Technology why did you buy a mac? no really. i want to understand

[Dr McSteamy]

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sorry about rehashing this old debate. but

My younger bro wants to get a mac, knowing that it costs 50% to double the price of a windows laptop. He's got a spending disease, and i'm going to try to convince him why a pc is a smarter buy.

for every reason in favor of a mac, I can think of an equal or better solution on the pc.

they say a mac is better for pictures and video.
But, comparing apples to apples, using the same Intel hardware, there are DOZENS of badass picture and video software for the pc, many of them even being free.

viruses- you can't throw that argument around anymore.
I can keep my pc bug-free with free antivirus programs and little maintenance. I firmly believe that anyone's pc can remain fully functional and virus free as long as they don't stupidly click on suspicious files and emails.



so in the end, the only reasons I can think of in favor of buying a mac are:
"....because I want it. and my friends have it."
"... because it's shiny and looks cool. and I don't care how much it costs."
".....I don't know why, but Apple is the shiznit, and steve jobs is God."

but back to the title topic.... how did you justify your mac purchase?


Note: Pro-windows users, please do not cross examine any pro-apple arguments made in this thread.
I want this thread to be solely pro-Apple.

 

[deleted87716]

Why don't you ask your brother why he wants a Mac and see what he says?

Most people switch because there's something about the Mac that they prefer over Windows.

As for video, most professional video editors (including the movie industry) use Macs. You don't think there's a reason?

The argument about viruses is still valid. Not sure why you think otherwise.

I've never heard anyone say any of the three things that you put at the end of your post.

The thing that really sets the Mac apart from Windows is the overall user experience. Somebody who's happy with Windows probably isn't going to get it.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Because BlueDog told me to. (true story)

Honestly, I have both Mac and PCs. The Mac wins everytime when it comes to speed in opening, processing, battery life, virus protection and stability. In over 3 years, it has crashed (a la the blue screen of death) or frozen perhaps 3 times. The PCs (both home and work) cannot compare and the increased cost of the Mac is worth it for those reasons.

The only reason I don't use the Mac at work is that our EMR is buggy when accessed with Safari or other Mac software and much of the radiology software for viewing images is also not compatible (then again, some of the software is not Vista compatible either, so I can't view those images).

 

[teddybear]

The only reason I don't use the PC at work is that our EMR is buggy when accessed with Safari or other Mac software and much of the radiology software for viewing images is also not compatible (then again, some of the software is not Vista compatible either, so I can't view those images).

I've got a Mac and as far as Safari is concerned, you don't necessarily have to use it as a browser. Firefox and I imagine about anything else will work with Mac.

 

[Marcus Brody]

I just want to chime in and say I don't understand the Mac cult either. It seems to be due mainly to marketing hype and peer pressure. People get excited about "reliability" and its supposed immunity to viruses or whatever, but I have had this HP laptop for 3 years of heavy, everyday use at work, home and school, and it has never let me down. I don't have anti-virus and I don't even turn on the firewall. Then again I don't really download anything either but the point is it's pretty reliable. I've never gotten any blue screens of death, not one. I also find it to be a lot more logical to navigate around. It takes a few more steps and a little more thinking to use but it doesn't sacrifice function for simplicity the way I think macs do.

 

[deleted87716]

I just want to chime in and say I don't understand the Mac cult either. It seems to be due mainly to marketing hype and peer pressure.

If it was all "marketing hype," people who switched to the Mac would be switching back to Windows in droves once they realized they'd been duped.

But that's not happening.

"Peer pressure?" Give me a break. If anything, the peer pressure is to buy a P.C. See the O.P.

 

[Winged Scapula]

I've got a Mac and as far as Safari is concerned, you don't necessarily have to use it as a browser. Firefox and I imagine about anything else will work with Mac.

I know...Its not the browser, its the EMR. I've tried all the available browsers with my EMR on the Mac and there is still some weirdness which makes it frustrating to use.

