1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.

Dell vs. Mac

Discussion in 'Entertainment and Technology' started by sean, Aug 9, 2009.

?

Dell or Mac?

  1. Dell

    18 vote(s)
    41.9%
  2. Mac

    25 vote(s)
    58.1%
  1. sean

    Regular Member

    Joined:
    Sep 15, 2008
    Messages:
    12
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Gender:
    Male
    Sexual Orientation:
    Gay
    I've had a Dell laptop for around 3-4 years, and a Dell computer before that. However, my laptop is starting to detoriate pretty quickly. To get to the point, I need a new laptop. I'm about to be a senior in high school, and I mostly use my computer for school.

    When I ask most of my friends, they suggest that I get a Mac.

    So I was wondering what you guys thought: Dell or Mac?

    Post your opinions, especially if you had one before the other, so you can compare/contrast for me. Thanks!
     
  2. Beachboi92

    Full Member

    Joined:
    Jul 26, 2009
    Messages:
    1,099
    Likes Received:
    1
    i had a Dell for 2 years then i got a Mac.... I will never get anything else ever again if it is possible haha i love macs they seem to be more user friendly, and mine definitely runs smoother than my dell ever did on top of just staying in good shape for much longer. Also supposedly with Macs you hardly have to worry about any sorts of viruses or anything :grin: Plus anything microsoft makes you can get for a Mac in one form or another as far as i know :slight_smile:
     
  3. Swamp56

    Swamp56 Guest

    It's all up to the new owner's preference of interface. Macs are incredibly stable (as Mac OS is built upon Unix), and Dell's are known for good quality (</3 Windows though).
     
  4. Maddy

    Full Member

    Joined:
    Mar 23, 2008
    Messages:
    2,633
    Likes Received:
    9
    Location:
    Melbourne, Australia
    Gender:
    Genderqueer
    Gender Pronoun:
    They
    Sexual Orientation:
    Lesbian
    Out Status:
    Out to everyone
    I've never used a Mac that I didn't want to destroy within five minutes of starting to use it. *prepares bunker for imminent flaming*
     
  5. Udo42

    Regular Member

    Joined:
    Aug 9, 2009
    Messages:
    9
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Bemidji Mn
    Gender:
    Male
    Sexual Orientation:
    Gay
    Out Status:
    Out to everyone
    I have a dell that I duel booth with Windows 7 beta and Ubuntu and let me tell you I love me some Ubuntu. It's so user friendly I am pretty sure that anyone could figure out to use it. I know Mac a shiny and the like but I really don't think it's worth it.
     
  6. Beachboi92

    Full Member

    Joined:
    Jul 26, 2009
    Messages:
    1,099
    Likes Received:
    1
    *Charges his fireballs aimed at Fire*
     
  7. Beachboi92

    Full Member

    Joined:
    Jul 26, 2009
    Messages:
    1,099
    Likes Received:
    1
    i agree that Mac's def are part brand name and coolness factor but i think with that added price you also get a computer that will hold up better in the long run....
     
  8. Como

    Como Guest

    MAC, all the way. Esp for college (if that's where you are headed). I did the PC thing, and the up keep is so annoying. Plus you can't beat the customer service and Genius bar at the MAC store.

    If you get a Dell, make sure it's a well equipped one, or else it's not worth it, IMHO.
     
  9. Numfarh

    Numfarh Guest

    It all depends on what you are taking in college. For me, my faculty runs exclusively on Windows and there are several programs that I use for analysis that do not have a Mac equivalent. Though, the video editing software on Windows sucks. I have had my Dell for two years and never had an issue with any hardware related. The customer service has replaced bits and pieces of my computer for free when I spilled coffee on it a few months ago.

    As for Mac's being "safer", don't be so sure. I read an article the other day about how viruses have begun to specialize into Macs. I've lost track of where I put it.
     
