Mac or Pc?

[I Nicator I]

I am planning on buying a notebook computer rather soon. I would like it to be both suitable for gaming and for media. Money is no object in my decision, but I would like some opinions on whether I should get a PC or a Mac. Please explain the strengths and weaknesses of each. Thank you.

[BeastG33]

If you even mention gaming, obviously you would get a PC. Games get released for MAC like 4 years after they get released for PC, and most games don't even get to MAC's at all.

[imthefrgt10]

if u want a gaming pc just get an alien computer

[I Nicator I]

Modern Macs can run all windows programs, including games, so this is not a deciding factor for me.

[Zuwxiv]

I used a Mac when I was young (early to mid 90's) and then switched to Windows. I have used Windows until last October, when I bought a Mac laptop for reasons I will explain in a second. I still use Windows (using one right now) for my desktop, so I am an active user of both.

The new Intel macs can run XP, and quite possibly Vista, so the argument for program capatability is wrong.

My advice: Buy a mac. It will be more expensive to buy, but it will last longer. You will not need to worry about viruses, and honestly OSX is better for most things than XP. Unless you are buying very high end, you shouldn't expect to be playing new games at high specs on a laptop - that's what a PC is for. And you will be surprised how many games are available for Macs.

But for general activities, Macs do just fine. The operating system is easy to learn and use, and the inter-program compatibility is what makes it great. If you are using the built-in camera, and Apple-C (copy) the picture, you can paste it in a word document easily. Or into a file. Or into a website. Or into really anything. It is just much easier and more intuitive to use.

Don't get me wrong, Macs aren't perfect. Programs sometimes freeze, but the computer never crashes. But Quicktime is great for video, and multimedia is awesome (video/photo editing, movies, pictues, etc are all great.)

And some people just don't like Macs. Whether it is just not being willing to change (And that is a legitimate factor), or just personal preference. Go to an Apple store and mess around with one for a while, see how you like it.

If you do buy a mac, make sure to install these to make things easier:

VLC (Media player to play Windows Media Video (.wmv), don't ever install the Windows Media Player for mac.)
GIMP (photo editor, awesome.)
the iLife and iWork packages (I think some of these may come standard?)

(I might think of some more later...)

There are plenty of fun games for Mac (iConquer is a nice strategy game) and the media functions are unrivaled. GarageBand is awesome. Check out this:

http://files.filefront.com/GarageBan.../fileinfo.html

I made that in less than and hour. And it was my first try with the program.

If you really prefer Windows, then go with that. If money is an issue, it might be better to go with a cheaper Windows laptop. But built-in Wifi, camera, microphone, and a complete suite of included programs is really worth the cost. I have been very pleased with my investment in my laptop - and it wasn't even one of the Intel ones, and didn't have the camera. (all the new ones do, now).

One more confusing thing: The mouse. Apple, for some reason, doesn't like to have two buttons. Of course, using a two button mouse has a right click function that works fine, or you can hold control down while you click. But it can be a little frustrating, although you will learn to be fine without it. Their newest mouse (wireless version released today) has two buttons, but your left finger can't be touching the right side to click it. It's kind of like "It only looks like it has one button, but it has two!!!"

My advice: Check out a Mac, I would really sugguest it. If you try it in a store, and after 30 minutes you still don't like it, then maybe you would be more confortable with Windows, and nothings wrong with that. After all, it's personal preference.