 

[deleted87716]

The only reason I don't use the PC at work is that our EMR is buggy when accessed with Safari or other Mac software and much of the radiology software for viewing images is also not compatible (then again, some of the software is not Vista compatible either, so I can't view those images).

I can access our EMR (NextGen) on my Mac using Citrix. Is that an option for you? There's also a Citrix client for the iPhone, so I'm hoping that I'll be able to access NextGen using the iPad, as well. We'll see.

As for medical images, our Fuji PACS doesn't support the Mac, either. However, for viewing DICOM images from CD-ROM, try OsiriX (free): http://www.osirix-viewer.com/

 

[southerndoc]

Why buy a Yugo if you can afford a BMW?

Why are you trying to justify his purchase of a Mac? Are you paying? 😉 If so, can I get a PC? 😀

 

[Dr McSteamy]

Why buy a Yugo if you can afford a BMW?

Why are you trying to justify his purchase of a Mac? Are you paying? 😉 If so, can I get a PC? 😀

so your reason is in line with the three I gave

"... because I can !!"


as I said, my brother is young, horrible with money, and my parents and I are trying to reform his spending habits. At this point, if he doesn't have a good use for a Mac, there's no reason to spend so much extra for it. He's been using windows his whole life, and hasn't had a problem with it.

Why don't you ask your brother why he wants a Mac and see what he says?

I did. he wouldn't say. But judging by all the toys he has, I'd guess he wants one because some of his cool peers have one. peer pressure.

But this isn't about my brother.
I want to understand why YOU (people here) bought a mac.

Most people switch because there's something about the Mac that they prefer over Windows.

You've given all vague answers.... much like most of what I've seen on google.

I used a mac in class for several months, several years ago. I thought the experience was similar to windows. You still have your desktop, you still click icons, buttons and menus.
But you say the overall experience is better on a mac.
I didn't see anything that would compel me to switch to a mac for everyday use. What did I miss?


tell me specific "somethings" about the mac..... Simplicity?

WS gave some of her reasons.... stability compared to her old PC's.
ok. that's a valid reason, because she's played with both, and her windows pc happens to be crap.

As for video, most professional video editors (including the movie industry) use Macs. You don't think there's a reason?

do you know the actual reasons why professional video editors use a mac?
...cuz surely professionals don't use iVideo.

The best Adobe and Avid video software run on both pc and mac, so there's no advantage either way.

for photos- what? you can run Photoshop? me too.


You say people don't buy a mac because it's cool.
I think a lot of people buy it for that reason, but some don't want to admit it.
just look at it. it's silver, thin slablike, glossy, has that high tech futuristic look. It has that supernatural power to draw your attention.


Your last sentence was pretty much the only idea I could grasp.
If you're not happy with windows (you keep getting blue screens, freezes), get a mac.


that reminds me. 10 years ago, in college, I used a mac desktop computer to write a paper. It froze on me. had to hit the reset button.
I think I would have switched to Windows after that, had I not been using Windows already.



If I had to summarize your post, it would be-
It's all a subjective feeling. I don't exactly know why, but a mac just makes me feel happier.

... and those "exact" reasons are what I'm trying to understand.


basically, I'm just trying to compile a simple list of the exact reasons people buy a mac. not vague reasons like "it's a preference".

also, from here on out, I won't offer arguments in favor of Windows.
But you can mention what exactly turned you away from Windows and toward a mac, if applicable.

 

[deleted87716]

I drive a BMW for the driving experience.

I use a Mac for the computing experience.

Neither has anything to do with any "cool factor" or "peer pressure." (I wear bow ties, for crying out loud.)

They're just...better. For me.

More expensive? Sure, but I can afford it, so who cares?

Specifics? Sure...

Boots faster, doesn't crash, no viruses, more elegant and intuitive operating system, no "tweaking" needed, better integration all around. These aren't small points. They all add up to a superior computing experience.

