Computer Questions

[Zar]

I am currently in the process of buying a computer and for me being a college student who is not exactly Mr.Money Baggs and I want to get the most for my money. Anyway here are a few questions.

What really makes Macs so much better for graphic design than PCs, also how come when I look at the specs for Macs they always look so much slower then PCs but they cost so much more,and Why can't I right click with the mouse ( I really like to right click, its an adiidction go figure)

[Dante]

... personal opinion:
The first computer I ever worked on was a mac, it was for a college digital art class, in fact, that was all the digital art department at my school used, unless you used the animation program (3-d Max). Then they only used PC's. According to most of my teachers macs supposedly never loose information or crash... needless to say I've experience both on a Macontosh and a PC so go figure. Of course all of this was 6 years ago and Macs may be really great now but... for the extra money I'm not sure they are really that much better. In the end I believe the whole Mac PC war depends on which GUI interface you prefer and whether or not you wish to play games on your computer (as mac's tend to have a MUCH smaller selection of video games allowed on its operating systems). Also there is the computer to computer transfer prob, mac files are not readable on windows machines (however mac machines can open windows files), thus as there are a larger amount of windows machines you may have less compatability problems with a windows machine. By the way I highly stress, my last experience with comparing macs and windows was 6 years ago, but I believe these statements still hold true. If anyone else finds something wrong please post as I am curious to see how things have changed.

[agasfas]

I perfer PC's. I know a bit about mac and I just don't like the interface (personal opinion). But if you want a lot for your money stay away from Macs, they are very expensive including accessories, hardware etc. I mean seriously, $40 for a two button mouse... err...
Pc's... money wise I would say Dell or HP. They tend to have "okay systems." I would advice to stay away from E-machines, they tend to have a lot of problems.

Mac vs. PC's on graphic design:
With technology being were it is today the are "about" the same. Mac's do tend to be a bit smoother and quicker, but honestly more or less about the same performance. You can get the same program like adobe for each system.
About spec:
MAC's may seem a bit slower in spec # but I believe they measure specs a bit different. For example: If a Mac has 1000mhz and the Pc has 1100mhz; there are about the same speed. (i'm pretty sure)
All-in-all Macs are too expensive for me. And they are both crash prone.

[Mithrandir]

Last time I will say this.

OLD MACS ARE CRASH PRONE. OLD WINDOWS BOXES ARE CRASH PRONE. BOTH ARE BETTER NOW.

There. I'm through giving advice on this topic, though. No one ever wants to hear my opinion (why macs are better). They just assume they know that it's not the case. Regardless of any and all facts.

[agasfas]

I don't think one is better than the other. I heard BIll gates is quite impressed w/ the new MAC OS. But for me, it's the price that really sticks the thorn in my side. But if you could Old Phil, I would like to get more inside/information about MACS. Trust me, by no means was I saying PCs are better than MACs. IT's just the price

[termyt]

MACs are more expensive, but there are two provisos here to point out.

1) MAC hardware is built better. Enough to make a difference through the life of your PC? That's debatable, but the quality is better.

2) Buy the time you add all of the hardware, memory, video stuff, etc to a basic PC, it is not that much cheaper than a MAC, but could be enough to make a difference in a tight budget.

All that said, MAC as are better. They "appear" slower because of they way they are measured, but even though the processor is rated slower, the MAC processor is better, more efficient, and thus faster than it's intel counterpart.