Mac vs. Windows; revisited

I am thinking of getting a new laptop. My Acer is getting old or just I am tempted by the market trends.

It’s a big confusion to remain on Windows side or migrate to Mac. Some say the answer is clear: forget about Mac, some say forget about Vista!

As an Ubuntu fan I always have it installed and I even had for couple of months as my only OS to benchmark it and benchmark me! I have a very good time using Linux, everything is working fine although facing compatibility issues are inevitable. Ubuntu came a long way to make Linux a real rival for Mac OS and Windows. Frankly if Linux had the same marketing power and propaganda of Microsoft or Apple who knows maybe you’d see Linux logo on all laptops now! Anyway the aim is not to talk about Linux now (like I didn’t!).

Back to OS X and Vista, when I search around to pick my favorite laptop (So far I found Dell XPS M1330) they all have Vista installed, mostly premium or business for the specs I’m looking for.

I am using Vista for couple of months on my office workstation and I am not happy with it. It is slow (with 3.4GHz PIV, 2GB HDD, and 512 MB Geforce!!!), has compatibility issues even with Visual Studio 2005 (Do you believe that?!!) and has zillions of pain-in-the-* security-related dialog boxes. I guess I am going to wait for SP1 or maybe SP2 to see a stability like in XP and the annoying part is that Microsoft likes to keep you waiting and annoyed by not revealing the realease date (That’s very smart though).

So you would think that I already hate Vista and will definitely go for a Mac. But wait!

My wife has a white Mackbook. With Core 2 Duo 1.86GHz and 1,256 MB of RAM it works pretty fine. I have installed Vista on Parallels which works fine and she can occasionally use MS-Office for her office stuff. The interesting part about using Mac apart from all stylish and sexy stuff is that just like Windows you’ll see system slow-downs, crashes, and OS confusions. It is robust, there’s “no” virus to harm, and it is based on openBSD. Well done, but for at least $300-$500 higher price than a Windows based rival you would expect even better. Serious 3D stuff is not a matter of discussion with an Intel graphics and lack of some expansion slots will leave you a bit insecure sometime.

In the other hand, Vista is so resource hungry which I am still figuring out why?! Most websites recommend a 2Ghz dual core and 2GB DDR with a 256MB dedicated graphic card and 100GB HDD! Amazing, isn’t it? You just want to enjoy a Home Premium or Ultimate Vista and have to have a world-class configuration?! There are many answers for that and one is because of many “security” check layers of Vista for genuine use and anti-pircay and blah blah blah. Good new for Microsoft that they spent millions from their pocket and waste millions from users’ to save the legend of genuine and non-pirated Windows, but all they get is hacked and cracked version of the so-called secure OS! It’s all marketing politics after all.

So here I am, a typical user, a developer, and a computer lover, struggling between Microsoft’s wrong road map and Apple’s arrogance.

Vista will be OK but when, who knows. Apple is rocking (in comparison to no-Steve-Jobs-years) but they are still dream walking somehow. Calling my Hardware “the best” or my OS “the best in the whole planet!” will not effectively do that!

What I think is taht for cosmopolitan user who buys a computer as a part of her furniture/make-up whiteApple Mackbook is a great choice, black is for more advanced users.
Mackbook Pro is a serious deal but common for $2,500? I could get a laptop + Desktop!

With all those temptation of virtual OSs over Mac OS, I might stick on Vista for the sake of hardware/software compatibility and support (especially in this part of the planet).

But what about visruses? What about my 5-crash-a-day Vista?! What about resource killing “Internet Security” software packages? I don’t know, it is so frustrating. After all this blah blah, I am still not sure what to buy although Vista part is slightly heavier.

Sphere It August 13th, 2007

2 Comments Add your own

1. Mark - Productivity501 | August 15th, 2007 at 20:55

I’m not sure if Mac is more expensive at the lower end, but at the high end, the costs are pretty close. I priced out two 17 inch systems. One from Dell and one from Apple. Both had high resolutions displays, 7200 RPM 160 GB hard drives, 2GB of memory, 3 year warranty, etc. There were a few specs on the Apple that were higher than what I could get from the Dell, but it wasn’t too big of a difference. Also the Dell came with onesite repair while the Apple requires taking it to an Apple store or shipping it back to Apple. The Apple came in at $3,398 and the Dell was $3,595.

I imagine if you swapped the options around you might be able to come up with a configuration where the Dell was a little less expensive as well. For example, if you replace the large high speed disk drive with a slower one, you might be able to get the Dell a little under the price of the Mac. Also Dell tends to run occasional promotions that might help as well.

The point is that at least at the high end you’ll pay a similar amount to get a Dell as you’ll pay for an Apple. If you are looking for a very low end computer, it will be cheaper to get something other than a Mac simply because Apple doesn’t make extremely low end machines because they have decided there isn’t much profit there.

In my opinion the biggest reason to go with an Apple is using OS X. If you are just going to try to run Windows on it, you’ll pay more because you’ll have to buy windows in addition to OSX which comes with the machine. However, if having multiple options is something you need, a Mac can run OS X, Linux, and Windows. With a different computer, you can’t run OS X. For me that is a very big limitation.
2. Ali | August 16th, 2007 at 12:40

Thanks for highliting such important points.

I have to say that Mac OS itself is the only thing that keeps my mind uncertain yet. I can’t help with the temptation!
Frankly the hardware (in Mackbook White/Black) is not such a hot deal and many laptops in the market are superior.
HP dv2000t series for example give you apretty good specs with less than $1300. Mackbook is god of battery life but Intel Graphics?! no way! MackbookPro rocks but it is expensive for me.

In one hand I know I will have a pleasent day to day experience with Mac OS. Security, speed, GUI, are certainly better in OS/X. Vista’s current editions (pre SP1) are really hard to deal but this 90% market share yet seems so unbreakable. They pump money and keep big contractors. I don’t know what will happen after Dell decided to ship Ubuntu on their machines, but I see it as a breakthrough.

Then comes compatibility (software) issues, occasional Windows requirement (Visual Studio, …), and local support (which sucks here in Dubai).

Your comments made me reconsider that, really!