Most people don't care about their driving experience, nor do they care about their computing experience. That's why most people don't drive BMWs, and most people use PCs.

I'm not most people. 😉

 

[fab4fan]

I was so tired of my pc freezing/crashing. I don't care if you say the virus issue isn't valid, as far as I'm concerned it still is. I got a mini-pc about a year after I got my Mac because I refuse to befoul my Mac with Microsoft. I can't believe how much upkeep the mini-pc requires. There's always something to download, update, scan. My Mac just works. Occasionally there are software updates, but not nearly to the extent Microsoft has. (ETA: I needed Microsoft because my employer only uses IE8 for everything I need to access.)

Vista, Vista, Vista. Yeah, sure Windows 7 is so much better.

Ease of operation. I have next to no tech skills, but I hardly ever curse at my Mac. My language when working with a pc...😱 The few times I get "stuck" with my Mac, there's usually a friendly soul here to bail me out.

Tech support who speak comprehensible English. Not that I've had to use them that much with my Mac, but holy crap...God help you if you have a Dell and need tech support.

I think the dumbest thing I've heard is to criticize people for preferring Macs to pc's because of "ease of use." Yes, why should you do something the easy way when you can exasperate yourself by doing it the hard way?

The laptop was an investment. I didn't get it because some cool kids in my class told me to. The commercials didn't make me do it. My purchase was borne out of years of frustration with several pc's. I plan on having this laptop for a long time, and I have a reasonable degree of confidence that it will last. I look at the mini-pc as a ticking time bomb. It's just a matter of time before it blows.

 

[Winged Scapula]

WS gave some of her reasons.... stability compared to her old PC's.
ok. that's a valid reason, because she's played with both, and her windows pc happens to be crap.

To be clear: my Windows PCs (a Sony Vaio and an HP) are not old.

As a matter of fact, before purchasing the Mac 3 years ago, I'd always had PCs. The current ones I have are just as unstable as the ones I owned before the Mac, and are newer than the Mac. If anything, because of Vista, they are more buggy and unreliable, not to mention unuseable in some cases because they are not compatible with software I need to run. They are not "old".

Trying to decide whether to get Windows 7 or just wait awhile and just go ahead and buy a Mac for the office if I can get the EMR to run better on it (the 2.0 version does).

Oh yeah, and while I might buy a Mac for the cool factor, Blue Dog does wear bow ties. 😀

 

[teddybear]

Blue Dog does wear bow ties. 😀

Now that's cool.

I got a Mac because I was just so sick and disgusted with Windows. I had an HP and it just died on me one day without warning. All my files, pictures, everything, gone. Yeah, the Mac is more expensive, but to me it was worth it to spend the money if meant not getting stomach ulcers because a damn machine is infuriating me so much.

 

[Slevin]

I was so tired of my pc freezing/crashing. I don't care if you say the virus issue isn't valid, as far as I'm concerned it still is. I got a mini-pc about a year after I got my Mac because I refuse to befoul my Mac with Microsoft. I can't believe how much upkeep the mini-pc requires. There's always something to download, update, scan. My Mac just works. Occasionally there are software updates, but not nearly to the extent Microsoft has. (ETA: I needed Microsoft because my employer only uses IE8 for everything I need to access.)

Vista, Vista, Vista. Yeah, sure Windows 7 is so much better.

Ease of operation. I have next to no tech skills, but I hardly ever curse at my Mac. My language when working with a pc...😱 The few times I get "stuck" with my Mac, there's usually a friendly soul here to bail me out.

Tech support who speak comprehensible English. Not that I've had to use them that much with my Mac, but holy crap...God help you if you have a Dell and need tech support.

I think the dumbest thing I've heard is to criticize people for preferring Macs to pc's because of "ease of use." Yes, why should you do something the easy way when you can exasperate yourself by doing it the hard way?