  10. jonny

    Full Member

    Joined:
    Jul 1, 2009
    Messages:
    136
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Orlando
    Having both a Dell and mac, and being an official macfanboy. Well u get where this is going. But really it depends on what u are going to do. I will admit that a mac doesn't have all the third party software and isn't compatable with evrything but fir the most part u will nvr notice. I got a MacBook about two months ago and I've had no problems it runs the same way I bought it. Fast and reliable. Before that I bought an hp after less than a month it refuse to boot up. No doubt a Microsoft problem. Some ppl say a mac is more expensive but they are not. They just reduced the prices and before that I still didn't find they were expensive. The whole pc is cheaper is an illusition. The pc star off at the bare minimum, if u were to add on all the stuff a mac come with standard u'll get the same price tag trust me. Besides what other pc come in alluminum(moat are mad of inferior plastic), has backlight keyboards, led backlight displays with auto sensing dimmers. Webcams, glass track pads. I could go on and on. Let's not forget osx. The newest release come in at $29 with everything including iLife( Microsoft has no answer to that software especially not for FREE) the cheapest windows 7 come in at over a hundre bucks and is cripled. The full version cost nearly $300. Which is more expensive now in the long run. Not to mention the productivity suit Microsoft student comes in at 129 with a new pc verses 45 for apple. U will have to get an anti virus too. A fifty dollar subsription which slows down ur pc, more than the viruses themselves. Dude jusbget a mac. It's a learning curve but we are accustomed to not going the straight route. Lol. My advice go to ur local beat buy or apple store and tes drive it. Let an associate give u 101. If u like it buy it. If not stick to a pc. Oh and one more thing we can run windows even better than pcs can so we can do anything a pc can just better( sorry couldn't help myself).
     
  11. Applefanboi

    Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jul 28, 2009
    Messages:
    8
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Wisconsin
    Gender:
    Male
    Oh how I love this conversation. As you could assume by my screen name, I'm no fan of Dell. :slight_smile: I am absolutely in love with my Apple products (macbook pro 15", imac 20", iphone 3gs 32 gb white, various ipods) Yeah, I'm going to school for computer engineering, so I will be forced to deal with that inferior OS on the school laptop, but I'll survive. I'll restrain myself from continuing on with my ranting, but I'll just say that every Apple product I've ever had has NEVER failed to impress me as far as usability, reliability, and utter coolness when ever I whip it out anywhere. (sexual? your opinion....)
     
  12. Emile

    Emile Guest

    Apple is a sect, though they have really nice products.

    I vote for Dell!
     
  13. Applefanboi

    Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jul 28, 2009
    Messages:
    8
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Wisconsin
    Gender:
    Male
    See, the main thing I like to point out about Macs vs. PCs is support. Here's the jist on each. All of this is from experience and hours on the phone.

    Dell: (issue: faulty cd drive)
    Call answered after ~ 30 minutes of menus and holding:sleep:
    Support tech had East Asia accent, sometimes needed her to repeat certain phrases a couple times.
    After about 45 minutes of restarting and my call getting transfered around while i ran through like 10 different troubleshooting things, I ended up with the number for Sony support.
    Sony ended up running me through more hoops, after another 20 minutes on hold, then told me to call Dell. :bang: grrr.... Anyway, I eventually just replaced it with a different drive from my old HP.
    Cost: ~3 hours and a $80 DVD drive

    Now for the stark contrast

    Apple: (Issue: DVDs burned bad audio)
    Navigated through 3 menus, call answered within a minute of calling.
    Support tech was friendly, English was impeccable, and very helpful.
    My issue was routed to a stage 3 tech (engineer) after I told the first tech about my issue. The engineer had never heard of my issue before and was slightly confused. After a couple of tests, hardware and software, he led me to some deep system files that got corrupted when i was messing with multiple user permissions on a network. Yeah, I'm going to school for this and I would never have come up with that.
    Cost: About an hour on the phone and no $.

    Hope you all enjoyed that mess. :icon_bigg
     
  14. sean

    Regular Member

    Joined:
    Sep 15, 2008
    Messages:
    12
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Gender:
    Male
    Sexual Orientation:
    Gay
    Ahh interesting... Well, money is not an issue as I have saved up enough money to either buy a Macbook pro or a personalized Dell. I did have a lot of problems with Dell support when my computer crashed, and it resulted to me talking to around 10 different people over the course of 6 hours.

    I've heard Macs are much more sturdy/stable, and will most likely last longer. I don't have a problem with the Dell setup because I've gotten used to it.

    Do the people with Macs think I'd be able to adjust to the OS and be able to learn all the little tricks? I guess that's my biggest worry, other then I dont really like change! I want to (eventually) be able to navaigate my way around a Mac if I get one. Also, whats up with the whole running Windows on a Mac thing about?

    Thanks for all your guys' help, I'm taking all your replies into consideration and will let you know what I finally choose.
     
  15. Swamp56

    Swamp56 Guest

    <3333 Ubuntu

    I really need to dual-boot with it again xD .
     
