I moved to Lubbock in 2005 for college. At that time, I had a custom built PC. I had that PC for over a year. There were eight USB ports. I had a palm pilot, a USB keyboard, a USB mouse, and much more. Let's just say, all eight USB ports were in use. One day, during the first week in school, I plugged in my PDA and synchronized all my files and documents. Then, I unplug the PDA (I thought I unplugged it properly.) and instantly my computer freezes. That was the last time it booted up...and I found out that my motherboard got zapped. So that weekend, I took a nice run to Best Buy and got ahold of a Gateway laptop PC. It treated me well for awhile. I was able to get my work done and it ran my games very nicely. Less than a year later, the screen started flickering because a cable came loose. Not long after that, it started freezing up and the picture on the screen would look very odd when it did work (unusually pixelated, strange lines down the screen). So, I ran it to the store and found out my video card was going and that would pretty much cost me the whole computer. Did I get the warranty? Of course not!
So, I decide that this is the last PC I will ever get! So, off I go onto Apple.com and order me a nice new macbook, preloaded with Final Cut Express HD (I do not have the money for pro). Boy, did I fall in love with this computer -- until bad luck started happening to me again. One day, I was up working and I put my computer in the case. Being the stupid guy I was, I forgot to zip my case up. So, I pick the case, and instantly my MacBook crashes to the ground, killing the CD-ROM. Since there is no Apple store in town, I had to ship it off to California, and didn't get my computer back for a couple weeks. That was more my fault though, so I do not blame Apple for that. My problems did not end there though.
Later on, during the fall semester a couple years ago, my computer decided to start rebooting itself. So, I give Apple a call, and off to California my MacBook goes again, this time when I had papers due. So I had to live at the Texas Tech library for 1 1/2 weeks or so, until my laptop came back all shiny and new -- well, not new, but fixed.
That Christmas break, I was home in Dallas, and was leaving to drive to Jacksonville, Florida to not only go to the Gator Bowl with my roommate, but to see my sister down in Orlando. Of course, the night before I leave, I'm surfing the Internet on my MacBook, and it mysteriously turns itself off. At this point, my Mac is a little over a year old. This was scary because it wouldn't come back on. So, thankfully I was in Dallas at the time, so when I left for Florida, my mom ran it to the Apple store while I was gone for a few days. When I got back to Dallas from Florida, we go to the Apple store and they fix my computer, and inform me that had I not had Apple Care, this would of cost me over $1000 to replace -- looks like my power adapter or something went bad (who knows?). Thank goodness for Apple Care.
I have had no problems, until the next Christmas break. An update pops up on my computer. So, I, of course, update it. After the update, my Apple quit booting up and would just stay on the Apple logo with the loading wheel. I give Apple Care a call and I finally end up having to wipe out my hard drive. Thank goodness my mom got an iMac for Christmas, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to save my files via a firewire cable.
Then, the other day, my Mac decided that it doesn't want to go to sleep all the time anymore. I could hear my computer waking itself up all night long (that sure kept me awake!). I have not yet resolved this problem, but will do so eventually.
I must say that Apple needs to step it up on durability. The sides of my computer, where the USB ports are, have partially chipped off. The casing around the screen up at the top left and right corner have chipped. And, today, I discovered a crack just above my CD-ROM. With that said, however, Macs can be amazing computers. This past fall, Lubbock had one of the worst floods in history. Conveniently, I was outside on the middle of campus, with my MacBook in my bag, and it starts pouring down rain. No near shelter was available, so I had to make a nice sprint to the library. Unfortunately, it was too late. I took my Mac out, and there was water coming out from INSIDE the notebook. I removed the battery and left it off for a couple days. I finally turn it on a couple days later, and I see a nice white cloud across my screen. I download a program, crank the fans up. Put a pillow behind the screen to make my computer get really hot (not enough to overheat the notebook), and a few days later, the cloud is vanished.
With the exception of my Mac waking up, I have had no problems since.
So, many of you are wondering, are Macs really better than PC's? In someways, yes, and in someways, no. I give Apple a 10 on their operating system. I have never received a virus on here and it runs more smoothly than Windows. However, I give Apple about a 3 or 4 on durability (at least with their laptops). I know i've abused this thing, but it shouldn't be chipping all over the place. My MacBook probably looks like it's 10 years old, even though it is only a few years old now. I find that some of my other friends who own MacBooks have the same problem with the chipping. PC obviously wins when it comes to gaming, but Windows has given me more problems than Mac OSx. I have had to deal with monster viruses and trojans and have probably had to reformat my PC's hard drive more times than I'd love to count. The constant updates on PC's get on my nerves too. While Mac has updates too, they are not nearly as frequent as PC's. Mac also isn't preloaded with unnecessary junk, like PC's are. It frustrates me when I buy a PC, loaded with all these stupid demos and advertisements, where Mac, it is just loaded with the usual Photobooth, iPhoto, etc. Most importantly, I still haven't received an Apple virus (although, I do hear they are becoming more frequent now).
My mom has had her iMac for about 6 months now, and so far, it is problem free. Maybe iMacs are better, but I can't give a valid opinion on that yet because my parents haven't owned an iMac long enough yet.
But as of now, I think the best conclusion I can come up with is -- computers are a pain, no matter if you have a Mac or a PC. They both have their strengths and weaknesses.
PC wins on durability
Mac wins on Operating System
That is all, until next time
You make some very good points.
ReplyDeleteI use both PC and Mac every day for various tasks, and I've simply had to come to terms with the fact that both have different benefits. I have had complaints about both Windows and OSX, and each of them has different areas where they excel or fail (epically).