The laptop was an investment. I didn't get it because some cool kids in my class told me to. The commercials didn't make me do it. My purchase was borne out of years of frustration with several pc's. I plan on having this laptop for a long time, and I have a reasonable degree of confidence that it will last. I look at the mini-pc as a ticking time bomb. It's just a matter of time before it blows.

Off topic but fab4fan are you going to get an iPad when it comes out in a few months 😛

 

[deleted87716]

Off topic but fab4fan are you going to get an iPad when it comes out in a few months 😛

The iPad will be available March 1st (in 2 weeks).*

*Edit: Whoops, I was thinking April 1st. My bad.

 

[fab4fan]

Off topic but fab4fan are you going to get an iPad when it comes out in a few months 😛

No, but I think I'm getting an iPhone. 😀

Which means I'll need to jettison the iPod Touch, but I'm sure I can find someone to buy it. I sold my other iPods when I got the Touch in less than a week, courtesy of the hospital online BB.

 

[1UP]

My reason for never getting a Mac is that I refuse to support a company that locks their OS to their hardware so you absolutely must buy their hardware if you want to use their OS.

I will admit though, I was quite disappointed recently when I plugged in the Mac Classic II that I found at the local thrift store for $10 and it was deader than a doornail. I do have a weakness for those old AIO Macs.

 

[fab4fan]

To be clear: my Windows PCs (a Sony Vaio and an HP) are not old.

As a matter of fact, before purchasing the Mac 3 years ago, I'd always had PCs. The current ones I have are just as unstable as the ones I owned before the Mac, and are newer than the Mac. If anything, because of Vista, they are more buggy and unreliable, not to mention unuseable in some cases because they are not compatible with software I need to run. They are not "old".

Trying to decide whether to get Windows 7 or just wait awhile and just go ahead and buy a Mac for the office if I can get the EMR to run better on it (the 2.0 version does).

Oh yeah, and while I might buy a Mac for the cool factor, Blue Dog does wear bow ties. 😀

I still have my old hp as my back-up, back-up pc. It wheezes like Darth Vader, and I don't know if it actually works anymore. Mostly it's home to dust and spiders, but I can't bring myself to throw it out. Just in case the other pc implodes, you know. I totally agree about Vista. My old hp has XP, which makes it slightly less loathsome.

Blue Dog is Tucker Carlson in disguise. Or maybe Orville Redenbacher.

 

[deleted87716]

Blue Dog is Tucker Carlson in disguise. Or maybe Orville Redenbacher.

Or, keeping it on topic, Steve Jobs. 😉

 

[Winged Scapula]

Or, keeping it on topic, Steve Jobs. 😉

Yes, I would say the physical resemblance is MUCH closer to Jobs than Carlson or Redenbacher. 😀

 

[Slevin]

The iPad will be available March 1st (in 2 weeks).

Where did you hear that, the apple website says late march for release

 

[deleted87716]

Where did you hear that, the apple website says late march for release

Whoops, my bad.

 

[DrBowtie]

I still have my old hp as my back-up, back-up pc. It wheezes like Darth Vader, and I don't know if it actually works anymore. Mostly it's home to dust and spiders, but I can't bring myself to throw it out. Just in case the other pc implodes, you know. I totally agree about Vista. My old hp has XP, which makes it slightly less loathsome.

Blue Dog is Tucker Carlson in disguise. Or maybe Orville Redenbacher.

Haters gonna hate on the bowtie.

 

[Slevin]

My reason for never getting a Mac is that I refuse to support a company that locks their OS to their hardware so you absolutely must buy their hardware if you want to use their OS.

I will admit though, I was quite disappointed recently when I plugged in the Mac Classic II that I found at the local thrift store for $10 and it was deader than a doornail. I do have a weakness for those old AIO Macs.

You are looking at it backwards. Apple is primarily a hardware company not a software company. When the quarterly earnings come out they don't say how many copies of OS X they sold they say how many Mac's they sold. Apple develops software to support their hardware.

