and I love all the features. I have absolutely no qualms about Mac- they build a great quality machine, but you can get a lot more for your money with PC, and I'm a cheap person! I'm not envious of Mac, I just like Windows, although honestly, MAC has taken a HUGE chunk of the market in recent years, especially with marketers trying put Vista on POS machines with 1 gig of RAM- it just doesn't work. Vista turned a LOT of people away from PC, but the biggest problem was hardware (and bloatware-geez...) not really the OS itself.

In the end, Mac will work great, and you will pay for what you get with a PC. If you buy a $500 laptop, don't expect it to perform like the $1500 Macbook Pro. Spend $800-$1000 though, and you can get just as much in a PC, if not more (hardware wise).
 
While we are on the subject, do you guys think a netbook will suffice? Any current students use a netbook? They are quit portable and have long battery life and are cheap. Its main purpose is obviously for web browsing, word processing and any school related tasks. I've seen sales through slickdeals.net for $300. Also, if you want a mac outlay but dont want to spend so much money you can always build a hackintosh and have a more tech savvy friend help out.
 
you know that when people have at least 10 issues with a mac...
the problem is only one: Operator

Mac hands down
 
While we are on the subject, do you guys think a netbook will suffice? Any current students use a netbook? They are quit portable and have long battery life and are cheap. Its main purpose is obviously for web browsing, word processing and any school related tasks. I've seen sales through slickdeals.net for $300. Also, if you want a mac outlay but dont want to spend so much money you can always build a hackintosh and have a more tech savvy friend help out.

Several people have a netbook. They will work great for class, but I would definitely have a larger sized laptop or desktop to do work on at home. You'll likely be looking at a computer screen a lot while studying, and you don't want to do it all on a 10" one!
 
i say skip the mac, get a decent laptop (with a larger screen) + netbook. That way, if you think you need processing power, just bring the notebook. Plus, a decent laptop + netbook (with at 8-11 hours of power) will cost less than a mac with specs comparable to the laptop.

In class and at the library, office 2007 and firefox is pretty much all i use. But for those anatomy or dentist morph programs, a laptop with a decent graphics card might be desired, so keep it at hand.

I agree with the 10 facts about mac. If you actually look at the specs, mac nowadays are made of pretty much the same parts as comparable laptops (processor from intel, graphics card from nVidea). As for the OS, try windows 7. As for virus, just use common sense (if you dont have that, then i recommand u get a mac.) and windows restore program is a great help to revert your computer back to a period where u did not have the virus.
 
PC. most of dental software only works on PC, which is the standard for most of the world. You really don't want to call PC tech support 3 times a day when you set foot into private practice. Or you would end up wondering why command+C doesn't work.
 
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I would get a well equipped netbook with windows 7. If for some reason you cant get full windows 7 when you buy it just get a student copy and do a fresh install (I recommend fresh installs for any new computer cause it will get rid of all the garbage manufacturers put on your comp before you but it). Windows 7 is a huge step forward from Vista and a netbook will offer all the computing power you will need for D school. Unless you are gaming or streaming HD content you wont need any more computing power. Additionally new netbooks have better graphic performance (can watch HD content) and 6 cell battery life in addition to amazing portability. If you are actually planning on bringing it to school you wont want a full sized laptop. A top of the line netbook would set you back approx 400 which I think compared to a base mac is a huge value.
 
Mac issue - one of my colleagues in the town where I practice runs heis office via Mac. Just recently installed the new version of Quickbooks for Mac. Apparently there isn't a feature that allows you to actually print out checks in the upgrade, and lots of folks complaining about it!
 
pc issue - the two classmates that sit next to me had their pc laptops crash this past week, one of which cost just as much as my mac.
 
Mac issue - one of my colleagues in the town where I practice runs heis office via Mac. Just recently installed the new version of Quickbooks for Mac. Apparently there isn't a feature that allows you to actually print out checks in the upgrade, and lots of folks complaining about it!

Most hospitals and Dr offices these days are still running computers with windows xp. It's cheaper and still reliable.
 
Most hospitals and Dr offices these days are still running computers with windows xp. It's cheaper and still reliable.

Both true points however windows xp is no longer sold, microsoft pulled all the copies when vista was failing and ppl were trying to downgrade. You'd be hard pressed to find a computer that comes with xp installed on it now, especially since windows 7 is out and is lauded as microsoft finally getting something right (i have never used it so I don't know anything about it)
 
Going into my first year, I went with what I was comfortable with and chose a PC. I 100% wish I could change my decision. over 50% of my class has a mac and they seem to be much more user friendly. Also, one of my friends downloaded windows xp onto his mac, so he is pulling a miley cirus and "gets the best of both worlds." once you go mac, you will never want to go back... so i hear
 
pc issue - the two classmates that sit next to me had their pc laptops crash this past week, one of which cost just as much as my mac.

That will continue to be a problem as long as manufacturers continue to put tons of bloatware on their computers and put crappy parts in them. I have to say, the future of Windows looks grim- Mac just put i5 and i7 processors in their notebooks......what advantage Windows may have over Mac in performance just vanished. I'd still recommend Windows 7 at this point (as well as Mac), but Windows had better step up their game and fast before Mac goes for the jugular.
 
Going into my first year, I went with what I was comfortable with and chose a PC. I 100% wish I could change my decision. over 50% of my class has a mac and they seem to be much more user friendly. Also, one of my friends downloaded windows xp onto his mac, so he is pulling a miley cirus and "gets the best of both worlds." once you go mac, you will never want to go back... so i hear

I really don't know what you mean by "user friendly". What is so hard about using a Windows OS? I really cannot understand? Maybe I'm just too computer literate or resourceful (not meant as an insult, I really just don't understand).
 
Went to the Apple website to see "why I should get a Mac" and answer my own question (but I got no where)

1. "Doesn't get PC viruses."

True, for now, but I haven't ever had a virus on my Windows PC in 6 years. Buy good virus software and stay away from illegal downloads, porn and the lot, and you'll be fine. The only reason hackers attack PC for now is because it is more widely used. However, I can assure you that will change one Mac overtakes PC- and it will if Windows continues at its current pace.

2. "High performance."

Yes, but not any higher than equivalent PC computers.

3. "Always up to date."

Since when does Windows not also automatically update?

4. "Born ready.Unlike other computers that require you to spend hours configuring devices, a Mac connects to your digital camera, wireless device, or external drive and just works"

I've never had to download anything for any of my devices (which have been many) except when I plugged in a friends' digital camcorder. I downloaded a free codec package offline after doing a Google search and played it within 5 minutes. I suspect that I would have to do the same for this camcorder on a Mac, but I could be wrong.


5. "Number one in customer satisfaction"

Can't argue here- but you pay for what you get. Buy higher level computers from say Dell (latitude class), Lenovo, HP Probook etc.. and you will get much better service. It may not be Mac level service, but you'll still prolly pay less.

6. "Instantly Wireless"

My friend who sits next to me in class has more trouble connecting his Mac to the school's network than others with PC. I don't know why, but this is a moot point from either side. Both will connect automatically when configured properly.
 
Why i chose mac- i was naive and wanted something that would last all 4 years of school guaranteed. (my pc started overheating/shutting off during my sophomore year of undergrad)

Why i'm glad i chose mac- simple to be organized with, very predictable/reliable, it's just as fast if not faster than the day i bought it (SL upgrade), long battery life, i d/l anything i want. I could go on, there is not one thing about my old pc that i liked better than my mac.
 
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