  16. Greggers

    Full Member

    Joined:
    Dec 10, 2008
    Messages:
    2,698
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    BC, Canada
    Can we vote....

    Neither?

    Dell is o-k i guess, but im sorry the customer service is worse than crap. Its a whole new LEVEL of crap. And seeing as my family has only had one dell last past warranty it tends to be something we have to go through alot. (Sister, Brother, Mother, Aunt, Cousins, ive heard alot of bad dell stories. They keep buying them cause they are cheep. Eeesh.)

    Mac? Ugh. Mac. They may look pretty and do pretty things, but they cost two arms and a leg compared to everything else and run significantly worse than anything else at the same price point. I can buy a Toshiba for half the price of a mac and it has the exact same / better specs. Plus, i like my games. I can *maybe* run half of the ones i own on a mac, and thats being generous. Alot of my games are slightly older, so that does factor into it, but stil....euch.

    In the end, ill stick with my Toshiba Satellite brand laptops and Hp desktops because thats what had yet to fail me. (Still have my 1998 Toshiba Satellite that works like new along with my 2007 Toshiba Satellite that works fine as well)
     
  17. Applefanboi

    Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jul 28, 2009
    Messages:
    8
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Wisconsin
    Gender:
    Male
    The tricks are really handy once you learn them and you can find quick tip guides all over the internet. Yes, the change was weird at first, this coming from a kid questioning his sexuality, but yeah, it was really not that bad. Apple provides some little tricks for making the switch, but for the first few months, I did still need my PC. Oh, the multi-touch trackpad on the new MacBooks will spoil you and the customization is great.

    What you are referring to with the Windows on a mac is either Boot Camp, where you have to restart to switch between OS or Parallels, where you can run both in one. I used Parallels for a while (the free trial) but now I have found many useful tools that allow me to rarely ever use my PC.

    Overall, the OS is very well done, very stable, and rarely give you any problems.
     
  18. Kenko

    Full Member

    Joined:
    Jan 3, 2007
    Messages:
    1,378
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Canada
    Gender:
    Male
    Gender Pronoun:
    He
    Sexual Orientation:
    Gay
    Out Status:
    Some people
    I haven't had these serious Windows problems everyone goes on about, and I find Mac OS has just as many annoyance as Windows. I've had a lot of experience with Dell hardware and haven't had anything bad go on. Right now my dad, brother, sister, uncle all have dell laptops that are 2-3 years old and don't have any problems. That said, for the vast majority of what people do, the Dell will offer more for the money, because for most people a <$700 laptop is more than enough. There's nothing *wrong* with the Mac, just not as much bang/buck IMHO.

    I agree with Numfarh. I had a lot of course software that required Windows. Not all faculties will require it (I was in engineering), and some (eg: fine arts) are more at home on Mac. You could run the software in a VM or bootcamp, but that's a pain, and you have to buy a windows license ($$$).

    IIRC the only malware in the wild for OS X is a Trojan in a pirated copy of iWork. I also found I don't get viruses in Windows by not clicking and running random shit.

    I disagree. For what most people do, a low end laptop is more than sufficient. Say a $500 laptop. And in 2 years time, if you need more power, a new $500 laptop will offer more than a $1000 laptop will now.

    RE: "Getting used to OS X", any time I use a mac I never have any problems figuring it out. It's not THAT different.

    My favorite 'trick' is control+option+pretzel+8. I do that to any Mac I see before walking away.
     
    #18 Kenko, Aug 9, 2009
    Last edited: Aug 9, 2009
  19. Swamp56

    Swamp56 Guest

    Macs run off of what is known as UNIX, which is the core OS of Linux, Mac, FreeBSD and a few other operating systems. Windows is rum from DOS and another architecture system that is MUCH less stable than Unix. That's why it's so hard to come down with a virus while running Linux or Mac.

    While I'm not saying it's impossible, I'm saying that the core architecture is a LOT more stable and less prone to infections. Any virus for Mac would be a virus that would infect the whole UNIX architecture, and I personally haven't heard of a single one, but there might be a few out there, which is relatively not bad seeing as there are millions of viruses for Windows.
     
  20. Applefanboi

    Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jul 28, 2009
    Messages:
    8
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Wisconsin
    Gender:
    Male
    I had to do that real quick since I've forgotten, but I would have to agree! :slight_smile: Another really handy one is Command+Shift+3 and C...+S...+4 for screen shots. It's much easier than the Grab program.

    Just because....(!)