When Apple started out back in the 70's there really wasn't any big software companies, all computer companies made their own OS back then (that is until IBM debuted DOS which they licensed non-exclusively from MS) so they made the whole widget hardware and software and the company evolved from there. Even now Apple only makes software where there is an area which doesn't have adequate offerings. When Avid didn't want to port their video creation software to OS X Apple made Final cut Pro and then seeing as how there wasn't a good consumer option for video editing they made iMove (same goes for iPhoto)

It's the tight integration between hardware and software that allow's mac's to just work. You can say that apple should pull component's off a shelf and just slap things together and call it a day but if you did that you wouldn't have MacBooks that have a 7 hour battery life or iPhone's with the high quality multitouch screen. There has to be something said for products that work well together with no complications. Apple products work seamlessly because they are designed that way, if you start allowing clones into the ecosystem you'll dilute the brand. Who do you call when something goes wrong? If you owned an Apple clone and something went wrong do you call Apple up because it might be an OS problem or do you call up the box manufacturer because it's a hardware problem.

You see the lack of different manufacturers for computers that can run OS X a liability I see it as benefit

 

[deleted87716]

Haters gonna hate on the bowtie.

Argyll and Sutherland...nice. I've got that one myself. 😉

 

[1UP]

...It's the tight integration between hardware and software that allow's mac's to just work...

That argument really doesn't fly anymore now that they are using stock Intel processors, chipsets, and IC's with standardized ports, interfaces, and protocols.

 

[deleted87716]

That argument really doesn't fly anymore now that they are using stock Intel processors, chipsets, and IC's with standardized ports, interfaces, and protocols.

The Mac OS is every bit as tightly integrated with its modern-day hardware as it was back in the days of Motorola processors and ADB.

You say otherwise? Let's have some examples.

 

[1UP]

The Mac OS is every bit as tightly integrated with its modern-day hardware as it was back in the days of Motorola processors and ADB.

You say otherwise? Let's have some examples.

Are you kidding me? Are you at all familiar with the motherboard design and bus systems of the Performa 5200, 6200, 6320, and 5300 series? It was utterly and completely proprietary (not to mention perfectly horrifying from a design point of view).

Now, if someone gave me a stock intel board and processor fresh off the production line, I took a generic power supply, RAM, HD, monitor, KB & mouse, and the TPM check was removed from OS X, I could install and have it running full out in no time flat.

Compared to how it used to be it's completely different ballgame with regard to the hardware.

 

[deleted87716]

Are you kidding me? Are you at all familiar with the motherboard design and bus systems of the Performa 5200, 6200, 6320, and 5300 series? It was utterly and completely proprietary (not to mention perfectly horrifying from a design point of view).

Now, if someone gave me a stock intel board and processor fresh off the production line, I took a generic power supply, RAM, HD, KB & mouse, and the TPM check was removed from OS X, I could install and have it running full out in no time flat.

Compared to how it used to be it's completely different.

That's not what we're talking about. Nobody gives a crap about the motherboard design. We're talking about the functional integration of the OS and the hardware.

It all works well together, then and now.

The fact that Apple has moved away from proprietary interfaces is simply a bonus.

 

[1UP]

That's not what we're talking about...

Actually, that's exactly what I'm talking about. As I quoted before:

...It's the tight integration between hardware and software that allow's mac's to just work...

This was true with the Performa models I mentioned above because the hardware was completely proprietary. The software and hardware were tightly integrated because they were co-developed. However, this argument is complete nonsense in the context of the modern Mac because I could take any completely standard, generic Intel system and use OS X on it no differently than I could on a piece of Apple hardware.

If I could use OS X just as well on a generic whitebox then the argument of "tight" integration between Apple hardware and Apple software is complete crap

 

[deleted87716]

If I could use OS X just as well on a generic whitebox then the argument of "tight" integration between Apple hardware and Apple software is complete crap

But, you can't.

OS X isn't supported on "generic white boxes." It's supported on hardware that has been specifically designed to work seamlessly with the OS.

 

[1UP]

But, you can't.

If it wasn't for the TPM check built-in to OS X, I absolutely could.

The current barrier is completely artificial and is maintained by Apple to keep their hardware sales intact, whereas before it was a physical hardware issue.

If Apple's "hardware/software" integration was so essential to the success of OS X then their shouldn't be a need for a TPM check and a clause in the OS X EULA that requires the OS only be installed on Apple hardware as no one would need or want to run OS X on anything but Apple hardware.

The fact that the TPM check and EULA clause exist proves that even Apple doesn't believe in this essential integration nonsense and can only get people to buy their hardware by not giving them a choice in the matter if they want to use OS X.

 

[deleted87716]

The current barrier is completely artificial and is maintained by Apple to keep their hardware sales intact, whereas before it was a physical hardware issue.

I'm sure that's part of it. However, it also keeps the Mac experience intact.

 

[Velocity]

I've been using computers since the Windows 3.11 days. I considered myself very knowledgeable about Windows (before I switched to Macs) and am very technically literate, having built my own computers and keeping current with the various happenings in the tech world.

My father originally gave me my first Mac. Before that I was zealously anti-Mac. I figured I'd give OS X a try, but had plans to just install Windows or Linux onto the system. For the first week or two I spent almost all of my time in Windows XP (virtualized) but then I shifted over to the Mac side. I think it's been three years now, and I'm still on the Mac side. When my wife's HP laptop revealed its poor health, I bought her a Macbook.

Mac systems are easier to maintain. The day that viruses are unleashed on Mac OS X will be catastrophic because users are by and large living with a false sense of security, but the Unix underpinnings and overall software ecosystem make it a bit easier to guard the system. (Case in point, I'm not running as an administrator account right now. As far as I know, even with Windows 7 it's a struggle to do something like that. It's the fault of software developers.)

I don't have to receive constant chatter from a firewall and virus scanner. I do still worry about my system being compromised (it isn't paranoia if they're really out to get you, I say) but not as badly as I did on Windows.

OS X felt modern very early on, while I'd say that Windows didn't feel modern until Vista. Sure, I still hit some issues with the OS, but for the most part it feels much more stable and it doesn't get in my way. Between target disk mode and Time Machine I also feel pretty secure in terms of being able to recover data from a problematic system. (I do own a IDE/SATA to USB adapter, but when dealing with laptops it's a bit of a pain to get the HD out for certain models.)

For the most part, "it just works" holds true. I used to enjoy tinkering around with Windows, but to be honest I don't miss it. I have less time these days to do things like that. I occasionally wish that OS X were more customizable but that's a minor nitpick (and I probably wouldn't have the time to do the customizations as I once would have).

At this point I've found software on OS X for research that doesn't exist on Windows. Switching back to Windows would be a painful experience. If there's anything that I need on Windows (or Linux), I just virtualize them.


But it all depends on your needs. In many ways, a computer is just a tool. If the operating system doesn't really matter to you and you just want to get the best bang for your buck in terms of hardware, a Windows-based PC is probably the way to go.

 

[GoodmanBrown]

sorry about rehashing this old debate. but

My younger bro wants to get a mac, knowing that it costs 50% to double the price of a windows laptop. He's got a spending disease, and i'm going to try to convince him why a pc is a smarter buy.

for every reason in favor of a mac, I can think of an equal or better solution on the pc.

One thing that makes Apple laptops so appealing is their portability. If portability is important, the Apple laptop line is easily the best out there. No other computers that I know of sport the combination of 1" bodies, 4.7 lbs., and 7 hours of battery life. That's just a winning combination that other computers can't match without significant price hikes or sacrifices like no optical drive, on-chip graphics, etc.

Even quality offerings from Lenovo, HP, and Dell skimp on subtle mobo specs that most people ignore. Check out FSB speeds on almost any other laptop. 800 Mhz is the norm. Even on the cheapest Macbook, you get 1066 Mhz.

If you're a student and your only computer is going to be a laptop (that you take to class), Apple pretty much has you covered.

And this is all coming from a guy who uses and likes Windows.

 

[JacobSilge]

I love micromanaging my computer (Lenovo T61, Windows XP SP3) and trying out all sorts of open source software. The effort I put into making my computer run smoothly, on good hardware (I too have the obligatory Dell horror stories and never bothered with the Vista train wreck) is worth it to me, but I can fully understand why paying a little bit more (not the 50-100% more you cited above, more like 25-33% more) would be worth it for a smoother experience right out of the box that you don't have to micromanage, especially if the smaller selection of free software isn't going to hinder your computer use. Without more specific information about your brother's intended computer usage, I can't say if your advise is good or not.

 

[fab4fan]

Haters gonna hate on the bowtie.

I actually worship the cyber-ground Blue Dog walks on.

 

[deleted87716]

I actually worship the cyber-ground Blue Dog walks on.

😍

Your check is in the mail. 😉

 

[Apollyon]

First, the bow tie. Had a classmate in med school that would occasionally wear one. He was a US FMG that interviewed at MGH for anesthesia - really sharp guy. However, in gas, you rarely wear street clothes - scrubs almost exclusively. He wore the bow tie while rotating on IM.

To paraphrase Ken Iserson about people who wear bow ties, "they're strange, they know they're strange, and they're not afraid to stand out". That someone would intentionally do something to show others of an "off the beaten path" thought process raises questions (as Iserson was writing about getting into residency) - what else do you do "off kilter"? It's 1. not surprising that you see attendings doing it, and not residents and 2. the people that admire those wearing them. I can tell you that, if I wore one here, the local culture would mark me to be mugged, because it was just evident that I didn't "get it".

Now, that said...

The difference between PCs and Macs has been equated (by someone whom I forget, so I cannot specifically attribute) to whether you want to work under the hood, or just take it to the dealer, and the most you do is put gas in, but otherwise it just "goes".

 

[JacobSilge]

To paraphrase Ken Iserson about people who wear bow ties, "they're strange, they know they're strange, and they're not afraid to stand out". That someone would intentionally do something to show others of an "off the beaten path" thought process raises questions (as Iserson was writing about getting into residency) - what else do you do "off kilter"? It's 1. not surprising that you see attendings doing it, and not residents and 2. the people that admire those wearing them. I can tell you that, if I wore one here, the local culture would mark me to be mugged, because it was just evident that I didn't "get it".

Funny, because I go to school in the South and I in no way felt out of place wearing my bow ties. Though you are right in that few residents wore them, many attendings did.

 

[deleted87716]

Funny, because I go to school in the South and I in no way felt out of place wearing my bow ties. Though you are right in that few residents wore them, many attendings did.

Apollyon lives in (removed). I think it's frowned on to even iron your shirts there. 😉

 

[1UP]

Apollyon lives in (removed). I think it's frowned on to even iron your shirts there. 😉

Hmm... *Moves (removed) very far up on the list of places to consider for residency...*

 

[JJMrK]

I don't get it either, OP. I've used both fairly extensively (although admittedly with much heavier PC use) and I just can't imagine spending 2.5k for this:

• One 2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
• 3GB (3x1GB)
• 640GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
• NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 512MB
• (no monitor)

when I could get this for the same price:

• Intel® Core™ i7-975 processor Extreme Edition(8MB L3 Cache, 3.33GHz)
• 9GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1066MHz - 6 DIMMs
• 1TB Performance RAID 0 (2x500GB SATA 7200 RPM HDDs)
• ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB GDDR5
• 20 inch HD monitor

or, if you don't need a monitor:

• Intel® Core™ i7-975 processor Extreme Edition(8MB L3 Cache, 3.33GHz)
• 12GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1066MHz - 6 DIMMs
• 1TB Performance RAID 0 (2x500GB SATA 7200 RPM HDDs)
• 1.8GB NVIDIA Geforce GTX 260 [2 DVI, HDMI and VGA adapters]
• Blu-ray writer/player
• (no monitor)

Whatever floats your boat, though.

 

[Slevin]

Or this for 2650

2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
8GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 4x2GB
2TB Serial ATA Drive
ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB
8x double-layer SuperDrive

And that includes a 27" LED display

 

[JJMrK]

Or this for 2650

2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
8GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 4x2GB
2TB Serial ATA Drive
ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB
8x double-layer SuperDrive

And that includes a 27" LED display

Is that a Mac? Sure, that's better, but still doesn't beat the latter two systems from my previous post.

Also, where did you find that? Using apple.com I found the first configuration from my post above, but bumping the RAM up to 8GB makes the whole system ~$2750 on their website.

 

[Velocity]

Also, where did you find that? Using apple.com I found the first configuration from my post above, but bumping the RAM up to 8GB makes the whole system ~$2750 on their website.

Let's be honest, if you buy a pre-built system you're going to get ripped off massively if you attempt to increase your RAM or HD space from the manufacturer. Apple is pretty terrible when it comes to RAM price markup but they're not too far off from PC vendors.

If you're going with a PC, build your own. I'm pretty confident that I could build the systems you listed above for roughly half of what you quoted the price as, and the components would probably be higher quality.

Again, the appeal of Macs isn't that you're getting "teh bestest hardware evar" (although to give credit, I've used very aged Mac hardware and found that in many respects it was pretty advanced - even old G3's and G4's had gigabit ethernet cards, for example). The appeal is that it's the best integrated solution currently available. Use Mac OS X full-time for a few months and you'll probably get a feel for it.

By comparison, Windows is a bit jumbled. It doesn't feel that way when it's all you've been using, but once you switch off from it - man, does it feel terrible. I can't troubleshoot Windows problems anymore because I've forgotten all of the little tips and tricks that I was using regularly to keep things together.

Perhaps the biggest issue is that Microsoft's own applications are pretty terrible (Office aside). Nobody wants to use Windows Media Player, Activesync was atrocious (although I love Windows Mobile), having the calendar app bundled into Outlook was unfriendly... you have to go out and find your own applications, and as a result you lose some consistency. Upon switching to the Mac side it feels weird to use the apps that are bundled with the OS (and it's initially discouraging that there aren't more competing apps) but they all play together nicely, and everything feels very usable. It all just works, and it's all seemingly geared toward productivity. You lose a lot of the choices and customizability that's present on the Windows "ecosystem" but it's kind of a nice feeling, not having to bother with all of that.

 

[JJMrK]

If you're going with a PC, build your own. I'm pretty confident that I could build the systems you listed above for roughly half of what you quoted the price as, and the components would probably be higher quality.

I totally agree. It's tough to see the average consumer doing that, though.

 

[Dr McSteamy]

Trying to decide whether to get Windows 7 or

you can try windows 7 for free for 30 days. No product key required.

works out of the box. see if you like it.

M$ has official legal download links at digitalrivers. Download and burn to dvd---
(disregard the 'msvista' in the link. It's windows 7)

64-bit win7 home premium:
http://msft-dnl.digitalrivercontent.net/msvista/pub/X15-65733/X15-65733.iso

32-bit win7 home premium:
http://msft-dnl.digitalrivercontent.net/msvista/pub/X15-65732/X15-65732.iso

 

[1UP]

Go with Windows 7, it's just as good as XP, but with a few improvements in usability.

My only issue with Windows 7 is that they have removed the ability to arbitrarily arrange ones folders/files in a given folder/drive. This is apparently because certain Vista configurations were crashing when using this feature, so they removed it instead of fixing it. However, there has been sufficient outrage over this fact that I believe it will be restored with SP1.